Rosemary Hills or Private?

[Anonymous]

I just read the thread under the general parenting about whether quality of elementary matters and it got me wondering about the quality of Rosemary Hills, where my kids will go in 2 years. Both DH and I work full-time and we have multiple children so not a ton of time/energy to supplement at home. What are people’s thoughts who have or have had kids there recently, post-Covid?

[Anonymous]

After touring RH, seeing the large class size, the chaos, noting the short recess and limited time for PE and other electives, we chose private. At the time, I had a friend with kids at RH who strongly advised us to go to private instead. Some other good friends of ours started at RH then moved to private shortly thereafter.

[Anonymous]

Already a thread:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1260272.page#29551788

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just read the thread under the general parenting about whether quality of elementary matters and it got me wondering about the quality of Rosemary Hills, where my kids will go in 2 years. Both DH and I work full-time and we have multiple children so not a ton of time/energy to supplement at home. What are people’s thoughts who have or have had kids there recently, post-Covid?

Are you the same poster?:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1227668.page

[Anonymous]

I am very disappointed at MCPS. If your kids haven't enrolled in school yet, I would go private.

[Anonymous]

If you have the budget for private, go private. If you have the budget for only a few years of private, I think middle school is the weakest link in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Private recruiting is strong in this forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am very disappointed at MCPS. If your kids haven't enrolled in school yet, I would go private.

Why? What is so good about private? Is it more white students? There, someone said it. From everyone sampled (obvi a small sample) who has done both, all of them say MCPS is better. So why private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private recruiting is strong in this forum.

They probably didn't reach their numbers as they expected this Spring post Jan 2025.

[Anonymous]

My kids went to Rosemary Hills and had a great experience, and we were very happy with it.

Things I loved about it as a parent and for my kids:
- the focus on that age group. Everyone there, and everyone in the building, is focused on very little kids and I really appreciated how that manifested in approach, attitude, understanding of behaviors, etc... I was a total convert to this kind of split after seeing their experience of it.
- I liked the principal - found her to be very capable, professional and effective. Lots of people complained about her not being warm and fuzzy enough - but I wasn't looking for that. I thought she was a very effective administrator and the school seemed well run.
- I loved the diversity of my kids' friends group. Socio-economic, cultural, intellectual, etc... - deep and true diversity and it was great. None of their subsequent education (all public MoCo) has been as diverse and I think they are the poorer for it.
- Great playground space

[Anonymous]

PP here - meant to add the strength of the counseling/support staff. I have neuro-typical kids but one who really struggled behaviorally in early years and the Rosemary Hills staff had knowledge, patience, perspective etc... They really got my kid on the right track and helped me significantly in doing the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am very disappointed at MCPS. If your kids haven't enrolled in school yet, I would go private.

Why? What is so good about private? Is it more white students? There, someone said it. From everyone sampled (obvi a small sample) who has done both, all of them say MCPS is better. So why private?

Hardly, nice try though. Over crowded. Teaching to testing. Discipline issues. We need school choice and charters and vouchers, though with strong unions it will never happen. Can't take the competition. So you pay very high taxes, to then go and pay elsewhere. The county counts on this happening...those who can, go elsewhere. It stinks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am very disappointed at MCPS. If your kids haven't enrolled in school yet, I would go private.

Why? What is so good about private? Is it more white students? There, someone said it. From everyone sampled (obvi a small sample) who has done both, all of them say MCPS is better. So why private?

Hardly, nice try though. Over crowded. Teaching to testing. Discipline issues. We need school choice and charters and vouchers, though with strong unions it will never happen. Can't take the competition. So you pay very high taxes, to then go and pay elsewhere. The county counts on this happening...those who can, go elsewhere. It stinks.

DCPS has charters. Bet you don’t want to move there for the schools

[Anonymous]

OP here. Seeking experience with quality at Rosemary Hills NOT your political waxing on charter schools and comparisons with DC. I am not considering a move to DC or elsewhere. Thx

[Anonymous]

There’s really not “teaching to the test” at RHES. Most standardized testing is not conducted for primary grades. And any teacher checks they do to determine reading level or whatnot they would also be doing in most private schools.

I’m not sure what supplementing you think you might not be able to do, but you really don’t need to do anything other than provide your kids books either at home or from the library. It’s not high pressure at those ages.

Rosemary Hills is a great school. My kids attended pre-pandemic so my experience is older, but I can also offer a little more wisdom about MCPS. The teachers, many of whom are still there, are outstanding. My kids came in above grade level, and they were given appropriately challenging differentiated work. It would have been a royal waste of money to have done private for K-2 for our family. I can see the value in private middle school for some kids because MCPS isn’t as challenging from a curricular standpoint as it could be. High school is light years away for your kids and I don’t think anyone has a crystal ball to know if it will be the same or different 10+ years from now.