Is anyone happy with MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Do the half of the neighborhood that send their kids to private school do so because it's just part of the lifestyle (ie it's a richer area and a normal thing for them) or do they do so because they don't like the local schools?

At one point to a certain degree, I think everyone is happy at their local schools and appreciate the teacher and staff at their schools. I do think a lot of it is that they don't know what they don't know. ie some differences in how schools do things and offer.

Although more recently I do hear some people point out (when we talk to each other in person) issues with their school.

I think one of the key things is that with the MCPS schools that our kids go/went to you really have to stay on top of things and make sure to advocate for your kids. Otherwise MCPS will automatically try to default things by denying additional services or other paths for your kids. In some ways looking back, this has always been the case even when we were in school. In our point of view, if you just leave things in MCPS's hands, your kid might move through the grades and graduate but I'm not sure if your child would be at a level that you're okay with. We do know some families where they have no issues with it.

If our family was just starting out school now, I would most likely look elsewhere outside of Montgomery County. But a lot of it is due to Montgomery County in general and what you're getting for for the money. If we were staying in the same home/place and contemplating between our local MCPS school and private school, we'd probably be inclined to stick with the local public school. Although being in one of the areas potentially affected by the proposed boundary changes, private school has crossed my mind recently. For public vs private, a lot of it would depend on what are your local schools.

[Anonymous]

Its the parents with kids not doing well in school that complain. It must be the schools fault. If the kids are doing well then they are happy with the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do the half of the neighborhood that send their kids to private school do so because it's just part of the lifestyle (ie it's a richer area and a normal thing for them) or do they do so because they don't like the local schools?

At one point to a certain degree, I think everyone is happy at their local schools and appreciate the teacher and staff at their schools. I do think a lot of it is that they don't know what they don't know. ie some differences in how schools do things and offer.

Although more recently I do hear some people point out (when we talk to each other in person) issues with their school.

I think one of the key things is that with the MCPS schools that our kids go/went to you really have to stay on top of things and make sure to advocate for your kids. Otherwise MCPS will automatically try to default things by denying additional services or other paths for your kids. In some ways looking back, this has always been the case even when we were in school. In our point of view, if you just leave things in MCPS's hands, your kid might move through the grades and graduate but I'm not sure if your child would be at a level that you're okay with. We do know some families where they have no issues with it.

If our family was just starting out school now, I would most likely look elsewhere outside of Montgomery County. But a lot of it is due to Montgomery County in general and what you're getting for for the money. If we were staying in the same home/place and contemplating between our local MCPS school and private school, we'd probably be inclined to stick with the local public school. Although being in one of the areas potentially affected by the proposed boundary changes, private school has crossed my mind recently. For public vs private, a lot of it would depend on what are your local schools.

My neighborhood is maybe 75% MCPS. Of the private school parents I speak to, none of them are doing it for lifestyle. It’s all because MCPS is subpar.

For us, we have a high IQ kid with dyslexia and ADHD. We spoke with her neuropsychologist and an MCPS special Ed professional. Both urged private school. We’ve been very happy but wish we could’ve made public school work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its the parents with kids not doing well in school that complain. It must be the schools fault. If the kids are doing well then they are happy with the schools.

Not true at all. Define doing well. Most parents want a strong curriculum, good responsive teachers and admin and access to classes and opportunities. It heavily varies by school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its the parents with kids not doing well in school that complain. It must be the schools fault. If the kids are doing well then they are happy with the schools.

This is absolutely not true.

[Anonymous]

yes, we have been happy with WJ. Teachers have been mostly fantastic.

[Anonymous]

I have a 4th grader and yes, I'm happy with his elementary experience so far. Do I have concerns? Are improvements needed? Do some things need to change? Of course! But overall, would it be worth it to me to pull my kid out and spend tens of thousands on a private? No, not for our family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do the half of the neighborhood that send their kids to private school do so because it's just part of the lifestyle (ie it's a richer area and a normal thing for them) or do they do so because they don't like the local schools?

At one point to a certain degree, I think everyone is happy at their local schools and appreciate the teacher and staff at their schools. I do think a lot of it is that they don't know what they don't know. ie some differences in how schools do things and offer.

Although more recently I do hear some people point out (when we talk to each other in person) issues with their school.

I think one of the key things is that with the MCPS schools that our kids go/went to you really have to stay on top of things and make sure to advocate for your kids. Otherwise MCPS will automatically try to default things by denying additional services or other paths for your kids. In some ways looking back, this has always been the case even when we were in school. In our point of view, if you just leave things in MCPS's hands, your kid might move through the grades and graduate but I'm not sure if your child would be at a level that you're okay with. We do know some families where they have no issues with it.

