Is private school that much better?

[Anonymous]

Depends on your definiton of better and on what you think your kids need to succeed. For our oldest, we knew private was better than public because she had a personality/temperament that really requires small classes and a strong focus on social development, not just teaching reading early and test scores. My youngest is only two, but I don't know that we will make the same choice for him.

So, what is your ideal school? How far are the publics from providing that? How flexible are your kids -- that is, how important is it that they get the "ideal" school?

[Anonymous]

OP, I have had children in DCPS and in private and here are my recommendations:

- How old are your children? If they are elementary school age, then any good public elementary in the burbs or NW DC shoudl be fine (I don't have any experience with Capitol Hill).

- We live in DC, and for us, the real value of private came in middle and high school. I know there are a lot of folks on this board who are happy with Deal/Wilson or charters, but we decided that private was worth it for the later years. If we had lived in a good school district in Maryland or Virginia, we might have considered staying in public.

- The advantages to us of private are smaller classes, more individual attention, more music and art, and a well run school. We pay dearly for 2 kids, but we believe it's been worth it. Although if it had meant we'd have to give up travel or saving for retirement, we woud have moved to a good suburban school district and stayed in public.

[Anonymous]

It depends on the kid's personality, I think. My twin nieces attended FCPS for 2 years. Twin A did great, Twin B was miserable. Because of twin B, brother decided to switch them to small private school. Twin A was miserable this time, Twin B was a happy camper. Twin A went back to FCPS and Twin B stayed in Private. They will be graduating next year. Twin A is taking Advance classes which are the same level classes Twin B is taking at the private school (I guess they are just regular classes in Private, I don't know.) My brother praises both school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I have had children in DCPS and in private and here are my recommendations:

- How old are your children? If they are elementary school age, then any good public elementary in the burbs or NW DC shoudl be fine (I don't have any experience with Capitol Hill).

- We live in DC, and for us, the real value of private came in middle and high school. I know there are a lot of folks on this board who are happy with Deal/Wilson or charters, but we decided that private was worth it for the later years. If we had lived in a good school district in Maryland or Virginia, we might have considered staying in public.

- The advantages to us of private are smaller classes, more individual attention, more music and art, and a well run school. We pay dearly for 2 kids, but we believe it's been worth it. Although if it had meant we'd have to give up travel or saving for retirement, we woud have moved to a good suburban school district and stayed in public.

+1

As someone who is moving her child from DCPS to a private next year, the new private will be leaps and bounds better than where child is now. Child has attended DCPS since kinder; child is now in 6th.

[Anonymous]

Before we moved, I thought about living in a cheaper area and sending the kids to private or buying in an expensive area with good public schools. We went the public school route. Now that we are in public schools, my view is that good public schools are great for the vast majority of kids. If you have a kid with a learning disability or who is highly-gifted or some other outlier, however, then you may wish for private school. It is iffy if we can afford private for one of our kids, but we are thinking about it.

[Anonymous]

I want to offer a different perspective. We sent our kids to private for many years in the belief it was a better education for them. I think it was better -socially and academically - than the local public where we lived. Having said that, we got in over our head financially with the tuition we were paying -- it just kept going up, and we had three kids and three tuitions to pay. For next year we had no choice but to take them out of private school -- so much of our savings were depleted. We are moving to a top public school cluster in Montgomery County, MD and hope for the best -- we hear good things about the schools here.

If I had it all to do over again I don't know if I'd choose private school -- at least not for some many years and with three kids. Sacrificing for education is something we value, but only to a point. Having no emergency fund, no ability to take nice trips, and constant worry about finances hasn't been great for us.

[Anonymous]

DCPS are horrible, anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put there kids in private school if they had the money. Obama won't send his kids to DCPS, says something about the most in touch with the middle class president.

Obama: D.C. schools don't measure up to his daughters' private school

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/27/AR2010092701766.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS are horrible, anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put there kids in private school if they had the money. Obama won't send his kids to DCPS, says something about the most in touch with the middle class president.

