IB for #1 ranked small elementary in DCPS. Went private because we can afford it (but not without sacrifice) because it's my kids' education and I don't want to take any chances. Even if private is just a little bit "better" I'll spend my money there. Education is everything. I'd never forgive myself if I had a bad outcome with my kid but had a pile of money.

Anonymous wrote:Most of the people I know in close in Northern VA, who attend private, do so for the "social" aspect.

North side of FCPS. Didn't care about social aspect, although like the parents at DC's school quite a bit. Wanted better than "good enough" b/c, with the exception of TJ (which has its own issues), that's what you're getting with FCPS, even the northern county schools.

13:53 - OP here - we're in the same boat. I went to private all the way through, my husband went to public. I want my kid to have the great opportunities I did. Thanks for your perspective!

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I understand many people in the DC Metro area have this issue - that's why I'd like to hear their perspective!

This is also absolutely not a social thing for us. It would be the opposite. Our social network is going public. We are also not terribly affluent. Private tuition, while not a crazy stretch, would be a sacrifice in terms of opportunity cost for other things.

The size of classes and attention paid to individual kids doesn't seem to be a factor at all I'm hearing. 24-26 kids in a class just seems pretty extreme to me for such little kids...

We're in the same boat. To me, the size of classes and attention paid to individual kids is a huge factor. Probably the biggest. I went to private growing up and had kids I was friends with in my neighborhood (who went either to my school or different ones), friends from my church (same), and friends that I rode horses with (same). My parents had friends of their own plus the parents of the kids I knew from all of these avenues. I never felt like I didn't have friends in my neighborhood, nor did I feel like it was a big deal to drive to get to my other friends' houses (I suppose my parents might have felt differently, but they never complained). The biggest thing for me was that I LOVED my private school, I still keep in touch with my friends from there, my parents are still friends with my friends' parents, I had so many opportunities to do amazing things like take class trips starting in 6th grade, and I always felt like I had a big community of teachers who cared about me. My husband, conversely, had a totally different experience in public school (and that was at a very good MD pyramid). Maybe that's attributable to our different personalities, but I still think there are things about my private school that were unique and amazing and exactly what I want to give my kids. Private tuition is a sacrifice (like you, not extraordinary, but still there), but to me it's totally worth it if my kids have even 1/10 the experience I had.

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I understand many people in the DC Metro area have this issue - that's why I'd like to hear their perspective!

This is also absolutely not a social thing for us. It would be the opposite. Our social network is going public. We are also not terribly affluent. Private tuition, while not a crazy stretch, would be a sacrifice in terms of opportunity cost for other things.

The size of classes and attention paid to individual kids doesn't seem to be a factor at all I'm hearing. 24-26 kids in a class just seems pretty extreme to me for such little kids...

13:41 again. I live in North Arlington. Our elementary classes are more like 19-21. So no, class size isn't really a factor for us. That DOES change in middle and high school, however.

Anonymous wrote:Neighbors who do this (MoCo, W cluster) do it because:
- family 1: wanted a religion-based education, always planned to go private
- family 2: special needs kid, just felt like private was a better fit; never planned to go private
- family 3: status/want to show off money; have several kids, all in different privates and travel sports; probably always planned to go private
- family 4: both parents teach at the same private school, tuition is covered and it's convenient; would switch to public if the circumstances changed

This is us. We are in a W cluster

We are doing it for language immersion. Also, the private is nearby, so no long commute for early elementary kid.

Hoping to maintain ties with neighborhood kids and see them on the weekends.

OP here - I understand many people in the DC Metro area have this issue - that's why I'd like to hear their perspective!

This is also absolutely not a social thing for us. It would be the opposite. Our social network is going public. We are also not terribly affluent. Private tuition, while not a crazy stretch, would be a sacrifice in terms of opportunity cost for other things.

The size of classes and attention paid to individual kids doesn't seem to be a factor at all I'm hearing. 24-26 kids in a class just seems pretty extreme to me for such little kids...

Anonymous wrote:Most of the people I know in close in Northern VA, who attend private, do so for the "social" aspect.

None of the people from Arlington that I know in privates do it for social reasons, or at least not primarily. Small classes and individual attention for the kid are the top for us.

I just posted at 13:41. The benefit of doing it our way is that our children do have lots of neighborhood friends, since they have kept in touch with their buddies from elementary.

We move our kids from public to private for middle school, even though our school district is well-regarded. Our main reason is the overcrowding at our neighborhood middle school - and what will soon be overcrowding at the high school. When there are so many kids, it can be hard for each child to explore all their interests. If you want to play lacrosse, but there are 100 other kids who want to play, it makes it less likely that you will be on the team. That sort of thing.

Moreover, having now experienced both sides, I do believe that my kids' private schools provide an overall better education - though probably akin to any of the good gifted and talented programs around here, if your child is in one of those.

Most of the people I know in close in Northern VA, who attend private, do so for the "social" aspect.

That's pretty much everyone in this area OP.

Neighbors who do this (MoCo, W cluster) do it because:
- family 1: wanted a religion-based education, always planned to go private
- family 2: special needs kid, just felt like private was a better fit; never planned to go private
- family 3: status/want to show off money; have several kids, all in different privates and travel sports; probably always planned to go private
- family 4: both parents teach at the same private school, tuition is covered and it's convenient; would switch to public if the circumstances changed

We are struggling with whether to enroll our DD in K in our school district (FCC) or bus her to "top tier" private school she was just accepted at. I would love to hear from parents who live in great public school districts but chose to send their kids to private anyways.

My concern stems mainly from the really high student-teacher ratios at many of the "great" publics and the fact that many of these pyramids are over capacity to begin with and expecting large additional future growth. I don't want my kid caught up in an rapidly overcrowding school district, but it seems irrational on its face to consider private when you pay FCC taxes. More importantly, there's a social component. All our friends and DD's friends live in FCC. We'd have help with pick-up and drop-off if we need it. Playdates would be close by. We are unlikely to develop a great social network at the private considering how far it would be away.

Would really appreciate hearing from other parents who made this decision. TIA!