Are the wealthy leaving MCPS?

[Anonymous]

What happened in Hawaii could happen here.

So the story goes, back in the 60's Hawaii tried to have a solid public school system. However, there was a lot of local pushback in the 70's about some public schools having more resources than others, so there was a pullback and the affluent put their kids into privates. By the 80's there was a huge difference between Private and Public schools that privates (ex. Punahou where Obama went to school) did exceptionally well but not so much the publics.

When the 70's housing market temporarily collapsed (reducing collected taxes), public education budgets were slashed and never really recovered after that. Taxpayers didn't want to sink a lot of money into a poor school system. That became an entrenched cycle and a classic tale of have-and-have-nots that, I feel, continues to this day.

Currently the "best" #1 public HS in Hawaii is Roosevelt. However, the AP participation rate is only 66%, and it's #550 in National rankings.

So, by all means, MCPS Central Office and MC BoE - go ahead and alienate the high SES families. Given that the rumor is Ms. McKnight doesn't even send her kids to Public school in this County, who knows - it may already be happening?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before covid, Rachel Carson ES in Gaithersburg was way overcrowded and planned to move some kids to Dufief ES after its expansion. We are recently told that there won't be any kid moving school zone at Rachel Carson ES, and all portables would be removed (kids move back in building) because we are under capacity now. I wonder where those kids move to, private school or different ES/school district?

I live in the Kentlands and it's very obvious just from observing the pickup and dropoffs that enrollment has plummeted at Rachel Carson. The place used to be thronged and caused big traffic disruptions. Now it's not a big deal. What's the current enrollment there? A few years ago it was at 1100. Just anecdotally, we have several neighbors who had planned to send their kids there pre-pandemic but are now doing homeschool and private school.

Rachel Carson is a good example of parents with means who might be sending to private because of problems in mcps, but the principal is also a problem. It once had a very accomplished, competent principal but that person left a year or two before the pandemic. The problems at that school have been increasing ever since.

Last year RCES: 773
Year before: 893
Year before that: 973
Year before that 1022

*includes PreK

Wow.

Not really a shock. The lakelands were built, young couples bought homes, had kids, those kids went to Rachel Carson and are now aging out. Meanwhile, the older population in the kentlands hasn't died yet.

This is common with new, large developments, and part of the reason MCPS is really slow to add capacity in these areas until the first wave has come through and the neighborhood shifts to a more normal turnover. It can take a couple decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s plainly true that many people with the means left MCPS over the last two years in the wealthiest clusters. Out neighborhood pre pandemic was like 30-40% private. Now it is closer to 70%. Most that made the switch aren’t coming back. So definitely fewer wealthy families using public in our neighborhood but it is not everyone by any means.

BS

I don’t know why people find this hard to believe, but it’s true. This is one of the wealthier neighborhoods in the county so it’s not representative. But there has been a strong exodus to private.

Same in my neighborhood. I'd say 20 years ago about 10% to 20% of kids attended private, but now it is well over half, perhaps more. They tend to give MCPS a shot and then peel off by about 3rd or 4th grade.

And then most of them come back by 9th grade

Cite to this piece of data? We will wait.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/mcps-enrollment-declines-for-second-consecutive-year-after-decade-of-growth/

Enrollment in nearly every grade decreased this year, except kindergarten and ninth grade. Ninth grade usually sees larger increases than other grades because many students make the transition from private or parochial school to public school at that time,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happened in Hawaii could happen here.

So the story goes, back in the 60's Hawaii tried to have a solid public school system. However, there was a lot of local pushback in the 70's about some public schools having more resources than others, so there was a pullback and the affluent put their kids into privates. By the 80's there was a huge difference between Private and Public schools that privates (ex. Punahou where Obama went to school) did exceptionally well but not so much the publics.

When the 70's housing market temporarily collapsed (reducing collected taxes), public education budgets were slashed and never really recovered after that. Taxpayers didn't want to sink a lot of money into a poor school system. That became an entrenched cycle and a classic tale of have-and-have-nots that, I feel, continues to this day.

Currently the "best" #1 public HS in Hawaii is Roosevelt. However, the AP participation rate is only 66%, and it's #550 in National rankings.

So, by all means, MCPS Central Office and MC BoE - go ahead and alienate the high SES families. Given that the rumor is Ms. McKnight doesn't even send her kids to Public school in this County, who knows - it may already be happening?

People on this board like to pretend that it doesn’t matter if higher-income families leave the school system. However, it matters very much. We have seen this play out in other areas.

I’m from a country where the public school system is only for lower-income families. Anyone middle-class and above goes private. And there are clear differences. Talk about widening the achievement gap.

A strong school system needs support from families at various income levels. When the schools system only serves lower-income families, it is not good for public education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened in Hawaii could happen here.

