Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arcola used to be a very nice middle class Jewish area. It has declined into a very low SES area with a lot of families that also do not speak English. So sad.

yep and Orthodox Jews have no experience whatsoever with being a stranger in another land and having to learn the language and customs.

Also Orthodox Jews don't really use public School they attend yeshivas

This is so anti-Semetic, I can't even.

And, Orthodox Jews have NEVER lived in the Arcola ES zone in any large numbers. There were Conservative Jews a long time ago when HTAA was a more popular synagogue, but Orthodox Jews are a small minority of those who live in the Arcola ES district.

What part is anti-Semitic? The part where Jews have lived all over the world since diaspora? Or the fact that there are two yeshivas in Kemp Mill?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arcola used to be a very nice middle class Jewish area. It has declined into a very low SES area with a lot of families that also do not speak English. So sad.

yep and Orthodox Jews have no experience whatsoever with being a stranger in another land and having to learn the language and customs.

Also Orthodox Jews don't really use public School they attend yeshivas

This is so anti-Semetic, I can't even.

And, Orthodox Jews have NEVER lived in the Arcola ES zone in any large numbers. There were Conservative Jews a long time ago when HTAA was a more popular synagogue, but Orthodox Jews are a small minority of those who live in the Arcola ES district.

Anonymous wrote:Arcola used to be a very nice middle class Jewish area. It has declined into a very low SES area with a lot of families that also do not speak English. So sad.

yep and Orthodox Jews have no experience whatsoever with being a stranger in another land and having to learn the language and customs.

Also Orthodox Jews don't really use public School they attend yeshivas

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not an Arcola parent but a MCPS teacher. Arcola has a high FARMS (free and reduced meals services) student population, which means many of the students are low income and highly impoverished. Arcola also has a high student population where English is not the first language of many of the students. This, in addition to other factors such as its low test scores have made Arcola a year round school program in MCPS. Arcola is one of two schools where the students attend all year round.

I personally, would not move into that cluster, perhaps try other clusters to see where your budget could work. Downtown Silver Spring has better schools such as Woodlin, Flora Singer, Oakview, Pinecrest ES, Rock Creek Forrest or try the Takoma Park area---- Sligo Creek ES or Takoma Park ES.

I really REALLY hope you are not a teacher at Arcola.

Likewise.

I really hope you aren't a teacher who has such a low opinion of students

Anonymous wrote:Just to clarify some misinformation about Kemp Mill ES from a PP, students entering K-3 will all be taught in both English and Spanish. Eventually, the entire school will be taught in this way.

My youngest was in the first kindergarten class that was 100% dual language, with no English-only option, starting in 2016. The way dual language is implemented there now is ridiculous (one week in only Spanish all day (other than specials), the next in English, with no overlap in instruction), and has led to even worse English reading levels at that school. We left that school after his kindergarten year, and he's doing amazingly well elsewhere. He's going into 3rd grade this year, so his grade and every grade below has been subject to the 100% dual language requirement. If you don't want dual language, MCPS offers a COSA to Glen Haven ES, but you have to provide your own transportation. For the first time next year, Lee MS wil have a Spanish-language 6th grade World Studies class for students wanting to continue immersion, as well as Spanish for immersion students. However, Lee MS is probably the worst middle school overall in Silver Spring. They're constructing a new school building on the grounds that is supposed to be completed in 2 years, but it will have a different name (Col. E. Brooke Lee was responsible for the law forbidding "colored" people from in Montgomery County unless they were live-in servants of the rich whites.)

