I don't consider us *~wealthy~*, particularly for this area, but we could afford private school easily - we both have high incomes, few debts, and just have one kid so we're not paying for a huge house, either. Private school wouldn't be a hardship for us. We're sticking with public though for a few reasons.

1. I went to private elementary and public middle and high school. Sixth grade was very shocking to little me after the orderly small school I was used to. I would have remained a very sheltered person and never interacted with people that were very different from myself if I'd never gone to public school. Probably my biggest fear for my privileged white male child is that he'll end up a clueless and entitled adult that believes he's better than people without similar advantages. Of course not all private school kids turn out that way, and public school is no guarantee he won't, but it feels easier to avoid him becoming the drunk driving lacrosse frat bro of my nightmares this way.

2. With a few exceptions (say your child has a disability that public school is not doing well at accomodating), I don't see how you can have leftist politics but send your kids to private school. I can't just be like "well, sucks to be you" to the kids that can't afford to leave. We have to stay and work to improve things.

3. Someone else said this earlier, but the value of having a neighborhood school has been really high for us. I'm an introvert with an extroverted only child, and the fact that he can now just go outside and play with his classmates is so nice. If I had to drive him somewhere everytime he wanted to socialize, one of both of us would be a lot less happy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because my kids thrive in our public school which is - gasp! - downcounty. The range of programs, the STEM offerings, and the diversity of the school community (racial, ethnic, and SES) is not something any private school could match. And while I do sometimes envy the smaller class sizes of privates or the lush campuses - literally worlds apart from our DCs’ public schools - I think the benefits of public for my children far outweigh those things.

Lastly, to what another poster noted, to send all three of my kids through private would total big money and I’d rather use that money for other things. The ROI on private school isn’t there for us.

You are wealthy and you live downcounty?

Yup!

What's wealthy? $3m net worth? $10m?

Over 10 million

That's not wealthy!

It is in Montgomery County among people with school age kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because my kids thrive in our public school which is - gasp! - downcounty. The range of programs, the STEM offerings, and the diversity of the school community (racial, ethnic, and SES) is not something any private school could match. And while I do sometimes envy the smaller class sizes of privates or the lush campuses - literally worlds apart from our DCs’ public schools - I think the benefits of public for my children far outweigh those things.

Lastly, to what another poster noted, to send all three of my kids through private would total big money and I’d rather use that money for other things. The ROI on private school isn’t there for us.

You are wealthy and you live downcounty?

Yup!

What's wealthy? $3m net worth? $10m?

We’re in the $8 M range excluding property and while we are not rich, we are wealthy. Or in the context of the topic of this thread, we can afford full freight for private schools but choose to send our children to public in MCPS - and in the DCC no less! 😃

Good stuff. You live in Silver Spring?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because my kids thrive in our public school which is - gasp! - downcounty. The range of programs, the STEM offerings, and the diversity of the school community (racial, ethnic, and SES) is not something any private school could match. And while I do sometimes envy the smaller class sizes of privates or the lush campuses - literally worlds apart from our DCs’ public schools - I think the benefits of public for my children far outweigh those things.

Lastly, to what another poster noted, to send all three of my kids through private would total big money and I’d rather use that money for other things. The ROI on private school isn’t there for us.

You are wealthy and you live downcounty?

Yup!

What's wealthy? $3m net worth? $10m?

We’re in the $8 M range excluding property and while we are not rich, we are wealthy. Or in the context of the topic of this thread, we can afford full freight for private schools but choose to send our children to public in MCPS - and in the DCC no less! 😃

OMG OMG!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because my kids thrive in our public school which is - gasp! - downcounty. The range of programs, the STEM offerings, and the diversity of the school community (racial, ethnic, and SES) is not something any private school could match. And while I do sometimes envy the smaller class sizes of privates or the lush campuses - literally worlds apart from our DCs’ public schools - I think the benefits of public for my children far outweigh those things.

Lastly, to what another poster noted, to send all three of my kids through private would total big money and I’d rather use that money for other things. The ROI on private school isn’t there for us.

You are wealthy and you live downcounty?

Yup!

What's wealthy? $3m net worth? $10m?

We’re in the $8 M range excluding property and while we are not rich, we are wealthy. Or in the context of the topic of this thread, we can afford full freight for private schools but choose to send our children to public in MCPS - and in the DCC no less! 😃

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because my kids thrive in our public school which is - gasp! - downcounty. The range of programs, the STEM offerings, and the diversity of the school community (racial, ethnic, and SES) is not something any private school could match. And while I do sometimes envy the smaller class sizes of privates or the lush campuses - literally worlds apart from our DCs’ public schools - I think the benefits of public for my children far outweigh those things.

Lastly, to what another poster noted, to send all three of my kids through private would total big money and I’d rather use that money for other things. The ROI on private school isn’t there for us.

You are wealthy and you live downcounty?

Yup!

