Anonymous wrote:I have lived here a long time and if you want the most down to earth areas in and around Bethesda they would be in places adjacent to "North Bethesda"/Rockville or Kensington.

These neighborhoods include Ashburton or Wyngate where the houses are smaller and closer together. These neighborhoods have sidewalks which is really nice. They are near NIH so you get a lot of scientist families who are much for normal than the lobbyists.

North Bethesda and Kensington are also great places to live and there are more regular people there and less pressure. Also check out Garrett Park.

Great, thank you for this info!

I have lived here a long time and if you want the most down to earth areas in and around Bethesda they would be in places adjacent to "North Bethesda"/Rockville or Kensington.

These neighborhoods include Ashburton or Wyngate where the houses are smaller and closer together. These neighborhoods have sidewalks which is really nice. They are near NIH so you get a lot of scientist families who are much for normal than the lobbyists.

North Bethesda and Kensington are also great places to live and there are more regular people there and less pressure. Also check out Garrett Park.

Anonymous wrote:The area that feeds into Westbrook ES isn't quite as ritzy as Bethesda ES or Chevy Chase ES. Fewer Lexus and Volvo and more Honda and Subaru.

Not the people I know.

The area that feeds into Westbrook ES isn't quite as ritzy as Bethesda ES or Chevy Chase ES. Fewer Lexus and Volvo and more Honda and Subaru.

DD has a friend from a social skills group with SN who went to Rosemary Hills and had a great experience. Then this child went to one of the 3-5 elementaries that Rosemary Hills splits off to and she had a horrible experience with a principal who hates kids with SN. See the other thread about the crazy you might be dealing with. Avoid at all costs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, you can't decide you can only live in the ritiziest part of a ritzy area and then complain it's too cliquey and people drive expensive SUVs.

Bethesda Elementary will be just as SUV-driving as upper NW.

Maybe Cabin John, or Silver Spring.

+1 Several of the neighborhoods you are considering are the same, demographically and culturally, as the neighborhood you dislike. You can't flee one UMC community full of lobbyists and private sector lawyers for another UMC community full of lobbyists and private sector lawyers and think that the culture will be any different. It won't.

If you truly want something different, you need to look in a community with more socioeconomic diversity, even if racial diversity isn't what you want.

As for being warned off Takoma Park and Silver Spring schools, if your child gets into a 2E program they will be bussed to that program, which may well be in Silver Spring!

Decide what you actually want, and then talk to people with real-world experience in those schools.

That's helpful, thanks. We haven't been in the area long so don't know what these neighborhoods are like.

In terms of specific recommendations, Rosemary Hills is a good suggestion. Close-in and the most diverse of the BCC feeders.

Others have suggested Oakland Terrace, Flora Singer, and Sligo Creek ES.

Looking down the road, Flora Singer and Oakland Terrace feed to Sligo or Newport Mill and then Einstein. Sligo Creek feeds to SSIMS and then either Blair or Northwood.

Those are all good choices, although I'd probably take SSIMS over Newport Mill if I had to choose, given the IB Middle Years program that SSIMS has. But I might choose Einstein over Blair for size reasons. So, all in all, no bad choices in the bunch.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, you can't decide you can only live in the ritiziest part of a ritzy area and then complain it's too cliquey and people drive expensive SUVs.

Bethesda Elementary will be just as SUV-driving as upper NW.

Maybe Cabin John, or Silver Spring.

+1 Several of the neighborhoods you are considering are the same, demographically and culturally, as the neighborhood you dislike. You can't flee one UMC community full of lobbyists and private sector lawyers for another UMC community full of lobbyists and private sector lawyers and think that the culture will be any different. It won't.

If you truly want something different, you need to look in a community with more socioeconomic diversity, even if racial diversity isn't what you want.

As for being warned off Takoma Park and Silver Spring schools, if your child gets into a 2E program they will be bussed to that program, which may well be in Silver Spring!

Decide what you actually want, and then talk to people with real-world experience in those schools.

I mostly agree with this. If OP is looking for something different from the cliquey Lexus SUV driving groups she's with in NW DC she's picked the wrong neighborhoods. I mean I was just at a shopping center near my child's school and was looking at all the same BMW, Mercedes, Volvo SUVS. About 20 in neat rows. DC has many friends in NW DC due to a travel sport and the families are exactly the same as the same types of families you would find in Bethesda and Chevy Chase. Why would you expect them to be any different? Same education, level of wealth and same types of jobs.

