Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. EDIT: we are not looking at Tacoma Washington, Tacoma DC, we are looking at Takoma Park Maryland. I apologize for my phone's autocorrect, I would have thought that was obvious given the forum I am posting in.

Thank you to everyone who had helpful replies.

To be more specific, we are currently in Anne Arundel County and have been less than impressed with the schools in general, especially since COVID.

I know MCPS has it's issues as well, but we were hoping to move to the DCC so that we could be closer to family, and be in an overall better school district. Also we would like to be closer to DC and away from the systemic racism and fairly extreme segregation we have experienced here (we moved here from NOVA 4 years ago, which we found pretty diverse).

My husband has his eyes set on Takoma Park (MD), because he has read great things about Montgomery Blair HS and the feeder middle schools, and also because he is a city boy and wants to be as close to DC as possible.

My oldest, who will be in middle school by the time we move, is a very bright girl who excels at math and STEM in general. The other two kids will be in probably kindergarten and third grade when we move.

The whole DCC school system in general is extremely confusing, and I did not even realize that Tacoma Park had two different schools for just elementary. Are there other schools in the Tacoma Park area that feed into Blair? And what are the opinions on the middle schools that feed into Blair? It's just so much to process compared to Anne Arundel county.

We just want the best for our kids, my husband and I are both in math/scientific/IT fields, and we feel our kids will probably excel at the same type of areas, but would also appreciate language immersion or any other great programs that are available.

Side note, Bethesda and similar majority Caucasian school districts are way out of our price range so we are focusing on DCC, so opinions on the schools that Great Schools say are good are not really relevant to us.

OP, I suggest you go directly to the source - the MCPS website - to get an idea of the feeder patterns. According to https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/clusteradmin/clusters/downcounty.aspx SSIMS does not feed into Blair.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know families who moved away from Tacoma park to Bethesda because the schools in TP were bad.

I call BS on this post.

DP. I call BS on this BS. The other poster bragged how the 97th percentile didn't get into the program, so that should tell you something. I'm familiar with the PBES program. I don't think it's any different than the W feeders. The main difference is TPMS, but now that it's a lottery, the program is not what it was. There's also an issue with the RLA program at PBES that was never fixed, imho. Both the P and teachers involved are still there. Not saying it's a bad program by any means, but the combination of lottery and a few bad apples dragged down the stature of the program overall.

This is very different than my experience. Both my kids loved TPES and PBES. They had no trouble making friends despite 10 classes. Both were consistently in the 96%-99% on both MAPs and so were many of their friends. Excellent schools. I could imagine better.

Well my kids hated them and found them very unfriendly. There is no “community” at the schools either among the kids or the families. We joined in 2nd and 4th grade and there is absolutely no welcome to new families, no effort from the PTA and no attempt to be inclusive. No efforts to involve anyone other than white upper class families as volunteers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know families who moved away from Tacoma park to Bethesda because the schools in TP were bad.

I call BS on this post.

DP. I call BS on this BS. The other poster bragged how the 97th percentile didn't get into the program, so that should tell you something. I'm familiar with the PBES program. I don't think it's any different than the W feeders. The main difference is TPMS, but now that it's a lottery, the program is not what it was. There's also an issue with the RLA program at PBES that was never fixed, imho. Both the P and teachers involved are still there. Not saying it's a bad program by any means, but the combination of lottery and a few bad apples dragged down the stature of the program overall.

This is very different than my experience. Both my kids loved TPES and PBES. They had no trouble making friends despite 10 classes. Both were consistently in the 96%-99% on both MAPs and so were many of their friends. Excellent schools. I could imagine better.

Well my kids hated them and found them very unfriendly. There is no “community” at the schools either among the kids or the families. We joined in 2nd and 4th grade and there is absolutely no welcome to new families, no effort from the PTA and no attempt to be inclusive. No efforts to involve anyone other than white upper class families as volunteers.

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience but the dozens of families I know who live within walking distance all disagree. In fact, it's a really tight knit community where everyone knows each other. Sure, kids may not all be in the same class each year but there are so many opportunities to interact with others that it hardly matters. Also, many great organizations like Takoma Soccer, D&D at the community center, or scouts that I can't help but think you weren't trying that hard.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. EDIT: we are not looking at Tacoma Washington, Tacoma DC, we are looking at Takoma Park Maryland. I apologize for my phone's autocorrect, I would have thought that was obvious given the forum I am posting in.

