Chesterbrook Elementary-your thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GreatSchools.

Ignore the person who claims Spring Hill, Churchill and Chesterbrook are the three best schools in the county. That's nonsense.

Ignore GreatSchools.

I'm not saying Chesterbrook isn't just fine, I'm saying GreatSchools isn't an accurate measure of anything school-related.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GreatSchools.

Ignore the person who claims Spring Hill, Churchill and Chesterbrook are the three best schools in the county. That's nonsense.

Ignore GreatSchools.

I'm not saying Chesterbrook isn't just fine, I'm saying GreatSchools isn't an accurate measure of anything school-related.

Wrong. It accurately crunches test scores on state exams in determining the numerical rating to assign to schools.

What is susceptible to manipulation are the parent reviews that result in stars being assigned to schools. There are few controls on those reviews.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a Chesterbrook parent, but the PTAs actually do "raise" all the money and then use it towards programs at the schools. All of the money is spent on programs for the schools. So while I don't understand the $500,000, $300,000 would have been pretty accurate. All that money may not just be going to help the actual school day though. There are a lot of evening, afterschool, and summer programs that the school raises money for.

Not a Chesterbrook parent either, but I think what matters is the net profit, which allows the PTA flexibility in their budget to do things without credit. Don't get caught up with "raising $300,000" when your expenses are $240,000. You could "raise" 1mil each year, but that would be meaningless if your expenses were 2mil.

I'm glad one of the posters did a fact check on the balance sheet and didn't buy into the "my school is so great because the PTA raises $500,000 each year" comment.

[Anonymous]

PP are correct - total fundraising is closer to 300K. My bad - I didn't read the statement closely. My point - that the school has an involved PTA as evidenced by substantial funds raised - is still valid. Our former private school struggled to raise 120K annually, so for us we used the amount raised annually as an indicator of involved parents. We love Chesterbrook, but of course there are other great schools in the NVa area. The OP asked for input on Chesterbrook so that's what I provided.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP are correct - total fundraising is closer to 300K. My bad - I didn't read the statement closely. My point - that the school has an involved PTA as evidenced by substantial funds raised - is still valid. Our former private school struggled to raise 120K annually, so for us we used the amount raised annually as an indicator of involved parents. We love Chesterbrook, but of course there are other great schools in the NVa area. The OP asked for input on Chesterbrook so that's what I provided.

It's tough to compare your former private school with Chesterbrook. Apples and oranges.

Chesterbrook is probably much larger, thus more sources for funds. Most importantly, most private school parents probably feel that they're already paying plenty of money for tuition, fees, books, etc., so why pay more when you've paid already.

[Anonymous]

PP - not true. We were at our old private for over 8 yrs. I disagree with the apples/oranges analogy, as both schools alleged that they would provide a great education for my kids. The private failed to do so. Chesterbrook does a great job of providing a fantastic education to all kids, from the highly gifted to kids in special ed. The principal has a wealth of leadership experience, as well as being a former teacher. And many of my kids' teachers have advanced degrees. We found none of this at our old private. We contribute to the PTA because we are happy with the school, and the same can be said for many other parents. At our old private, very people contributed to the annual fund, many because of unhappiness with the school.

[Anonymous]

17:19. Their expenses are all for activities to help the school and children throughout the year. The PTA doesn't raise money just to raise money. At the end of the year, a well run PTA carries a small balance merely to help offset expenses at the beginning of the following year.

[Anonymous]

I personally like that the PTA decides some of the enrichment activities the school puts on and raises money for them. I think it helps develop a bond between the school and parents. I think if all the PTA did was fundraisers to give a donated check to the school to do whatever they want, they'd raise a lot less money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP - not true. We were at our old private for over 8 yrs. I disagree with the apples/oranges analogy, as both schools alleged that they would provide a great education for my kids. The private failed to do so. Chesterbrook does a great job of providing a fantastic education to all kids, from the highly gifted to kids in special ed. The principal has a wealth of leadership experience, as well as being a former teacher. And many of my kids' teachers have advanced degrees. We found none of this at our old private. We contribute to the PTA because we are happy with the school, and the same can be said for many other parents. At our old private, very people contributed to the annual fund, many because of unhappiness with the school.

I'm not sure what you're arguing about.

I did not compare whether your old private school was better than Chesterbrook.

All I said was that there was most likely a size difference. More students means more parents means more funding sources for Chesterbrook. Also, you pay twice for private school...once with your tax dollars, and then with tuition, books, fees, etc. That's probably why those parents didn't want to pay anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:17:19. Their expenses are all for activities to help the school and children throughout the year. The PTA doesn't raise money just to raise money. At the end of the year, a well run PTA carries a small balance merely to help offset expenses at the beginning of the following year.

As I said, the balance sheet showed a net profit around 50k.