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Sigh, based on the responses here, it's clear most of the people responding have no REAL personal experience with life in PG County (i.e. actually living there) so this is a classic case of 'the blind leading the blind'. As a lifelong PGC resident (with a brief taste of heaven on the other side of the tracks in Mo County), allow me to actually give you some advice that has some credibility.
Where exactly are considering moving to in Greenbelt? Greenbelt is pretty large. You could literally live in one part of Greenbelt where the schools are nothing to write home about or you could live in another part where the schools are actually extremely good and better than A LOT of schools in Montgomery. If you live between Greenbelt Rd/Kenilworth Ave & Greenbelt Rd/Hanover Parkway... your kids will attend some of the finest schools in the county. Greenbelt Elementary School serves that area and Greenbelt ES is a 'National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence'. The feeder middle school is Greenbelt Middle School. Greenbelt MS is pretty good and the county approved plans several months ago to construct a brand new Greenbelt Middle. The new school will be the third LEED certified school in PG... in lamens terms it will be a 'green school' or environmentally friendly school. The shining star will be Eleanor Roosevelt High School, one of the best schools in the state. The school is known for its Science & Technology Center which is sort of like a magnet program. Even if your child isn't in the Science & Tech program, they will still greatly benefit from the program and some of the S/T courses are open to the general population. Roosevelt has been named a 'National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence' TWICE which only (perhaps) two or three other high schools in the state, have ever done. Roosevelt has also been awarded several other prestigious national awards including the 'Siemen's Award for Advanced Placement', being named a 'National School of Character', and also being named a 'New American High School'. They have also been named a 'Maryland State Blue Ribbon School', twice.
On the flip side, if you live in any other other areas going NE/N of Roosevelt, your children might attend some solid elementary schools (and perhaps middle schools) but the high school is where the problem could lie. DuVal High School isn't exactly the best school. They received a nice 600-student addition, recently, but academically they aren't much to talk about. I'm not sure about behavioral statistics.
Somebody posted something in regards to living in University Park and then went on to say that they would eventually have to attend middle school and high school in Hyattsville which will be a huge problem. Firstly, University Park is considered 'Hyattsville'. University Park Elementary School's address is listed as Hyattsville. Secondly, your child would attend Hyattsville Middle School. That schools reputation has shot up tremendously over the years, especially after the addition of the 'Creative & Performing Arts magnet program'. Hyattsville has arguably the best middle school choir in PG and probably in Maryland. Their entire arts magnet is award-winning. I would not hesistate to send my child to Hyattsville Middle, regardless of whether or not they were in the magnet program. BUT, the other Hyattsville intermediate school (Nicholas Orem) should be avoided at ALL costs. I would not send my child there for the world. Northwestern High School is iffy. If you can get your child into the Honors Program and Advanced Placement, Northwestern is a really good school. Their arts program can be argued as not only one of the best in the county (if not the best alongside Suitland) but one of the best in the state and country. Northwestern also has a new building which is the 2nd largest school in Maryland. It's really nice.
City Place is a straight shoot into Greenbelt or University Park/Hyattsville, once you hit University Blvd. I can get to City Place from University Park in about 15 minutes, so your information is accurate. Greenbelt, on the other hand, is more than 20 minutes. Unversity Blvd turns into Greenbelt Road. You DO NOT want to deal with that road once rush hour hits. University Blvd is hell on earth from Colesville Road (around Montgomery Blair High School) until you reach Langley Park and well after you cross into Prince George's. Once you get around Riggs Road, the traffic somewhat lightens up, but as soon as you reach the University of Maryland... you're done for. You might as well add another 15-20 minutes just from the segment spanning the University of Maryland into Greenbelt.
So, you might want to think long and hard about this and research some other areas. Personally, I'd stick to Montgomery County. But, if you really think you want to make this move, you should try driving out to Greenbelt DURING rush hour... around 6-8pm. You will see for yourself. I have done University Park/Hyattsville to Pentagon City in about 25 minutes in fair traffic. I-395 gets terrible during rush hour and especially when you start to cross the 14th Street Bridge into Virginia. Again, you might want to travel the route, yourself, to gain first hand experience. Hope this helps.
