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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm another one who switched my kid from public to private this year.  The pandemic and failure of virtual school was the last straw, but I was contemplating a change before that due to his experience in our Title 1 school, where he was basically left to his own devices at "stations" or doing "choice board" activities at his seat while the teacher understandably spent most of the time focused on teaching kids below grade level.  There was a constant cycle of testing, it seemed every other month, and my kid said he always finished quickly and had to entertain himself the rest of the time, leading to many wasted days.  I was skeptical he was actually learning anything, and I was dismayed by his increasingly negative attitude toward school.  This is a kid who is not super motivated anyway, so happy to sit in the back and chat with friends, not doing any work.  He is not the type to volunteer for special projects or seek his own enrichment.

This year in private has been night and day.  With only 15 kids in a class, no longer can he skirt by under the radar.  He has to participate, and is pushed to do more.  The learning is more engaging and for the first time ever, he says school is fun and looks forward to going!  That alone, to me, is worth the money.  I also agree with other posts that the arts, music, foreign language, and sports opportunities are better - and they are built into the curriculum, so it's not like he can opt out (I had previously tried to get him to sign up for band in public but he refused to do anything "extra").

Now, if your super smart kid is motivated and takes initiative, I definitely think they can and will succeed in a large public school.  But for average kids who could get lost in the shuffle and become disengaged, I think sometimes a smaller environment with more individual attention could be just the right thing to 
keep them on track, especially through the delicate middle-early high school period where they are going through a lot developmentally and trying to figure out who they are.  We can't get that at our local public, so that is why we pay for private.[/quote]

What bothers me most is the promises of what would be covered in the curicullum that did not happen. My child had full school day of virtual-no different hours than in person so it wasn’t a time constraint. It’s happening again this year with important items not covered and I’m ver confident this was happening before and will continue. Just parents aren’t privy to what’s happening in school with not being present. It was only because of the virtual last year that I was made aware of that happening.

Not at the cost of paying for private with not getting instruction for what we pay for. I know how instruction was because of virtual and it wasn’t what I was paying for. Would’ve thought the same as you if I would not have heard first hand what and how the instruction was going. I know public virtual was bad, but I also know my nearly $40 grand wasn’t head and shoulders better. Worse in some core subjects. [/quote]

I think it's fair to say that virtual learning has been a failure across the board at most schools, with varying degrees of bad.  I understand your sentiment that it's painful to pay the tuition rates for bad, even if a relatively better bad.  I think that schools are also aware that virtual learning has increased parent awareness/visibility in the sausage-making, so to speak.  it's showing up in fundraising challenges, as an example.  [/quote]

What bother me most is the promise of the curicullum. My child’s school was virtual full day-same as in person hours. Therefore, time constraints was not a factor of topics getting missed. It’s happened omg again this year and I am convinced has always been this way and will continue. Only because of virtual was I made aware and I suspect most parents don’t know.m because they aren’t privy normally to hearing what’s happening in school first hand. Like myself, I believe many assume it would be better and don’t question it or ignore it. One assumes that the the tuition you pay for fixes what private can’t do. I feel foolish and know better now. English is the most that I expected to be better and has actually been the worst. Disappointing. [/quote]

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