I grew up in Rockville. Life seemed simpler then which is probably a combination of me not being an adult and the lack of social media. Outside of your immediate friends and family, you really had no idea what was going on.

I often think I’m missing something about MCPS. So many people complain about the schools. I honestly believe MCPS is doing the best they can, given the resources they have, and the demographics of the county.

Changes have to occur at the state level. MCPS is too big to serve anyone effectively. What a new immigrant student/family needs is vastly different from a student with two highly educated parents with high paying flexible jobs.

Overall I think MCPS is no better or worse than other large school districts in the country. As a country, our standards have been lowered. I had one in private that graduated this year and one in MCPS public. I can’t say that my private school grad got a better education than my public school kid. The environments in which the education occurred was different but the content and curriculum was about the same. I’d like to expectations of students in MCPS increased, but again how do you hold an immigrant who doesn’t speak English to the same grammar standards as a native English speaker.

I suppose it’s me b/c most people on DCUM are dissatisfied. But overall Im happy. Our schools still occur 5 days a week, not 4. MCPS offers AP classes and pays for community college if a student wishes. Due to our location, MCPS kids have access to STEM programs at NIH and NIST. Overall, parents are heavily involved in their students education and are often willing to share their expertise via clubs.

Yes the traffic sucks but I don’t know of any major city where this is not true.

I don't think this thread is redundant to the other one because I don’t view it as a “fall” from previous good times.
-I think MCPS responds to squeaky wheel small group concerns to the detriment of providing fair, high-quality programming for all students.
-I don’t think the English instruction has been very good in the middle school and early high school years, and I’m looking forward to the AP English years. I would like to see MCPS implement a solid writing curriculum earlier and have more of a focus on reading the classics, supplemented with modern lit in the middle grades and high school, rather than the other way around.
-My kids’ math teachers have been a mixed bag, and some have been not great! I wish MCPS had math textbooks from algebra on so parents could track what is happening at school instead of it being worksheets? packets? that maybe come home and are sometimes posted on canvas.
-I hate the way MCPS uses magnet programs in the elementary and middle grades. I think there is no good reason to have magnet programs at these ages when they could just offer the curriculum at the schools. I hate the way they split up the kids and I think it’s awful for building a school community. And on top of that, if they’re going to have a magnet, I think it’s ridiculous that they decided to make it a lottery. If they set the criteria for a program, they should be prepared to provide access to those who qualify. At the elementary level, they keep changing what they provide to the non-lottery winners, which I’m pretty sure this year is nothing, so it feels extra unfair.
-I think about moving but it’s expensive, a hassle, and my kids are not unhappy (they also know nothing other than MCPS so have no point of comparison).

How about the W high schools in MoCo versus the "good"schools in northern Va like McLean, Langley, Madison, Marshall, and then also the Loudoun county schools like Briar woods and Independence? All other things like traffic being equal, is the experience for the high schooler better in Va? How about as one PP said, the areas around Boston like Newton Wellesley?

I liked it for awhile, but have completely disliked everything MoCo has done in the last 15 years or so. So we just retired and moved this year. I still have 1 adult child in the area.

Things MoCo/MCPS did: Drove away high tech businesses, built more and more homes with no additional road infrastructure, followed some trendy schooling idea which added nothing (and it all started with Character Counts! which I thought silly) and changing classroom discipline and grad requirements that are dumbing down our kids...

and most of all I hated the TRAFFIC (related to a few things above). It took a half hour to get from one side of Gaithersburg to the other side.

I do not miss any of i now. And I love being able to drive 10 miles in about 15 mins.

I think it’s a nice area. I’m from the middle of the country but I think people here are generally nice, are pretty thoughtful, value education (sadly not true everywhere in the country), and are respectful of religious and other differences (also not true everywhere). People have such interesting jobs and backgrounds. People aren’t obsessed with physical looks or fancy clothes lol they are in some areas of the country. I meet people from all over the world who work in non profits or do environmental protection for fed government or work for the fbi in counter terrorism etc etc. I really didn’t get that in my home town.

The public schools have some issues but public education is in an awful state in this country and will only get worse under this administration. There are lots of reasons for that.

If I was looking just for good public schools I might look in Massachusetts wheee it’s all town based. Or maybe certain higher income suburbs stoned the country (Cleveland heights?).

Anonymous wrote:I'm very happy here and happy with our school, but if you're looking for people that are miserable you've found the right site.

Exactly

Anonymous wrote:This thread seems redundant since this other thread is active and ongoing: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1286284.page

No this thread is more about is the entirety of montgomery county just kind of toxic and done and not worth it, including the school system

This thread seems redundant since this other thread is active and ongoing: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1286284.page

Anonymous wrote:does anyone just dislike this area and counting down the days their kids are graduated? or is this a spoiled attitude and should just suck it up. if you had a choice of a better public school system anywhere in the country ( cannot afford private), where would you go?

It's not so much that I dislike this area, as much as this area dislikes me and my exceptional kids.

It just causes so much cognitive dissonance when they have to cheat to maintain their social hierarchy.

I’m from California and of the group that cannot afford/have no hook for my kids to be in a good private.

Have encountered more than a few (from middle and upper middle classes, ie the types who go to public schools) who wish their kids could attend public schools in this area due to affordability and decent education.

While this area may not be the most exciting, there are many things here that make living here doable. I am looking forward to my kids graduating so I can have more geographic flexibility.

we are thinking about leaving. kids out of MCPS finally and we are about to retire.

It's just not an environment for quality learning for many kids. If people are scared of violence and teachers are scared that admin is pushing them out for not being able to do miracles or frauding the numbers...yeah it's toxic and corrupted.

Yes, we're spoiled. I can't wait to leave MCPS but only because it has gone down hill in the past 12 years since we moved her.e But, the offerings in MCPS is still better than most of the country.

I'm very happy here and happy with our school, but if you're looking for people that are miserable you've found the right site.

does anyone just dislike this area and counting down the days their kids are graduated? or is this a spoiled attitude and should just suck it up. if you had a choice of a better public school system anywhere in the country ( cannot afford private), where would you go?