Seems like MCPS is a mess

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Sorry, I wasn’t clear. I have to be in DC for work for the next few years and was thinking MoCo, of the available close-in choices, for the schools.

Live near a Metro Silver Line station, and take the Silver Line into DC for work.

Good schools, good commute, and good real estate investment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ big business likes to be near big airports. It's why Amazon initially chose NYC for HQ2, as well. Surely, you don't think NYC has low taxes, do you?

-signed a former Bay Area resident.

The OP is not choosing between NYC, the Bay Area, and MD/VA. The OP is choosing between MD and VA.

Businesses are moving out of MD and moving into VA.

The choice cannot be clearer.

Are you a business? I'm not and I have entirely different life priorities than Amazon.

[Anonymous]

I've tried very hard to not Sh@t on MCPS for the past 15 years in which I have had kids attend MCPS schools. But I am going to start.
I can handle the many issues that a big a diverse school system and individual schools have. Do I love fighting and drug dealing in schools? No, but my HSer avoids it and has still had a good experience socially.
What is now getting me down is the academics. I don't think my kids will leave being well-educated. They have been taught the basics but not much beyond that. My 11th grader has read ONE book in English class this year and it makes my head explode. To date, for school, she's read one Shakespeare play. No To Kill A Mockingbird, no Anne Frank, and none of the classics. I realize that times have changed but still I am very very disappointed.

[Anonymous]

Arlington and McLean are the best combinations of proximity to DC, strong public schools (Langley/McLean/Yorktown/W-L), nice neighborhoods, and somewhat more moderate (though still left-leaning) county governments,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ big business likes to be near big airports. It's why Amazon initially chose NYC for HQ2, as well. Surely, you don't think NYC has low taxes, do you?

-signed a former Bay Area resident.

The OP is not choosing between NYC, the Bay Area, and MD/VA. The OP is choosing between MD and VA.

Businesses are moving out of MD and moving into VA.

The choice cannot be clearer.

OK, but the ^^pp listed businesses choosing MD over VA as if politics had something to do with it. It doesn't. So, that's what I was responding to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arlington and McLean are the best combinations of proximity to DC, strong public schools (Langley/McLean/Yorktown/W-L), nice neighborhoods, and somewhat more moderate (though still left-leaning) county governments,

They all have their issues. Someone was complaining about the 2.5% property tax in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP also said that this was a short term posting (a few years). In that case, buying in VA wouldn't make sense and overpaying in rent for a potential marginal difference is schools also does not make sense.

OP. We’re absolutely not buying the DC area. Will rent for a few years and go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Moving to the area soon and had been thinking MoCo for the schools but this forum paints a bleak picture. Would any of you prefer a VA district to MCPS?

Don't go by DCUM. You will be better off talking to real people.

Half the people who post here are right-wing agitators who don't even live in the area. They're whole game is to play up negative stories and create fear and doubt. My kids are in MCPS and doing great. As long as you are an involved parent your children can do well, but if you expect the county to raise them for you probably not.

So not true, this is a place MCPS parents and staff can SAFELY share their experiences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've tried very hard to not Sh@t on MCPS for the past 15 years in which I have had kids attend MCPS schools. But I am going to start.
I can handle the many issues that a big a diverse school system and individual schools have. Do I love fighting and drug dealing in schools? No, but my HSer avoids it and has still had a good experience socially.
What is now getting me down is the academics. I don't think my kids will leave being well-educated. They have been taught the basics but not much beyond that. My 11th grader has read ONE book in English class this year and it makes my head explode. To date, for school, she's read one Shakespeare play. No To Kill A Mockingbird, no Anne Frank, and none of the classics. I realize that times have changed but still I am very very disappointed.

I'm not saying regular English shouldn't have multiple books, but why didn't your child sign up for AP Literature, which would have taken the place of English 11? If that specific metric was important to your family, there was a very obvious option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've tried very hard to not Sh@t on MCPS for the past 15 years in which I have had kids attend MCPS schools. But I am going to start.
I can handle the many issues that a big a diverse school system and individual schools have. Do I love fighting and drug dealing in schools? No, but my HSer avoids it and has still had a good experience socially.
What is now getting me down is the academics. I don't think my kids will leave being well-educated. They have been taught the basics but not much beyond that. My 11th grader has read ONE book in English class this year and it makes my head explode. To date, for school, she's read one Shakespeare play. No To Kill A Mockingbird, no Anne Frank, and none of the classics. I realize that times have changed but still I am very very disappointed.

It's ok to read books outside of school, too. If you think it's important for her to read To Kill a Mockingbird and the diary of Anne Frank, take her to the library or buy the books yourself to give to her.

[Anonymous]

Look at city of Falls Church. Much smaller class size. We are in a premier cluster, 32-34 in most middle school classes.

[Anonymous]

Cluster=MoCo

Anonymous wrote:Look at city of Falls Church. Much smaller class size. We are in a premier cluster, 32-34 in most middle school classes.

[Anonymous]

My kids are in MCPS. In the Whitman cluster. One in middle and one in elementary. I read this board and it does not reflect my experience at all. "MCPS" may be a mess but my local schools have been great. I think it's big county and experiences vary but I have been pleased. I've looked at privates and have decided so far to stick with the Whitman cluster. Like many PPs, I think this board skews to disgruntled/haters. Talk to people in the places you are thinking of buying to get a real sense of the experience at specific MCPS schools, not the county in general.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've tried very hard to not Sh@t on MCPS for the past 15 years in which I have had kids attend MCPS schools. But I am going to start.
I can handle the many issues that a big a diverse school system and individual schools have. Do I love fighting and drug dealing in schools? No, but my HSer avoids it and has still had a good experience socially.
What is now getting me down is the academics. I don't think my kids will leave being well-educated. They have been taught the basics but not much beyond that. My 11th grader has read ONE book in English class this year and it makes my head explode. To date, for school, she's read one Shakespeare play. No To Kill A Mockingbird, no Anne Frank, and none of the classics. I realize that times have changed but still I am very very disappointed.

Meanwhile my sophomore has done a Shakespeare play, Catcher in the Rye, and who knows what for short focus snippets. Two things can be true at once. I really don’t think that you or others have accepted that things change include millions of others books being published in the last 50+ years. My kids are certainly getting a more complete, diverse, and honest understanding of history than I received in HS in a Private. Kids can read books at home or on their own. Reading Beowulf in HS wasn’t life changing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cluster=MoCo

Anonymous wrote:Look at city of Falls Church. Much smaller class size. We are in a premier cluster, 32-34 in most middle school classes.

How is that much smaller class sizes??