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Why do you send your DC to private?
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Anonymous
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I give up. Go ahead and decide that a marketing video for a school 5 states away is the only reason you need for choosing a private school in DC. Don't let me try to persuade you that marketing videos present incomplete information. Or that other factors are important besides the "visuals" of some distant school ... like maybe talking to people who are familiar with DC private schools and will give you an unbiased (i.e. non-marketing) opinions on stuff like educational quality.
And I'm dumbfounded about the strictures against comparing private to public schools, on a thread that asks "why did you choose private?" Words escape me. But I'll try: whether you realize it or not, when you choose either private or public schools, you are actually making a real, live decision between private or public. Outta here. I fear that continuing this conversation will kill brain cells. |
Anonymous
Have no fear your brain cells remain in deep hibernation. See you in Summer. 
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Anonymous
Troll. |
Anonymous
| Trollop |
Anonymous
OP here - Potomac Elementary. It wasn't all bad. My older DC had several great teachers. Unfortunately, they all but two have left for various reasons, but most went to other schools. My younger DC, not so much. We were told at the beginning of 2nd grade that the class would learning 3rd grade math, not 2nd grade math. I about had a cardiac arrest because DC was still struggling with 1st grade math. Didn't matter. Onward to 3rd grade math. It was awful. The report cards would tell you how DC was doing in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade math. It was completely nuts and stressful. After a few years at private this DC is doing great in math. They are not hurrying through but learning it well. To address the poster that said this thread doesn't reflect their experience - I'm just giving my experience here. It always comes down to an individual or family's personal experience. I know people at the same school as my DC's and it really hasn't worked out for them, for any number of reasons; kids personality and learning style, luck of the draw with teachers and classmates, technologies being implemented in manner that didn't benefit them, programs implemented or discontinued. I also know that some kids adore their public school and they thrive there. I wish that were my experience. I would have loved to spend the money on a new car, a new kitchen, or trip that involved airplanes! |
Anonymous
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1. Don't want to deal with DCPS politics
2. Don't have to worry about applying for middle/high school 3. Can afford to I think personally that there are great public school pyramids in NoVa and MontCo that are comparable to private school and offer a lot of things on OP's list. |
Anonymous
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Small class size, wide range of age appropriate classes, intelligent teachers, great after school activities, etc.
And, I actually do care about the buildings and grounds. My kids understand that a lot of effort goes into their school's buildings, the playgrounds, the church. I'm Catholic, though, so I may just be used to the concept that society identifies what it values most by beautifying it. I'm all for beautiful churches (or other places of worship), libraries, schools, etc. |
Anonymous
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I am a DCPS parent and the reasons you list, except for class size (which can be a problem), are the reasons I am keeping my child in my local DCPS. Amazing teachers (our third year in) that my child connects with, that inspire the kids, that stay fresh and current based on the children's needs, even while staying on top of the demands of public school teaching; access to amazing arts and music programs -- including a wildly inspirational musical director who puts on two shows a year, a wide arrange of extracurricular options, including an elementary school version of art history this semester (my recent fav), a community that I feel is a huge part of my life and a principal who knows me, my child and who has an open door and ear.
I'm not writing to bash privates. I just wish the privates didn't categorically put down publics as lacking these features. It is offensive, and its so often not true. |
Anonymous
I would say there are plenty here that wish they had your experience at a public. Just because another person is unhappy with their public for their child, it doesn't mean they think all publics are lacking? |
Anonymous
And many also never tried public because of these misperceptions.That's really my point. This thread is like me posting on the public school forum a thread that says, why do you send your kids to public school? And although we haven't done private yet, I've done enough tours to be able to have a few reasons....similar to parents judging the building I suppose of a public.
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Anonymous
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I love my DS's public elementary school, but we are switching to private for middle school because
1) class size is now pushing 35 and they want to increase. Even the best teacher can not handle that 2) they are getting rid of all the aids that help the esol kids for financial reasons (what kind of society does not supply the basic instructions its kids need?!?!?!) 3) stability of the system: every single year the public school system comes up with very strange ideas on how to "improve" the schools. The community can usually beat them down, but it gets very tiring 4) my local middle school has a dedicated gang task force and an idiot principal who sabotages her own school. I would move to Montgomery, but that would be a very long commute, plus southern Mont (closest to my work) has horrendous traffic and overcrowding. |
Anonymous
| I don't get people who send their DCs "to private." I didn't choose "private" over "public" -- I chose one specific school (that happened to be private) over the particular public school that was available to my DC, based on specific things I wanted for my DC (science early and often, serious foreign language instruction in ES) and on things I wanted to avoid (moving, DCPS politics, NCLB). |
Anonymous
| The PP has a good point. There are many private schools that, for my DS, would not be worth the money. Indeed, it is a specific private versus a specific public. |
Anonymous
| Yes, I think 9:29 is very accurate for a lot of families who find themselves at a private. I know so many families at my child's school who are bemused to find themselves there ... they were publicly educated themselves and are strong supporters of good public schools. But for a variety of reasons, here they are at a private. For our family, we were not running away from a public school ... our neighborhood school seems to be fine. We are lucky in that regard. But the private school our child attends is just very unique and provides such an interesting experience ... we decided we couldn't resist. We only applied to that one school. We really intend to go back to public school for high school, although we are open to private if another school just strikes us as a really unique or good fit for our child. Time will tell. |
Anonymous
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"I am a DCPS parent and the reasons you list, except for class size (which can be a problem), are the reasons I am keeping my child in my local DCPS."
Same here, though I don't (at least so far) see class size as a problem. But I'm happy to have people think they have to go private, or move to "certain great school pyramids in NoVa and MontCo," in order to find a school for precious - more room for my kids at our school! |