People who ruin neighborhoods (like tkpk) by putting their kids in private school

[Anonymous]

This is also happening in our close in Fairfax County neighborhood. Wealthy millennials have discovered our proximity to the city and are driving up housing prices but sending their kids to private school (our public schools are average but diverse and god forbid some of these couples send their kids to a diverse public school - the same people getting mommy & daddy's help buying the million dollar house are also getting mommy & daddy's help with private school tuition). I would LOVE to stay in our close in neighborhood and buy a larger house, but we can't afford anything and have outgrown our townhome, so we're likely moving to no man's land.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who is “we”? I’ll send my kid to whatever school I want, thank you very much. BTW there are also people who homeschool & send their kids to far-flung magnets. It’s really none of your business. I am free to live wherever I want, too. I am not going to sacrifice my child’s education on the altar of diversity.

Not to mention, my kid wouldn’t be allowed to discuss where we went on spring break, our other house or their ECs, or else your child would feel bad & complain of “bragging.”

And i am free to judge you

Do you think I care if you judge me? I will always do what is best for my family and I myself get to decide what the best would be while you can decide what is best for yours. See how that works?

[Anonymous]

I grew up abroad.

American public schools are a free-for-all behaviorally & academically. I also think illegal immigration is straining public schools’ resources since you don’t need to even be a permanent resident to go to public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is also happening in our close in Fairfax County neighborhood. Wealthy millennials have discovered our proximity to the city and are driving up housing prices but sending their kids to private school (our public schools are average but diverse and god forbid some of these couples send their kids to a diverse public school - the same people getting mommy & daddy's help buying the million dollar house are also getting mommy & daddy's help with private school tuition). I would LOVE to stay in our close in neighborhood and buy a larger house, but we can't afford anything and have outgrown our townhome, so we're likely moving to no man's land.

Jealousy is a disease.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is also happening in our close in Fairfax County neighborhood. Wealthy millennials have discovered our proximity to the city and are driving up housing prices but sending their kids to private school (our public schools are average but diverse and god forbid some of these couples send their kids to a diverse public school - the same people getting mommy & daddy's help buying the million dollar house are also getting mommy & daddy's help with private school tuition). I would LOVE to stay in our close in neighborhood and buy a larger house, but we can't afford anything and have outgrown our townhome, so we're likely moving to no man's land.

You should send them thank-you notes for not overcrowding your local schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Bethesda and I understand what OP is saying. People have the right to send their kids to whatever school they want to, but at the end of the day, white and affluent families enrolling in privates and abandoning the public school system *is* what causes the downfall of public schools. Everyone knows that, otherwise people wouldn’t be speculating how “good” of a school Woodward will be based on its potential demographics. It’s a problem that needs to be solved, but that problem won’t be solved by demonizing families who send their kids to private schools.

I wasn’t under the impression that schools serving Takoma Park suffered from this though. Home prices in Takoma Park are high, and I know a lot of MC and UMC families there who happily send their kids to public schools. Jamie Raskin sent his kids to the publics there! The schools that serve that area are one of the very few in MoCo that aren’t segregated with mostly white high-income white/Asian kids or mostly low-income Black/Hispanic kids. Montgomery Blair’s pyramid is one of the few racially and economically integrated pyramids in the state and possibly the country. They’re schools that people of all income levels like.

There’s plenty of people who send their kids to private schools in Chevy Chase and Bethesda as well, especially if they’re really wealthy. Once you get to the $3M+ home listings in Bethesda, the agents don’t even bother advertising the schools in the listings anymore because they’ve probably figured that there’s a 90% chance someone living in a $3M+ home is sending their kids to private school, even if their house is zoned for Whitman.

Some people definitely send their kids to private school to avoid diversity, and that’s wrong. However, plenty of kids go to private schools because their needs cannot be fulfilled by public schools, and parents have a right to make that decision for their kids. Instead of automatically assuming everyone sends their kids to private schools for malicious reasons, why don’t you ask them what they/their kids like about their private schools and get insight from them about what makes private schools attractive to them. Maybe also ask them what they think of the local public schools. I can guarantee you that a good number of folks in Takoma Park were going to send their kids to private schools regardless of where they lived, even if it was Bethesda. They probably just thought to themselves “there’s no need to pay $200k extra for a house in the Whitman cluster when I don’t even plan on using Whitman or any public schools anyways.”

