Experience moving from MCPS to other public schools?

[Anonymous]

Anyone move their kids from MCPS to Howard County or other MD public schools? How does the other school compare to MCPS? We are not having a good experience in MCPS and would like to leave but not sure if other publics would be much different. For context, our MCPS challenges have been large class size, heavy reliance on Chromebooks for instruction and rewards (kids allowed to play games if they finish assignments but large class means kids are poorly supervised and rush through assignments to spend most of class time playing “educational” games), lackluster activities (mostly worksheets, no long-term projects, “research” assignments involve the kids searching an educational app, our 4th grader’s class did a science project that a neighbor’s 2nd grader’s private school class did), weak administrators, frequents requests for donations (the requests from the classroom, school, and PTA amount to nearly weekly requests for money or supplies, not just the standard classroom supplies but also furniture, subscriptions to even more digital content, supplies for any class assignment that isn’t a worksheet, snacks, and on and on).

I’ve read threads on here with posters fighting about whether MCPS or HCPSS is better. I am not interested in protracted arguments about each system’s statistics, I’d like to hear from people who have actual experience in both districts or those who can speak to the pros/cons of HCPSS. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

We moved from MCPS to FCPS Urbana school district and so far we are liking it a lot. I can see much more discipline in schools than in MCPS. My main concern before moving was lack of disciplines in schools, schools sending emails about fights in the school, vaping in the school etc but never saw any concrete measures taken to stop it. I thought just sending the emails to parents in not enough, I personally felt more could have been done to stop such things in school.
So far I am happy that I moved. Kids are doing good in school and are liking it here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We moved from MCPS to FCPS Urbana school district and so far we are liking it a lot. I can see much more discipline in schools than in MCPS. My main concern before moving was lack of disciplines in schools, schools sending emails about fights in the school, vaping in the school etc but never saw any concrete measures taken to stop it. I thought just sending the emails to parents in not enough, I personally felt more could have been done to stop such things in school.
So far I am happy that I moved. Kids are doing good in school and are liking it here.

We made the same move and could not be happier about switching from MCPS to FCPS (also Urbana pyramid).

Schools are great, and tbh, reminds me more of what my school experience was like years ago.

And if you find the right ES/MS/HS path, you can still get all the great things that we loved about MCPS (diversity, languages, families with similar educational values, etc) without all the FRUSTRATING crap that also came with MCPS

[Anonymous]

Another move(er) to Frederick from Moco. Much more solid culture of kindness. We originally moved to DMV and to MoCo for schools. (!) Kid didn’t have what MoCo is looking for - cram school first gen - thus deeply mistreated by staff with some very few exceptions. Damage was made though. We moved to Frederick.

I can say with all my heart (that while nothing is perfect in public school) child is almost finished and has been treated with respect - and her disability acknowledged and dealt with in reasonable ways. (Not in Urbana district though). That’s where most of the refugees go from Moco! No thanks. Good luck. If you do your research there are some gem clusters here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone move their kids from MCPS to Howard County or other MD public schools? How does the other school compare to MCPS? We are not having a good experience in MCPS and would like to leave but not sure if other publics would be much different. For context, our MCPS challenges have been large class size, heavy reliance on Chromebooks for instruction and rewards (kids allowed to play games if they finish assignments but large class means kids are poorly supervised and rush through assignments to spend most of class time playing “educational” games), lackluster activities (mostly worksheets, no long-term projects, “research” assignments involve the kids searching an educational app, our 4th grader’s class did a science project that a neighbor’s 2nd grader’s private school class did), weak administrators, frequents requests for donations (the requests from the classroom, school, and PTA amount to nearly weekly requests for money or supplies, not just the standard classroom supplies but also furniture, subscriptions to even more digital content, supplies for any class assignment that isn’t a worksheet, snacks, and on and on).

I’ve read threads on here with posters fighting about whether MCPS or HCPSS is better. I am not interested in protracted arguments about each system’s statistics, I’d like to hear from people who have actual experience in both districts or those who can speak to the pros/cons of HCPSS. Thanks.

Do you mind sharing what cluster you are in? We are wondering the same, but are currently under the (perhaps mistaken) believe that other moco pyramids would be better than our current one (takoma park).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved from MCPS to FCPS Urbana school district and so far we are liking it a lot. I can see much more discipline in schools than in MCPS. My main concern before moving was lack of disciplines in schools, schools sending emails about fights in the school, vaping in the school etc but never saw any concrete measures taken to stop it. I thought just sending the emails to parents in not enough, I personally felt more could have been done to stop such things in school.
So far I am happy that I moved. Kids are doing good in school and are liking it here.

We made the same move and could not be happier about switching from MCPS to FCPS (also Urbana pyramid).

Schools are great, and tbh, reminds me more of what my school experience was like years ago.

