Anonymous
Post 12/12/2017 12:29     Subject: Re:Cold Spring ES
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Cold Spring’s diversity is non existent which is why we never considered it for our children. It doesn’t matter to me how great a fifth grade teacher is when the children are not exposed to diversity. Less than 5% FARMS, less than 5% ESOL, less than 5% Black, just 8% Hispanic. It is a very very small school with no student or staff diversity. Children benefit from diversity. I would not want my kids to go here.


For us, we get plenty of diversity at CSES. In my kid's class, a large group of the class are minorities, with the parents coming from different continents and many different countries. The economic component seems not super rich nor super poor. To me, I define that as reasonable diversity. So I think it really depends on if you are talking about race or other components. I am just as happy having my kids befriend families from Australia, Russia, Nigera, and not just focus on the race component.


CSES is ethnically biracial and has no economic diversity. Everybody is upper middle class
Anonymous
Post 12/12/2017 09:28     Subject: Cold Spring ES
We were at Cold Spring for 2 years and it was very diverse. Maybe not your kind of diverse, but here we go with the ol' "my kids will be better people for having spent some time with poor kids who can't speak English" story...
Anonymous
Post 12/12/2017 09:05     Subject: Re:Cold Spring ES
Anonymous wrote:Cold Spring’s diversity is non existent which is why we never considered it for our children. It doesn’t matter to me how great a fifth grade teacher is when the children are not exposed to diversity. Less than 5% FARMS, less than 5% ESOL, less than 5% Black, just 8% Hispanic. It is a very very small school with no student or staff diversity. Children benefit from diversity. I would not want my kids to go here.


For us, we get plenty of diversity at CSES. In my kid's class, a large group of the class are minorities, with the parents coming from different continents and many different countries. The economic component seems not super rich nor super poor. To me, I define that as reasonable diversity. So I think it really depends on if you are talking about race or other components. I am just as happy having my kids befriend families from Australia, Russia, Nigera, and not just focus on the race component.
Anonymous
Post 12/12/2017 06:07     Subject: Re:Cold Spring ES
Cold Spring’s diversity is non existent which is why we never considered it for our children. It doesn’t matter to me how great a fifth grade teacher is when the children are not exposed to diversity. Less than 5% FARMS, less than 5% ESOL, less than 5% Black, just 8% Hispanic. It is a very very small school with no student or staff diversity. Children benefit from diversity. I would not want my kids to go here.
Anonymous
Post 12/11/2017 15:11     Subject: Cold Spring ES
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Having not being to this forum for more than 3 years. Still, totally unplanned, I went through all the posts in this topic.

As a CSES parent, I have to warn you a couple of things.
- This is a "traditional" school. Teachers do teach, there is a fair amount of homework and teachers do grade homework, teachers are responsible just like what I had 30 years ago. If students do not work on their classwork or homework, they do get a bad grade. This is not the case in many MCPS elementary schools today. Well, I do know a number of elementary schools and did visit more than 10 in the area.
- The Cold Spring CES (formally called HGC) is the hardest one to get in among all MCPS CESs. If you put your bet on CES, you are against all odds. But, this is a "traditional" school, your kids won't miss anything even if they are not in CES. They will learn a lot.

CSES was the first elementary school that my family visited. My wife and I did not choose the school at the first sight. However, it turns out that CSES offers the best trade off if it is within the budget.

- 15-25 min less each way (Travillah / Stone Mill) during early traffic hours to DC/VA.
- ~35 min to DC center via GWMP when there is no traffic.
- A few minutes to Montgomery Mall.
- With sidewalk pretty much everywhere, walking to school is a valid option.
- Cabin John MS changed its principal 18 months ago and recently, got #1 in Niche ranking among all Maryland middle school.



By, "side walk pretty much everywhere," did you perhaps mean, "sidewalks are only found on Falls Chapel Way--and even then only on one side of the street?" There are no sidewalks in Fox Hills West on other streets.



Let me correct myself. Cold Spring Rd also has a sidewalk on one side of the street, but only along the part adjacent to Falls Rd Park.

