What’s your plan on middle school promotion day?

[Anonymous]

Bring flowers? Have family dinner after? Kids hang out?

[Anonymous]

Go to the promotion in the evening. Go home after. It’s just middle school.

[Anonymous]

So MCPS middle schools not have an 8th grade dance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So MCPS middle schools not have an 8th grade dance?

Some do but its not on the promotion day. At least ours isn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So MCPS middle schools not have an 8th grade dance?

Is the dance a big deal? How different is it going to be comparing with the PGA fundraising dance party?

[Anonymous]

Wow! I had no idea other schools had actual ceremonies. Ours has nothing. Kids go to Hershey Park as a field trip toward the end of the year but no ceremony or anything at all besides that.

[Anonymous]

Our plan is to go to the ceremony, give kid a little gift, and come home. The 8th graders have a class trip to Six Flags the next day. No dance, which is good as my kid doesn’t like them.

[Anonymous]

Cabin John has no ceremony but kids go to Kings Dominion and a dance. I am fine with no ceremony....happy to make it about the kids having a good time.

[Anonymous]

DH and I will get up around 5:45am to blow up balloons to surprise DS. We'll be tired, because we will have stayed up super late the night before to assemble and wrap all the gifts.

Starbucks on the way to school. Door Dash delivery of DS's favorite Chipotle burrito bowl for lunch, and then the limo we ordered to take us to the ceremony and the dinner that night will pick him up from school. My makeup lady is coming to meet us at home so we look nice for the photos, which we'll do right before we head out.

Ceremony is at 6, so we'll be done with that and on to dinner at Pineapple and Pearls at 8.

I think we'll all sleep well, especially DS after his long day and celebratory glass of champagne at dinner, now that he's a real man. High school, wow! Am I right!?!?!?

[Anonymous]

PP you made my evening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow! I had no idea other schools had actual ceremonies. Ours has nothing. Kids go to Hershey Park as a field trip toward the end of the year but no ceremony or anything at all besides that.

We moved to MD when our child started MS. Our child’s ES had a 5th grade dance, class field trip & promotion ceremony.

[Anonymous]

Ours was in the morning and we went out to lunch afterward. Then I had to go back to work.

The dance was the Friday night (I think) before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow! I had no idea other schools had actual ceremonies. Ours has nothing. Kids go to Hershey Park as a field trip toward the end of the year but no ceremony or anything at all besides that.

It’s been a rough rule of thumb in MoCo the past twenty years that the more fuss there over promotion to 9th grade, the higher the FARMs rate because of the correlation between poverty and low rates of high school and college graduation. In higher SES communities, finishing middle school is not viewed as an accomplishment. For communities with a lot of families in distress, it takes a huge amount of effort to get a child to that moment and that is recognized with pomp and swag elsewhere reserved for baccalaureates and up.

If your school does nothing other than the eighth grade trip, it’s probably a sign community confidence that students will graduate high school. They’ll get their walk and flowers in four years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I will get up around 5:45am to blow up balloons to surprise DS. We'll be tired, because we will have stayed up super late the night before to assemble and wrap all the gifts.

Starbucks on the way to school. Door Dash delivery of DS's favorite Chipotle burrito bowl for lunch, and then the limo we ordered to take us to the ceremony and the dinner that night will pick him up from school. My makeup lady is coming to meet us at home so we look nice for the photos, which we'll do right before we head out.

Ceremony is at 6, so we'll be done with that and on to dinner at Pineapple and Pearls at 8.

I think we'll all sleep well, especially DS after his long day and celebratory glass of champagne at dinner, now that he's a real man. High school, wow! Am I right!?!?!?

Nice satire, but there are working class immigrant parents who go all out for eighth grade promotion. Sometimes resulting in considerable financial stress because the expectation is new fancy clothing for the whole family, arrival in a limo, and a big party afterwards. It’s usually a sign of few HS grads in the family or community. Many schools have tried to calm all of this down and encourage saving the hoopla for HS graduation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I will get up around 5:45am to blow up balloons to surprise DS. We'll be tired, because we will have stayed up super late the night before to assemble and wrap all the gifts.

Starbucks on the way to school. Door Dash delivery of DS's favorite Chipotle burrito bowl for lunch, and then the limo we ordered to take us to the ceremony and the dinner that night will pick him up from school. My makeup lady is coming to meet us at home so we look nice for the photos, which we'll do right before we head out.

Ceremony is at 6, so we'll be done with that and on to dinner at Pineapple and Pearls at 8.

I think we'll all sleep well, especially DS after his long day and celebratory glass of champagne at dinner, now that he's a real man. High school, wow! Am I right!?!?!?

Nice satire, but there are working class immigrant parents who go all out for eighth grade promotion. Sometimes resulting in considerable financial stress because the expectation is new fancy clothing for the whole family, arrival in a limo, and a big party afterwards. It’s usually a sign of few HS grads in the family or community. Many schools have tried to calm all of this down and encourage saving the hoopla for HS graduation.

Oh, calm down. I work with first gen college students. Yes, there is a different type of hoopla, but limos for 8th grade graduation are not typical. The satire is clearly about suburban wine moms.