Is it time for private school vouchers in Montgomery County?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder how big of an exodus we would see from the DCC form all those parents who say they love those schools if the had a life line out they could honestly afford? I bet all that Blair love would fly out the window if they could afford better or get out. It always comes off as sour grapes

Points for the savvy attempt to drive a wedge there.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the economics. Where does 16k a kid go? Seems that 4 kids pay the teachers salary but class sizes are 20-25.

MCPS wastes an enormous amount of money. It’s insane. Plus the salaries of Central Office employees.

Look through DCUM for some threads about the enormous waste in MCPS.

Part of the issue is that MCPS is just too big and doesn’t have any oversight.

Yeah. But how much would hiring a lot of people and doing lots of audits cost?

How much do MCPS meetings that are never followed up on cost?

Privates are smaller and therefore more flexible to meet the needs of students.

MCPS is huge and doesn’t give a damn if children are educated. Leaders are constantly vying for that next promotion or lucrative contract hire after they leave MCPS. Even MCPS leadership doesn’t think that the schools are good enough for their children who are enrolled in private schools.

MCPS is fine. I think the real problem is bad parents. Their children would fail pretty much anywhere.

You definitely work for the schools. I swear I got this line from DC’s teacher back in first grade after dyslexia diagnosis (although county would not and still won’t use that word).

What did you do to fix it? Anyone with a child who needs help, knows not to rely on MCPS

Oh I fixed it…left, thank you very much teacher! Now, what do YOU do for these children for your salary as a public servant for the hours you have them? I’ll take my answer off the air. Don’t have a lifetime to wait…

I don't do anything for your kids as I am not their parent, MCPS employee, babysitter or anything else. I am a parent tired of complainers. I have a child who had some SN and we dealt with it. If you wait for MCPS to deal with it, you will be waiting a long time.. These kids are YOUR kids. Stop trying to dump them off on someone else.

I mean, why do we even have public schools if it's all the parents' responsibility? We're throwing $3B a year at MCPS. That's a total waste of money if they don't actually have any responsibility for educating kids.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the economics. Where does 16k a kid go? Seems that 4 kids pay the teachers salary but class sizes are 20-25.

MCPS wastes an enormous amount of money. It’s insane. Plus the salaries of Central Office employees.

Look through DCUM for some threads about the enormous waste in MCPS.

Part of the issue is that MCPS is just too big and doesn’t have any oversight.

Yeah. But how much would hiring a lot of people and doing lots of audits cost?

How much do MCPS meetings that are never followed up on cost?

Privates are smaller and therefore more flexible to meet the needs of students.

MCPS is huge and doesn’t give a damn if children are educated. Leaders are constantly vying for that next promotion or lucrative contract hire after they leave MCPS. Even MCPS leadership doesn’t think that the schools are good enough for their children who are enrolled in private schools.

MCPS is fine. I think the real problem is bad parents. Their children would fail pretty much anywhere.

You definitely work for the schools. I swear I got this line from DC’s teacher back in first grade after dyslexia diagnosis (although county would not and still won’t use that word).

What did you do to fix it? Anyone with a child who needs help, knows not to rely on MCPS

Oh I fixed it…left, thank you very much teacher! Now, what do YOU do for these children for your salary as a public servant for the hours you have them? I’ll take my answer off the air. Don’t have a lifetime to wait…

I don't do anything for your kids as I am not their parent, MCPS employee, babysitter or anything else. I am a parent tired of complainers. I have a child who had some SN and we dealt with it. If you wait for MCPS to deal with it, you will be waiting a long time.. These kids are YOUR kids. Stop trying to dump them off on someone else.

I mean, why do we even have public schools if it's all the parents' responsibility? We're throwing $3B a year at MCPS. That's a total waste of money if they don't actually have any responsibility for educating kids.

Totally agree (NP), this is just a bizarre argument and it shows up all the time here. Sure, your kids are ultimately your responsibility. The legality of your actions are also your responsibility, but if you pay a lawyer to defend you in court, you expect a service to be rendered. You are greatly responsible for the state of your own health, but if you pay a doctor, you expect medical services. Somehow, MCPS thinks they should be paid billions of dollars, and yet have no obligation to provide effective services, i.e. an education... because "your kids are your responsibility."

Pay us, but don't "dump" your kids on us. ???

I mean even beyond the politics, I don't even get the logic of this "defense."

[Anonymous]

Give me a voucher or charter school option. MCPS is failing my kids. Either option would light a fire under their lethargic, bureaucratic a$$ to actually try to recruit and retain students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the economics. Where does 16k a kid go? Seems that 4 kids pay the teachers salary but class sizes are 20-25.

MCPS wastes an enormous amount of money. It’s insane. Plus the salaries of Central Office employees.

Look through DCUM for some threads about the enormous waste in MCPS.

Part of the issue is that MCPS is just too big and doesn’t have any oversight.

Yeah. But how much would hiring a lot of people and doing lots of audits cost?

How much do MCPS meetings that are never followed up on cost?

Privates are smaller and therefore more flexible to meet the needs of students.