So the story goes, back in the 60's Hawaii tried to have a solid public school system. However, there was a lot of local pushback in the 70's about some public schools having more resources than others, so there was a pullback and the affluent put their kids into privates. By the 80's there was a huge difference between Private and Public schools that privates (ex. Punahou where Obama went to school) did exceptionally well but not so much the publics.

When the 70's housing market temporarily collapsed (reducing collected taxes), public education budgets were slashed and never really recovered after that. Taxpayers didn't want to sink a lot of money into a poor school system. That became an entrenched cycle and a classic tale of have-and-have-nots that, I feel, continues to this day.

Currently the "best" #1 public HS in Hawaii is Roosevelt. However, the AP participation rate is only 66%, and it's #550 in National rankings.

So, by all means, MCPS Central Office and MC BoE - go ahead and alienate the high SES families. Given that the rumor is Ms. McKnight doesn't even send her kids to Public school in this County, who knows - it may already be happening?

People on this board like to pretend that it doesn’t matter if higher-income families leave the school system. However, it matters very much. We have seen this play out in other areas.

I’m from a country where the public school system is only for lower-income families. Anyone middle-class and above goes private. And there are clear differences. Talk about widening the achievement gap.


Totally agree. MCPS is set up to serve East County not Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Potomac...talking about equity and social justice non-stop as opposed to math, science and reading is not the way to go.

A strong school system needs support from families at various income levels. When the schools system only serves lower-income families, it is not good for public education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happened in Hawaii could happen here.

So the story goes, back in the 60's Hawaii tried to have a solid public school system. However, there was a lot of local pushback in the 70's about some public schools having more resources than others, so there was a pullback and the affluent put their kids into privates. By the 80's there was a huge difference between Private and Public schools that privates (ex. Punahou where Obama went to school) did exceptionally well but not so much the publics.

When the 70's housing market temporarily collapsed (reducing collected taxes), public education budgets were slashed and never really recovered after that. Taxpayers didn't want to sink a lot of money into a poor school system. That became an entrenched cycle and a classic tale of have-and-have-nots that, I feel, continues to this day.

Currently the "best" #1 public HS in Hawaii is Roosevelt. However, the AP participation rate is only 66%, and it's #550 in National rankings.

So, by all means, MCPS Central Office and MC BoE - go ahead and alienate the high SES families. Given that the rumor is Ms. McKnight doesn't even send her kids to Public school in this County, who knows - it may already be happening?

Because McKnight lives in PG county. Her kids go to school there.
Thanks for playing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happened in Hawaii could happen here.

So the story goes, back in the 60's Hawaii tried to have a solid public school system. However, there was a lot of local pushback in the 70's about some public schools having more resources than others, so there was a pullback and the affluent put their kids into privates. By the 80's there was a huge difference between Private and Public schools that privates (ex. Punahou where Obama went to school) did exceptionally well but not so much the publics.

When the 70's housing market temporarily collapsed (reducing collected taxes), public education budgets were slashed and never really recovered after that. Taxpayers didn't want to sink a lot of money into a poor school system. That became an entrenched cycle and a classic tale of have-and-have-nots that, I feel, continues to this day.

Currently the "best" #1 public HS in Hawaii is Roosevelt. However, the AP participation rate is only 66%, and it's #550 in National rankings.

So, by all means, MCPS Central Office and MC BoE - go ahead and alienate the high SES families. Given that the rumor is Ms. McKnight doesn't even send her kids to Public school in this County, who knows - it may already be happening?

The central office and BOE aren't the problem. It's these high-maintenance parents. My kids are getting a much better education from MCPS today than I got 25 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened in Hawaii could happen here.

So the story goes, back in the 60's Hawaii tried to have a solid public school system. However, there was a lot of local pushback in the 70's about some public schools having more resources than others, so there was a pullback and the affluent put their kids into privates. By the 80's there was a huge difference between Private and Public schools that privates (ex. Punahou where Obama went to school) did exceptionally well but not so much the publics.

When the 70's housing market temporarily collapsed (reducing collected taxes), public education budgets were slashed and never really recovered after that. Taxpayers didn't want to sink a lot of money into a poor school system. That became an entrenched cycle and a classic tale of have-and-have-nots that, I feel, continues to this day.

Currently the "best" #1 public HS in Hawaii is Roosevelt. However, the AP participation rate is only 66%, and it's #550 in National rankings.

So, by all means, MCPS Central Office and MC BoE - go ahead and alienate the high SES families. Given that the rumor is Ms. McKnight doesn't even send her kids to Public school in this County, who knows - it may already be happening?

People on this board like to pretend that it doesn’t matter if higher-income families leave the school system. However, it matters very much. We have seen this play out in other areas.

I’m from a country where the public school system is only for lower-income families. Anyone middle-class and above goes private. And there are clear differences. Talk about widening the achievement gap.

