Families who can afford private but go public, why?

[Anonymous]

If your family can afford private school but you opt-in to public school, why?

As you can guess from the question, we can afford private but for a variety of complicated reasons decided to go public. A big one of which was that we went to public school ourselves and turned out fine. I now find myself continually second-guessing myself with a bit of a “grass is greener” perspective. I feel like if I can afford private I should, and that I need to justify the decision to myself to continue to go public.

Would be helpful to hear from other people in a similar situation.

(I hope this question doesn’t come off the wrong way. I know these boards get hella judgy and hopefully you didn’t read the title and get mad thinking someone was judging people who choose to go to public school. I also recognize we are in a good situation to be able to have the choice, and that my consternation about it is a luxury problem.)

[Anonymous]

Because my private school education did not prepare me to face the world, in terms of street smarts and how the average person lives.

I do not want that for my children, and I actually think the public school cluster I bought into is academically a better idea than most privates, particularly in science and math. Writing-based classes, not so much, but we're trying to remedy that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Because my private school education did not prepare me to face the world, in terms of street smarts and how the average person lives.

I do not want that for my children, and I actually think the public school cluster I bought into is academically a better idea than most privates, particularly in science and math. Writing-based classes, not so much, but we're trying to remedy that.

This.

Math & Science.

[Anonymous]

Mainly because DH went to private for K-8 and hated that he was an outsider in his neighborhood. He demanded to go to the public HS after 8th. It's really important to him that our kids go to the neighborhood elementary school and that was a priority when we looked for a house. I don't feel strongly about it but think I got a good education at my public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Because my private school education did not prepare me to face the world, in terms of street smarts and how the average person lives.

I do not want that for my children, and I actually think the public school cluster I bought into is academically a better idea than most privates, particularly in science and math. Writing-based classes, not so much, but we're trying to remedy that.

To which school do you currently send your children?

[Anonymous]

We attended public secondary schools and felt our kids would be well served by attending FCPS schools with kids from many different backgrounds and a wide range of academic and extra-curricular programs.

Having said that, our youngest recently graduated and we’d seriously hesitate to send them to our overcrowded neighborhood high school (McLean) if they were only now in high school. The indifference to the overcrowding there speaks to a larger lack of competence on the part of current FCPS leadership, not to mention the utter hypocrisy of School Board members like Karen Corbett Sanders, who get taxpayers to fund huge addition at schools in their district (West Potomac, Madison, etc) and then object to any effort to help other overcrowded schools (Chantilly, McLean).

In other words, making the same decision now, we’d explore private rather than put up with the nonsense in FCPS any longer. It is just too dysfunctional.

[Anonymous]

We are zoned for Madison. The schools are not perfect but don’t believe private schools would be either. FCPS is crowded, too crowded, but DH and I both attended huge public schools and liked that growing up. Our kids are very different and each found their group. They have had great teachers, teachers we have not liked and most have been in between. We feel this would be the same in private school. They are surrounded by motivated peers. Some friends are excelling in academics, some sports and some the arts. It’s a nice mix here and we don’t see any reason to spend money on tuition.

[Anonymous]

Yep, if you have the money, why send a kid to McLean if you can buy in the Langley district or afford Potomac, Gonzaga, or some other private that doesn’t cram kids into trailers with 30 kids? FCPS only cares about the extremes - TJ or Title 1. No one else matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We attended public secondary schools and felt our kids would be well served by attending FCPS schools with kids from many different backgrounds and a wide range of academic and extra-curricular programs.

Having said that, our youngest recently graduated and we’d seriously hesitate to send them to our overcrowded neighborhood high school (McLean) if they were only now in high school. The indifference to the overcrowding there speaks to a larger lack of competence on the part of current FCPS leadership, not to mention the utter hypocrisy of School Board members like Karen Corbett Sanders, who get taxpayers to fund huge addition at schools in their district (West Potomac, Madison, etc) and then object to any effort to help other overcrowded schools (Chantilly, McLean).

In other words, making the same decision now, we’d explore private rather than put up with the nonsense in FCPS any longer. It is just too dysfunctional.

My last nephew graduates from a different (highly ranked) fcps high school this June. His parents are glad to be finished and extend their sympathies to us dealing with fcps for the next several years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We attended public secondary schools and felt our kids would be well served by attending FCPS schools with kids from many different backgrounds and a wide range of academic and extra-curricular programs.

Having said that, our youngest recently graduated and we’d seriously hesitate to send them to our overcrowded neighborhood high school (McLean) if they were only now in high school. The indifference to the overcrowding there speaks to a larger lack of competence on the part of current FCPS leadership, not to mention the utter hypocrisy of School Board members like Karen Corbett Sanders, who get taxpayers to fund huge addition at schools in their district (West Potomac, Madison, etc) and then object to any effort to help other overcrowded schools (Chantilly, McLean).

In other words, making the same decision now, we’d explore private rather than put up with the nonsense in FCPS any longer. It is just too dysfunctional.

My last nephew graduates from a different (highly ranked) fcps high school this June. His parents are glad to be finished and extend their sympathies to us dealing with fcps for the next several years.

We were happy with McLean, but the ongoing degradation of the pyramid is hard to watch. I don’t think there is a single FCPS staff member at Gatehouse who cares, and while a couple of the new School Board members (Tholen, Frisch) would like to help they will get steamrolled by other members. Parents who can should just bail.

[Anonymous]

Live in Alexandria City - what I found was that families could afford private but to do so they would have to reduce a lot of spending in other areas and they didn’t want to make that sacrifice. I also found that sometimes parents prioritized a parent at home instead of private school.

[Anonymous]

We are a math and science family and math is far superior in our local public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are a math and science family and math is far superior in our local public school.

+1

[Anonymous]

- We really want a neighborhood school and school friends who are close by / involved in other nearby activities. This is the most important factor.

- A big diverse school has more opportunities to find your "niche" which helps protect against suicide, drug use, etc.

- Nearby private school options not very impressive.

- I went to private K-12 and saw many weaknesses. Other than my high school being single sex (which was positive) I have little good to say and don't think I got a great education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a math and science family and math is far superior in our local public school.

+1

If you look at where the people with PhDs are sending their kids (ex the NIH folk), in this area, it’s mostly public schools (unless they have jobs with an org that pays tuition benefits.)