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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

When you send your kid to a private school you are paying for problems. At least with public the problems cost less!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

When you send your kid to a private school you are paying for problems. At least with public the problems cost less!

Problems get solved in private school. you get restoration circles in MCPS for robbery, assault, etc.

[Anonymous]

OP, please keep in mind that you're posting on DCUM, which is bananas, about school, which even generally not-bananas people are often bananas about, AND that in general, people who are unhappy are far more likely to speak up than people who are happy.

Plus everyone is anonymous.

If I were you, I would ditch DCUM and try to go talk to real people in real life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry your kid was rejected.

Anonymous wrote:No sweetie, my kids were in privates. Not worth the money

Anonymous wrote:Nah... She is smart with her money and definitely smarter than you. She is not dumb like you who think throwing money on an interior product will somehow makes your kids smarter.

Anonymous wrote:You sound so educated.

Anonymous wrote:So, what middle school do you attend?

Anonymous wrote:Sorry you got rejected there kiddo. Maybe next time.

Anonymous wrote:Wrong again sweetie. Covid didn't impact our income. We switched before that.

DCUM gonna DCUM Good Lord...

Even for DCUM, that was a really inane series of posts with nothing but name calling.

[Anonymous]

You know damn well that woman never had her kids in private school. SMH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Genuine, non-snarky question: if you moved your children from public to independent/private, why are you (anyone that this applies to) still posting on the public school side of this website?

Some people are just really insecure about spending thousands of dollars on private school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Genuine, non-snarky question: if you moved your children from public to independent/private, why are you (anyone that this applies to) still posting on the public school side of this website?

Some people are just really insecure about spending thousands of dollars on private school

Whatever you need to tell yourselves to alleviate your guit of keeping you kids in MCPS! DL through 2021 is going to be s great for your kids!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Genuine, non-snarky question: if you moved your children from public to independent/private, why are you (anyone that this applies to) still posting on the public school side of this website?

Some people are just really insecure about spending thousands of dollars on private school

Whatever you need to tell yourselves to alleviate your guit of keeping you kids in MCPS! DL through 2021 is going to be s great for your kids!

SO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Genuine, non-snarky question: if you moved your children from public to independent/private, why are you (anyone that this applies to) still posting on the public school side of this website?

Some people are just really insecure about spending thousands of dollars on private school

Whatever you need to tell yourselves to alleviate your guit of keeping you kids in MCPS! DL through 2021 is going to be s great for your kids!

*checks calendar*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, once again--thanks to all who have provided helpful replies.

To be clear, we're genuinely not interested in private school. Our child was at one of the top schools in the DMV until recently and we weren't impressed. I don't want to start yet another public vs. private war.

If it makes MCPS families feel any better, I am hearing all of the same complaints about the district "going downhill" from FCPS families, too. I don't think it's a MD vs. VA thing. I think it's a pandemic thing.

What I don't understand, because I only recently started reading anything to do with MoCo, is if there are problems that go beyond the current issues with DL and the admin during the pandemic. I'd like to treat this as a discrete issue, since it won't last forever.

If the posters complaining about MCPS are just upset about DL/leadership during COVID, then it's really no concern of mine. If there are larger structural issues to be aware of, that would be good to know. Ex. we are currently zoned in APS and there is a *huge* divide in school quality between North Arlington and South Arlington--it's really discouraging. FCPS also has really uneven quality between "have" and "have not" schools. Magnets are all done by lottery and we've been waitlisted in the 200s each time we've applied at the ES level. TJ, the STEM magnet, is moving to a lottery-based admissions system as well, rather than a test-based one.

My impression is that MCPS is more equitable, though there are pockets of concentrated wealth (I get the sense this is Whitman/BCC clusters?). It seems like there are accessible pathways to a really great education whether you live in Bethesda, or Kensington, or Rockville, or Silver Spring, even if there is some variance in test scores/course offerings at home schools. Is that a fair assessment?

Yep. Exactly, that's a fair assessment.
There are lots of programs and offerings all over MCPS.

+1 Agreed. You definitely have options.

[Anonymous]

You will regret leaving FCPS for MCPS. It's only a matter of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, once again--thanks to all who have provided helpful replies.

To be clear, we're genuinely not interested in private school. Our child was at one of the top schools in the DMV until recently and we weren't impressed. I don't want to start yet another public vs. private war.

