Updated views on Rosemary Hills post Covid as compared to private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think with the current state of MCPS, getting feedback from parents that the school is "OK" is a positive thing. When parents tell you a school is bad, believe them. But "ok" means the school is pretty acceptable. There is a smaller and smaller pool of schools that parents rave about and feel is great in MCPS these days thanks to the wreckage that McKnight and Felder left behind. But maybe Taylor will turn things around. We'll have to wait and see.

You mean the so-called parents on DCUM, because IRL of 80% of parents are fine with MCPS.

I disagree. Lots of people I know in real life are unhappy with MCPS and some of them are moving over to private school. I'm sure OP has seen the thread about the "Is MCPS Losing Its Edge" piece.

OP, I agree with PPs telling you to go private if you can afford it. You can have a just fine experience at RHES but elementary school could be so much better and so much more joyful than what MCPS currently provides. RHES was pretty meh for my kids who attended during COVID but the issue isn't RHES, it's MCPS. Class sizes are getting bigger (thank you budget cuts!). RHES is big but I think the bigger problem is the split articulation, we felt like we never put roots down anywhere. And longer-term consideration: MCPS offers some advanced math pathways starting in grade 4 but the reading and writing curriculum is weak. My kids completed a lot of worksheets and Chromebook assignments grades K-5.

You can disagree as much as you want, but the fact remains that over 80% of real MoCo residents are happy with MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think with the current state of MCPS, getting feedback from parents that the school is "OK" is a positive thing. When parents tell you a school is bad, believe them. But "ok" means the school is pretty acceptable. There is a smaller and smaller pool of schools that parents rave about and feel is great in MCPS these days thanks to the wreckage that McKnight and Felder left behind. But maybe Taylor will turn things around. We'll have to wait and see.

You mean the so-called parents on DCUM, because IRL of 80% of parents are fine with MCPS.

I disagree. Lots of people I know in real life are unhappy with MCPS and some of them are moving over to private school. I'm sure OP has seen the thread about the "Is MCPS Losing Its Edge" piece.

OP, I agree with PPs telling you to go private if you can afford it. You can have a just fine experience at RHES but elementary school could be so much better and so much more joyful than what MCPS currently provides. RHES was pretty meh for my kids who attended during COVID but the issue isn't RHES, it's MCPS. Class sizes are getting bigger (thank you budget cuts!). RHES is big but I think the bigger problem is the split articulation, we felt like we never put roots down anywhere. And longer-term consideration: MCPS offers some advanced math pathways starting in grade 4 but the reading and writing curriculum is weak. My kids completed a lot of worksheets and Chromebook assignments grades K-5.

You can disagree as much as you want, but the fact remains that over 80% of real MoCo residents are happy with MCPS.

Where are you getting this 80 percent figure from? And is it "residents" or "parents"? And whatever, even if there is a survey showing that a majority of MCPS parents are satisfied with MCPS, it doesn't constitute evidence that MCPS is doing well. It certainly doesn't resolve the real problems with curriculum and accountability identified by the Bethesda Magazine article.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think with the current state of MCPS, getting feedback from parents that the school is "OK" is a positive thing. When parents tell you a school is bad, believe them. But "ok" means the school is pretty acceptable. There is a smaller and smaller pool of schools that parents rave about and feel is great in MCPS these days thanks to the wreckage that McKnight and Felder left behind. But maybe Taylor will turn things around. We'll have to wait and see.

You mean the so-called parents on DCUM, because IRL of 80% of parents are fine with MCPS.

I disagree. Lots of people I know in real life are unhappy with MCPS and some of them are moving over to private school. I'm sure OP has seen the thread about the "Is MCPS Losing Its Edge" piece.

OP, I agree with PPs telling you to go private if you can afford it. You can have a just fine experience at RHES but elementary school could be so much better and so much more joyful than what MCPS currently provides. RHES was pretty meh for my kids who attended during COVID but the issue isn't RHES, it's MCPS. Class sizes are getting bigger (thank you budget cuts!). RHES is big but I think the bigger problem is the split articulation, we felt like we never put roots down anywhere. And longer-term consideration: MCPS offers some advanced math pathways starting in grade 4 but the reading and writing curriculum is weak. My kids completed a lot of worksheets and Chromebook assignments grades K-5.

Be aware about what they market as "advanced" math. There are students who need MORE than that crappy Math 4/5 and Math 5/6 in ES. There are students who need more starting in younger grades and no they should not have to be bussed to another school to receive math instruction not just another damn worksheet. When you ask teachers for more math, they will give an additional worksheet, maybe. When you ask the "leader" in the school to start offering a more advanced pathway (by asking them in Kindergarten so they have time to set up a class and hire qualified teacher), they don't. But over there in a MCP ES in the western part of the county, students DO receive math leading them to Algebra in 6th. Not just one lone student or a few students in a class with students in the grade above. When you ask the school counselor, they will say they don't handle math. Lol. When you ask school content lead, they will repeat what anyone can already read on the outdated mcps website. When you ask Central Office math department questions about math, they will ask to take your name and # so their person overseeing math can call you back. Call back? BS.