My oldest was at KMES when you had to enter a lottery to be in dual language; there were 5 dual language classes and one English-only class. The current rising 4th and 5th graders came in under the old system. It was taught differently - half day in each language, with good support for covering what was taught in the students' non-native language. By the end of 1st grade, he was quite proficient, but not yet fluent, and read in both languages above grade level. When he was in 2nd grade, the new principal told the 2nd grade teachers to stop the dual language and teach only in English to bring up test scores. The backlash was harsh, as many parents really liked the dual language program. The result was that, when he was in 3rd grade, the new system of the week on/week off languages was added for all grades in the dual language. Imaging being 8 years old and having not studied the second language for a year, then being dropped into full immersion taught by teachers who are used to students' having already had 3 straight years of instruction. He was told he couldn't switch to the English-only class, as it was reserved for remedial students only, and there would be no enrichment, even in math. Before the current principal, KMES used some Title I funds to support an enrichment specialist, and top students would be pulled out for advanced math instruction. The new principal stopped all of that, and all the attention is on remedial students. If your student is a little below grade level, they consider that "good enough" because their focus is on the many severe remedial cases, which is not helped by their dual-language system. The school has had a > 100% teacher turnover, and the teachers are constantly petitioning the county to get rid of that principal, who has made the school look and feel like a prison, with giant Big Brother Is Watching You type posters of the principal with his arms crossed all over the school, and a 10-foot fence surrounding the school.

My oldest managed to escape to the CES for 4th grade, so he has not had Spanish instruction for the past 2 years. He's going to middle school next year and is signed up for Spanish 1, and does not remember any Spanish from KMES.

People have it all wrong, schools like Arcola are necessary. Without it those kids would drag down another school. No school will do great with that much poverty, disfunction and chaos. Could you imagine an extra 100 high needs kids at a school like PBES or ESS

Typical silver spring school

My 2 kids started at Kemp Mill ES, but my oldest got into the Pine Crest CES, and the younger one followed to the lower elementary at Montgomery Knolls. We have been told by parents of students who came from both Arcola and Glenallan that both schools were terrible, and that the were glad to be out of there and at the CES. Kemp Mill was even worse than the others. All of those parents who were mapped to Lee MS have either gotten their kids into a magnet middle school or have made other arrangements for middle school. I can't stress enough how much you should avoid being in the Lee MS zone!

Kemp Mill was so awful, we couldn't wait for our oldest to get out. It's 100% dual language, with > 70% being native Spanish speakers, and they switched to follow a system in which one week is entirely in one language, then the next week continues in the other language. While we were there, all but 1 of the native Spanish speakers in my oldest's grade was fluent with spoken English, so they lost nothing in the switch. All of the native English speakers were lost for the Spanish week, but they were such a small minority that the teachers ignored it - just chalking it up to the students generally being less capable. My youngest spent one year there in kindergarten and was quickly lost, and was a semester behind in reading, which we were told was about normal for Kemp Mill students. We were allowed to move him to MKES on a COSA to avoid the dual language because his brother was going to Pine Crest (the usual English option is Glen Haven ES). Within a quarter, with all-English instruction and reading focus help, he was a semester ahead (and stopped the focus help after the first quarter), and is more than a year ahead in reading now. Kemp Mill would not have helped at all, as they consider a semester behind to be "normal."

Here's what I wish I'd known before moving to this area:

I would really recommend that you look at the middle school you want, then pick an elementary school in that zone. There are not many options for middle school magnets or special programs, but lots for high school.

If your child (or family) is very STEM-oriented, then go to the Takoma Park ES zone, which is the lower elementary that feeds into the Piney Branch upper elementary, which feed to Takoma Park MS. 1/2 of the 2nd and 3rd graders are in a science magnet, then Piney Branch has a local CES for that school only, then TPMS has 25 seats reserved in their magnet for students in their local feeders, but those seats generally go to the Piney Branch CES students. It's less competitive than the 6000 MCPS students/year competing for the 100 other magnet seats. (We were lucky enough to get one of the 100 seats.)

