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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What about public schools? It was mentioned in an early post but if you don't have lottery luck and don't have a gifted kid, how does the local elementary, middle and high school experience look?[/quote]

It depends on the experience you want your kids to have.  If you are open to a multi ethnic and diverse SES student body then the elementary schools are great.  My kids attend a Title one ES in PGCPS and I am very happy with it.  The elementary schools in that area also go up to 6th grade so middle school is only 2 years.

The middle school situation is slightly different.   Hyattsville Middle is OK but I don't know many folks who send their kids into the general population of the school. They have an Arts program that is supposed to be good but you must audition and it is open up to other areas of the county.  We are considering it for our child if they can get it.

Northwestern doesn't have a great reputation either but a teacher at my kids school has a son there and he is very happy with it.

An issue I have with PGCPS as a white family is that in most neighborhood MS and HSs my kid will likely be the only white kid in the class.  That's fine in ES but middle school is brutal to begin with and that additional social strain is hard to impose on a kid.   My kid is the only white kid in her grade in upper elementary and it is starting to be an issue.   Not bullying but the feeling of being different.

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White family here with kids at Hyattsville Middle. They don't care about being one of a few white kids in their classes--just putting that out there because every kid reacts differently. There are a bunch of new teachers, but parent engagement is low. Also, PGCPS is realigning to have middle school go from 6-8 grades but hasn't completed that yet because of space constraints at existing schools. Hyattsville ES and Thomas Stone ES, for example, go to 5th grade while University Park ES goes to 6th grade. So Hyattsville Middle is actually 6-8 grades. It's also on the list to be replaced within the next 3-5 years.

I wish the white liberal families of Hyattsville that pay so much lip service to diversity and inclusiveness would actually stick with the neighborhood schools instead of getting their kids into the lottery schools. It's amazing to see so many white families waiting for the buses to the lottery schools when they could literally be walking with their kids to the school that's a couple of blocks away.[/quote]

I’m the PP and there is a difference between being one of a few white kids and the only white kid.  Hyattsville middle is 6% white.  Our zoned middle school is less than 1%. 
We are going to try to get our daughter into the arts program at Hyattsville when she is old enough.  
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Sounds like white flight since there are plenty of white families walking around.[/quote]

I think it's actually the opposite.  There is a new generation of middle class white families in Hyattsville, but few are willing to enroll in the local schools after elementary.  My child is much younger, but the concern that I hear about Hyattsville and Northwestern are mostly related to concerns about drugs and violence.  In particular, I know a couple (with kid in private) that are convinced there is a significant MS-13 risk at Northwestern.  I don't know if there is an easy way to check on incidents of violence and drugs.  I grew in a small town, so perhaps my own gut instincts are off, but it seemed like junior high was the start of knowing that other kids were doing drugs and other sorts of things.  Before that "risk-taking behavior" was like jumping bikes over a big ramp or drink some disgusting concoction of everything in the fridge.[/quote]

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