I'm skeptical that there are many students who need even more advanced math options than what MCPS offers. I've read elsewhere on this board about parents pushing for some schools to create Algebra 1 classes for 6th graders. I'd be interested to know how those kids fare later in high school and whether they end up with knowledge gaps. If lots of kids are bored with Math 4/5 or 5/6, that suggests to me the class is not being taught well or going deep enough into the material, not that the kids have mastered several years of math and are ready for Algebra 1 in 6th grade.

Isn't it sad that PARENTS have to do that?
Either you are from Alaska, a MCPs lawyer, or cheerleader Lynne Harris. You obviously don't have a math kid and don't understand how absurd it is that kids who need a fabulous advanced math path are not getting it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think with the current state of MCPS, getting feedback from parents that the school is "OK" is a positive thing. When parents tell you a school is bad, believe them. But "ok" means the school is pretty acceptable. There is a smaller and smaller pool of schools that parents rave about and feel is great in MCPS these days thanks to the wreckage that McKnight and Felder left behind. But maybe Taylor will turn things around. We'll have to wait and see.

You mean the so-called parents on DCUM, because IRL of 80% of parents are fine with MCPS.

I disagree. Lots of people I know in real life are unhappy with MCPS and some of them are moving over to private school. I'm sure OP has seen the thread about the "Is MCPS Losing Its Edge" piece.

OP, I agree with PPs telling you to go private if you can afford it. You can have a just fine experience at RHES but elementary school could be so much better and so much more joyful than what MCPS currently provides. RHES was pretty meh for my kids who attended during COVID but the issue isn't RHES, it's MCPS. Class sizes are getting bigger (thank you budget cuts!). RHES is big but I think the bigger problem is the split articulation, we felt like we never put roots down anywhere. And longer-term consideration: MCPS offers some advanced math pathways starting in grade 4 but the reading and writing curriculum is weak. My kids completed a lot of worksheets and Chromebook assignments grades K-5.

You can disagree as much as you want, but the fact remains that over 80% of real MoCo residents are happy with MCPS.

Where are you getting this 80 percent figure from? And is it "residents" or "parents"? And whatever, even if there is a survey showing that a majority of MCPS parents are satisfied with MCPS, it doesn't constitute evidence that MCPS is doing well. It certainly doesn't resolve the real problems with curriculum and accountability identified by the Bethesda Magazine article.

Oh, I didn't know an opinion piece in Bethesda Magazine is the authority on all things MCPS. Who knew?
Do you even live in the county if you don't know where I got my figure? Your post showed that fact doesn't matter to you.

[Anonymous]

Another RHES parent here. We have kids in elementary, middle and HS.

Rosemary Hills does a lovely job of teaching kids the basics and accelerating when appropriate. I've seen K teachers teach reading to kids who are learning English and those who show up to K reading chapter books. My own child basically moved herself up a math group by plopping herself at the table and saying "I know how to do this! I want to try this group!" Kids learn to deal with rules and large groups, which is great at this age. It is a school run for young kids with a great library, art program and space for them to run at recess.

Our opinion is that MCPS is great for most kids until about 4th grade. After that, we felt like classes were too big to give kids the feedback they needed to learn and improve. One of my kids described reading groups in 5th grade as "kids who can read in one group, kids who can't read in the other." He was a really strong reader -- who needed more of an English class than a reading class -- and he was bored out of his skull

All of my kids transitioned to private sometime in middle school. It has worked out well for our family.

My suggestion to people is to try RHES and see if it works for your child and family.

[Anonymous]

My experience is pre covid but we ended up liking RH a lot. Yes each grade is big so recess is a lot, and they shuffle the classes each year.

OTOH the entire school is oriented towards little kids (and we found there was a great parent community)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My experience is pre covid but we ended up liking RH a lot. Yes each grade is big so recess is a lot, and they shuffle the classes each year.

OTOH the entire school is oriented towards little kids (and we found there was a great parent community)

Agree with this and we were there pre-COVID as well as now. Though I def think it is better now because of the principal change.

[Anonymous]

Both of my kids went to RHES. I have a kid at Silver Creek and another at CCES now. The older one had the better experience. The new principal is a big improvement. My younger kid’s problem was that she was of the virtual kindergarten year (a current 4th grader) - and her cohort seemed a bit nuts to me (under socialized?) They are better now. That wasn’t the school’s fault… except as far as it would be nice if they had a place to educate truly disruptive special needs children. When I was a kid in MCPS, those were the bridge kids and they had a separate classroom. Now, they are mainstreamed as long as possible and it can be challenging.