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Anonymous wrote:I can afford private and am open to it but have chosen to keep my kids in W cluster public. I love our neighborhood and my kids have tons of friends who share their school experience, activities, sports. It would be hard to take them away from that. Each kid has found programs in public that support their interests--arts, sports, stem. My impression of many local privates over the years is that they have been havens for kids who needed more support than public can give, whether for social, emotional, or behavioral reasons, or post covid learning loss or smaller class sizes generally. I'm all for those resources if a kid needs but it has made private generally seem less desirable. I'm also concerned that most privates would be too small and stifling for my kids.

Ah, the go to when ‘W’ parents can’t afford a highly ranked private. “All of those private school kids have issues!” 😆
Whatever helps you sleep at night while people much wealthier then you make sure their kids are getting an excellent education.

Regardless of what anyone can afford, the smaller class sizes and individual attention provide more support for kids who need it and would get lost in a big competitive public. There are also kids who thrive in the public environment because of the wide range of options and peer groups.

Smaller class sizes works well for smart kids who like to dive deep too. Actually, the studies show it works well for all types of students.

I suppose the exception would be students with parents who did not value this type of optimization. It works well for the student, but not the parent and happy parent is better for child development.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can afford private and am open to it but have chosen to keep my kids in W cluster public. I love our neighborhood and my kids have tons of friends who share their school experience, activities, sports. It would be hard to take them away from that. Each kid has found programs in public that support their interests--arts, sports, stem. My impression of many local privates over the years is that they have been havens for kids who needed more support than public can give, whether for social, emotional, or behavioral reasons, or post covid learning loss or smaller class sizes generally. I'm all for those resources if a kid needs but it has made private generally seem less desirable. I'm also concerned that most privates would be too small and stifling for my kids.

Ah, the go to when ‘W’ parents can’t afford a highly ranked private. “All of those private school kids have issues!” 😆
Whatever helps you sleep at night while people much wealthier then you make sure their kids are getting an excellent education.

Judge much?!

All parents are trying to make the right decision. It's like asking if you would prefer the tailor fit ($$$) or the one size fits all (almost free). Some people want the cheaper one size fits all and it is perfectly suited to their needs. Other people prefer to pay for the tailored fit.

Personally I pay for the education even though we have access to a free decent one. Why? My kids get ALL their needs and wants met and I like the community and social group. My kids are smart, but not geniuses (IQs maybe 115-125 range). They like to participate in sports, but they are not super competitive. Maybe they wouldn't make the teams in public, but do in private. They are artistic and musical, both play piano since age 3. Both love school and learning; both straight A students. They are active in school clubs, sports, drama, etc. I don't think they would be able to "do it all" in public because they are not the top of their game at anything. They are pretty good at lots of things they enjoy. No disabilities or ADHD or anything like that. They are happy; we are happy. It's an experience we are willing to pay for.

Others would argue their kids "do it all" in public. Good for them. I'm sure some kids can. My kids are where they need to be to achieve what they want to achieve in an environment that works for everyone involved.

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Anonymous wrote:And LOL at you all claiming these schools are diverse. They’re as diverse as a box of milk toast with a bag of rice next to it.

Which schools are "these schools"? My kid's MCPS high school, in Ganglandia, is diverse by any measure of diversity, except I guess maybe kids from super-rich families are underrepresented.

The post is literally about W schools. Keep up.

W schools have a lack of diversity. Hence why the Board of Education raises the issue of redrawing boundaries once in a while.

W schools do have students who have a sense of entitlement and break rules without a fear of consequences. There’s a large percentage of students with cash to spend on drugs.

Compared to many other schools in MCPS. Whitman, Wootton, Churchill, and WJ are less diverse than many other schools in MCPS. In the bigger picture, though, there is no school in MCPS that is not diverse. Certainly far more diverse than the public schools I went to, growing up.

Define “diverse.” <5% FARMS isn’t exactly diverse in my book.

There are many aspects of diversity. Household income (poor/not-poor) is one of them. It is not the only one.

So then tell me how W schools are so diverse.

Even Whitman, which is the whitest high school in MCPS, is 40% non-white.

Non-White doesn’t mean diversity if the remaining 60% is Asian.

But, it's not. Whitman Asian population is 15% ; Hispanic 12%. Fair number of biracial - 8%.

The Black population is tiny, though.