Thank you to everyone who had helpful replies.

To be more specific, we are currently in Anne Arundel County and have been less than impressed with the schools in general, especially since COVID.

I know MCPS has it's issues as well, but we were hoping to move to the DCC so that we could be closer to family, and be in an overall better school district. Also we would like to be closer to DC and away from the systemic racism and fairly extreme segregation we have experienced here (we moved here from NOVA 4 years ago, which we found pretty diverse).

My husband has his eyes set on Takoma Park (MD), because he has read great things about Montgomery Blair HS and the feeder middle schools, and also because he is a city boy and wants to be as close to DC as possible.

My oldest, who will be in middle school by the time we move, is a very bright girl who excels at math and STEM in general. The other two kids will be in probably kindergarten and third grade when we move.

The whole DCC school system in general is extremely confusing, and I did not even realize that Tacoma Park had two different schools for just elementary. Are there other schools in the Tacoma Park area that feed into Blair? And what are the opinions on the middle schools that feed into Blair? It's just so much to process compared to Anne Arundel county.

We just want the best for our kids, my husband and I are both in math/scientific/IT fields, and we feel our kids will probably excel at the same type of areas, but would also appreciate language immersion or any other great programs that are available.

Side note, Bethesda and similar majority Caucasian school districts are way out of our price range so we are focusing on DCC, so opinions on the schools that Great Schools say are good are not really relevant to us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know families who moved away from Tacoma park to Bethesda because the schools in TP were bad.

I call BS on this post.

DP. I call BS on this BS. The other poster bragged how the 97th percentile didn't get into the program, so that should tell you something. I'm familiar with the PBES program. I don't think it's any different than the W feeders. The main difference is TPMS, but now that it's a lottery, the program is not what it was. There's also an issue with the RLA program at PBES that was never fixed, imho. Both the P and teachers involved are still there. Not saying it's a bad program by any means, but the combination of lottery and a few bad apples dragged down the stature of the program overall.

This is very different than my experience. Both my kids loved TPES and PBES. They had no trouble making friends despite 10 classes. Both were consistently in the 96%-99% on both MAPs and so were many of their friends. Excellent schools. I could imagine better.

Well my kids hated them and found them very unfriendly. There is no “community” at the schools either among the kids or the families. We joined in 2nd and 4th grade and there is absolutely no welcome to new families, no effort from the PTA and no attempt to be inclusive. No efforts to involve anyone other than white upper class families as volunteers.

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience but the dozens of families I know who live within walking distance all disagree. In fact, it's a really tight knit community where everyone knows each other. Sure, kids may not all be in the same class each year but there are so many opportunities to interact with others that it hardly matters. Also, many great organizations like Takoma Soccer, D&D at the community center, or scouts that I can't help but think you weren't trying that hard.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. EDIT: we are not looking at Tacoma Washington, Tacoma DC, we are looking at Takoma Park Maryland. I apologize for my phone's autocorrect, I would have thought that was obvious given the forum I am posting in.

Thank you to everyone who had helpful replies.

To be more specific, we are currently in Anne Arundel County and have been less than impressed with the schools in general, especially since COVID.

I know MCPS has it's issues as well, but we were hoping to move to the DCC so that we could be closer to family, and be in an overall better school district. Also we would like to be closer to DC and away from the systemic racism and fairly extreme segregation we have experienced here (we moved here from NOVA 4 years ago, which we found pretty diverse).

My husband has his eyes set on Takoma Park (MD), because he has read great things about Montgomery Blair HS and the feeder middle schools, and also because he is a city boy and wants to be as close to DC as possible.

My oldest, who will be in middle school by the time we move, is a very bright girl who excels at math and STEM in general. The other two kids will be in probably kindergarten and third grade when we move.

The whole DCC school system in general is extremely confusing, and I did not even realize that Tacoma Park had two different schools for just elementary. Are there other schools in the Tacoma Park area that feed into Blair? And what are the opinions on the middle schools that feed into Blair? It's just so much to process compared to Anne Arundel county.

We just want the best for our kids, my husband and I are both in math/scientific/IT fields, and we feel our kids will probably excel at the same type of areas, but would also appreciate language immersion or any other great programs that are available.

