University Park Elementary School: Brutally honest opinions from current parents?

[Anonymous]

We continued with the public schools. My 11th grader is at Eleanor Roosevelt High School. She's happy and doing well there. It's not perfect. It has all the problems you would expect in a big, urban high school. The academics are generally pretty good, though. The English instruction is fair to middling at best. For her, peer pressure means pressure to take more AP classes.

My younger kid is finishing TAG at Greenbelt Middle. I'm not thrilled with it. It's not that the school is bad, but rather that I doubt that the academics are any better than the usual classes.

If you are thinking about private school for academic reasons, remember that you can always keep your kid in public school and hire a tutor/work with the kid at home if he or she has trouble in a subject or needs more challenge. It's cheaper than tuition!

The one thing that I have loved about all the public schools my white kids have attended is all the friends they have made from different cultures and socioeconomic circumstances.

[Anonymous]

We continued with the public schools. My 11th grader is at Eleanor Roosevelt High School. She's happy and doing well there. It's not perfect. It has all the problems you would expect in a big, urban high school. The academics are generally pretty good, though. The English instruction is fair to middling at best. For her, peer pressure means pressure to take more AP classes.

My younger kid is finishing TAG at Greenbelt Middle. I'm not thrilled with it. It's not that the school is bad, but rather that I doubt that the academics are any better than the usual classes.

If you are thinking about private school for academic reasons, remember that you can always keep your kid in public school and hire a tutor/work with the kid at home if he or she has trouble in a subject or needs more challenge. It's cheaper than tuition!

The one thing that I have loved about all the public schools my white kids have attended is all the friends they have made from different cultures and socioeconomic circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We continued with the public schools. My 11th grader is at Eleanor Roosevelt High School. She's happy and doing well there. It's not perfect. It has all the problems you would expect in a big, urban high school. The academics are generally pretty good, though. The English instruction is fair to middling at best. For her, peer pressure means pressure to take more AP classes.

My younger kid is finishing TAG at Greenbelt Middle. I'm not thrilled with it. It's not that the school is bad, but rather that I doubt that the academics are any better than the usual classes.

If you are thinking about private school for academic reasons, remember that you can always keep your kid in public school and hire a tutor/work with the kid at home if he or she has trouble in a subject or needs more challenge. It's cheaper than tuition!

The one thing that I have loved about all the public schools my white kids have attended is all the friends they have made from different cultures and socioeconomic circumstances.

Thank you for the thorough reply! I do want the diversity of experience and friendships for my own kids. It is hard to gauge the balance of that experience with academic opportunity and personal anecdotes are helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We continued with the public schools. My 11th grader is at Eleanor Roosevelt High School. She's happy and doing well there. It's not perfect. It has all the problems you would expect in a big, urban high school. The academics are generally pretty good, though. The English instruction is fair to middling at best. For her, peer pressure means pressure to take more AP classes.

My younger kid is finishing TAG at Greenbelt Middle. I'm not thrilled with it. It's not that the school is bad, but rather that I doubt that the academics are any better than the usual classes.

If you are thinking about private school for academic reasons, remember that you can always keep your kid in public school and hire a tutor/work with the kid at home if he or she has trouble in a subject or needs more challenge. It's cheaper than tuition!

The one thing that I have loved about all the public schools my white kids have attended is all the friends they have made from different cultures and socioeconomic circumstances.

Thank you for the thorough reply! I do want the diversity of experience and friendships for my own kids. It is hard to gauge the balance of that experience with academic opportunity and personal anecdotes are helpful.

This has been my experience as well and I can assure you that my kids (and many other kids I know) have gotten just as good an education as the kids I know who live in surrounding counties. Seriously. This is a real issue but on a practical level it is WAY overblown.

I've even had friends who have moved to montgomery county "for the schools" and then ended up struggling because the school wasn't a good fit...

[Anonymous]

Class of 2006