MCPS Teachers - Do You Send Your Own Kids to Public School?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My youngest will be a senior at a MCPS high school this year. When my children started in MCPS years ago I they were getting quality education. Now I am so thankful that my youngest only has a year left. I would absolutely be considering private if my kids were younger now. The high school experience has been terrible. Teachers are checked out, fights, vaping, limited access to bathrooms. Academics are ok with AP and IB programs if your child is self motivated and wants to learn, sports have been ok. I just can’t get over the fact that DC doesn’t have bathroom access. We as adults would never put up with it.

Is this for every school - even ‘W’ schools like Wootton?

Yes, this happens at W schools too. The vaping and bathroom issues are countywide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Came across this article that mentioned a survey indicating that if given the choice 90% of public school teachers would send their kids to private school and am wondering how accurate that is in my own county.

‘Why I’m a Public School Teacher But a Private School Parent’
https://tenneyschool.com/why-im-a-public-school-teacher-but-a-private-school-parent/

Here’s another similar article but different author from a couple of years ago:

‘Why I’m a Public-School Teacher but a Private-School Parent’
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/03/why-im-a-public-school-teacher-but-a-private-school-parent/386797/

No. Use the better public teacher salary to pay for private school tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My youngest will be a senior at a MCPS high school this year. When my children started in MCPS years ago I they were getting quality education. Now I am so thankful that my youngest only has a year left. I would absolutely be considering private if my kids were younger now. The high school experience has been terrible. Teachers are checked out, fights, vaping, limited access to bathrooms. Academics are ok with AP and IB programs if your child is self motivated and wants to learn, sports have been ok. I just can’t get over the fact that DC doesn’t have bathroom access. We as adults would never put up with it.

Is this for every school - even ‘W’ schools like Wootton?

No. My kid had access to the school bathrooms. Not W school

[Anonymous]

My two children go to a MCPS middle school, no regrets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Came across this article that mentioned a survey indicating that if given the choice 90% of public school teachers would send their kids to private school and am wondering how accurate that is in my own county.

‘Why I’m a Public School Teacher But a Private School Parent’
https://tenneyschool.com/why-im-a-public-school-teacher-but-a-private-school-parent/

Here’s another similar article but different author from a couple of years ago:

‘Why I’m a Public-School Teacher but a Private-School Parent’
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/03/why-im-a-public-school-teacher-but-a-private-school-parent/386797/

No. Use the better public teacher salary to pay for private school tuition.

I make less in MCPS than I did working in private because MCPS refuses to acknowledge a teacher’s full years of experience. Add in the tuition remission, financial aid, smaller classes, more planning time, cleaner facilities, and shorter school year it’s a great job! I only left because of the pandemic and I’m doing all I can to get out of MCPS and back into private

[Anonymous]

I’m one of the PP with an older child in private and the younger one in MCPS. Guess which child got called a “dumb b$&ch” most days during math class. Guess which kid’s teacher got suspended for shaking and hitting kids in the class? Guess which building had roaches run across the cafeteria?

You just can’t get the same experience in a public school, especially in a system as huge as MCPS. The longer I teach in MCPS the more I see that public schools are run like prisons and factories.

[Anonymous]

Mine is in college now but after public ES, he went to Catholic MS and HS. The expectations in public schools are low. He skated along and got all As when he didn’t deserve them. It was hard financially as a single parent to pay for it but 100% worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Came across this article that mentioned a survey indicating that if given the choice 90% of public school teachers would send their kids to private school and am wondering how accurate that is in my own county.

‘Why I’m a Public School Teacher But a Private School Parent’
https://tenneyschool.com/why-im-a-public-school-teacher-but-a-private-school-parent/

Here’s another similar article but different author from a couple of years ago:

‘Why I’m a Public-School Teacher but a Private-School Parent’
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/03/why-im-a-public-school-teacher-but-a-private-school-parent/386797/

No. Use the better public teacher salary to pay for private school tuition.

