I think one of the themes in these responses is that people aren't seeing the valued added for most parochial/independent schools.

Yes, my child would probably get a better education at GDS or SFS than our local public, but I don't have that kind of money. So...once you get beyond the "top" four or so schools in the region, there's just no clear advantage for most kids.

Anonymous wrote:In the Whitman cluster with ES kids. We are generally happy with our teachers and love our school community, but classes for my kindergartner and 4th grader have 25+ kids. The administrators are also extremely frustrating communicators and under qualified. My oldest needed some additional assistance learning to read, which we accomplished through after school tutoring. I am not sure we are quite ready to switch to private school quite yet, but my spouse is.

If you can afford parochial or private school, why do you keep your kids in MCPS?

We bought in the Einstein cluster (gasp!), so our fourth grade classes are never more than 22 kids and often less. The smaller class makes such a difference, even for kids that are a few grades ahead. Our principal is a clear, consistent communicator when MCPS central’s messaging allows her to be. It’s a kind, caring community that challenges my kids and exposed them to diversity.

We did parochial last year and weren’t impressed. We loved that daily religion class, but the teachers were not up to date on best education practices and we had more trouble with bullying and classroom disruption. Grass isn’t always greener.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the Whitman cluster with ES kids. We are generally happy with our teachers and love our school community, but classes for my kindergartner and 4th grader have 25+ kids. The administrators are also extremely frustrating communicators and under qualified. My oldest needed some additional assistance learning to read, which we accomplished through after school tutoring. I am not sure we are quite ready to switch to private school quite yet, but my spouse is.

If you can afford parochial or private school, why do you keep your kids in MCPS?

We took one out and still have one in. The one in is mainly because of friends, but also we cannot afford two in private. They have a good cohort that they developed through CES and I feel good that the kids themselves are stronger than the school system itself. However I do worry about and think about it every day.

The private school experience has been a godsend in many ways but also a lot different than public in other ways that also makes me uncomfortable. For example, through the combination of MAP testing and conferences you get a very good idea in MCPS where your kid is objectively in terms of their development and where they sit vis-a-via their classmates. This has felt more opaque at the private school and I would suspect that they make those comparisons difficult by design. On the other hand, a huge benefit of the difference in private versus public is that we don’t need to feel constantly on guard and hovering over everything. In MCPS it feels like you are penalized for not helicoptering and not being constantly in communication with the school and teachers, even if they treat you like you are being a PITA.

With that said, in ES in particular when both were in MCPS, we expended a lot on outside tutoring.

For what it’s worth, a lot of kids at the private live in the Whitman cluster. So you would not be alone in making that choice.

Good luck OP. It’s a hard decision and it’s different for everyone. I would honestly love to leave MCPS completely in the rear view mirror if I could.

Private schools offer standardized testing are are very transparent with results. The big difference is most students do well on the testing whereas at MCPS the learning loss has been abysmal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the Whitman cluster with ES kids. We are generally happy with our teachers and love our school community, but classes for my kindergartner and 4th grader have 25+ kids. The administrators are also extremely frustrating communicators and under qualified. My oldest needed some additional assistance learning to read, which we accomplished through after school tutoring. I am not sure we are quite ready to switch to private school quite yet, but my spouse is.

If you can afford parochial or private school, why do you keep your kids in MCPS?

We'd like to retire sooner rather than later, we have college expenses to look at, and we can't see sending my kids to a parochial for for religious indoctrination that doesn't match our beliefs.

Oh, and we find MCPS to be quite good despite all the people on DCUM lambasting 'em.

Does your kid feel safe?

What planet do you live on? Public schools in this country are extremely segregated by SES because public school funding comes out of property tax bills. Thus people who can afford to send their kids to private school likely live in a neighborhood whose public school pyramid is comprised with mostly white /
Asian kids with professional parents who are well off. Yes, their kids feel safe at school.

Really? So because their school is mostly white, they are safer? What about the knife incident at Churchill and most recently the gun found on the WJ student just this weekend. Public high schools are cesspools of disturbed youth. I'm sending mine to all girls.

