So if MoCo schools are crappier than we all thought, where ARE the good public schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Uh, right, we should all quit our jobs to go volunteer at school all day?! That's not going to happen. Why can't the school provided adequate staff to children ratios?

Uh, if you leave public school for private, you will absolutely be EXPECTED to volunteer. And if you're in a private K-8, your willingness to be part of the lower school's "family" by volunteering will be discussed by your K-8 school's admins with the admissions staff of the private middle or high school you apply to next. Just sayin'.

[Anonymous]

Our kid is in RHPS. We love it, as does she.

[Anonymous]

RHPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Uh, right, we should all quit our jobs to go volunteer at school all day?! That's not going to happen. Why can't the school provided adequate staff to children ratios?

Uh, if you leave public school for private, you will absolutely be EXPECTED to volunteer. And if you're in a private K-8, your willingness to be part of the lower school's "family" by volunteering will be discussed by your K-8 school's admins with the admissions staff of the private middle or high school you apply to next. Just sayin'.

Not true, as always parents do what they are able. My oldest is at a big 3 private and youngest is at our local public. I have never been told that it is "expected" that I volunteer. I have a very demanding job and the school respects that (in fact I think they look at it as good pr for the school b/c it is fairly high profile). I think they are more than happy to have a guaranteed annual fund check more than having me in the library for an hour a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Uh, right, we should all quit our jobs to go volunteer at school all day?! That's not going to happen. Why can't the school provided adequate staff to children ratios?

Uh, if you leave public school for private, you will absolutely be EXPECTED to volunteer. And if you're in a private K-8, your willingness to be part of the lower school's "family" by volunteering will be discussed by your K-8 school's admins with the admissions staff of the private middle or high school you apply to next. Just sayin'.

Not true, as always parents do what they are able. My oldest is at a big 3 private and youngest is at our local public. I have never been told that it is "expected" that I volunteer. I have a very demanding job and the school respects that (in fact I think they look at it as good pr for the school b/c it is fairly high profile). I think they are more than happy to have a guaranteed annual fund check more than having me in the library for an hour a week.

Do you listen to yourself? Wow.

[Anonymous]

MC schools are fine for typical kids, but TOTALLY suck for special needs students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think whether or not you like MCPS will be influenced by the capabilities of your child. If you have a very capable, off the charts type of kid, MCPS does not have a good system to teach them something. Most of the dissatisfied parents fall into this category.

Not my experience at all. My off the charts kid is at public school and thriving with the challenge of AP and honors classes. My not so off the charts kid is in private school.

I agree with the 2nd poster. My off the charts kid is loving MCPS with lots of individualized attention from magnet teachers.

Where I think MCPS really stinks is for kids in the 90-97 percentile, or so, and specifically in various MCPS schools that are lower performing. These are the kids who don't get in to the magnets which only take the top 2%. If these kids are in Whitman they will be challenged by classes that are aimed at a large body of kids in these percentiles. I don't know if PP's happy kid is at a magnet, or at Whitman and its ilk, but I can see either scenario working out for a gifted kid.

But if a 90-97th pctile kid is in various other, lower-performing MCPS schools, you need to know that MCPS is moving away from things like tracking and these kids are going to end up in heterogeneous classes with overburdened teachers who are "supposed" to differentiate by everybody's needs. I'm not a teacher, but let's face it, I'm pretty sure I couldn't differentiate in a class where some kids are reading way below level and other kids are doing Tolstoy, so I think this MCPS policy is totally unreasonable and unfair to kids at both the top and bottom ends of the spectrum. These are the kids for whom I'd recommend private school.

NP here. I agree with your assessment of what's available for kids in the 90-97 percentile-that's where my kids fall. They're not challenged AT ALL, but I'd be dumbfounded if they got into the GT center. Might as well apply though. In the meantime I have to offer some challenge at home or they would make no progress. We do math problems and I make sure they get books from the library that are halfway challenging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's right, don't get caught up in the hype. That said, there are a lot of parents (especially in this budget-cutting climate) who would love to be able to supplement staff and specials, etc. in the schools. I think MCPS are great (after all budget cutting is happening throughout the country), but I also think parents should be allowed to raise money to pay for assistant teachers, recess aides, etc. I think the county should be open to this type of parent partnership.

Why not volunteer? Our teacher and our school loves volunteers. I know, it may be easier for you to fundraise or pay your way to a better adult/student ratio, but that isn't going to happen. A parent can assist in the classroom or even in the lunchroom or at recess.

Uh, right, we should all quit our jobs to go volunteer at school all day?! That's not going to happen. Why can't the school provided adequate staff to children ratios?

Uh, because there is no money. The overburdened teachers who are there just got a 2% cut in pay and for the last two years haven't seen a raise or step increase. There is definitely no money for aides. If you want them, vote in county council members who will actually fund the school system instead and complain that they take too much money of the county budget. There are 200k students in MCPS--it takes a lot of money to run a system that large!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Uh, right, we should all quit our jobs to go volunteer at school all day?! That's not going to happen. Why can't the school provided adequate staff to children ratios?

Uh, if you leave public school for private, you will absolutely be EXPECTED to volunteer. And if you're in a private K-8, your willingness to be part of the lower school's "family" by volunteering will be discussed by your K-8 school's admins with the admissions staff of the private middle or high school you apply to next. Just sayin'.

Not true, as always parents do what they are able. My oldest is at a big 3 private and youngest is at our local public. I have never been told that it is "expected" that I volunteer. I have a very demanding job and the school respects that (in fact I think they look at it as good pr for the school b/c it is fairly high profile). I think they are more than happy to have a guaranteed annual fund check more than having me in the library for an hour a week.