There is no way a child will have to bus to Silver Spring for a 2E program.
I think the 2E program for ES for that area is for Barnsley in Rockville, North Bethesda in Bethesda for MS, and Walter Johnson in Bethesda for HS.

Agree Takoma and Silver Spring schools are great and the communities are more accepting.

We love the walkability and friendliness of our downtown Silver Spring neighborhood, and the accessibility to the Red Line and DC.

You might also consider looking in the various Woodside neighborhoods, which generally have larger, more expensive houses, but are less walkable. I’ve heard very good things about both Woodlin and Flora Singer ES.

But you’ll get cliquey groups anywhere you go, just in different ways and for different reasons. We find Silver Spring to have enough variety that you’re bound to find somewhere to fit in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, you can't decide you can only live in the ritiziest part of a ritzy area and then complain it's too cliquey and people drive expensive SUVs.

Bethesda Elementary will be just as SUV-driving as upper NW.

Maybe Cabin John, or Silver Spring.

+1 Several of the neighborhoods you are considering are the same, demographically and culturally, as the neighborhood you dislike. You can't flee one UMC community full of lobbyists and private sector lawyers for another UMC community full of lobbyists and private sector lawyers and think that the culture will be any different. It won't.

If you truly want something different, you need to look in a community with more socioeconomic diversity, even if racial diversity isn't what you want.

As for being warned off Takoma Park and Silver Spring schools, if your child gets into a 2E program they will be bussed to that program, which may well be in Silver Spring!

Decide what you actually want, and then talk to people with real-world experience in those schools.

That's helpful, thanks. We haven't been in the area long so don't know what these neighborhoods are like.

Anonymous wrote:Look, you can't decide you can only live in the ritiziest part of a ritzy area and then complain it's too cliquey and people drive expensive SUVs.

Bethesda Elementary will be just as SUV-driving as upper NW.

Maybe Cabin John, or Silver Spring.

+1 Several of the neighborhoods you are considering are the same, demographically and culturally, as the neighborhood you dislike. You can't flee one UMC community full of lobbyists and private sector lawyers for another UMC community full of lobbyists and private sector lawyers and think that the culture will be any different. It won't.

If you truly want something different, you need to look in a community with more socioeconomic diversity, even if racial diversity isn't what you want.

As for being warned off Takoma Park and Silver Spring schools, if your child gets into a 2E program they will be bussed to that program, which may well be in Silver Spring!

Decide what you actually want, and then talk to people with real-world experience in those schools.

Look, you can't decide you can only live in the ritiziest part of a ritzy area and then complain it's too cliquey and people drive expensive SUVs.

Bethesda Elementary will be just as SUV-driving as upper NW.

Maybe Cabin John, or Silver Spring.

Wildwood Manor neighborhood, Ashburton, ES NB MS, WJ HS

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you considered Silver Spring/Takoma Park?

We have, and it seems like a lovely area in terms of people/diversity, but were advised against it due to my special needs kid and the school options there. However, if the schools are good for neurotypical kids and otherwise fits our needs, we could look into loans for private school I guess. Are there specific neighborhoods you are thinking of?

It sounds like you were advised by snobby people who don't actually know about Silver Spring schools. Silver Spring schools are fine.

Your kid with special needs will be bussed to the program he needs. You don’t pick his school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nowhere near downtown Bethesda is going to be down to earth. If you really want to get away from the luxury car market families, you’re going to need to head way out to areas where houses go for under a million.

OP here - I fully agree with that. I used "Bethesda/CC/etc" more generally, but don't want to be close to downtown. I didn't want to say "Mont County" as that is huge.

Thoughts on the areas that are far from luxury car owners? I mean that seriously.

Not Bethesda or Chevy Chase or Potomac. Seriously. Look in Rockville or Silver Spring or Gaithersburg, etc. No W-feeder elementaries. They don’t uniformly drive luxury cars, of course, but if you want to be far from those, you have to go further north or east.

-Bethesda native who lives in Silver Spring