Good schools in DC Metro area? (Silver Spring, Germantown: low income, townhouse, neighborhood)

[psychofan]

I'll be working for the Federal government in the DC Metro area (Silver Spring), while GF will be working in Rockville and am wondering where are the good safe places to live? With good schools. I'm currently living in an apt in Germantown, by Clopper and Great Seneca, but am looking at purchasing sometime soon. I have read tons of bad things about Germantown on this forum, particularly the area by Wisteria.

I would think budget would be under $450k. How are schools in Laurel?
Burtonsville? Potomac?

Thanks all!

[stillLookingForAHouse]

hello, I am currently looking for a place also. I've been in Gaithersburg for about 3 years. Germantown is not a great place to buy a house in (my opinion), I also wouldn't really like to buy in Montgomery Village (low income houses). If you go out farther from DC there are nice neighbourhoods, but for me it's too far of a comute. I've heard Silver Spring is similar to Germantown (but I dont know from my own expperience).
Good schools - Montgomery County has really good schools, I think 2nd best in US.

[vanyali]

I've been looking at elementary schools, and the Bethesda and Chevy Chase schools all seem spectacular, as far as I can tell.

Other than that, all I know is the Virginia side, and I don't think you want to commute from there, though you might be able to find a townhouse in North Arlington that wouldn't be too bad a commute.

I would be suspicious of public schools in Potomac -- I have the impression that a lot of people there send their kids to private school, so the public schools might be neglected, though I don't know that to be true.

Have you looked at GreatSchools.net (http://www.GreatSchools.net? - broken link) That's a great place to start when looking at schools.

[vanyali]

Never mind about Potomac -- everyone says their schools are great, and their test scores are spectacular. SO if you can find a place to live there you can afford, go for it. All I've seen of Potomac are the mansions. I've heard about the "more affordable" parts, but I've never seen them. Maybe they exist.

[dakwilk]

I know I will be the odd one out here, but the elementary school in my town is great. the test scores aren't the best, but I have visited and been incredibley impressed with the discipline and the progress that the kids who come from the neighborhood are doing. Lots of parental involvement. University Park Elem.

[truthhurts]

Try this website it will give you every last schools test scores

SchoolMatters - Home (http://www.schoolmatters.com/schools.aspx/q/page=hm - broken link)

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by vanyali

Never mind about Potomac -- everyone says their schools are great, and their test scores are spectacular. SO if you can find a place to live there you can afford, go for it. All I've seen of Potomac are the mansions. I've heard about the "more affordable" parts, but I've never seen them. Maybe they exist.

Don't forget North Potomac. Schools there seem pretty good too.

[jf4christ]

The best schools in the area are in Howard County. We have one in elementary school and 2 in middle school and have lived here for about 7 years now. My wife is an educator and did much research before we actually settled here. We have been very pleased.
I work in Rockville, and the commute really isn't bad. It takes 45 minutes to 1 hour and there are some back roads. I don't mind the commute at all. Prices in Howard are expensive because of the schools, naturally.
We are putting our house on the market this weekend for $430K. It's a 4 BR/ 3 1/2 baths colonial, with a nice private yard. If interested, let me know.

Either way, I recommend Howard County --#1 schools!

[mocoresider09]

As far as Potomac is concerned the majority of the people who live there are in Churchill HS school district, but some are in Wootton school district. For affordable housing in the Potomac area, I really don't know of any under 650K. According to Newsweek the top three schools in Montgomery county are Wootton, Whitman, Churchill in that order. Some argue that Richard Montgomery is better, but it has the IB program which none of the other schools have. The problem with those three schools is that housing is pretty expensive. I hope you find the information helpful.

[Apsarafour]

Beltsville Elementary is one of the best in PG county, and housing prices in the area are still reasonable. (Our home will be going on the market soon because we moving -- under $400,000!) I'm glad we chose PG county over Montgomery because there are good magnet schools, including French Immersion and Montessori at the elementary level. Mont co schools have a good rep, but it's mostly because Chevy Chase and Bethesda skew the averages. Out in the northern fringes, it's spotty. I"ve heard okay things about Burtonsville Elem. But bad things about Greencastle, Fairland, and Galway. THey are rebuilding Galway nearly from scratch so maybe things will change. But decent homes in the area for under $500,000.
Your commute to SS will be okay, but 29 gets worse every year. Less than 30 mins, probably. Going to Rockville will be a bit of a challenge, but it's not bad, either. Will improve if that ICC is ever built. And be sure your home isn't in its path.