Moving from Arlington to Bethesda(ish) for job--best school clusters?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most W families with more than 2 kids and a huge house don't send their kids to private. Not sure if they can't or won't afford it.

Ours attended a W until this year. Now in private, and wish we had done it sooner. School is amazing (kids are actually learning this year), administration communicative and responsive, and most important from my piv, kids are happy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most W families with more than 2 kids and a huge house don't send their kids to private. Not sure if they can't or won't afford it.

Ours attended a W until this year. Now in private, and wish we had done it sooner. School is amazing (kids are actually learning this year), administration communicative and responsive, and most important from my piv, kids are happy!

Oh no, now MCPS IT lady is coming for you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Avoid MCPS at all costs.

OP here, circling back to this thread after I see it blew up a little--why do you say this? Is it the failures around DL?

I am hearing the exact same complaints about FCPS and APS. My older child was in a "Big 3" private for K/1st because at the time we were living in a very badly rated school district...and (to put it mildly) we weren't impressed, at all. Class content was behind his public school peers in North Arlington/FCPS. DL was a disaster last spring, and we couldn't fathom spending $45k for DL again this fall (they're not back in person, even for hybrid). We are looking forward to moving into a solid public school district for the Fall, what with the job change, etc. I tend to think a lot of public school families have a "grass is greener" attitude about privates, and, coming from the other side of the fence, it just wasn't our experience.

Honest question if this statement is just because of the way MCPS has handled DL, or if there are other issues at play? Personally, I don't know of any school or district that has handled DL well.

Don't mind this PP. She/he is probably a private school parent or a wannabe from another jurisdiction. Since they cannot compete with MCPS, they take pleasures bashing MCPS on DCUM.

Agreed. I think the way they've handled DL has been atrocious, but my kids' individual teachers have been uniformly terrific, both now and in the Before Times, with one exception (and she was just meh, not punitive or anything). Even now, I am so grateful my kids have the teachers they do--they're working SO hard remotely. It's painful knowing what a difference they would have made in my kids' lives had they been in person, but that just is what it is.

I also think that a lot of the MCPS bashers have little context. I used to do educational research, which meant traveling all over the Midwest and meeting with teachers who worked in everything from urban, high-crime schools to teeny-tiny rural schools with like seven kids in two combined grades, and everything in between. MCPS is better than 90% of public school districts in the country, problems aside.

This should be reiterated. I have experience in multiple districts before moving to the DC area. MCPS is really a good district. Does it have its problems? Absolutely, but it's still light years better than many other areas.

+2. We also lived on the West coast and our kids were in the Santa Monica / Malibu school district. If you think MCPS is a disaster, that's a gulag. For the $21k per year spent on an MCPS student they get less than $6k per kid and you really, really feel it in tangible terms, like no science teachers, no PE teachers so the PTA has to raise funds for these "extras". Our art teacher used to visit the school once per month and spent time in every single classroom that day, then do the same for the next school. And our ES went from 700 kids to 950 one year to the next. It was CRAZY.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Avoid MCPS at all costs.

OP here, circling back to this thread after I see it blew up a little--why do you say this? Is it the failures around DL?

I am hearing the exact same complaints about FCPS and APS. My older child was in a "Big 3" private for K/1st because at the time we were living in a very badly rated school district...and (to put it mildly) we weren't impressed, at all. Class content was behind his public school peers in North Arlington/FCPS. DL was a disaster last spring, and we couldn't fathom spending $45k for DL again this fall (they're not back in person, even for hybrid). We are looking forward to moving into a solid public school district for the Fall, what with the job change, etc. I tend to think a lot of public school families have a "grass is greener" attitude about privates, and, coming from the other side of the fence, it just wasn't our experience.

Honest question if this statement is just because of the way MCPS has handled DL, or if there are other issues at play? Personally, I don't know of any school or district that has handled DL well.

Don't mind this PP. She/he is probably a private school parent or a wannabe from another jurisdiction. Since they cannot compete with MCPS, they take pleasures bashing MCPS on DCUM.

Agreed. I think the way they've handled DL has been atrocious, but my kids' individual teachers have been uniformly terrific, both now and in the Before Times, with one exception (and she was just meh, not punitive or anything). Even now, I am so grateful my kids have the teachers they do--they're working SO hard remotely. It's painful knowing what a difference they would have made in my kids' lives had they been in person, but that just is what it is.

I also think that a lot of the MCPS bashers have little context. I used to do educational research, which meant traveling all over the Midwest and meeting with teachers who worked in everything from urban, high-crime schools to teeny-tiny rural schools with like seven kids in two combined grades, and everything in between. MCPS is better than 90% of public school districts in the country, problems aside.

