defending DC Public Schools

[Anonymous]

A while ago, someone posted on this forum "you don't chose DCPS for the academics." I think that statement was brutally honest. When you chose DCPS, you have a list of priorities. Academics is at the top but so are other issues. I think you can be honest about that when you answer your relatives' questions about choosing DCPS. I truly believe that the OP's child can receive a very good education at the schools the OP listed, mostly because of family involvement in the child's academics, which would happen no matter if her child went to DCPS or private.

[Anonymous]

We had to defend DCPS to our friends and family for the years our children attended Shepherd ES. We had a welcoming, great experience in the classroom there even with all the uproar in the principal position.

To friends of my mother who said, "Oh, it must be terrible that you have to send your children to city schools with all those other people." (yes, it was said that way... in 2008 ).

Our response, "We think it is pretty good that our daughter learned about photosynthesis in Spanish and explained it to us in English or that she is learning violin as part of her in-school music instruction. Also, I can walk our children to our neighborhood school every morning"

"Oh, really... a public school, in DC?"

"Yes, really!!"

We moved to Vienna, Virginia for reasons unrelated to schools... a bigger place for our stuff (see G. Carlin for further explanation). We had to defend it again at their new Fairfax County school, "Well, your children may not be as far along as you think they are." Uh, yeah...my 4th grader is in AAP and in the advanced orchestra BECAUSE of her foundational learning in 1st and 2nd grade in DCPS. In retrospect we wish our younger child had the same 1st grade teacher as our older child.

[Anonymous]

i really feel sorry for you, OP. do you justify ALL of your parenting decisions to family members and friends? i sure don't. it's no one's business how you plan to raise your kids. you should try establishing boundaries and not justify nosey peoples' questions with answers you get from DCUM. own your decisions!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Hmm. DCPS pre-K. We've got 10 kids in DD's class. One teacher, plus an aide. Not sure how that's worse than 10 kids and one teacher with no aide.

2) Excellent outdoor play space/access: 1-2 hours/day; a full-sized gym on days with inclement weather

Sounds like DD's school.

4) Lower School library with paid staff (not just volunteers); visit 1x/week, but parents can come in anytime and check out books, too

Ditto.

5) Science (1x/week) and Music (2x/week) teacher to supplement PK teacher

We've got dedicated Music, Art, PE, and Spanish teachers. Once a week for each.

6) Excellent communication between families and the school.

We've got three room parents, who are often in-class, taking photos for the class website. Also, dedicated mailing lists at the class, room-parent, and full school level.

7) Age-appropriate curriculum: no "rush" to teach children to read/write at age 4, if not ready.

Not sure how to respond to this, but I haven't seen this either.

I think one of the great advantages of a neighborhood school is, it acts almost as a co-op: if they need extra help around the classroom, they can drop a notification on the class mailing list, and I can walk the half-block to school and lend a hand. Also, since we're not hemorrhaging money via tuition, it's much easier to write generous checks for the PTA. I think the school's PTA is on pace to raise $40k to fund salary and a special project space for our students.

What school is this? 3 room parents for 10 PK kids? Full size gym? 2 hours of recess? Music, Art, PE, and Spanish teachers weekly for PK? Weekly library visits" (Lafayette is once every other week.)

Please share so that other parents can visit this school.

PP here. Looking back, the gym part was a bit misleading--they've got a giant multi-purpose room. And reviewing the class list, I now see DD's PS class is actually *12* with a teacher and an aide, not 10. Still, I don't see that as completely out of whack...

We're on Capitol Hill...

[Anonymous]

Ok, so you're talking about Tyler. I'm a DCPS parent, but I have to say it's a bit of stretch to compare Tyler to private school.

Also, if they are running a preK class with only 12 somebody royally screwed up on enrollment. If (when) budget cuts come down be prepared to have a teacher cut from the overall school budget.

Given the number of Cap Hill parents desperate for PreK slots, it says something that Tyler couldn't fill a class. Could it be those test scores that tanked last year? Hmmm....

[Anonymous]

We moved to Vienna, Virginia for reasons unrelated to schools... a bigger place for our stuff (see G. Carlin for further explanation). We had to defend it again at their new Fairfax County school, "Well, your children may not be as far along as you think they are." Uh, yeah...my 4th grader is in AAP and in the advanced orchestra BECAUSE of her foundational learning in 1st and 2nd grade in DCPS. In retrospect we wish our younger child had the same 1st grade teacher as our older child.

Hee, hee. "A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it. . . . That's what your house is, a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get...more stuff!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd appreciate some help in defending my (future) choice to send my child to a good DC public school (probably Murch, Eaton or Hearst), as opposed to moving to Maryland or Virginia or trying to scrape together the funds for a private school.

My parents and many of their friends seem to regard sending a child to a DC public school as akin to leaving the child on top of a mountain (with the possible exceptions of Lafayette and Horace Mann. Possible exceptions).

Please don't tell me to ignore these people or to tell them to stick it where the sun don't shine. They are an integral part of my parents' circle, and my parents are loving grandparents who are an integral part of my life, and my child's. More importantly, these older people are opinion-setters in their way, active in their social and sports lives (golf, tennis, poker, continuing education, travel) choices. Part of their resistance/condescension is racist; part of it flows from their desire to validate their own, expensive choices in sending their kids to private schools; and part of it is based on anecdotes and media reports, and some personal experience (many are retired teachers).

Especially with the holidays approaching, I'd like a dignified, courteous way to tell these folks that a good neighborhood public school has true value to me and to my child. But that sounds so empty sometimes. I am hopeful (or naive) enough to hope to change a few of their minds. They might still think DC schools stink to high heaven, but they might add, "Of course, so and so got lucky with a few good teachers at Hearst/Murch/Eaton." And then slowly the opinion pendulum might start swinging the other way.

