What do you love about your kid’s MoCo school?

[Anonymous]

that they will be done in a few years and no more of the lame schools that are living of their better years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:that they will be done in a few years and no more of the lame schools that are living of their better years.

You, also, forgot to say what you love about your kid's MoCo school.

[Anonymous]

This is random, but I like the staff members who I see everyday during pickup. They are cheerful. Even if it’s an act, I appreciate the smiles and wishes for a lovely evening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the best thing about your school?

That the MCPS Public Relations department uses anonymous chat rooms to promote the brand.

OP here. We’re actually moving to MoCo over winter break from out of state and this board was giving me horrible buyer’s remorse. Just wanted to hear the good things. I get that DCUM seems to exist for the purpose of demonizing everything in the area and that people generally have to be masochists to post questions here, but I have found (most of) the answers heartening.

Thanks to those who answered thoughtfully.

MCPS curriculum is terrible. If you kid has SN and the school is terrible, forget getting any help. I can't wait to move away. Also, I don't make enough to live in the house that I want, or in a neighborhood that leads to a small commute, but that's on me.

I fixed that for you.

[Anonymous]

I’m curious exactly which schools in MCPS everyone hates so much.

Especially since everyone in DCUM is from Bethesda/Potomac/Richville


OP, where in MoCo did you move? People here are spoiled and don’t realize that, even though we have problems, we have it better than many other places and the special needs services are the best in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Principal is fantastic. He greets every child at the door every morning and would call them by their name. The teachers- every single teacher that my children had was excellent and dedicated to make sure that they were challenged at the appropriate level. Finally, the community of parents -parents who are non-pretentious and are actively involved with the school. The PTA events rock. This is a focus ES in Gaithersburg.

I bet you're at Strawberry Knoll.

Just wait until your kid hits middle and high.

What is your personal, first-hand, direct experience with Gaithersburg MS and Gaithersburg HS?

Let's just say that when you're in the system, you know a lot more . . . good or bad.

In other words: you don't have any.

25 years in MCPS . . .

high school
NEC
DCC
two kids who WERE in the system - in a "fairly good" cluster that's sinking quickly

I hardly THING I don't have any INSIDER knowledge.

You have no clue . . . But ignorance is certainly bliss, honey bun. blissfully ignorant!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Principal is fantastic. He greets every child at the door every morning and would call them by their name. The teachers- every single teacher that my children had was excellent and dedicated to make sure that they were challenged at the appropriate level. Finally, the community of parents -parents who are non-pretentious and are actively involved with the school. The PTA events rock. This is a focus ES in Gaithersburg.

I bet you're at Strawberry Knoll.

Just wait until your kid hits middle and high.

What is your personal, first-hand, direct experience with Gaithersburg MS and Gaithersburg HS?

Let's just say that when you're in the system, you know a lot more . . . good or bad.

In other words: you don't have any.

25 years in MCPS . . .

high school
NEC
DCC
two kids who WERE in the system - in a "fairly good" cluster that's sinking quickly

I hardly THING I don't have any INSIDER knowledge.

You have no clue . . . But ignorance is certainly bliss, honey bun. blissfully ignorant!!! or maybe just simple-minded, eh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the RM cluster, my kids are in elementary. We moved here for the schools from Silver Spring where we were paying for a private school, and two years in I couldn't be happier with my decision.

I love how the curriculum connects the kids to the broader world and concepts within in. They are learning to be global citizens, which is tremendously important to me as a first generation American with strong ties to my parents' home country and friends around the world.

I love how they are embedding practical things in the curriculum. To learn about local governments, the role of city councils, citizen voice, and budget trade-offs as a third grader?? That was stuff I learned in high school. My Kindergardner came home talking about empathy -- that is awesome and 100% in sync with my value system.

I love how they are not doing drills and rote memorization, but learning about math holistically. I remember being drilled on times table, my kid is decomposing and composing and learning to solve problems multiple ways. The challenge word problems on homework sheets are really neat and I enjoy seeing my kid solve them.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE some of the teachers who pour their heart and soul into teaching my kids. There are some who are so good, and truly have inspired my kids to excel.

I love that I can read class lists and say "Indian, Korean, Russian, Serbian, Armenian, Latin American, Nigerian, Irish, German, etc." when I see the names. That is the essence of America. And my kids are so fortunate to be exposed to such diversity of ideas, cultures, and values.

