Home buying based on schools?

[Anonymous]

MCPS parent here. Buy a great house in an inexpensive area and start saving for private. MCPS is a disaster. Let me count the ways:
-teachers quitting retiring throughout. They are overwhelmed and burnt out, and tired of bad behavior and no consequences for students (at all grade levels)
-lack of support from administration at all levels. Teachers have no support from their principals and principals have no support from central office
-parents are impossible. They are either not available (just try calling the many non-working numbers listed for how to reach a student's parent), or in your face about the grade a teacher "gave" their child. Never mind what the student didn't turn in, or the grade the student earned.
-many schools with too many students. This leads to class size of 26+ in kindergarten (with no assistant or aid), 30+ in MS and and 35+ in HS
-they don't hire people ft with benefits to help special ed students. Most are termed temporary part time, which leads to many special ed students that are main-streamed with a one-on-one to not have a one-on-one, which means teacher is spending lots of time supporting the needs of the couple of kids that need more help, or worse, managing their behaviors
-focus of leadership is on bringing up test scores and equity. Excellent goals, if what they were spending a fortune on actually worked, and if they didn't do it to the detriment of everything else. There's zero accountability for anyone, or for any program they roll out.

I could go on, but we pulled our last 2 out of what is supposedly an excllent MCPS cluster, and they will both graduate from private

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS parent here. Buy a great house in an inexpensive area and start saving for private. MCPS is a disaster. Let me count the ways:
-teachers quitting retiring throughout. They are overwhelmed and burnt out, and tired of bad behavior and no consequences for students (at all grade levels)
-lack of support from administration at all levels. Teachers have no support from their principals and principals have no support from central office
-parents are impossible. They are either not available (just try calling the many non-working numbers listed for how to reach a student's parent), or in your face about the grade a teacher "gave" their child. Never mind what the student didn't turn in, or the grade the student earned.
-many schools with too many students. This leads to class size of 26+ in kindergarten (with no assistant or aid), 30+ in MS and and 35+ in HS
-they don't hire people ft with benefits to help special ed students. Most are termed temporary part time, which leads to many special ed students that are main-streamed with a one-on-one to not have a one-on-one, which means teacher is spending lots of time supporting the needs of the couple of kids that need more help, or worse, managing their behaviors
-focus of leadership is on bringing up test scores and equity. Excellent goals, if what they were spending a fortune on actually worked, and if they didn't do it to the detriment of everything else. There's zero accountability for anyone, or for any program they roll out.

I could go on, but we pulled our last 2 out of what is supposedly an excllent MCPS cluster, and they will both graduate from private

The majority of people can not afford private. This flies over the heads of many umc people.

Also, the upper middle class is in the beginning of experiencing a reckoning.

So many things make life unpredictable which affect peoples cash flow. People don’t realize the totality they’re asking for when they support abandoning public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS parent here. Buy a great house in an inexpensive area and start saving for private. MCPS is a disaster. Let me count the ways:
-teachers quitting retiring throughout. They are overwhelmed and burnt out, and tired of bad behavior and no consequences for students (at all grade levels)
-lack of support from administration at all levels. Teachers have no support from their principals and principals have no support from central office
-parents are impossible. They are either not available (just try calling the many non-working numbers listed for how to reach a student's parent), or in your face about the grade a teacher "gave" their child. Never mind what the student didn't turn in, or the grade the student earned.
-many schools with too many students. This leads to class size of 26+ in kindergarten (with no assistant or aid), 30+ in MS and and 35+ in HS
-they don't hire people ft with benefits to help special ed students. Most are termed temporary part time, which leads to many special ed students that are main-streamed with a one-on-one to not have a one-on-one, which means teacher is spending lots of time supporting the needs of the couple of kids that need more help, or worse, managing their behaviors
-focus of leadership is on bringing up test scores and equity. Excellent goals, if what they were spending a fortune on actually worked, and if they didn't do it to the detriment of everything else. There's zero accountability for anyone, or for any program they roll out.

