Public vs. Private Schools for people living in Montgomery County

[Anonymous]

"It sounds like you are saying there are no AA boys to provide peer groups in MoCo honors, consortium/lottery and magnet programs. I hope that's not what you're saying."

It is sad but true in my son's magnet program. Also when we sat in a AP science class at a W school there were zero. I don't condone this.

[Anonymous]

We chose private over public in Montgomery County for the simple reason we didn't feel public was the best fit for our DC. We looked at both, talked to parents in both and went with what we felt was best. While we believe we'll be in a private school for a long time, we will take it year to year.

Are MoCo schools awful, as some on this thread have indicated? Generally, no. Compared to most school districts around the country, MoCo is pretty good. Is it as good as their reputation would have you believe? No. There are troubling holes when you take a close look.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Certain schools in montgomery county are great, but not all. So it depends where your kids would be going. If you can afford private schooling, then you might want to do it.

Translation: Schools with lots of affluent, white, and Asian parents have a good reputation. Schools with lots of poor, African-American, and Hispanic parents have a bad reputation.

But if you have a smart white or Asian kid with ADD or other mild disorder, such as GT/LD, 2e, best to move to the "lower SES" part of the county so they'll pay attention to you. Otherwise your kid will get lost if he or she needs IEP-type help but is not failing courses. Privates are full of very b
right kids with ADD who are not well served by MCPS.

This is EXACTLY our situation. Our eldest, who reads almost 3 grade levels above her current grade (3) but totally fails at math and social maneuvering, is going to private next year along with sibs. MCPS wouldn't respond to our efforts to get her support (we had testing done and came in hopeful to the meetings, left totally disillusioned.) It's kind of a big heartless system for the kids who fall through the cracks. Fine for our super-achiever youngest but not for our eldest.

[Anonymous]

Many posters indicated they chose private over public because privates filled a special need of their DCs (either ADD, falling through the cracks, shy, etc).

We chose private over the best public in MC for a different reason: my DCs will do fine in public but the private school offers an overall better learning environment. And they emphasize not only math and reading but also the soft skills that are the building blocks of future leaders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm still not certain why people pay the premium to live in MoCo if they are going to send their kids to private. The same houses in MoCo typically are significantly more expensive than just about anywhere else in the Metro area (although some parts of NoVa are comparable). But the premium is in large part because of the school system. So why pay that premium and still pay for private school? It seems like you're paying for both.

I do understand the situation one PP mentioned of a SN child who was not adequately served by the public school system, but there are a ton of non-SN children from MoCo families that are going to privates.

Couple of things -- the same house usually costs more in much of nwdc, on a price per square foot basis. Apples to apples.

Despite this fact -- it requires more $ to buy the 5 bed 4 bath colonial by the friendship heights metro than it does in wood acres -- the similarly priced MoCo neighborhoods are nicer looking on the whole. Fewer renters who don't mow the lawn, more landscaping and trees, less grub and fewer "people who don't look like me" waiting for the bus on the corner of my street. This is NOT my assessment but that of many of my Bethesda acquaintances made thru sports, work etc

[Anonymous]

We moved to MC for the schools in large part, but are now choosing private school for our DD. In the younger years, I hope her school will whet her appetite for learning and provide exposure in a more meaningful way to art and sports. I prioritize the academic education, by the way, but think both MC schools and private likely do a goood job at the basics.

Still, I have to say that with all the hullabaloo about kids failing exams and mismatches of curriculum vs. testing, I am glad that we can opt out for a few years until the Common Core is better established. I do feel that in 5 years, good school districts like MC will have ironed these wrinkles out, but we'll wait for that before we send our kids.

[Anonymous]

Our local public is tremendously overcrowded. (The current capacity is 667 and enrollment is 958). We want our kids to be taught in classrooms, not portables. We want them to eat lunch at lunch time, not some crazy schedule as they are trying to cycle through 900+ kids through the cafeteria. We want them to have recess and PE every day, music art, language.