Anonymous wrote:In the Whitman cluster with ES kids. We are generally happy with our teachers and love our school community, but classes for my kindergartner and 4th grader have 25+ kids. The administrators are also extremely frustrating communicators and under qualified. My oldest needed some additional assistance learning to read, which we accomplished through after school tutoring. I am not sure we are quite ready to switch to private school quite yet, but my spouse is.

If you can afford parochial or private school, why do you keep your kids in MCPS?

We took one out and still have one in. The one in is mainly because of friends, but also we cannot afford two in private. They have a good cohort that they developed through CES and I feel good that the kids themselves are stronger than the school system itself. However I do worry about and think about it every day.

The private school experience has been a godsend in many ways but also a lot different than public in other ways that also makes me uncomfortable. For example, through the combination of MAP testing and conferences you get a very good idea in MCPS where your kid is objectively in terms of their development and where they sit vis-a-via their classmates. This has felt more opaque at the private school and I would suspect that they make those comparisons difficult by design. On the other hand, a huge benefit of the difference in private versus public is that we don’t need to feel constantly on guard and hovering over everything. In MCPS it feels like you are penalized for not helicoptering and not being constantly in communication with the school and teachers, even if they treat you like you are being a PITA.

With that said, in ES in particular when both were in MCPS, we expended a lot on outside tutoring.

For what it’s worth, a lot of kids at the private live in the Whitman cluster. So you would not be alone in making that choice.

Good luck OP. It’s a hard decision and it’s different for everyone. I would honestly love to leave MCPS completely in the rear view mirror if I could.

So many reasons. Services for kids with special needs are excellent. You can’t match them in private. Magnitude of classes, clubs and extracurricular activities. Going to school with neighborhood friends. Bus service. Easy before and aftercare. Private doesn’t offer more for your average A-B student. I just can’t see what private would offer my kids that public doesn’t do better.

Honestly, we have been in a private for the past 2 years due to the pandemic. Going back to MCPS next year. It’s all about the driving, our school does not have a bus service, and driving there twice a day has been an annoyance .

More important question if you put your kid in private school why do you keep trolling the public school forum to brag about it? Isn't that the most noveau riche thing to do?

We looked at private schools, but our high school and its STEM classes were very good and included an excellent internship opportunity. Also, diversity was important to us.

We came from private. Too small socially. My kid is much happier in public and is developing much better social skills.

I've worked hard to help my kids "navigate" the public school system, which has meant language immersion and magnets. It is about the same amout of effort that I would have spent to "navigate" private school admissions, but without the tuition.

The result is a good education, college savings, and enough money to supplement where MCPS is weaker.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the Whitman cluster with ES kids. We are generally happy with our teachers and love our school community, but classes for my kindergartner and 4th grader have 25+ kids. The administrators are also extremely frustrating communicators and under qualified. My oldest needed some additional assistance learning to read, which we accomplished through after school tutoring. I am not sure we are quite ready to switch to private school quite yet, but my spouse is.

If you can afford parochial or private school, why do you keep your kids in MCPS?

We'd like to retire sooner rather than later, we have college expenses to look at, and we can't see sending my kids to a parochial for for religious indoctrination that doesn't match our beliefs.

Oh, and we find MCPS to be quite good despite all the people on DCUM lambasting 'em.

Does your kid feel safe?

What planet do you live on? Public schools in this country are extremely segregated by SES because public school funding comes out of property tax bills. Thus people who can afford to send their kids to private school likely live in a neighborhood whose public school pyramid is comprised with mostly white /
Asian kids with professional parents who are well off. Yes, their kids feel safe at school.

We had two in private, moved them into MCPS and haven’t looked back.

I attended private and did not find it worthwhile.

Np. I want to believe in public schools. I went to top publics. My high school teachers mostly had doctorates. Wonderful AP courses, IB and smart peers. I’m still in disbelief on the wonderful education that I got but my $$$ tax payer dollars here can’t seem to touch. I am not sure why I don’t have access to anything similar. My elementary kids don’t even have access to a language, which to me is very basic.

So basically I’m still in shock at how bad schools here are. Where the f does the money go?!