Similarly, if your child (or family) is very Humanities-oriented, then go to the Montgomery Knolls ES zone (which is the lower elementary that feeds into the Pine Crest upper elementary) or the New Hampshire Estates ES zone (which is the lower elementary that feeds into the Oak View upper elementary), both of which feed to Eastern MS. Both CES schools draw more students from their 3rd grade than is represented by any other school in the CES area, then Eastern has 10-20 seats reserved in their magnet for students in Pine Crest and Oak View (living in that zone, not bussing in as CES students). It's less competitive than the 6000 MCPS students/year competing for the 100 other magnet seats. Warning about these elementary pairs - the lower elementary is not located near the upper elementary, so if you're considering living near the school to walk to/from, you have to pick one, and if you're within a mile radius of the other school, you will not have a bus.

Both TPMS and Eastern MS feed into Montgomery Blair HS, which is arguably the most desirable (if the most crowded) high school in the downcounty consortium (DCC). While there is a lottery for placement among the 5 DCC schools, it's generally not possible to get into Blair if you're not already in the feeder zone. There are a few magnet programs at Blair, including the highly-regarded STEM magnet, which is unrelated to the lottery.

Alternatively, there's the middle school magnet consortium, which is an area in Wheaton in which, if your child attends any of the elementary schools in any of the 3 middle school areas, they can choose which middle school they want to attend and a bus will be provided. > 90% of students get their first choice. Our of consortium students can enter a lottery for < 100 spots in each school, with no transportation provided. Each school has a magnet focus: Loiederman = theater and arts, Parkland = aerospace engineering, Argyle = computer programming.

There are other middle schools in the Silver Spring area that are considered very good by the CES parents we know. Sligo has recently improved significantly and is making a real effort at keeping the smart kids in their area, and Silver Spring International (also a magnet for dual language) similarly has a good reputation. The non-magnet programs at TPMS and Eastern are less well-regarded, and there is no magnet-level math class at Eastern or magnet-level world studies at TPMS, both of which are available at other middle schools. Any of them is better than Lee, though.

Forest Knolls ES has issues in that new boundaries are being drawn, and many will be bussed over to Montgomery Knolls and Pine Crest. They're still trying to decide what the boundaries will be, and trying to decide to which middle school those students will be mapped: Easter and/or SSIMS, with possible split articulation.

Anonymous wrote:Just to clarify some misinformation about Kemp Mill ES from a PP, students entering K-3 will all be taught in both English and Spanish. Eventually, the entire school will be taught in this way.

Some special ed kids do get a COSA to go elsewhere if requested since they are already dealing with a lot and dual language might be more trouble than it’s worth. Not all, for sure, but some.


We were at Kemp Mill and loved the immersion aspect. My kid went from knowing no Spanish on day 1 to reading in grade level in Spanish by March. And we didn’t do anything at home - not even the assigned homework. It was great!

Non-catholic/Jew here, we enrolled our DD in a small private Christian school. While Arcola seems like the staff and principal are great. I am concerned that the high number of children receiving ESOL services impedes the amount of quality teaching time my children and those children who come to school prepared will receive. I’m fine with small group teaching just not when the teacher has to make do with those who are learning basic nouns in English and those children who are reading chapter books.

i understand that the neighborhood around is fine/ middle class. The Jews (and I think the catholics) in these neighborhoods largely use private schools

Just to clarify some misinformation about Kemp Mill ES from a PP, students entering K-3 will all be taught in both English and Spanish. Eventually, the entire school will be taught in this way.

Just to clarify some misinformation about Kemp Mill ES from a PP, students entering K-3 will all be taught in both English and Spanish. Eventually, the entire school will be taught in this way.

Extended school year is required. My kid is there and they are working on regular curriculum. I have heard that they are being a bit more flexible for summer absences for camp, special programs, etc., but I haven’t heard that they would let anyone take the whole summer off.

I really like Arcola. I like the admin team and I’ve been very impressed with almost all of the teachers my kid has had. He had one teacher who was weak, but the rest were excellent. My child is challenged appropriately, supported, and has fun.

It’s a big school but has a community feel.

There were some bumps in the road with the rollout of the extended school year, but I think they are doing ok now.

Forest Knolls is extremely close to Arcola and is a wonderful school with an active parent community.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/02803.pdf