I could go on, but we pulled our last 2 out of what is supposedly an excllent MCPS cluster, and they will both graduate from private

I have to disagree. The demographics of the county have drastically changed over the past few decades, but the same opportunities exist today as in years past. My kids are getting an excellent education, but I'm not one of those parents who expect the county to raise my kids. went to a W 30 years ago. Their public education is vastly better than mine. In fact, we started at a focus school (higher FARMS) with smaller class sizes. This way, they at least got some instructional time in early ES. By the 4th grade, both got into what is now called CES for enriched ELA. Later both went to the MS STEM magnet. One is still there, and the other is in the HS magnet. We just make the best of things. Anyone can do this. It really isn't that hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS parent here. Buy a great house in an inexpensive area and start saving for private. MCPS is a disaster. Let me count the ways:
-teachers quitting retiring throughout. They are overwhelmed and burnt out, and tired of bad behavior and no consequences for students (at all grade levels)
-lack of support from administration at all levels. Teachers have no support from their principals and principals have no support from central office
-parents are impossible. They are either not available (just try calling the many non-working numbers listed for how to reach a student's parent), or in your face about the grade a teacher "gave" their child. Never mind what the student didn't turn in, or the grade the student earned.
-many schools with too many students. This leads to class size of 26+ in kindergarten (with no assistant or aid), 30+ in MS and and 35+ in HS
-they don't hire people ft with benefits to help special ed students. Most are termed temporary part time, which leads to many special ed students that are main-streamed with a one-on-one to not have a one-on-one, which means teacher is spending lots of time supporting the needs of the couple of kids that need more help, or worse, managing their behaviors
-focus of leadership is on bringing up test scores and equity. Excellent goals, if what they were spending a fortune on actually worked, and if they didn't do it to the detriment of everything else. There's zero accountability for anyone, or for any program they roll out.

I could go on, but we pulled our last 2 out of what is supposedly an excllent MCPS cluster, and they will both graduate from private

I have to disagree. The demographics of the county have drastically changed over the past few decades, but the same opportunities exist today as in years past. My kids are getting an excellent education, but I'm not one of those parents who expect the county to raise my kids. went to a W 30 years ago. Their public education is vastly better than mine. In fact, we started at a focus school (higher FARMS) with smaller class sizes. This way, they at least got some instructional time in early ES. By the 4th grade, both got into what is now called CES for enriched ELA. Later both went to the MS STEM magnet. One is still there, and the other is in the HS magnet. We just make the best of things. Anyone can do this. It really isn't that hard.

This is what is not available in DC, OP. Nope not every kid needs or wants these kind of programs, but deciding where you buy means deciding whether you want to leave the option open or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS parent here. Buy a great house in an inexpensive area and start saving for private. MCPS is a disaster. Let me count the ways:
-teachers quitting retiring throughout. They are overwhelmed and burnt out, and tired of bad behavior and no consequences for students (at all grade levels)
-lack of support from administration at all levels. Teachers have no support from their principals and principals have no support from central office
-parents are impossible. They are either not available (just try calling the many non-working numbers listed for how to reach a student's parent), or in your face about the grade a teacher "gave" their child. Never mind what the student didn't turn in, or the grade the student earned.
-many schools with too many students. This leads to class size of 26+ in kindergarten (with no assistant or aid), 30+ in MS and and 35+ in HS
-they don't hire people ft with benefits to help special ed students. Most are termed temporary part time, which leads to many special ed students that are main-streamed with a one-on-one to not have a one-on-one, which means teacher is spending lots of time supporting the needs of the couple of kids that need more help, or worse, managing their behaviors
-focus of leadership is on bringing up test scores and equity. Excellent goals, if what they were spending a fortune on actually worked, and if they didn't do it to the detriment of everything else. There's zero accountability for anyone, or for any program they roll out.

I could go on, but we pulled our last 2 out of what is supposedly an excllent MCPS cluster, and they will both graduate from private

I have to disagree. The demographics of the county have drastically changed over the past few decades, but the same opportunities exist today as in years past. My kids are getting an excellent education, but I'm not one of those parents who expect the county to raise my kids. went to a W 30 years ago. Their public education is vastly better than mine. In fact, we started at a focus school (higher FARMS) with smaller class sizes. This way, they at least got some instructional time in early ES. By the 4th grade, both got into what is now called CES for enriched ELA. Later both went to the MS STEM magnet. One is still there, and the other is in the HS magnet. We just make the best of things. Anyone can do this. It really isn't that hard.

