MCPS for kids not in magnet or GT programs

[Anonymous]

My child goes to a private school about which I have mixed feelings - we've had wonderful experiences and not such good ones. DC does have smaller classes and more art, music, science, etc. DC is not the kind of kid who would get into GT programs. DC is quite musical, but I don't know that DC is really the type for music magnets. How is MCPS for kids who aren't in any kind of special program? DC is a small, somewhat eccentric kid so I also worry about bullying (which is not a problem at our private school).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child goes to a private school about which I have mixed feelings - we've had wonderful experiences and not such good ones. DC does have smaller classes and more art, music, science, etc. DC is not the kind of kid who would get into GT programs. DC is quite musical, but I don't know that DC is really the type for music magnets. How is MCPS for kids who aren't in any kind of special program? DC is a small, somewhat eccentric kid so I also worry about bullying (which is not a problem at our private school).

The answer probably depends on your home school, and whether it is solid academically and otherwise a good fit for your DC. If your kid is not in a magnet, and does not participate in a consortium school (a set of schools within a specified geographic area, which any child in the geographic area can attend), then you are basically looking at your home school. Perhaps you could ask other people in the neighborhood about their experiences.

FWIW, the complaints about testing in the publics are a bit exaggerated. Other posters from MoCo and I have found ourselves agreeing on this. When my kids were in private they lost a week to the ERBs while in MoCo they lost a week to the MSAs -- so not a lot of difference there. Plus, in our well-performing public we didn't see the rest of the year devoted to "teaching to the test," although I understand that in some of the lower-performing publics the teachers do spend more time teaching to the test so that the school as a whole passes the NCLB thresholds.

[Anonymous]

PP, I don't think this is accurate.

All MCPS schools have the same curriculum. This idea about being "solid academically" is a red herring -- what you are really talking about is the socio-economic makeup of the school.

There's an argument to be made that a higher percentage of needy kids creates behavior issues and distracts teachers from attending to the needs of kids who are in the middle. But there's a flip side, too -- I have one kid in an east county school where bullying isn't an issue -- the school and teachers are very on top of that and there's a lot of effort put into behavior issues and how students treat each other. I have another kid in a school in Chevy Chase where bullying is a big issue and the administration seems unwilling or unable to deal with it. So look at the individual school and what the leadership of the administration is like.

Plus, if your kid is smart but not highly gifted, he may be lost in the shuffle in Chevy Chase but get more attention for his abilities in a move diverse population.

Also, MCPS has music programs (orchestra, band and chorus) for all kids from fourth grade on. If your child is musical you will probably want outside lessons too, but at least there's a place to play and the opportunity to go to all-county groups like honors chorus.

[Anonymous]

Which MCPS school?

[Anonymous]

I'm 21:24, and yes, I was using "solid academically" partly as a euphemism for socio-economic issues, but also as short-hand for NCLB results.

Re bullying, I think it basically comes down to your kid's teacher and school administration's willingness to get involved. If the school is on top of the bullying, whether you are in Chevy Chase or Silver Spring, then bullying will be less of a problem. For example, at Sligo Creek Elementary in Silver Spring, parents complain endlessly about the bullying and the school's reluctance to discipline anybody.

Also, a smart kid can get lost in a school that is failing NCLB tests, because the school is worried about getting the rest of the class up to speed, and not so concerned about your kid who they assume will do well. The curriculum may, as you say, be the same across the county, but when you have a large percentage of kids performing below standard, then the teachers have to spend a lot of time working with these kids. I live down-county and I've seen this happen and heard the complaints from the parents.

I stick by my advice to ask local parents about their experiences with the school.

[Anonymous]

Oh no, the MoCo poster who starts every post with "PP, you are wrong" is here. Everybody look busy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh no, the MoCo poster who starts every post with "PP, you are wrong" is here. Everybody look busy.

I'm the PP in this thread, and I'm not the "PP, you are wrong" poster.

