BCC principal said "you have choices"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the Principal said a nice thing.

I think she meant well but wasn't very attuned to how those less affluent of us in the cluster might be made uncomfortable by her "thanking" parents who spent $800 K or more to buy their house and therefore "choose" to send our kid to BCC. Some of us don't have expensive homes or rent and are barely scraping by in order to stay in the cluster because we value the education and environment BCC provides. I think she was trying to be appreciative but what she said came off a little tone deaf to me. I value BCC not only for its ethnic and racial diversity but also for its SES diversity and the fact that it has a strong academic environment at the same time.

Isn't this the same thing as saying you choose to be in the cluster, even though it involves some hardship? It seems like she's talking about families like yours.

You might think it is a small difference, but to me, it sounded like she was thanking those who spent a lot of money to be there, rather than thanking everyone for the sacrifices they made to be in this cluster. The latter is more inclusive. It rankles because it echoes a small minority of parents who have a "well, if you can't pay for it, you shouldn't be here attitude." It made me wince when she started talking about home prices.

[Anonymous]

The BCC principal has a history of pandering to well-off parents and being dismissive of lower-income (or really, just middle income) parents. There are kids at BCC who live in apartments, who live in regular middle class homes in Silver Spring, etc. This was kind of a slap in the face to them -- but not surprising.

[Anonymous]

BCC principal and admin need to get used to the fact that this is a public school that serves many kids, not a "public private" that caters to the rich. She is awful.

[Anonymous]

I don't have the data to support this, but I wonder how much of this is due to BCC having the largest (or at least one of the largest) income disparities in MoCo high schools? The school feeds from everything from public housing to the toniest Bethesda neighborhoods - with everything in between. And it is located in a more urban setting than any other high school. It is a great environment, but probably leads to some serious socioeconomic segregation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's right.

The median HHI for Bethesda is something like 250K. I could afford private for my 2 kids on that.

We looked for a year in this cluster because we liked the combination of good high school (but not best! important for college placement) urban feel, leafy sidewalks, walkability, etc.

We thought about private school, and for our SN child we thought about homeschooling.

There are a handful of good parochial schools in Bethesda, as well as Sidwell, etc.

You could afford the $80K and cost of commuting on a $250K? If that is not net, than no way.

Umm...some of us SAVED and INVESTED our money BEFORE we had kids. We also bought a house below our means. That's how we afford private school on a $150K income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- I still don't really know what choices she meant. Is there any type of magnet or another out of bounds school that we could pick? We just left private, so for us and many others that is not an option. Moving, because of the large transaction fees, is not really an option, and we like where we live.

Richard Montgomery has an application-only IB program. Some BCC kids applied there and chose to go, some chose not to. A number of BCC kids choose (after application) to go to Takoma Park MS magnet and Eastern MS Magnet every year. Having gone to a DCC middle school enables them to apply to any of the HS programs in the DCC area -- popular choices for BCC students have been Blair's "Communication Arts Program" (CAP) or Blair's Math/Science Magnet program. I know students from the BCC area who have chosen these other magnets and some who have chosen BCC instead of these magnet programs. The total number of BCC kids who have chosen another MCPS school is less than a dozen (out of an incoming freshman class of approx 450). Other students choose to apply to local private schools or boarding schools. Most of the time the final choice is based on highly individual student considerations rather than some strong antipathy for BCC; in other words, these choices are made in the context of knowing that BCC is a pretty strong public high school.

When the principal referred to "choice," at the parent meeting a few nights ago, she definitely also meant that BCC parents make a conscious choice to buy in the BCC neighborhood knowing that BCC is a strong high school, and that that "choice" doesn't come cheap. I don't love this line of thought because it encourages a less welcoming attitude among small minority of BCC parents who believe that people who didn't pay up to live in BCC cluster don't belong there (see the threads on the potential MCPS change in rules which would take away the existing right of Rock Creek Forest Immersion kids from outside the BCC cluster to continue from Westland to BCC.)

PP, re - "The total number of BCC kids who have chosen another MCPS school is less than a dozen (out of an incoming freshman class of approx 450)." How do you know this? Are you basing this on the number of kids who did not continue on to BCC from Westland?
If so, you're not counting the families who opt out of MCPS at any point before or after Kindergarten. I'd venture to say there are more than 12 from BCC cluster who do this. It would be interesting to know the numbers, but it's got to be much higher than 12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the Principal said a nice thing.

I think she meant well but wasn't very attuned to how those less affluent of us in the cluster might be made uncomfortable by her "thanking" parents who spent $800 K or more to buy their house and therefore "choose" to send our kid to BCC. Some of us don't have expensive homes or rent and are barely scraping by in order to stay in the cluster because we value the education and environment BCC provides. I think she was trying to be appreciative but what she said came off a little tone deaf to me. I value BCC not only for its ethnic and racial diversity but also for its SES diversity and the fact that it has a strong academic environment at the same time.

PP, I'm sorry you felt that way, but based on how you describe your situation, I think she was speaking to you too. You could choose to rent in NW DC and send your kids to Wilson, rent over by Giant on Westbard and send your kids to Whitman...there are lots of options too for people who rent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's right.

The median HHI for Bethesda is something like 250K. I could afford private for my 2 kids on that.

