Anonymous wrote:We moved here for the excellent public schools and I now find myself in the position of sending my DC to $40k/year Kindergarten. Several people we know were gung ho about public and then Covid hit, and they’ve lost complete faith in the school system’s ability to put kids first and focus on what’s high priority. Basically everyone I know who had the foresight and the money switched to private and they’re not coming back. I know, don’t let the door hit us on the way out. But I’m disappointed because I would have loved to send public but no longer feel it’s a great option.

You didn’t send your kid to FCPS and you have not actually looked at what FCPS is doing this year. You are making your decision based on what happened in a pandemic. And it wasn’t just FCPS, it was most of the public schools in this area.

Or you could look at what the school track record is in a normal year. Kids from FCPS get a great education and have the opportunity to attend some great colleges.

Or you could decide to pay $40,000 for kindergarten and upwards of $500,000 for private education through high school.

You could also look at any number of other private schools that don’t charge $40,000 and do a fine job of educating kids.

My money is on you were looking for an excuse to send your kid to private school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kindergarten was disappointing for both my kids way before Covid. They are basically working with kids who did pre-school/pre K and kids who never set foot on a school. Then it gets going.

What gets going? I don't understand.

School. The good stuff. Although I disagree that school gets going in 1st grade. It really gets going in 3rd grade, maybe 2nd grade depending upon the teacher.

With kindergarten being what 1st grade used to be, it means that 1st grade is basically a repeat. Somehow they need to go back to the old kindergarten, which is what good preschools are now. It's better for all children, those who are advanced and those who are not.

- parent of an "advanced" child

Anonymous wrote:I'm disappointed in OP. She's either a dunce who is paying too much for private school without ever seeing public school for herself or she's an unimaginative troll. Either way, she's a dunce.

I think it's pretty clear OP is a troll. Someone can spend 2 minutes on the FCPS forum and quickly discern that most posts are complaints about their school or FCPS. So OP posts they're "disappointed" in FCPS and that sets everyone off.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What sort of response are you looking for from DCUM? Or are you just venting?

I guess I’m just venting. Sorry. I mean, I’m excited about my DC’s school. But I would have much, much preferred to stick to the neighborhood school. It’s not the school itself, or the teachers, that are the problem. It’s the people at the top making the decisions.

You have not provided any specifics. Sounds very likely that you are throwing the 40k down the drain based on rumors and all the astroturfing from anti-public education here on DCUM rather than any actual deficiency of your neighborhood school. What a dupe.

Nothing quite screams FCDC tool quite like the automatic claim that any criticism of FCPS is “astroturfing.”

+ a million

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is super disappointing. Sorry you didn’t realize it before you moved here. They are a marketing machine and have skated by on a old reputation.

+1
FCPS *used* to be excellent. That is true. It no longer is.

Anonymous wrote:Kindergarten was disappointing for both my kids way before Covid. They are basically working with kids who did pre-school/pre K and kids who never set foot on a school. Then it gets going.

What gets going? I don't understand.

I'm disappointed in OP. She's either a dunce who is paying too much for private school without ever seeing public school for herself or she's an unimaginative troll. Either way, she's a dunce.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What sort of response are you looking for from DCUM? Or are you just venting?

I guess I’m just venting. Sorry. I mean, I’m excited about my DC’s school. But I would have much, much preferred to stick to the neighborhood school. It’s not the school itself, or the teachers, that are the problem. It’s the people at the top making the decisions.

You have not provided any specifics. Sounds very likely that you are throwing the 40k down the drain based on rumors and all the astroturfing from anti-public education here on DCUM rather than any actual deficiency of your neighborhood school. What a dupe.

Nothing quite screams FCDC tool quite like the automatic claim that any criticism of FCPS is “astroturfing.”

I think it’s funny that you criticize PP for mentioning astroturfing by saying she’s a FCDC rep astroturfing. You don’t see the irony, do you? It’s one thing to vent about FCPS. It’s always happened, even pre Covid. But the SB is the devil/I went private and now I’m so happy (and still posting on FCPS forum for some random reason)/teachers are bad crap in the past 2 years is just really getting freaking old.

Kindergarten was disappointing for both my kids way before Covid. They are basically working with kids who did pre-school/pre K and kids who never set foot on a school. Then it gets going.

OP, you haven't told us what was wrong with the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What sort of response are you looking for from DCUM? Or are you just venting?

I guess I’m just venting. Sorry. I mean, I’m excited about my DC’s school. But I would have much, much preferred to stick to the neighborhood school. It’s not the school itself, or the teachers, that are the problem. It’s the people at the top making the decisions.

Stop falling for the political hype. FCPS schools are good to great. You say you like the school so what does it matter to you who makes the decisions at the top. You have a kindergartner. Relax.

Anonymous wrote:OMG—not another whiny thread. This is beyond pathetic.

This. Seriously, for the love of all that’s holy, get some therapy to help you move the hell on.

I am a kindergarten teacher. You can give it a try for a year.

I’m guessing if you can pay that you must be in a really good pyramid so I wouldn’t give up on it so soon.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What sort of response are you looking for from DCUM? Or are you just venting?

I guess I’m just venting. Sorry. I mean, I’m excited about my DC’s school. But I would have much, much preferred to stick to the neighborhood school. It’s not the school itself, or the teachers, that are the problem. It’s the people at the top making the decisions.

"...to stick to the neighborhood school..."????

You never even tried it! 🙄 Seriously, OP! You can apparently afford $40,000 for kindergarten. How much sympathy do you need to feel better about your "disappointment?" Your $40,000 tuition will become $300,000 spent for elementary school.

Maybe it would have been wise to give free school a try before assuming the mantle of disappointed parent. You mught have saved $300,000! Probably would have been worth trying public for that amount possibly saved.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the people who say the school systems don’t put kids first. I mean, it was a pandemic, people made the best decisions they could. I seriously don’t think people get into the oh-so-lucrative education industry just so they can screw over kids.

+1000000

The bad faith here is disgusting to me. These are people who dedicate their lives to kids, and you’re acting like they made the decisions they made because they were getting kickbacks from Korean mask manufacturers. They made the best decisions they could during extraordinary circumstances. You can disagree with the decisions, and I disagreed with many of them, but to assert they they didn’t put kids first is contemptible BS. And don’t blame the boogeyman of the teachers’ union. If only the unions were actually powerful. The vast majority of teachers would much prefer teaching in person and had to work much harder under much less rewarding conditions at home.