When your public school is supposed to be one of the best but sucks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school the OP is talking about has got to be Cooper Middle School. The principal is just awful - she's been there for an eternity. She doesn't like any parent participation. The catchment area is huge but the school does nothing to make any of the children feel welcome or try to integrate the kids at all.

This could be said of many schools in this area, because of the parents tendency toward drama. Ask a teacher at a dinner party.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school the OP is talking about has got to be Cooper Middle School. The principal is just awful - she's been there for an eternity. She doesn't like any parent participation. The catchment area is huge but the school does nothing to make any of the children feel welcome or try to integrate the kids at all.

This could be said of many schools in this area, because of the parents tendency toward drama. Ask a teacher at a dinner party.

Everyone knows Cooper/Langley parents are especially prone to drama.

[Anonymous]

Some of the top rated schools would have successful students even if the kids did not attend. Parents in this area are educated and wealthy and provide nearly everything students need. I’m quite sure my kids’ school has done little to educate my kids who read a lot outside of school and rarely encounter material that is new for them in school. Yet the school has high ratings, high SATs, etc. the school is a dysfunctional disaster that FCPS touts as one of its best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of the top rated schools would have successful students even if the kids did not attend. Parents in this area are educated and wealthy and provide nearly everything students need. I’m quite sure my kids’ school has done little to educate my kids who read a lot outside of school and rarely encounter material that is new for them in school. Yet the school has high ratings, high SATs, etc. the school is a dysfunctional disaster that FCPS touts as one of its best.

I agree. We moved our kid from private school to FCPS HS. She told us that she knew much more at the beginning of the 9th grade than at the graduation from HS. She got to top colleges, including some Ivy Leage schools that our HS never sent students before. So, her SAT, GPA, college admission definitely reflected well on school ranking. But did this school contributed a lot to that? Absolutely not!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the top rated schools would have successful students even if the kids did not attend. Parents in this area are educated and wealthy and provide nearly everything students need. I’m quite sure my kids’ school has done little to educate my kids who read a lot outside of school and rarely encounter material that is new for them in school. Yet the school has high ratings, high SATs, etc. the school is a dysfunctional disaster that FCPS touts as one of its best.

I agree. We moved our kid from private school to FCPS HS. She told us that she knew much more at the beginning of the 9th grade than at the graduation from HS. She got to top colleges, including some Ivy Leage schools that our HS never sent students before. So, her SAT, GPA, college admission definitely reflected well on school ranking. But did this school contributed a lot to that? Absolutely not!

So why do you and PP above even send your kids to school? free day care? Maybe you should just have them apply directly to college since high school isnt adding anything to their lives!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disillusionment with “great” publics is why we are at a private.

Same. We started at a top notch private, followed conventional wisdom and moved to the most expensive zip code so that we could send our kids to great public schools. Simply, the only thing great was the level of disappointment in the quality of education and how over burdened the public school system is. It was awful. Over the weekend, we dropped our oldest off at boarding school and am currently making plans to send the younger DC's back to private next fall.

Story of our life. When the so called highest rated school has the worst front office/administration and not even basic etiquette to acknowledge emails from parents. We pulled out twins back to private and the email sent to the registrar/principal about pulling the kids out from school was not even acknowledged !!!

[Anonymous]

I wonder if disappointment and frustration are "the story of [your] life" because you have unreasonable expectations. Just something to consider as your story unfolds.

[Anonymous]

We went through this last year and had to move our son after 4 months of being in one of the top rated elementary schools of FCPS. No regrets we moved him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the top rated schools would have successful students even if the kids did not attend. Parents in this area are educated and wealthy and provide nearly everything students need. I’m quite sure my kids’ school has done little to educate my kids who read a lot outside of school and rarely encounter material that is new for them in school. Yet the school has high ratings, high SATs, etc. the school is a dysfunctional disaster that FCPS touts as one of its best.

I agree. We moved our kid from private school to FCPS HS. She told us that she knew much more at the beginning of the 9th grade than at the graduation from HS. She got to top colleges, including some Ivy Leage schools that our HS never sent students before. So, her SAT, GPA, college admission definitely reflected well on school ranking. But did this school contributed a lot to that? Absolutely not!

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the top rated schools would have successful students even if the kids did not attend. Parents in this area are educated and wealthy and provide nearly everything students need. I’m quite sure my kids’ school has done little to educate my kids who read a lot outside of school and rarely encounter material that is new for them in school. Yet the school has high ratings, high SATs, etc. the school is a dysfunctional disaster that FCPS touts as one of its best.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disillusionment with “great” publics is why we are at a private.

Same. We started at a top notch private, followed conventional wisdom and moved to the most expensive zip code so that we could send our kids to great public schools. Simply, the only thing great was the level of disappointment in the quality of education and how over burdened the public school system is. It was awful. Over the weekend, we dropped our oldest off at boarding school and am currently making plans to send the younger DC's back to private next fall.

Story of our life. When the so called highest rated school has the worst front office/administration and not even basic etiquette to acknowledge emails from parents. We pulled out twins back to private and the email sent to the registrar/principal about pulling the kids out from school was not even acknowledged !!!

You're the OP on the other thread, right?

How long has it been since you sent the email? And what did you want them to say? Once you withdraw, the school's job is very functional -- take your kids out of the system rolls. What more should they say? They don't have any feeling one way or the other about whether your child stays in that school or not. They aren't going to say "we're so sorry to see you go." So, what exactly did you want them to say? You made your withdrawal. They took the necessary action. And???

Different OP. Please do try to keep up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the top rated schools would have successful students even if the kids did not attend. Parents in this area are educated and wealthy and provide nearly everything students need. I’m quite sure my kids’ school has done little to educate my kids who read a lot outside of school and rarely encounter material that is new for them in school. Yet the school has high ratings, high SATs, etc. the school is a dysfunctional disaster that FCPS touts as one of its best.

This.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if disappointment and frustration are "the story of [your] life" because you have unreasonable expectations. Just something to consider as your story unfolds.

Again, for the record that PP ^^^ is *not* OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP here. Obviously, we rent! But our neighbors pay a LOT.


OP, how it is obvious that you rent?

Also, did it occur to you that you are part of the problem? All the renters moving into the good HS districts just in time for their kids to go to high school, thus crowding the local high school, and then moving on right after graduation?

I'll bet you are in a Langley, McLean or Madison neighborhood.


Got it. Renters not allowed. Who else isn't allowed? What if I am Asian?

What if you are? There are many Asians in this community, and I don't see anyone complaining.
If you're the OP, you're awfully quick to play the race card.
The point was not that renters aren't allowed. The point was that renters, some of whom move in to neighborhoods with great high schools just in time for their kids to go there and then move away, contributing little to the neighborhood, should not be so quick to come on DCUM and bitch and moan about the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
OP here. Obviously, we rent! But our neighbors pay a LOT.


OP, how it is obvious that you rent?

Also, did it occur to you that you are part of the problem? All the renters moving into the good HS districts just in time for their kids to go to high school, thus crowding the local high school, and then moving on right after graduation?

I'll bet you are in a Langley, McLean or Madison neighborhood.


Got it. Renters not allowed. Who else isn't allowed? What if I am Asian?

What if you are? There are many Asians in this community, and I don't see anyone complaining.
If you're the OP, you're awfully quick to play the race card.
The point was not that renters aren't allowed. The point was that renters, some of whom move in to neighborhoods with great high schools just in time for their kids to go there and then move away, contributing little to the neighborhood, should not be so quick to come on DCUM and bitch and moan about the school.

Tell me, how exactly do you know what each and every renter contributes to what neighborhood?