Middle middle class & lower middle class: What Middle Schools do we end up in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HHI of 175K, 2 kids, planning to move to Takoma Park for MS and HS. IB for E-H, hopeless. Don't like the lack of MS honors classes at Latin, the lack of creativity at BASIS and chances of many upper-middle-class classmates left by 12th grade. Could afford parochial school (Catholic family) but prefer strong public. Don't want anything to do with pushy YY folk at future DCI.

Good thing you're here to set an example of an educated, creative, warm tone for all of us. You positively ooze being well-bred. N'est-ce pas?

[Anonymous]

off topic a bit, but I think when people hear "middle class," they imagine something like: a family that can pay for the basics--decent, safe housing, medical care, insurance, food, clothing--and enough 'extras' (a car, new shoes for the kids, ballet classes)and even save for retirement and college without going into debt. That magic 'middle class' number is going to be very different in different places. And, of course, the idea of what 'basics' and 'extras' are depends on how you were raised and your expectations and peers.

[Anonymous]

GS-13 with 3 kids DCPS kids are in a Ward 3 and 4 (our neighborhood) school.

[Anonymous]

HHI 145k family of four. My 7th grader is at SH and we are happy. I know that's not a popular stance but right now he wouldnt be in any honors classes anyway so that doesent concern us.

We plan to stay in DCSPS all the way through high school for both our kids, however we wont rule our charter schools if we feel like it would be the best of our options. We would prefer not to go private, not because of the money but we just dont prefer that elitist type enviornment.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]I know this is not the point of this thread, but I can't help saying that I find it revoltingly oblivious that someone would characterize $125,000 income as lower middle class in DC, apparently without irony. [/quote]

With three children, it may as well be. Even with kids in DCPS, they constantly remind me which classmate went to France, Italy or NYC for vacation while we have to mind the furloughs and watch our budget. End of tirade.

[Anonymous]

HHI $225k, family of 3.5. We currently attend great charter, but live IB for Deal. Plan to stay through High School (Wilson). Even if we get moved out of Deal boundaries, we will be happy with Hardy, Latin, or Basis. No real need to consider moving or private.

[Anonymous]

We are Ward 5, HHI $220K. We are at a DCI feeder, so we'll stay through elementary and see how DCI shapes up. Back-up plan is to go private, probably Catholic, for MS and HS.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]HHI of 175K, 2 kids, planning to move to Takoma Park for MS and HS. IB for E-H, hopeless. Don't like the lack of MS honors classes at Latin, the lack of creativity at BASIS and chances of many upper-middle-class classmates left by 12th grade. Could afford parochial school (Catholic family) but prefer strong public. Don't want anything to do with pushy YY folk at future DCI.


[/quote]



Good thing you're here to set an example of an educated, creative, warm tone for all of us. You positively ooze being well-bred. N'est-ce pas? [/quote]

+! Where's the lack of creativity at Basis? In 5th grade, students get separate classes in Music, Art and Drama. Then students pick specialty and arts electives from 6th through high school. That doesn't even start to address the school's arts based school activities. Please start from knowledge, not assumptions.

[Anonymous]

$170k, 1 kid. We went private for MS, may stay private but prefer public HS. DC has more good HS options than MS.

[Anonymous]

HHI 350k with 3 kids. Currently at in OOB at WOP solid elementary. Plan to finish there and considering Deal, Latin, Hardy or Howard Math & Science. Zoned for Francis Stevens/Walls for junior high and am watching to see how that drama plays out. Will definitely consider it if there is the Walls takeover. I am open to privates but can only afford them if kids get a scholarship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$170k, 1 kid. We went private for MS, may stay private but prefer public HS. DC has more good HS options than MS.

Since this is anonymous, may I ask you 2 questions (ballpark answers obviously are fine, don't have to be exact):

1. About how much is your total annual school costs (tuition, books, before/after care if you use it) for private middle school?

2. About how much is your mortgage or rent?

Our HHI is less than yours, we have 1 kid, and I'm trying to get a ballpark (even though I know there are a million other variables) to how your situation compares to ours. I would have assumed we could never afford private MS (we can barely afford aftercare at our current charter!) but I honestly haven't looked at the tuitions, so I really don't know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$170k, 1 kid. We went private for MS, may stay private but prefer public HS. DC has more good HS options than MS.

Since this is anonymous, may I ask you 2 questions (ballpark answers obviously are fine, don't have to be exact):

1. About how much is your total annual school costs (tuition, books, before/after care if you use it) for private middle school?

2. About how much is your mortgage or rent?

Our HHI is less than yours, we have 1 kid, and I'm trying to get a ballpark (even though I know there are a million other variables) to how your situation compares to ours. I would have assumed we could never afford private MS (we can barely afford aftercare at our current charter!) but I honestly haven't looked at the tuitions, so I really don't know.

