Low Performing Bowie-Mitchellville schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here. Sorry not sorry. My parents came from disadvantaged backgrounds and made the eat for us, by focusing on us and our education. I have no idea what this parents want and they aren’t my concern. I’m fine with contributing via taxes to the schools but that’s where it stops for me. I advocate for this less fortunate, but not at the expense of my child. If that’s selfish, I’m ok with that. I’m not rich, but I have options. And fixing pgps is not my focus.

And what exactly are you sacrificing by sending your daughter to PGCPS? Lmao. You’re acting like you’re sending her to school in a third world country. Listen to yourself, you sound ridiculous. You can focus on your daughter and her education while also sending her to public schools. Rich kids who go to PGCPS don’t suffer, they still do fine. Studies have shown that parental wealth is the single most important factor in how well a child succeeds academically, not where there kids go to school. You can’t claim that you advocate for the less fortunate and then say you are anti-public school and support “school choice,” things that hinder the opportunities for the less fortunate. Do you realize that you were lucky to have parents that focused on you? Do you realize that some people’s parents are literally working 3 jobs so their kids can be able to eat? Most parents are doing as much as they can. You could have easily been stuck poor and struggling had you been born to different parents, or had their situation been a little worse. A child’s future shouldn’t be determined by what parents they’re born to. A child’s access to a quality education shouldn’t be determined by what family they were born into. A child’s access to education should not be determined by their skin color or income. But unfortunately it is, and it’s because of people like you and everyone else in this thread who echos the same sentiments.

I honestly don’t think that most people are bothered by the public schools because of the quality. There is no difference between how kids in Crofton kids and Bowie kids perform in schools, when you compare kids by their demographics. Crofton schools have their fair share of behavioral issues as well. A 14-year old kid from there was beaten to death on his bike by other teens from Crofton who claimed they were in gangs back in 2009, and they were bringing gang issues to both of the high schools that served them around that time period. Even though the gang issues have been cleared up, Crofton Middle still reported some of the highest citations of any middle school in Anne Arundel County. Crofton still gets all the white flight from Bowie, because Crofton is majority-white and UMC. Meanwhile, Bowie kids are ridiculed simply because they are Black and occasionally lower income. Nobody is safer at Crofton schools compared to Bowie schools. The grass is not always greener on the other side of the hill.

People send their kids to these mediocre private schools in PG County and in the Annapolis area with piss poor SAT scores and an underwhelming list of colleges that their kids go to. They don’t even release standardized test scores and many of the public schools have better SAT scores and college outcomes.

Most people don’t send their kids to Bowie schools because they listen to snap judgements and don’t do their own research, or they are just racist. It’s not anything else. None of the other arguments that people try to bring up hold true with the facts. PGCPS isn’t inherently anymore poorly managed than any other school system around here is, and most of the issues (crowded schools, fights, etc) exist in other school systems as well. It’s impressive that PG schools are as good as they are relative to how little parental involvement they get. Many of PG’s superintendents were previously superintendents of counties that people on here rave about.

And btw, I’m not affiliated with PGCPS. I’m a graduate of a well-respected school in DCUM, but my nephew goes to Bowie schools and he’s doing absolutely fine because he has involved parents.

You keep typing these long responses. Every child is different. My kid would not do well in a class of 32 kids. However, me as a kid, I did just fine. I was a different learning than my child. So what am I sacrificing? Possibly my kids ability to read or get the information that they need. You keep saying "mediocre" private schools?!? Ok, your point. And not to mention, they are not all mediocre AND a lot of us do not send our kids to privates in PG or Annapolis so there you have it. And again, I could care less, my taxes assist the less fortunate but I'm not sending my kid in the trenches to not get the most out of learning because you or anybody else think I should. I can't help but laugh at involved parents. LMAO!!!! I am very involved but like I said I know what my kid needs. Period! And FWIW, you can again keep sayin mediocre private schools; those mediocre private schools might even be a step up from public school by a hair but for the most part PGCPS is lacking and I don't have any issue with a parent choosing not to send their kid.

