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Please search this forum for King Farm in Rockville and the side that belongs to Richard Montgomery.
You will be amazed how you wonderful new community you can find with amazing schools
that nobody on this board talks about and how fabulous it is. With pictures.
Just search fro King Farm to learn more.


Flip through the pictures, you won't find anything like that anywhere else so close to DC right on
the metro, with two gigantic community houses, pools, shops, and all community events with
great IB elementary, middle and IB magnet high.. (King Farm belong to two school clusters,
divided by Redland Blvd. If you have kids, better schools are between Gude and Redland Blvd,
if you don't have kids get less expensive home just as gorgeous in the other part beween
Redland and Shady Grove) Awesome place! awesome, that community feel everyone
is looking for. Not old isolating neighborhood like Bethesda or Chavy Ch.
Everybody is walking, streets are charming, lots of dog owners.. lots of kids..
Highly educated crowd, lots of Europeans, Diplomats, Scientists..
Here is King Farm at glance:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/King+Farm+Community+Center/@39.109145,-77.170564,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1s-gA7tEFZNSD4%2FV7oOB2Ih1LI%2FAAAAAAAALS8%2FuYPkGD8Je08d9LZI1Ebkv_FrLtVRlP7WQCJkC!2e4!3e12!6s%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2F-gA7tEFZNSD4%2FV7oOB2Ih1LI%2FAAAAAAAALS8%2FuYPkGD8Je08d9LZI1Ebkv_FrLtVRlP7WQCJkC%2Fs114-k-no%2F!7i4032!8i3024!4m8!1m2!2m1!1sKing+farm!3m4!1s0x89b7d29f71c43bef:0x72a7c64550d0022c!8m2!3d39.10902!4d-77.1711378!6m1!1e1

Anonymous wrote:

Our school is insanely overcrowded. There are portables all over the play area in the back, so the blacktop is pretty much totally covered. They ran out of classrooms this year, so they had to take over the computer lab to use it for a classroom. The kids get smooshed together into one classroom for indoor recess because there are only a limited number of aides. I can go on and on and on. It affects ALL the kids when the school is overcrowded.

If you feel that it's a non issue, then please tell us which ES your kid goes to. Maybe we can send all our COSAs over your way.

Would your child's school be at or under capacity if there weren't any kids there on COSAs?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, and I get that for some people like yourself, there are legitimate reasons; but we can't ignore the high proportion of families who take on COSAs just for the sake of putting their children in a more desirable school. This happens a lot.

How do you know that the majority of families only get COSAs to put their kids in a "better" school?

Not the PP, but who cares what the reason is?? I also know of about a dozen families who live out of boundary at our ES. How is childcare a valid excuse when most of the schools have some sort of aftercare option? Or families can hire a sitter. We've been at our ES for 5 years now so we have gotten to know these families pretty well. They're pretty up front about living out of boundary. It's no big secret.

How about kids go to the school that they are zone for unless it's for a special program. End of story.

Poor MCPS. When they're flexible, that's bad. When they're inflexible, that's bad too.

How do the out-of-boundary kids at your school affect you?

Our school is insanely overcrowded. There are portables all over the play area in the back, so the blacktop is pretty much totally covered. They ran out of classrooms this year, so they had to take over the computer lab to use it for a classroom. The kids get smooshed together into one classroom for indoor recess because there are only a limited number of aides. I can go on and on and on. It affects ALL the kids when the school is overcrowded.

If you feel that it's a non issue, then please tell us which ES your kid goes to. Maybe we can send all our COSAs over your way.

PP which school are you at?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, and I get that for some people like yourself, there are legitimate reasons; but we can't ignore the high proportion of families who take on COSAs just for the sake of putting their children in a more desirable school. This happens a lot.

How do you know that the majority of families only get COSAs to put their kids in a "better" school?

Not the PP, but who cares what the reason is?? I also know of about a dozen families who live out of boundary at our ES. How is childcare a valid excuse when most of the schools have some sort of aftercare option? Or families can hire a sitter. We've been at our ES for 5 years now so we have gotten to know these families pretty well. They're pretty up front about living out of boundary. It's no big secret.

How about kids go to the school that they are zone for unless it's for a special program. End of story.

Poor MCPS. When they're flexible, that's bad. When they're inflexible, that's bad too.

How do the out-of-boundary kids at your school affect you?

