What happened to MCPS?????

[Anonymous]

Is VA schools better in general or just against MD? By what measure? Can you be more specific with facts and sources?

I thought they were both pretty good school systems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC is in HS in MCPS, coming in from private middle school, and we are very pleased with it. Yes class sizes are larger, but that's not a surprise or a secret and not a problem for my particular kid. Teachers are very good, classes are challenging, peer group is great.

What school?
I am thinking from moving from a DC charter to MCPS High School.

[Anonymous]

There are 148,000 students in MCPS. It has been growing by about 2,000 students per year for the last several years. From this I conclude that *everyone* doesn't hate it.

If you are comparing the MCPS of today with the MCPS of 15+ years ago, the answer to "what happened" is that it got much less wealthy and much less white. But that is something most of us are cool with.

[Anonymous]

For school, tax, and property value retention reasons I'd stay in DC or move to Arlington/fairfax/falls church.
MoCo is self-imploding in more ways than MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are 148,000 students in MCPS. It has been growing by about 2,000 students per year for the last several years. From this I conclude that *everyone* doesn't hate it.

If you are comparing the MCPS of today with the MCPS of 15+ years ago, the answer to "what happened" is that it got much less wealthy and much less white. But that is something most of us are cool with.

Bueno, me gusto!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did MCPS end up going from the school system that everyone raved about to being the school system that everyone hates? We had always assumed that we would move to MD for the schools but now I'm wondering if we should just stay in DC or go to VA. We prefer MD for commute and neighborhoods but schools are most important to us. Everyone we know in Arlington, Fallschurch, and Fairfax still raves about their school system. The opposite is true of MCPS. Bad curriculum, meaningless report cards, bad superintendent, failing test scores and declining test scores...

Is it just a bad superintendent or are these bigger problems that just show its declining and will not recover?

Yes, I have looked at the websites for all the school systems above and read both the VA and MD boards in addition to talking with as many people that we know with kids in elementary school.

You're in a unique position and about to make a large investment(house), definitely do your homework:
Sit in on some schools classes and do the tours.
Talk to parents in the neighborhoods and parks
Read the locl newspapers, gazette.
Look over the county or city budgets and trends.
Do the math of income, property, auto, sales, gas, environmental taxes.
Know that Bethesda/Potomac pays for MoCo, and MoCo pays for Maryland.

[Anonymous]

MoCo is a microcosm of the US. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and schools are bursting at the seams. I have no data to back this up, but various personal conversations (not DCUM chatter) with multiple children with wide age gaps reveal that MCPS used to be great. Those of with little ones just entering the system are not entering the same system. There are far less resources, far less playground space with the explosion of portables, etc. I don't think today's middle schools and high schools in MCPS are feeling the creep of the overcapacity issues pronounced in the elementaries.

I should downplay the above so you will (presumably) bring your high tax base to MoCo, but I am giving you my honest opinion as a homeowner and MCPS parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MoCo is a microcosm of the US. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and schools are bursting at the seams. I have no data to back this up, but various personal conversations (not DCUM chatter) with multiple children with wide age gaps reveal that MCPS used to be great. Those of with little ones just entering the system are not entering the same system. There are far less resources, far less playground space with the explosion of portables, etc. I don't think today's middle schools and high schools in MCPS are feeling the creep of the overcapacity issues pronounced in the elementaries.

I should downplay the above so you will (presumably) bring your high tax base to MoCo, but I am giving you my honest opinion as a homeowner and MCPS parent.

I live on the east side of the county and we have not experienced this as much. Our kids have small class sizes and our school is not terribly overcrowded. Maybe the experience of being on the wealthier side has changed as the county has shifted resources to the less wealthy side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are 148,000 students in MCPS. It has been growing by about 2,000 students per year for the last several years. From this I conclude that *everyone* doesn't hate it.

If you are comparing the MCPS of today with the MCPS of 15+ years ago, the answer to "what happened" is that it got much less wealthy and much less white. But that is something most of us are cool with.

151,354 (projected).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Know that Bethesda/Potomac pays for MoCo, and MoCo pays for Maryland.

Speaking of Bethesda/Potomac -- OP, just in case you wondered: when people say the "W" schools are the best schools, what they really mean is that the "W" schools have the smallest percentages of poor brown people.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Know that Bethesda/Potomac pays for MoCo, and MoCo pays for Maryland.[/quote]

Speaking of Bethesda/Potomac -- OP, just in case you wondered: when people say the "W" schools are the best schools, what they really mean is that the "W" schools have the smallest percentages of poor brown people.[/quote]
That is exactly what it means.
We love our school and it is not in the "W" cluster.
Portables will not doom a kid to be stupid and not being able to learn.
Yale won't reject applicants because they took science in a portable in the 2nd grade.
My grandmother taught for years in a portable, in another state.
So what?
Kids loved her, and were well educated.
MOCO is growing, they need to build new schools.
By the way, less recess, fewer"specials" is an American public education trend.
It is not a MOCO anamoly.
The sky is not falling chicken little.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Know that Bethesda/Potomac pays for MoCo, and MoCo pays for Maryland.

Speaking of Bethesda/Potomac -- OP, just in case you wondered: when people say the "W" schools are the best schools, what they really mean is that the "W" schools have the smallest percentages of poor brown people.

There are people of all colors in these W schools but they are not poor. You do know that poor and brown are not synonymous.
Signed, A well-off, professional brown person with kids in W schools getting a great education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Know that Bethesda/Potomac pays for MoCo, and MoCo pays for Maryland.

Speaking of Bethesda/Potomac -- OP, just in case you wondered: when people say the "W" schools are the best schools, what they really mean is that the "W" schools have the smallest percentages of poor brown people.

There are people of all colors in these W schools but they are not poor. You do know that poor and brown are not synonymous.
Signed, A well-off, professional brown person with kids in W schools getting a great education.

Yes, PP, that's why I didn't say "brown people", but rather "poor brown people". (Although actually the proportion of brown people of any income is much lower in the "W" schools than in the county overall.) Another thing I didn't say is that the education at the "W" schools is bad.

[Anonymous]

Well my kids are in W schools and I would say the education has gone from so so to bad. The class sizes are ridiculous (32 kids). The new report cards tell you nothing other than your kid meets low state standards. I have caught the staff giving out grades my kids didn't earn just to cover up problems. MSA test scores overall are falling. The teachers have not been trained or have the resources to implement 2.0 in the full capacity Starr proposes in all his propaganda pieces. Parents don't like 2.0 and when I have met with teachers one on one, they don't like it also. They just can't go on record to say what they really think because they fear retaliation. Not everyone dislikes change but of course, people hate change when it means going from a so so curriculum to an untested, unproven, bad curriculum.

If choosing between MD and VA, I would recommend VA hands down. Too many problems with MCPS right now.

[Anonymous]

PP, which W schools are you referring to? I'm doing my diligence on W schools, so just curious.