Walter Johnson vs. Bullis

[Anonymous]

Not sure why anyone with a PhD would teach at Bullis for 50% the pay they'd make in MCPS and a fraction of the benefits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why anyone with a PhD would teach at Bullis for 50% the pay they'd make in MCPS and a fraction of the benefits.

My child's AP teacher likes teaching the AP class while having time to teach at GW.

Staff also get reduced to free tuition (depending on their part time or full time status).

In general, staff seem to be happier than the public school teachers my child had. Smaller class sizes and less micro management by administrators give teachers more time to devote to teach and work with students. Read the DCUM threads about how MCPS teachers are treated and you might understand why some would turn to working for a private school.

BTW I am not sure you are correct with the percentage difference in pay. That data is confidential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Not sure why anyone with a PhD would teach at Bullis for 50% the pay they'd make in MCPS and a fraction of the benefits.


My child's AP teacher likes teaching the AP class while having time to teach at GW.

Staff also get reduced to free tuition (depending on their part time or full time status).

In general, staff seem to be happier than the public school teachers my child had. Smaller class sizes and less micro management by administrators give teachers more time to devote to teach and work with students. Read the DCUM threads about how MCPS teachers are treated and you might understand why some would turn to working for a private school.

BTW I am not sure you are correct with the percentage difference in pay. That data is confidential.

+1 Private school teachers often have under grad and grad degrees in the subjects that they teach and love while public school teachers have degrees in education. Very few public high school teachers have a deep mastery of the subjects that they teach because their educational requirements include them.

Successful career changers often go to private rather than public because even if you were an Ivy class professor you would need to go back to undergrad to take all the education courses. Its also probably hard psychologically to go from having a successful degree and solid degrees to being constantly harassed and micromanaged by the idiots that populate public school administration. MCPS really is a garbage dump of toxic, with light weight degrees and limited intellectual capabilities pretending to be little kings and queens. They really drag down the good teachers and prefer teachers who were C students and are coming out of community colleges.

Good teachers in MCPS who have a spouse that makes enough to cover their lifestyle often jump out to private. Good teachers that don't have that option suck it up to get the higher benefits and pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why anyone with a PhD would teach at Bullis for 50% the pay they'd make in MCPS and a fraction of the benefits.

Not everybody needs the money.

[Anonymous]

Not everybody needs the money.
Agreed. Except the septuagenarian HOS at Bullis who, per their IRS 990, needs about $750K, including his housing in Potomac. A big change from his previous role as a MD public school principal. And maybe 2X to 3X most HOSs in the DC area. Nice work if you can get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not sure why anyone with a PhD would teach at Bullis for 50% the pay they'd make in MCPS and a fraction of the benefits.


My child's AP teacher likes teaching the AP class while having time to teach at GW.

Staff also get reduced to free tuition (depending on their part time or full time status).

In general, staff seem to be happier than the public school teachers my child had. Smaller class sizes and less micro management by administrators give teachers more time to devote to teach and work with students. Read the DCUM threads about how MCPS teachers are treated and you might understand why some would turn to working for a private school.

BTW I am not sure you are correct with the percentage difference in pay. That data is confidential.

+1 Private school teachers often have under grad and grad degrees in the subjects that they teach and love while public school teachers have degrees in education. Very few public high school teachers have a deep mastery of the subjects that they teach because their educational requirements include them.

Successful career changers often go to private rather than public because even if you were an Ivy class professor you would need to go back to undergrad to take all the education courses. Its also probably hard psychologically to go from having a successful degree and solid degrees to being constantly harassed and micromanaged by the idiots that populate public school administration. MCPS really is a garbage dump of toxic, with light weight degrees and limited intellectual capabilities pretending to be little kings and queens. They really drag down the good teachers and prefer teachers who were C students and are coming out of community colleges.

Good teachers in MCPS who have a spouse that makes enough to cover their lifestyle often jump out to private. Good teachers that don't have that option suck it up to get the higher benefits and pay.

I career-changed with a master’s in my subject and never took a single undergrad education course. I took 6 graduate level education courses. DH has a PhD in his subject area and never took any undergrad education courses either. He took seven grad level courses in education. We both teach in MCPS. There are many colleagues we know with the same preparation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not sure why anyone with a PhD would teach at Bullis for 50% the pay they'd make in MCPS and a fraction of the benefits.


My child's AP teacher likes teaching the AP class while having time to teach at GW.

Staff also get reduced to free tuition (depending on their part time or full time status).

In general, staff seem to be happier than the public school teachers my child had. Smaller class sizes and less micro management by administrators give teachers more time to devote to teach and work with students. Read the DCUM threads about how MCPS teachers are treated and you might understand why some would turn to working for a private school.

BTW I am not sure you are correct with the percentage difference in pay. That data is confidential.

+1 Private school teachers often have under grad and grad degrees in the subjects that they teach and love while public school teachers have degrees in education. Very few public high school teachers have a deep mastery of the subjects that they teach because their educational requirements include them.