If our family was just starting out school now, I would most likely look elsewhere outside of Montgomery County. But a lot of it is due to Montgomery County in general and what you're getting for for the money. If we were staying in the same home/place and contemplating between our local MCPS school and private school, we'd probably be inclined to stick with the local public school. Although being in one of the areas potentially affected by the proposed boundary changes, private school has crossed my mind recently. For public vs private, a lot of it would depend on what are your local schools.

Honestly I think the people who send their kids to private often fall into three buckets:

-people who are incredibly wealthy for whom private is no stretch, who want to be with other similar folks
-people who are anxious and insecure, strivers, who worry a lot about statistically unlikely things
-people whose kids have mild learning disabilities or social emotional challenges, and the parents think extra attention/hand holding will do the trick

I rarely see run of the mill middle or UMC families with neurotypical kids and non-anxious parents choose private. I can think of two families who chose private and aren’t in these categories and they both had niche athletic-related reasons.

(Oh and there’s also all the people who choose religious parochial schools but that’s a separate thing).

[Anonymous]

Mostly happy, yes. I am not convinced private is that much better

[Anonymous]

As a teacher and a parent of two in MCPS, I am generally happy with MCPS. I do think we provided a better product 20 years ago, but I'd say that's a national trend rather than a local. I do believe there is some correction going on that's going to take time to shake out. Someone mentioned how many parents are happy with their teachers, but would like to see more educational rigor and accountability for their children. I'd say that's accurate for the teachers too. But there are a lot of policies put in place over the last decade that have to be undone. Still, my experience is that there are good teachers teaching good students.
Of course, the biggest factor to your child's education success is you. Keeping them exposed to reading, music, physical activity, and limiting their use of screens (especially at an early age) is going to do so much more for their educational outcomes than any policy from central office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mostly happy, yes. I am not convinced private is that much better

Same here. Happy with the education, but disappointed with MCPS administration.

[Anonymous]

I'm happy with our elementary school. Not, like, "I would give it an A+" happy, but a solid B+/A- level of happy. (Have also heard good things about our MS and HS but haven't gotten there yet so can't speak to it firsthand.)

I'm not happy with how MCPS central office runs things, and I complain on here about it frequently. And I grouse about the things I don't like about our local ES here from time to time too (in generalities, not by name.). But there are lots of good things I don't bother talking about here, because who comes to an anonymous Internet forum to post random praise? (If someone asks a specific question that would draw our a positive response about our school I would likely go ahead and post it, but that rarely happens. Feel free to post stuff like that yourself if you're curious, though!). And even if we could afford private school, I can't imagine choosing it. I just get really annoyed at MCPS central office making choices I think are bad ones, and this is where I come to rant about it with other people under cover of anonymity.

In other words, what you see here isn't a representative picture of even what the people posting here believe, leaving aside that folks on here are not representative of parents as a whole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:yes, we have been happy with WJ. Teachers have been mostly fantastic.

WJ is probably one of the best in mcps. Great staff.

[Anonymous]

DCUM is a place to complain when it comes to MCPS. It in no way an objective view of how most parents feel and definitely not how they feel overall.

[Anonymous]

Education everywhere, nationwide, is a disaster. Teachers are leaving in droves, new teachers usually burn out in less than 5 years. There aren't enough new teachers to replace them, because, who in there right mind would become a teacher?

Special Ed is in worse shape than Gen Ed, because it's a much harder job than the already hard job of a gen ed teacher. Not only is the job physically harder, there's a lot more paperwork and meetings (A LOT more).

ES is usually fine - warm fuzzy, and you have small issues that a counselor can usually resolve. Sometimes bigger problems emerge, if you have a good administration, it'll get worked out

MS is awful everywhere. Hormones raging, lousy curriculum, kids are mean (especially girls)

HS - depends on the school (administration and teachers), your kid, and, more importantly their peers. Your kid could rise to the top, become involved with drugs and drop out of life, or float along fine, oblivious to all the nonsense around them. The new changes proposed, if passed, could mix things up a bit for 27-28 and 28-29, but then things will settle, people will move, and the new programs will thrive or die

The reality is that MCPS has gone downhill in the 25 years we've lived here (since Jerry Weast left, and I know some hated him, but test scores were better and he didn't put up with nonsense). And/but, the demographics, and I'm referring to income levels, not race, have changed in the county since he left, and incomes for the vast majority, have not gone up

In the schools, there are no consequences for kids these days, and they know it at all ages. You can sell drugs in HS and have the police come in and arrest you, and be back the next day, selling more drugs. A MS kid can tell his teacher to Eff Off, they get sent to the office and are back in the classroom the next day. In ES, they are learning they can get away with whatever they want.

Between the covid kids and SM/internet, kids have no attention span, can't read a book (too long), can't do basic math, and cannot pay attention to a teacher for a 45 minute lesson plan to learn anything (too long for them to pay attention, teachers don't blast music or change colors or switch images).

Our future does not look good