Side note, Bethesda and similar majority Caucasian school districts are way out of our price range so we are focusing on DCC, so opinions on the schools that Great Schools say are good are not really relevant to us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know families who moved away from Tacoma park to Bethesda because the schools in TP were bad.

I call BS on this post.

DP. I call BS on this BS. The other poster bragged how the 97th percentile didn't get into the program, so that should tell you something. I'm familiar with the PBES program. I don't think it's any different than the W feeders. The main difference is TPMS, but now that it's a lottery, the program is not what it was. There's also an issue with the RLA program at PBES that was never fixed, imho. Both the P and teachers involved are still there. Not saying it's a bad program by any means, but the combination of lottery and a few bad apples dragged down the stature of the program overall.

This is very different than my experience. Both my kids loved TPES and PBES. They had no trouble making friends despite 10 classes. Both were consistently in the 96%-99% on both MAPs and so were many of their friends. Excellent schools. I could imagine better.

Well my kids hated them and found them very unfriendly. There is no “community” at the schools either among the kids or the families. We joined in 2nd and 4th grade and there is absolutely no welcome to new families, no effort from the PTA and no attempt to be inclusive. No efforts to involve anyone other than white upper class families as volunteers.

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience but the dozens of families I know who live within walking distance all disagree. In fact, it's a really tight knit community where everyone knows each other. Sure, kids may not all be in the same class each year but there are so many opportunities to interact with others that it hardly matters. Also, many great organizations like Takoma Soccer, D&D at the community center, or scouts that I can't help but think you weren't trying that hard.

I'm not the PP but this is a pretty unkind answer. I also question your use of the word "everyone" in terms of "everyone" knowing one another. There are more than 200 kids per grade at TPES and PBES. It's impossible for everyone to know each other.

I suspect that by "everyone" you actually mean all UMC white/Asian families who play Takoma Soccer and belong to Pack 33, which is a pretty narrow slice of "everyone."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know families who moved away from Tacoma park to Bethesda because the schools in TP were bad.

I call BS on this post.

DP. I call BS on this BS. The other poster bragged how the 97th percentile didn't get into the program, so that should tell you something. I'm familiar with the PBES program. I don't think it's any different than the W feeders. The main difference is TPMS, but now that it's a lottery, the program is not what it was. There's also an issue with the RLA program at PBES that was never fixed, imho. Both the P and teachers involved are still there. Not saying it's a bad program by any means, but the combination of lottery and a few bad apples dragged down the stature of the program overall.

This is very different than my experience. Both my kids loved TPES and PBES. They had no trouble making friends despite 10 classes. Both were consistently in the 96%-99% on both MAPs and so were many of their friends. Excellent schools. I could imagine better.

Well my kids hated them and found them very unfriendly. There is no “community” at the schools either among the kids or the families. We joined in 2nd and 4th grade and there is absolutely no welcome to new families, no effort from the PTA and no attempt to be inclusive. No efforts to involve anyone other than white upper class families as volunteers.

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience but the dozens of families I know who live within walking distance all disagree. In fact, it's a really tight knit community where everyone knows each other. Sure, kids may not all be in the same class each year but there are so many opportunities to interact with others that it hardly matters. Also, many great organizations like Takoma Soccer, D&D at the community center, or scouts that I can't help but think you weren't trying that hard.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know families who moved away from Tacoma park to Bethesda because the schools in TP were bad.

I call BS on this post.

DP. I call BS on this BS. The other poster bragged how the 97th percentile didn't get into the program, so that should tell you something. I'm familiar with the PBES program. I don't think it's any different than the W feeders. The main difference is TPMS, but now that it's a lottery, the program is not what it was. There's also an issue with the RLA program at PBES that was never fixed, imho. Both the P and teachers involved are still there. Not saying it's a bad program by any means, but the combination of lottery and a few bad apples dragged down the stature of the program overall.

This is very different than my experience. Both my kids loved TPES and PBES. They had no trouble making friends despite 10 classes. Both were consistently in the 96%-99% on both MAPs and so were many of their friends. Excellent schools. I could imagine better.

Well my kids hated them and found them very unfriendly. There is no “community” at the schools either among the kids or the families. We joined in 2nd and 4th grade and there is absolutely no welcome to new families, no effort from the PTA and no attempt to be inclusive. No efforts to involve anyone other than white upper class families as volunteers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know families who moved away from Tacoma park to Bethesda because the schools in TP were bad.