Excuse me I find it to be highly insulting that you would say that many of us most not of had a 'real experience' of pg county. Let me put you on to something. Every grade school I attended was in pg county. I've lived in pg about 80% of my life, I've dealt with the ups and downs of this school system which I'm sure many who have responded have as well. Just because you have a different opinion doesn't mean you're right and we're wrong or vice versa. When I speak on this school system I can only speak from my experience and my research and no one else's. Whether you think that opinion is validate or not doesn't really matter because your opinion is no more valued than anyone else's. Oh and by the way I've lived in montgomery county in that same area right off of east-west highway, imagine that.....
And so what if university park has a hyattsville zip code, who cares? What does that have to do with the price of tea in china? As far as greenbelt is concerned, there is only two elementary schools in the city and both of them are ranked low. You want to talk about awards? Awards don't mean jack for most because what really matter is the criteria. For instance newsweek does their high school ranking based on the number of people who graduated and number of people who took an ap tests. When you talk about awards you have to know the criteria. In this country, unfortunately with the way our school systems are structured, test scores matter most. That is the factor that keep the staff at these schools stable, that brings funding and for you, add property value. Springhill elementary has below average msa scores compared to the rest of the county and greenbelt is only slightly better than springhill. Greenbelt did make AYP but springhill lake did not. Unfortunately when considering such a move you really have to consider, is a dramatic drop in the quality of your child's education worth a shorter commute? Forget all the awards, the bias commentary about the this county or the next, to the op you have to decide if moving is really going to make your life that much better? Just a thought. I hope this helped.
One of the main reasons we are moving to Greenbelt is for the price we can purchase a small townhome in Silver Spring; we can get a nice single family house with garage and big yard in Greenbelt.
In Greenbelt? Greenbelt homes and yards are small, unless there is an area of Greenbelt I have never seen. Are you looking at Berwyn Heights or Lanham?
Sigh, based on the responses here, it's clear most of the people responding have no REAL personal experience with life in PG County (i.e. actually living there) so this is a classic case of 'the blind leading the blind'. As a lifelong PGC resident (with a brief taste of heaven on the other side of the tracks in Mo County), allow me to actually give you some advice that has some credibility.
Where exactly are considering moving to in Greenbelt? Greenbelt is pretty large. You could literally live in one part of Greenbelt where the schools are nothing to write home about or you could live in another part where the schools are actually extremely good and better than A LOT of schools in Montgomery. If you live between Greenbelt Rd/Kenilworth Ave & Greenbelt Rd/Hanover Parkway... your kids will attend some of the finest schools in the county. Greenbelt Elementary School serves that area and Greenbelt ES is a 'National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence'. The feeder middle school is Greenbelt Middle School. Greenbelt MS is pretty good and the county approved plans several months ago to construct a brand new Greenbelt Middle. The new school will be the third LEED certified school in PG... in lamens terms it will be a 'green school' or environmentally friendly school. The shining star will be Eleanor Roosevelt High School, one of the best schools in the state. The school is known for its Science & Technology Center which is sort of like a magnet program. Even if your child isn't in the Science & Tech program, they will still greatly benefit from the program and some of the S/T courses are open to the general population. Roosevelt has been named a 'National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence' TWICE which only (perhaps) two or three other high schools in the state, have ever done. Roosevelt has also been awarded several other prestigious national awards including the 'Siemen's Award for Advanced Placement', being named a 'National School of Character', and also being named a 'New American High School'. They have also been named a 'Maryland State Blue Ribbon School', twice.
On the flip side, if you live in any other other areas going NE/N of Roosevelt, your children might attend some solid elementary schools (and perhaps middle schools) but the high school is where the problem could lie. DuVal High School isn't exactly the best school. They received a nice 600-student addition, recently, but academically they aren't much to talk about. I'm not sure about behavioral statistics.