MCPS is huge and doesn’t give a damn if children are educated. Leaders are constantly vying for that next promotion or lucrative contract hire after they leave MCPS. Even MCPS leadership doesn’t think that the schools are good enough for their children who are enrolled in private schools.

MCPS is fine. I think the real problem is bad parents. Their children would fail pretty much anywhere.

You definitely work for the schools. I swear I got this line from DC’s teacher back in first grade after dyslexia diagnosis (although county would not and still won’t use that word).

What did you do to fix it? Anyone with a child who needs help, knows not to rely on MCPS

Oh I fixed it…left, thank you very much teacher! Now, what do YOU do for these children for your salary as a public servant for the hours you have them? I’ll take my answer off the air. Don’t have a lifetime to wait…

I don't do anything for your kids as I am not their parent, MCPS employee, babysitter or anything else. I am a parent tired of complainers. I have a child who had some SN and we dealt with it. If you wait for MCPS to deal with it, you will be waiting a long time.. These kids are YOUR kids. Stop trying to dump them off on someone else.

I mean, why do we even have public schools if it's all the parents' responsibility? We're throwing $3B a year at MCPS. That's a total waste of money if they don't actually have any responsibility for educating kids.

There is a huge huge amount of waste in MCPS but with SN, you cannot just pawn off yoru child and expect them to do everything. Really, if you cannot read to your kid 15 minutes a day, you really shouldn't be a parent (baring you have no SN).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Give me a voucher or charter school option. MCPS is failing my kids. Either option would light a fire under their lethargic, bureaucratic a$$ to actually try to recruit and retain students.

We had a charter, it was a disaster. If you want private, you are welcome to leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the economics. Where does 16k a kid go? Seems that 4 kids pay the teachers salary but class sizes are 20-25.

MCPS wastes an enormous amount of money. It’s insane. Plus the salaries of Central Office employees.

Look through DCUM for some threads about the enormous waste in MCPS.

Part of the issue is that MCPS is just too big and doesn’t have any oversight.

Yeah. But how much would hiring a lot of people and doing lots of audits cost?

How much do MCPS meetings that are never followed up on cost?

Privates are smaller and therefore more flexible to meet the needs of students.

MCPS is huge and doesn’t give a damn if children are educated. Leaders are constantly vying for that next promotion or lucrative contract hire after they leave MCPS. Even MCPS leadership doesn’t think that the schools are good enough for their children who are enrolled in private schools.

MCPS is fine. I think the real problem is bad parents. Their children would fail pretty much anywhere.

You definitely work for the schools. I swear I got this line from DC’s teacher back in first grade after dyslexia diagnosis (although county would not and still won’t use that word).

What did you do to fix it? Anyone with a child who needs help, knows not to rely on MCPS

Oh I fixed it…left, thank you very much teacher! Now, what do YOU do for these children for your salary as a public servant for the hours you have them? I’ll take my answer off the air. Don’t have a lifetime to wait…

I don't do anything for your kids as I am not their parent, MCPS employee, babysitter or anything else. I am a parent tired of complainers. I have a child who had some SN and we dealt with it. If you wait for MCPS to deal with it, you will be waiting a long time.. These kids are YOUR kids. Stop trying to dump them off on someone else.

I mean, why do we even have public schools if it's all the parents' responsibility? We're throwing $3B a year at MCPS. That's a total waste of money if they don't actually have any responsibility for educating kids.

Totally agree (NP), this is just a bizarre argument and it shows up all the time here. Sure, your kids are ultimately your responsibility. The legality of your actions are also your responsibility, but if you pay a lawyer to defend you in court, you expect a service to be rendered. You are greatly responsible for the state of your own health, but if you pay a doctor, you expect medical services. Somehow, MCPS thinks they should be paid billions of dollars, and yet have no obligation to provide effective services, i.e. an education... because "your kids are your responsibility."

Pay us, but don't "dump" your kids on us. ???

I mean even beyond the politics, I don't even get the logic of this "defense."

Your analogies make no sense as we are talking about public school, not private school.

You cannot expect school to provide everything to everyone and that's why we have so many kids struggling. Its impossible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder how big of an exodus we would see from the DCC form all those parents who say they love those schools if the had a life line out they could honestly afford? I bet all that Blair love would fly out the window if they could afford better or get out. It always comes off as sour grapes

Points for the savvy attempt to drive a wedge there.

We are down county and we can comfortably afford to move today. I went to one of the schools that are "good" schools and had several friends transfer out and I would have if my parents allowed it. My parents were too selfish to care. We deliberately bought a house to avoid those schools. I'd do private over those schools. And, I wouldn't do Blair either. Its a bit funny how W school parents move out of the area to avoid the schools to drive their kids to Blair.

Smart kids will do well anywhere. But, smart kids at a "lesser" school will have an easier time with college acceptances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vouchers usually leads to skimming the best students from public school. So the well behaved kid who gets good grades and will get glowing recommendations from teachers have traditionally been the group that get into private school with vouchers. I see a lot of parents of special needs kids are saying they want vouchers so they can move their kids to private but unfortunately private schools don’t overwhelmingly select voucher students from this group.

