When your public school is supposed to be one of the best but sucks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disillusionment with “great” publics is why we are at a private.

Same. We started at a top notch private, followed conventional wisdom and moved to the most expensive zip code so that we could send our kids to great public schools. Simply, the only thing great was the level of disappointment in the quality of education and how over burdened the public school system is. It was awful. Over the weekend, we dropped our oldest off at boarding school and am currently making plans to send the younger DC's back to private next fall.

Same with us. Moved to one of the top FCPS schools that every one is raving about. Even though I tried hard not to compare our experience to private school, it was so disappointing in so many ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disillusionment with “great” publics is why we are at a private.

Same. We started at a top notch private, followed conventional wisdom and moved to the most expensive zip code so that we could send our kids to great public schools. Simply, the only thing great was the level of disappointment in the quality of education and how over burdened the public school system is. It was awful. Over the weekend, we dropped our oldest off at boarding school and am currently making plans to send the younger DC's back to private next fall.

We started at one of the top-notice privates in DC that private-school parents tend to rave about, and switched to FCPS when we left NW. Apart from larger class sizes, everything about FCPS was better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My experience is the opposite. My kids’ public school is supposed to be one of the “worst” in FCPS. It’s consistently ranked at the bottom of the GreatSchools list, but I think it’s excellent. Class sizes are small, the Principal is great, and there isn’t crazy pressure to keep up with the Joneses.

+1. Let people think it's bad. My kids' FCPS school pyramid is virtually ignored on this site, but it's solid. Hey, it keeps enrollment down!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Algebra 2...

No one is taking Algebra 2 as a 9th grader who failed their 7th and 8th grade SOL's.

And what does that say about the feeder middle school?

NP. My DD took Algebra 2 even though she failed her 7th & 8th grade math SOLs. She, too, has an IEP for LDs. She's capable of learning higher level math but has working memory issues that make taking comprehensive examinations difficult - among other things. She's always done quite well in classes. I also have another kid in HS who fails, upon occasion, his classes but passes the SOLs. Incomplete homework is his downfall.

Why would you want your child in a high level math and failing in high school verses doing well in the standard level of math?

She's not failing. She does very well in the classes and likes them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My experience is the opposite. My kids’ public school is supposed to be one of the “worst” in FCPS. It’s consistently ranked at the bottom of the GreatSchools list, but I think it’s excellent. Class sizes are small, the Principal is great, and there isn’t crazy pressure to keep up with the Joneses.

+1. Let people think it's bad. My kids' FCPS school pyramid is virtually ignored on this site, but it's solid. Hey, it keeps enrollment down!

Point being, the intangibles are not on Google - but anything else is!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op - just wondered - what is your background and/ or long term school plans?
DH and I both went to public school and support public school.
With 3 kids, private school would be a hardship financially so it’s really not an option for us.

All that being said sometimes things happen in the public school that I’m not thrilled about. I try to tell my it’s good for all of us to learn some resilience and adaptability. And, just because I think something else should be happening - maybe in the long run we will see this other way is better and it’s probably good to do things different ways. Good luck.

Tell us what good comes of mostly high pressure parents?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yup. The admin act like they’re doing you a favor when you’ve paid a s*** ton in property taxes. Sorry OP.

+1

Exactly - the staff! What do those new houses pay in taxes? Isn't it $1k per $100k? That is a ton of money for a school to be constantly overburdened and overcrowded, with insufficient resources. Maybe it is better than what some PPs have as a point of reference, but that is plain sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My experience is the opposite. My kids’ public school is supposed to be one of the “worst” in FCPS. It’s consistently ranked at the bottom of the GreatSchools list, but I think it’s excellent. Class sizes are small, the Principal is great, and there isn’t crazy pressure to keep up with the Joneses.

+1

OP here. This is exactly what I am talking about, I hear this all the time. For all the ("A,B,C) or bust" posts, you can keep it, really. If you want specifics, these kids are supposed to getting ready for college, yet can't even get into the appropriate classes - too crowded. Not to mention, any assistance with college prep (choosing classes and applying to college) is next to zero - again, too crowded. This is just two of many rather significant examples.