I call BS on this post.

DP. I call BS on this BS. The other poster bragged how the 97th percentile didn't get into the program, so that should tell you something. I'm familiar with the PBES program. I don't think it's any different than the W feeders. The main difference is TPMS, but now that it's a lottery, the program is not what it was. There's also an issue with the RLA program at PBES that was never fixed, imho. Both the P and teachers involved are still there. Not saying it's a bad program by any means, but the combination of lottery and a few bad apples dragged down the stature of the program overall.

This is very different than my experience. Both my kids loved TPES and PBES. They had no trouble making friends despite 10 classes. Both were consistently in the 96%-99% on both MAPs and so were many of their friends. Excellent schools. I could imagine better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. EDIT: we are not looking at Tacoma Washington, Tacoma DC, we are looking at Takoma Park Maryland. I apologize for my phone's autocorrect, I would have thought that was obvious given the forum I am posting in.

Thank you to everyone who had helpful replies.

To be more specific, we are currently in Anne Arundel County and have been less than impressed with the schools in general, especially since COVID.

I know MCPS has it's issues as well, but we were hoping to move to the DCC so that we could be closer to family, and be in an overall better school district. Also we would like to be closer to DC and away from the systemic racism and fairly extreme segregation we have experienced here (we moved here from NOVA 4 years ago, which we found pretty diverse).

My husband has his eyes set on Takoma Park (MD), because he has read great things about Montgomery Blair HS and the feeder middle schools, and also because he is a city boy and wants to be as close to DC as possible.

My oldest, who will be in middle school by the time we move, is a very bright girl who excels at math and STEM in general. The other two kids will be in probably kindergarten and third grade when we move.

The whole DCC school system in general is extremely confusing, and I did not even realize that Tacoma Park had two different schools for just elementary. Are there other schools in the Tacoma Park area that feed into Blair? And what are the opinions on the middle schools that feed into Blair? It's just so much to process compared to Anne Arundel county.

We just want the best for our kids, my husband and I are both in math/scientific/IT fields, and we feel our kids will probably excel at the same type of areas, but would also appreciate language immersion or any other great programs that are available.

Side note, Bethesda and similar majority Caucasian school districts are way out of our price range so we are focusing on DCC, so opinions on the schools that Great Schools say are good are not really relevant to us.

You might as well go for one of the feeders to Takoma Park MS which feeds to Blair ( TPES/PBES or ESSES). There are 25 seats set aside in the TPMS magnet program for in-boundary kids, so, you have a much better chance of getting into that program as an in-bounds student (can anyone confirm that this is still true post-pandemic for OP?).

Downtown Silver Spring is zoned for ESS/TPMS/Blair, is similarly diverse and progressive, but has a more “city” feel than TKPK. You can do more routine errands on foot and walk to more transit options, and you’d have more neighbors with one/no cars. Houses in the walkable areas of DTSS tend to skew cheaper than those in walking distance of the business areas of Takoma Park, too. And for homeowners, there are fewer rules and regulations to follow in DTSS. Takoma Park looks all free and easy, but try to cut down a tree and they’re as restrictive as any suburban HOA. Taxes are higher, too, because it’s an incorporated city with its own assessments on top of state and county taxes, whereas Silver Spring is unincorporated.

We were certain we wanted to live in Takoma Park, too. But when we looked at what we’d get for our $, we went with close-in Silver Spring. Never regretted it.

While there are some parts of Downtown Silver Spring that are zoned for ESS/TPMS/Blair, there are also other parts of DTSS zoned for Sligo Crrek/SSI/Blair or Sligo Creek/SSI/Northwood or Woodlin/Sligo/Einstein.

The Sligo and Woodlin areas are more Woodside-ish than downtown/east SS, but yes, some are also walkable to DTSS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know families who moved away from Tacoma park to Bethesda because the schools in TP were bad.

Tacoma is in Washington State, TaKoma is in Maryland

Takoma is in DC. Takoma Park is in Maryland.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. EDIT: we are not looking at Tacoma Washington, Tacoma DC, we are looking at Takoma Park Maryland. I apologize for my phone's autocorrect, I would have thought that was obvious given the forum I am posting in.

Thank you to everyone who had helpful replies.

