Why are ES schools in affluent areas all of sudden under enrolled ?

[Anonymous]

For incoming Ks, I thought 2008-2009 were lower birth years? A friend of mine is moving to NY and her school is also seeing very low enrollment for Ks. It's also an excellent school that is in high demand.
No, they don't have 2.0.

[Anonymous]

I do think there is a trend of doing private K and move back to the public school for first grade.

I know of three are planning doing that this year.

[Anonymous]

I'm in Chevy Chase. Would love to know of these schools that are underenrolled. Not true here. Some in our neighborhood go to privates, but none for any reasons to do with 2.0 - there are World Bank/diplomat families whose tuitions are fully funded and who want bilingual education; there are others who want greater racial/ethnic diversity than the local publics offer; and some who want religious education.

Please tell us where the schools that are begging for K students are located... I've got one and would love her to have smaller class sizes!

[Anonymous]

We are > 150% over enrollment in BCC at our areas schools . . .

http://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/Dozens-of-Area-Schools-Operating-Over-Recommended-Enrollment-261580331.html?_osource=SocialFlowFB_DCBrand

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2nd grader - rising 3rd grader and rising K bailing for private next year. I NEVER thought we would pay for private. My older child had a great education and was challenged. I accepted that MCPS didn't offer much art, music, language, and science but planned on doing outside activities and classes depending on the kids' interest. After sticking it out with 2.0 for K-2, trust me its awful. My kids could get a better education if I hired a teenage baby-sitter to sit with them at a library and do worksheets all day.

My local MCPS school is desperate for K students. They can only fill 2 classes.

Which school is this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in Chevy Chase. Would love to know of these schools that are underenrolled. Not true here. Some in our neighborhood go to privates, but none for any reasons to do with 2.0 - there are World Bank/diplomat families whose tuitions are fully funded and who want bilingual education; there are others who want greater racial/ethnic diversity than the local publics offer; and some who want religious education.

Please tell us where the schools that are begging for K students are located... I've got one and would love her to have smaller class sizes!

It's in the Churchill cluster. Read the thread on MCPS and redistricting. There's a link to which schools are under capacity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in Chevy Chase. Would love to know of these schools that are underenrolled. Not true here. Some in our neighborhood go to privates, but none for any reasons to do with 2.0 - there are World Bank/diplomat families whose tuitions are fully funded and who want bilingual education; there are others who want greater racial/ethnic diversity than the local publics offer; and some who want religious education.

Please tell us where the schools that are begging for K students are located... I've got one and would love her to have smaller class sizes!

Private schools are more racially and ethnically diverse than public school??

[Anonymous]

New poster - yes, some of the privates are more diverse, particularly if you are in the Whitman feeder, than YES for sure. You can view the stats online. Most good privates have no more than 70% white, 10% to 30% on FA, whereas Whiteman is 97% white I think, and very tiny FARMS rate. Of course FARMS is generally more impoverished than FA at a private school, which may include more middle/lower middle families. Just looked at a bunch of privates and was shocked by what I saw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New poster - yes, some of the privates are more diverse, particularly if you are in the Whitman feeder, than YES for sure. You can view the stats online. Most good privates have no more than 70% white, 10% to 30% on FA, whereas Whiteman is 97% white I think, and very tiny FARMS rate. Of course FARMS is generally more impoverished than FA at a private school, which may include more middle/lower middle families. Just looked at a bunch of privates and was shocked by what I saw.

Whitman is 70% white, not 97%. Good grief.

[Anonymous]

This is PP. Sorry, you're right. What I was really thinking of was the small percentage of African Americans - less than 5%. There are far more than 5% at area privates, and many AAs in high level staff and teaching positions as well.

There is also about 30% on FA, versus <5% FARMS for Whitman (which I realize is not apples-apples as FARMS is far more impoverished), but....I definitely did get the sense from my private school tours that they are MUCH more diverse than Whitman. That's not the case with BCC, which has a broader mix of wealthy, upper middle, FARMs, and middle class.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04427.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that you might benefit from a nice conversation from some parents of elementary school students in the Richard Montgomery cluster.

Or, if that's not affluent enough for you, some parents at Bethesda ES or Burning Tree ES. Both schools are at 128% of capacity.

Richard Montgomery affluent??? LOL. It is like an inner city school with some middle class. No affuent kids there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in Chevy Chase. Would love to know of these schools that are underenrolled. Not true here. Some in our neighborhood go to privates, but none for any reasons to do with 2.0 - there are World Bank/diplomat families whose tuitions are fully funded and who want bilingual education; there are others who want greater racial/ethnic diversity than the local publics offer; and some who want religious education.

Please tell us where the schools that are begging for K students are located... I've got one and would love her to have smaller class sizes!

Private schools are more racially and ethnically diverse than public school??

Yes but they pick the best from each culture. A lite different than public where 30% of Hispanics do not even graduate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is PP. Sorry, you're right. What I was really thinking of was the small percentage of African Americans - less than 5%. There are far more than 5% at area privates, and many AAs in high level staff and teaching positions as well.

There is also about 30% on FA, versus <5% FARMS for Whitman (which I realize is not apples-apples as FARMS is far more impoverished), but....I definitely did get the sense from my private school tours that they are MUCH more diverse than Whitman. That's not the case with BCC, which has a broader mix of wealthy, upper middle, FARMs, and middle class.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04427.pdf

30% on FA is not a good comparison to FARMS. There are definitely Whitman families not on FARMS who could qualify for FA at a private school. Not saying it's a ton of SES diversity but our experience in private school was that there was very little economic diversity as well- in fact less than there is at Whitman.

Our private school had a good base of AA students but very few Asian and Hispanic students. That tends to be the case at many of the private schools. So it depends how you define diversity.

[Anonymous]

14:00, you are wrong. RM - its pretty mixed. Go back to Whitman, you pathetic snob.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that you might benefit from a nice conversation from some parents of elementary school students in the Richard Montgomery cluster.

Or, if that's not affluent enough for you, some parents at Bethesda ES or Burning Tree ES. Both schools are at 128% of capacity.

Richard Montgomery affluent??? LOL. It is like an inner city school with some middle class. No affuent kids there.

There are $1.4M townhomes in the RM cluster. There's definitely some affluence in that cluster.