Randolph Hills Tries To Assert Its Identity

George Gadbois; his wife, Mary Anne; and sons Anthony, 12, and Gregory, 10 (back to camera), in their Randolph Hills neighborhood. (Photos Michael Temchine For The Washington Post)

With Metro and MARC train stations less than a mile away, and Interstate 270 and the Capital Beltway just a little farther, the Montgomery County neighborhood of Randolph Hills is a commuter's dream, residents say.

"We don't have a heliport here, but we've got nearly every other way to get around," said Frank Shore, who has lived in the 800-home community of brick ramblers since 1960, just after the neighborhood was built.

The ease of transportation and the nearby strip shopping centers and White Flint Mall made the neighborhood convenient for raising five children, said Shore, who was a member of the Maryland General Assembly from 1971 to 1990.

"The houses are well built. We have a lot of parkland. It's a pleasant neighborhood," said George Gadbois, who has lived in the neighborhood for about 20 years, and is a leader of the neighborhood's Cub Scout pack.

Long & Foster agent Denise Szczur agrees. She lived in the neighborhood for 10 years before moving to Rockville. She said houses, which generally have three bedrooms and two baths, sell for $300,000 to $400,000.

"We loved it there. The houses may look small on the outside, but they have good-size dining rooms and huge basements. A lot of people have put on additions or added garages," she said. "What I really like about Randolph Hills is that it's nice and secluded; no one knows it's back there."

That is partly because Rock Creek Park curves along the eastern border of the neighborhood, which is sandwiched between Rockville, Bethesda and Wheaton. That has led to a bit of split personality for Randolph Hills.

"We've had kind of an identity problem," Gadbois said. "We have some folks with a Kensington phone exchange, a Rockville Zip code and schools in Wheaton."

The neighborhood and others nearby took on the postal address of North Bethesda about 10 years ago. Previously, Randolph Hills had been classified solely as Rockville.

"That didn't make sense. The center of Rockville is eight miles away," Shore said. "You'd say 'Rockville,' and people would think you were way north of here."

Residents say the school cluster to which children are assigned has compounded identity concerns. Those in Randolph Hills attend the Wheaton High School cluster, while neighboring Montrose Park children attend schools in the Walter Johnson High School cluster. Both neighborhoods are part of the Randolph Civic Association.

Civic Association President Matthew Shore, Frank Shore's son, would like all the children to attend the same schools.

"I would say the most frustrating thing about living here is the school boundaries. They make no sense. We are not in Wheaton," he said. Shore and other civic association members have asked the Montgomery County board of education to consider putting Randolph Hills into the Walter Johnson cluster, but the board won't change the boundaries, he said.

At issue is the perception by some residents that the Wheaton cluster of schools is inferior to Walter Johnson. For example, the average combined verbal and math SAT scores at Wheaton High School are 886, while they are 1,153 at Walter Johnson High School, which draws most of its students from Bethesda, Garrett Park and Kensington.

But not everyone is ready to jump. Gadbois, who has sons in the fourth and seventh grades, said that he has high hopes for high school in the area. Wheaton, with four other high schools, will be part of what's called the Downcounty Consortium, in which students can choose high schools based on their specialty programs. For example, one specialty program being planned for Wheaton High School is engineering. The consortium begins this fall.

"There's one school of thought that you ought to try to fix what you've got," he said. "The opportunities with the Downcounty Consortium may be better than in another cluster."

Schools in the Wheaton cluster are overcrowded. The county plans to reopen a nearby elementary school and middle school as part of the Wheaton cluster. It has not yet been decided if Randolph Hills students would move to those schools.

As with the schools, residents have split opinions about the community's parks. In addition to the acres of Rock Creek Park abutting the neighborhood, residents also have easy access to Randolph Hills Local Park, with its playground, community building and ball field.

Matthew Shore helped lead the way to preserving a three-acre parcel of tree-covered land eyed by developers next to Rock Creek Park; the county bought the land three years ago. "It was a great accomplishment. It's great to look out the window and see nothing but nature rather than new houses," Shore said.

But concerns have arisen over use of Randolph Hills Local Park's soccer field. Because of the shortage of fields, soccer players from all around the region come to the park to play, Gadbois said, adding that parked cars and trash left by the players are a problem. The civic association is working to find out if there is a way to restrict access to the park.

"We don't want the kids who usually bike and play in the park to have to deal with this type of thing," Gadbois said. "In the end, we hope to get something firmly in place that's enforceable. We want Randolph Hills to remain safe for everyone."