+1 A friend lives in the CS zone. They complain all the time of the lack of sidewalks down a fairly busy road like Cold Spring Rd, where often times, cars speed. The majority of the walk to CS (no bus service) has no sidewalk.
Anonymous
Post 12/11/2017 15:09     Subject: Cold Spring ES
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Having not being to this forum for more than 3 years. Still, totally unplanned, I went through all the posts in this topic.

As a CSES parent, I have to warn you a couple of things.
- This is a "traditional" school. Teachers do teach, there is a fair amount of homework and teachers do grade homework, teachers are responsible just like what I had 30 years ago. If students do not work on their classwork or homework, they do get a bad grade. This is not the case in many MCPS elementary schools today. Well, I do know a number of elementary schools and did visit more than 10 in the area.
- The Cold Spring CES (formally called HGC) is the hardest one to get in among all MCPS CESs. If you put your bet on CES, you are against all odds. But, this is a "traditional" school, your kids won't miss anything even if they are not in CES. They will learn a lot.

CSES was the first elementary school that my family visited. My wife and I did not choose the school at the first sight. However, it turns out that CSES offers the best trade off if it is within the budget.

- 15-25 min less each way (Travillah / Stone Mill) during early traffic hours to DC/VA.
- ~35 min to DC center via GWMP when there is no traffic.
- A few minutes to Montgomery Mall.
- With sidewalk pretty much everywhere, walking to school is a valid option.
- Cabin John MS changed its principal 18 months ago and recently, got #1 in Niche ranking among all Maryland middle school.



By, "side walk pretty much everywhere," did you perhaps mean, "sidewalks are only found on Falls Chapel Way--and even then only on one side of the street?" There are no sidewalks in Fox Hills West on other streets.



Let me correct myself. Cold Spring Rd also has a sidewalk on one side of the street, but only along the part adjacent to Falls Rd Park.
Anonymous
Post 12/11/2017 15:06     Subject: Cold Spring ES
Anonymous wrote:Having not being to this forum for more than 3 years. Still, totally unplanned, I went through all the posts in this topic.

As a CSES parent, I have to warn you a couple of things.
- This is a "traditional" school. Teachers do teach, there is a fair amount of homework and teachers do grade homework, teachers are responsible just like what I had 30 years ago. If students do not work on their classwork or homework, they do get a bad grade. This is not the case in many MCPS elementary schools today. Well, I do know a number of elementary schools and did visit more than 10 in the area.
- The Cold Spring CES (formally called HGC) is the hardest one to get in among all MCPS CESs. If you put your bet on CES, you are against all odds. But, this is a "traditional" school, your kids won't miss anything even if they are not in CES. They will learn a lot.

CSES was the first elementary school that my family visited. My wife and I did not choose the school at the first sight. However, it turns out that CSES offers the best trade off if it is within the budget.

- 15-25 min less each way (Travillah / Stone Mill) during early traffic hours to DC/VA.
- ~35 min to DC center via GWMP when there is no traffic.
- A few minutes to Montgomery Mall.
- With sidewalk pretty much everywhere, walking to school is a valid option.
- Cabin John MS changed its principal 18 months ago and recently, got #1 in Niche ranking among all Maryland middle school.



By, "side walk pretty much everywhere," did you perhaps mean, "sidewalks are only found on Falls Chapel Way--and even then only on one side of the street?" There are no sidewalks in Fox Hills West on other streets.
Anonymous
Post 12/11/2017 13:15     Subject: Cold Spring ES
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The class sizes are getting so small that they are now having split grade classes.


Yeah, that school is as good as gone. After Crown will be built, they will move Fallsgrove out and Falls Chapel/Copenhaven into Ritchie Park and the rest to Beverly Farms.

They should had worked with Horizon Hill and Montgomery Square to get them over to the school years ago. Too late now. With no new increase in enrollment and Wayside and Beverly Farms under capacity by 20%, Cold Spring will never get a rebuild. They will get dispersed and HGC will move to Wayside.


