Anonymous wrote:WE moved to Kensington so our kids could go to dual immersion at Oakland Terrace. My kids will probably go to Einstein for the IB program but we may do private for middle school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am OP! I have little kids but when we outgrow our teensy house, I don’t know where to begin figuring it out. I appreciate the don’t flee responses! I’d truly rather not. I just see so much saying that dc standards are horribly low and burbs are so much more rigorous, and I truly have zero clue how to assess those claims. The negativity about every option on here gets in my head! I just want my kids to have an outlet to be happy and passionate about learning and not incredibly bored. And the idea of denying them cool opportunity like robot space club or whatever because I prefer to live in a city makes me feel like a jerk.

Then again, right now, parents at our title I school are interesting, mission-focused people who work in non profits and in government, and I like the idea of being in a community with those sorts of values. Then this forum makes me think that the kinds of amazing opportunities my kids would love is all in the burbs and not in dc—but maybe it’s just a grass is always greener situation. Any thoughts on how people are working through this kind of decision?

There are plenty of feds etc in Bethesda. It will be less socioeconomically and racially diverse for sure. But there will be plenty of ppl in "mission-driven" type jobs.

We are a dual fed family.

Thank you! Are there certain pyramids in Bethesda where this is more true?

IME the dual feds in Bethesda all bought 10+ years ago, so there are plenty of them but they don’t have young kids anymore.

The dual feds with young families are more likely to buy in Silver Spring.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am OP! I have little kids but when we outgrow our teensy house, I don’t know where to begin figuring it out. I appreciate the don’t flee responses! I’d truly rather not. I just see so much saying that dc standards are horribly low and burbs are so much more rigorous, and I truly have zero clue how to assess those claims. The negativity about every option on here gets in my head! I just want my kids to have an outlet to be happy and passionate about learning and not incredibly bored. And the idea of denying them cool opportunity like robot space club or whatever because I prefer to live in a city makes me feel like a jerk.

Then again, right now, parents at our title I school are interesting, mission-focused people who work in non profits and in government, and I like the idea of being in a community with those sorts of values. Then this forum makes me think that the kinds of amazing opportunities my kids would love is all in the burbs and not in dc—but maybe it’s just a grass is always greener situation. Any thoughts on how people are working through this kind of decision?

There are plenty of feds etc in Bethesda. It will be less socioeconomically and racially diverse for sure. But there will be plenty of ppl in "mission-driven" type jobs.

We are a dual fed family.

Thank you! Are there certain pyramids in Bethesda where this is more true?

No. Most dual-fed families can't afford to buy in Bethesda. At least not if they're regular GS-something feds.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Then again, right now, parents at our title I school are interesting, mission-focused people who work in non profits and in government, and I like the idea of being in a community with those sorts of values. Then this forum makes me think that the kinds of amazing opportunities my kids would love is all in the burbs and not in dc—but maybe it’s just a grass is always greener situation. Any thoughts on how people are working through this kind of decision?

IMHO you will find your people in Takoma Park, or possibly even better, the East Silver Spring Elementary catchment because it feeds into TPMS (with its middle school magnet set-aside) and Blair, but without the TKPK property taxes!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am OP! I have little kids but when we outgrow our teensy house, I don’t know where to begin figuring it out. I appreciate the don’t flee responses! I’d truly rather not. I just see so much saying that dc standards are horribly low and burbs are so much more rigorous, and I truly have zero clue how to assess those claims. The negativity about every option on here gets in my head! I just want my kids to have an outlet to be happy and passionate about learning and not incredibly bored. And the idea of denying them cool opportunity like robot space club or whatever because I prefer to live in a city makes me feel like a jerk.

Then again, right now, parents at our title I school are interesting, mission-focused people who work in non profits and in government, and I like the idea of being in a community with those sorts of values. Then this forum makes me think that the kinds of amazing opportunities my kids would love is all in the burbs and not in dc—but maybe it’s just a grass is always greener situation. Any thoughts on how people are working through this kind of decision?

There are plenty of feds etc in Bethesda. It will be less socioeconomically and racially diverse for sure. But there will be plenty of ppl in "mission-driven" type jobs.

We are a dual fed family.

Thank you! Are there certain pyramids in Bethesda where this is more true?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am OP! I have little kids but when we outgrow our teensy house, I don’t know where to begin figuring it out. I appreciate the don’t flee responses! I’d truly rather not. I just see so much saying that dc standards are horribly low and burbs are so much more rigorous, and I truly have zero clue how to assess those claims. The negativity about every option on here gets in my head! I just want my kids to have an outlet to be happy and passionate about learning and not incredibly bored. And the idea of denying them cool opportunity like robot space club or whatever because I prefer to live in a city makes me feel like a jerk.

Then again, right now, parents at our title I school are interesting, mission-focused people who work in non profits and in government, and I like the idea of being in a community with those sorts of values. Then this forum makes me think that the kinds of amazing opportunities my kids would love is all in the burbs and not in dc—but maybe it’s just a grass is always greener situation. Any thoughts on how people are working through this kind of decision?

There are plenty of feds etc in Bethesda. It will be less socioeconomically and racially diverse for sure. But there will be plenty of ppl in "mission-driven" type jobs.

We are a dual fed family.

Thank you! Are there certain pyramids in Bethesda where this is more true?