I think we are in the same school I was going to write pretty much the same thing about CGES. We have had both great and just good teachers (in 4th now), but school culture is phenomenal. I LOVE our principal and still cant figure out how she manages to remember each kid by name in almost 1,000 kids school!

Yup, we are talking about one and the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

25 years in MCPS . . .

high school
NEC
DCC
two kids who WERE in the system - in a "fairly good" cluster that's sinking quickly

I hardly THING I don't have any INSIDER knowledge.

You have no clue . . . But ignorance is certainly bliss, honey bun. blissfully ignorant!!! or maybe just simple-minded, eh?

So: no personal experience with the Gaithersburg cluster - unless you taught in it, and you're not saying?

[Anonymous]

We loved the IB program at Einstein. My 3 kids finish it and say it was great prep for college.

[Anonymous]

I love the fresh renovation coupled to small class sizes, engaging Planetarium with it’s own curriculum. Strong peer groups

Woodacres Elementary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:that they will be done in a few years and no more of the lame schools that are living of their better years.

Living their better years? How do you explain these?

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/mcps-takes-first-place-in-ranking-on-college-preparedness-stem-career-readiness/

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/press/index.aspx?pagetype=showrelease&id=8161&type=&startYear=&pageNumber=&mode=

Even when "living their better years ", they are still dominating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love the fresh renovation coupled to small class sizes, engaging Planetarium with it’s own curriculum. Strong peer groups

Woodacres Elementary

I wouldn't say that Wood Acres has small class sizes. The planetarium is cool though and we have been happy overall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious exactly which schools in MCPS everyone hates so much.

Especially since everyone in DCUM is from Bethesda/Potomac/Richville


OP, where in MoCo did you move? People here are spoiled and don’t realize that, even though we have problems, we have it better than many other places and the special needs services are the best in the country.

Mother of two special needs children in a W school cluster. For some disabilities - ie. autism - a child may get better than elsewhere in the country. However, for most disabilities, MCPS in my cluster has done a bad job from screening, identifying, and following the IEPs they wrote for my children. I paid for private testing that showed far more than MCPS recognized in my children. I paid for private services to fill in gaps when MCPS was falling flat in implementing the services recommended.

I have a nephew who received better services when my sister moved out of state. Instead of mindless meetings with no followup, their school district focussed on the child and used universal design to teach study skills on a general education classroom to compensate for his disability including integrating apps on his phone for organization and reminders. I would have moved to where my sister is if it wasn't for my husband's job being tied to the DC area.

One child was abused at school by a staff member. His disability made him a target. That is as bad as MCPS gets. I took him out of MCPS when we found out what happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious exactly which schools in MCPS everyone hates so much.

Especially since everyone in DCUM is from Bethesda/Potomac/Richville


OP, where in MoCo did you move? People here are spoiled and don’t realize that, even though we have problems, we have it better than many other places and the special needs services are the best in the country.

Mother of two special needs children in a W school cluster. For some disabilities - ie. autism - a child may get better than elsewhere in the country. However, for most disabilities, MCPS in my cluster has done a bad job from screening, identifying, and following the IEPs they wrote for my children. I paid for private testing that showed far more than MCPS recognized in my children. I paid for private services to fill in gaps when MCPS was falling flat in implementing the services recommended.

I have a nephew who received better services when my sister moved out of state. Instead of mindless meetings with no followup, their school district focussed on the child and used universal design to teach study skills on a general education classroom to compensate for his disability including integrating apps on his phone for organization and reminders. I would have moved to where my sister is if it wasn't for my husband's job being tied to the DC area.

One child was abused at school by a staff member. His disability made him a target. That is as bad as MCPS gets. I took him out of MCPS when we found out what happened.

I’m sorry you did not have a good experience. We have been given so many resources and so much help for our son (not on the spectrum) it’s been wonderful. Whenever we visit our pediatrics dec doc she says how lucky we are to be in moco because we’ll get what we need since they have the resources.

I hear horror stories about kids not being eligible for services in other counties and states simply bc their need isn’t “bad enough”

As for the abuse charges, that is obviously horrifying, unfortunately mcps isn’t the only place it happens.