My kids went to a Title 1 ES in FCPS. Their MS/HS is routinely bashed in this forum. Yet, they've been fabulous. Sure, there are a number of kids who do really poorly/struggle or drop out - my 9th grader had an 11th grader in his Algebra class. But, we've had no problems with getting support from the counselors, no problems getting classes, etc.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yup. The admin act like they’re doing you a favor when you’ve paid a s*** ton in property taxes. Sorry OP.

+1

Exactly - the staff! What do those new houses pay in taxes? Isn't it $1k per $100k? That is a ton of money for a school to be constantly overburdened and overcrowded, with insufficient resources. Maybe it is better than what some PPs have as a point of reference, but that is plain sad.

To elaborate, that means a $2m house pays $20k/year in taxes? And FCPS can't get their sh*t together? That is a disgrace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op - just wondered - what is your background and/ or long term school plans?
DH and I both went to public school and support public school.
With 3 kids, private school would be a hardship financially so it’s really not an option for us.

All that being said sometimes things happen in the public school that I’m not thrilled about. I try to tell my it’s good for all of us to learn some resilience and adaptability. And, just because I think something else should be happening - maybe in the long run we will see this other way is better and it’s probably good to do things different ways. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yup. The admin act like they’re doing you a favor when you’ve paid a s*** ton in property taxes. Sorry OP.

+1

Exactly - the staff! What do those new houses pay in taxes? Isn't it $1k per $100k? That is a ton of money for a school to be constantly overburdened and overcrowded, with insufficient resources. Maybe it is better than what some PPs have as a point of reference, but that is plain sad.

To elaborate, that means a $2m house pays $20k/year in taxes? And FCPS can't get their sh*t together? That is a disgrace.

You're on quite the little crusade here. Hope it makes you feel better, but it's also pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just a vent. Do not guess which one, because I won't tell you. Suffice to say that this is supposed to be one of the best, and the administration is awful. When we started, friends tried to tell me, but I didn't listen, so it is on me. One of the issues is how crowded it is, but that is just one of the issues. Thanks for listening.

What else makes is bad? The only issues we had with our children was with issues around special education, but the main stream gen ed and accellerated programs were excellent. Decent/acceptable special ed is really hard to find and hard to keep from year to year once found.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yup. The admin act like they’re doing you a favor when you’ve paid a s*** ton in property taxes. Sorry OP.

+1

Exactly - the staff! What do those new houses pay in taxes? Isn't it $1k per $100k? That is a ton of money for a school to be constantly overburdened and overcrowded, with insufficient resources. Maybe it is better than what some PPs have as a point of reference, but that is plain sad.

To elaborate, that means a $2m house pays $20k/year in taxes? And FCPS can't get their sh*t together? That is a disgrace.

True. My McLean neighborhood barely pays for the cost of the kids in our neighborhood attending public school, nevermind the other half of the county’s budget. Taxes are very low here.

Siblings in NEw England, WIsc, and NJ pay more than 2x our rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yup. The admin act like they’re doing you a favor when you’ve paid a s*** ton in property taxes. Sorry OP.

+1

Exactly - the staff! What do those new houses pay in taxes? Isn't it $1k per $100k? That is a ton of money for a school to be constantly overburdened and overcrowded, with insufficient resources. Maybe it is better than what some PPs have as a point of reference, but that is plain sad.

To elaborate, that means a $2m house pays $20k/year in taxes? And FCPS can't get their sh*t together? That is a disgrace.

You're on quite the little crusade here. Hope it makes you feel better, but it's also pathetic.

What is your issue? If you can't answer a question, move along. It is that simple. Fine if it does not pertain to you. Fine if your life is perfect. Move along then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yup. The admin act like they’re doing you a favor when you’ve paid a s*** ton in property taxes. Sorry OP.

+1

Exactly - the staff! What do those new houses pay in taxes? Isn't it $1k per $100k? That is a ton of money for a school to be constantly overburdened and overcrowded, with insufficient resources. Maybe it is better than what some PPs have as a point of reference, but that is plain sad.

To elaborate, that means a $2m house pays $20k/year in taxes? And FCPS can't get their sh*t together? That is a disgrace.

True. My McLean neighborhood barely pays for the cost of the kids in our neighborhood attending public school, nevermind the other half of the county’s budget. Taxes are very low here.

Siblings in NEw England, WIsc, and NJ pay more than 2x our rate.

Really? Our relatives in the midwest and northeast (and south, of course) pay much less - in prestigious areas.