Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the kids at Eastern are quite bad... There are gangs, regular fights, drugs, and my DD has said she feels threatened multiple times throughout the day. Quite the interruption in PE and sciences, one kid even cursed at the teacher and threw a book. Of course, at any middle school there's going to be some of this, but at Eastern I feel it's particularly bad. However, with the new cohort admissions process, you might want to take that into account too.

My DD is in 7th (gen pop) and has not had this experience at all.

Of course, it's not true. There is no evidence to support these claims that are routinely made by people from the west part of the county who have nver been to SS I remember one poster a while ago kept saying things like this about a high-school but was never able to provide a shred of evidence. They did, however, share a link to a right-wing conspiracy rag that went on about MS-13 activity in TX. Didn't really see how that was relevant or even reliable given the shady source.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While my child was at HGC at Pine Crest at least 3 local kids were used to fill spots for the 5th grade year.

At Eastern, at least 3 local students were used to fill spots at the last minute.

This was 3-4years ago.

Currently, Pine Crest CES 5th grade has 10 local students who feed to Eastern and are eligible for local magnet spots (it's usually 8-10 per year). Theoretically, that makes them the top 10 local humanities students coming out of Pine Crest, as they were invited out of the general population based on being the top, rather than as local outliers at the top as their out-of-boundary classmates were. We saw 3 Pine Crest local students at the invited magnet student open house last week, but it's possible others didn't make it that night, were waitlisted, or may be invited later based on available space.

(We have no idea what the numbers at Oak View ES are, but that school also feeds to Eastern MS.)

We had been told that there are typically 10 Eastern magnet spaces for local students, but it's unclear whether that's a true carve-out like the 25 at TPMS, or they end up with that many unclaimed spots at the end of August.

I'm curious about your source for all this information. I'm a home school Pine Crest and Eastern parent and have NEVER heard that there is any kind of local carve out. In fact, the line has always been that Eastern students compete for the same 100 spots as everyone else in this half of the county. Who is telling you that there are "typically 10 Eastern magnet spaces for local students" and how do you know how many students are "eligible" for spots. Are you assuming that it's only kids in the PCES CES that are eligible? I can tell you that at least two rising students from the home school PCES population were offered Eastern magnet spots. It would be nice if Eastern students got some sort of carve out like the Takoma Park kids but if this is happening it is a new thing.

Anonymous wrote:While my child was at HGC at Pine Crest at least 3 local kids were used to fill spots for the 5th grade year.

At Eastern, at least 3 local students were used to fill spots at the last minute.

This was 3-4years ago.

Currently, Pine Crest CES 5th grade has 10 local students who feed to Eastern and are eligible for local magnet spots (it's usually 8-10 per year). Theoretically, that makes them the top 10 local humanities students coming out of Pine Crest, as they were invited out of the general population based on being the top, rather than as local outliers at the top as their out-of-boundary classmates were. We saw 3 Pine Crest local students at the invited magnet student open house last week, but it's possible others didn't make it that night, were waitlisted, or may be invited later based on available space.

(We have no idea what the numbers at Oak View ES are, but that school also feeds to Eastern MS.)

We had been told that there are typically 10 Eastern magnet spaces for local students, but it's unclear whether that's a true carve-out like the 25 at TPMS, or they end up with that many unclaimed spots at the end of August.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the kids at Eastern are quite bad... There are gangs, regular fights, drugs, and my DD has said she feels threatened multiple times throughout the day. Quite the interruption in PE and sciences, one kid even cursed at the teacher and threw a book. Of course, at any middle school there's going to be some of this, but at Eastern I feel it's particularly bad. However, with the new cohort admissions process, you might want to take that into account too.

My DD is in 7th (gen pop) and has not had this experience at all.

My DD is in 8th and has also not had this experience at all. DD is on the magnet but also has friends in gen pop.

+2. My kid is in sixth grade (humanities) and also has not experienced this at all. This is just overall bad information. The principal is very hands-on and would not allow this. The new cohort this year is just as strong as it was at our kid's former center.

+3! I teach in the magnet and do not hear about regular fights between comprehensive students. Students do curse, but that is every middle school. As for gangs, despite rumors, there doesn’t seem to be any actual gang activity occurring. Fortnite addiction and students cutting classes are the biggest concerns. And our principal is amazing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the kids at Eastern are quite bad... There are gangs, regular fights, drugs, and my DD has said she feels threatened multiple times throughout the day. Quite the interruption in PE and sciences, one kid even cursed at the teacher and threw a book. Of course, at any middle school there's going to be some of this, but at Eastern I feel it's particularly bad. However, with the new cohort admissions process, you might want to take that into account too.

