APS - From option school to private

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious which option schools people are thinking of leaving, but understand not wanting to share.

We left Claremont. Claremont has an amazing principal and was a wonderful school (facility, teachers, enthusiasm), but APS (and Claremont) were too overcrowded, which made pandemic learning a disaster. If Claremont had 500 kids instead of 700, I think it would be a much better experience. Lunch was around 1050 due to overcrowding pre-pandemic, and my child felt like a number (We had GREAT teachers, but how can you expect Immersion teachers to track 50 kids?)

If your kid gets an Immersion spot, in my opinion you're getting more than a public school education because you're getting the bonus of a life-long language skill...and we had siblings in the pipeline who would have benefited too.

However in the end the amazing option of Immersion just wasn't enough to gamble other things away (smaller class sizes, strong spelling/writing skills, teacher attention etc). The final straw was APS's utter paralysis in spring of 2020 when COVID began, which convinced us we could not trust the district with our kids' education, and (sadly) we left the immersion experience, but it was the right move for us. Honestly I do think it's a harder call to leave an Option school than a regular APS school because you're getting some "bonus" private-school type features (for free). But you have to weigh everything carefully.

Are there any families at the other Immersion school that left for private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious which option schools people are thinking of leaving, but understand not wanting to share.

We left Claremont. Claremont has an amazing principal and was a wonderful school (facility, teachers, enthusiasm), but APS (and Claremont) were too overcrowded, which made pandemic learning a disaster. If Claremont had 500 kids instead of 700, I think it would be a much better experience. Lunch was around 1050 due to overcrowding pre-pandemic, and my child felt like a number (We had GREAT teachers, but how can you expect Immersion teachers to track 50 kids?)

If your kid gets an Immersion spot, in my opinion you're getting more than a public school education because you're getting the bonus of a life-long language skill...and we had siblings in the pipeline who would have benefited too.

However in the end the amazing option of Immersion just wasn't enough to gamble other things away (smaller class sizes, strong spelling/writing skills, teacher attention etc). The final straw was APS's utter paralysis in spring of 2020 when COVID began, which convinced us we could not trust the district with our kids' education, and (sadly) we left the immersion experience, but it was the right move for us. Honestly I do think it's a harder call to leave an Option school than a regular APS school because you're getting some "bonus" private-school type features (for free). But you have to weigh everything carefully.

Are there any families at the other Immersion school that left for private?

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Families who go to private won’t want their seat back. When your child attends private school, you realize that your “amazing” public school was only amazing because you didn’t know any better. Once you do, you realize that the public wasn’t amazing it was ok for what it was.

This.

+ 100

I wish it weren’t true, but it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious which option schools people are thinking of leaving, but understand not wanting to share.

We left Claremont. Claremont has an amazing principal and was a wonderful school (facility, teachers, enthusiasm), but APS (and Claremont) were too overcrowded, which made pandemic learning a disaster. If Claremont had 500 kids instead of 700, I think it would be a much better experience. Lunch was around 1050 due to overcrowding pre-pandemic, and my child felt like a number (We had GREAT teachers, but how can you expect Immersion teachers to track 50 kids?)

If your kid gets an Immersion spot, in my opinion you're getting more than a public school education because you're getting the bonus of a life-long language skill...and we had siblings in the pipeline who would have benefited too.

However in the end the amazing option of Immersion just wasn't enough to gamble other things away (smaller class sizes, strong spelling/writing skills, teacher attention etc). The final straw was APS's utter paralysis in spring of 2020 when COVID began, which convinced us we could not trust the district with our kids' education, and (sadly) we left the immersion experience, but it was the right move for us. Honestly I do think it's a harder call to leave an Option school than a regular APS school because you're getting some "bonus" private-school type features (for free). But you have to weigh everything carefully.

Are there any families at the other Immersion school that left for private?

Our family will be leaving immersion after this year. While I'm deeply torn over my children not continuing learning Spanish, this year taught me that the instruction is more important. They will do better with smaller classes and more attention. And frankly, I can afford it. I'll see if I can get the Spanish instruction elsewhere.

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious which option schools people are thinking of leaving, but understand not wanting to share.

