Downcounty Strategizing and System-Wrangling - spinoff from academically advanced kid in DCC thread

[Anonymous]

We live in downcounty MoCo and while we liked our home elementary school the middle and high schools are not acceptable to us. Therefore we have spent more time and energy over the years than I care to think about on magnet application processes, so as to get our kids a good education. Our kids are now in middle and high school magnets, so we are looking ahead to one more high school magnet app process for our middle-schooler, and then three college app processes.

By the time our eldest is applying to colleges next year, we will be old pros at this application-writing routine.

When I think about it, I get pretty irritated about all of the energy we have invested in strategizing, planning, etc. over the years, all in an effort to make sure our kids are in good situations, while our *one school district* peers in the western part of the county simply send their kids off to the school down the street. It seems like all anyone ever talks about around here is DCC schools and how to work the system.

Do NOT tell me, "you pay less in taxes so therefore you get what you get." We pay the same tax rate as the rest of MoCo, and we in the DCC deserve the same as the rest of MoCo.

/vent

[Anonymous]

What schools?

[Anonymous]

YOU chose to live in that area. So instead of complaining deal.

Didn't you look at schools before moving? Or, better yet, didn't you save up for private school knowing you'd move into a school district that was not "acceptable" to you?

If dumb is in the genes, don't bother to apply to magnets.

Anonymous wrote:We live in downcounty MoCo and while we liked our home elementary school the middle and high schools are not acceptable to us. Therefore we have spent more time and energy over the years than I care to think about on magnet application processes, so as to get our kids a good education. Our kids are now in middle and high school magnets, so we are looking ahead to one more high school magnet app process for our middle-schooler, and then three college app processes.

By the time our eldest is applying to colleges next year, we will be old pros at this application-writing routine.

When I think about it, I get pretty irritated about all of the energy we have invested in strategizing, planning, etc. over the years, all in an effort to make sure our kids are in good situations, while our *one school district* peers in the western part of the county simply send their kids off to the school down the street. It seems like all anyone ever talks about around here is DCC schools and how to work the system.

Do NOT tell me, "you pay less in taxes so therefore you get what you get." We pay the same tax rate as the rest of MoCo, and we in the DCC deserve the same as the rest of MoCo.

/vent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in downcounty MoCo and while we liked our home elementary school the middle and high schools are not acceptable to us. Therefore we have spent more time and energy over the years than I care to think about on magnet application processes, so as to get our kids a good education. Our kids are now in middle and high school magnets, so we are looking ahead to one more high school magnet app process for our middle-schooler, and then three college app processes.

By the time our eldest is applying to colleges next year, we will be old pros at this application-writing routine.

When I think about it, I get pretty irritated about all of the energy we have invested in strategizing, planning, etc. over the years, all in an effort to make sure our kids are in good situations, while our *one school district* peers in the western part of the county simply send their kids off to the school down the street. It seems like all anyone ever talks about around here is DCC schools and how to work the system.

Do NOT tell me, "you pay less in taxes so therefore you get what you get." We pay the same tax rate as the rest of MoCo, and we in the DCC deserve the same as the rest of MoCo.




/vent

So in other words your kids had to rub shoulders with Hispanics and blacks. What a pity.

[Anonymous]

Wow - there are a lot of people making racist cracks on here lately. Or maybe it's just one troll.

To the PP talking about "you bought there - deal" and "didn't you research?" Some people cannot afford to live in Bethesda or Chevy Chase or Potomac. Following that same logic - private school is also not an option. So then those with a lower SES should automatically get a lower quality education?

Also, did you not read OP that all of her kids went though magnets? So, that last statement doesn't make her look dumb but, not sure what it says about other people ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow - there are a lot of people making racist cracks on here lately. Or maybe it's just one troll.

To the PP talking about "you bought there - deal" and "didn't you research?" Some people cannot afford to live in Bethesda or Chevy Chase or Potomac. Following that same logic - private school is also not an option. So then those with a lower SES should automatically get a lower quality education?