[Anonymous]

Excuse my typos. *learner*

[Anonymous]

We are people of color but not white and PG county public schools are serving my kids well. I paid half of what my friends in MOCO paid for double the house and the money I’m saving is going to go to my kids for college and down payments for their homes. I personally feel like living in PG county is a great option and I’m amazed that racism actually pushes people to make financially stupid decisions for themselves. I know many people whose children went through PG county public schools and their children are doctors, dentists, and engineers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are people of color but not white and PG county public schools are serving my kids well. I paid half of what my friends in MOCO paid for double the house and the money I’m saving is going to go to my kids for college and down payments for their homes. I personally feel like living in PG county is a great option and I’m amazed that racism actually pushes people to make financially stupid decisions for themselves. I know many people whose children went through PG county public schools and their children are doctors, dentists, and engineers.

+100 my kids too. The teachers are excellent.

[Anonymous]

Class sizes in PGCPS can be all over the place. It depends on enrollment on a given year and how the forecasted enrollment and the actual enrollment match up. My eldest started her K year with 28 kids in the class because the projected enrollment was too low. The Principal hired an additional teacher in Oct and then the class size went down to 22. Same school 5 years later, my son's K class was 17.
PGCPS uses school based budgeting and a Principal can prioritize small class sizes in lower elementary by hiring additional teachers instead of a full time librarian or an additional para-professional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Class sizes in PGCPS can be all over the place. It depends on enrollment on a given year and how the forecasted enrollment and the actual enrollment match up. My eldest started her K year with 28 kids in the class because the projected enrollment was too low. The Principal hired an additional teacher in Oct and then the class size went down to 22. Same school 5 years later, my son's K class was 17.
PGCPS uses school based budgeting and a Principal can prioritize small class sizes in lower elementary by hiring additional teachers instead of a full time librarian or an additional para-professional.

This is true. Additional teachers and assistants are based on budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This is ludicrous. I’m not sending my child to public school to help some neighborhood kids whose parents aren’t involved or don’t have the means to be. That is not my problem. My focus is MY child.

If everyone had this view, all public schools would be mediocre

True but where is the lie? I’m not the PP but the focus is definitely my kids.

Is it not possible to focus on your kids and also care about the well-being of society?

After all, it’s important to remember that PG County schools are “bad” relative to other Maryland schools. At least half of them would put schools in most other states to shame. Studies have shown that parental income is the largest factor in determining academic achievement. So, sending your child to a PG school would hardly make a difference in their future.


The public schools in these other areas didn’t just automatically become good out of nowhere. They were also mediocre when they first started out. They achieved excellence after the families their invested in their community.

Someone should start an effort to improve the issues in PGCPS. Just start a Facebook group or something and add people with similar concerns to it. It’s your community, these are your schools, your taxes are paying for them. The best thing you can do for your children is to invest in the community they grow up in, as well as all the kids who are part of that community. That involves advocating for people less privileged than you.

This “f you, I got mine” mentality is the reason that people from disadvantaged backgrounds remain in the positions they’re in. It’s so easy to shrug it off as not being your issue, but remember, those kids want to go to school and learn to. Their parents want the same thing for their kids that you want for yours as well, and their families value education. Nobody should assume otherwise. There’s always the assumption that Black families don’t care value education and that Black kids don’t value it, when it’s actually that there are systematic barriers that prevent disadvantaged students from learning. Think about all those poor Black and Hispanic kids who had to sit in parking lots for WiFi to do their homework during the pandemic back when it first hit. Rich people dodging their publics only exacerbates these inequities even more.

Your kids need you, but other kids need you as well. You can focus on your kids first while also still showing concern for other kids, especially those who come from environments where they aren’t able to receive sufficient parental support.

Excellent post! I agree 1000%. Robert Putnam has a book called Our Kids that is appropriate here. Racism has destroyed our sense of community to each other and the children especially. It takes a village to raise a child but in the DC metro area, the village is full of selfish, NIMBY adults that view children as someone else's problem, even though that child could might become the future doctor to save their lives when they are aging. Children are investments in all of our future.