APS - From option school to private

[Anonymous]

To families who opted to switch to private education from APS option schools (ATS, Key, Claremont, MPSA) - what were the main factors for the switch? Any regrets?

[Anonymous]

This year that is the s-show of APS. Not yet but if APS gets its act together, maybe.

[Anonymous]

I imagine the families who opted to go private from option schools did so for the same reasons that families from non-option schools did. I think option schools just had fewer people leave since they would lose their spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I imagine the families who opted to go private from option schools did so for the same reasons that families from non-option schools did. I think option schools just had fewer people leave since they would lose their spots.[/quote

I agree with this. The only reason we are in APS this year is because I don't want to loose the spot at our option school. Otherwise, I would have home schooled and sent the kids back after they were vaccinated (we can't afford private and even if we could I'm not sure that is where I'd choose to spend money right now).

[Anonymous]

Families who go to private won’t want their seat back. When your child attends private school, you realize that your “amazing” public school was only amazing because you didn’t know any better. Once you do, you realize that the public wasn’t amazing it was ok for what it was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Families who go to private won’t want their seat back. When your child attends private school, you realize that your “amazing” public school was only amazing because you didn’t know any better. Once you do, you realize that the public wasn’t amazing it was ok for what it was.

This.

[Anonymous]

Private school really opened our eyes. The Arlington school was like some place where people ran around high diving each other for amazing jobs well done, but there was no there there. Plus, things were sliding downhill pre-pandemic. So happy to be out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private school really opened our eyes. The Arlington school was like some place where people ran around high diving each other for amazing jobs well done, but there was no there there. Plus, things were sliding downhill pre-pandemic. So happy to be out.

^ fiving

[Anonymous]

Also depends on which private school - some teachers in private schools are new, inexperienced and only with a basic college degree. I would not be comfortable paying for private schooling without the assurance that my child is getting quality and experienced teaching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private school really opened our eyes. The Arlington school was like some place where people ran around high diving each other for amazing jobs well done, but there was no there there. Plus, things were sliding downhill pre-pandemic. So happy to be out.

ASFS ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private school really opened our eyes. The Arlington school was like some place where people ran around high diving each other for amazing jobs well done, but there was no there there. Plus, things were sliding downhill pre-pandemic. So happy to be out.

ASFS ?

That's not an option school.

[Anonymous]

We just got a slot for private school, and we are strongly considering leaving our option school. I’m just tired of my voice not mattering. Now I’m paying for access to the powers-that-be.

[Anonymous]

I'm curious which option schools people are thinking of leaving, but understand not wanting to share.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious which option schools people are thinking of leaving, but understand not wanting to share.

We're at ATS - thinking of moving to a private school that has a smaller class size, and hopefully, safer distancing practices. Not really about ATS, but more APS policies that frustrate us. But we're on the fence, as DD doesn't like the new school one bit and we're waiting to see how APS manages the 5-day in-person schooling in the fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious which option schools people are thinking of leaving, but understand not wanting to share.

We left Claremont. Claremont has an amazing principal and was a wonderful school (facility, teachers, enthusiasm), but APS (and Claremont) were too overcrowded, which made pandemic learning a disaster. If Claremont had 500 kids instead of 700, I think it would be a much better experience. Lunch was around 1050 due to overcrowding pre-pandemic, and my child felt like a number (We had GREAT teachers, but how can you expect Immersion teachers to track 50 kids?)

If your kid gets an Immersion spot, in my opinion you're getting more than a public school education because you're getting the bonus of a life-long language skill...and we had siblings in the pipeline who would have benefited too.

However in the end the amazing option of Immersion just wasn't enough to gamble other things away (smaller class sizes, strong spelling/writing skills, teacher attention etc). The final straw was APS's utter paralysis in spring of 2020 when COVID began, which convinced us we could not trust the district with our kids' education, and (sadly) we left the immersion experience, but it was the right move for us. Honestly I do think it's a harder call to leave an Option school than a regular APS school because you're getting some "bonus" private-school type features (for free). But you have to weigh everything carefully.