You lost me with Raskin. Listen the only reason he put his kids in public schools was for his career - teachers unions ARE the backbone of the Democratic Party after all and MCPS admin guaranteed his progeny would attend the private school that is tucked into his neighborhood’s public high schools (Blair magnet). There are plenty others that get the pass. Hans Reimer - former MoCo councilman, same deal. Blair is a far cry from Blair Magnet.

[Anonymous]

My children aren’t circus performers, existing to model proper behavior to animals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is also happening in our close in Fairfax County neighborhood. Wealthy millennials have discovered our proximity to the city and are driving up housing prices but sending their kids to private school (our public schools are average but diverse and god forbid some of these couples send their kids to a diverse public school - the same people getting mommy & daddy's help buying the million dollar house are also getting mommy & daddy's help with private school tuition). I would LOVE to stay in our close in neighborhood and buy a larger house, but we can't afford anything and have outgrown our townhome, so we're likely moving to no man's land.

Jealousy is a disease.

I'm certainly not jealous of how your live will change when mommy & daddy aren't able to do anything for you in 15-20 years. Millennials are in for a world of hurt - you may be inheriting a ton of money, but you're going to be woefully unprepared to live life without your parents' guidance. good luck.

[Anonymous]

OP, my 3.5 year-old DD can read sentences, sing many different songs in full, tell elaborate stories of events that occurred last week/month/year with accuracy and can spell out almost any word out loud. I am already dreading that we live in a place with a 9/1 cutoff, and she was born on 9/5, so she is years away from attending K.

She would not be well-served by attending our local public, surrounded by kids who’ve never used scissors and can’t read or write yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is also happening in our close in Fairfax County neighborhood. Wealthy millennials have discovered our proximity to the city and are driving up housing prices but sending their kids to private school (our public schools are average but diverse and god forbid some of these couples send their kids to a diverse public school - the same people getting mommy & daddy's help buying the million dollar house are also getting mommy & daddy's help with private school tuition). I would LOVE to stay in our close in neighborhood and buy a larger house, but we can't afford anything and have outgrown our townhome, so we're likely moving to no man's land.

Jealousy is a disease.

I'm certainly not jealous of how your live will change when mommy & daddy aren't able to do anything for you in 15-20 years. Millennials are in for a world of hurt - you may be inheriting a ton of money, but you're going to be woefully unprepared to live life without your parents' guidance. good luck.

You should be glad those millennials are putting their kids in private—you wouldn’t respond well to what they’d demand in public school, and they aren’t crowding a public school.

[Anonymous]

Don’t move to Alexandria City or the nice parts near route one then

[Anonymous]

At least they are supposedly decent neighbors, no crime, no noise and eye sores, and their children don’t create the challenges for public schools you mention in your OP.
Why is your frustration not directed at people who are exactly the root of the problems that your public schools face?
My kid goes to public but if I could afford it I would send him to private of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would gladly send my kids to public school—if I were living in a town-based school system like the one I grew up in, where there is no risk of being “rezoned”; small, uncrowded schools; fewer rentals (sorry not sorry); and ability to guarantee my kid could walk to school from k-12 (goes back to the rezoning point). Alas, I live in MoCo, where none of that is the case, so private we go.

Well this describes Massachusetts- and that really is an exception.

Also PA, NJ, NY & CT.

Isn’t this falls church, basically?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up abroad.

American public schools are a free-for-all behaviorally & academically. I also think illegal immigration is straining public schools’ resources since you don’t need to even be a permanent resident to go to public school.

Another foreigner and while I agree re: illegal immigration, there is also plenty of homegrown generational poverty/lack of education
It’s just the overall trend that more and more decent families send their kids to privates.
These trends are more visible in certain places than others but in 20 years it will be very visible everywhere unfortunately

[Anonymous]

I get where you are coming from OP, but I'd just give up on this argument. Focus on the people who actually are using the public schools and make the best environment you can. People who will jump to private if the local schools are not what them by are not going to be guilted into sending their kids to public for you. Even some of the most progressive UMC/rich people I know ultimately will tell you that it is not worth it to sacrifice their individual child's education to improve public schools for everyone. You will not change their minds, and rants like this only further alienate them.

Make the schools as good as you can. Some parents with other options will see it and take a chance on the schools -- the ones most open to it, the ones who value neighborhood schools and diversity. As the schools improve, you'll get more and more of them. Eventually people will send their kids to the public schools without even thinking about it, and some will even claim to have helped make those schools great. You will know the truth -- that they only showed up when the hard work was done and their kids could be guaranteed great facilities, access to top notch teachers and programs, robust after school and enrichment programming, etc.

You will never change their minds in the interim.