Talk to people with students in the school. That’s the best way to learn more.

Anonymous wrote:Move now. It gets harder as they get older.

I think it's easy to move until 4th grade. I'd try to be in place by 5th so they have a friend group going into MS.

There are two different things-school size and class size. Which is the one you're concerned about?

You can't do much about class size unless you decide to go private-- it's a standard formula throughout the county. It's true that in a given year and given grade, some schools may have larger classes than others but it's just a matter of how the math works out (if they tip just past the cap they open a new class so all classes end up at the small end).

But you can't really predict that for a given school/grade ahead of time.

The exception, as a pp noted, is if you move to a focus or title 1 school. The class size range is smaller in those schools because it's thought the kids need more attention. They can be great schools, though. My older kid went to a focus school and then we moved so my older kid went to a very wealthy school. And I liked the focus school better and loved the small class.

Don't lose sight, though, of the middle school and high school. Most focus schools matriculate up to weaker MSs and HSs. When your kids are young, it's easy to lose sight of this. But where you're going to *really* care about school quality (and safety, and culture) is in the upper grades. So if you're serious about making a decision to move because of schools, start with selecting the HS you want (I'd wait til after this boundary study is done), and then look at ESs and MSs. And compare all all three levels.

School size is a mixed bag and doesn't always translate to quality. Class sized is anchored before funding is approved for an additional teacher hire /Class. Meaning you can have a small school with large classes. Small schools can bite you in the butt too if your kids runs afoul of the main clique as they will have fewer options to fall back on. Large schools have similar options, larger budgets for extras and what not but often run the side of those conundrums like more friend options but easier to get lost in the crowd. Also there are two types of large schools, ones that have more kids than facilities and Larges schools with plenty of space for all of them and all activities. Woodacres is large but has multiple all purpose rooms, Extra rooms for Art, planetarium rehearsals, targeted K rooms and what not so it doesn't seem bursting at the seams. Ashburton has less kids but last I check needed portables and their lunch room was dual use. stuff like that should be taken into consideration.

Move now. It gets harder as they get older.

Let’s start at the beginning. What would you consider a small ES given MCPS?

OP here. Thanks for this feedback. I’ll keep reading to hear what others think.

Base case would be to stay where we are and try out K in our big, mixed review public — and then move if we need.

I just don’t know how much stress it would cause my kiddo to switch him to a new school AND a new house for 1st grade if K doesn’g work out.

And yes, we’d love a more social neighborhood

Which ES is it?

Even taking the elementary school out of the equation, you want a more social neighborhood and “w” school feeder. Seems like worth looking at moving.

If you want small class sizes, look for a focus school or Title I school. Otherwise class sizes for K-2 are 25-27.

I suppose you might luck out with a school that consistently has about 60 or 85 kids per grade (just barely too big for 2 or 3 classes so they get an extra teacher most years and have class sizes closer to 20l... is that what you're looking at at this other school? But even so, it's hard to predict the fluctuations from year to year.

Move now while you can. It is so much easier for a kid to start K at the school they’re going to stay at versus having to transfer midway through elementary. Also, in general, your experience at these “mixed review” schools will only get worse as the grades go up. Maybe you’ll luck out and have a relatively ok experience for K and 1st, but that doesn’t mean it will be a sustainable option all the way through upper elementary, middle and high school.

I’d try out the neighborhood school for K. You can always move after.

What would you do?

We’re parents of two preschoolers zoned for a large public K-5 (>750 students) total). School ratings are mixed and overall average. A fellow preschool mom works at the school and occasionally tells me the teachers feel overwhelmed with the large class sizes.

The school size and very mixed reviews have us questioning whether to even try this school. We are starting to think about relocating to a neighborhood with a smaller ES that’s highly rated and one that feeds into a “W” HS. (We’re not currently zoned for a W).

We’d also love a more social neighborhood. Ours is pretty quiet.

What would you do— stay and try our current school, or move now, before our eldest starts K?