You can't tell me any private school in the area gives 100% FA to a whopping 9% of the student body.

Are you kidding?! Sidwell, GDS and Maret come immediately to mind. I'd bet Beauvoir does, too, but I don't know that one for sure. These three I know from tours.

In keeping with Quaker tenets, Sidwell Friends School seeks a student body that represents varied economic backgrounds. In 2012-2013, 23 percent of our students will receive approximately $6,100,000 of financial aid support http://www.sidwell.edu/admissions/financial-aid/index.aspx

To poster 8:07, thank you for sharing this. I'm sorry your dc is having such a bad experience at the school. This is my concern about public. While most people have had great experiences, you're not the first to mention bullying and boredom. It took 2 years for dc to come out of her shell in preschool, I'd hate to reverse this in elementary.

About the diversity issue, it's not a make or break issue for me. The public's diversity is only marginally better overall than the private's.

Anonymous wrote:

"B-CC" isn't synonymous with "Chevy chase Elementary School," which is where PPs kids are going to go to school next. Where there are no low income kids and just a handful of AAs and Latin Americans.

So it's very rich that she is choosing her public school because it's diverse.


Don't bother arguing; I live here too, you'll not convince me that this SFH neighborhood / school is anything but homogenous.

Reposted with typos corrected, so you can't pretend you don't understand:

CCES has 9% FARMS. Look it up yourself, it's right on the CCES website for all to see. The FARMS kids have HHI less than 1.85 times the poverty line - these are the kids who would need 100% FA to attend a private school. You can't tell me any private school in the area gives 100% FA to a whopping 9% of the student body.

Oh, and CCES is 8.9% AA and 7.7% Hispanic, plus others who identify as "multiple races," Asian and more. You call this "just a handful"? Maybe you should set foot in the place....

Anonymous wrote:

"B-CC" isn't synonymous with "Chevy chase Elementary School," which is where PPs kids are going to go to school next. Where there are no low income kids and just a handful of AAs and Latin Americans.

So it's very rich that she is choosing her public school because it's diverse.


Don't bother arguing; I live here too, you'll not convince me that this SFH neighborhood / school is anything but homogenous.

CCES had 9% FARMS. Look it up yourself, it's right on the CCWS website for all to see. The FARMS kids with less than 1.85 times the poverty line - the kids who would need 100% FA to attend a private. You can't tell me any private school in the area gives 100% FA to a whopping 9% of the student body.

And your last line - WTF?

OP, look for the best education for your kid. Don't worry so much about diversity. Your child will have an opportunity to be in more diverse situations, with your friends/their kids, sports teams, summer camps, boy or girl scouts, etc. There are many opportunities for your child to hang out with people other than just classmates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Money was no factor for us, and I suspect for most of our neighbors(town of cc). We went public because it is an excellent school, and I wanted our kids to benefit from diversity and have friends in the hood. As for large class sizes, evidence suggests quality of teachers is most important. I have found the teachers at rhps to be excellent.

Tell us about the diversity in the town of Chevy Chase, where most of your neighbors can swing $60-90k every year for tuition. What kind of diversity is present in CC elemtary that is not found in, for example, Maret?

Let me guess, could it be you don't know what the fuck you are talking about? RHPS is 20 percent farms, what percentage of Maret need free/reduced price meals?

I'm well aware that you'll be leaving RHES and heading over to CCES in 3rd grade. Tell us about all the economic diversity there. Oh wait.

Without pulling up the data on every private school,'I'd venture a guess that Beauvoir and the like probably also have more black and Hispanic students than CCES. I know gds and Sidwell do

Do enjoy your 3 years over there mingling outside the Town!

NP here. So you think no minorities can afford Bethesda-Chevy Chase - nice. Also, you need to take a stroll over to the private school forum, where someone posted just today that most of the AA families at Sidwell-Beauvoir are full pay.

What you keep missing is SES diversity. What you see at the privates - and my kids attended an area private -- is the barbell affect. Some kids get FA, even fewer kids get 100% FA (these are the kids who would be getting FARMS in MoCo) and a lot of kids come from families with HHI > $300K. Very few families in the middle.

"B-CC" isn't synonymous with "Chevy chase Elementary School," which is where PPs kids are going to go to school next. Where there are no low income kids and just a handful of AAs and Latin Americans.

So it's very rich that she is choosing her public school because it's diverse.


Don't bother arguing; I live here too, you'll not convince me that this SFH neighborhood / school is anything but homogenous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Money was no factor for us, and I suspect for most of our neighbors(town of cc). We went public because it is an excellent school, and I wanted our kids to benefit from diversity and have friends in the hood. As for large class sizes, evidence suggests quality of teachers is most important. I have found the teachers at rhps to be excellent.

Tell us about the diversity in the town of Chevy Chase, where most of your neighbors can swing $60-90k every year for tuition. What kind of diversity is present in CC elemtary that is not found in, for example, Maret?