Amazing that mcps would close a school rather than changing the boundaries when so much capacity is needed.


Crown will be a high school. No elementary boundaries will change. They are not going to close low enrollment schools. The BoE specifically passed a resolution during the RMES 5 decision to look at Cold Spring and other low enrollment schools if any school in the RM cluster winds up with 4 or more portables in the next 5 years. They will use Cold Spring to siphon off over enrollment at other cluster elementary schools.

Oh, I didn't hear this part.


Cold Spring was specifically mentioned during the RM ES #5 BoE vote and resolution discussion on 11/27, though it is not specifically named in the resolution itself (you can watch the video of the hearing online). Here is the official wording of the amendment: "Resolved, That capacity issues in the Richard Montgomery Cluster should be reviewed to identify
possible options to address elementary school capacity if an elementary school in the cluster is projected
to require more than four relocatable classroom units in the six year period, or at the end of the fifth
year of operation of the new Richard Montgomery Elementary School #5 and that the superintendent
of schools provide a recommendation to the Board of Education based on those options as part
of the Capital Improvements Program process;"

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/boundarystudypdfs/RMES5_AdoptedBoundaries.pdf

Anonymous
Post 12/11/2017 13:05     Subject: Cold Spring ES
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The class sizes are getting so small that they are now having split grade classes.


Yeah, that school is as good as gone. After Crown will be built, they will move Fallsgrove out and Falls Chapel/Copenhaven into Ritchie Park and the rest to Beverly Farms.

They should had worked with Horizon Hill and Montgomery Square to get them over to the school years ago. Too late now. With no new increase in enrollment and Wayside and Beverly Farms under capacity by 20%, Cold Spring will never get a rebuild. They will get dispersed and HGC will move to Wayside.


Amazing that mcps would close a school rather than changing the boundaries when so much capacity is needed.


Crown will be a high school. No elementary boundaries will change. They are not going to close low enrollment schools. The BoE specifically passed a resolution during the RMES 5 decision to look at Cold Spring and other low enrollment schools if any school in the RM cluster winds up with 4 or more portables in the next 5 years. They will use Cold Spring to siphon off over enrollment at other cluster elementary schools.

Oh, I didn't hear this part.
Anonymous
Post 12/11/2017 12:49     Subject: Cold Spring ES
Way too much emphasis on the elementary schools. Any of those will be fine. My kids went to Travilah, and one went to the gifted program at Cold Spring. It's all a distant memory now, and honestly, while we had the same angst back then, I don't really think their elementary paths made much difference at all.

If I had to do it all over again, I would live walking distance (or a very close drive) to my high school of choice and let the chips fall where they may on the elementary and middle school. It will be here before you know it.
Anonymous
Post 12/11/2017 12:18     Subject: Cold Spring ES
Anonymous wrote:Having not being to this forum for more than 3 years. Still, totally unplanned, I went through all the posts in this topic.

As a CSES parent, I have to warn you a couple of things.
- This is a "traditional" school. Teachers do teach, there is a fair amount of homework and teachers do grade homework, teachers are responsible just like what I had 30 years ago. If students do not work on their classwork or homework, they do get a bad grade. This is not the case in many MCPS elementary schools today. Well, I do know a number of elementary schools and did visit more than 10 in the area.
- The Cold Spring CES (formally called HGC) is the hardest one to get in among all MCPS CESs. If you put your bet on CES, you are against all odds. But, this is a "traditional" school, your kids won't miss anything even if they are not in CES. They will learn a lot.

CSES was the first elementary school that my family visited. My wife and I did not choose the school at the first sight. However, it turns out that CSES offers the best trade off if it is within the budget.

- 15-25 min less each way (Travillah / Stone Mill) during early traffic hours to DC/VA.
- ~35 min to DC center via GWMP when there is no traffic.
- A few minutes to Montgomery Mall.
- With sidewalk pretty much everywhere, walking to school is a valid option.
- Cabin John MS changed its principal 18 months ago and recently, got #1 in Niche ranking among all Maryland middle school.



