I think part of this is really examining your own fraught feelings that this is a make or break decision. If you go into it that way, then when you hit bumpy waters you will think, "See! I made the wrong the choice! Catastrophe!" Ultimately, because your kids have all the advantages associated with their position in life, they are most likely going to be OK no matter what. So it really comes down to what makes the most sense for your family. I'm a public school person, knowing that the $$$ we save on private can be used to travel the world, enrich their experiences, etc. But if you love your city life and your private school, then you can take fewer vacations, expect the kids to finance college, etc. Whichever path you choose, do so knowing that you're doing the best you can with the information you have, and don't enter those years with a huge sense of risk.

I think this is where you really need to think deeply about your own values and vision for life. Does spending $2mil on education so you can stay in your DC neighborhood (which arguably you are eschewing because you’re not even using the schools) make sense? That is a LOT of money that you presumably are working hard for.

Anonymous wrote:MCPS elementary schools (near DC - further out may be different but I don't know) have big class sizes. 23 kids is very common in K with 1 teacher and a floating aid shared among several K classes. We moved to MD for the schools and are still doing private elementary to get a smaller class. Not sure what we will do for middle school as it seems bad everywhere but am excited to have excellent high schools in MCPS.

Hmm. We live inside the beltway, about 2 miles from the DC line, and my kid had 15 in her K, 17 in her first grade class… public school.

MCPS elementary schools (near DC - further out may be different but I don't know) have big class sizes. 23 kids is very common in K with 1 teacher and a floating aid shared among several K classes. We moved to MD for the schools and are still doing private elementary to get a smaller class. Not sure what we will do for middle school as it seems bad everywhere but am excited to have excellent high schools in MCPS.

Former DCPS teacher here. We made the switch to MoCo early, when my oldest kid was in PreK4, because we could afford a better house here than in DC. My kid had an extensive IEP at that point and the services he received in MCPS were far and away better than what he received in DC. There have been ups and downs with specific teachers along the way, of course, but that's to be expected anywhere. Absolutely no regrets.

Anonymous wrote:OP - my impression is that MCPS has experienced a decline - I’ve heard this from
MCPS teachers in addition to families with older kids who graduated from MCPS a number of years ago, now choosing to send their younger kids to private.

Central admin and BOE are a mess but it's been that way for a long time. The fact is at the HS level, there are tons of opportunities and options for kids and just about any elementary school is going to be good to great. MS is where you have to be more careful because there are hits and misses.

Anonymous wrote:OP - my impression is that MCPS has experienced a decline - I’ve heard this from
MCPS teachers in addition to families with older kids who graduated from MCPS a number of years ago, now choosing to send their younger kids to private.

Depends where, perhaps. We are very happy in our school.

OP - my impression is that MCPS has experienced a decline - I’ve heard this from
MCPS teachers in addition to families with older kids who graduated from MCPS a number of years ago, now choosing to send their younger kids to private.

MCPS schools are really good. There are plenty of anxious students who are supported and learn well in public schools. Fwiw, I think your money might be better spent treating the anxiety rather than trying to curate a school environment for all of your children for $$$$ over the next 12-17 years.

My kids are in middle school and we haven’t found any class time is spent “teaching to the test” although in certain grades they do spend a good part of one week per year doing useless standardized testing mandated by the state of MD. This is not in K or any time soon. It’s not like you’ll get more instructional time at private, though. You folks have more days off and longer school breaks. It evens out.

We could send our kids to private if we wanted. I haven’t found a school that really fits what I would want, which is challenging, engaging, joyful and low-medium pressure. I’ve found that in public. In this area, the top schools are pressure cookers and the lower key schools don’t offer the rigor and depth I’d prefer, particularly in math.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS magnet change anybodys answers?

It's very hard to get kids into magnet programs. Too few programs, too may kids. Plus the lottery.

We had one in middle school magnet, one not. Very good experience for both (non-magnet kid was placed well to get the math he needed to advance to magnet high school).

High school has tons of options even if non magnet, you can take as strong a program as you want — lots of APs. Not getting into the AP debate about privates not offering them, but they have been very useful when entering college and in some cases allow you to avoid freshman survey classes and move right into higher levels.

You were fortunate. Our MS experience has been meh... at best.

We went to a small K through 8 in DC and moved for high school and junior high school in MCPS to Pyle Whitman. It was the best thing we could’ve done for our kids. The academics are a step up, the activities and the social outlets can’t be compared. It was stifling in the bubble of our school and very dysfunctional. I think one argument for staying as if your kid has anxiety or special needs or needs that extra hand holding. The Publix that we’ve experienced have more experienced teachers and a real curriculum. Our neighbors did something very similar and we joked and discussed how much money we wasted in the early years. We could have afforded to send them all the way through but are very satisfied with our choice. Eldest is going to college next year and his friend group who stayed in private have very similar choices and they were a lot more stressed in high school then he was. Two of his private friends are struggling with admissions right now. That’s just not the case with my sons cohort.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS magnet change anybodys answers?

It's very hard to get kids into magnet programs. Too few programs, too may kids. Plus the lottery.

Do not move expecting magnets. For MS and ES it's now by lottery among kids who qualify.

Op there are a ton of rentals in Bethesda right now. We started in the area by renting and then bought. It's not uncommon for people from overseas (like us) though it might seem silly if you're only coming from DC.

The ES that impressed us were Bradley Hills, Bannockburn, Carderock Springs. Newer buildings, less crowding issues.

I remember when our kids were tiny there was a huge influx of families to Bethesda Elementary as they had high numbers of special education specialists and the kids needing that help were integrated into the classrooms - I think it was about 10% at the time. I don't know if that has changed.

You can visit the schools and often it will be the Principal who takes you on a tour. I really recommend you do this as its very insightful.

Our kids went to Bradley Hills, then Pyle which was horribly overcrowded and patchy in terms of teaching - but when it was good it was truly excellent. Our son who is not the biggest linguist in the world managed to do well in French because he had the same teacher for 3 years who got to know him and cultivated his interest and worked hard to make it work.

They also went to Whitman where there are some really excellent teachers. My son was able to read alternate texts in his Honors English class because his teacher had petitioned to teach non-racist / bigoted out of date texts. And that was inspirational.

No regrets. Very glad we did it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS magnet change anybodys answers?

It's very hard to get kids into magnet programs. Too few programs, too may kids. Plus the lottery.

We had one in middle school magnet, one not. Very good experience for both (non-magnet kid was placed well to get the math he needed to advance to magnet high school).

High school has tons of options even if non magnet, you can take as strong a program as you want — lots of APs. Not getting into the AP debate about privates not offering them, but they have been very useful when entering college and in some cases allow you to avoid freshman survey classes and move right into higher levels.