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04427.pdf

Most of the white people are not white btw. Lot of foreigners who identify as white. For instance three of my neighbors look white, but they literall are like Borat

Eastern Europeans are white. What the hell? At least be an educated racist.

When used to measure advantage, race is the wrong metrics. Non English speakers and immigrants are disadvantaged. That's the point. So we as a society are not helping by proliferating nonsense along race lines.

I'm willing to bet that the majority, if not all, of the Eastern Europeans who live in Bethesda have advanced degrees who knew how to speak English when they immigrated here. Even if they didn't know how to speak English, I bet they knew how to read it. That goes a long way helping your kids at school.

My parents didn't know any English when we immigrated here, and they have a ES/MS level education. So, no helping with HW or anything related to school. Never went to a parent/teacher conference. I'm Asian, btw.

Both are economic migrants who made a choice. Both are likely better off than they would be in their countries. Your point is a bit moot. It's like saying one came from an educated wealthy family that helps their kids, the other didn't - well, we have families like both of those in this country that are not immigrants.

Private schools for my NT kids but W with a strong iep for my SN kid.

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Anonymous wrote:I can afford private and am open to it but have chosen to keep my kids in W cluster public. I love our neighborhood and my kids have tons of friends who share their school experience, activities, sports. It would be hard to take them away from that. Each kid has found programs in public that support their interests--arts, sports, stem. My impression of many local privates over the years is that they have been havens for kids who needed more support than public can give, whether for social, emotional, or behavioral reasons, or post covid learning loss or smaller class sizes generally. I'm all for those resources if a kid needs but it has made private generally seem less desirable. I'm also concerned that most privates would be too small and stifling for my kids.

yea, my kids would hate the small peer groups.

Especially if your kids are behind academically and socially due to COVID public school closures. A smaller environment of highly educated, socially adept and more cultured peers would be intimidating and may affect your public school kid’s ability to adjust.

lol.. my kids are probably ahead socially since they have to deal with the large public and all sorts of diverse kids.

As for academics, my kid was in a magnet (just graduated), 1580 SAT, 5s on all APs, 4.95 uwgpa, 4.0 wgpa, passed the UMD MVC exam easily. I think my kid is pretty advanced academically

And what the heck is "cultured peers" for teenagers? You don't think private school kids are all on tiktok watching stupid videos? You think private school kids are watching PBS documentaries? GMFAB.

Congrats on your child’s stellar academic accomplishments; however, you do realize that wealthy people go to private schools for experiences that are beyond academic, which has already been explained ad nauseum. Your child thrived in spite of, not because of the public school he attended. Given the grade inflation in MCPS I would not brag on his GPA. And to be honest, he probably would have received an even higher SAT score had he attended private school. But anyhoo, go UMD, I guess?

I don’t see how a 4.95 is possible. Did they not take PE and Art?

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Anonymous wrote:The comments in the thread “Teachers What would you tell parents if you could” is why I would choose private. The first page comment about IEP students don’t receive the services in their IEP because staff is stretched thin was our experience in a W cluster.

Agreed, it’s jarring to read both threads. Pages of complaints about MCPS and also lots of hate for parents who chose something other than that for their kids.

It’s so weird.

MCPS parents: this system is horrible

Also MCPS parents: go away, private school parents!! You suck.

Public school parents have a thread going on that gets into the issues with MCPS. Private school parents hop on to gloat that they are above all this, because $$$$. You don’t understand why the public school parents are annoyed?

You realize this is not actually true, right? We moved to private school when MCPS closed during the pandemic. There was one very reputable private school we considered where the tuition was the exact same amount we were already paying for early and after care for our kid in MCPS. Plus plenty of schools give financial aid.

We ended up choosing a different school that costs quite a bit more. Admittedly there are some wealthy people here but the majority are like us - two working parent households who just have to make some financial sacrifices to make it work or people on scholarships/financial aid.

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Anonymous wrote:The comments in the thread “Teachers What would you tell parents if you could” is why I would choose private. The first page comment about IEP students don’t receive the services in their IEP because staff is stretched thin was our experience in a W cluster.

Agreed, it’s jarring to read both threads. Pages of complaints about MCPS and also lots of hate for parents who chose something other than that for their kids.

Great point.

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Anonymous wrote:The comments in the thread “Teachers What would you tell parents if you could” is why I would choose private. The first page comment about IEP students don’t receive the services in their IEP because staff is stretched thin was our experience in a W cluster.