Also, did you not read OP that all of her kids went though magnets? So, that last statement doesn't make her look dumb but, not sure what it says about other people ...

OP here. Yes, thank you. That is exactly my point. A county-based school system is supposed to spread the resources around equally. Why doesn't that happen here?

Don't get me wrong - my kids have had excellent educations, thanks to the magnet programs they have all attended. I'm quite sure that they have had great educational experiences relative to their same-grade peers county-wide, regardless of the SES of those peers. Thank goodness they qualified and were admitted to these magnets (and thank goodness they exist).

But what about the many other qualified kids in the DCC who were not admitted (didn't test well, missed the cutoff by a fraction of a point, etc.)? How is this fair to them?

Really, it shouldn't boil down to whether a person can pay the Bethesda Premium. In a county-based system, with a uniform property tax rate, there should be minimal if any differences.

[Anonymous]

What were the unacceptable home schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What were the unacceptable home schools?

Why does it matter? They are DCC schools.

[Anonymous]

OP, I have no clue what you're whining about. Stop telling us all about how you deserve a good education just like people in Bethesda, all 3 of your kids got one. Move on.

[Anonymous]

She has a legitimate complaint, and as a parent of a kid in K in the DCC cluster, she describes what I have ahead of me for the next 21 years if we don't move (DS is 3). Parents in different parts of the county appear to get a different quality of education. She got lucky and her talented kids were able to get pulled out of their home schools. Talented kids shouldn't have to get pulled out of their home schools in the DCC to get a good education and there are not enough spots for all the kids to get pulled out who would qualify.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:YOU chose to live in that area. So instead of complaining deal.

Didn't you look at schools before moving? Or, better yet, didn't you save up for private school knowing you'd move into a school district that was not "acceptable" to you?

If dumb is in the genes, don't bother to apply to magnets.

Anonymous wrote:We live in downcounty MoCo and while we liked our home elementary school the middle and high schools are not acceptable to us. Therefore we have spent more time and energy over the years than I care to think about on magnet application processes, so as to get our kids a good education. Our kids are now in middle and high school magnets, so we are looking ahead to one more high school magnet app process for our middle-schooler, and then three college app processes.

By the time our eldest is applying to colleges next year, we will be old pros at this application-writing routine.

When I think about it, I get pretty irritated about all of the energy we have invested in strategizing, planning, etc. over the years, all in an effort to make sure our kids are in good situations, while our *one school district* peers in the western part of the county simply send their kids off to the school down the street. It seems like all anyone ever talks about around here is DCC schools and how to work the system.

Do NOT tell me, "you pay less in taxes so therefore you get what you get." We pay the same tax rate as the rest of MoCo, and we in the DCC deserve the same as the rest of MoCo.

/vent

Wow, you are not a very nice person PP. We live in Churchill district because we're lucky enough to make enough money to buy house around here. I feel for people who make less and have to live in an area with schools that are less than satisfactory. And don't think for a minute that any of us immune to bad fortune. We could lose our jobs and security tomorrow and then where would be? We are all one or two crisis from living on the streets my friend.

[Anonymous]

Fwiw, I live in Bethesda and have been sorely disappointed with our (Whitman cluster) elementary school. Huge class sizes, apathetic/uninspiring teachers, "herd" mentality in terms of classroom teaching. So possibly you didn't miss much if anything ...

[Anonymous]

I was wondering about exactly what 00:09 said as I wrote my earlier post. We have nothing to compare our own experiences to.

[Anonymous]

I think lots of people who live in the DCC (where I live) often have an inflated idea of what those west county schools offer.

It's the same curriculum -- if it's unchallenging and uninspiring here, it will be the same over there. The difference is the peer group, but is that really significant?

I fight to get my kids into magnets not because I don't want them going to school with poorer kids or kids of color, but because the MCPS curriculum and trend towards teaching to the middle isn't all that enriching. With the magnets, teachers are more motivated (in general) and create lessons that are integrated and enriching.

[Anonymous]

9:30 does that apply to TPES Primary Magnet?