Anonymous wrote:
Then again, right now, parents at our title I school are interesting, mission-focused people who work in non profits and in government, and I like the idea of being in a community with those sorts of values. Then this forum makes me think that the kinds of amazing opportunities my kids would love is all in the burbs and not in dc—but maybe it’s just a grass is always greener situation. Any thoughts on how people are working through this kind of decision?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I don't know about DC, but I'll give you my 2cents from someone who moved from the Bay Area to MCPS.

1. MCPS offers a lot of different programs at the HS level; each HS has some kind of program. That's one of the things MCPS does decently at
2. You don't have to be in a magnet program per se to be challenged. Most MCPS HS have a ton of AP classes, and some of them have IB classes that any student in that cluster can take. They can even join the IB diploma program in 11th grade if they want to. BCC, RM and a few other clusters have this option. RM has the county wide IB magnet, as well. There is no gatekeeping requirement to take AP/IB classes in MCPS. They really encourage everyone to take AP courses, which sometimes is not a good thing.
3. grade inflation in MCPS is an issue, but I think that's true for many other school districts.
4. schools with high poverty have too many issues, but schools with a lot of wealth also have their share of issues related to too much wealth
5. there are school clusters that are not extremes -- too much poverty, too much wealth, and where the racial diversity is also decent. Schools like Northwest HS, RM, QO, BCC to some degree.
6. having just gone through the college admissions process, I think being in a too high performing HS can work against you as you are competing with a lot of other high achievers from your school for the same T30 spots.
7. There are school clusters in MCPS that also have a lot of parents who work at nonprofits and such. They tend to live around the Silver Spring/Kensington area, which is also a really diverse area.
8. larger schools have the inertia and economies of scale to offer a lot of different programs and clubs. The Bay Area school district we moved from is wealthy, but tiny, so they didn't have a lot of different programs or clubs.

Having stated all that, obviously, kids in the DCPS can have excellent outcomes, too. What you get out of it is what you make of it. The only reason I'd move is for the space. We also moved out of the Bay Area because we needed more space, and we aren't uber wealthy, nor did we want a $1.5 ram shackle house.

GL

This is such a helpful response and good perspective. Thank you!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am OP! I have little kids but when we outgrow our teensy house, I don’t know where to begin figuring it out. I appreciate the don’t flee responses! I’d truly rather not. I just see so much saying that dc standards are horribly low and burbs are so much more rigorous, and I truly have zero clue how to assess those claims. The negativity about every option on here gets in my head! I just want my kids to have an outlet to be happy and passionate about learning and not incredibly bored. And the idea of denying them cool opportunity like robot space club or whatever because I prefer to live in a city makes me feel like a jerk.

Then again, right now, parents at our title I school are interesting, mission-focused people who work in non profits and in government, and I like the idea of being in a community with those sorts of values. Then this forum makes me think that the kinds of amazing opportunities my kids would love is all in the burbs and not in dc—but maybe it’s just a grass is always greener situation. Any thoughts on how people are working through this kind of decision?

There are plenty of feds etc in Bethesda. It will be less socioeconomically and racially diverse for sure. But there will be plenty of ppl in "mission-driven" type jobs.

We are a dual fed family.

Thank you! Are there certain pyramids in Bethesda where this is more true?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am OP! I have little kids but when we outgrow our teensy house, I don’t know where to begin figuring it out. I appreciate the don’t flee responses! I’d truly rather not. I just see so much saying that dc standards are horribly low and burbs are so much more rigorous, and I truly have zero clue how to assess those claims. The negativity about every option on here gets in my head! I just want my kids to have an outlet to be happy and passionate about learning and not incredibly bored. And the idea of denying them cool opportunity like robot space club or whatever because I prefer to live in a city makes me feel like a jerk.

Then again, right now, parents at our title I school are interesting, mission-focused people who work in non profits and in government, and I like the idea of being in a community with those sorts of values. Then this forum makes me think that the kinds of amazing opportunities my kids would love is all in the burbs and not in dc—but maybe it’s just a grass is always greener situation. Any thoughts on how people are working through this kind of decision?

There are plenty of feds etc in Bethesda. It will be less socioeconomically and racially diverse for sure. But there will be plenty of ppl in "mission-driven" type jobs.

We are a dual fed family.

Thank you! Are there certain pyramids in Bethesda where this is more true?

Anonymous wrote:Most people who flee from DC to MCPS for the reasons you mentioned relocated in Bethesda/Potomac area so their kids can go to one of the W schools.

Outside of that, you don't want to look at MCPS, if that's your MO. You would be better off in NoVa, with Fairfax County or Loudoun County.

Some people are starting to flee MCPS for Frederick County Public Schools for the reasons you're stating, but that might be farther out than you'd like to go.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am OP! I have little kids but when we outgrow our teensy house, I don’t know where to begin figuring it out. I appreciate the don’t flee responses! I’d truly rather not. I just see so much saying that dc standards are horribly low and burbs are so much more rigorous, and I truly have zero clue how to assess those claims. The negativity about every option on here gets in my head! I just want my kids to have an outlet to be happy and passionate about learning and not incredibly bored. And the idea of denying them cool opportunity like robot space club or whatever because I prefer to live in a city makes me feel like a jerk.

Then again, right now, parents at our title I school are interesting, mission-focused people who work in non profits and in government, and I like the idea of being in a community with those sorts of values. Then this forum makes me think that the kinds of amazing opportunities my kids would love is all in the burbs and not in dc—but maybe it’s just a grass is always greener situation. Any thoughts on how people are working through this kind of decision?

There are plenty of feds etc in Bethesda. It will be less socioeconomically and racially diverse for sure. But there will be plenty of ppl in "mission-driven" type jobs.

We are a dual fed family.