Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are zoned for Wootton and have had DD in private since elementary school. Yes class size and general chaos was top reason. And overall lack of academic rigor.

I can’t relate to this at all.
We are zoned to Wootton and I send my kid to private because Wootton is a pressure cooker and I don’t feel like my kid would do well there. Sent older siblings to Wootton and junior year was just a level of stress I was not comfortable with.

Can you explain what this means? What are examples of the pressure/stress?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes we are zoned for One of these and went private.

Very poor handling of pandemic education.

Poor communication between home and school.

Hard to get on the sports teams unless you are top athlete.

Bureaucratic approaches that lack common sense.

Academics and writing more rigorous so we fell student will be better prepared for college.

We prefer private although college outcomes are probably similar or better at the public due to grade inflation.

Our DC prefers private.

What surprised me is that my DS gets less writing at private than he did at public. We’ve had to hire a tutor to fill that gap but should not have to do so with what we pay in tuition. Apart from class size, academics are not better and are actually worse in English. This is one of the top privates in DC so I am skeptical that any private is “better” than public in the DMV area.

Right. No private school in the area is better than the W schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes we are zoned for One of these and went private.

Very poor handling of pandemic education.

Poor communication between home and school.

Hard to get on the sports teams unless you are top athlete.

Bureaucratic approaches that lack common sense.

Academics and writing more rigorous so we fell student will be better prepared for college.

We prefer private although college outcomes are probably similar or better at the public due to grade inflation.

Our DC prefers private.

Same here, all of the above reasons. Will stay and graduate from private

Communication better at private? Ha, come to my private and you would say otherwise. Had a burst pipe one morning and parents weren’t notified in a timely and efficient manner so weren’t told till we were already on way to school and some student were already there, many after using public transportation. Club my child signed up for which school posted never started. Or so we think, no one could answer what happened or who was in charge. Parents complained of being sent to wrong school location for sports event which caused delay. These are just a few examples.
Get better notifications from MCPS and know weather issues before from them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes we are zoned for One of these and went private.

Very poor handling of pandemic education.

Poor communication between home and school.

Hard to get on the sports teams unless you are top athlete.

Bureaucratic approaches that lack common sense.

Academics and writing more rigorous so we fell student will be better prepared for college.

We prefer private although college outcomes are probably similar or better at the public due to grade inflation.

Our DC prefers private.

Same here, all of the above reasons. Will stay and graduate from private

No snark but I would really like to know what private has better academics and more specifically writing than public here. That was touted at my child’s school and it is not better and has a reputation of a well-respected private.

Anonymous wrote:Yes we are zoned for One of these and went private.

Very poor handling of pandemic education.

Poor communication between home and school.

Hard to get on the sports teams unless you are top athlete.

Bureaucratic approaches that lack common sense.

Academics and writing more rigorous so we fell student will be better prepared for college.

We prefer private although college outcomes are probably similar or better at the public due to grade inflation.

Our DC prefers private.

Same here, all of the above reasons. Will stay and graduate from private

Anonymous wrote:Yes we are zoned for One of these and went private.

Very poor handling of pandemic education.

Poor communication between home and school.

Hard to get on the sports teams unless you are top athlete.

Bureaucratic approaches that lack common sense.

Academics and writing more rigorous so we fell student will be better prepared for college.

We prefer private although college outcomes are probably similar or better at the public due to grade inflation.

Our DC prefers private.

What surprised me is that my DS gets less writing at private than he did at public. We’ve had to hire a tutor to fill that gap but should not have to do so with what we pay in tuition. Apart from class size, academics are not better and are actually worse in English. This is one of the top privates in DC so I am skeptical that any private is “better” than public in the DMV area.

Anonymous wrote:We are zoned for Wootton and have had DD in private since elementary school. Yes class size and general chaos was top reason. And overall lack of academic rigor.

I can’t relate to this at all.
We are zoned to Wootton and I send my kid to private because Wootton is a pressure cooker and I don’t feel like my kid would do well there. Sent older siblings to Wootton and junior year was just a level of stress I was not comfortable with.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a night and day comparison between top privates and these overcrowded public’s. MoCo public schools have been resting on their laurels for 15 years. If you have the means, and can get into one of the better privates in the area, do that.

We have been at one of the “better privates” and it hasn’t been better. Paying tuition for polish rather than academics that they successfully market to parents like myself who assume private has to be superior to public. Not so. Will return to public after foolishly wasting trusting that private has to be better.

Ditto and we are doing same in 2022-23. Waste of money and time. I think a lot of people are realizing this.

Yes we are zoned for One of these and went private.

Very poor handling of pandemic education.

Poor communication between home and school.

Hard to get on the sports teams unless you are top athlete.

Bureaucratic approaches that lack common sense.

Academics and writing more rigorous so we fell student will be better prepared for college.

We prefer private although college outcomes are probably similar or better at the public due to grade inflation.

Our DC prefers private.

Anonymous wrote:There is a night and day comparison between top privates and these overcrowded public’s. MoCo public schools have been resting on their laurels for 15 years. If you have the means, and can get into one of the better privates in the area, do that.

We have been at one of the “better privates” and it hasn’t been better. Paying tuition for polish rather than academics that they successfully market to parents like myself who assume private has to be superior to public. Not so. Will return to public after foolishly wasting trusting that private has to be better.

I’m zoned for Wootton. My kid is just not that competitive and we were afraid he would drown. Is at Bullis and he does fine.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]seems like top reason is class size?

[/quote]

Yes and class size trickles down into everything…
Length and feedback on assignments
Hands on learning experience/materials
Roster spots on sports teams
Chance of getting a role in the play
[/quote]

We never see some assignments or tests back from our private and have to request frequently. It’s actually been brought up recently to the headmaster but hasn’t improved and been brought up again. Role is play and sports would be correct. But don’t count on smaller class size as fixing everything.

Anonymous wrote:Whitman is too large, resources do not compare to many privates. In addition, the curriculum and student body is too left of center for me and my kids...there are many Catholic schools where a conservative or old school liberal will feel comfortable.

Child at a Catholic school is DC where many, many far left liberals attend and school is not academically superior to public by no means.

If money is not an issue, send your kids to private. The decision is a no-brainer even if you are in a W cluster. A good private will offer smaller classes and has way more resources--Whitman is allocated about $11,000 per student by MCSP. Privates like Holton, Sidwell, St. Albans are spending close to 50K per student. Your kid also gets an amazing network/ Rolodex from being at a good private school...think of the network Ivy League grads have.

do most people start in K if they are going private? If not, what are other popular transition years?