We left Claremont. Claremont has an amazing principal and was a wonderful school (facility, teachers, enthusiasm), but APS (and Claremont) were too overcrowded, which made pandemic learning a disaster. If Claremont had 500 kids instead of 700, I think it would be a much better experience. Lunch was around 1050 due to overcrowding pre-pandemic, and my child felt like a number (We had GREAT teachers, but how can you expect Immersion teachers to track 50 kids?)

If your kid gets an Immersion spot, in my opinion you're getting more than a public school education because you're getting the bonus of a life-long language skill...and we had siblings in the pipeline who would have benefited too.

However in the end the amazing option of Immersion just wasn't enough to gamble other things away (smaller class sizes, strong spelling/writing skills, teacher attention etc). The final straw was APS's utter paralysis in spring of 2020 when COVID began, which convinced us we could not trust the district with our kids' education, and (sadly) we left the immersion experience, but it was the right move for us. Honestly I do think it's a harder call to leave an Option school than a regular APS school because you're getting some "bonus" private-school type features (for free). But you have to weigh everything carefully.

Are there any families at the other Immersion school that left for private?

Yes.

Ok… can you tell me about the differences between key and private that stood out most to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious which option schools people are thinking of leaving, but understand not wanting to share.

We left Claremont. Claremont has an amazing principal and was a wonderful school (facility, teachers, enthusiasm), but APS (and Claremont) were too overcrowded, which made pandemic learning a disaster. If Claremont had 500 kids instead of 700, I think it would be a much better experience. Lunch was around 1050 due to overcrowding pre-pandemic, and my child felt like a number (We had GREAT teachers, but how can you expect Immersion teachers to track 50 kids?)

If your kid gets an Immersion spot, in my opinion you're getting more than a public school education because you're getting the bonus of a life-long language skill...and we had siblings in the pipeline who would have benefited too.

However in the end the amazing option of Immersion just wasn't enough to gamble other things away (smaller class sizes, strong spelling/writing skills, teacher attention etc). The final straw was APS's utter paralysis in spring of 2020 when COVID began, which convinced us we could not trust the district with our kids' education, and (sadly) we left the immersion experience, but it was the right move for us. Honestly I do think it's a harder call to leave an Option school than a regular APS school because you're getting some "bonus" private-school type features (for free). But you have to weigh everything carefully.

I am hoping that the reduction from 6 kinder classes to 4 will help. I mean it will take a few years of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Families who go to private won’t want their seat back. When your child attends private school, you realize that your “amazing” public school was only amazing because you didn’t know any better. Once you do, you realize that the public wasn’t amazing it was ok for what it was.

YEP! Happy to be out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Families who go to private won’t want their seat back. When your child attends private school, you realize that your “amazing” public school was only amazing because you didn’t know any better. Once you do, you realize that the public wasn’t amazing it was ok for what it was.

YEP! Happy to be out

Pretty much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious which option schools people are thinking of leaving, but understand not wanting to share.

We left Claremont. Claremont has an amazing principal and was a wonderful school (facility, teachers, enthusiasm), but APS (and Claremont) were too overcrowded, which made pandemic learning a disaster. If Claremont had 500 kids instead of 700, I think it would be a much better experience. Lunch was around 1050 due to overcrowding pre-pandemic, and my child felt like a number (We had GREAT teachers, but how can you expect Immersion teachers to track 50 kids?)

If your kid gets an Immersion spot, in my opinion you're getting more than a public school education because you're getting the bonus of a life-long language skill...and we had siblings in the pipeline who would have benefited too.

However in the end the amazing option of Immersion just wasn't enough to gamble other things away (smaller class sizes, strong spelling/writing skills, teacher attention etc). The final straw was APS's utter paralysis in spring of 2020 when COVID began, which convinced us we could not trust the district with our kids' education, and (sadly) we left the immersion experience, but it was the right move for us. Honestly I do think it's a harder call to leave an Option school than a regular APS school because you're getting some "bonus" private-school type features (for free). But you have to weigh everything carefully.

We weight everything carefully and reject private school for two children, though we could afford Catholic school in VA.

Like most middle-class middle class families in this Metro area, we need to budget carefully to live here. Our kids speak Chinese well--one of us is practically native speaker-because we've been hosting Chinese au pairs for a decade, paying for classes for the kids at a weekend heritage school for many years, and sending the kids to the mother country for camps and long visits with relatives.