Vouchers are usually only helpful for religious schools that are more affordable as they are subsidized by the church. SN families either have to get MCPS to pay or are basically on their own (we were on our own).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the economics. Where does 16k a kid go? Seems that 4 kids pay the teachers salary but class sizes are 20-25.

MCPS wastes an enormous amount of money. It’s insane. Plus the salaries of Central Office employees.

Look through DCUM for some threads about the enormous waste in MCPS.

Part of the issue is that MCPS is just too big and doesn’t have any oversight.

Yeah. But how much would hiring a lot of people and doing lots of audits cost?

How much do MCPS meetings that are never followed up on cost?

Privates are smaller and therefore more flexible to meet the needs of students.

MCPS is huge and doesn’t give a damn if children are educated. Leaders are constantly vying for that next promotion or lucrative contract hire after they leave MCPS. Even MCPS leadership doesn’t think that the schools are good enough for their children who are enrolled in private schools.

MCPS is fine. I think the real problem is bad parents. Their children would fail pretty much anywhere.

You definitely work for the schools. I swear I got this line from DC’s teacher back in first grade after dyslexia diagnosis (although county would not and still won’t use that word).

What did you do to fix it? Anyone with a child who needs help, knows not to rely on MCPS

Oh I fixed it…left, thank you very much teacher! Now, what do YOU do for these children for your salary as a public servant for the hours you have them? I’ll take my answer off the air. Don’t have a lifetime to wait…

I don't do anything for your kids as I am not their parent, MCPS employee, babysitter or anything else. I am a parent tired of complainers. I have a child who had some SN and we dealt with it. If you wait for MCPS to deal with it, you will be waiting a long time.. These kids are YOUR kids. Stop trying to dump them off on someone else.

I mean, why do we even have public schools if it's all the parents' responsibility? We're throwing $3B a year at MCPS. That's a total waste of money if they don't actually have any responsibility for educating kids.

So, basically you expect a random parent to be responsible for your child's needs and you feel zero responsibility to them in terms of their education? No wonder our kids are struggling with education and mental health. With a child with dyslexia, you have to work with them. Unlike you, we spent many many hours working with our SN child to make sure they caught up and stayed on target. Parenting goes a long way with some issues

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder how big of an exodus we would see from the DCC form all those parents who say they love those schools if the had a life line out they could honestly afford? I bet all that Blair love would fly out the window if they could afford better or get out. It always comes off as sour grapes

Points for the savvy attempt to drive a wedge there.

Not going to be Whitman parents jumping at vouchers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vouchers usually leads to skimming the best students from public school. So the well behaved kid who gets good grades and will get glowing recommendations from teachers have traditionally been the group that get into private school with vouchers. I see a lot of parents of special needs kids are saying they want vouchers so they can move their kids to private but unfortunately private schools don’t overwhelmingly select voucher students from this group.

Vouchers are usually only helpful for religious schools that are more affordable as they are subsidized by the church. SN families either have to get MCPS to pay or are basically on their own (we were on our own).

It is your broken kids, how much are you owed? Reasonable accommodations and fixing genetic abnormalities are two didn’t expectations

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder how big of an exodus we would see from the DCC form all those parents who say they love those schools if the had a life line out they could honestly afford? I bet all that Blair love would fly out the window if they could afford better or get out. It always comes off as sour grapes

Points for the savvy attempt to drive a wedge there.

We are down county and we can comfortably afford to move today. I went to one of the schools that are "good" schools and had several friends transfer out and I would have if my parents allowed it. My parents were too selfish to care. We deliberately bought a house to avoid those schools. I'd do private over those schools. And, I wouldn't do Blair either. Its a bit funny how W school parents move out of the area to avoid the schools to drive their kids to Blair.

Smart kids will do well anywhere. But, smart kids at a "lesser" school will have an easier time with college acceptances.

Sure they will because the high SES school kids are known for struggling to keep up the outcomes of the low SES schools that is like the “real rich people are the ones with the cheap house on the poor side of town compared to those people struggling with their million dollar mortgages” argument. Sure I am sure it happens but not 99.9% of the time. Rich schools produce rich outcomes and rich people live on the rich side of town. You’re just rationalizing your station like it was part of your plan. Hopefully your kids will get that good outcome at that “lesser” school and do better than you…. If they are lucky

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Give me a voucher or charter school option. MCPS is failing my kids. Either option would light a fire under their lethargic, bureaucratic a$$ to actually try to recruit and retain students.

Keep waiting...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vouchers usually leads to skimming the best students from public school. So the well behaved kid who gets good grades and will get glowing recommendations from teachers have traditionally been the group that get into private school with vouchers. I see a lot of parents of special needs kids are saying they want vouchers so they can move their kids to private but unfortunately private schools don’t overwhelmingly select voucher students from this group.

Vouchers are usually only helpful for religious schools that are more affordable as they are subsidized by the church. SN families either have to get MCPS to pay or are basically on their own (we were on our own).

It is your broken kids, how much are you owed? Reasonable accommodations and fixing genetic abnormalities are two didn’t expectations

No worries, we got nothing and spent a fortune on private help. However, reasonable accommodations would have been nice. We weren't asking for much.