Yeshiva of Greater Washington / Silver Spring

amother

Sun, Dec 24 2023, 2:52 am

Been considering moving to silverspring (for a job) but our primary concern is schooling. It looks to be a middle and high school. Where is the elementary school?

Can anyone tell me about the school? How large are the classes? Are they good with working with parents if a kid has a learning difference? (Ie parents are aware and working with the kid, getting help etc but need something from the school like more time for tests).

Also anything else about the school and community you can share?

amother

Bellflower

Sun, Dec 24 2023, 5:42 am

amother Cerise wrote:

the Torah school is the elementary school. It's supposed to be good.

Just realize for everyone talking about commuting to/from Baltimore, the two communities are about an hour apart. If you're ok with an OOT type community with a not bais Yaakov school, silver spring is great.

It can be an hour drive, and students go back and forth. There are busses and rides both ways. And plenty of teachers drive from Baltimore to Silver Spring every day. It’s definitely doable. Lots of people commute to the DC area from Baltimore also.
I wonder when a girls high school will open up in Silver spring with the Torah Day School hashkafas. I think the community would really take off.
And there are also girls who come to Baltimore for school from Olney, Rockville…not just Silver Spring. And kids from Silver Soring also go to school in Rockville, to Berman. And vice versa. There are other communities besides Baltimore and Silver Spring.

amother

Saddlebrown

Sun, Dec 24 2023, 7:51 am

amother OP wrote:

Are you asking about the boys division or girls division? It's a lovely out of town community but tuition/cost of living is high. Girls school is strong working with kids who have learning differences. Boys school will work with parents. Sulam is also an option.

amother

Jade

Sun, Dec 24 2023, 7:57 am

amother OP wrote:

The education isn’t very good. It is also very modern.

amother

Saddlebrown

Sun, Dec 24 2023, 8:14 am

amother Bellflower wrote:

I would say that the girls YGW is in line with TSGW in terms of haskafa. I live here with kids attending both schools. It isn't a Bais Yaakov but the teachers are wonderful and many if not most girls in each grade are BY type. Most people are very happy with the school- a few send to Baltimore bc they want a more BY school, but its fewer and fewer every year bc the community has become more to the right.
Girls in general have no trouble getting into the seminary of their choice-.BJJ, Bnos Sara, Bnos Chava....But at the end of the day it's an out of town community school. Classes are small. Teachers are caring and invested. Its a down to earth place- no one cares about brands etc... People are very welcomg and kind.The community has become a lot more yeshivish. The major downside here is cost of living. I'd recommend arranging a visit.

amother

Yarrow

Sun, Dec 24 2023, 8:14 am

You didn't say if you're looking into YGW for a son or daughter. They have totally separate divisions for boys and girls. I don't know anything about the girls. But I live in Baltimore and am looking to send my son to YGW; it seems like a really great yeshiva and I wish Baltimore had something like this. It is unique in the sense that they have a diverse group of boys. They also have a reputation for offering a solid limudei chol track, which is hard to find in a yeshiva. They do having tracking since there are 2 parallel classes per grade. In a way, Silver Spring reminds me of what Baltimore used to be like 20 years ago. I've also heard good things about the Torah school, but have no first hand experience.
Hatzlacha!

amother

Bellflower

Sun, Dec 24 2023, 8:52 am

I don’t think YGW is like Baltimore of 20 years ago. It may be headed in that direction but it definitely isn’t there yet.
The girls who go from Baltimore to Silver Spring are looking for a non BY school. And the girls who go to BY sems from YGW come to Baltimore when the sems come to the Baltimore schools. Maybe some of the BY sems go to Silver Spring, I don’t know. Girls YGW send girls to BY convention. More modern families send to Berman, which is a drive also. Silver spring tuitions (and Berman) are much higher than Baltimore. Good luck!

amother

Powderblue

Sun, Dec 24 2023, 10:01 am

amother Tan wrote:

The education is decent. Also its not modern. Its OOT and a community type school, but the community and yeshiva has gone more to the right over the past 10 years.
Torah School of GW is the feeder school to yeshiva of GW.
There is also Berman which is modern orthodox and has a special ed program called sulam in it.

