PP who graduated a little over a decade ago; I won't comment on academics etc (it's been a decade, plus I went for the IB program) but in terms of high school experience, RM was awesome.

I came from the Churchill cluster for the magnet, and I think my overall high school experience was so much better in Rockville Town Center.

My brothers went to Churchill and I had a cousin at RHS the same age as me; I feel like I had so much more independence and fun, and really benefitted from going to high school in a walkable area (beyond just having open lunch). I often spent weekends with friends in Town Center, or taking the metro into DC. Beyond food, we'd study at the library, go to earthtreks (not sure if that's still there), go to the movies, etc etc. Looking back on my teen years, I'm so grateful I didn't go to high school in a purely residential neighborhood.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in MoCo for 40 years and I never knew there was a Rockville High School.

RM

I've only lived here two years but same! I don't think my kid's sports teams have ever played them. Maybe not enough interest to field teams in field hockey and lacrosse (admittedly very UMC sports)?

RM and Rockville are actually informal rivals. RM kids called RHS "the school in the woods"

I graduated a little over a decade ago; at that time we all felt like the RHS rivalry was something admin was trying to push on us because we were both in Rockville; no one really cared. WJ was our actual "rival" that people got heated about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in MoCo for 40 years and I never knew there was a Rockville High School.

RM

I've only lived here two years but same! I don't think my kid's sports teams have ever played them. Maybe not enough interest to field teams in field hockey and lacrosse (admittedly very UMC sports)?

RM and Rockville are actually informal rivals. RM kids called RHS "the school in the woods"

Ummm RM is 4A and Rockville is 2A so they can’t be rivals lol.

Not true. My kid at Rockville HS just played against RM this season in baseball. And we won!

I didn’t say they don’t play out of divisions during regular season, but the point is 4A are in rival divisions with other 4A teams is more even. The divisions are based on school populations.

I agree with you, PP. My child runs XC and track, and RM and Rockville ARE in different divisions when it really counts, at regionals and state. They don't race each other there, only at different invitational meets.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi, we're planning on moving to Rockville in a few weeks during the summer, and one of my kids is about to graduate middle school soon. We're planning to go to either RM or Rockville for the high school that we're planning to move to. Do you people generally prefer RM or Rockville in terms of athletics, education and graduation rates?

Most MCPS HS are remarkably similar. They use the same curriculum and hire from the same teacher pool. Yes, bulk test averages may differ but that's just a reflection of an area's median HHI. The only real diff between these two is probably the IB at RMIB. This is available to everyone in 11th and 12th I believe, but If Rockville also has an IB program I guess it's a wash. Just visit both schools and pick the area where you and your kids feel most comfortable.

Rockville IB peer cohort is weaker than RM IB peer cohort, so it's not a wash. There's a link to the IB and AP exam results up thread.

I agree that MS just sucks everywhere, but it's also true that generally, the higher the SES of the cluster, the "better" the school. RM draws from a higher SES than Rockville HS.

RM IB program is an application-type magnet that draws students from everywhere with 10% acceptance rate and it is not "available to everyone in 11th and 12th". Rockville IB is a local program similar to many other MoCo has.

PP that guesses that it's a wash has no idea what she's talking about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If I was in Rockville, I would say:

1. Wootton
2. Rockville
3. RM

Home values hold much better in RM cluster than Rockville, and the home prices reflect the desirability of the schools.

I'm not sure how much that reflects in this comparison. A lot of it is due to differences in housing stock between the two clusters. I think a house in Flower Valley is similarly priced to a comparable year and size in RM. Rockville has a lot of ramblers that feed into it. In addition, RM is closer to metro and I-270 which plays a role in prices.

Anonymous wrote:
If I was in Rockville, I would say:

1. Wootton
2. Rockville
3. RM

Home values hold much better in RM cluster than Rockville, and the home prices reflect the desirability of the schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RM has kids that feed in from Julius West. JW has problems with bullying, violence etc that have impacted RM.
I would choose Rockville. It’s also a smaller school so feels more personal.

Exactly!

JW into RM has so many fights, drugs, and gang related activity. The 3rd floor bathrooms were basically 8 hours of drugs and drug deals until they were locked up.

Also RM is already so big and still so over crowded, that after the Crown reconfiguration, the other half of King Farm will be going to Gaithersburg HS and Fallsgrove will be going to Crown. Then RM can get more IB and the extra Twinbrook and Tower Oaks condos and homes. It’s another step backwards for RM.


And the IB program has declined since 2018 and Poolesville and Blair and even Wheaton are perceived as better.