I make less in MCPS than I did working in private because MCPS refuses to acknowledge a teacher’s full years of experience. Add in the tuition remission, financial aid, smaller classes, more planning time, cleaner facilities, and shorter school year it’s a great job! I only left because of the pandemic and I’m doing all I can to get out of MCPS and back into private

Similar situation here. I applied to MCPS and to a private school. The private honored my years of experience and offered higher pay. MCPS would only honor 8, I believe.

I moved my own children out of public and they now attend private schools. I’m happy with both decisions.

But to answer the question: I used to work in public schools. I’d guess 40-50% of the teachers sent their own children to privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Came across this article that mentioned a survey indicating that if given the choice 90% of public school teachers would send their kids to private school and am wondering how accurate that is in my own county.

‘Why I’m a Public School Teacher But a Private School Parent’
https://tenneyschool.com/why-im-a-public-school-teacher-but-a-private-school-parent/

Here’s another similar article but different author from a couple of years ago:

‘Why I’m a Public-School Teacher but a Private-School Parent’
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/03/why-im-a-public-school-teacher-but-a-private-school-parent/386797/

No. Use the better public teacher salary to pay for private school tuition.

I make less in MCPS than I did working in private because MCPS refuses to acknowledge a teacher’s full years of experience. Add in the tuition remission, financial aid, smaller classes, more planning time, cleaner facilities, and shorter school year it’s a great job! I only left because of the pandemic and I’m doing all I can to get out of MCPS and back into private

I got a big pay raise when I moved from the Big 3 school I used to work at to MCPS, despite my full years of experience not being counted. There was no tuition remission anyway.

Even if I had taken a pay cut, the MCPS benefits package is far superior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The vast majority of teachers could not afford private for their kids.

I moved in with my mom to make it happen. Public school isn’t much to talk about these days. Just show up, do some work, and get an A. Nope. I want better for my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The vast majority of teachers could not afford private for their kids.

I moved in with my mom to make it happen. Public school isn’t much to talk about these days. Just show up, do some work, and get an A. Nope. I want better for my kid.

My kid did that and did not get As in everything.

Is that what you're doing? Giving everyone an A?

[Anonymous]

About a quarter of the students in my kid’s private school class have one or two parents who work in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The vast majority of teachers could not afford private for their kids.

I moved in with my mom to make it happen. Public school isn’t much to talk about these days. Just show up, do some work, and get an A. Nope. I want better for my kid.

My kid did that and did not get As in everything.

Is that what you're doing? Giving everyone an A?

I don’t because I teach in lower ES. My kid’s teachers did. He was well behaved, came to school everyday on time, did his work. Apparently that calls for As. His straight As disappeared in Catholic school. An A in private school isn’t easy to get. He learned how to study (no retakes), write effectively and legibly (chicken scratch work was recycled and he had to redo it), speak effectively, do homework outside of school (none of this do it in class), and read actual full novels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Came across this article that mentioned a survey indicating that if given the choice 90% of public school teachers would send their kids to private school and am wondering how accurate that is in my own county.

‘Why I’m a Public School Teacher But a Private School Parent’
https://tenneyschool.com/why-im-a-public-school-teacher-but-a-private-school-parent/

Here’s another similar article but different author from a couple of years ago:

‘Why I’m a Public-School Teacher but a Private-School Parent’
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/03/why-im-a-public-school-teacher-but-a-private-school-parent/386797/

Do you think many public school teachers can afford $50k/year for private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I taught in public schools for years. Then I moved to a high end private. My kids are in college now and attended a beyond excellent public magnet in another area (so, not MCPS, but another urban district). The private looked amazing until about 6 weeks in. Then I saw all the weaknesses with the curriculum and the major behaviors. If I had to do it over I would have kept them in their magnet. Yes, every school has issues and the magnet did too, but overall, it was much better than my nearly 40K a year in tuition private school workplace.

I taught at a Big Three for 10+ years and later took a job with MCPS. Our kids attended MCPS magnets (including Blair SMCS and RMIB) and got a better education than I believe they would have at the Big Three based on my experience there.

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