If you love your house and neighbors, you should stay through elementary and re-evaluate the situation for middle and high school. The many of the elementary schools in Silver Spring are fabulous with very active PTAs and parents. With so many well educated families living in Silver Spring, the middle and high schools around bound to get better.

Don't listen to these people! If you can afford Bethesda and you find a house you like, there are great public schools thee. Yes, K and elementary school "count"

Anonymous wrote:Not a troll. Just seriously depressed about our situation.

Why?

Silver Spring has some of the most beloved and nurturing elementaries in MCPS. Woodlin, Flowers, Oakland Terrace. Even if you are not in one of those catchments, your child will be fine for a year. see how it goes. The schools west of Rock Creek Park have other problems. Super uptight. Unpleasant. At least the one we experienced. Bethesda Elementary sounds nice but I wouldn't rush into this unless you know you can afford to live there. Most of elementary school is not all that important in terms of a child's future. Don't think that K is going to affect your kid's life one way or another. It won't.

Pick a school district, call the apt rental office, pack up, stick it in a u haul and poof it's done. Easy peazy. Once you have your rental contract you can register for school.

Not a troll. Just seriously depressed about our situation.

We're in a similar situation. We moved here before researching the schools. We send our DC to private until we can move elsewhere, but we are planning it out so that the house goes on the market in May and DC can start school in September. Even if the school is bad. Your DC will still be ok for a year there. If you wait a year you can take some time to research were you want to go and move before September.

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PP here. More helpfully, maybe, is a suggestion that you search the archives. There are tons of feedbackand threads on various schools and school districts. Part of the calculation has to be what's best for your family overall, so commute is important. Once you make a decision, contact that school ASAP and make sure enrollment will not be a problem. (You'll have to provide proof of residency. Will you be renting in the new district?)

Good luck! Let us know what you decide.

Is this a joke? School starts in a week!!!

Really? How are Bethesda elementaries so bad? Are the test scores not good?

Anonymous wrote:Sad to be giving up the nice neighbors and inexpensive mortgage, but we've decided we just can't stand to send our daughter to the local K in MCPS. We haven't decided for sure where to go. Bethesda seems like a relatively safe bet in MCPS. We're also toying with Arlington as well just because we know others who made that leap. We assume private is too expensive and we're not doing parochial for personal reasons. I think we made our minds up a while ago, but the reality of Sept. is hitting hard. Are we alone? I kind of thought we would make silver spring our home, but the school thing has just nixed that for me.

There are lots and lots of complaints about Bethesda elementary schools from posters on DCUM. In fact, if I were to judge based solely on comments on DCUM -- which would be a terrible idea! -- I would conclude that Bethesda elementary schools are among the worst in the county.

Why did you decide that you just can't stand to send your daughter to kindergarten where you're living?

Also, school starts in a week.

Be careful which of the Bethesda elementary schools you would feed into. There are differences.

You do realize that school starts a week from Monday right?

What is so horrible about your elementary school? Red zone schools have smaller class sizes so that can be a good point.

Sad to be giving up the nice neighbors and inexpensive mortgage, but we've decided we just can't stand to send our daughter to the local K in MCPS. We haven't decided for sure where to go. Bethesda seems like a relatively safe bet in MCPS. We're also toying with Arlington as well just because we know others who made that leap. We assume private is too expensive and we're not doing parochial for personal reasons. I think we made our minds up a while ago, but the reality of Sept. is hitting hard. Are we alone? I kind of thought we would make silver spring our home, but the school thing has just nixed that for me.