Sure, but by writing that check, you're contributing to the school "family." But unless PP can write a big check, she will need to volunteer if she wants the recommendation for the next private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Uh, right, we should all quit our jobs to go volunteer at school all day?! That's not going to happen. Why can't the school provided adequate staff to children ratios?

Uh, if you leave public school for private, you will absolutely be EXPECTED to volunteer. And if you're in a private K-8, your willingness to be part of the lower school's "family" by volunteering will be discussed by your K-8 school's admins with the admissions staff of the private middle or high school you apply to next. Just sayin'.

Not true, as always parents do what they are able. My oldest is at a big 3 private and youngest is at our local public. I have never been told that it is "expected" that I volunteer. I have a very demanding job and the school respects that (in fact I think they look at it as good pr for the school b/c it is fairly high profile). I think they are more than happy to have a guaranteed annual fund check more than having me in the library for an hour a week.

Do you listen to yourself? Wow.

I don't think this 'high profile' PP realizes how bad what she wrote sounds. Sorry PP but money does not act as a replacement for you and your physical presence. Having you in the library for an hour a week will reap huge rewards and make arch more lasting impression on your DC than a big check.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Uh, right, we should all quit our jobs to go volunteer at school all day?! That's not going to happen. Why can't the school provided adequate staff to children ratios?

Uh, if you leave public school for private, you will absolutely be EXPECTED to volunteer. And if you're in a private K-8, your willingness to be part of the lower school's "family" by volunteering will be discussed by your K-8 school's admins with the admissions staff of the private middle or high school you apply to next. Just sayin'.

Not true, as always parents do what they are able. My oldest is at a big 3 private and youngest is at our local public. I have never been told that it is "expected" that I volunteer. I have a very demanding job and the school respects that (in fact I think they look at it as good pr for the school b/c it is fairly high profile). I think they are more than happy to have a guaranteed annual fund check more than having me in the library for an hour a week.

Do you listen to yourself? Wow.

I don't think this 'high profile' PP realizes how bad what she wrote sounds. Sorry PP but money does not act as a replacement for you and your physical presence. Having you in the library for an hour a week will reap huge rewards and make arch more lasting impression on your DC than a big check.

Aha ha! A third poster here who thinks this might be a fake. Would anybody with a real "high profile" job write something this silly on DCUM?

[Anonymous]

why don't we name schools on this post??!! It is anonymous and it would be so much more helpful!!! come on now people!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think whether or not you like MCPS will be influenced by the capabilities of your child. If you have a very capable, off the charts type of kid, MCPS does not have a good system to teach them something. Most of the dissatisfied parents fall into this category.

THIS.

plus the lack of science, social studies, history, and art/music. And don't tell me that 40 minutes per week of science counts as viable instruction time.

The second poster's kids must not have reached middle school yet. MoCo offers absolutely amazing science, social studies, history, art and music programs. My 7th grader is going to be performing many of the experiments that are done on CSI in his daily science class. He will be learning photoshop in depth during his daily Art class, among many other skills. In his daily Advance World Studies, he's studied China, the Roman Empire, and now he's doing a unit on Europe. I come away from BTSN completely amazed at all of the opportunities my kids have in MoCo schools.

You are correct, our experience was one year in public after she had been in private (we switched for financial reasons). We weren't willing to wait until MS for my child to get a more well-rounded education in public. After her one year (5th grade), we pulled her and she's now in 7th, in private. And doing rigorous academic work in an atmosphere that cultivates personal responsibility, tolerance, service to others, and has a strong commitment to quality extracurricular activities. There is no way I was going to send her to our local MS after the nonsense I saw in our local ES.

[Anonymous]

You are correct, our experience was one year in public after she had been in private (we switched for financial reasons). We weren't willing to wait until MS for my child to get a more well-rounded education in public. After her one year (5th grade), we pulled her and she's now in 7th, in private. And doing rigorous academic work in an atmosphere that cultivates personal responsibility, tolerance, service to others, and has a strong commitment to quality extracurricular activities. There is no way I was going to send her to our local MS after the nonsense I saw in our local ES.

Hi, I'm currently looking to send my DC who is in Seneca Academy to some other private school in 5th grade as this school talks a lot, but does very little. They just take anybody that applies as a teacher, and regret later. This happened all too often. Is it possible to share the private school your DC goes to?
thanks a lot,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The second poster's kids must not have reached middle school yet. MoCo offers absolutely amazing science, social studies, history, art and music programs. My 7th grader is going to be performing many of the experiments that are done on CSI in his daily science class. He will be learning photoshop in depth during his daily Art class, among many other skills. In his daily Advance World Studies, he's studied China, the Roman Empire, and now he's doing a unit on Europe. I come away from BTSN completely amazed at all of the opportunities my kids have in MoCo schools.

You are correct, our experience was one year in public after she had been in private (we switched for financial reasons). We weren't willing to wait until MS for my child to get a more well-rounded education in public. After her one year (5th grade), we pulled her and she's now in 7th, in private. And doing rigorous academic work in an atmosphere that cultivates personal responsibility, tolerance, service to others, and has a strong commitment to quality extracurricular activities. There is no way I was going to send her to our local MS after the nonsense I saw in our local ES.

So essentially you're admitting that you have no experience with MoCo middle schools -- none, no experience whatsoever -- yet you have incredibly strong opinions about them and won't hesitate to post these uninformed opinions on DCUM? This is when DCUM becomes useless as a source of reliable information....