dislike MoCo and MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Rockville. Life seemed simpler then which is probably a combination of me not being an adult and the lack of social media. Outside of your immediate friends and family, you really had no idea what was going on.

I often think I’m missing something about MCPS. So many people complain about the schools. I honestly believe MCPS is doing the best they can, given the resources they have, and the demographics of the county.

Changes have to occur at the state level. MCPS is too big to serve anyone effectively. What a new immigrant student/family needs is vastly different from a student with two highly educated parents with high paying flexible jobs.

Overall I think MCPS is no better or worse than other large school districts in the country. As a country, our standards have been lowered. I had one in private that graduated this year and one in MCPS public. I can’t say that my private school grad got a better education than my public school kid. The environments in which the education occurred was different but the content and curriculum was about the same. I’d like to expectations of students in MCPS increased, but again how do you hold an immigrant who doesn’t speak English to the same grammar standards as a native English speaker.

I suppose it’s me b/c most people on DCUM are dissatisfied. But overall Im happy. Our schools still occur 5 days a week, not 4. MCPS offers AP classes and pays for community college if a student wishes. Due to our location, MCPS kids have access to STEM programs at NIH and NIST. Overall, parents are heavily involved in their students education and are often willing to share their expertise via clubs.

Yes the traffic sucks but I don’t know of any major city where this is not true.

Isn't that the same as saying its pretty good at sucking.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, MCPS was always a substandard educational system - even 36 years ago. It was shocking for me to come from India - a 3rd world country- and see how terrible MCPS was and how dumb the teachers were. Then I also checked out the private schools. And their education sucked worse than MCPS.

I had to become very hands-on with my kids education and put in hours daily to give them a well-rounded education (even when my kids were in the magnet pipeline) outside of the school hours.

Do I dislike that MoCo has become a sanctuary county? For sure. Do I dislike the diversity? Not at all. Were Blacks and Hispanics and poor people always doing terribly? Yes. I would say that MCPS has always given poor education to students - but it is also a reflection of how uneducated the parents are. Most cannot help their kids with ES and MS level Math.

It is just that when a lot of "high achieving" (in comparison to the natives) immigrants, whose families prioritized education, started to do way better than the natives in measurable ways, everyone started talking of achievement gap as a racial injustice. The achievement gap always existed because standards of K-12 education in America has sucked balls for past several decades, and people get by only because of their accent or skin color.

I actually like MoCo. MCPS may be better than many school systems. But, if you think that without your intervention your kid can get a world-class education in MCPS? Nope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Rockville. Life seemed simpler then which is probably a combination of me not being an adult and the lack of social media. Outside of your immediate friends and family, you really had no idea what was going on.

I often think I’m missing something about MCPS. So many people complain about the schools. I honestly believe MCPS is doing the best they can, given the resources they have, and the demographics of the county.

Changes have to occur at the state level. MCPS is too big to serve anyone effectively. What a new immigrant student/family needs is vastly different from a student with two highly educated parents with high paying flexible jobs.

Overall I think MCPS is no better or worse than other large school districts in the country. As a country, our standards have been lowered. I had one in private that graduated this year and one in MCPS public. I can’t say that my private school grad got a better education than my public school kid. The environments in which the education occurred was different but the content and curriculum was about the same. I’d like to expectations of students in MCPS increased, but again how do you hold an immigrant who doesn’t speak English to the same grammar standards as a native English speaker.

I suppose it’s me b/c most people on DCUM are dissatisfied. But overall Im happy. Our schools still occur 5 days a week, not 4. MCPS offers AP classes and pays for community college if a student wishes. Due to our location, MCPS kids have access to STEM programs at NIH and NIST. Overall, parents are heavily involved in their students education and are often willing to share their expertise via clubs.

Yes the traffic sucks but I don’t know of any major city where this is not true.

Isn't that the same as saying it’s pretty good at sucking.

I think you’ll have a hard time finding a blue community that offers what MD, MoCo, and MCPS offer. Red communities are becoming more homogenized—if you want to live in a less diverse, less tolerant, and in many cases less educated area of the country, there are plenty of places to move to. My sister lives in Newton, Ma where schools are by towns. Her kids are at Newton South. There are minuses to town based education—they don’t have the vast population to create their own programming for special education. They have higher taxes than we do. The high number of universities in the area bring racial/geographical diversity but the kids come from highly educated families that understand the value of education. My nephew complains that he’s been with the same kids since K and can’t wait to leave for college to meet new people.

It seems to me that the state and local government policies are not in synch with what the local school systems need to provide.

[Anonymous]

In our DCC experience, elementary and middle schools were fine.

First kid went in bounds to high school and it sucked, all around.

Second kid went to the STEM academy at Wheaton and received an excellent STEM education but sucky everything else.

[Anonymous]

I grew up here in Gaithersburg spent the entirety of my 20s and early 30s out of the county with the Marines and other opportunities. Came back to Gaithersburg last year so my daughter could start HS here. I just started work in MCPS as a teacher now at the age of 40 so I will probably stay here for the long haul so I can attempt to get some sort of pension from MCPS. Only thing that would get me to leave is if my daughter settles somewhere far away after college and I decide to follow her.

[Anonymous]

Was in MCPS, left during the pandemic for Colorado, stayed there for 3 years. The inequities there in Colorado are huge (Denver/ Cherry Creek/Boulder) and the vast amount of programming is limited.

Now back this fall with MCPS, no complaints. Though I do wish they had more funding for gifted programs, summer programs, art/music/theatre....

Compared elsewhere MCPS is still very much solid gold.

[Anonymous]

came here from DCPS and...yeah, MCPS is like a golden dream in relation.