We looked for a year in this cluster because we liked the combination of good high school (but not best! important for college placement) urban feel, leafy sidewalks, walkability, etc.

We thought about private school, and for our SN child we thought about homeschooling.

There are a handful of good parochial schools in Bethesda, as well as Sidwell, etc.

You could spend $60/K a year on tuition on $250K gross HHI? please explain.

Stock market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the Principal said a nice thing.

I think she meant well but wasn't very attuned to how those less affluent of us in the cluster might be made uncomfortable by her "thanking" parents who spent $800 K or more to buy their house and therefore "choose" to send our kid to BCC. Some of us don't have expensive homes or rent and are barely scraping by in order to stay in the cluster because we value the education and environment BCC provides. I think she was trying to be appreciative but what she said came off a little tone deaf to me. I value BCC not only for its ethnic and racial diversity but also for its SES diversity and the fact that it has a strong academic environment at the same time.

Isn't this the same thing as saying you choose to be in the cluster, even though it involves some hardship? It seems like she's talking about families like yours.

You might think it is a small difference, but to me, it sounded like she was thanking those who spent a lot of money to be there, rather than thanking everyone for the sacrifices they made to be in this cluster. The latter is more inclusive. It rankles because it echoes a small minority of parents who have a "well, if you can't pay for it, you shouldn't be here attitude." It made me wince when she started talking about home prices.

Oh....I don't think OP or PP mentioned that she talked about home prices before she said that. Puts it in context.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The BCC principal has a history of pandering to well-off parents and being dismissive of lower-income (or really, just middle income) parents. There are kids at BCC who live in apartments, who live in regular middle class homes in Silver Spring, etc. This was kind of a slap in the face to them -- but not surprising.

Excuse me, but there are people who send their kids to BCC who live in regular middle class homes in BETHESDA. Not all of us bought in the last few years. Think about it...if you have a kid in HS there you could have easily bought a small 900 - 1500 square foot house in the neighborhood behind BCC for around $150K - $200K. Not all of those houses have been torn down. Not all of them have been improved. There are SHOCK regular MIDDLE CLASS people STILL living in Bethesda - police officers, teachers, government workers, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The BCC principal has a history of pandering to well-off parents and being dismissive of lower-income (or really, just middle income) parents. There are kids at BCC who live in apartments, who live in regular middle class homes in Silver Spring, etc. This was kind of a slap in the face to them -- but not surprising.

Excuse me, but there are people who send their kids to BCC who live in regular middle class homes in BETHESDA. Not all of us bought in the last few years. Think about it...if you have a kid in HS there you could have easily bought a small 900 - 1500 square foot house in the neighborhood behind BCC for around $150K - $200K. Not all of those houses have been torn down. Not all of them have been improved. There are SHOCK regular MIDDLE CLASS people STILL living in Bethesda - police officers, teachers, government workers, etc.

OK, sure, so I will include you in my middle-income comments.

But I think my point stands: the BCC principal has an attitude that people paid to get into her school and should be rewarded for that investment. I have heard her express this many times, in many different ways, but it all comes down to that. This approach is problematic for many reasons in a public school setting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The BCC principal has a history of pandering to well-off parents and being dismissive of lower-income (or really, just middle income) parents. There are kids at BCC who live in apartments, who live in regular middle class homes in Silver Spring, etc. This was kind of a slap in the face to them -- but not surprising.

Excuse me, but there are people who send their kids to BCC who live in regular middle class homes in BETHESDA. Not all of us bought in the last few years. Think about it...if you have a kid in HS there you could have easily bought a small 900 - 1500 square foot house in the neighborhood behind BCC for around $150K - $200K. Not all of those houses have been torn down. Not all of them have been improved. There are SHOCK regular MIDDLE CLASS people STILL living in Bethesda - police officers, teachers, government workers, etc.

Sort of true - We looked in the BCC cluster in 1999 and there was nothing under $200K - we ended up in the Town of Kensington for $190K. But people with high school kids could have bought before that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't have the data to support this, but I wonder how much of this is due to BCC having the largest (or at least one of the largest) income disparities in MoCo high schools? The school feeds from everything from public housing to the toniest Bethesda neighborhoods - with everything in between. And it is located in a more urban setting than any other high school. It is a great environment, but probably leads to some serious socioeconomic segregation.

Please name the public housing that feeds to B-CC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private school

I don't think she was referring to private school because for most people $38,000/yr is not an option.

Sorry, have to disagree.
ICYMI, the CC in B-CC stands for Chevy Chase.

Every go to any of the houses south of E-W highway on either side Conn Ave above the circle?

And pretty sure that enough Bethesda households can/do pay for Sidwell, GDS, St. Albans, Landon, Holton Arms, etc. if admitted.
$30+k is indeed an option for a good number of families in the cluster.

And not all schools run $38k.
Good Counsel 18-19
SJCHS 20
Gonzaga 20
AHC
Stone Ridge 29

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have the data to support this, but I wonder how much of this is due to BCC having the largest (or at least one of the largest) income disparities in MoCo high schools? The school feeds from everything from public housing to the toniest Bethesda neighborhoods - with everything in between. And it is located in a more urban setting than any other high school. It is a great environment, but probably leads to some serious socioeconomic segregation.

Please name the public housing that feeds to B-CC.

http://www.hocmc.org/Properties/Waverly-House.aspx