That is why we chose to send our kids to private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our local public is tremendously overcrowded. (The current capacity is 667 and enrollment is 958). We want our kids to be taught in classrooms, not portables. We want them to eat lunch at lunch time, not some crazy schedule as they are trying to cycle through 900+ kids through the cafeteria. We want them to have recess and PE every day, music art, language.

That is why we chose to send our kids to private.

+1000. One of our problems with MoCo schools is infrastructure. The overcrowding at many schools (except for a privileged few--but that's for another thread) is a real challenge and one I'm not confident the county has good plans to address. Even some of the relief plans at many schools will not alleviate overcrowding. Despite what others might say, this does affect learning. With only so many hours in the day, and so many kids to get too, other stuff gets squeezed out. Hence shorter recess, PE once a week and limited other programs like music, art and language. Plus the teachers have little time to explore a subject further or spend more time on a particular subject if the class needs it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our local public is tremendously overcrowded. (The current capacity is 667 and enrollment is 958). We want our kids to be taught in classrooms, not portables. We want them to eat lunch at lunch time, not some crazy schedule as they are trying to cycle through 900+ kids through the cafeteria. We want them to have recess and PE every day, music art, language.

That is why we chose to send our kids to private.

+1000. One of our problems with MoCo schools is infrastructure. The overcrowding at many schools (except for a privileged few--but that's for another thread) is a real challenge and one I'm not confident the county has good plans to address. Even some of the relief plans at many schools will not alleviate overcrowding. Despite what others might say, this does affect learning. With only so many hours in the day, and so many kids to get too, other stuff gets squeezed out. Hence shorter recess, PE once a week and limited other programs like music, art and language. Plus the teachers have little time to explore a subject further or spend more time on a particular subject if the class needs it.

As far as I know, recess is 30 minutes a day, and PE, art, and music are once a week in all MCPS elementary schools. Elementary schools that are over capacity, elementary schools that are at capacity, and elementary schools that are under capacity.

Meanwhile, here are some MCPS elementary schools that are not over capacity: Monocacy, Damascus, Rosemont, Sequoyah, Fairland. Do you consider these schools privileged?

[Anonymous]

At these overcrowded schools, take a look at recess. Increasing limited space due to the need of all the portables, plus the sheer number of kids trying to burn off energy.

We decided that for our family it wasn't the atmosphere we wanted. At our private school they get recess every day and PE four days a week. Music, art, Spanish are all 3 days a week. Class sizes are MUCH smaller and student/teacher ratios are fantastic. Lunch is at lunch time, not mid-morning. Yes, it is an expense we would rather not have, but the only other option was to move. Financially it was a wash, so we opted to stay put and put the kids in private.

[Anonymous]

MCPS has outstanding teachers. But NO MATTER WHAT, a teacher who has 30 students vs. 15 students at a time is going to create a different classroom experience and give different kinds of feedback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS has outstanding teachers. But NO MATTER WHAT, a teacher who has 30 students vs. 15 students at a time is going to create a different classroom experience and give different kinds of feedback.

+1 -- from a former teacher who lives in MoCo and whose children started out in MCPS and then switched to private school (in DC)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS has outstanding teachers. But NO MATTER WHAT, a teacher who has 30 students vs. 15 students at a time is going to create a different classroom experience and give different kinds of feedback.

Agreed.

[Anonymous]

It's not very unusual for MCPS elementary classes in the younger years to have 16-18 students. My son's was like that for 3 years in a row so not a fluke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not very unusual for MCPS elementary classes in the younger years to have 16-18 students. My son's was like that for 3 years in a row so not a fluke.

Yes, child #1's class size was 17-18 students for K-3. Not in a Title I/Focus school, either. Child #2's class size has been 22-23 in the same school. I think that a class size of 30 is probably quite atypical in MCPS elementary schools.