We bought in a W cluster for the schools. The ES our neighborhood is zoned to turned out to be terrible. We were so focused on the high schools that we assumed any ES in the cluster would be great. We were wrong. We're going private in the fall. In hindsight, although we love our house and neighborhood, we would have looked harder for a good ES OR bought somewhere cheaper knowing we would go private. Point being - just because an ES is in one of those wonderful "W" clusters, doesn't mean it's good. The county curriculum is the same throughout the county. Individual schools make HUGELY varying efforts to enhance it. Ours did nothing.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Sorry for the vagueness of the question. I realize now it's a huge system and will require tons of research.
Basically, I work in downtown DC but am looking to make a move to another location in Maryland. DH works in Moco already, all over but mostly Rockville. Budget would be about 350k due to massive student loans. We are completely willing to buy a place that needs work in order to get a little more space and yard.

You could get a small ranch in my neighborhood, Sligo Woods, zoned for Forest Knolls. We are in Silver Spring just outside the Beltway in a neighborhood called Sligo Woods, 20901.

It is a nice calm family friendly neighborhood.

OP..please find another source. This board is just about singing the praises of ones own school and tearing apart others (which they generally know little about)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our son is 4 months old.. So I am looking at the long game I suppose

MCPS has changed and continues to change drastically. By the time your DC goes to school, it will be a completely different place.

This. The same schools that were great for my older child were not so great when her sibling reached school age. Even accounting for personality differences, it was clear that particular cluster was not going to be able to serve my younger child well. We opted for private as did nearly all our friends. Those who didn't, moved away. I wouldn't want to live in B-CC or Potomac even if we could afford to. I refuse to add 20 min to my commute to live in HoCo.

This type of argument is worthless and only proves my point which is go to the zone that's good now. No one has anyway to predict these changes and if what you say is true as far as changing so rapidly then you are best just going with the flow. If you can't deal with change that is happening your only option is to be flexible in your housing and move or go private and stay put.

Unnecessarily nasty post, PP. You are just too dense to understand, maybe. No one can predict the future but it's not hard to predict which direction the changes are happening. Anyone with more one brain cell should be able to tell. But, maybe not you.

Feel free to give a run down of which zones are on a come up in the next 10-20 years...

Anonymous wrote:For decades: Whitman cluster, BCC cluster, Churchill cluster, Wooton cluster, Walter Johnson cluster -- all safe 'bets'

if you want to create an anxious child who's on suicide watch b/c the parents travel from class to class in their helipcoters

but yeah, safe bet . . .

Barnsley isn't a focus school. It does have a highly gifted program though.

Anonymous wrote:By the way.. thank you for everyone who has responded. Montgomery County appears to have this gold standard of schools, but when I scratch the surface, it's not evenly distributed. I don't mind a less than perfect school, I know it's all nebulous for the most part. I just don't want to unknowingly buy in a cluster that is a total nightmare for whatever reason.

You won't necessarily get the correct information on this site. Most of the posters are beyond politically correct and won't dare mention that certain schools are havens for gang activity and that in others English is a second language. A smart home buyer doesn't consult these bullshit sites run by real estate agents. A smart parent will park outside the school of choice at 2:30 and see who comes out the front door at dismissal time.

What is a FOCUS school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Sorry for the vagueness of the question. I realize now it's a huge system and will require tons of research.
Basically, I work in downtown DC but am looking to make a move to another location in Maryland. DH works in Moco already, all over but mostly Rockville. Budget would be about 350k due to massive student loans. We are completely willing to buy a place that needs work in order to get a little more space and yard.

Look in the Rockville cluster! It's a hidden gem. You can buy in at 350 (but easier at 400), especially if you're willing to put some work into the house. We're in Barnsely ES and loooove the neighborhood -- everyone loves the school.

FTR, Barnsley is really overcrowded (like all the other ESs). They're planning an addition on the school for next year, but it's a HUGE school as far as an ES goes. And, it's a FOCUS School, if that's of interest.

I was going to answer the question about class sizes in Howard County but if you are working in MoCo and DC, you don't want to live in Howard County. Good luck in your house search.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For decades: Whitman cluster, BCC cluster, Churchill cluster, Wooton cluster, Walter Johnson cluster -- all safe 'bets'

Not Churchill. I would suggest Whitman. Even the MS is good.

And Cabin John MS is not? Downside to Whitman is crowding.

Anonymous wrote:For decades: Whitman cluster, BCC cluster, Churchill cluster, Wooton cluster, Walter Johnson cluster -- all safe 'bets'

Not Churchill. I would suggest Whitman. Even the MS is good.

Really depends on budget...there are the traditional W schools (Churchill/Whitman/WJ/BCC) the close to W school (Wootton) and everything else. The traditional Ws will require a budget of $750 minimum. $500 will get you to Wooton. After that you can find things for $350-$450 in strong but either further out areas or smaller in closer-in areas.

Anonymous wrote:MCPS used to be A+ school district. Now, it's, at best, a B school district. In 10 years, it will be a C district... Only 1/2 step ahead of PG schools. It's really a sad story.

Methinks you have very little experience with or knowledge about PG County schools!

OP - why don't you rent for 2-3 years pre-school to get a better feel for where you want to be, and save up for a downpayment? You could easily get a 2br apartment that is perfectly nice for sub-2k in upper MoCo. If your kid is 4 months, there's no urgency to buy, and arguably a benefit in waiting.