If it makes MCPS families feel any better, I am hearing all of the same complaints about the district "going downhill" from FCPS families, too. I don't think it's a MD vs. VA thing. I think it's a pandemic thing.

What I don't understand, because I only recently started reading anything to do with MoCo, is if there are problems that go beyond the current issues with DL and the admin during the pandemic. I'd like to treat this as a discrete issue, since it won't last forever.

If the posters complaining about MCPS are just upset about DL/leadership during COVID, then it's really no concern of mine. If there are larger structural issues to be aware of, that would be good to know. Ex. we are currently zoned in APS and there is a *huge* divide in school quality between North Arlington and South Arlington--it's really discouraging. FCPS also has really uneven quality between "have" and "have not" schools. Magnets are all done by lottery and we've been waitlisted in the 200s each time we've applied at the ES level. TJ, the STEM magnet, is moving to a lottery-based admissions system as well, rather than a test-based one.

My impression is that MCPS is more equitable, though there are pockets of concentrated wealth (I get the sense this is Whitman/BCC clusters?). It seems like there are accessible pathways to a really great education whether you live in Bethesda, or Kensington, or Rockville, or Silver Spring, even if there is some variance in test scores/course offerings at home schools. Is that a fair assessment?

Yep. Exactly, that's a fair assessment.
There are lots of programs and offerings all over MCPS.

+1 Agreed. You definitely have options.

All the W clusters have a lot of wealth not just BCC and Whitman. Churchill and Wooton are in Potomac and Bethesda and Kensingtn are in WJ.

[Anonymous]

Are you moving here because the person in the job prior to you left MOCO like everyone else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you moving here because the person in the job prior to you left MOCO like everyone else?

I am here to say that it's not true that everyone has left Montgomery County. In fact, over one million people currently live in Montgomery County!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, once again--thanks to all who have provided helpful replies.

To be clear, we're genuinely not interested in private school. Our child was at one of the top schools in the DMV until recently and we weren't impressed. I don't want to start yet another public vs. private war.

If it makes MCPS families feel any better, I am hearing all of the same complaints about the district "going downhill" from FCPS families, too. I don't think it's a MD vs. VA thing. I think it's a pandemic thing.

What I don't understand, because I only recently started reading anything to do with MoCo, is if there are problems that go beyond the current issues with DL and the admin during the pandemic. I'd like to treat this as a discrete issue, since it won't last forever.

If the posters complaining about MCPS are just upset about DL/leadership during COVID, then it's really no concern of mine. If there are larger structural issues to be aware of, that would be good to know. Ex. we are currently zoned in APS and there is a *huge* divide in school quality between North Arlington and South Arlington--it's really discouraging. FCPS also has really uneven quality between "have" and "have not" schools. Magnets are all done by lottery and we've been waitlisted in the 200s each time we've applied at the ES level. TJ, the STEM magnet, is moving to a lottery-based admissions system as well, rather than a test-based one.

My impression is that MCPS is more equitable, though there are pockets of concentrated wealth (I get the sense this is Whitman/BCC clusters?). It seems like there are accessible pathways to a really great education whether you live in Bethesda, or Kensington, or Rockville, or Silver Spring, even if there is some variance in test scores/course offerings at home schools. Is that a fair assessment?

Yep. Exactly, that's a fair assessment.
There are lots of programs and offerings all over MCPS.

+1 Agreed. You definitely have options.

All the W clusters have a lot of wealth not just BCC and Whitman. Churchill and Wooton are in Potomac and Bethesda and Kensingtn are in WJ.

That's true, but people (especially on this board) sometimes have a distorted view of the degree of wealth, even at a place like Whitman.

There are lots of small, old, very modest homes throughout the Whitman cluster, for example in Bannockburn or Wood Acres. Now, because of the location, these homes that most on this board would call sh!t shacks still sell in the 8-900K range. Most families who buy there are very much stretching to get into the neighborhood and work normal-ish jobs with salaries that are hardly crazy for this area.

Of course such a family isn't poor. They still make more than most, even in this area. But they aren't remotely living a luxurious lifestyle jetting off on fancy vacations or even doing regular fancy meals out. In large part because they are stretching for the house, a lot of other aspects of their life really are more middle class with old Camrys, a week at the shore as vacation, etc.