OP - if you are still reading, we were in the same choice situation years ago. The boundary lines are confusing in MCPS. Travilah/Frost/Wootton goes all the way down to the river but only for a narrow stretch. We were looking at houses very near to each other with one set in Wootton an one set in Churchill. We ended up buying in T/F/W but have friends at P/H/C.

It seems that there are a good number of kids in western side of P/H/C (off River, Stoney Creek, Merry-Go-Round Farms, off Glen etc) that go to private school so the neighborhood kids/friends situation is more of a mix. In T/F/W almost everyone goes to T/F/W but that has been changing with 2.0.

T/F/W is more upper middle and middle class. Fed professionals, doctors, researchers, tech people, non-profit, small/mid business owners, some executives but fewer CEOs, fed lawyers, some IMF etc. It is more down to earth. Lakewood and Travilah are the only feeder schools with large house neighborhoods. Even those neighborhoods with 4,000+ sq feet homes are less than half of the their ES school. While a 4000K house puts you at the top of house size at Wootton, its in the middle at Churchill. Most neighborhoods in W are older medium SFHs, small SFHs, townhouses and very few apts. I'm not sure this matters. The resale on the larger houses in the T/F/W - as long as its not over priced- is a little better than western Potomac just because there are fewer.

Not everyone in Churchill is a lobbyist, big law partner, or CEO. Potomac ES does have a good concentration of super rich that doesn't exist at T/F/W but there are many other upper middle class families that don't live in faux palaces. The houses on the western side are older and more classic, not the style at all that you see on River Rd. The downside is that they are a farther drive to Potomac ES than if you lived east of Piney Meetinghouse or near the Village.

For the high schools, the culture is different at the different schools. Both schools are strong academically but the culture at Wootton is very centered around academics and fewer cliques. Churchill has more cliques - sports, arts, academics, etc. Wootton's academic culture has pros and cons. A nerdy kid isn't going to feel like he is in the nerdy group at Wootton. The sports hero, or richest/prettiest stereotype isn't the guy that gets all the celebration. A negative is that if your kid isn't independently competitive in academics they could get a little lost. If you're already in MCPS you know the drill. They don't really teach to maximize a kid's potential and the new curriculum is completely screwed up. If your kid is super smart and works independently, not a problem. I suspect the same is true at Churchill but if your kid is really great at sports or theater but not very good academics then there are better options there.

On boundary changes, I doubt that Travilah would be redistricted to Crown. Stone Mill and even Dufief are much close so there tends to be concern there. I worry more about the county deciding to bus kids all over for 3 hour rides to create an appearance of diversity. MCPS education is not worth a 3 hour bus ride.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Buy where you have a shorter commute...also the only "diversity" in either of these clusters is that they are 40% Asian.

Why do you put diversity in quotes here? To me, Asian diversity is the most important of all. I want my kids to become citizens of the world. With 1.3 billion people in China, and 1.2 billion people in India, (not to mention Japan, Indonesia, southeast Asia, the Phillipines) Asia dominates the world population. Of course, there is tremendous diversity within Asia in customs, religions, and language. But it is important to me to have my kids grow up with Asian friends.

Read, I really don't want diverse people who are of African or Hispanic origin.

My conspiracy theory is that this is the same poster as the one on the College Discussion forum who's constantly making racist posts about how Asians are "objectively more qualified" than Black people wrt Harvard admissions. Oh and that Affirmative Action is all a Jewish plot.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Buy where you have a shorter commute...also the only "diversity" in either of these clusters is that they are 40% Asian.

Why do you put diversity in quotes here? To me, Asian diversity is the most important of all. I want my kids to become citizens of the world. With 1.3 billion people in China, and 1.2 billion people in India, (not to mention Japan, Indonesia, southeast Asia, the Phillipines) Asia dominates the world population. Of course, there is tremendous diversity within Asia in customs, religions, and language. But it is important to me to have my kids grow up with Asian friends.

Read, I really don't want diverse people who are of African or Hispanic origin.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diversity encompasses a broad spectrum from race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, national origin, and socio-economic status. It bothers me greatly that many in MCPS don't acknowledge this.

MCPS is very focused on the lowest scoring group. The demographics of this group have several attributes racial- black or hispanic, ethnicity/national origin -AA, Central America, socioeconomic status - below or at the poverty line. Its wrong to say that race is the driver for low scores as African immigrants and wealthy AA score very well. Its wrong to say its only socioeconomic as poor Asian students score very well. The low scores correlate with several demographic attributes not one aspect.

Wootton and Churchill have broad diversity in race, religion, ethnicity, and national origin. They both have low diversity in socio-economic status. They have a low population of students with the collection of attributes that correlate with the lowest performance.

Except for national origin from Central America, South America, the Caribbean, or Africa (either recently or via the trans-Atlantic slave trade). That's a big chunk of the world.

As for your assertion that students from African immigrant, poor Asian immigrant, and wealthy African-American families score "very well" -- I would be very interested in data that support your assertion.

Not PP. I would like to add, if you check the MCPS At a Glance sheet for Churchill vs some place like RM, and look at the Black/Hispanic kids' scores, you'll note that these kids in RM seem to do a bit better than those at Churchill.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, Churchill cluster is very very wealthy. Drive down near Potomac ES. Look across the street.

There are many areas in Chrurchill that are not loaded. All around the school is basic middle income homes for