What type of school would you chose for your kids?

[Anonymous]

We are currently in a FCPS in a school that is ranked a 6 on Great Schools but feeds into a pretty rough middle school and high school. Our school (one of 8 that feeds into the middle school) is one of the more diverse schools both racially and socioeconomically. Our kids are getting a pretty good education but there are always reports of kids who are acting out in their class, being pulled out, etc which ends up being disruptive to the learning as a whole. FWIW our kids are bi-racial.

Our option is to keep our kids in public school where they feed into a middle school that is pretty rough OR send them to a parochial school near by.

Pros to our public school: kids have a ton of friends, they are learning how to work well with a large diverse group of kids both racially and socioeconomically, our PTA is pretty involved and we like the teachers. Cons to our public school: it feeds into a rough middle/high school that can be hard to navigate. The middle/highs schools are HUGE and I am worried that our kids will get lost. Especially if they aren't in the AAP program. I am also worried about the violence and bullying at the middle/high school levels.

Pros to parochial school: smaller classes, hopefully less disruptive kids so there is less learning loss, strong focus on academics. Cons to parochial school: much less racially diverse, worried about some of the Catholic dogma being instilled into our kids.

What would you do?

[Anonymous]

How old is your child? I would keep them in ES and then reevaluate for MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old is your child? I would keep them in ES and then reevaluate for MS.

OP - kids are in 1st and 3rd grade. Will have another kid joining them in 2 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old is your child? I would keep them in ES and then reevaluate for MS.

Would it be hard for kids to move in MS?

[Anonymous]

I kept my kid in the middle school she is zoned to. It has 1100 students and she doesn’t feel lost at all. She is super happy there with her friends from elementary. It isa 4 on great schools and she is having a wonderful experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I kept my kid in the middle school she is zoned to. It has 1100 students and she doesn’t feel lost at all. She is super happy there with her friends from elementary. It isa 4 on great schools and she is having a wonderful experience.

Is your child in AAP? Are you in FCPS?

[Anonymous]

Before you make a choice between your public school vs the parochal school, make sure that your children are actually interacting with a diverse group of students.

I am a minority parent who bought into a neighborhood partly because of the diversity of its schools. While I love my neighborhood, I am not sure that my children are experiencing diversity in their school.

My children are grouping based on academics and extracurricular activities. The kids who are ahead of the class academically tend to stick together. They also tend to have parents from similar socioeconomic backgrounds.

My children are happy and learning, so they will stay put. But we have to look outside of school for diversity.

[Anonymous]

I honestly feel like based on your post my spouse teaches at your zoned MS.

Do you have the money to easily pay for parochial? Even if your kids are not in AAP, they could take honors in MS.

[Anonymous]

Why don’t you let your kid try out public MS and take honors/AAP classes and go from there? Since diversity is important and they have good friend groups. I would probably use parochial as the nuclear option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I honestly feel like based on your post my spouse teaches at your zoned MS.

Do you have the money to easily pay for parochial? Even if your kids are not in AAP, they could take honors in MS.

Op - yes we could pay for parochial school. We are Catholic so we would get the Catholic student rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t you let your kid try out public MS and take honors/AAP classes and go from there? Since diversity is important and they have good friend groups. I would probably use parochial as the nuclear option.

Op - I am a little worried that not all of my kids will be in AAP or honors. I have heard that if you aren’t in AAP or honors at our middle/high school it can be really rough.

[Anonymous]

OP seems pretty thoughtful. So I would expect the DC also are - or will be - thoughtful. So I would not worry about the kids taking whichever dogma from the parochial without questioning it and thinking about it. .

[Anonymous]

I’d do private school if it isn’t a financial hardship in any way. I wouldn’t want my kids in such a rough middle school, and easier to move now rather than later. Most kids are able to take the religious aspects with a grain of salt (IME) and many other kids will be in the same boat in that regard.

If it is a financial issue, my answer might change…but if finances are not an issue, private would be better 9 times out of 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d do private school if it isn’t a financial hardship in any way. I wouldn’t want my kids in such a rough middle school, and easier to move now rather than later. Most kids are able to take the religious aspects with a grain of salt (IME) and many other kids will be in the same boat in that regard.

If it is a financial issue, my answer might change…but if finances are not an issue, private would be better 9 times out of 10.

Eh- my friend’s kid found the parochial school way too insular in middle school. There were several horrible social situations because the kids had just a few peers and had been together forever so there was a lot of infighting. Some of the parents ended up pulling their kids out of the 8th a month or so early just to get them out of the situation. (This was after high school acceptance letters were out).

I think if your kids find the honors classes in middle school, they will probably be better off than parochial middle school, especially for FLE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d do private school if it isn’t a financial hardship in any way. I wouldn’t want my kids in such a rough middle school, and easier to move now rather than later. Most kids are able to take the religious aspects with a grain of salt (IME) and many other kids will be in the same boat in that regard.

If it is a financial issue, my answer might change…but if finances are not an issue, private would be better 9 times out of 10.

Eh- my friend’s kid found the parochial school way too insular in middle school. There were several horrible social situations because the kids had just a few peers and had been together forever so there was a lot of infighting. Some of the parents ended up pulling their kids out of the 8th a month or so early just to get them out of the situation. (This was after high school acceptance letters were out).

I think if your kids find the honors classes in middle school, they will probably be better off than parochial middle school, especially for FLE.

Op - yes I am worried about the social aspect. The school we are looking at is around 550 kids k-8th grade. So small. I grew up and went to a small school (graduated with 100 students).

However the flip side is 1000 students in our middle school split between 2 grades. That seems insane. And our high school has close to 3000 students.