My DD is in 7th (gen pop) and has not had this experience at all.

My DD is in 8th and has also not had this experience at all. DD is on the magnet but also has friends in gen pop.

+2. My kid is in sixth grade (humanities) and also has not experienced this at all. This is just overall bad information. The principal is very hands-on and would not allow this. The new cohort this year is just as strong as it was at our kid's former center.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the kids at Eastern are quite bad... There are gangs, regular fights, drugs, and my DD has said she feels threatened multiple times throughout the day. Quite the interruption in PE and sciences, one kid even cursed at the teacher and threw a book. Of course, at any middle school there's going to be some of this, but at Eastern I feel it's particularly bad. However, with the new cohort admissions process, you might want to take that into account too.

My DD is in 7th (gen pop) and has not had this experience at all.

My DD is in 8th and has also not had this experience at all. DD is on the magnet but also has friends in gen pop.

Anonymous wrote:Some of the kids at Eastern are quite bad... There are gangs, regular fights, drugs, and my DD has said she feels threatened multiple times throughout the day. Quite the interruption in PE and sciences, one kid even cursed at the teacher and threw a book. Of course, at any middle school there's going to be some of this, but at Eastern I feel it's particularly bad. However, with the new cohort admissions process, you might want to take that into account too.

My DD is in 7th (gen pop) and has not had this experience at all.

Some of the kids at Eastern are quite bad... There are gangs, regular fights, drugs, and my DD has said she feels threatened multiple times throughout the day. Quite the interruption in PE and sciences, one kid even cursed at the teacher and threw a book. Of course, at any middle school there's going to be some of this, but at Eastern I feel it's particularly bad. However, with the new cohort admissions process, you might want to take that into account too.

Anonymous wrote:the commute logistics suk so much most don't consider it.
it's not really a viable option, especially for an athlete student.

Huh?
If you are in the general population as OP suggested, the commute isn’t bad at all.

the commute logistics suk so much most don't consider it.
it's not really a viable option, especially for an athlete student.

Anonymous wrote:SSIMS is a better middle school not far from Eastern. It has the IB middle years program. But I’m not clear on their price range. Are you saying they can’t afford $500k? It’s very hard to get inbounds for either school for less than that.

Agree about SSIMS being a better choice. And it's actually not that hard to find houses in the $400-500K range in SSIMS' zone:

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/10813-Tenbrook-Ct-20901/home/11054197

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/418-Eisner-St-20901/home/10965813

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/10701-Cavalier-Dr-20901/home/10965163

I personally would not buy a house with the hope of getting into the magnet when slots are so few. I mean you are talking about 100 slots for half the county. Buy a house where you are comfortable with the local school.
I’m also unclear on budget. That’s not much.

SSIMS is a better middle school not far from Eastern. It has the IB middle years program. But I’m not clear on their price range. Are you saying they can’t afford $500k? It’s very hard to get inbounds for either school for less than that.

While my child was at HGC at Pine Crest at least 3 local kids were used to fill spots for the 5th grade year.

At Eastern, at least 3 local students were used to fill spots at the last minute.

This was 3-4years ago.

Not a mom here, but no current horse in this race, and it looks like a nasty race for magnet spots (so glad I don't have to deal with this).

My sister is thinking of moving into the DMV, preferably near me, before her oldest daughter starts middle school, and is trying to decide where to do their house search this summer. Her oldest is good at math, but probably not TPMS good. (Her younger daughter is in K, so there's no telling what her future holds, but a good ES would be important for first grade.) DCC seems better for her husband's expected commute (he will be looking for a lawyer job in downtown DC), and she is still searching for a job for after the move, and, while they're not looking to spend $500k on a house, they're open to ideas.

How often are students who are in the local genpop at Eastern invited to remaining open spots in the magnet? Is priority given to students who moved into the area over the summer (and would not have been considered in the first round? (So much for her plan to wait until a transition year to move to make settling in easier.) Can she still get good English and social studies classes if she's not in the magnet? Are there other local schools with a strong humanities program where math is still decent? Should I just tell her to go live in VA where most of my lawyer coworkers live? (I hear Arlington doesn't have any test-in magnet mess.)