You would think with the principal retiring that the 30 year old sociology experiment and financial drain that is RHPS would be terminated by the county in favor of sending kids to their community elementary school.

Please, not you again - the poster with the obsession over the bus trip to Rosemary Hills (even though her kids don't go there.) Get over yourself, please, and take your rants elsewhere. And since you obviously know nothing about MCPS, the principal at RHPS has no say over districting, so his retirement is totally irrelevant to the issue of the catchment for the school. Finally, RHPS is a community elementary school - it is the CC elementary for grades K-2 with a few neighborhoods in SS and Bethesda thrown in. Those of us who send our kids there are actually quite happy with it.

You would think with the principal retiring that the 30 year old sociology experiment and financial drain that is RHPS would be terminated by the county in favor of sending kids to their community elementary school.

Agree with pp. I have only had good experiences, and everyone in my neighborhood seems happy. I don't buy the "everyone has terrible stories but keeps them secret" argument. Of course some teachers are better than others, but that goes for every school. I think the teachers and parents at rhps are as good as anywhere. but whatever. you can talk to - and befriend! - your neighbors and report back.

I dunno, PP - I'm a parent of a second grader at RHPS and our experience has been fantastic. Great teachers, who have done wonders with my child. I volunteer semi-regularly and know enough of the other parents of second graders that I'm pretty certain I would have seen or heard if there were bullying among the kids or serious unhappiness among other parents. I don't know the current (retiring) principal well but colleagues with older kids swear he is a huge part of why RHPS is so successful. (They have had less glowing things to say about the principals at the other schools in the cluster, but I don't know if any of that is current.) I just know that my child entered RHPS with minimal academic skills, and was the type of child who seemed most at risk in a large classroom setting. But after 3 years my child is reading way above grade level and has thrived socially. I'd be the first to shriek if I thought my child were attending what the PP describes as a lousy school with bullies and uncaring administrators. But that's not the RHPS I've seen, and it's not the one I hear about from my neighbors.

PP, our neighbors withdrew their child from RHPS and sent the kid to private due to bullying issues that went repeatedly unaddressed at the school. We knew the situation and the kids involved and were saddened to see such a lovely child hounded out by the bully and parents. Another family admitted to us that they did not realize that their child was a year behind in reading until the child reached CCES. RHPS teachers knew but never helped the child and pretended all was OK. Another neighbor of ours goes private as well.

By all means, ask your neighbors. We also did that and we found that people would speak in vague positive generalities. We never heard the nightmare stories until we went to school there and grew to be friends with people. Then, in friendship people would share their troubles and tips about teachers to try to avoid. Also, it was generally only the parents of second graders who had enough experience with the school to be able to speak about pros and cons.

We have found RHPS to be fantastic, and I have never heard of any neighbors from our neighborhood refusing to send their kids there. I would take PP with a big pinch of salt - ask your new neighbors about their experience.

OP, not to rain on your parade, but we have found RHPS to be terrible. The good news is we found CCES to be great. Many parents in our neighborhood simply refuse to send their kids to RHPS and go private until 3rd grade at CCES. Monitor your child's academics carefully there.

It wasn't until I actually had a child enrolled at the school that I started to hear the real complaints of parents. The teachers are very uneven. The special ed process is terrible (although I can't speak to the autism program). The principal is disconnected and the vice principal is clueless. In our years there we have only one strong teacher.

That said, it's far better than Lafayette for many reasons. If I had it to do over again, I think I would try to live in Somerset or plan to put my child in private school until 3rd grade.

The good news is that there is a new principal for RHPS, so perhaps the place will get better.

We regret our move to a home in CC DC.... Lafayette was abysmal on so many fronts. It has gotten worse each year since. Huge headache and kids that are learning little.

Thanks to all! We went with the house in MD and will be at RHPS next year. (We're not in the boundary change for elementary, but I expect we will be headed to the new middle school.)

There is a boundary change for RHPS. East Bethesda is being rezoned from RHPS to Bethesda ES--or at least some of it is.

Check the MCPS Official School Assignment Locator for the house you're considering:
http://gis.mcpsmd.org/gis/PublicLocator.asp

And if you want to see what I'm talking about, look up 4500 Highland Ave. You'll see this Special Note:
Address falls within the area reassigned from Rosemary Hills ES to Bethesda ES for grades K & 1 in 2013-2014 and grades K-2 in school year 2014-2015.