How did you afford daycare? I think you can find a decent private equivalent to the cost of daycare (average $15k for daycare being used).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI of about 85K, moved to MCPS from a "sought after" charter. Now that I see the quality difference, I regret not having made the jump earlier.

That's a really interesting statement. Would you mind sharing which charter? We're seriously wondering what not getting into something we really want this year (DC entering PK-4) means for what we do for K, and moving to MoCo is the most likely solution we'd try although we'd really like to try to stay in DC.

Which school did you leave, and what specific differences do you notice in the school you left and the one you're in now? Thank you!

I'm not willing to name the school we left, I think it would identify me and my child.

I'm happy to talk about what we like better.

1) Math -- despite the fact that he had good grades, and his teacher in DC assured me he was doing great, my child was clearly behind the kids in the lowest track entering MCPS. MCPS responded to this by swinging into action, his teacher met with him during home room and afterschool, they met with me to show me his tests and exactly what skills he was missing so I could work on them at home. They offered us choices like an afterschool class, a summer class, an opportunity to take a double period of math. He's now jumped a track, and will go to HS in the middle of the pack. I can't help wondering where he'd be had he had that kind of support from the beginning.

2) Writing -- at his old school in DC they talked so proudly about how the students wrote five paragraph essays in fifth grade. To be clear, they wrote 2, over the course of the year. In MCPS sixth grade my kid wrote all the time. He has writing assignments in every class, and the curriculum is integrated so that the rubrics and expectations are consistent from class to class.

3) Arts -- in MCPS middle school, my child gets an arts class and a PE class 5 days a week. He gets access to afterschool arts programming as well. None of the charters I looked at can compare to that. Looking forward to HS, my kid can choose from so many different arts tracks, and can either take a variety or specialize, taking 4 years of different visual arts or music or theater classes. Again, I don't think there's a charter that offers that. One thing I regret about not moving earlier is that he missed the beginning of instrumental music. Band and orchestra aren't options for kids who didn't start an instrument in elementary school.

4) Parent communication -- At his old school, if I wanted info on how my child was doing, I needed to email, and be ignored, and email again, and wait, and schedule a meeting, and maybe maybe get some info. At his MCPS school, it's all right there on Edline, and if I need help interpreting it I can email the teacher and hear back in 24 business hours. Plus, I get documents laying out the standards, and choices, and the scope and sequence of the curriculum. Even when I begged at the old school, I couldn't get that information.

Best decision I ever made.

We're also considering MCPS. This is compelling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$170k, 1 kid. We went private for MS, may stay private but prefer public HS. DC has more good HS options than MS.

Since this is anonymous, may I ask you 2 questions (ballpark answers obviously are fine, don't have to be exact):

1. About how much is your total annual school costs (tuition, books, before/after care if you use it) for private middle school?

2. About how much is your mortgage or rent?

Our HHI is less than yours, we have 1 kid, and I'm trying to get a ballpark (even though I know there are a million other variables) to how your situation compares to ours. I would have assumed we could never afford private MS (we can barely afford aftercare at our current charter!) but I honestly haven't looked at the tuitions, so I really don't know.

How did you afford daycare? I think you can find a decent private equivalent to the cost of daycare (average $15k for daycare being used).

We just moved to DC at the end of last summer. In the city we moved from, DC was at one of the best daycare's in the city, placed in PS-3 at 2 yrs old, hours 6:30am-6:30pm, and that cost us $170/month with no subsidy. That's how we afforded it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$170k, 1 kid. We went private for MS, may stay private but prefer public HS. DC has more good HS options than MS.

Since this is anonymous, may I ask you 2 questions (ballpark answers obviously are fine, don't have to be exact):

1. About how much is your total annual school costs (tuition, books, before/after care if you use it) for private middle school?

2. About how much is your mortgage or rent?

Our HHI is less than yours, we have 1 kid, and I'm trying to get a ballpark (even though I know there are a million other variables) to how your situation compares to ours. I would have assumed we could never afford private MS (we can barely afford aftercare at our current charter!) but I honestly haven't looked at the tuitions, so I really don't know.

How did you afford daycare? I think you can find a decent private equivalent to the cost of daycare (average $15k for daycare being used).

We just moved to DC at the end of last summer. In the city we moved from, DC was at one of the best daycare's in the city, placed in PS-3 at 2 yrs old, hours 6:30am-6:30pm, and that cost us $170/month with no subsidy. That's how we afforded it!

Oops, that should be $170/WEEK... I wish it had been $170/month! But still, that was great for the quality and time period it covered.