Anonymous wrote:TPES -> Piney Branch -> TPMS -> Blair

This is probably your best option if your child is interested in STEM education because of:
1) TPES STEM magnet
2) PBES local CES
3) TPMS magnet's neighborhood set aside

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good way to check what school you might want is to go to Montgomery County schools website and check out ESOL (English as Second Language) and FRM (Free and Reduced meals ) percentages of the student body as a marker of poverty/low income. the greater the ESOL and FRM numbers, the less money the school has to spend on enrichment programs.

Actually quite opposite, Title 1 schools get the most funding out of all the schools in the area. These are the schools who have smaller class sizes and have the extra resources for enrichment. One example, I met a Science teacher at a Title 1 school whose sole job is to provide STEM enrichment for all the students at the school. We are not at a Title 1 and i can tell you that we certainly don't have that.

Yah but STEM enrichment at a title one school is teaching the kids not to stick forks into outlets because of fancy electrification

Anonymous wrote:We’re thinking of moving to Silver Spring or nearby next summer. Coming from DC and will be commuting in on metro. Oldest of three will be starting K. Any recs for elementary school boundaries we should target? We are total newbies to MCPS. Ideally, we’d want a school that isn’t too big, and where most kids stick together through HS. Our housing budget is up to $850k. Thanks!

OP, I highly recommend Rockville (look into the Flower Valley neighborhood that feeds into Flower Valley ES). MS is Earle B. Wood and HS is Rockville High. All are great schools and the Flower Valley community is terrific for families. Most families belong to the Flower Valley pool which is very active and lots of kids on the swim team. The beauty is Rockville HS is one of the smallest high schools in MCPS and kids in the area tend to stick together. There are 4 Elem schools that feed into Wood Middle school and all of the Wood kids go to Rockville High. There are no other middle schools that feed into Rockville HS. Metro closest by is Rockville or Twinbrook. You should definitely check it out. And the homes tend to be in the 600K-800K range so right around your budget.

Anonymous wrote:Good way to check what school you might want is to go to Montgomery County schools website and check out ESOL (English as Second Language) and FRM (Free and Reduced meals ) percentages of the student body as a marker of poverty/low income. the greater the ESOL and FRM numbers, the less money the school has to spend on enrichment programs.

Actually quite opposite, Title 1 schools get the most funding out of all the schools in the area. These are the schools who have smaller class sizes and have the extra resources for enrichment. One example, I met a Science teacher at a Title 1 school whose sole job is to provide STEM enrichment for all the students at the school. We are not at a Title 1 and i can tell you that we certainly don't have that.

Good way to check what school you might want is to go to Montgomery County schools website and check out ESOL (English as Second Language) and FRM (Free and Reduced meals ) percentages of the student body as a marker of poverty/low income. the greater the ESOL and FRM numbers, the less money the school has to spend on enrichment programs.

Neighborhood off Dale Dr. between Wayne and Colesville has houses in your price range. Schools: Sligo Creek --> SSIMS --> Northwood/DCC. There is a heavy mix here of which high school kids go to depending on their interests.

Also, we're about a mile from the SS metro and short walk to downtown Silver Spring.

Anonymous wrote:Most of the kids in Silver Spring do not stick together through HS because Silver Spring is part of the Downcounty Consortium ("DCC") where kids can choose between 5 high schools based on their interests (it is a lottery, though, and some kids do get placed at their home school).

With a $850,000 budget, why aren't you looking on the other side of the red line in North Potomac, Rockville, or Kensington? With that budget, you'll be the most expensive house in the neighborhood if you're in Silver Spring. You may also want to consider Takoma Park if you're set on being on the east side of the county, and closer to DC.

Why can't they just spend less? Why spend their max?

Anonymous wrote:TPES -> Piney Branch -> TPMS -> Blair

Yes. Also East Silver Spring feeds to TPMS and Blair and has some great neighborhoods.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the feedback! This is a great start. I should clarify, the Petworth commuter would be able to drive if needed. It’s the Farragut one that one be metro dependent, hence red line preference. Sounds like we have a lot of good options out there. Is there any school pyramid to avoid, or is it an everywhere is good, some are really good situation?

You may want to know that the far eastern part of Takoma Park/Silver Spring, generally the area near Langley Park (New Hampshire at University) has high concentrations of poverty. The schools aren't necessarily "bad," but they will have more challenges.

TPES -> Piney Branch -> TPMS -> Blair

Anonymous wrote:Most of the kids in Silver Spring do not stick together through HS because Silver Spring is part of the Downcounty Consortium ("DCC") where kids can choose between 5 high schools based on their interests (it is a lottery, though, and some kids do get placed at their home school).

With a $850,000 budget, why aren't you looking on the other side of the red line in North Potomac, Rockville, or Kensington? With that budget, you'll be the most expensive house in the neighborhood if you're in Silver Spring. You may also want to consider Takoma Park if you're set on being on the east side of the county, and closer to DC.

Kids in the DCC have a homeschool and choosing often doesn't work.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the feedback! This is a great start. I should clarify, the Petworth commuter would be able to drive if needed. It’s the Farragut one that one be metro dependent, hence red line preference. Sounds like we have a lot of good options out there. Is there any school pyramid to avoid, or is it an everywhere is good, some are really good situation?

There is a part of the Blair Hs cluster that doesn’t have great elementary and middle schools. I would recommend sticking with Takoma Park/Puney Branch or East Silver Spring in the Blair Cluster. Northwood and Einstein Hs have some great elementary schools too.

OP here. Thanks for all the feedback! This is a great start. I should clarify, the Petworth commuter would be able to drive if needed. It’s the Farragut one that one be metro dependent, hence red line preference. Sounds like we have a lot of good options out there. Is there any school pyramid to avoid, or is it an everywhere is good, some are really good situation?

Anonymous wrote:Our experience is that most of the Takoma Park and East Silver Spring kids stay together through high school, as TPMS and Blair are both strong options.

Particularly as Piney Branch ES (the 3rd - 5th school in Takoma Park) now has its own gifted center, there's not a lot of reason for kids to leave unless they attend the Humanities magnet for middle school, and those kids end up back at Blair for the CAP magnet in HS.

This is true. You can live further down Georgia Ave or Dale and zone for Blair, but still be walking distance to a Metro station.

Kensington area will allow you to use both Wheaton (transfer to green/yellow for petworth) and grovesnor (farragut) stations.

You’ll get a sweet house for 850k in that area if schools are part of DCC (Einstein HS rules!). But in the area that feeds to Walter Johnson HS you’ll get an overpriced dump or a shoddy flip.