Anonymous wrote:Tilden/Luxmanor/North Farm area should take a massive hit in few years when everyone will know that school is not WJ and not even slightly worse but with FARMS rate in 35-40%.

This. Also FARMS likely to be even higher, since wealthier Tilden/Luxmanor/North Farm families will opt out for privates.

Anonymous wrote:It’s outrageous that MCPS and local politicians are social engineering WJ and Woodward, two schools about a mile a part, into vastly different environments that will result in different outcomes for its students; and (since this is the Real Estate thread) the unfair effect it has on neighborhoods like Old Farm and Lux Manor. The school board and superintendent could easily equalize the FARMS distribution to make both schools better for all students, but they DIDN’T. They chose to concentrate FARMS kids in Woodward instead of a more even distribution with WJ. It makes no sense, so the question is WHY? Where do these decision makers or their love ones live? Did someone get a kickback?

Likely case

It’s outrageous that MCPS and local politicians are social engineering WJ and Woodward, two schools about a mile a part, into vastly different environments that will result in different outcomes for its students; and (since this is the Real Estate thread) the unfair effect it has on neighborhoods like Old Farm and Lux Manor. The school board and superintendent could easily equalize the FARMS distribution to make both schools better for all students, but they DIDN’T. They chose to concentrate FARMS kids in Woodward instead of a more even distribution with WJ. It makes no sense, so the question is WHY? Where do these decision makers or their love ones live? Did someone get a kickback?

Anonymous wrote:

Free and Reduced-price Meals System (FARMS) data for Montgomery County high schools reflects student eligibility based on household income. According to the 2024–2025 MCPS Annual Report, approximately 44.2% of all students in the district are eligible for FARMS.
The following list sorts high schools by their FARMS percentages based on the most recent available official data (FY24 and FY25 projections):


John F. Kennedy: 80.6%
Wheaton: 75.3%
Gaithersburg: 70.5%
Watkins Mill: 67.8%
Albert Einstein: 65.6%
Northwood: 60.1% (Projected to decrease to 39.8% in 2025–2026 due to boundary changes)
Seneca Valley: 58.4%
James Hubert Blake: 56.7%
Paint Branch: 56.2%
Springbrook: 55.8%
Col. Zadok Magruder: 55.5%
Montgomery Blair: 53.5%
Clarksburg: 51.6%
Rockville: 42.4%
Richard Montgomery: 37.4%
Quince Orchard: 35.1%
Northwest: 33.2%
Sherwood: 29.6%
Damascus: 29.0%
Bethesda-Chevy Chase: 20.8%
Walter Johnson: 17.8% (Projected to decrease to 15.3% by 2025–2026)
Poolesville: 10.4%
Winston Churchill: 8.8%
Thomas S. Wootton: 8.5%
Walt Whitman: 6.4%

For the Class of 2024, the average SAT score in Montgomery County was 1063, reflecting a district-wide participation rate of 78.6%.
The following list combines official FARMS percentages (2024–2025) with the most recent average SAT scores (Class of 2023 and 2024 data) reported by Bethesda Magazine and MCPS annual reports.

High School FARMS % (2024–25) Avg. SAT Score
Walt Whitman 6.4% 1285
Thomas S. Wootton 8.5% 1271
Winston Churchill 8.8% 1275
Poolesville 10.4% 1280
Walter Johnson 17.8% 1170
Bethesda-Chevy Chase 20.8% 1164
Damascus 29.0% 1050
Northwest 33.2% 1063
Richard Montgomery 37.4% 1169
Rockville 42.4% 988
Clarksburg 51.6% 1044
Montgomery Blair 53.5% 1110
Col. Zadok Magruder 55.5% 1004
Springbrook 55.8% 942
Paint Branch 56.2% 937
James Hubert Blake 56.7% 1019 (Class of 2022)
Seneca Valley 58.4% 934
Northwood 60.1% 935
Albert Einstein 65.6% 1009
Watkins Mill 67.8% 864
Gaithersburg 70.5% 904 (Class of 2022)
Wheaton 75.3% 961
John F. Kennedy 80.6% 883

Free and Reduced-price Meals System (FARMS) data for Montgomery County high schools reflects student eligibility based on household income. According to the 2024–2025 MCPS Annual Report, approximately 44.2% of all students in the district are eligible for FARMS.
The following list sorts high schools by their FARMS percentages based on the most recent available official data (FY24 and FY25 projections):


John F. Kennedy: 80.6%
Wheaton: 75.3%
Gaithersburg: 70.5%
Watkins Mill: 67.8%
Albert Einstein: 65.6%
Northwood: 60.1% (Projected to decrease to 39.8% in 2025–2026 due to boundary changes)
Seneca Valley: 58.4%
James Hubert Blake: 56.7%
Paint Branch: 56.2%
Springbrook: 55.8%
Col. Zadok Magruder: 55.5%
Montgomery Blair: 53.5%
Clarksburg: 51.6%
Rockville: 42.4%
Richard Montgomery: 37.4%
Quince Orchard: 35.1%
Northwest: 33.2%
Sherwood: 29.6%
Damascus: 29.0%
Bethesda-Chevy Chase: 20.8%
Walter Johnson: 17.8% (Projected to decrease to 15.3% by 2025–2026)
Poolesville: 10.4%
Winston Churchill: 8.8%
Thomas S. Wootton: 8.5%
Walt Whitman: 6.4%

Tilden/Luxmanor/North Farm area should take a massive hit in few years when everyone will know that school is not WJ and not even slightly worse but with FARMS rate in 35-40%.