[Anonymous]

Ah, the monthly MoCo and MCPS bashing thread.
It wouldn't be DCUM without it.

[Anonymous]

this forum has arguments about multivariable calculus and still thinks MCPS sucks. It boggles the mind.

[Anonymous]

It comes down to money. Are people willing to support a supplemental tax to give MCPS the budget they requested from MoCo? Or an increase in property taxes? Are people willing to acknowledge that some kids need remedial help and need a longer school day to accomplish that? Everyone does not enter MCPS with the same educational background—if we acknowledge that, MCPS could provide a better education for everyone.

I can only speak from my perspective of having a child in a non public placement. This placement is viewed as a last resort, detrimental to a child’s academic success, the place no one wants their kid to go. But it’s the right fit for my kid, it’s the place where he is successful and happy, where he’s grown to enjoy school and learning. Keeping him in a mainstream classroom in the name of equity would have been a horrible outcome. Different kids need different things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It comes down to money. Are people willing to support a supplemental tax to give MCPS the budget they requested from MoCo? Or an increase in property taxes? Are people willing to acknowledge that some kids need remedial help and need a longer school day to accomplish that? Everyone does not enter MCPS with the same educational background—if we acknowledge that, MCPS could provide a better education for everyone.

I can only speak from my perspective of having a child in a non public placement. This placement is viewed as a last resort, detrimental to a child’s academic success, the place no one wants their kid to go. But it’s the right fit for my kid, it’s the place where he is successful and happy, where he’s grown to enjoy school and learning. Keeping him in a mainstream classroom in the name of equity would have been a horrible outcome. Different kids need different things.

We just approved the largest budget increase in MCPS history. How is it that you're honing in on taxpayer willingness as the problem here?

The budget is currently over $3 billion. If that's not enough, what is? And if we fund it at whatever amount above what we're currently funding, what accountability measures are in place to give we, the taxpayers, any semblance of ROI?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think this thread is redundant to the other one because I don’t view it as a “fall” from previous good times.
-I think MCPS responds to squeaky wheel small group concerns to the detriment of providing fair, high-quality programming for all students.
-I don’t think the English instruction has been very good in the middle school and early high school years, and I’m looking forward to the AP English years. I would like to see MCPS implement a solid writing curriculum earlier and have more of a focus on reading the classics, supplemented with modern lit in the middle grades and high school, rather than the other way around.
-My kids’ math teachers have been a mixed bag, and some have been not great! I wish MCPS had math textbooks from algebra on so parents could track what is happening at school instead of it being worksheets? packets? that maybe come home and are sometimes posted on canvas.
-I hate the way MCPS uses magnet programs in the elementary and middle grades. I think there is no good reason to have magnet programs at these ages when they could just offer the curriculum at the schools. I hate the way they split up the kids and I think it’s awful for building a school community. And on top of that, if they’re going to have a magnet, I think it’s ridiculous that they decided to make it a lottery. If they set the criteria for a program, they should be prepared to provide access to those who qualify. At the elementary level, they keep changing what they provide to the non-lottery winners, which I’m pretty sure this year is nothing, so it feels extra unfair.
-I think about moving but it’s expensive, a hassle, and my kids are not unhappy (they also know nothing other than MCPS so have no point of comparison).

Do you think an IB diploma route would have been helpful for things like English writing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:does anyone just dislike this area and counting down the days their kids are graduated? or is this a spoiled attitude and should just suck it up. if you had a choice of a better public school system anywhere in the country ( cannot afford private), where would you go?

She may have a different opinion now but remember what a former BOE member/cheerleader of mcps said: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1195303.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, MCPS was always a substandard educational system - even 36 years ago. It was shocking for me to come from India - a 3rd world country- and see how terrible MCPS was and how dumb the teachers were. Then I also checked out the private schools. And their education sucked worse than MCPS.

I had to become very hands-on with my kids education and put in hours daily to give them a well-rounded education (even when my kids were in the magnet pipeline) outside of the school hours.

Do I dislike that MoCo has become a sanctuary county? For sure. Do I dislike the diversity? Not at all. Were Blacks and Hispanics and poor people always doing terribly? Yes. I would say that MCPS has always given poor education to students - but it is also a reflection of how uneducated the parents are. Most cannot help their kids with ES and MS level Math.

It is just that when a lot of "high achieving" (in comparison to the natives) immigrants, whose families prioritized education, started to do way better than the natives in measurable ways, everyone started talking of achievement gap as a racial injustice. The achievement gap always existed because standards of K-12 education in America has sucked balls for past several decades, and people get by only because of their accent or skin color.

I actually like MoCo. MCPS may be better than many school systems. But, if you think that without your intervention your kid can get a world-class education in MCPS? Nope.

I’m always amused when people from India trash the US educational system. India refuses to participate in international academic assessment test like the PISA because when they do they score absolutely abysmally. The last time India participated they ranked 73rd out of 74 countries; barely beating out Kazakhstan. They were slated to take it in 2022 but pulled out at the last minute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It comes down to money. Are people willing to support a supplemental tax to give MCPS the budget they requested from MoCo? Or an increase in property taxes? Are people willing to acknowledge that some kids need remedial help and need a longer school day to accomplish that? Everyone does not enter MCPS with the same educational background—if we acknowledge that, MCPS could provide a better education for everyone.

I can only speak from my perspective of having a child in a non public placement. This placement is viewed as a last resort, detrimental to a child’s academic success, the place no one wants their kid to go. But it’s the right fit for my kid, it’s the place where he is successful and happy, where he’s grown to enjoy school and learning. Keeping him in a mainstream classroom in the name of equity would have been a horrible outcome. Different kids need different things.

To do what? For million $ payouts? You know the answer to that. To use on research for bus tracking app? Where did that $ go?