Anonymous wrote:

OP here. Sorry I was much too vague. My job placement is not known at this point but will most likely be in montgomery county, but possibly pg or howard. I am not interested in an alll-white school. My child is not white. She has some academic challenges--slower to read, math is hard --and would benefit from a school where SN families feel supported in case in comes to an IEP or 504 plan in her future.

MCPS can be very ugly with special needs situations. If you think that your child would do OK with smaller classes but not a formal IEP then look at private options. If she needs an IEP or more specialized services I'd recommend looking at PG or Howard. Howard is out ranking MCPS academically now and provide mores services for differentiation such as special needs and GT in schools. PG has some good schools too though most of the people we know who live there opted for smaller private schools. I've heard that Fairfax and DC can be just as difficult but MCPS seems to take special joy in fighting legal battles rather than following IEPs.

If you come into MCPS try to get your child on an IEP in her existing school so you come in with one or get outside testing. Make sure to make your request for an IEP evaluation and team meeting in writing. Be ready to hire advocate. You may not need it right away but eventually you probably will need one. Someone described getting special needs services in MCPS to me as a roller coaster. One year you may get a great teacher and the school may cave in to give your child the services that they need. The next year you will have to fight for those services if your child made any progress. There is this up and down process where your child has to constantly fail to get the services they need to succeed. Its very damaging to the child and drives the parents crazy. MCPS does not care about educating the "whole person" .

This is just the case for this person. My child has an IEP and I've felt he has been offered more services than he has needed sometimes. I feel he is well supported in the school. We have never hired an advocate. My child is in an elementary school which is NOT in a W cluster. He is in an elementary school in the Down County Consortium. My child has had the same OT and Speech therapist since he was 3 and in preschool. Now he is in 2nd grade. So these 2 therapists really have the long term view of how far my child has come and exactly what he needs. I can't disagree with the previous poster more. This may be the case for the poster, but it is certainly not the case for every child or every school.

What high schools are stellar in Howard county?

Howard County.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Sorry I was much too vague. My job placement is not known at this point but will most likely be in montgomery county, but possibly pg or howard. I am not interested in an alll-white school. My child is not white. She has some academic challenges--slower to read, math is hard --and would benefit from a school where SN families feel supported in case in comes to an IEP or 504 plan in her future.

If this is what you're looking for, I would post on the SN forum and/or search.

OP here. Sorry I was much too vague. My job placement is not known at this point but will most likely be in montgomery county, but possibly pg or howard. I am not interested in an alll-white school. My child is not white. She has some academic challenges--slower to read, math is hard --and would benefit from a school where SN families feel supported in case in comes to an IEP or 504 plan in her future.

MCPS can be very ugly with special needs situations. If you think that your child would do OK with smaller classes but not a formal IEP then look at private options. If she needs an IEP or more specialized services I'd recommend looking at PG or Howard. Howard is out ranking MCPS academically now and provide mores services for differentiation such as special needs and GT in schools. PG has some good schools too though most of the people we know who live there opted for smaller private schools. I've heard that Fairfax and DC can be just as difficult but MCPS seems to take special joy in fighting legal battles rather than following IEPs.

If you come into MCPS try to get your child on an IEP in her existing school so you come in with one or get outside testing. Make sure to make your request for an IEP evaluation and team meeting in writing. Be ready to hire advocate. You may not need it right away but eventually you probably will need one. Someone described getting special needs services in MCPS to me as a roller coaster. One year you may get a great teacher and the school may cave in to give your child the services that they need. The next year you will have to fight for those services if your child made any progress. There is this up and down process where your child has to constantly fail to get the services they need to succeed. Its very damaging to the child and drives the parents crazy. MCPS does not care about educating the "whole person" .

OP here. Sorry I was much too vague. My job placement is not known at this point but will most likely be in montgomery county, but possibly pg or howard. I am not interested in an alll-white school. My child is not white. She has some academic challenges--slower to read, math is hard --and would benefit from a school where SN families feel supported in case in comes to an IEP or 504 plan in her future.

Look for the hidden gems down County like ESS.

Anonymous wrote:Can you afford private or is Arlington, Falls Church, Fairfax or Howard an option?

If you are interested in academics, MCPS is no longer the place to be. If you are not looking for academics then look for a school that is under enrolled rather than putting kids out in trailers. They do exist in both lower and high income areas but further out.

That will surely come as news to the many, many academic-minded parents in MCPS, most of whom (though not me) have better things to do than hang out on an anonymous internet message board.

and my kids love being in trailers

Anonymous wrote:Can you afford private or is Arlington, Falls Church, Fairfax or Howard an option?

If you are interested in academics, MCPS is no longer the place to be. If you are not looking for academics then look for a school that is under enrolled rather than putting kids out in trailers. They do exist in both lower and high income areas but further out.

This is ridiculous. MCPS is very academically strong. You won't go wrong with any of the schools in the Walt Whitman Cluster.

Anonymous wrote:Can you afford private or is Arlington, Falls Church, Fairfax or Howard an option?

If you are interested in academics, MCPS is no longer the place to be. If you are not looking for academics then look for a school that is under enrolled rather than putting kids out in trailers. They do exist in both lower and high income areas but further out.

I don't think this is a helpful, or accurate, answer, but the over/under on what number post this response would be was 2, so at least there's that.

Can you afford private or is Arlington, Falls Church, Fairfax or Howard an option?

If you are interested in academics, MCPS is no longer the place to be. If you are not looking for academics then look for a school that is under enrolled rather than putting kids out in trailers. They do exist in both lower and high income areas but further out.

Do you have any concerns/reasons to worry about possible special needs? That will impact the answer to your question. Some of the "better" schools are terrible for SN children.

If you have read these forums at all, you should know that what works for one child and family is very different from what works for others.

The county is very segregated- not necessarily by race (though that is true, too), but by SES. Many feel that you should be in the richest areas (known as the W clusters), but those tend to have low diversity and very large class sizes. Others feel it is best to go into a mid SES school, that has reduced class sizes in K-2, more teachers at each school, and more diversity. Few want their children in Title 1 schools due to social challenges even though those schools do tend to have low class sizes and lots of resources.

Where are you going to work? What can you afford to pay? These are some big questions that you need to answer before you can select a school.

(I am soooo happy with my DS's 1st grade experience currently, and I hope you find a school that provides the same for your child! His class is 21 students and he has recess plus an extra recess called brain break daily. They also have a counselor lesson twice monthly which is great. I am very into the "whole" child and not pushing academics too hard in the early years, so this is great for me.)

Moving to Montgomery county for work and DC's school. Who is happy with their child's first grade experience/school?