One of the big issues today is many people expect a first-rate education but don't want to do the work. However, for families that value and prioritize education, this is not an serious issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS parent here. Buy a great house in an inexpensive area and start saving for private. MCPS is a disaster. Let me count the ways:
-teachers quitting retiring throughout. They are overwhelmed and burnt out, and tired of bad behavior and no consequences for students (at all grade levels)
-lack of support from administration at all levels. Teachers have no support from their principals and principals have no support from central office
-parents are impossible. They are either not available (just try calling the many non-working numbers listed for how to reach a student's parent), or in your face about the grade a teacher "gave" their child. Never mind what the student didn't turn in, or the grade the student earned.
-many schools with too many students. This leads to class size of 26+ in kindergarten (with no assistant or aid), 30+ in MS and and 35+ in HS
-they don't hire people ft with benefits to help special ed students. Most are termed temporary part time, which leads to many special ed students that are main-streamed with a one-on-one to not have a one-on-one, which means teacher is spending lots of time supporting the needs of the couple of kids that need more help, or worse, managing their behaviors
-focus of leadership is on bringing up test scores and equity. Excellent goals, if what they were spending a fortune on actually worked, and if they didn't do it to the detriment of everything else. There's zero accountability for anyone, or for any program they roll out.

I could go on, but we pulled our last 2 out of what is supposedly an excllent MCPS cluster, and they will both graduate from private

I have to disagree. The demographics of the county have drastically changed over the past few decades, but the same opportunities exist today as in years past. My kids are getting an excellent education, but I'm not one of those parents who expect the county to raise my kids. went to a W 30 years ago. Their public education is vastly better than mine. In fact, we started at a focus school (higher FARMS) with smaller class sizes. This way, they at least got some instructional time in early ES. By the 4th grade, both got into what is now called CES for enriched ELA. Later both went to the MS STEM magnet. One is still there, and the other is in the HS magnet. We just make the best of things. Anyone can do this. It really isn't that hard.

One of the big issues today is many people expect a first-rate education but don't want to do the work. However, for families that value and prioritize education, this is not an serious issue.

DP.. I think the problem with MCPS is that the middle gets lost in the shuffle.

I have one very high achieving DC who is in an MCPS magnet. Stellar education. The other one is not as high achieving, and some of the "honors" classes are a joke. They are a freshman now, and the only really challenging classes are AP gov and advanced math. Luckily, there will be more AP classes to choose from in the upper years, but the ES/MS years were completely lackluster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS has school profile pages where demographics, test scores, disciplinary incidents, special programs offered, etc. are reported for multiple years. For the commute, living near a metro station helps with that. Good luck in your house search!

But if she does that, then she will only choose the top school.

And that is NOT equity!

The school districts should look at parent income and base enrollment off of that. If you are UMC, you get zoned for a high FARMs school. If you are low income, you get zoned to a wealthy school. Eventually, it will all even out, and the kids from lower income families will automatically achieve greatness via osmosis.

/s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I question the old go-to “great schools.”

Be careful with that one.

People hate the scores because of the underlying truth. When we bought our first home years ago, we sought out an affordable enclave in a very highly rated elementary school district and it worked well.

This PP didn't say what the "underlying truth" that she's referring to is. It's racism. Great Schools is great if you're a racist who wants to live in a high SES, white and Asian area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No president since Carter has sent their kids to any DC public school (and Mayor Fenty begged Obama).

Cross DCPS off your list.

That leaves MoCo schools (but they just defunded their School Resource Officers / kicked police out). Just insane.

Alexandria did the same, and has had major violence problems this year.

I would not consider the PG public schools.

That leaves NOVA schools. Their school boards are packed with LWNJs (seriously - these people are crazy) but that may soon change.

I believe this choice is more security related than school-related.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a catch 22.

If you pick a neighborhood where the schools are mostly UMC, your kid will be competing with those kids for colleges, but they will more than likely have a higher achieving peer group with less (not zero) behavioral issues. However, your kid will always be comparing themselves to the Joneses, as it were.