Another CSES parent here. In our experience, homework is graded but not in the actual letter grade in one of the main subjects. The homework and project grades are counted towards the "Task Completion" category of the report card. My kid is not allowed to do schoolwork at home. All graded work is to be done at school. Homework is heavy, and projects are fun (though time consuming).
Anonymous
Post 12/11/2017 11:15     Subject: Cold Spring ES
Having not being to this forum for more than 3 years. Still, totally unplanned, I went through all the posts in this topic.

As a CSES parent, I have to warn you a couple of things.
- This is a "traditional" school. Teachers do teach, there is a fair amount of homework and teachers do grade homework, teachers are responsible just like what I had 30 years ago. If students do not work on their classwork or homework, they do get a bad grade. This is not the case in many MCPS elementary schools today. Well, I do know a number of elementary schools and did visit more than 10 in the area.
- The Cold Spring CES (formally called HGC) is the hardest one to get in among all MCPS CESs. If you put your bet on CES, you are against all odds. But, this is a "traditional" school, your kids won't miss anything even if they are not in CES. They will learn a lot.

CSES was the first elementary school that my family visited. My wife and I did not choose the school at the first sight. However, it turns out that CSES offers the best trade off if it is within the budget.

- 15-25 min less each way (Travillah / Stone Mill) during early traffic hours to DC/VA.
- ~35 min to DC center via GWMP when there is no traffic.
- A few minutes to Montgomery Mall.
- With sidewalk pretty much everywhere, walking to school is a valid option.
- Cabin John MS changed its principal 18 months ago and recently, got #1 in Niche ranking among all Maryland middle school.

Anonymous
Post 12/08/2017 08:59     Subject: Re:Cold Spring ES
Anonymous wrote:CSES is a wonderful school, the gifted center as well as the whole school. Our child went there as it was our home school and then also got into the GT program there. The 5th grade teacher is wonderful and she has been there for a very long time. She is very well respected and we were very happy with her, she teaches English and does some wonderful projects with the kids. My kid who is now in TPMS (STEM magnet) does less challenging projects in middle school as compared to what this teacher taught them in 5th grade. They do plenty of writing and reading projects and a wonderful Shakespeare play towards the end of the year where the kids and parents as well as former students participate and have a wonderful time.My child was certainly well prepared for TPMS magnet because of CSES.
Overall, I would give CSES a 10/10!


Regular family here. It is a wonderful school. The new principal is terrific. We love the small community feel and that the staff know all the children. The one 5th grade teacher above PP speaks of is really a gem. However, there is another teacher that moved from the regular program some years ago and is to be avoided. Of course, OP by the time your child gets there the teachers are unlikely to be the same.
Anonymous
Post 12/07/2017 13:57     Subject: Cold Spring ES
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The class sizes are getting so small that they are now having split grade classes.


Yeah, that school is as good as gone. After Crown will be built, they will move Fallsgrove out and Falls Chapel/Copenhaven into Ritchie Park and the rest to Beverly Farms.

They should had worked with Horizon Hill and Montgomery Square to get them over to the school years ago. Too late now. With no new increase in enrollment and Wayside and Beverly Farms under capacity by 20%, Cold Spring will never get a rebuild. They will get dispersed and HGC will move to Wayside.


Amazing that mcps would close a school rather than changing the boundaries when so much capacity is needed.


Crown will be a high school. No elementary boundaries will change. They are not going to close low enrollment schools. The BoE specifically passed a resolution during the RMES 5 decision to look at Cold Spring and other low enrollment schools if any school in the RM cluster winds up with 4 or more portables in the next 5 years. They will use Cold Spring to siphon off over enrollment at other cluster elementary schools.
Anonymous
Post 12/07/2017 13:46     Subject: Cold Spring ES
These scores are actually the MEDIAN scores of students admitted to the center.

From Purple Math: The "mean" is the "average" you're used to, where you add up all the numbers and then divide by the number of numbers. The "median" is the "middle" value in the list of numbers.