A strong school system needs support from families at various income levels. When the schools system only serves lower-income families, it is not good for public education.

No its not good for public education to only serve low income. Its also not good for it to only care about and serve those with a high income. Which is the entire point. Right now it serves both and all sides want it to do more and more and more, which is really hard to do without alienating the other side and totally forgetting about those in the middle. The problem is that whereas the public school system keeps trying to find a balance, many parents want to keep threatening it with leaving for the private school system or vouchers or some other paradigm that its never going to be able to compete with fully as the variables are different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened in Hawaii could happen here.

So the story goes, back in the 60's Hawaii tried to have a solid public school system. However, there was a lot of local pushback in the 70's about some public schools having more resources than others, so there was a pullback and the affluent put their kids into privates. By the 80's there was a huge difference between Private and Public schools that privates (ex. Punahou where Obama went to school) did exceptionally well but not so much the publics.

When the 70's housing market temporarily collapsed (reducing collected taxes), public education budgets were slashed and never really recovered after that. Taxpayers didn't want to sink a lot of money into a poor school system. That became an entrenched cycle and a classic tale of have-and-have-nots that, I feel, continues to this day.

Currently the "best" #1 public HS in Hawaii is Roosevelt. However, the AP participation rate is only 66%, and it's #550 in National rankings.

So, by all means, MCPS Central Office and MC BoE - go ahead and alienate the high SES families. Given that the rumor is Ms. McKnight doesn't even send her kids to Public school in this County, who knows - it may already be happening?

People on this board like to pretend that it doesn’t matter if higher-income families leave the school system. However, it matters very much. We have seen this play out in other areas.

I’m from a country where the public school system is only for lower-income families. Anyone middle-class and above goes private. And there are clear differences. Talk about widening the achievement gap.

A strong school system needs support from families at various income levels. When the schools system only serves lower-income families, it is not good for public education.

No its not good for public education to only serve low income. Its also not good for it to only care about and serve those with a high income. Which is the entire point. Right now it serves both and all sides want it to do more and more and more, which is really hard to do without alienating the other side and totally forgetting about those in the middle. The problem is that whereas the public school system keeps trying to find a balance, many parents want to keep threatening it with leaving for the private school system or vouchers or some other paradigm that its never going to be able to compete with fully as the variables are different.

Agree many of the posters here seem to believe it should cater to the wealthy and resent the concern for anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened in Hawaii could happen here.

So the story goes, back in the 60's Hawaii tried to have a solid public school system. However, there was a lot of local pushback in the 70's about some public schools having more resources than others, so there was a pullback and the affluent put their kids into privates. By the 80's there was a huge difference between Private and Public schools that privates (ex. Punahou where Obama went to school) did exceptionally well but not so much the publics.

When the 70's housing market temporarily collapsed (reducing collected taxes), public education budgets were slashed and never really recovered after that. Taxpayers didn't want to sink a lot of money into a poor school system. That became an entrenched cycle and a classic tale of have-and-have-nots that, I feel, continues to this day.

Currently the "best" #1 public HS in Hawaii is Roosevelt. However, the AP participation rate is only 66%, and it's #550 in National rankings.

So, by all means, MCPS Central Office and MC BoE - go ahead and alienate the high SES families. Given that the rumor is Ms. McKnight doesn't even send her kids to Public school in this County, who knows - it may already be happening?

People on this board like to pretend that it doesn’t matter if higher-income families leave the school system. However, it matters very much. We have seen this play out in other areas.

I’m from a country where the public school system is only for lower-income families. Anyone middle-class and above goes private. And there are clear differences. Talk about widening the achievement gap.

A strong school system needs support from families at various income levels. When the schools system only serves lower-income families, it is not good for public education.

+1 It's definitely a pattern. If parents start associating Public School = FARMS / low-SES, then once that label sticks, you can't undo it.

Then all the parents complaining about boundaries and redistricting can just fight amongst themselves, but once you reach critical mass the school budgets will start getting cut. No one wants to fund bocci ball and Kid Museum.

[Anonymous]

Agree many of the posters here seem to believe it should cater to the wealthy and resent the concern for anyone else.

What a foolish person you are. Think about what MCPS is doing. "Oh, it's not our fault for NOT focusing on basics and academics and treating all students equally, by merit alone, and without regard to the color of their skin or socioeconomic background!"

Put yourself in the parent's shoes. Would you deliberately put your child in a crappy school so that some crazy person can act out on their equity fantasies using taxpayer dollars? Why would you deliberately choose to place your child in a public school system that holds White and Asian or high-SES kids back by giving only the best tutoring and programs based on their skin color of whether they're on FARMS? Don't be an idiot. Of course they'll pull out, as well as lobby politicians for vouchers (and donate to those campaigns). And once the vouchers are issued, who's budget do you think they'll cut?

