Sidwell

[Anonymous]

Yes, I also heard about Sidwell parents who were pulled aside and encouraged to have their child's reading "evaluated" by the Sidwell associated speech therapist. It cost a massive amount of money, and it turned out the child was just fine. Overanxious teachers apparently. This was first grade.

[Anonymous]

Sounds weird. Maybe exploiting parents' fears. The schools should allow any specialist to evaluate the child if it is earnestly trying to get an objective opinion.
I am getting the impression that these schools are in it for the money.
How much does the head of school at Sidwell make?

[Anonymous]

All of my close friends who attended Sidwell (I did not) are engaging, thoughtful, and community-oriented adults who I find to be confident without arrogance. They are talented in unique ways, have a wide range of personalities and interests, and all loved Sidwell. Maybe a lot has changed in recent years, but perhaps stories (positive or negative) about well-known schools are a bit overblown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of my close friends who attended Sidwell (I did not) are engaging, thoughtful, and community-oriented adults who I find to be confident without arrogance. They are talented in unique ways, have a wide range of personalities and interests, and all loved Sidwell. Maybe a lot has changed in recent years, but perhaps stories (positive or negative) about well-known schools are a bit overblown.

more looking at it from the standpoint of the parents, and their pockets

[Anonymous]

You know, the more I read about private schools, on DCUM, the angrier I get. I really think that parents are being taken for a financial ride. This might be my dd's last year in private school, the decision to remove her will be so liberating!

[Anonymous]

I had a coworker, who pulled her son out of 2nd grade inparochial school when she realized she was spending nearly as much on tutors and supportive work as on the tuition itself
He just graduated from montgomery county public schools' and she says she still can't believe how much $$ she wasted

[Anonymous]

I can't wait until they come to me about tutoring. I will calmly say, "yes, we will do that, in public school next year, since we will have so much money freed up".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are extraordinarily bright children who need help on occasion. test scores don't tell the whole story.

I've heard that at Norwood if a child isn't reading by the middle of first grade, they are not asked to return for second grade.

That child may be better off out of that school. Maybe all kids would be better off in another school. Norwood should concentrate on doing its job.

What are you holding back on saying here?

[Anonymous]

Public schools do this too, just in a less expensive way. My nephew was on grade for reading, but just barely. So the school recommended that he attend summer school for several summers in a row. He does not like school ... and without a break over the summer ... likes it even less. My sister finally stopped putting him in the summer school as she decided the school was more concerned about their SOL test scores than her son.

In summary, all schools seem to be very hyper these days about "optimizing" student achievement, although public and privates have slightly different underlying reasons. I would feel more comfortable if the reason for providing support was to help a child rather than maximize good exmissions and/or raise test scores.

[Anonymous]

But at whose expense?

[Anonymous]

Public summer school is not free.

[Anonymous]

It is cheaper than those tutors that the private schools recommend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public summer school is not free.

It is, in DC

[Anonymous]

I while ago I was in the class room at Norwood, helping out in my son's class. I noticed that the teachers seemed worn out and not very excited about teaching. They acted disturbed every time a child asked them something. Looking at their watches and so on. I got the impression that these people would have little tolerance for a child with a difficulty in any area. They are probably underpaid, and do not want to work as hard as they would in public school. Hence the low threshold for telling a parent to get help elsewhere. That never came up with my son, but it did for one child I knew.

We left Norwood b/c of logistics and financial reasons. His public school is not as pretty and so on, but his teacher work hard all day with bigger classes. They seem to be motivated to teach by, I guess, NCLB.

[Anonymous]

After reading all these, I am glad to have sent DC to public schools. Luckily, we live in a good school district.