Anonymous wrote:If you can be in the Town of Somerset, that also has some great community advantages. I'd target that.

Op here. Can you share more about what you’re referencing? Thanks!

We are a Mann family. The recommended PTA contribution is $1,500 per child this year and the PTA says explicitly that partner teachers are PTA employees on the PTA payroll, not DCPS employees. Not sure about the benefits package. Maybe that's wrong, but the PTA operates like a well oiled machine, so I doubt they'd misspeak. She has a bachelor's in education, not sure if she's licensed in DC. And there are 14 partner teachers listed on the website and the PTA says they fund 11, so presumably 3 are the DCPS employees and the remaining 11 are the PTA employees.

The PTA does push contributing to the PTA pretty hard, but from what we've experienced it's all public shaming. Nobody is cornering you at pickup or ostracizing you at the school pickup.

We've never been in MCPS or private, so don't have a basis of comparison. But the Mann community (including the corporate sponsors) are extraordinarily generous and the school seems to do what they want, how they want, with minimal control by DCPS central office.

^^ Just look at the Mann website for an example. It lists “teachers” and “partner teachers.” The partner teachers are the term they use for paras. They are the ones the PTA is paying for after K. They are DCPS employees but are paid for through the PTA.

We were in DCPS quite some time ago and the requested family contribution at Mann was about $1,500 per child. People paid it because it was cheaper than private for a private-like experience. I’m sure they are asking for more now. It is optional, but at Mann families do seem to pony up the money.

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t the recommend contribution over 600$ per student for the PTA with some schools more? Also there have been shame campaigns in the past for parents who didn’t contribute at various schools. Not sure if paying a premium just to get where many good system start at is the luxury some people are making it out to be.

There is no recommended contribution and certainly no shame at Somerset...this poster probably didn't mean that but thought worth clarifying

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Anonymous wrote:Somerset is tiny (not even 400 students) and I think Mann is as well which makes for an intimate community. We have children at Somerset and like it. I’ve heard Mann is good too and it’s true DCPS allows PTAs to pay for staff which gives wealthy schools like Mann a leg up despite the equity issues…

How do you mean? The PTA's in DC can pay teachers directly??

Not at the DCPS we went to. The PTA gave the school the $ to pay for the paras, and the school could then use its own budget for other things.

Do they cover the cost of health insurance and retirement too?

They have the same benefits as other paras (renamed “partner teachers” at these schools.

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Anonymous wrote:Somerset is tiny (not even 400 students) and I think Mann is as well which makes for an intimate community. We have children at Somerset and like it. I’ve heard Mann is good too and it’s true DCPS allows PTAs to pay for staff which gives wealthy schools like Mann a leg up despite the equity issues…

How do you mean? The PTA's in DC can pay teachers directly??

Yes. They are PTA employees, not DCPS employees.

How does the PTA decide which classrooms/grades get the extra staffing? Do the 3rd grade parents literally fund a 3rd grade teacher?

Most upper NW DCPS elementary PTAs do this. Often they prioritize K-2, and they fund the 2nd (assistant) teacher in all the classes. In MCPS this is prohibited for multiple reasons.

DCPS pays for a decidated para for each class through K. PTAs do not pay for paras for kindergarten classes.

We’re not talking about paras. We’re talking about actual teachers with teaching degrees that are PTA employees.

That is not how it is in DCPS. They hire partner teachers” who are paras. They are not PTA employees.

Isn’t the recommend contribution over 600$ per student for the PTA with some schools more? Also there have been shame campaigns in the past for parents who didn’t contribute at various schools. Not sure if paying a premium just to get where many good system start at is the luxury some people are making it out to be.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Somerset is tiny (not even 400 students) and I think Mann is as well which makes for an intimate community. We have children at Somerset and like it. I’ve heard Mann is good too and it’s true DCPS allows PTAs to pay for staff which gives wealthy schools like Mann a leg up despite the equity issues…

How do you mean? The PTA's in DC can pay teachers directly??

Yes. They are PTA employees, not DCPS employees.

How does the PTA decide which classrooms/grades get the extra staffing? Do the 3rd grade parents literally fund a 3rd grade teacher?

Most upper NW DCPS elementary PTAs do this. Often they prioritize K-2, and they fund the 2nd (assistant) teacher in all the classes. In MCPS this is prohibited for multiple reasons.

DCPS pays for a decidated para for each class through K. PTAs do not pay for paras for kindergarten classes.

We’re not talking about paras. We’re talking about actual teachers with teaching degrees that are PTA employees.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Somerset is tiny (not even 400 students) and I think Mann is as well which makes for an intimate community. We have children at Somerset and like it. I’ve heard Mann is good too and it’s true DCPS allows PTAs to pay for staff which gives wealthy schools like Mann a leg up despite the equity issues…

How do you mean? The PTA's in DC can pay teachers directly??

Not at the DCPS we went to. The PTA gave the school the $ to pay for the paras, and the school could then use its own budget for other things.

Do they cover the cost of health insurance and retirement too?

Definitely Mann. That neighborhood in general is lovely.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Somerset is tiny (not even 400 students) and I think Mann is as well which makes for an intimate community. We have children at Somerset and like it. I’ve heard Mann is good too and it’s true DCPS allows PTAs to pay for staff which gives wealthy schools like Mann a leg up despite the equity issues…

How do you mean? The PTA's in DC can pay teachers directly??

Yes. They are PTA employees, not DCPS employees.

How does the PTA decide which classrooms/grades get the extra staffing? Do the 3rd grade parents literally fund a 3rd grade teacher?

Most upper NW DCPS elementary PTAs do this. Often they prioritize K-2, and they fund the 2nd (assistant) teacher in all the classes. In MCPS this is prohibited for multiple reasons.

DCPS pays for a decidated para for each class through K. PTAs do not pay for paras for kindergarten classes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Somerset is tiny (not even 400 students) and I think Mann is as well which makes for an intimate community. We have children at Somerset and like it. I’ve heard Mann is good too and it’s true DCPS allows PTAs to pay for staff which gives wealthy schools like Mann a leg up despite the equity issues…

How do you mean? The PTA's in DC can pay teachers directly??

Not at the DCPS we went to. The PTA gave the school the $ to pay for the paras, and the school could then use its own budget for other things.

I would also consider that it may not be possible to get into your desired sets of privates when the time comes. I think applications are up in this area and it's pretty competitive

Anonymous wrote:That is wild that the PTAs can fund teachers!!

Wild isn’t exactly the word I would use. Egregious inequitable loophole comes to mind, but I guess DCPS likes keeping the wealthy parents in the system for elementary school before they disappear to private school for middle school.

If you have a younger child I would stay in DC for the PreK program. Otherwise I would say it's a tossup.