Our school is insanely overcrowded. There are portables all over the play area in the back, so the blacktop is pretty much totally covered. They ran out of classrooms this year, so they had to take over the computer lab to use it for a classroom. The kids get smooshed together into one classroom for indoor recess because there are only a limited number of aides. I can go on and on and on. It affects ALL the kids when the school is overcrowded.

If you feel that it's a non issue, then please tell us which ES your kid goes to. Maybe we can send all our COSAs over your way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, and I get that for some people like yourself, there are legitimate reasons; but we can't ignore the high proportion of families who take on COSAs just for the sake of putting their children in a more desirable school. This happens a lot.

How do you know that the majority of families only get COSAs to put their kids in a "better" school?

Not the PP, but who cares what the reason is?? I also know of about a dozen families who live out of boundary at our ES. How is childcare a valid excuse when most of the schools have some sort of aftercare option? Or families can hire a sitter. We've been at our ES for 5 years now so we have gotten to know these families pretty well. They're pretty up front about living out of boundary. It's no big secret.

How about kids go to the school that they are zone for unless it's for a special program. End of story.

Poor MCPS. When they're flexible, that's bad. When they're inflexible, that's bad too.

How do the out-of-boundary kids at your school affect you?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, and I get that for some people like yourself, there are legitimate reasons; but we can't ignore the high proportion of families who take on COSAs just for the sake of putting their children in a more desirable school. This happens a lot.

How do you know that the majority of families only get COSAs to put their kids in a "better" school?

Not the PP, but who cares what the reason is?? I also know of about a dozen families who live out of boundary at our ES. How is childcare a valid excuse when most of the schools have some sort of aftercare option? Or families can hire a sitter. We've been at our ES for 5 years now so we have gotten to know these families pretty well. They're pretty up front about living out of boundary. It's no big secret.

How about kids go to the school that they are zone for unless it's for a special program. End of story.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, and I get that for some people like yourself, there are legitimate reasons; but we can't ignore the high proportion of families who take on COSAs just for the sake of putting their children in a more desirable school. This happens a lot.

How do you know that the majority of families only get COSAs to put their kids in a "better" school?

I said a high proportion of families, not majority. I don't have stats in front of me but I can tell you off the bat, every single family i know who have COSA's (I know a handful) do not have a true and valid reason for moving to the different school. I've seen the strategies- kids have to go to grandma's house after school for after care; mom "has" to go to work super early so her kids have to go to the elementary school nearby work (which happens to be in Bethesda), etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, and I get that for some people like yourself, there are legitimate reasons; but we can't ignore the high proportion of families who take on COSAs just for the sake of putting their children in a more desirable school. This happens a lot.

How do you know that the majority of families only get COSAs to put their kids in a "better" school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Amen. I understand that there's a legitimate need for some families to go this route but I've seen way too many people take advantage of this. I personally know already a few families that have "created" a need so that their children can attend a W school. I don't have dog in this fight because my kids don't go to a W school but maybe if we got rid of even 70% of the COSAs then we wouldn't see such a huge overcrowding problem at some of the schools. Look at WJ. I know a couple of families who send their kids at one of its feeder Elem schools just so that their kids don't have to go to their assigned school. I'm sure someone will say MYOB but this is truly a problem that needs to be addressed.

COSAs are a pretty divisive topic. My kid is on one, and we had to go through hellfire to get it, even though our home school was fairly desirable and the COSA school, by DCUM standards at least, is not. They don't give them out like candy, though they may have at one time. There are many factors that go into whether or not a COSA is approved, and it is supposedly harder to get on to an overcrowded school.

The COSAs for ES are only good for ES, so families are kicked back to the home school for MS and HS. A lot of the hardships disappear when the child is legally old enough to be home alone and get her/himself to and from school by themselves.

Yes, and I get that for some people like yourself, there are legitimate reasons; but we can't ignore the high proportion of families who take on COSAs just for the sake of putting their children in a more desirable school. This happens a lot.

Happens all the time. Not sure how common in MS/HS but we know of so many people who either have a COSA for ES or simply attend a different school than their home school. I have also heard that cOSAs can be difficult, but DD has about a dozen friends who are using a 'different' address from their real address.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is the HGC program still at Barnsley when it's so overcrowded? Shouldn't they move it to one of the other elementary schools in the same cluster?

The real question is why so many out-of-boundary kids are being allowed to attend using someone else's address? I know this is a problem county-wide, but it needs to be addressed. People need to stay at their home school or should be paying the cost to attend another school. Period.