However, I feel pretty strongly about this issue. It's one that's currently doing a lot of damage to my own kids' school's community. People hide what they are really saying by using phrases like "academically strong" when they are really talking about not wanting to go to school with a lot of poor/nonwhite children.

There may be valid reasons for this, which the PP states (in this case, probably overstates). However, it's part of this ongoing disingenuous MoCo conversation that never really addresses the true issues and therefore doesn't really change things. Let's tell it like it is, rather than make people who don't know better think that the issue is curriculum or teachers or something else, or paint entire neighborhoods/towns as unacceptable because of their proximity to lower income people.

Also, let's think about the social environment. What's it like in those high pressure, west county high schools where kids drive BMWs and go skiing in Aspen for spring break, if you are a middle class kid who can't do those things, or a creative dreamy kid who isn't headed for an Ivy League school? What's the real-world relative danger to your kid: a high school where there is some gang activity or a high school where you can find ecstasy and other drugs readily available at every weekend party? What kind of atmosphere are you putting your kid in where parents can be so judgmental and socially class conscious and this is passed on to their children?

And the big question, for me: Is there a middle ground in MoCo, where a child can succeed and be challenged academically and yet go to school with a bigger range of kids? I lot of people I know say yes. Many, many well educated professionals in my neighborhood of Silver Spring send their kids to local schools and are very happy and feel their kids are getting a good education.

[Anonymous]

I guess my problem with the previous post is that it paints west MoCo as a den of drugs, pressure both social and academic, BMWs and Aspen ski trips. My DH went to Whitman and, yes, there were BMWs even back then and he didn't have one. But he still loved the place, still has good friends from the place, and got a good education there.

Then, you go on to paint Silver Spring schools as havens of good education and sane parenting. And apparently drug and exctasy-free!

After you paint this black-and-white picture, then you go on to call me judgmental, class conscious, and basically a racist for disagreeing with you. You are way out of line. I don't know where you're getting that in my post, at all.

In fact, I live downcounty, and my kids attend public schools. Probably the most outrageous part of your post is where you accuse me of wanting to shield my kids from non-white children -- this is demonstrably not true. And this is the answer to your snotty question of "what kind of atmosphere are you putting your kid in."

You want to pick a fight, I guess. But the fact is, your experiences are just that: your experiences. It's useful to post them here, but you should represent them as your own opinions. Your personal experiences do not constitute some universal truth that makes anybody who disagree with you into a racist. I posted my experiences, and represented them as such.

Instead, let's just focus on giving OP a fair representation of the pros and cons of different parts of MoCo. The truth is somewhere in the middle, and OP needs to hear about it. Your biased, insulting post is pretty useless to readers.

[Anonymous]

No, no -- I'm just saying that there are ups and downs for both situations. It's not all roses in the west vs. misery in the east. I don't want to pick a fight -- i want people to think about this in a more nuanced way, not just "rich and white = better."

I'm not trying to paint SS as a haven but rather to say that it can be a reasonable option chosen by good parents, not just a fall-back position for those who don't care or can't afford an "academically strong" school in the western part of the county.

Obviously these are my own opinions. I was using "you" incorrectly and meant "one" -- I don't know where your kids are at school. But when you talk about academic strength as a code word for not too many poor people, you have to ask yourself the question -- what's really going on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, no -- I'm just saying that there are ups and downs for both situations. It's not all roses in the west vs. misery in the east. I don't want to pick a fight -- i want people to think about this in a more nuanced way, not just "rich and white = better."

I'm not trying to paint SS as a haven but rather to say that it can be a reasonable option chosen by good parents, not just a fall-back position for those who don't care or can't afford an "academically strong" school in the western part of the county.

Obviously these are my own opinions. I was using "you" incorrectly and meant "one" -- I don't know where your kids are at school. But when you talk about academic strength as a code word for not too many poor people, you have to ask yourself the question -- what's really going on?

As I already said, my kids are downcounty - in takoma park and silver spring schools.