Obama: D.C. schools don't measure up to his daughters' private school

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/27/AR2010092701766.html

Of course DC schools don't all measure up to Sidwell. But that doesn't mean that all DC schools are horrible, or that anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put THEIR kids in private school if they had the money. I know many people - including myself - with the funds to put their kids in private school who choose DCPS or charters. They would not send their kids to just any DCPS or charter, but there are very good ones that they do choose, even over Sidwell and other Big Three schools.

And, you are kidding yourself if you think that the President - even this one - has the same educational considerations as the rest of us. He needs his kids in a school that is both great and a fortress. If the OP had asked whether public or private would be better for the President's children, I am sure that most of us would agree that private can probably protect his children and provide them with a more focussed education than private. The Secretary of Education, on the other hand, chose public for his kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS are horrible, anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put there kids in private school if they had the money. Obama won't send his kids to DCPS, says something about the most in touch with the middle class president.

Obama: D.C. schools don't measure up to his daughters' private school

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/27/AR2010092701766.html

Of course DC schools don't all measure up to Sidwell. But that doesn't mean that all DC schools are horrible, or that anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put THEIR kids in private school if they had the money. I know many people - including myself - with the funds to put their kids in private school who choose DCPS or charters. They would not send their kids to just any DCPS or charter, but there are very good ones that they do choose, even over Sidwell and other Big Three schools.

And, you are kidding yourself if you think that the President - even this one - has the same educational considerations as the rest of us. He needs his kids in a school that is both great and a fortress. If the OP had asked whether public or private would be better for the President's children, I am sure that most of us would agree that private can probably protect his children and provide them with a more focussed education than private. The Secretary of Education, on the other hand, chose public for his kids.

So the president is better than,us and deserves non dcps

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS are horrible, anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put there kids in private school if they had the money. Obama won't send his kids to DCPS, says something about the most in touch with the middle class president.

Obama: D.C. schools don't measure up to his daughters' private school

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/27/AR2010092701766.html

Of course DC schools don't all measure up to Sidwell. But that doesn't mean that all DC schools are horrible, or that anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put THEIR kids in private school if they had the money. I know many people - including myself - with the funds to put their kids in private school who choose DCPS or charters. They would not send their kids to just any DCPS or charter, but there are very good ones that they do choose, even over Sidwell and other Big Three schools.

And, you are kidding yourself if you think that the President - even this one - has the same educational considerations as the rest of us. He needs his kids in a school that is both great and a fortress. If the OP had asked whether public or private would be better for the President's children, I am sure that most of us would agree that private can probably protect his children and provide them with a more focussed education than private. The Secretary of Education, on the other hand, chose public for his kids.

So the president is better than,us and deserves non dcps

That is not what I said at all, although I am pretty sure that he can write better than you can. What I said is that the President does not have the same educational considerations as the rest of us. The President's kids are being raised under a microscope and with a lot of threats on their lives. They need to go to school in a very protected facility that can easily accomodate a team of secret service agents, frequent security threats, and standard visits by the President. Not only does security have to be very tight, but the school also has to be equipped to deal with this without it affecting the education of the children whose presence is causing the issues. Very few places are capable of doing that. Sidwell already proved, with Chelsea, that it could handle such a situation without distracting the children from the education too much. If I were the President, I would make the exact same decision. As I am not, and luckily my children do not have to worry about such issues, I have chosen to send them to a very good charter school where I think they will actually thrive more than they would at Sidwell, which I don't think would be a great fit for them.

[Anonymous]

I live in the Chesterbrook school district. It is a wonderful school..a lot of my friends send their kids there. Nice kids..great attitude..nice parents etc. If finances were at all an issue..we would be there in a second. We decided private for the little extras you don't get in public (smaller class sizes, better afterschool stuff, more interesting field trips etc etc) and also for religious reasons (actually that would be first if I were to be really honest) but..I would pick Chesterbrook over many many many privates in the area. So my conclusion is that if you live in Mclean and even have to think twice as to whether tuition would affect savings for college or retirement.go with public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS are horrible, anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put there kids in private school if they had the money. Obama won't send his kids to DCPS, says something about the most in touch with the middle class president.