I think you'll see generally see a price gradient among similar houses going from say Bradley Hills through Wyngate, Ashburton, and further down old Georgetown. This probably already exists just from remembering my house hunting years ago but now. Maybe. More pronounced. The BH houses were maybe 10% more than similar Wyngate houses just across boundary line of Greentree. Same between Wyngate and Ashburton etc etc. My guess is WJ just got smaller/less overcrowded with a way lower Farms rate vs Woodward, so more desirable for your average Bethesda house hunter, and Woodward--which I think will be a perfectly fine school and better diversity IMO--will be relatively less desirable.

Anonymous wrote:The real winners (purely from a property values perspective) are the ones in the part of the Woodlin ES district getting reassigned from Einstein to B-CC.

Yes this is 100% true. Also VM will see property value increase (switching from Wheaton full of FARMS kids to brand new Woodward where they will be joined by wealthy Luxmanor and Farmland kids). Will not be as major of a jump as Einstein to BCC but I'd still expect a jump

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The real winners (purely from a property values perspective) are the ones in the part of the Woodlin ES district getting reassigned from Einstein to B-CC.

I would not be happy with that. Not everything is about property values.

This thread is in the real estate forum and is literally about property values. That’s why I said “purely from a property values perspective.” Not saying anything about the benefit of attending one school over the other.

I doubt it will impact that much. People who overpaid are worried. Or, need to sell.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The real winners (purely from a property values perspective) are the ones in the part of the Woodlin ES district getting reassigned from Einstein to B-CC.

I would not be happy with that. Not everything is about property values.

This thread is in the real estate forum and is literally about property values. That’s why I said “purely from a property values perspective.” Not saying anything about the benefit of attending one school over the other.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The real winners (purely from a property values perspective) are the ones in the part of the Woodlin ES district getting reassigned from Einstein to B-CC.

That’s what I was thinking. I live in the Einstein cluster, only a few blocks from the dividing line for WJ. The price difference here is pretty big.

I doubt the property values will change. There are Einstein houses going for more than WJ...the newer flips.

Anonymous wrote:The real winners (purely from a property values perspective) are the ones in the part of the Woodlin ES district getting reassigned from Einstein to B-CC.

I would not be happy with that. Not everything is about property values.

Anonymous wrote:The real winners (purely from a property values perspective) are the ones in the part of the Woodlin ES district getting reassigned from Einstein to B-CC.

That’s what I was thinking. I live in the Einstein cluster, only a few blocks from the dividing line for WJ. The price difference here is pretty big.

The real winners (purely from a property values perspective) are the ones in the part of the Woodlin ES district getting reassigned from Einstein to B-CC.

Old Farm and Lux Manor better organize immediately and demand BOE not confirm the Superintendent’s recommendations which will unfairly make WJ and Woodward two very different schools that are about a mile apart.
(SEE Threads under “Schools” - “MCPS”)

Here’s one poster’s succinct comments:

“Based on the first two pages here it is clear that people do not understand the severity of what happened today.

Let me spell it out for you - Tilden zone got destroyed with the recommendation

Engineering at Wheaton?! Are you kidding me?! Blair STEM prepares student to enter top universities as math and science majors. Engineering at Wheaton prepares students to be successful electricians and mechanical engineers. That is the difference. If you are fine with that then Wheaton "STEM magnet" may be an acceptable solution.

MC?! MC classes are so superficial that they are a complete waste of time. There have been several discussions on this topic here already.

So the only option for high achieving Tilden students to avoid staying at Woodward will be the humanities magnet at WJ.

Woodward itself is being positioned to be one of the lowest performing schools in the county with this recommendation - it will have high FARMS and poor class offering, since it is given the most pointless magnet. A complete disaster in making.

Hopefully, a lawsuit is coming. This was clearly designed in bad faith. Two middle schools, one predominantly white, NBMS, and one very diverse, Tilden, are sharing a HS that is to be split in two. So the predominantly white school gets one of the new HS, new WJ, pretty much all for itself, while the other one gets to share Woodward with two high FARMs, low performing, middle schools from outside the current zone. A blatant segregation.

Even the magnet placement is offensive. New WJ gets humanities and languages (for verbally gifted), while Woodward gets arts so they can sing and dance.”