To be more specific, we are currently in Anne Arundel County and have been less than impressed with the schools in general, especially since COVID.

I know MCPS has it's issues as well, but we were hoping to move to the DCC so that we could be closer to family, and be in an overall better school district. Also we would like to be closer to DC and away from the systemic racism and fairly extreme segregation we have experienced here (we moved here from NOVA 4 years ago, which we found pretty diverse).

My husband has his eyes set on Takoma Park (MD), because he has read great things about Montgomery Blair HS and the feeder middle schools, and also because he is a city boy and wants to be as close to DC as possible.

My oldest, who will be in middle school by the time we move, is a very bright girl who excels at math and STEM in general. The other two kids will be in probably kindergarten and third grade when we move.

The whole DCC school system in general is extremely confusing, and I did not even realize that Tacoma Park had two different schools for just elementary. Are there other schools in the Tacoma Park area that feed into Blair? And what are the opinions on the middle schools that feed into Blair? It's just so much to process compared to Anne Arundel county.

We just want the best for our kids, my husband and I are both in math/scientific/IT fields, and we feel our kids will probably excel at the same type of areas, but would also appreciate language immersion or any other great programs that are available.

Side note, Bethesda and similar majority Caucasian school districts are way out of our price range so we are focusing on DCC, so opinions on the schools that Great Schools say are good are not really relevant to us.

You might as well go for one of the feeders to Takoma Park MS which feeds to Blair ( TPES/PBES or ESSES). There are 25 seats set aside in the TPMS magnet program for in-boundary kids, so, you have a much better chance of getting into that program as an in-bounds student (can anyone confirm that this is still true post-pandemic for OP?).

Downtown Silver Spring is zoned for ESS/TPMS/Blair, is similarly diverse and progressive, but has a more “city” feel than TKPK. You can do more routine errands on foot and walk to more transit options, and you’d have more neighbors with one/no cars. Houses in the walkable areas of DTSS tend to skew cheaper than those in walking distance of the business areas of Takoma Park, too. And for homeowners, there are fewer rules and regulations to follow in DTSS. Takoma Park looks all free and easy, but try to cut down a tree and they’re as restrictive as any suburban HOA. Taxes are higher, too, because it’s an incorporated city with its own assessments on top of state and county taxes, whereas Silver Spring is unincorporated.

We were certain we wanted to live in Takoma Park, too. But when we looked at what we’d get for our $, we went with close-in Silver Spring. Never regretted it.

While there are some parts of Downtown Silver Spring that are zoned for ESS/TPMS/Blair, there are also other parts of DTSS zoned for Sligo Crrek/SSI/Blair or Sligo Creek/SSI/Northwood or Woodlin/Sligo/Einstein.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. EDIT: we are not looking at Tacoma Washington, Tacoma DC, we are looking at Takoma Park Maryland. I apologize for my phone's autocorrect, I would have thought that was obvious given the forum I am posting in.

Thank you to everyone who had helpful replies.

To be more specific, we are currently in Anne Arundel County and have been less than impressed with the schools in general, especially since COVID.

I know MCPS has it's issues as well, but we were hoping to move to the DCC so that we could be closer to family, and be in an overall better school district. Also we would like to be closer to DC and away from the systemic racism and fairly extreme segregation we have experienced here (we moved here from NOVA 4 years ago, which we found pretty diverse).

My husband has his eyes set on Takoma Park (MD), because he has read great things about Montgomery Blair HS and the feeder middle schools, and also because he is a city boy and wants to be as close to DC as possible.

My oldest, who will be in middle school by the time we move, is a very bright girl who excels at math and STEM in general. The other two kids will be in probably kindergarten and third grade when we move.

The whole DCC school system in general is extremely confusing, and I did not even realize that Tacoma Park had two different schools for just elementary. Are there other schools in the Tacoma Park area that feed into Blair? And what are the opinions on the middle schools that feed into Blair? It's just so much to process compared to Anne Arundel county.

We just want the best for our kids, my husband and I are both in math/scientific/IT fields, and we feel our kids will probably excel at the same type of areas, but would also appreciate language immersion or any other great programs that are available.

Side note, Bethesda and similar majority Caucasian school districts are way out of our price range so we are focusing on DCC, so opinions on the schools that Great Schools say are good are not really relevant to us.