Whereas a school with a mix of SES may have more issues, but there still may be a significant group of higher achieving kids but still tough for college admissions.

If your kid goes to a lower SES school but is high achieving, they will have a better shot at elite universities, however, there will likely be more behavioral issue and less higher achieving students (hence a higher chance of elite college admissions from that school).

YMMV of course, but I would pick #2. That's what we did.

There are NOVA high schools with mixed SES student bodies where a student on a top track will rarely if ever be in the same class as a student on a bottom track

Correct. My kid thought 3.2 GPA was ridiculously low. He also rarely had any kids in his hybrid classes despite the school being around 50% attending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS parent here. Buy a great house in an inexpensive area and start saving for private. MCPS is a disaster. Let me count the ways:
-teachers quitting retiring throughout. They are overwhelmed and burnt out, and tired of bad behavior and no consequences for students (at all grade levels)
-lack of support from administration at all levels. Teachers have no support from their principals and principals have no support from central office
-parents are impossible. They are either not available (just try calling the many non-working numbers listed for how to reach a student's parent), or in your face about the grade a teacher "gave" their child. Never mind what the student didn't turn in, or the grade the student earned.
-many schools with too many students. This leads to class size of 26+ in kindergarten (with no assistant or aid), 30+ in MS and and 35+ in HS
-they don't hire people ft with benefits to help special ed students. Most are termed temporary part time, which leads to many special ed students that are main-streamed with a one-on-one to not have a one-on-one, which means teacher is spending lots of time supporting the needs of the couple of kids that need more help, or worse, managing their behaviors
-focus of leadership is on bringing up test scores and equity. Excellent goals, if what they were spending a fortune on actually worked, and if they didn't do it to the detriment of everything else. There's zero accountability for anyone, or for any program they roll out.

I could go on, but we pulled our last 2 out of what is supposedly an excllent MCPS cluster, and they will both graduate from private

I have to disagree. The demographics of the county have drastically changed over the past few decades, but the same opportunities exist today as in years past. My kids are getting an excellent education, but I'm not one of those parents who expect the county to raise my kids. went to a W 30 years ago. Their public education is vastly better than mine. In fact, we started at a focus school (higher FARMS) with smaller class sizes. This way, they at least got some instructional time in early ES. By the 4th grade, both got into what is now called CES for enriched ELA. Later both went to the MS STEM magnet. One is still there, and the other is in the HS magnet. We just make the best of things. Anyone can do this. It really isn't that hard.

One of the big issues today is many people expect a first-rate education but don't want to do the work. However, for families that value and prioritize education, this is not an serious issue.

DP.. I think the problem with MCPS is that the middle gets lost in the shuffle.

I have one very high achieving DC who is in an MCPS magnet. Stellar education. The other one is not as high achieving, and some of the "honors" classes are a joke. They are a freshman now, and the only really challenging classes are AP gov and advanced math. Luckily, there will be more AP classes to choose from in the upper years, but the ES/MS years were completely lackluster.

Versus DCPS where literally everyone gets lost in the shuffle?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS parent here. Buy a great house in an inexpensive area and start saving for private. MCPS is a disaster. Let me count the ways:
-teachers quitting retiring throughout. They are overwhelmed and burnt out, and tired of bad behavior and no consequences for students (at all grade levels)
-lack of support from administration at all levels. Teachers have no support from their principals and principals have no support from central office
-parents are impossible. They are either not available (just try calling the many non-working numbers listed for how to reach a student's parent), or in your face about the grade a teacher "gave" their child. Never mind what the student didn't turn in, or the grade the student earned.
-many schools with too many students. This leads to class size of 26+ in kindergarten (with no assistant or aid), 30+ in MS and and 35+ in HS
-they don't hire people ft with benefits to help special ed students. Most are termed temporary part time, which leads to many special ed students that are main-streamed with a one-on-one to not have a one-on-one, which means teacher is spending lots of time supporting the needs of the couple of kids that need more help, or worse, managing their behaviors
-focus of leadership is on bringing up test scores and equity. Excellent goals, if what they were spending a fortune on actually worked, and if they didn't do it to the detriment of everything else. There's zero accountability for anyone, or for any program they roll out.