Somebody posted something in regards to living in University Park and then went on to say that they would eventually have to attend middle school and high school in Hyattsville which will be a huge problem. Firstly, University Park is considered 'Hyattsville'. University Park Elementary School's address is listed as Hyattsville. Secondly, your child would attend Hyattsville Middle School. That schools reputation has shot up tremendously over the years, especially after the addition of the 'Creative & Performing Arts magnet program'. Hyattsville has arguably the best middle school choir in PG and probably in Maryland. Their entire arts magnet is award-winning. I would not hesistate to send my child to Hyattsville Middle, regardless of whether or not they were in the magnet program. BUT, the other Hyattsville intermediate school (Nicholas Orem) should be avoided at ALL costs. I would not send my child there for the world. Northwestern High School is iffy. If you can get your child into the Honors Program and Advanced Placement, Northwestern is a really good school. Their arts program can be argued as not only one of the best in the county (if not the best alongside Suitland) but one of the best in the state and country. Northwestern also has a new building which is the 2nd largest school in Maryland. It's really nice.
City Place is a straight shoot into Greenbelt or University Park/Hyattsville, once you hit University Blvd. I can get to City Place from University Park in about 15 minutes, so your information is accurate. Greenbelt, on the other hand, is more than 20 minutes. Unversity Blvd turns into Greenbelt Road. You DO NOT want to deal with that road once rush hour hits. University Blvd is hell on earth from Colesville Road (around Montgomery Blair High School) until you reach Langley Park and well after you cross into Prince George's. Once you get around Riggs Road, the traffic somewhat lightens up, but as soon as you reach the University of Maryland... you're done for. You might as well add another 15-20 minutes just from the segment spanning the University of Maryland into Greenbelt.
So, you might want to think long and hard about this and research some other areas. Personally, I'd stick to Montgomery County. But, if you really think you want to make this move, you should try driving out to Greenbelt DURING rush hour... around 6-8pm. You will see for yourself. I have done University Park/Hyattsville to Pentagon City in about 25 minutes in fair traffic. I-395 gets terrible during rush hour and especially when you start to cross the 14th Street Bridge into Virginia. Again, you might want to travel the route, yourself, to gain first hand experience. Hope this helps.
I live in Temple Hills near Crossland. I see the kids shooting craps, darting in front of traffic causing havoc at the adjacent gas station and McDonalds all this before the morning bell. Can't imagine much learning takes place there during the school day. It's probably better in Greenbelt but I wouldn't recommend PG to people who have options.
Actually the area we were considering is not in Greenbelt. It’s on Goddard “Lanham” MD. The neighborhood across the NASA center. The homes for sale there are nice and the one we are considering purchasing is completely remodeled. We drove by several times and it seemed like it was a well kept neighborhood, but the comments about PG schools concern me. I guess I can try private schools. I wish I could stay in Montgomery County, but the commute up/down New Hampshire Ave to and from the beltway from Cloverly is very bad adding sometimes 30 mins to the commute. Then the additional 30-40 min to Alexandria VA along the beltway. That's why we are considering Goddard, because it will be the same amount of time for commuting to/from Rockville and Alexandria.
Last edited by dropping_k; 07-28-2011 at 02:50 PM..
If you are talking about the new development next to Kmart, I would agree that it's nice. There is another older subdivision close by - Braebrook -which looks nice. I drove through that one. Then there's Greennbelt Woods nearby. And Woodstream, across from DuVal High. I knew several people who lived there. All well-kept and nice from what I have seen and heard. The schools...the magnets for elementary/middle (Goddard) and Roosevelt are good. But you have to do the lottery for Goddard. The regular schools there fare worse.
So far so good. I moved in months ago and no problems. I realize that it’s not much different than Montgomery County and the Neighborhood in Goddard seems very safe. Also now that the ICC is open, it's easier to get in and out of Rockville.
So far so good. I moved in months ago and no problems. I realize that it’s not much different than Montgomery County and the Neighborhood in Goddard seems very safe. Also now that the ICC is open, it's easier to get in and out of Rockville.
I'm glad it is working out for you. There's a lot to be said for seeing things for yourself and making up your own mind rather than just listening to the conventional wisdom.
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