Having moved here from the Northeast, this has not been our experience at all. Massachusetts schools are light years better than the MCPS W schools. No comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Avoid MCPS at all costs.

OP here, circling back to this thread after I see it blew up a little--why do you say this? Is it the failures around DL?

I am hearing the exact same complaints about FCPS and APS. My older child was in a "Big 3" private for K/1st because at the time we were living in a very badly rated school district...and (to put it mildly) we weren't impressed, at all. Class content was behind his public school peers in North Arlington/FCPS. DL was a disaster last spring, and we couldn't fathom spending $45k for DL again this fall (they're not back in person, even for hybrid). We are looking forward to moving into a solid public school district for the Fall, what with the job change, etc. I tend to think a lot of public school families have a "grass is greener" attitude about privates, and, coming from the other side of the fence, it just wasn't our experience.

Honest question if this statement is just because of the way MCPS has handled DL, or if there are other issues at play? Personally, I don't know of any school or district that has handled DL well.

Don't mind this PP. She/he is probably a private school parent or a wannabe from another jurisdiction. Since they cannot compete with MCPS, they take pleasures bashing MCPS on DCUM.

Agreed. I think the way they've handled DL has been atrocious, but my kids' individual teachers have been uniformly terrific, both now and in the Before Times, with one exception (and she was just meh, not punitive or anything). Even now, I am so grateful my kids have the teachers they do--they're working SO hard remotely. It's painful knowing what a difference they would have made in my kids' lives had they been in person, but that just is what it is.

I also think that a lot of the MCPS bashers have little context. I used to do educational research, which meant traveling all over the Midwest and meeting with teachers who worked in everything from urban, high-crime schools to teeny-tiny rural schools with like seven kids in two combined grades, and everything in between. MCPS is better than 90% of public school districts in the country, problems aside.

Having moved here from the Northeast, this has not been our experience at all. Massachusetts schools are light years better than the MCPS W schools. No comparison.

Same with CT schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Avoid MCPS at all costs.

OP here, circling back to this thread after I see it blew up a little--why do you say this? Is it the failures around DL?

I am hearing the exact same complaints about FCPS and APS. My older child was in a "Big 3" private for K/1st because at the time we were living in a very badly rated school district...and (to put it mildly) we weren't impressed, at all. Class content was behind his public school peers in North Arlington/FCPS. DL was a disaster last spring, and we couldn't fathom spending $45k for DL again this fall (they're not back in person, even for hybrid). We are looking forward to moving into a solid public school district for the Fall, what with the job change, etc. I tend to think a lot of public school families have a "grass is greener" attitude about privates, and, coming from the other side of the fence, it just wasn't our experience.

Honest question if this statement is just because of the way MCPS has handled DL, or if there are other issues at play? Personally, I don't know of any school or district that has handled DL well.

Don't mind this PP. She/he is probably a private school parent or a wannabe from another jurisdiction. Since they cannot compete with MCPS, they take pleasures bashing MCPS on DCUM.

Agreed. I think the way they've handled DL has been atrocious, but my kids' individual teachers have been uniformly terrific, both now and in the Before Times, with one exception (and she was just meh, not punitive or anything). Even now, I am so grateful my kids have the teachers they do--they're working SO hard remotely. It's painful knowing what a difference they would have made in my kids' lives had they been in person, but that just is what it is.

I also think that a lot of the MCPS bashers have little context. I used to do educational research, which meant traveling all over the Midwest and meeting with teachers who worked in everything from urban, high-crime schools to teeny-tiny rural schools with like seven kids in two combined grades, and everything in between. MCPS is better than 90% of public school districts in the country, problems aside.

This should be reiterated. I have experience in multiple districts before moving to the DC area. MCPS is really a good district. Does it have its problems? Absolutely, but it's still light years better than many other areas.

+2. We also lived on the West coast and our kids were in the Santa Monica / Malibu school district. If you think MCPS is a disaster, that's a gulag. For the $21k per year spent on an MCPS student they get less than $6k per kid and you really, really feel it in tangible terms, like no science teachers, no PE teachers so the PTA has to raise funds for these "extras". Our art teacher used to visit the school once per month and spent time in every single classroom that day, then do the same for the next school. And our ES went from 700 kids to 950 one year to the next. It was CRAZY.

CA is just a hot mess with everything. Apples and CA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Having moved here from the Northeast, this has not been our experience at all. Massachusetts schools are light years better than the MCPS W schools. No comparison.

