Public school remorse for rising K

[Anonymous]

My redshirted DS is a rising K in a great FX school and pyramid. Rather than being excited about an awesome experience for him (lots of neighborhood kids go to this neighborhood school) and full day K, I am regretting that I did not explore private school options and don't know if those still exist (now or in the future). I was never a fan of the uber competitiveness I saw from parents and kids in privates (and publics, too). Now, suddenly, I don't want DS to be one of 125 kindergartners in classes of 24+ students. Now I am willing to pay for the small class sizes, the fantastic facilities and the other niceties of private school. If I don't snap out of my current funk, did I miss the boat on Potomac? Now or in the future? What about Flint Hill or little Langley?

[Anonymous]

This has got to be a joke, right?

[Anonymous]

Why don't you just apply next year for first grade? You might even find you like public school.

[Anonymous]

We got into a private school in the spring a few years ago. No way were we going to throw DC into a public school with hundreds (yes, plural) of kindergartners. Might as well give it a try.

[Anonymous]

They don't call it the kindergarten "round up" for nothing. I got the sense of herding cattle seeing the 90+ rising Ks -- and I love the school. (And did hear today about a nice big new trailer said to be for a lucky class of the incoming kindergartners.) But if $$ were truly not a object, sure, I'd look into private schools for the small class sizes vs. overcrowding, great facilities vs. aging buildings, poetry readings in an auditorium vs the cafeteria, budget crisis vs endowments. What's wrong with that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We got into a private school in the spring a few years ago. No way were we going to throw DC into a public school with hundreds (yes, plural) of kindergartners. Might as well give it a try.

I can tell you my kid went to school with around 200 kindergarteners and had a fantastic teacher and a terrific experience.

[Anonymous]

You are too late to apply for next fall. Why don't you send your child, and if you are unhappy with the public school, then look at private for first grade? Most application deadlines are January, I think, for the following fall.

[Anonymous]

You are not too late. Plenty of schools admit kids in the spring, after regular admissions season is over.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, we moved our 2 oldest DSs from private to public in the fall of last year, with the younger starting K, and have been thrilled. We are at Chesterbrook. We were super unhappy with our private. My point being that you cannot generalize about private and public; some privates are awesome and some publics are awesome. Likewise, there are bad privates and bad publics.

It's also never too late to try a change. We are open to going back to private if one or more of our kids need it. A good friend of mine is moving to private after K in public (Falls Church City) b/c she feels her DS really needs a much smaller class size. It wasn't a horrible K yr for her, she is just reassessing at the end of the year what her tyke needs. And she has been well received at some schools that are highly regarded on this forum.

[Anonymous]

If you have a great kid, smart and sociable then it is definitely worth calling to find out if they have spots because for the right kid and fit they may be willing to place them but your child has to be a really good candidate at this point. Also, you will have to pay for everything, no aid.

[Anonymous]

If you can pay full tuition, I am sure there are plenty of schools that will have a spot for your child.

[Anonymous]

Is that really true? Anyone who can pay tuition can gain admission? That seems unlikely in this high income area (where I would think that the number of people able to pay tuition far exceeds the number of private school spots).

[Anonymous]

As an educational consultant, I can give my 2cents on K and 1st grade placements at Potomac, Little Langley and FHS. These are very difficult years to place in to and, as PP 7:57 said, there are many qualified kids that are full pay.

However, it doesn't hurt to give the schools a call and see if a spot has opened up. The schools usually have wait pools for each of these grades.

If there are no openings, I'm sure your DS will be fine in the local public school for K and you can try for 1st in the fall.

[Anonymous]

Thanks PP. I'll call the schools -- I really didn't even know if that was realistic at this point in time. For rising K, I'd still need to do private testing, correct? As a condition of admission? I'm sure my DS would test above average for K (as I mentioned, he's almost 6), but I don't see signs of him being exceptional. Are the students at schools like Potomac exceptional at the K level (or is it Potomac that makes them exceptional ). And what about FHS and LL? I assume that their entrance requirements are less rigorous, but I really only know what I hear because we have never gone through the private process. BTW, isn't the college admission crystal ball clearer because the colleges simply post the average test scores of accepted students?!

[Anonymous]

EC here -

Yes, you'll need to have either the WISC or the WPPSI done (depending on DC's birthday) for admission. Although it's required, the schools often use the testing as more of a screening tool than as a big part of the application so don't fret too much about it.

Good luck!