If I was in Rockville, I would say:

1. Wootton
2. Rockville
3. RM

No one knows how the Crown HS. boundary study will shake out. It’s silly to speak as if we do. It’s very reasonable to think all of King Farm will go to Crown HS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RM has kids that feed in from Julius West. JW has problems with bullying, violence etc that have impacted RM.
I would choose Rockville. It’s also a smaller school so feels more personal.

There are issues at Earl B Wood MS, too. Actually, there are issues at all MS. It's the nature of the beast.

Back when my kid who is a Rockville High student and was at Wood MS at the time in 2018, he remembers when a kid brought a fake hand-gun to the school and even make matter worse, the kid was only 12. Look it up. I can also guarantee that Wood MS hasn't gotten any better even before the gun incident if you check news related articles involving the school.

Very funny fact on it's own, the kid who brought the fake gun at Wood actually recently got arrested about a week ago. He was at 2 years at RHS and then spent the other 2 years at Richard Montgomery. He probably was at the Richard Montgomery football team this year too.

Where's your evidence on that?

Probably a parent at one of the schools. Word gets around.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RM has kids that feed in from Julius West. JW has problems with bullying, violence etc that have impacted RM.
I would choose Rockville. It’s also a smaller school so feels more personal.

There are issues at Earl B Wood MS, too. Actually, there are issues at all MS. It's the nature of the beast.

Back when my kid who is a Rockville High student and was at Wood MS at the time in 2018, he remembers when a kid brought a fake hand-gun to the school and even make matter worse, the kid was only 12. Look it up. I can also guarantee that Wood MS hasn't gotten any better even before the gun incident if you check news related articles involving the school.

Wood parent here. It’s not great, but I don’t think it’s any worse than all the other Middle schools

My kids go to J. West MS, I always thought Wood was the worst out of all the middle schools to be honest, lol.

And why do you think you have any sense of "all the middle schools"?

DP

A lot of us have kids who play sports with kids from other MS. When you spend a lot of time at the soccer field with other parents from other MS, you often compare notes. Wood and West are pretty close to each other, so we come across the parents often.

The sports kids are not the kids to be concerned about. Going to sports games give you no idea of what the culture is like at the school. I guarantee you the kids at JW doing the bullying, carrying weapons, fighting, etc, aren’t on the soccer team.

dp.. maybe not, but those kids who go to the schools know what is going in their schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RM has kids that feed in from Julius West. JW has problems with bullying, violence etc that have impacted RM.
I would choose Rockville. It’s also a smaller school so feels more personal.

There are issues at Earl B Wood MS, too. Actually, there are issues at all MS. It's the nature of the beast.

Back when my kid who is a Rockville High student and was at Wood MS at the time in 2018, he remembers when a kid brought a fake hand-gun to the school and even make matter worse, the kid was only 12. Look it up. I can also guarantee that Wood MS hasn't gotten any better even before the gun incident if you check news related articles involving the school.

Wood parent here. It’s not great, but I don’t think it’s any worse than all the other Middle schools

My kids go to J. West MS, I always thought Wood was the worst out of all the middle schools to be honest, lol.

And why do you think you have any sense of "all the middle schools"?

DP

A lot of us have kids who play sports with kids from other MS. When you spend a lot of time at the soccer field with other parents from other MS, you often compare notes. Wood and West are pretty close to each other, so we come across the parents often.

The sports kids are not the kids to be concerned about. Going to sports games give you no idea of what the culture is like at the school. I guarantee you the kids at JW doing the bullying, carrying weapons, fighting, etc, aren’t on the soccer team.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RM has kids that feed in from Julius West. JW has problems with bullying, violence etc that have impacted RM.
I would choose Rockville. It’s also a smaller school so feels more personal.

There are issues at Earl B Wood MS, too. Actually, there are issues at all MS. It's the nature of the beast.

Back when my kid who is a Rockville High student and was at Wood MS at the time in 2018, he remembers when a kid brought a fake hand-gun to the school and even make matter worse, the kid was only 12. Look it up. I can also guarantee that Wood MS hasn't gotten any better even before the gun incident if you check news related articles involving the school.

Very funny fact on it's own, the kid who brought the fake gun at Wood actually recently got arrested about a week ago. He was at 2 years at RHS and then spent the other 2 years at Richard Montgomery. He probably was at the Richard Montgomery football team this year too.

oh wonderful. /s MCPS does a great job of moving troublesome kids around. I guess they want others to share the pain.

-RM parent