You might as well go for one of the feeders to Takoma Park MS which feeds to Blair ( TPES/PBES or ESSES). There are 25 seats set aside in the TPMS magnet program for in-boundary kids, so, you have a much better chance of getting into that program as an in-bounds student (can anyone confirm that this is still true post-pandemic for OP?).

Downtown Silver Spring is zoned for ESS/TPMS/Blair, is similarly diverse and progressive, but has a more “city” feel than TKPK. You can do more routine errands on foot and walk to more transit options, and you’d have more neighbors with one/no cars. Houses in the walkable areas of DTSS tend to skew cheaper than those in walking distance of the business areas of Takoma Park, too. And for homeowners, there are fewer rules and regulations to follow in DTSS. Takoma Park looks all free and easy, but try to cut down a tree and they’re as restrictive as any suburban HOA. Taxes are higher, too, because it’s an incorporated city with its own assessments on top of state and county taxes, whereas Silver Spring is unincorporated.

We were certain we wanted to live in Takoma Park, too. But when we looked at what we’d get for our $, we went with close-in Silver Spring. Never regretted it.

While there are some parts of Downtown Silver Spring that are zoned for ESS/TPMS/Blair, there are also other parts of DTSS zoned for Sligo Crrek/SSI/Blair or Sligo Creek/SSI/Northwood or Woodlin/Sligo/Einstein.

Aren't their parts of SS even zoned for BCC even? After all it's inside the beltway and just across the park.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. EDIT: we are not looking at Tacoma Washington, Tacoma DC, we are looking at Takoma Park Maryland. I apologize for my phone's autocorrect, I would have thought that was obvious given the forum I am posting in.

Thank you to everyone who had helpful replies.

To be more specific, we are currently in Anne Arundel County and have been less than impressed with the schools in general, especially since COVID.

I know MCPS has it's issues as well, but we were hoping to move to the DCC so that we could be closer to family, and be in an overall better school district. Also we would like to be closer to DC and away from the systemic racism and fairly extreme segregation we have experienced here (we moved here from NOVA 4 years ago, which we found pretty diverse).

My husband has his eyes set on Takoma Park (MD), because he has read great things about Montgomery Blair HS and the feeder middle schools, and also because he is a city boy and wants to be as close to DC as possible.

My oldest, who will be in middle school by the time we move, is a very bright girl who excels at math and STEM in general. The other two kids will be in probably kindergarten and third grade when we move.

The whole DCC school system in general is extremely confusing, and I did not even realize that Tacoma Park had two different schools for just elementary. Are there other schools in the Tacoma Park area that feed into Blair? And what are the opinions on the middle schools that feed into Blair? It's just so much to process compared to Anne Arundel county.

We just want the best for our kids, my husband and I are both in math/scientific/IT fields, and we feel our kids will probably excel at the same type of areas, but would also appreciate language immersion or any other great programs that are available.

Side note, Bethesda and similar majority Caucasian school districts are way out of our price range so we are focusing on DCC, so opinions on the schools that Great Schools say are good are not really relevant to us.

You might as well go for one of the feeders to Takoma Park MS which feeds to Blair ( TPES/PBES or ESSES). There are 25 seats set aside in the TPMS magnet program for in-boundary kids, so, you have a much better chance of getting into that program as an in-bounds student (can anyone confirm that this is still true post-pandemic for OP?).

Downtown Silver Spring is zoned for ESS/TPMS/Blair, is similarly diverse and progressive, but has a more “city” feel than TKPK. You can do more routine errands on foot and walk to more transit options, and you’d have more neighbors with one/no cars. Houses in the walkable areas of DTSS tend to skew cheaper than those in walking distance of the business areas of Takoma Park, too. And for homeowners, there are fewer rules and regulations to follow in DTSS. Takoma Park looks all free and easy, but try to cut down a tree and they’re as restrictive as any suburban HOA. Taxes are higher, too, because it’s an incorporated city with its own assessments on top of state and county taxes, whereas Silver Spring is unincorporated.

We were certain we wanted to live in Takoma Park, too. But when we looked at what we’d get for our $, we went with close-in Silver Spring. Never regretted it.

While there are some parts of Downtown Silver Spring that are zoned for ESS/TPMS/Blair, there are also other parts of DTSS zoned for Sligo Crrek/SSI/Blair or Sligo Creek/SSI/Northwood or Woodlin/Sligo/Einstein.