Agreed, it’s jarring to read both threads. Pages of complaints about MCPS and also lots of hate for parents who chose something other than that for their kids.

It’s so weird.

MCPS parents: this system is horrible

Also MCPS parents: go away, private school parents!! You suck.

Public school parents have a thread going on that gets into the issues with MCPS. Private school parents hop on to gloat that they are above all this, because $$$$. You don’t understand why the public school parents are annoyed?

MCPS teachers themselves are bringing up what works in private schools. We are agreeing with them. You attack us for it.

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Anonymous wrote:The comments in the thread “Teachers What would you tell parents if you could” is why I would choose private. The first page comment about IEP students don’t receive the services in their IEP because staff is stretched thin was our experience in a W cluster.

Agreed, it’s jarring to read both threads. Pages of complaints about MCPS and also lots of hate for parents who chose something other than that for their kids.

It’s so weird.

MCPS parents: this system is horrible

Also MCPS parents: go away, private school parents!! You suck.

Public school parents have a thread going on that gets into the issues with MCPS. Private school parents hop on to gloat that they are above all this, because $$$$. You don’t understand why the public school parents are annoyed?

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Anonymous wrote:The comments in the thread “Teachers What would you tell parents if you could” is why I would choose private. The first page comment about IEP students don’t receive the services in their IEP because staff is stretched thin was our experience in a W cluster.

Agreed, it’s jarring to read both threads. Pages of complaints about MCPS and also lots of hate for parents who chose something other than that for their kids.

It’s so weird.

MCPS parents: this system is horrible

Also MCPS parents: go away, private school parents!! You suck.

Anonymous wrote:The comments in the thread “Teachers What would you tell parents if you could” is why I would choose private. The first page comment about IEP students don’t receive the services in their IEP because staff is stretched thin was our experience in a W cluster.

Agreed, it’s jarring to read both threads. Pages of complaints about MCPS and also lots of hate for parents who chose something other than that for their kids.

The comments in the thread “Teachers What would you tell parents if you could” is why I would choose private. The first page comment about IEP students don’t receive the services in their IEP because staff is stretched thin was our experience in a W cluster.

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Anonymous wrote:I think it's fantastic that all the wealthy, private-school-attending families recognize the educational and social inequities provided by the institutions they patronize, which set such good examples for public schools to follow that they must be happy to ensure a tax base great enough for those public schools to do what would be needed to reach par service levels for the non-private population.

This contorted, lengthy, unfocused sentence structure, was it learned in public or private?

I had to read this 3 times and am still not sure what this poster is saying.

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Anonymous wrote:I can afford private and am open to it but have chosen to keep my kids in W cluster public. I love our neighborhood and my kids have tons of friends who share their school experience, activities, sports. It would be hard to take them away from that. Each kid has found programs in public that support their interests--arts, sports, stem. My impression of many local privates over the years is that they have been havens for kids who needed more support than public can give, whether for social, emotional, or behavioral reasons, or post covid learning loss or smaller class sizes generally. I'm all for those resources if a kid needs but it has made private generally seem less desirable. I'm also concerned that most privates would be too small and stifling for my kids.

yea, my kids would hate the small peer groups.

Especially if your kids are behind academically and socially due to COVID public school closures. A smaller environment of highly educated, socially adept and more cultured peers would be intimidating and may affect your public school kid’s ability to adjust.

lol.. my kids are probably ahead socially since they have to deal with the large public and all sorts of diverse kids.

As for academics, my kid was in a magnet (just graduated), 1580 SAT, 5s on all APs, 4.95 uwgpa, 4.0 wgpa, passed the UMD MVC exam easily. I think my kid is pretty advanced academically

And what the heck is "cultured peers" for teenagers? You don't think private school kids are all on tiktok watching stupid videos? You think private school kids are watching PBS documentaries? GMFAB.

If you’re pulling up made up e-stats from your ass, at least be smart enough to not mix up the weighted and unweighted GPAs.

Anonymous wrote:I think it's fantastic that all the wealthy, private-school-attending families recognize the educational and social inequities provided by the institutions they patronize, which set such good examples for public schools to follow that they must be happy to ensure a tax base great enough for those public schools to do what would be needed to reach par service levels for the non-private population.

This contorted, lengthy, unfocused sentence structure, was it learned in public or private?