And as I already explained, this wasn't the "code" at all. You picked on one phrase, unfairly morphed it into a whole big ball of racism and ignorance, and then went on a self-righteous tirade about it. This is a game for people who want internet catfights. I'm not interested. Pleas stop.

[Anonymous]

Well, you can call it whatever you want. I bet your kids are at magnets, though, which doesn't really count.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, you can call it whatever you want. I bet your kids are at magnets, though, which doesn't really count.

Wait - so now you're saying there's no diversity in the magnets? It's all rich white kids? Because, what -- lower SES kids can't qualify for the magnets, in your imagination? And you called me a racist!!!

Or, maybe your point was, the magnets are good and the rest of the downcounty school system is cr@p? Which kind of undermines your original arguments.

I guess I'm not following you here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, you can call it whatever you want. I bet your kids are at magnets, though, which doesn't really count.

NP here. Actually, you identified yourself as mother of one child in an east county school and one child in a CC school. That means, of course, that at least one of your children is in a magnet school. So you can't be all that opposed to them. Will your kids go to middle school in Silver Spring then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, you can call it whatever you want. I bet your kids are at magnets, though, which doesn't really count.

NP here. Actually, you identified yourself as mother of one child in an east county school and one child in a CC school. That means, of course, that at least one of your children is in a magnet school. So you can't be all that opposed to them. Will your kids go to middle school in Silver Spring then?

If she has one kid in a CC school, I think we can pretty much rule out that her kids will go to MS or HS in Silver Spring -- unless they get into the Blair magnet. Either her kid who goes to school in CC is in the regular CC school or the kid is in the Chevy Chase magnet for the highly gifted in elementary, but this HCG magnet is basically for kids who live in the CC area. OK, yeah, some kids from western silver spring also feed into the chevy chase HGC, but these same kids would also feed into BCC, not into any of the Silver Spring high schools. She said she also has a kid in the eastern party of the county, but if she lived in the Takoma Park or silver spring areas her kids would go to the Pine Crest HGC magnet, not the CC HCG magnet. So I'm betting she lives in CC or the very western part of silver spring, and has one kid in a CC school (either regular or HGC) and another kid in the TPMS math magnet. Her kids would go to BCC, unless they do the Blair magnet.

In any case, she's making up her statement about "these issues are tearing apart one of my kid's schools." It seems obvious that these issues are basically non-issues in CC. And speaking as somebody with a kid at the TPMS magnet, it's not a divisive issue there, either.

Hopefully, this will end yet another DCUM attempt to start a race war....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, you can call it whatever you want. I bet your kids are at magnets, though, which doesn't really count.

NP here. Actually, you identified yourself as mother of one child in an east county school and one child in a CC school. That means, of course, that at least one of your children is in a magnet school. So you can't be all that opposed to them. Will your kids go to middle school in Silver Spring then?

If she has one kid in a CC school, I think we can pretty much rule out that her kids will go to MS or HS in Silver Spring -- unless they get into the Blair magnet. Either her kid who goes to school in CC is in the regular CC school or the kid is in the Chevy Chase magnet for the highly gifted in elementary, but this HCG magnet is basically for kids who live in the CC area. OK, yeah, some kids from western silver spring also feed into the chevy chase HGC, but these same kids would also feed into BCC, not into any of the Silver Spring high schools. She said she also has a kid in the eastern party of the county, but if she lived in the Takoma Park or silver spring areas her kids would go to the Pine Crest HGC magnet, not the CC HCG magnet. So I'm betting she lives in CC or the very western part of silver spring, and has one kid in a CC school (either regular or HGC) and another kid in the TPMS math magnet. Her kids would go to BCC, unless they do the Blair magnet.

In any case, she's making up her statement about "these issues are tearing apart one of my kid's schools." It seems obvious that these issues are basically non-issues in CC. And speaking as somebody with a kid at the TPMS magnet, it's not a divisive issue there, either.

Hopefully, this will end yet another DCUM attempt to start a race war....

She may have a kid in the CC language magnet.