Successful career changers often go to private rather than public because even if you were an Ivy class professor you would need to go back to undergrad to take all the education courses. Its also probably hard psychologically to go from having a successful degree and solid degrees to being constantly harassed and micromanaged by the idiots that populate public school administration. MCPS really is a garbage dump of toxic, with light weight degrees and limited intellectual capabilities pretending to be little kings and queens. They really drag down the good teachers and prefer teachers who were C students and are coming out of community colleges.

Good teachers in MCPS who have a spouse that makes enough to cover their lifestyle often jump out to private. Good teachers that don't have that option suck it up to get the higher benefits and pay.

I career-changed with a master’s in my subject and never took a single undergrad education course. I took 6 graduate level education courses. DH has a PhD in his subject area and never took any undergrad education courses either. He took seven grad level courses in education. We both teach in MCPS. There are many colleagues we know with the same preparation.

What was your field? I ask out of legitimate interest, not the usual DCUM snark. I've considered teaching as a second career, but even with advanced degrees in both engineering and business, I don't meet the subject requirements for math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not sure why anyone with a PhD would teach at Bullis for 50% the pay they'd make in MCPS and a fraction of the benefits.


My child's AP teacher likes teaching the AP class while having time to teach at GW.

Staff also get reduced to free tuition (depending on their part time or full time status).

In general, staff seem to be happier than the public school teachers my child had. Smaller class sizes and less micro management by administrators give teachers more time to devote to teach and work with students. Read the DCUM threads about how MCPS teachers are treated and you might understand why some would turn to working for a private school.

BTW I am not sure you are correct with the percentage difference in pay. That data is confidential.

+1 Private school teachers often have under grad and grad degrees in the subjects that they teach and love while public school teachers have degrees in education. Very few public high school teachers have a deep mastery of the subjects that they teach because their educational requirements include them.

Successful career changers often go to private rather than public because even if you were an Ivy class professor you would need to go back to undergrad to take all the education courses. Its also probably hard psychologically to go from having a successful degree and solid degrees to being constantly harassed and micromanaged by the idiots that populate public school administration. MCPS really is a garbage dump of toxic, with light weight degrees and limited intellectual capabilities pretending to be little kings and queens. They really drag down the good teachers and prefer teachers who were C students and are coming out of community colleges.

Good teachers in MCPS who have a spouse that makes enough to cover their lifestyle often jump out to private. Good teachers that don't have that option suck it up to get the higher benefits and pay.

I career-changed with a master’s in my subject and never took a single undergrad education course. I took 6 graduate level education courses. DH has a PhD in his subject area and never took any undergrad education courses either. He took seven grad level courses in education. We both teach in MCPS. There are many colleagues we know with the same preparation.

What was your field? I ask out of legitimate interest, not the usual DCUM snark. I've considered teaching as a second career, but even with advanced degrees in both engineering and business, I don't meet the subject requirements for math.

As it happens, DH’s doctorate is in engineering. You should qualify and MCPS is expanding engineering as an offering. There’s no way you will be asked to take any undergrad education classes. You will likely be asked to take grad-level courses in education for 12-18 months to earn your certification, but part of that is your practicing placement in a school as a student teacher. MCPS has partnerships with several universities where you pay almost nothing for your courses as long as you earn at least a B and work for 3 years after certifying. Good luck to you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a child at Bullis that was able to be accelerated beyond what could be offered at a MCPS public school. Most of my child's teachers had PhDs in the subject area they taught. Several were faculty members at local universities.

I have another child in public but not at WJ. Besides smaller class sizes and the qualifications of the faculty, the biggest improvement is the honor code. Students can be expelled for bullying, sexual harassment, and racial slurs. Drugs also are nonexistent on campus where in public school it's an open drug market.

Private school is expensive but worth the investment.

Totally disagree, I feel at Bullis they do not take bullying and disruptive students as seriously. I've known students who have done some horrible things but never disciplined let alone expelled. It they are a good athlete they get away with poor behavior. I'm really laughing that drugs are nonexistent. We spent one year at Bullis and left because of everything I mentioned above.

[Anonymous]

Totally not my child's experience and my child is a current student who transferred out of MCPS because of a bad school climate. My child is happier, has great friends at the school, and is more successful academically because of the extra support from teachers. The average class size for my child has been 10 as compared to 32 at the MCPS high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Totally not my child's experience and my child is a current student who transferred out of MCPS because of a bad school climate. My child is happier, has great friends at the school, and is more successful academically because of the extra support from teachers. The average class size for my child has been 10 as compared to 32 at the MCPS high school.

Same here. We left MCPS and couldn’t be happier but I have many friends who have kids still in MCPS and are equally happy. If you don’t like Bullis because you think there’s bullying or drugs or whatever don’t go there. Why continue to bash it anonymously? Better yet stop reading the Bullis threads. If you left - move on! I left MCPS because it didn’t work for my kid. I don’t waste time trying to make other people feel bad for making a different choice.

[Anonymous]

If hearing about other people’s impressions or experiences makes you “feel bad” about your choices, you’ll make yourself crazy. This is true of almost everything in life. But if someone asks for opinions of the two schools, you can’t really fault people for sharing them. And face facts, Bullis has a lot of detractors. If you don’t want to hear them, I’d suggest instead that you stop reading, rather that discouraging discourse. The fact that it works for your family is awesome. For you.