Our first days of public school after private, what I've noticed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For us the start of public school felt like a slap in the face. It did get a little better as the year went on - met plenty of very nice parents and kids - but you kind of have to "suck it up" to get through a lot of it (the take or leave attitude of the administration, silly grading, unwelcoming front desk, poor communications, etc). It is not just the parents - kids who have experienced a good-fit private who switch to an average public do pick up on these things as well.

That front desk thing...I just hope none of that impertinence rubs off on DD. Teachers and administrators need to remember that they are setting an example for our kids.

As a previous poster said, both systems, public and private, have a ting or two to learn from each other.

Impertinence? The front office staff at your child's school sasses you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Why are public school parents so defensive?

What are private-school parents so high-maintenance?

Nice insult, but I really do not see it. We have one in each. There is not a lot of overlap -- different worlds. The public school parents are always going on and on about how much better it is, how great the public is, how cheap and so forth. Private school parents just say, OOOKKKK!!! because why argue? No reason to explain b/c it is such a hot button issue. In my experience there are many very angry public school parents out there. They practically blow a fuse explaining how great their school is. Protest too much. About our private I say -- we like it. That's it. It can be a very hard transition from private to public. Works for some people, not for others.

[Anonymous]

There is no real relationship between the front desk and the classroom. Sadly many front desk people are very nice, but the school is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Public's government regulations include mandatory master's degrees and teachers certifications. Privates have no such requirement. So many, many private school teachers couldn't teach in public.

But let's be candid here: a huge percentage of these masters degrees ^^ are distance learning degrees from online-only "universities", or the Continuing Education wing of [not at all competitive] State U. And they're completed in < 13 months. Whoop de Do.

Do you have some data to prove that claim? I am a public-school teacher with a Master's Degree from a competitive university. Of the 70-some teachers at my school, the majority also have Master's Degrees. None of their degrees are from distance-learning universities.

NP. I can't prove it, but every single year we get a "intro" letter from the teacher saying "I'm so and so and I'll be your child's 2nd grade teacher." Usually they also include "I received my bachelor's in elementary education from X" and my masters from X" and it's almost always "a master's in educational leadership from Towson University" or "master's in educational technology from UMBC" or something along those lines. Sorry, I'm not impressed.

I don't get it. Are Towson University and UMBC not good enough for you, or are the master's in educational leadership and educational technology not good enough for you, or both? Where do you think your children's teachers should get their master's degrees from, and what do you think they should get them in?

Can't speak to UMBC, but Towson has a long history of focusing on education (it started out as a teacher's college). Towson's education program is superb. Most top tier universities don't focus on teaching teachers or even offer an education degree.

[Anonymous]

I guess this just serves to demonstrate the folly of buying in a neighborhood with mediocre schools because you plan on sending your kid to private so "quality of schools isn't a factor" and you really want that really big house. Circumstances change, private school is no longer an option, and you're stuck in a mediocre school.

We bought our house for the quality of the schools, and none of what the OP and other private-schoolers have described has been the case for us. Our office staff is warm, welcoming and helpful. Elementary-age teachers (which is all we've been through so far), especially kindergarten, have bent over backwards to be positive and get kids excited about the beginning of school. I've gotten to know many of the other parents and made some good friends. And my kids are doing great, both academically and socially.

So basically, this thread is telling me there's no reason for me to consider private. Woohoo for money in the bank!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I noticed that I didn't have to pay tuition.

You do every month in property tax and your mortgage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess this just serves to demonstrate the folly of buying in a neighborhood with mediocre schools because you plan on sending your kid to private so "quality of schools isn't a factor" and you really want that really big house. Circumstances change, private school is no longer an option, and you're stuck in a mediocre school.

We bought our house for the quality of the schools, and none of what the OP and other private-schoolers have described has been the case for us. Our office staff is warm, welcoming and helpful. Elementary-age teachers (which is all we've been through so far), especially kindergarten, have bent over backwards to be positive and get kids excited about the beginning of school. I've gotten to know many of the other parents and made some good friends. And my kids are doing great, both academically and socially.

So basically, this thread is telling me there's no reason for me to consider private. Woohoo for money in the bank!