And if you find the right ES/MS/HS path, you can still get all the great things that we loved about MCPS (diversity, languages, families with similar educational values, etc) without all the FRUSTRATING crap that also came with MCPS

We also moved from MoCo to FCPS (Oakdale pyramid). Best decision ever...should have made it earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another move(er) to Frederick from Moco. Much more solid culture of kindness. We originally moved to DMV and to MoCo for schools. (!) Kid didn’t have what MoCo is looking for - cram school first gen - thus deeply mistreated by staff with some very few exceptions. Damage was made though. We moved to Frederick.

I can say with all my heart (that while nothing is perfect in public school) child is almost finished and has been treated with respect - and her disability acknowledged and dealt with in reasonable ways. (Not in Urbana district though). That’s where most of the refugees go from Moco! No thanks. Good luck. If you do your research there are some gem clusters here.

This is one thing that gets lost in all of it

A lot of people flee MCPS for a variety of reasons: competitive atmosphere, politics in the classroom, lack of SN support and services, etc.

But at the end of the day, the biggest difference for us has been what you said: a culture of kindness. People are nicer here, and the educational experience has just been a more pleasant one.

Is it possible that my children would have received a slightly superior education in MoCo? Maybe, maybe not. It's impossible to say, especially since we're in the Urbana pyramid. But I can say without hesitation that the experience has been a much better one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone move their kids from MCPS to Howard County or other MD public schools? How does the other school compare to MCPS? We are not having a good experience in MCPS and would like to leave but not sure if other publics would be much different. For context, our MCPS challenges have been large class size, heavy reliance on Chromebooks for instruction and rewards (kids allowed to play games if they finish assignments but large class means kids are poorly supervised and rush through assignments to spend most of class time playing “educational” games), lackluster activities (mostly worksheets, no long-term projects, “research” assignments involve the kids searching an educational app, our 4th grader’s class did a science project that a neighbor’s 2nd grader’s private school class did), weak administrators, frequents requests for donations (the requests from the classroom, school, and PTA amount to nearly weekly requests for money or supplies, not just the standard classroom supplies but also furniture, subscriptions to even more digital content, supplies for any class assignment that isn’t a worksheet, snacks, and on and on).

I’ve read threads on here with posters fighting about whether MCPS or HCPSS is better. I am not interested in protracted arguments about each system’s statistics, I’d like to hear from people who have actual experience in both districts or those who can speak to the pros/cons of HCPSS. Thanks.

Do you mind sharing what cluster you are in? We are wondering the same, but are currently under the (perhaps mistaken) believe that other moco pyramids would be better than our current one (takoma park).

We’re in BCC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved from MCPS to FCPS Urbana school district and so far we are liking it a lot. I can see much more discipline in schools than in MCPS. My main concern before moving was lack of disciplines in schools, schools sending emails about fights in the school, vaping in the school etc but never saw any concrete measures taken to stop it. I thought just sending the emails to parents in not enough, I personally felt more could have been done to stop such things in school.
So far I am happy that I moved. Kids are doing good in school and are liking it here.

We made the same move and could not be happier about switching from MCPS to FCPS (also Urbana pyramid).

Schools are great, and tbh, reminds me more of what my school experience was like years ago.

And if you find the right ES/MS/HS path, you can still get all the great things that we loved about MCPS (diversity, languages, families with similar educational values, etc) without all the FRUSTRATING crap that also came with MCPS

We also moved from MoCo to FCPS (Oakdale pyramid). Best decision ever...should have made it earlier.

Did this hold true in middle school too? Have your kids been happier too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another move(er) to Frederick from Moco. Much more solid culture of kindness. We originally moved to DMV and to MoCo for schools. (!) Kid didn’t have what MoCo is looking for - cram school first gen - thus deeply mistreated by staff with some very few exceptions. Damage was made though. We moved to Frederick.

I can say with all my heart (that while nothing is perfect in public school) child is almost finished and has been treated with respect - and her disability acknowledged and dealt with in reasonable ways. (Not in Urbana district though). That’s where most of the refugees go from Moco! No thanks. Good luck. If you do your research there are some gem clusters here.

This is one thing that gets lost in all of it

A lot of people flee MCPS for a variety of reasons: competitive atmosphere, politics in the classroom, lack of SN support and services, etc.

But at the end of the day, the biggest difference for us has been what you said: a culture of kindness. People are nicer here, and the educational experience has just been a more pleasant one.

Is it possible that my children would have received a slightly superior education in MoCo? Maybe, maybe not. It's impossible to say, especially since we're in the Urbana pyramid. But I can say without hesitation that the experience has been a much better one.

Interesting! Can you say more about this? For example, do you mostly notice the difference in families (FCPS vs MCPS) or does it apply to school admin and teachers too?