What's wealthy? $3m net worth? $10m?

Over 10 million

That's not wealthy!

This thread is a fascinating peek into a different world. I’m reminded of the Gilmore Girls show where the wealthy Gilmores were snubbed by the wealthier Huntzbergers.

Anonymous wrote:Coming from abroad my husband and I wanted to give MCPS a shot for my older daughter. We are happy about the teachers who are dedicated. However, her class size is too big and I often feel that she can easily get lost in her crowded class. She is used to having a very small student to teacher ratio and we as parents are kind of spoiled too. So we applied for privates and got into a few reputable ones. She will start her new grade in the fall and I look forward to seeing if we will be happy with the new experience. I’m glad that we tested out for a year. If the new private education turns out underwhelming we can always come back to the public schools.

How does this answer OP's question: "what made you decide to stay in public school?"

In the private school forum, people were complaining about public school parents posting on there. But, I guess it's fine for private school parents to post on the public school forum on a thread that doesn't even apply to them, nor do they even answer the question, because they are wealthy and privileged, so they can do whatever they want. The masses, however, should not be allowed to post on the private school forum, however.

Anonymous wrote:Coming from abroad my husband and I wanted to give MCPS a shot for my older daughter. We are happy about the teachers who are dedicated. However, her class size is too big and I often feel that she can easily get lost in her crowded class. She is used to having a very small student to teacher ratio and we as parents are kind of spoiled too. So we applied for privates and got into a few reputable ones. She will start her new grade in the fall and I look forward to seeing if we will be happy with the new experience. I’m glad that we tested out for a year. If the new private education turns out underwhelming we can always come back to the public schools.

Class sizes may be smaller. Subjects less varied. There are as many cons as pros. We felt class size mattered more in early elementary and was less of an issue at HS leve.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because my kids thrive in our public school which is - gasp! - downcounty. The range of programs, the STEM offerings, and the diversity of the school community (racial, ethnic, and SES) is not something any private school could match. And while I do sometimes envy the smaller class sizes of privates or the lush campuses - literally worlds apart from our DCs’ public schools - I think the benefits of public for my children far outweigh those things.

Lastly, to what another poster noted, to send all three of my kids through private would total big money and I’d rather use that money for other things. The ROI on private school isn’t there for us.

You are wealthy and you live downcounty?

Yup!

What's wealthy? $3m net worth? $10m?

Over 10 million

That's not wealthy!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because my kids thrive in our public school which is - gasp! - downcounty. The range of programs, the STEM offerings, and the diversity of the school community (racial, ethnic, and SES) is not something any private school could match. And while I do sometimes envy the smaller class sizes of privates or the lush campuses - literally worlds apart from our DCs’ public schools - I think the benefits of public for my children far outweigh those things.

Lastly, to what another poster noted, to send all three of my kids through private would total big money and I’d rather use that money for other things. The ROI on private school isn’t there for us.

You are wealthy and you live downcounty?

Yup!

What's wealthy? $3m net worth? $10m?

Over 10 million

Thanks for this. This was one of my questions early on in this thread. A lot of people claiming they are "wealthy" who can't really afford private school comfortably. We are about $7 million net worth, and private school for us isn't a big deal, but we do have to sacrifice as we will be sending them to private universities as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because my kids thrive in our public school which is - gasp! - downcounty. The range of programs, the STEM offerings, and the diversity of the school community (racial, ethnic, and SES) is not something any private school could match. And while I do sometimes envy the smaller class sizes of privates or the lush campuses - literally worlds apart from our DCs’ public schools - I think the benefits of public for my children far outweigh those things.

Lastly, to what another poster noted, to send all three of my kids through private would total big money and I’d rather use that money for other things. The ROI on private school isn’t there for us.

You are wealthy and you live downcounty?

Yup!

What's wealthy? $3m net worth? $10m?

Over 10 million

Coming from abroad my husband and I wanted to give MCPS a shot for my older daughter. We are happy about the teachers who are dedicated. However, her class size is too big and I often feel that she can easily get lost in her crowded class. She is used to having a very small student to teacher ratio and we as parents are kind of spoiled too. So we applied for privates and got into a few reputable ones. She will start her new grade in the fall and I look forward to seeing if we will be happy with the new experience. I’m glad that we tested out for a year. If the new private education turns out underwhelming we can always come back to the public schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because my kids thrive in our public school which is - gasp! - downcounty. The range of programs, the STEM offerings, and the diversity of the school community (racial, ethnic, and SES) is not something any private school could match. And while I do sometimes envy the smaller class sizes of privates or the lush campuses - literally worlds apart from our DCs’ public schools - I think the benefits of public for my children far outweigh those things.

Lastly, to what another poster noted, to send all three of my kids through private would total big money and I’d rather use that money for other things. The ROI on private school isn’t there for us.

You are wealthy and you live downcounty?

Yup!

What's wealthy? $3m net worth? $10m?