Feeding into CCES after private K-2

[Anonymous]

Chevy Chase parents who’ve sent their kids to private K-2 and then switched to CCES in the last 5 years:

1) How was the transition?
2) Were you and your kids happy with CCES, academically and socially? If not, why not?
3) Did your kids stay in MCPS and go on to Silver Creek, or did you apply to private for MS?

TYVM 🙏

[Anonymous]

I’d like to know about this as well.

[Anonymous]

What is it about RHES families in particular that makes them no twitchy about their local public? I feel like about half of the questions on this board about a specific school are parents of toddlers asking about RHES.

Is it that they wanted to "buy into" B-CC but couldn't get into one of the other elementary school feeder patterns?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is it about RHES families in particular that makes them no twitchy about their local public? I feel like about half of the questions on this board about a specific school are parents of toddlers asking about RHES.

Is it that they wanted to "buy into" B-CC but couldn't get into one of the other elementary school feeder patterns?

We live near CCES and send our kids to RHES. There is a lot of wealth in our neighborhood, and people who seem afraid of the diversity of RHES who can easily afford to send their kids to private. Some of these people then, in 3rd or 4th grade, do an about-face and send their kids to CCES. They seem to think that CCES is not diverse because it has Chevy Chase in the name. But CCES is also a very diverse school.

[Anonymous]

RHES is further away for families that live on the CC side so it feels less like a neighborhood school to parents of preschoolers. It’s not where they’ve been going to play on the playground, and the little kids have to ride a bus. They also switch schools in 3rd grade anyway, and split between CC and NCC so there is more of a disruption anyway and less difference for kids switching from private to public because the kids are all experiencing change.

I generally hear good things about RHES, but a school you can walk to in your neighborhood, play at on the weekends, go sledding in the winter, is a little bit of a different feel. There are lots of MoCo neighborhoods that are not walkable to an ES though, so it’s not unique to RHES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:RHES is further away for families that live on the CC side so it feels less like a neighborhood school to parents of preschoolers. It’s not where they’ve been going to play on the playground, and the little kids have to ride a bus. They also switch schools in 3rd grade anyway, and split between CC and NCC so there is more of a disruption anyway and less difference for kids switching from private to public because the kids are all experiencing change.

I generally hear good things about RHES, but a school you can walk to in your neighborhood, play at on the weekends, go sledding in the winter, is a little bit of a different feel. There are lots of MoCo neighborhoods that are not walkable to an ES though, so it’s not unique to RHES.

+1 to this. Many parents want close by neighborhood school for elementary for a host of reasons. RHPS is a school 2 miles away by bus, so is not a neighborhood school for many in CC.

[Anonymous]

RHPS is also huge. 10 classes per grade: 7 gen ed + 3 autism program classes.

Can you fault parents for wanting their kids to start school with a smaller grade size?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:RHES is further away for families that live on the CC side so it feels less like a neighborhood school to parents of preschoolers. It’s not where they’ve been going to play on the playground, and the little kids have to ride a bus. They also switch schools in 3rd grade anyway, and split between CC and NCC so there is more of a disruption anyway and less difference for kids switching from private to public because the kids are all experiencing change.

I generally hear good things about RHES, but a school you can walk to in your neighborhood, play at on the weekends, go sledding in the winter, is a little bit of a different feel. There are lots of MoCo neighborhoods that are not walkable to an ES though, so it’s not unique to RHES.

And yet rather than putting their kids on a bus for a 10-minute bus ride with other neighborhood kids to RHES, they are driving their kids to a private school that is often farther away. This is not about the distance between RHES and CCES.

[Anonymous]

We did this and it has been rather seamless. Our DD now has friends from CCES and her old school, so that went well. No complaints about the instruction. Our DD did prefer the smaller class size of her old school — it is easier for a teacher to keep everyone on task with a smaller number of students and she apparently has two boys who seem to be in a competition for class clown. She really likes her classroom teacher, the art teacher, and the media/library person. She has also enjoyed many of the after school programs that are offered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is it about RHES families in particular that makes them no twitchy about their local public? I feel like about half of the questions on this board about a specific school are parents of toddlers asking about RHES.

Is it that they wanted to "buy into" B-CC but couldn't get into one of the other elementary school feeder patterns?

I honestly have not met anyone who has expressed concern about RHES families. There are some people who simply think a private school is better than a public school. Personally, I think that there are probably 2-3 private schools in the areas that may offer a better educational experience than the BBC cluster. The biggest advantage of private in my experience is smaller class sizes and the benefits that come from that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is it about RHES families in particular that makes them no twitchy about their local public? I feel like about half of the questions on this board about a specific school are parents of toddlers asking about RHES.

Is it that they wanted to "buy into" B-CC but couldn't get into one of the other elementary school feeder patterns?

I honestly have not met anyone who has expressed concern about RHES families. There are some people who simply think a private school is better than a public school. Personally, I think that there are probably 2-3 private schools in the areas that may offer a better educational experience than the BBC cluster. The biggest advantage of private in my experience is smaller class sizes and the benefits that come from that.

Of course they don't say that, but anyone who goes private for K-2 or K-3 and then switches to CCES is showing their true motivation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did this and it has been rather seamless. Our DD now has friends from CCES and her old school, so that went well. No complaints about the instruction. Our DD did prefer the smaller class size of her old school — it is easier for a teacher to keep everyone on task with a smaller number of students and she apparently has two boys who seem to be in a competition for class clown. She really likes her classroom teacher, the art teacher, and the media/library person. She has also enjoyed many of the after school programs that are offered.

OP: thank you for having the appropriate experience and insight to chime in here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is it about RHES families in particular that makes them no twitchy about their local public? I feel like about half of the questions on this board about a specific school are parents of toddlers asking about RHES.

Is it that they wanted to "buy into" B-CC but couldn't get into one of the other elementary school feeder patterns?

I honestly have not met anyone who has expressed concern about RHES families. There are some people who simply think a private school is better than a public school. Personally, I think that there are probably 2-3 private schools in the areas that may offer a better educational experience than the BBC cluster. The biggest advantage of private in my experience is smaller class sizes and the benefits that come from that.

Of course they don't say that, but anyone who goes private for K-2 or K-3 and then switches to CCES is showing their true motivation.

Your point makes no sense. They are the same kids. The same kids who attend RHES attend CCES.