I could go on, but we pulled our last 2 out of what is supposedly an excllent MCPS cluster, and they will both graduate from private

I have to disagree. The demographics of the county have drastically changed over the past few decades, but the same opportunities exist today as in years past. My kids are getting an excellent education, but I'm not one of those parents who expect the county to raise my kids. went to a W 30 years ago. Their public education is vastly better than mine. In fact, we started at a focus school (higher FARMS) with smaller class sizes. This way, they at least got some instructional time in early ES. By the 4th grade, both got into what is now called CES for enriched ELA. Later both went to the MS STEM magnet. One is still there, and the other is in the HS magnet. We just make the best of things. Anyone can do this. It really isn't that hard.

One of the big issues today is many people expect a first-rate education but don't want to do the work. However, for families that value and prioritize education, this is not an serious issue.

DP.. I think the problem with MCPS is that the middle gets lost in the shuffle.

I have one very high achieving DC who is in an MCPS magnet. Stellar education. The other one is not as high achieving, and some of the "honors" classes are a joke. They are a freshman now, and the only really challenging classes are AP gov and advanced math. Luckily, there will be more AP classes to choose from in the upper years, but the ES/MS years were completely lackluster.

Versus DCPS where literally everyone gets lost in the shuffle?

Yes, except those who don't get lost in the shuffle because they prioritize education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS parent here. Buy a great house in an inexpensive area and start saving for private. MCPS is a disaster. Let me count the ways:
-teachers quitting retiring throughout. They are overwhelmed and burnt out, and tired of bad behavior and no consequences for students (at all grade levels)
-lack of support from administration at all levels. Teachers have no support from their principals and principals have no support from central office
-parents are impossible. They are either not available (just try calling the many non-working numbers listed for how to reach a student's parent), or in your face about the grade a teacher "gave" their child. Never mind what the student didn't turn in, or the grade the student earned.
-many schools with too many students. This leads to class size of 26+ in kindergarten (with no assistant or aid), 30+ in MS and and 35+ in HS
-they don't hire people ft with benefits to help special ed students. Most are termed temporary part time, which leads to many special ed students that are main-streamed with a one-on-one to not have a one-on-one, which means teacher is spending lots of time supporting the needs of the couple of kids that need more help, or worse, managing their behaviors
-focus of leadership is on bringing up test scores and equity. Excellent goals, if what they were spending a fortune on actually worked, and if they didn't do it to the detriment of everything else. There's zero accountability for anyone, or for any program they roll out.

I could go on, but we pulled our last 2 out of what is supposedly an excllent MCPS cluster, and they will both graduate from private

I have to disagree. The demographics of the county have drastically changed over the past few decades, but the same opportunities exist today as in years past. My kids are getting an excellent education, but I'm not one of those parents who expect the county to raise my kids. went to a W 30 years ago. Their public education is vastly better than mine. In fact, we started at a focus school (higher FARMS) with smaller class sizes. This way, they at least got some instructional time in early ES. By the 4th grade, both got into what is now called CES for enriched ELA. Later both went to the MS STEM magnet. One is still there, and the other is in the HS magnet. We just make the best of things. Anyone can do this. It really isn't that hard.

We've also had a positive experience with MCPS, but also don't expect the county to do everything and play an active part in our kid's education. They were in CES, but ended up at their home school for MS. It's not all that different than the magnet especially if you can afford to supplement math with something like AoPS. Overall it's really a function of what you put into it which has always been true. It's just so many people these days expect an education without doing any of the work.

[Anonymous]

Find a home and neighborhood you like and move there. Don’t worry that much about schools now. We bought and modeled our forever home, only to realize our priorities completely changed 10 years later. You don’t have kids right now. You have no idea what interests and needs those kids will have as they grow. Maybe your place will be perfect, maybe you will need private school, maybe you will move.

We ended up moving 10 years later. I don’t have any regrets on either purchase since both places were good for us at the time.

[Anonymous]

^BUT I would not consider buying in DCPS, ACPS or PG county. I don’t know much about Maryland.