If money was no object for you, would you do private instead of public?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We can afford private and will be sending our kids to DCPS. It's partially a values thing (we are the children of public school teachers and the products of public schools, and we believe strongly in public education) and partially recognition that our children, by virtue of growing up in a supportive, education-centric home, will likely do well wherever they are.

bravo!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, when you look at outcomes, there might be no difference in the end.
I have my children at Norwood, and we love the school. It has EVERYTHING a child could need. That said, it is missing something,...diversity. So the one big drawback to private school is the social aspect.

Agree. Are you referring to racial or social economic diversity?

[Anonymous]

Our DC is in a top Pre-K program that we can afford. But we're also rethinking it, and not for financial reasons. I don't really like the older children at this school -- and I don't want my child to become one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, when you look at outcomes, there might be no difference in the end.
I have my children at Norwood, and we love the school. It has EVERYTHING a child could need. That said, it is missing something,...diversity. So the one big drawback to private school is the social aspect.

Agree. Are you referring to racial or social economic diversity?

Both.

[Anonymous]

my dh and i are both the products of public schools, including our doctorates. that said, if we had the money, i would be looking at the private schools. mostly because dd has some sensory issues and her dev ped has suggested that she likely has adhd. so for sheer student to teacher ratio, i think in her case, we would like to have the option to go private. but we don't...so public it is.

[Anonymous]

When comparing DCPS to private, yes. When comparing MCPS maybe not. And it depends on which private.

We ended up switching to catholic for the time being (we are dcps). We may move to MC in the future if that doesn't work out. We have a dim hope of affording real private school at some time (and our kids getting in too!).

[Anonymous]

We can afford private but chose DCPS. We're fortunate that we could afford a home in boundary for a fantastic school. But also, like one of the previous posters, I believe that our family's focus on learning, and the way that we value intellectual curiosity, will provide a strong foundation for our daughter. My daughter's school is both diverse-- majority minority-- and excellent-- among top 10 in DC for advanced test scores. School is walkable from home, which is walkable and metro-able to everywhere else. I value this very highly.

I don't think that it's a "duh" question at all. We could have had any educational opportunity in the area, and we chose DCPS.

[Anonymous]

This is such a complicated question, and it depends both on the values of the parents and needs the child(ren).

We started in public, moved to private, moved one child back to public. We take it year by year with each child.

Were we in DC, not suburbs, we'd face the same situation. Private schools are not necessarily better because they cost more, and some can be dreadful if they don't fit the child.

Public schools, in our experience, have fantastic and so-so teachers, and so do private. A lot of it can be luck. Don't be dazzled by private school facilities. A lot of kids can do really well in a run-down building with great teachers, active parents, and supportive administrators.

[Anonymous]

We do Catholic schools (in MoCo) and would stay even if our finances were more. I'm not at all impressed with the huge size of our local public schools and wouldn't want the "keep up with the Joneses" mentality of the privates when we would certainly be "have nots" in a world of "haves." In the Archdiocesan system we get a smaller, more involved private school feel at a fraction of the cost but without the bureacracy of the publics.

[Anonymous]

OP, I remembered when I was about 8 years old living in a questionable area in Brooklyn, I went to a local Catholic school where the kids were supposedly better behaved than public school kids. Nevertheless, they were rough. There were many kids that shoplifted on a regular basis. In time, I started to copy them, did not become a kleptomaniac, but still it was bad. We moved, and all of that changed.
Some say that it the home environment that matters most. I disagree. Some kids are very impressionable and will follow their peers in any behavior when parents aren't watching.
I would say that from a social perspective, if you are in an area with kids who exhibit some behavioral problems, don't assume that your kids can't be influenced. I would look at the individual child. Focus less on the academics (which you can fix at home), and more on the social.
I fully understand that private does not necessarily mean better social environment.

[Anonymous]

Op, I would bet (admittedly with some insider knowledge) that the large majority of kids at Horace Mann (in boundary) have parents who can *easily* afford private but choose Horace Mann. Of course, most of them then go to private afterward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, I would bet (admittedly with some insider knowledge) that the large majority of kids at Horace Mann (in boundary) have parents who can *easily* afford private but choose Horace Mann. Of course, most of them then go to private afterward.

Absolutely. Ditto for many of the kids at Lafayette, the Woodley Park side of the Oyster district, and Murch, Janney, Hyde, Key. Not all, but many.

And some-- like myself-- sat down and calculated the costs of private versus buying a home near a great school, less tax advantages, etc. and chose lovely home near fantastic school over spending post-tax dollars on private school.

Don't get me wrong-- I would have chosen DCPS over the private option even if the dollars weren't all that comparable. Some people, myself included, value things that private schools don't offer, such as being anchored in a small geographic area where kids play on the same sidewalks, and being able to walk to school, and knowing children from very different circumstances.

Also, although my child is very bright-- reading since age 3, large vocabulary, good at puzzles, etc.-- I couldn't see putting her through one of those tests. It seems unnecessary and not a good measure of such young children. At our local school, we just prove residency and immunizations, and off she goes.

Finally, DC is my city. It employs me, it entertains me, it's where I met and fell in love with my husband, and where my daughter was born. Public school is a part of it. I'm glad that we're among the lucky families who have a good public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, although my child is very bright-- reading since age 3, large vocabulary, good at puzzles, etc.-- I couldn't see putting her through one of those tests. It seems unnecessary and not a good measure of such young children. At our local school, we just prove residency and immunizations, and off she goes.

I'm glad you have found the right school for your family, but this particular argument is a red herring. The test is nothing. It's not painful, it's not traumatic; dare I say our kid thought it was fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, I would bet (admittedly with some insider knowledge) that the large majority of kids at Horace Mann (in boundary) have parents who can *easily* afford private but choose Horace Mann. Of course, most of them then go to private afterward.

OP here. Unfortunately, a majority of the DCPS are not on the same level as Mann, Murch, Key, etc. And because of that, private school is becoming the only option. I live in Ward 7, very close to Capitol Hill, & even the so called 'good public schools in Capitol Hill don't come close to the above mentioned schools. I will apply to these schools, but am pretty sure it's near impossible for out-of-bound folks in these schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, although my child is very bright-- reading since age 3, large vocabulary, good at puzzles, etc.-- I couldn't see putting her through one of those tests. It seems unnecessary and not a good measure of such young children. At our local school, we just prove residency and immunizations, and off she goes.

I'm glad you have found the right school for your family, but this particular argument is a red herring. The test is nothing. It's not painful, it's not traumatic; dare I say our kid thought it was fun.

I'm the one who wrote that. I didn't say that the test was painful or traumatic. I said that I couldn't see doing it, and that was neither necessary nor likely to be accurate. Not torture, just not something I'd do.

Look at these boards and you see posts about "my 99.4%ile daughter," etc. That's not everyone, but it's tempting to see one's child through the eyes of a tester, and I don't want to get wrapped up in that.

I also don't want to put my child in a place that evaluates children before they've had the chance to accomplish anything, or show what they can do.

Not everyone feels this way, but I do.

And I agree with PP that most schools in DCPS aren't as good as the handful in NWDC that have been mentioned. That's a huge problem. But I put everything I had into being in boundaries for a great public school and am really glad I did.