Obama: D.C. schools don't measure up to his daughters' private school

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/27/AR2010092701766.html

Of course DC schools don't all measure up to Sidwell. But that doesn't mean that all DC schools are horrible, or that anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put THEIR kids in private school if they had the money. I know many people - including myself - with the funds to put their kids in private school who choose DCPS or charters. They would not send their kids to just any DCPS or charter, but there are very good ones that they do choose, even over Sidwell and other Big Three schools.

And, you are kidding yourself if you think that the President - even this one - has the same educational considerations as the rest of us. He needs his kids in a school that is both great and a fortress. If the OP had asked whether public or private would be better for the President's children, I am sure that most of us would agree that private can probably protect his children and provide them with a more focussed education than private. The Secretary of Education, on the other hand, chose public for his kids.

So the president is better than,us and deserves non dcps

That is not what I said at all, although I am pretty sure that he can write better than you can. What I said is that the President does not have the same educational considerations as the rest of us. The President's kids are being raised under a microscope and with a lot of threats on their lives. They need to go to school in a very protected facility that can easily accomodate a team of secret service agents, frequent security threats, and standard visits by the President. Not only does security have to be very tight, but the school also has to be equipped to deal with this without it affecting the education of the children whose presence is causing the issues. Very few places are capable of doing that. Sidwell already proved, with Chelsea, that it could handle such a situation without distracting the children from the education too much. If I were the President, I would make the exact same decision. As I am not, and luckily my children do not have to worry about such issues, I have chosen to send them to a very good charter school where I think they will actually thrive more than they would at Sidwell, which I don't think would be a great fit for them.

You stupid

[Anonymous]

"You stupid"

Thanks for the laugh this morning. But now I have to clean up this coffee I just spit out from the laughing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS are horrible, anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put there kids in private school if they had the money. Obama won't send his kids to DCPS, says something about the most in touch with the middle class president.

Obama: D.C. schools don't measure up to his daughters' private school

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/27/AR2010092701766.html

Of course DC schools don't all measure up to Sidwell. But that doesn't mean that all DC schools are horrible, or that anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put THEIR kids in private school if they had the money. I know many people - including myself - with the funds to put their kids in private school who choose DCPS or charters. They would not send their kids to just any DCPS or charter, but there are very good ones that they do choose, even over Sidwell and other Big Three schools.

And, you are kidding yourself if you think that the President - even this one - has the same educational considerations as the rest of us. He needs his kids in a school that is both great and a fortress. If the OP had asked whether public or private would be better for the President's children, I am sure that most of us would agree that private can probably protect his children and provide them with a more focussed education than private. The Secretary of Education, on the other hand, chose public for his kids.

Duncan is married to Karen Duncan, and they have two children who attend public elementary school in Arlington, Va.

BIG difference arlington public schools vs DC public schools. If you look at the scores even the best DC Charter schools are sub standard compared to FCPS, MOCO and Arlington, sorry for raining on your parade.

[Anonymous]

Just one other perspective OP. I chose to put my kids in public school because it is in keeping with my personal philosophy that that public schools should be the default choice. I strongly believe in the value of public schools and feel that it is my duty as a citizen to support the institution, if you will, because strong public schools are the foundation for the kind of society I want to live in. I want to raise my kids with very democratic, non-elitist values and worry that if I send my kids to private school, they will get the message that they are somehow superior to others, and that there are different "classes" of people. So that is sort of my political/moral philosophy. Having said that, I know this is more idealism than reality, because some public schools are so much better than others, and we do not live in a class-free society. I also recognize that as a parent, you cannot sacrifice your child's happiness for the public good, so if I were not happy with my public schools, I would not hesitate to go private. I know I can't always live my beliefs and will behave in ways that are hypocritical for the sake of my family's well-being, but I still try.