constant chatter about Montgomery County schools being better

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to DCPS - no teachers for some classes. I'm suer it happens at MCPS too. Eventually, they get one after a mediocre sub. Not blaming teachers/subs...the pay sucks.

I've only heard of this happening when the teacher calls in sick last minute, and they can't find a sub.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you really trying to compare the most well-resourced school in DCPS to an entire neighboring school system??

Of course not. OP is comparing to BCC, Whitman, Churchill, Wooten. The MCPS "peer schools" to JR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:JR can work v. well for go-getter kids. MoCo pushes the not-so-motivated much harder overall.

THIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you really trying to compare the most well-resourced school in DCPS to an entire neighboring school system??

Not understanding this comment. JR is not the most well-resourced school in DCPS, nor is the comparison to an entire neighboring school system.

I guarantee Whitman, Churchill and BCC have more resources than JR. They are great HSs...also, Blair Magnet and Poolesville Magnet are great too.

I just don't hear of many families that own a home in Upper NW moving to MOCO for schools. Many send their kids to privates...no doubt about that (but many MOCO parents do that as well)...but many also send their kids to JR and Walls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you really trying to compare the most well-resourced school in DCPS to an entire neighboring school system??

Of course not. OP is comparing to BCC, Whitman, Churchill, Wooten. The MCPS "peer schools" to JR.

Wootton!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you really trying to compare the most well-resourced school in DCPS to an entire neighboring school system??

Not understanding this comment. JR is not the most well-resourced school in DCPS, nor is the comparison to an entire neighboring school system.

I guarantee Whitman, Churchill and BCC have more resources than JR. They are great HSs...also, Blair Magnet and Poolesville Magnet are great too.

I just don't hear of many families that own a home in Upper NW moving to MOCO for schools. Many send their kids to privates...no doubt about that (but many MOCO parents do that as well)...but many also send their kids to JR and Walls.

I have known many families throughout the years, and my family was one of the many.
It's not a new thing, this has been going on for many years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not too many people move from MCPS to DCPS for a reason.

In fairness, not many people that would send their kids to JR or Walls move to MCPS either. It is just there are many people where they don't have JR as a neighborhood option and Walls is a small school.

Admittedly, MCPS has Whitman, Churchhill, BCC, Wooten...many good options for HS. I have heard close-in MCPS middle school is an issue for a lot of people, but they go with the flow because they do have strong HS options.

Also, college competition is more severe from these MCPS high schools, so if you have great stats at JR you are not competing against nearly as many kids with great stats for T20 colleges.

Many do.

[Anonymous]

I think the problem is that OP has kid(s) at JR so that’s her point of reference. The “constant chatter” about MCPS is driven by the many DC families who are OOB for JR and can’t bet on a spot at Walls or one of the charters. We live on the east side and know tons of families on the Hill and in Brookland/Edgewood/etc. who are looking at MoCo for MS/HS if they don’t get lucky with the lottery. They might also look at moving IB for JR, but TBH, if you live on the East side I’m not sure there is a huge preference for which side of the city limits you wind up in if you are considering moving to either upper NW DC or Bethesda and environs. Obviously the further out you move in MoCo, the more suburban it becomes, but in terms of cost, culture, AND schools, I don’t hear people expressing a clear preference for JR or the MCPS high schools.

Most East side parents are looking for predictable quality in schools if they are going to take the trouble to move. You can get that in one DC pyramid ir several MoCo pyramids (or a handful of places in NoVa). These places all feel somewhat interchangeable from my angle, and would depend on housing stock, my specific commute, maybe proximity of families we know, potentially quality if a specific program or EC if that was important to our kid, etc. But I wouldn’t give MCPS extra points over JR. I’d give them both points over Eastern or Dunbar or betting on Walls or hoping we luck out with BASIS or Latin.

[Anonymous]

I've never encountered or even heard of teacherless classes in MCPS, except for the wave of COVID absences last year (which was temporary).

Honestly, we moved from DCPS (an underperforming school, to be fair) to MCPS and have been gobsmacked at how much better the experience is for upper grades. To be fair our child has been in magnet programs from 4th on (now in HS) but part of the draw of MCPS was that DCPS doesn't even have this option.

I am certain people have good DCPS experiences. But for us, MCPS has been better, and we have done both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you really trying to compare the most well-resourced school in DCPS to an entire neighboring school system??

Of course not. OP is comparing to BCC, Whitman, Churchill, Wooten. The MCPS "peer schools" to JR.

I don't think the Ws are peers to JR. Maybe more like regular Blair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've never encountered or even heard of teacherless classes in MCPS, except for the wave of COVID absences last year (which was temporary).

Honestly, we moved from DCPS (an underperforming school, to be fair) to MCPS and have been gobsmacked at how much better the experience is for upper grades. To be fair our child has been in magnet programs from 4th on (now in HS) but part of the draw of MCPS was that DCPS doesn't even have this option.

I am certain people have good DCPS experiences. But for us, MCPS has been better, and we have done both.

I'm a PP. Teacherless classes have happened to my DC in MS/HS but it's usually when the teacher calls in sick, and they can't find a sub quickly enough. It's not enough but it happens.

Last year in MS, a teacher quite early in the year, and they couldn't find a long term sub for a while, so they went through succession of short term subs, no subs, fill ins.

[Anonymous]

^sorry, should say .. "it's not often".. not "it's not enough"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you really trying to compare the most well-resourced school in DCPS to an entire neighboring school system??

Of course not. OP is comparing to BCC, Whitman, Churchill, Wooten. The MCPS "peer schools" to JR.

That's not at all clear in the OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you really trying to compare the most well-resourced school in DCPS to an entire neighboring school system??

Not understanding this comment. JR is not the most well-resourced school in DCPS, nor is the comparison to an entire neighboring school system.

I guarantee Whitman, Churchill and BCC have more resources than JR. They are great HSs...also, Blair Magnet and Poolesville Magnet are great too.

I just don't hear of many families that own a home in Upper NW moving to MOCO for schools. Many send their kids to privates...no doubt about that (but many MOCO parents do that as well)...but many also send their kids to JR and Walls.

I have known many families throughout the years, and my family was one of the many.
It's not a new thing, this has been going on for many years.

Perhaps our peer group are rich douchebags...because I have known of only 1 family that left DCPS at middle school for MOCO (none at HS). Many have left DCPS at MS and HS for STA, GDS, Sidwell, SJC, Gonzaga, etc....but they would never go through the effort to move from Upper NW DC to MOCO just to stay public. Many have remained at DCPS all the way through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you really trying to compare the most well-resourced school in DCPS to an entire neighboring school system??

Of course not. OP is comparing to BCC, Whitman, Churchill, Wooten. The MCPS "peer schools" to JR.

I don't think the Ws are peers to JR. Maybe more like regular Blair.

It is tough because the Ws have way more resources than JR...but the top 30% at JR are demographic peers to the Ws. These are the kids taking 15 APs, running the debate club, the robotics team, rowing crew, etc.