Yes, for example the public schools in Lawrence, Springfield, New Bedford, Lowell... that's what you're talking about, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most W families with more than 2 kids and a huge house don't send their kids to private. Not sure if they can't or won't afford it.

Ours attended a W until this year. Now in private, and wish we had done it sooner. School is amazing (kids are actually learning this year), administration communicative and responsive, and most important from my piv, kids are happy!

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/forums/show/31.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anoonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most W families with more than 2 kids and a huge house don't send their kids to private. Not sure if they can't or won't afford it.

Ours attended a W until this year. Now in private, and wish we had done it sooner. School is amazing (kids are actually learning this year), administration communicative and responsive, and most important from my piv, kids are happy!

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/forums/show/31.page

Bitter and Jealous party of one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:teacher has a lot of spare time today.

Sorry private schools parent, not a teacher but an IT person/parent and my spouse is a lawyer.
You could not pay me to send my kids to privates when MCPS is around.

Thankfully, no on asked for your opinion. And my kids go to MCPS just like yours.

I wonder why you don't send them to privates? Don't answer. I know
LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most W families with more than 2 kids and a huge house don't send their kids to private. Not sure if they can't or won't afford it.

Because it is really not worth it at all to spend money for private schools when you have a better education for free in the w clusters.

We have children in both (HS Private and MS MCPS). Sorry, but private schools even hybrid is far superior to MCPS.

What people will make believe to justify paying for an inferior product.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most W families with more than 2 kids and a huge house don't send their kids to private. Not sure if they can't or won't afford it.

Ours attended a W until this year. Now in private, and wish we had done it sooner. School is amazing (kids are actually learning this year), administration communicative and responsive, and most important from my piv, kids are happy!

And yet here you are on the MCPS forum.
Can't leave MCPS behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most W families with more than 2 kids and a huge house don't send their kids to private. Not sure if they can't or won't afford it.

Because it is really not worth it at all to spend money for private schools when you have a better education for free in the w clusters.

We have children in both (HS Private and MS MCPS). Sorry, but private schools even hybrid is far superior to MCPS.

What people will make believe to justify paying for an inferior product.

Unlike you, we have a child in private school and see the value and the rigor. Once this year is over, our second child will hopefully be out of MCPS. Yes, we know you're thrilled we are leaving. However, no one will be happier than our family. We will be leaving MCPS in the rear view, where it belongs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Avoid MCPS at all costs.

OP here, circling back to this thread after I see it blew up a little--why do you say this? Is it the failures around DL?

I am hearing the exact same complaints about FCPS and APS. My older child was in a "Big 3" private for K/1st because at the time we were living in a very badly rated school district...and (to put it mildly) we weren't impressed, at all. Class content was behind his public school peers in North Arlington/FCPS. DL was a disaster last spring, and we couldn't fathom spending $45k for DL again this fall (they're not back in person, even for hybrid). We are looking forward to moving into a solid public school district for the Fall, what with the job change, etc. I tend to think a lot of public school families have a "grass is greener" attitude about privates, and, coming from the other side of the fence, it just wasn't our experience.

Honest question if this statement is just because of the way MCPS has handled DL, or if there are other issues at play? Personally, I don't know of any school or district that has handled DL well.

Don't mind this PP. She/he is probably a private school parent or a wannabe from another jurisdiction. Since they cannot compete with MCPS, they take pleasures bashing MCPS on DCUM.

Agreed. I think the way they've handled DL has been atrocious, but my kids' individual teachers have been uniformly terrific, both now and in the Before Times, with one exception (and she was just meh, not punitive or anything). Even now, I am so grateful my kids have the teachers they do--they're working SO hard remotely. It's painful knowing what a difference they would have made in my kids' lives had they been in person, but that just is what it is.

I also think that a lot of the MCPS bashers have little context. I used to do educational research, which meant traveling all over the Midwest and meeting with teachers who worked in everything from urban, high-crime schools to teeny-tiny rural schools with like seven kids in two combined grades, and everything in between. MCPS is better than 90% of public school districts in the country, problems aside.

Having moved here from the Northeast, this has not been our experience at all. Massachusetts schools are light years better than the MCPS W schools. No comparison.

Massachusetts is a STATE and MCPS is a COUNTY school district.
If you had gone to MCPS, you would have known the difference and not make the apples to oranges comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most W families with more than 2 kids and a huge house don't send their kids to private. Not sure if they can't or won't afford it.

Ours attended a W until this year. Now in private, and wish we had done it sooner. School is amazing (kids are actually learning this year), administration communicative and responsive, and most important from my piv, kids are happy!

And yet here you are on the MCPS forum.
Can't leave MCPS behind.

You need help, lady.