Let me guess, could it be you don't know what the fuck you are talking about? RHPS is 20 percent farms, what percentage of Maret need free/reduced price meals?

I'm well aware that you'll be leaving RHES and heading over to CCES in 3rd grade. Tell us about all the economic diversity there. Oh wait.

Without pulling up the data on every private school,'I'd venture a guess that Beauvoir and the like probably also have more black and Hispanic students than CCES. I know gds and Sidwell do

Do enjoy your 3 years over there mingling outside the Town!

NP here. So you think no minorities can afford Bethesda-Chevy Chase - nice. Also, you need to take a stroll over to the private school forum, where someone posted just today that most of the AA families at Sidwell-Beauvoir are full pay.

What you keep missing is SES diversity. What you see at the privates - and my kids attended an area private -- is the barbell affect. Some kids get FA, even fewer kids get 100% FA (these are the kids who would be getting FARMS in MoCo) and a lot of kids come from families with HHI > $300K. Very few families in the middle.

Public for my child who's attended magnets for ES and MS and had an incredibly great experience.

Private for my child who's smrt but struggles with learning disabilities. But I would pick a private school for kids with LDs like Siena School.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a top DC private and am sending my kid to MoCo public. The bubble factor is my biggest concern - it's huge, much bigger than when I graduated 20 yrs ago. It's about the parents, not the kids. We moved to the Churchill district.

And the Churchill district isn't a bubble of sorts?

Sure. But a very different kind, with very different parents. I've done both scenes and the application-based kindergarten alone is a reason I wouldn't do private. Just a terrible atmosphere for kids. And the teachers in private, at least in this area, aren't better than their public school peers.

If we could afford it...no question: private for smaller class size and more enrichment opportunities. We have been pretty disappointed with our kids experiences at one of the top schools in MoCo. Moved here this year and were pretty excited about the school's reputation but our kids have faced intense bullying, huge classes and most of all boredom which really makes me sad because my kids used to love school and were fully engaged. Now they just grit their teeth, pump out the worksheets, and drag their feet about going to school each morning. It is such a shame. Hoping we'll get better teachers next year, but don't see how the class size will ever change unless we go private.

OP: Also, about starting in public, I'm to some extent kicking myself for having applied to privates at all. I only did so because dc was extremely shy in September. Like, would hardly make eye contact with anyone except family shy, didn't want to go to birthday parties shy, to the point that I was thinking dc had some kind of social anxiety disorder/issue. I didn't think I could even think of going to public then. But over the course of the school year, dc has changed a blossomed so much and all these worries have (thankfully!) subsided.
But now, if I do go public and it doesn't work out, I'd feel like an idiot reapplying for 1st or 2nd grade, after rejecting what is truly a fantastic school for dc. I toured a lot of schools and only applied to this one. If things in public don't work, I can't really imagine where else we'd want to go.

For the posters who say they'd do private if they could, why do you say this? Is it for the same reasons I mentioned or others? And if others, would you mind sharing? Thanks again.

Curriculum 2.0
Class sizes
Limited PE, art, music, no drama or school plays, limited or no science facilities or science teachers
Very short recess and lunch, on rainy days or days under 32 degrees the kids have to stay in their classrooms

OP: thanks to all of you for your views. To respond to your questions, DC will enter K in the fall. About geography, the private we are looking at draws mostly from kids within 3 miles or so of where we live. Not quite a neighborhood school, but not a big-3 either. And about the strings, no. They are just offering to help because they want to and can. For the posters who say they'd do private if they could, why do you say this? Is it for the same reasons I mentioned or others? And if others, would you mind sharing? Thanks again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Money was no factor for us, and I suspect for most of our neighbors(town of cc). We went public because it is an excellent school, and I wanted our kids to benefit from diversity and have friends in the hood. As for large class sizes, evidence suggests quality of teachers is most important. I have found the teachers at rhps to be excellent.

Tell us about the diversity in the town of Chevy Chase, where most of your neighbors can swing $60-90k every year for tuition. What kind of diversity is present in CC elemtary that is not found in, for example, Maret?

Let me guess, could it be you don't know what the fuck you are talking about? RHPS is 20 percent farms, what percentage of Maret need free/reduced price meals?

I'm well aware that you'll be leaving RHES and heading over to CCES in 3rd grade. Tell us about all the economic diversity there. Oh wait.

Without pulling up the data on every private school,'I'd venture a guess that Beauvoir and the like probably also have more black and Hispanic students than CCES. I know gds and Sidwell do

Do enjoy your 3 years over there mingling outside the Town!

OP, did I miss it or did you not say what grade your child will be going into?

And, will there be strings attached to the money? That would be a really important consideration for me.

I graduated from a top DC private after having attended MCPS for elementary school, and my daughter attends a BCC cluster elementary school that we really like. But I would do a great private in a heartbeat if we could.