Amen. I understand that there's a legitimate need for some families to go this route but I've seen way too many people take advantage of this. I personally know already a few families that have "created" a need so that their children can attend a W school. I don't have dog in this fight because my kids don't go to a W school but maybe if we got rid of even 70% of the COSAs then we wouldn't see such a huge overcrowding problem at some of the schools. Look at WJ. I know a couple of families who send their kids at one of its feeder Elem schools just so that their kids don't have to go to their assigned school. I'm sure someone will say MYOB but this is truly a problem that needs to be addressed.

Not sure how much of a difference this would really make anyway. Aren't most schools in MCPS overcrowded?

There are quite a few Out of Boundary kids attending Barnsley who would be assigned to other schools that would be pretty equivalent - Flower Valley or Rock Creek or Brookhaven. I would assume that all those schools are overcrowded.

FWIW, I do hope they change the COSA regulations but lots of kids attending Barnsley don't have the COSA anyway. They simply attend using a 'false' address.

I would guess that it's incredibly difficult to enforce the housing requirement? How do you really prove where someone lives?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to get in a different school district, you will have to move to a different county or state. There is only one school district in Montgomery County, and it's Montgomery County Public Schools.

Yes, it's all one school district, but the facilities, teachers, class offerings varies DRAMATICALLY. We have family that live all over the county and there is a huge difference amongst schools.

Completely agree and anyone who disagrees is just being naive. People would not pay significantly more for the exact same house in one school cluster over another if there was not a reason. Just because the MCPS curriculum is the same does not mean that it is implemented the same in every school. Peer groupings will also differ from one school cluster to another and it absolutely makes a difference. If a teacher has significant behavioral issues in their classes then it makes it much harder to teach. Also, if you look at the course bulletins for each high school in the county you will see the differences in class offerings. Like it or not, that's just the way it is.

Of course there's a reason. But is it a valid reason, in terms of education? Will the exact same kid, from the exact same family, get a better education in a Wootton cluster school than a Richard Montgomery cluster school than a Rockville cluster school?

No of course not. If your kid is actually smart they will be with the top cohort in middle and high school. Also if you are the typical hyper DCUM parent the big fish small pond applies here. Its much easier to hit the "great" college lottery out of Rockville or Richard Montgomery vs Wootton.

Anonymous wrote:

Amen. I understand that there's a legitimate need for some families to go this route but I've seen way too many people take advantage of this. I personally know already a few families that have "created" a need so that their children can attend a W school. I don't have dog in this fight because my kids don't go to a W school but maybe if we got rid of even 70% of the COSAs then we wouldn't see such a huge overcrowding problem at some of the schools. Look at WJ. I know a couple of families who send their kids at one of its feeder Elem schools just so that their kids don't have to go to their assigned school. I'm sure someone will say MYOB but this is truly a problem that needs to be addressed.

COSAs are a pretty divisive topic. My kid is on one, and we had to go through hellfire to get it, even though our home school was fairly desirable and the COSA school, by DCUM standards at least, is not. They don't give them out like candy, though they may have at one time. There are many factors that go into whether or not a COSA is approved, and it is supposedly harder to get on to an overcrowded school.

The COSAs for ES are only good for ES, so families are kicked back to the home school for MS and HS. A lot of the hardships disappear when the child is legally old enough to be home alone and get her/himself to and from school by themselves.

Yes, and I get that for some people like yourself, there are legitimate reasons; but we can't ignore the high proportion of families who take on COSAs just for the sake of putting their children in a more desirable school. This happens a lot.

Amen. I understand that there's a legitimate need for some families to go this route but I've seen way too many people take advantage of this. I personally know already a few families that have "created" a need so that their children can attend a W school. I don't have dog in this fight because my kids don't go to a W school but maybe if we got rid of even 70% of the COSAs then we wouldn't see such a huge overcrowding problem at some of the schools. Look at WJ. I know a couple of families who send their kids at one of its feeder Elem schools just so that their kids don't have to go to their assigned school. I'm sure someone will say MYOB but this is truly a problem that needs to be addressed.

COSAs are a pretty divisive topic. My kid is on one, and we had to go through hellfire to get it, even though our home school was fairly desirable and the COSA school, by DCUM standards at least, is not. They don't give them out like candy, though they may have at one time. There are many factors that go into whether or not a COSA is approved, and it is supposedly harder to get on to an overcrowded school.

The COSAs for ES are only good for ES, so families are kicked back to the home school for MS and HS. A lot of the hardships disappear when the child is legally old enough to be home alone and get her/himself to and from school by themselves.