Trying to decide whether we should stay at private or go back to public
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Anonymous
I know this is not the same school, due to the price tag, but my friends in one school have pointed out how families who came into their small community during Covid from public, immediately started making "subtle, constructive" digs at the things that made their school, "them" like discipline, uniform policies, more paper compared to tech....and they got tired of hearing it. They socialize in an "everyone in the class is invited to the birthday party" way but avoid being cornered in the kitchen with the family who seems so hard to please, and whose kid(s) are unkind/impolite/pushy to the kids of people they have known for years. Not saying that this is OPs situation, but it is something I heard about a lot this month, especially kids announcing to their class they are leaving when there is a conflict, without parents realizing they are making these announcements. |
Anonymous
Not at our private. Had close contact with teacher and masks were “required” for 10 days for my child’s cohort and only 6 out of his class of 15 wore them and 1 out if 8 teachers in his rotation of teachers. Headmaster promised that it’s going to be enforced and played naive. Day 7 was Friday and no change. There is no governing body of people available to make sure rules are being adhered to and private can get away with these inconsistencies with no worry of reprisal. |
Anonymous
The post says "some" -- which means not applicable to everyone feeling that way. |
Anonymous
Lol! Come take a look at my children’s Catholic private school which is not entirely conservative but many some send their children to private because they are conservative and don’t want mask, but can also say some of the more liberal families are anti-mask as well. Mask wearing is not happening more in private. Keep dreaming if you think that smaller class size is lesser exposure, I can assure you there is less mask wearing in this environment. Many like you think because it’s smaller, students are safer. Wrong, only need 1 to expose everyone. |
Anonymous
You are attempting to backtrack. Don’t hang your hat on the word “some” being used, the post planted the seed and implied all. |
Anonymous
NP. We have been at our private school for many years. During our tenure, there has been significant change in leadership and, in our view, deterioration of community and core values, even pre-COVID. While private schools must cater to big donors and faculty kids to a degree, ours has gone overboard, creating more of an insider/squeaky wheel vibe. We used to love the community and have given a lot of money and energy over the years to support it. Our oldest DC remains because of a solid core of friendships, but we pulled our younger children and sent them to another private school and it is so much better. I am astonished daily by the contrasts. OP, I can't comment on the value of private vs public but I will encourage you to trust your gut. If a community vibe feels off, I'd make a change. There may be underlying issues for which you have limited context. |
Anonymous
| Personally i don't think it's great for kids to keep switching schools, so I would stay put until at least middle school if finances aren't an issue as long as your child is doing well academically and socially. As for reciprocating playdates, it's still a pandemic and some parents are still trying to minimize playdates - especially before vacations, events or when they'll be socializing with older family members. I wouldn't think that's necessarily what it will be like once COVID transmission eases more. |
Anonymous
I think in general- private school or not- people in the DC area just aren't that big on playdates. It's incredibly frustrating because my daughter is constantly asking for friends to play with, but I think most people in this area either have too many kids to deal with playdates or they're just so overbooked with extracurricular activities that they don't have time to plan or execute playdates. The only playdates my daughter has on a consistent basis are with neighborhood friends, and any other playdates with have I host without any expectation that they will be reciprocated. I used to get so annoyed with making the effort to invite all of these kids over and never get a return invite, but now I'm just resigned to the fact that that's the way people are around here. |
Anonymous
| Are play dates only for small kids? My elementary kid got a lot of play dates. My 7th grade got none except for birthday party invitations. Is this normal in the private schools? |
Anonymous
Not true. Our school is very small and we all got COVID from another student because the school is mask optional. I am transferring my kid to public next year and when I stopped by recently to drop off paperwork, every single kid in the school was still masked even though they had been mask optional earlier than the private did. We are in a ‘W’ zoned school so maybe higher educated parents are more prone to encourage their kids to mask. |
Anonymous
With older kids most of the time they are hanging out or socializing over social media rather than in person. They are also more busy with sports or extra curriculars. I think teens hang out in groups or at organized social events more than one on one playdates, but sometimes my 7th grader will specifically ask to have a friend over and we'll make arrangements. Since teens don't want to have as much involvement with their parents as they used to, you either have to wait for them to bring it up or just ask if they want to invite a friend over sometime. |
Anonymous
The plural of anecdote is not data. |
Anonymous
Same, our private is not bound by any board to enforce rules. Have had close contacts and “requirements” were not followed by students or staff. |
Anonymous
Good, then we can dismiss you. |
Anonymous
Thank you |