MCPS CO and the Board are also idiots to think that they can bring "equity" by redrawing boundaries or reassigning schools. Parents, family, and their neighborhood impact the situation as well. Unless Wolffe plans to hold their hand at the dinner table or hang out in the parking lots past 8 PM to tell the kids to go indoors and get a good night's sleep for class tomorrow, or tuck the kids in before 10 PM and tell the parents to turn off the music / TV, I don't think MCPS will really bring about the "social change" they think it can do.

MCPS better wake up and smell the coffee. They're on the road to ruin.

[Anonymous]

On the road? They reached the destination when they decided to put themselves first on March 16, 2020 Reap what you sow. All other public employees went to work in person. Nurses, firefighters, police. Teachers could have been heroes and increased their budgets!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened in Hawaii could happen here.

So the story goes, back in the 60's Hawaii tried to have a solid public school system. However, there was a lot of local pushback in the 70's about some public schools having more resources than others, so there was a pullback and the affluent put their kids into privates. By the 80's there was a huge difference between Private and Public schools that privates (ex. Punahou where Obama went to school) did exceptionally well but not so much the publics.

When the 70's housing market temporarily collapsed (reducing collected taxes), public education budgets were slashed and never really recovered after that. Taxpayers didn't want to sink a lot of money into a poor school system. That became an entrenched cycle and a classic tale of have-and-have-nots that, I feel, continues to this day.

Currently the "best" #1 public HS in Hawaii is Roosevelt. However, the AP participation rate is only 66%, and it's #550 in National rankings.

So, by all means, MCPS Central Office and MC BoE - go ahead and alienate the high SES families. Given that the rumor is Ms. McKnight doesn't even send her kids to Public school in this County, who knows - it may already be happening?

People on this board like to pretend that it doesn’t matter if higher-income families leave the school system. However, it matters very much. We have seen this play out in other areas.

I’m from a country where the public school system is only for lower-income families. Anyone middle-class and above goes private. And there are clear differences. Talk about widening the achievement gap.

A strong school system needs support from families at various income levels. When the schools system only serves lower-income families, it is not good for public education.

This is spot on and a thoughtful post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happened in Hawaii could happen here.

So the story goes, back in the 60's Hawaii tried to have a solid public school system. However, there was a lot of local pushback in the 70's about some public schools having more resources than others, so there was a pullback and the affluent put their kids into privates. By the 80's there was a huge difference between Private and Public schools that privates (ex. Punahou where Obama went to school) did exceptionally well but not so much the publics.

When the 70's housing market temporarily collapsed (reducing collected taxes), public education budgets were slashed and never really recovered after that. Taxpayers didn't want to sink a lot of money into a poor school system. That became an entrenched cycle and a classic tale of have-and-have-nots that, I feel, continues to this day.

Currently the "best" #1 public HS in Hawaii is Roosevelt. However, the AP participation rate is only 66%, and it's #550 in National rankings.

So, by all means, MCPS Central Office and MC BoE - go ahead and alienate the high SES families. Given that the rumor is Ms. McKnight doesn't even send her kids to Public school in this County, who knows - it may already be happening?

And gold could also rain from the skies. This is just another right-wing fantasy. Despite the doom and gloom of these posters with an agenda, MCPS is a fine school system. Anyone, who wants a great education can get one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened in Hawaii could happen here.

So the story goes, back in the 60's Hawaii tried to have a solid public school system. However, there was a lot of local pushback in the 70's about some public schools having more resources than others, so there was a pullback and the affluent put their kids into privates. By the 80's there was a huge difference between Private and Public schools that privates (ex. Punahou where Obama went to school) did exceptionally well but not so much the publics.

When the 70's housing market temporarily collapsed (reducing collected taxes), public education budgets were slashed and never really recovered after that. Taxpayers didn't want to sink a lot of money into a poor school system. That became an entrenched cycle and a classic tale of have-and-have-nots that, I feel, continues to this day.

Currently the "best" #1 public HS in Hawaii is Roosevelt. However, the AP participation rate is only 66%, and it's #550 in National rankings.

So, by all means, MCPS Central Office and MC BoE - go ahead and alienate the high SES families. Given that the rumor is Ms. McKnight doesn't even send her kids to Public school in this County, who knows - it may already be happening?

People on this board like to pretend that it doesn’t matter if higher-income families leave the school system. However, it matters very much. We have seen this play out in other areas.

I’m from a country where the public school system is only for lower-income families. Anyone middle-class and above goes private. And there are clear differences. Talk about widening the achievement gap.

A strong school system needs support from families at various income levels. When the schools system only serves lower-income families, it is not good for public education.

This is spot on and a thoughtful post.

Perhaps, but this is fiction. It's just a scare tactic to get people to support the poster's far-right agenda.