And changes happen to school boundaries also. Curriculum changes constantly happen also like common core....I wonder what the new thing will be in five years. The chosen neighborhood schools may also not turn out to be a good fit for a child. Buying a house for schools is no guarantee either. Because you chose a private and it didn't work out for whatever reason does not mean public is your next option. Selecting a different private school is the next option. There are many to choose from and we like having a choice in the matter as our kids grow and their strengths and weaknesses become apparent versus preselecting a zoned k to 12 while they are infants or before they are born.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, at our public school, many parents know each other, the staff are very pleasant and friendly, and they even had a welcome back "breakfast" for parents in the gym after drop off (where we got to walk our kids to their classes). So you can't assume all public schools are the same.

Name the city and state where this school is located.

I'm not the quoted poster, but our MCPS elementary school does the same thing.

As does our DCPS elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I noticed that I didn't have to pay tuition.

You do every month in property tax and your mortgage.

By that argument a private parent pays twice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The negativity is a real issue. We are at a really good public school with smiling teachers, administrators, etc. and a high quality of teaching but the written communication that comes from the school is terrible. BUT it was really shocking to me how much of the text in our back to school packet dealt with do not do this and do not do that. I thought the first rule of discipline and good teaching was to always be positive? Is it just that the teachers/administrators don't know how to write?

I would guess it's more that they have lots and lots of experience of parents ignoring the rules. So they want to make them clear and get it up front so there is no confusion, excuses like " I didn't see it".

It's not about making people feel good, it's about being CLEAR.
There are a lot litigious folks out there, the rules need no room for interpretation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I noticed that I didn't have to pay tuition.

You do every month in property tax and your mortgage.

By that argument a private parent pays twice.

That is fine, we can afford it. The response was to counter the argument that you pay nothing for education....not who pays more or less. I pay more for lots of things I prefer that can be found cheaper elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had small classes in private school too, but the teaching was so poor that I had to reteach everything at home.

You can also face this at public with a larger class. There are plenty of threads on this forum about those experiences.
If we noticed this the parents would force change or not reenroll and select a better school. Having such power to actually force change and choose a different school is the power in writing a check. How does one force out poor unionized teachers in publics?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess this just serves to demonstrate the folly of buying in a neighborhood with mediocre schools because you plan on sending your kid to private so "quality of schools isn't a factor" and you really want that really big house. Circumstances change, private school is no longer an option, and you're stuck in a mediocre school.

We bought our house for the quality of the schools, and none of what the OP and other private-schoolers have described has been the case for us. Our office staff is warm, welcoming and helpful. Elementary-age teachers (which is all we've been through so far), especially kindergarten, have bent over backwards to be positive and get kids excited about the beginning of school. I've gotten to know many of the other parents and made some good friends. And my kids are doing great, both academically and socially.

So basically, this thread is telling me there's no reason for me to consider private. Woohoo for money in the bank!

And changes happen to school boundaries also. Curriculum changes constantly happen also like common core....I wonder what the new thing will be in five years. The chosen neighborhood schools may also not turn out to be a good fit for a child. Buying a house for schools is no guarantee either. Because you chose a private and it didn't work out for whatever reason does not mean public is your next option. Selecting a different private school is the next option. There are many to choose from and we like having a choice in the matter as our kids grow and their strengths and weaknesses become apparent versus preselecting a zoned k to 12 while they are infants or before they are born.

That's awesome for you that you have the ability to move between private schools if the first isn't a good fit. It sounds like private school is no longer an option for OP, though, so now she's stuck with the public schools she chose to move into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess this just serves to demonstrate the folly of buying in a neighborhood with mediocre schools because you plan on sending your kid to private so "quality of schools isn't a factor" and you really want that really big house. Circumstances change, private school is no longer an option, and you're stuck in a mediocre school.

We bought our house for the quality of the schools, and none of what the OP and other private-schoolers have described has been the case for us. Our office staff is warm, welcoming and helpful. Elementary-age teachers (which is all we've been through so far), especially kindergarten, have bent over backwards to be positive and get kids excited about the beginning of school. I've gotten to know many of the other parents and made some good friends. And my kids are doing great, both academically and socially.

So basically, this thread is telling me there's no reason for me to consider private. Woohoo for money in the bank!

Wow, public school parents constantly bang on about how GREAT their decision is. You'd think it'd be the private school parents who are constantly justifying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I noticed that I didn't have to pay tuition.

You do every month in property tax and your mortgage.

No. Property taxes are not user fees. People who have children in school pay the same property taxes as people who used to have children in school, people who will have children in school, people who do not have and never will have children in school.