We chose a charter instead of DCPS because we couldn't get Chinese Immersion any other way. BTW, I can't help but notice that FFX County is hacking away at their language immersion offerings (Spanish, French, Japanese, German) - which means they won't be offering Mandarin any time soon.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Many, many thanks for all these concrete suggestions. I think I will acknowledge their concerns: "You know, I was worried, given my child's special needs/great talents/extraordinary personality coupled with a propensity to burst into tears, but it's really worked out well for us!"

To the poster who asked if I have to justify my decision/s to my parents' social circle: when it comes to school choices, yes. They ask. They care. They're judgmental, but also interested. Asking where a child goes to school is not that intrusive, unless I have too big of a chip on my shoulder. And I do think that if we have a positive experience, I'll be able to crow about the school to an interested, influential audience.

Of course, when there's a negative experience (head lice, anyone? teasing on the playground? teacher who tried to teach relying almost solely on videotapes?) it might be put down to public schools ("what can you expect? You get what you pay for"), but there are always a few saints who speak up and say, "I remember the head lice/"mean girls"/lazy videotape teacher at..." and fill in the name of a posh expensive private school here.

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to add that our East of the Park DCPS Pre-school class also has 13 children with 1 teacher and 1 teacher aide. The other PS class only has 12 kids. As far as I know, this is the norm for this school and what they budgeted/planned for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Although now we are super happy with DC's private school and do think, objectively, that it provides a lot that DCPS cannot provide, we are keenly aware of the draws and benefits of public schools."

Just curious what your views are about what your private offers that DCPS can't provide. I haven't toured any privates because we're doing public for now, but am interested in others' experiences and views.

PP here. This is what we found thus far at the Pre-K level

1) Great ratio: 10 children/teacher (not a teacher plus an aide)
2) Excellent outdoor play space/access: 1-2 hours/day; a full-sized gym on days with inclement weather
3) PE 4/days week (this is in addition to outdoor play)
4) Lower School library with paid staff (not just volunteers); visit 1x/week, but parents can come in anytime and check out books, too
5) Science (1x/week) and Music (2x/week) teacher to supplement PK teacher
6) Excellent communication between families and the school
7) Age-appropriate curriculum: no "rush" to teach children to read/write at age 4, if not ready

Not trying to pick a fight, but do just want to say that I am in DCPS and we have all of this with the exception of PE 4x a week, and at K (I didn't do Pre-K there). But really if this is what people are identifying as the differences between private and public, then I just became much more confident in my own personal thought that there was not much difference...at least where I am...Janney.
8) Access to lower school counselor and a learning specialist, if needed

As DC gets older, foreign language offered from 2nd (or 3rd?) grade; drama/theatre; extended field trips, etc.

[Anonymous]

I would say that if you have the choice of a JKLM, chances are that the elementary education is going to be quite good. You essentially have the same demographic as private school parents.

This is why we choose private over public (Murch is our school):

1) DC got into a "big-3"--we did not expect this, given the odds of admission for an unconnected family
2) We don't have to worry about the effect of local politics on the DCPS on a regular basis
3) We don't have to worry about middle school and high school--DC's school goes to 12th grade
4) There is a lot of administrative stability at DC's school compared to the upheaval we found a several public schools (seems that every school gets a new principal or major change in admin on a too-frequent basis)
5) We like the social stability of being in one school from PK-12
6) We like that there isn't a lot of testing

[Anonymous]

Rhee left, you should too.

[Anonymous]

bottom line, if the school is right for your child, whether it's public, charter, or private, there's no reason to feel defensive. If it's the right school for your child, that's all that matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would say that if you have the choice of a JKLM, chances are that the elementary education is going to be quite good. You essentially have the same demographic as private school parents.

This is why we choose private over public (Murch is our school):

1) DC got into a "big-3"--we did not expect this, given the odds of admission for an unconnected family
2) We don't have to worry about the effect of local politics on the DCPS on a regular basis
3) We don't have to worry about middle school and high school--DC's school goes to 12th grade
4) There is a lot of administrative stability at DC's school compared to the upheaval we found a several public schools (seems that every school gets a new principal or major change in admin on a too-frequent basis)
5) We like the social stability of being in one school from PK-12
6) We like that there isn't a lot of testing

I'm surprised that you got into a private too, given your propensity for butting in where you don't belong. Go frolic in the private forum with all the other profligate spenders, your "input" is the exact opposite of what the OP was asking for. (Maybe a little testing for reading comprehension is in order.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say that if you have the choice of a JKLM, chances are that the elementary education is going to be quite good. You essentially have the same demographic as private school parents.

This is why we choose private over public (Murch is our school):

1) DC got into a "big-3"--we did not expect this, given the odds of admission for an unconnected family
2) We don't have to worry about the effect of local politics on the DCPS on a regular basis
3) We don't have to worry about middle school and high school--DC's school goes to 12th grade
4) There is a lot of administrative stability at DC's school compared to the upheaval we found a several public schools (seems that every school gets a new principal or major change in admin on a too-frequent basis)
5) We like the social stability of being in one school from PK-12
6) We like that there isn't a lot of testing

I'm surprised that you got into a private too, given your propensity for butting in where you don't belong. Go frolic in the private forum with all the other profligate spenders, your "input" is the exact opposite of what the OP was asking for. (Maybe a little testing for reading comprehension is in order.)

Such coarse manners!

If you read through the thread, you would see how the course of this conversation has shifted. I suppose the thoroughness of reading is the product of my private school education (or my JKLM school--which is acknowledged in the first lines).