diversity in montgomery county maryland elementary schools (Bethesda, Rockville: university, to live in)

[chinitas]

My husband and I are returning to Maryland with our two girls. We are having a hard time finding elementary schools with a diverse teaching staff. Many of the schools in Potomac do not have any African-American teachers or other nationalities. Does anyone have suggestions on great schools with at least a few African-American teachers? We want to live in Montgomery County and safety is a priority. We are open to Bethesda, Potomac, Rockville, and maybe North Potomac. I heard Olney was nice but I am concerned about the commute to DC and would like to be relatively close to a metro.

Thanks!

[tonyc]

Originally Posted by chinitas

My husband and I are returning to Maryland with our two girls. We are having a hard time finding elementary schools with a diverse teaching staff. Many of the schools in Potomac do not have any African-American teachers or other nationalities. Does anyone have suggestions on great schools with at least a few African-American teachers? We want to live in Montgomery County and safety is a priority. We are open to Bethesda, Potomac, Rockville, and maybe North Potomac. I heard Olney was nice but I am concerned about the commute to DC and would like to be relatively close to a metro.

Thanks!

Actually Olney to DC is a decent commute, also look at Sandy Spring.....

[Meepers]

Originally Posted by chinitas

My husband and I are returning to Maryland with our two girls. We are having a hard time finding elementary schools with a diverse teaching staff. Many of the schools in Potomac do not have any African-American teachers or other nationalities. Does anyone have suggestions on great schools with at least a few African-American teachers? We want to live in Montgomery County and safety is a priority. We are open to Bethesda, Potomac, Rockville, and maybe North Potomac. I heard Olney was nice but I am concerned about the commute to DC and would like to be relatively close to a metro.

Thanks!

What does a teacher's ethnic background have to do with educating children? I think them understanding cultural differences is more imporant overall.

Olney to DC is not as bad. My parents commute to the DC area from Pennsylvania 5 days a week and are not having problems. It's all about finding the right routes and public transportation to use to get there and back really.

[tercel95]

Olney is a very nice town but starting to fall vitcim to the rest of the problems of Mo County... However it isn't quite there yet. I went to Olney Elementary about 12 years ago... I don't know what exactly you are looking for in terms of diversity or why that matters but I had teachers of all different ethnicities while I was there. Olney Elementary was an excellent school, Rosa Parks middle is an excellent school. Farquhar Middle and Sherwood High not so much. Those are just the schools I had experience with... My Dad still lives in Olney and works at GW University. He leaves around 7 and makes it there in less than an hour. I could get the route he takes for you if needed...

[Marilyn Emery]

My kids go to North Chevy Chase elementary. There is an African American male principal and currently some minority teachers. It is a fabulous school and a great area to live. If you would like to PM me I can give you some more specifics.

[Moth]

Originally Posted by Meepers

What does a teacher's ethnic background have to do with educating children? I think them understanding cultural differences is more imporant overall.

Olney to DC is not as bad. My parents commute to the DC area from Pennsylvania 5 days a week and are not having problems. It's all about finding the right routes and public transportation to use to get there and back really.

I am curious about that as well. Does one race/ethnicity teach math better?

[Violett]

Originally Posted by chinitas

My husband and I are returning to Maryland with our two girls. We are having a hard time finding elementary schools with a diverse teaching staff. Many of the schools in Potomac do not have any African-American teachers or other nationalities. Does anyone have suggestions on great schools with at least a few African-American teachers? We want to live in Montgomery County and safety is a priority. We are open to Bethesda, Potomac, Rockville, and maybe North Potomac. I heard Olney was nice but I am concerned about the commute to DC and would like to be relatively close to a metro.

Thanks!

It sounds like you're very concerned about the types of teachers who may be teaching your child. Why don't you take the time to setup and appointment and view the schools that you're interested in? People who send their children to private schools do this all the time. There you can talk with staff and get an overall feel of the school. You can also do what many moms who audition private schools do, go and sit in the girls bathroom with the stall door shut and ease drop on student conversations. From what I hear, you can learn a lot about a school that way.

[trying2moveup]

I think the OP wanted to have some diversity in terms of sex and race for his child(ren) to look up to. When I worked in PG my first 4 years of teaching, we had a mix of white/black/asian teachers and a fairly good balance of almost 50-50 for male/female, which is almost unheard of in an elementary school (to get the male teachers). BUT - and this is a big but, my principal was young and very progressive and almost made it a personal mission to have his staff as "diversified" as possible. There also may have been a mandate at the time in PG county regarding the race aspect - you had to have a certain % of black teachers. And I understand this since most schools in PG are majority black cross county. But again, he was very proactive in recruiting male teachers and from different ethnic backgrounds.

As far as MoCo - if you really, truly want diversity in a public school. . .the easiest way to get it, honestly, is to go to a Title I school. The student population may not be diverse in these MoCo schools (read = almost 100% hispanic at this point in time) but because of the federal funds given to Title I and the amount of support these children need, there are going to be almost double the amount of teachers and paraeducators, special ed supports, etc., on staff. THAT in itself almost always lends itself to diversification, mostly of race but then also of sex of the teachers.

Of course the student body will be very low academically and it's up to the staff to bring them up to AYP (adequate yearly progress - get ready for all the MD state testing acronyms).

OR - you can go the private route where you can get what you pay for.

[searching24]

Chinitas...I understand you are looking for the best interest of your children. So if inquiring about the diversity of schools makes you feel better then do so. People lets not be naive here there are good and bad in everything as well as "professional teachers" who can dislike a child because of their race. Being an adult does not mean anything. AllI cansay is do your research.

[endersshadow]

Why would someone have the sn "Little Chinese girl" in Spanish?