The secular education is decent in comparison to modern orthodox schools. In comparison to more yeshivish schools it is much better.

amother

Smokey

Sun, Dec 24 2023, 10:22 am

amother OP wrote:

We live here. Right wing people without family are attracted to the community for jobs in DC, an out of town but intellectual vibe, and/or the yeshiva/Rav Aharon Lopiansky. The "right wing" shul for young families is Ohr Hatorah. I put "right wing" in quotes because it is out of towny, warm, and there's still a range of types, including a lot of BT.

The elementary school is the Torah School of Greater washington. Class size is usually around 12 kids per class, two classes per grade. The founder of the school (Rabbi Charner) was very into having small classes so that the teachers can give the appropriate attention to each child. They are great with academic differences and support on both sides of the spectrum. The small class sizes has its perks, but some of the parents wish the classes were larger, because the tuition is very high. They have been generous with tuition breaks, but you will still pay a lot more than in Lakewood, for example.

YGW girls is not a Bais Yaakov, but there is a good group of more yeshivish families who send, enough to have a good chevra each grade. The school caters to these girls but it's much more open minded and very different than an in town Bais Yaakov.

I think every community has its pros and cons, and you just kind of have to pick a place that will work out well for your family.

Happy to answer any other specific questions you have. If you tell us where you're coming from, maybe we can point out some differences/similarities. I think it would also be very helpful for you to go to the school websites and watch videos from the dinners, etc to see if it seems like the type you are looking for.

amother

Apple

Sun, Dec 24 2023, 11:06 am

A lot of your questions could be better answered knowing where you’re coming from and the ages/genders of your children.

I went to TSGW/YGW years ago and have kids in TSGW now. B”H have many positive things to say Smile

As many have said, the general community has moved to the right over the last 10 years or so. But even when I went to YGW, about 15 years ago, girls in my class went to BJJ, Bnos Chava, etc (and IIRC they didn’t have to go to Baltimore to meet with those sems) as well as sems across the spectrum. As an OOT school, each class is going to be different in a way that that you don’t get “in town”. By that I mean that you have some classes that are very yeshivish, and some that are more modern (but I still wouldn’t call them “modern orthodox”) - as a community school you may not have the same consistency from class to class, but you can have very Frum classes. This is one reason that some classes have a lot of girls going to baltimore/away, and some much fewer - it can often depend on your specific class.

Many more of the boys leave for yeshiva/high school than the girls so the boys and girls YGW have different feels, beyond just being structured for each gender. For girls YGW, I definitely received an excellent education in both secular and kodesh - finishing high school with lots of usable college credit, and arriving at (a “top”) sem as one of the stronger students - some family members had the same experience, some different.

TSGW has definitely grown over the last decade - not just in size, but in professionalism/resources, well-run etc. and we’ve been really happy with our experience. Definitely OOT feel, but with the plus side of really dedicated staff who seem genuinely happy to be working there and go out of their way for students.

Happy to answer other questions you may have. I often tell people that I feel very lucky to live somewhere where the chinuch is both frum and functional 😂

amother

Sun, Dec 24 2023, 11:08 am

amother Smokey wrote:

Thank you all! Was posting in the Middle of the night (nursing!) And didn't expect so many responses so quickly!! Thank you!

So I have girls and boys. Some who need to be challenged in school (and they go to a "good" academic school for where we live) and some need more attention. Not trouble makers at all- great sweet kids- just not as academic or socially struggling a little.

We don't live in Lakewood so I am wondering what people mean by higher cost of living. My city isn't cheap either. What sort of things make it more expensive than say Baltimore? If we aren't expecting Lakewood tuition rates what else makes it more expensive? I was looking at Kemp mill on Zillow and 3Br homes are about 500k. Is that about right?

We are also looking into Baltimore so info on that would be helpful too. Maybe that needs another thread.

amother

Tan

Sun, Dec 24 2023, 11:13 am

amother OP wrote:

500k in silver spring is very cheap these days and probably needs work because the homes are older.