I can live with our just-OK Arlington middle school and Washington-Lee to continue to afford the inputs to raise the kids bilingual, and other inputs like math summer camps and a writing tutor. Can't pay for private and continue to supplement on this level. I'm also not crazy about the cocoon atmosphere of private schools.

Pick your poison, because no school solution is going to be anywhere near perfect. I consider APS a base on which I can afford to build, a path to decent public universities that will save me a bomb on expensive private colleges, nothing more.

[Anonymous]

For people who switched to private, other than Catholic schools, what other schools did you switch to? My family is not comfortable with Catholic and while we could afford private school tuition for a place like Sidwell, you can't exactly waltz in there plus the commute would suck. We may have our kids apply to Potomac School during an entry year but for now have stuck it out with an option school that we love and pay for a lot of tutoring from a native speaker to keep the language up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For people who switched to private, other than Catholic schools, what other schools did you switch to? My family is not comfortable with Catholic and while we could afford private school tuition for a place like Sidwell, you can't exactly waltz in there plus the commute would suck. We may have our kids apply to Potomac School during an entry year but for now have stuck it out with an option school that we love and pay for a lot of tutoring from a native speaker to keep the language up.[/quote

What are the entry years for Potomac? We’re starting to think maybe APS elementary and private middle and hs. I don’t want my kids to be snotty teenagers which has been a reason we didn’t consider private before, but if sounds like there are more resources in private as the kids grow older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For people who switched to private, other than Catholic schools, what other schools did you switch to? My family is not comfortable with Catholic and while we could afford private school tuition for a place like Sidwell, you can't exactly waltz in there plus the commute would suck. We may have our kids apply to Potomac School during an entry year but for now have stuck it out with an option school that we love and pay for a lot of tutoring from a native speaker to keep the language up.

This is what concerns me about immersion option schools. Good luck to those who can’t pay for extra help with (say) Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For people who switched to private, other than Catholic schools, what other schools did you switch to? My family is not comfortable with Catholic and while we could afford private school tuition for a place like Sidwell, you can't exactly waltz in there plus the commute would suck. We may have our kids apply to Potomac School during an entry year but for now have stuck it out with an option school that we love and pay for a lot of tutoring from a native speaker to keep the language up.

This is what concerns me about immersion option schools. Good luck to those who can’t pay for extra help with (say) Spanish.

I'm the PP who left Immersion (with regret), but it was the right choice for us for various reasons. From our two years in Immersion (neither parent speaks Spanish), doing immersion (without extra help) is do-able for a normal achieving kid in non-pandemic times with no language background. You don't have to supplement to keep up with it.

However, throw in a learning disability or similar challenge AND/OR a pandemic that forces remote school, and yes you would need to language supplement. But my point is, in normal times, that wouldn't be necessary in our experience. Also, bonus if a parent speaks a Latin-based language. IE I knew zero Spanish, but my French skills were actually helpful if I ever wanted to decipher Spanish worksheets. There are also amazing apps that use your camera to translate whole worksheets into English.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For people who switched to private, other than Catholic schools, what other schools did you switch to? My family is not comfortable with Catholic and while we could afford private school tuition for a place like Sidwell, you can't exactly waltz in there plus the commute would suck. We may have our kids apply to Potomac School during an entry year but for now have stuck it out with an option school that we love and pay for a lot of tutoring from a native speaker to keep the language up.

This is what concerns me about immersion option schools. Good luck to those who can’t pay for extra help with (say) Spanish.

I'm the PP who left Immersion (with regret), but it was the right choice for us for various reasons. From our two years in Immersion (neither parent speaks Spanish), doing immersion (without extra help) is do-able for a normal achieving kid in non-pandemic times with no language background. You don't have to supplement to keep up with it.

However, throw in a learning disability or similar challenge AND/OR a pandemic that forces remote school, and yes you would need to language supplement. But my point is, in normal times, that wouldn't be necessary in our experience. Also, bonus if a parent speaks a Latin-based language. IE I knew zero Spanish, but my French skills were actually helpful if I ever wanted to decipher Spanish worksheets. There are also amazing apps that use your camera to translate whole worksheets into English.

I'm the PP with the tutor. Just to clarify, we only hired a tutor because of schools being closed due to covid-19.

[Anonymous]

I really can’t see why the country needs two Spanish immersion schools at this point.