Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the best thing about your school?

That the MCPS Public Relations department uses anonymous chat rooms to promote the brand.

OP here. We’re actually moving to MoCo over winter break from out of state and this board was giving me horrible buyer’s remorse. Just wanted to hear the good things. I get that DCUM seems to exist for the purpose of demonizing everything in the area and that people generally have to be masochists to post questions here, but I have found (most of) the answers heartening.

Thanks to those who answered thoughtfully.

Yep, mostly MoCo. It is an anti-MD, anti-MoCo, anti-MCPS forum.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the best thing about your school?

That the MCPS Public Relations department uses anonymous chat rooms to promote the brand.

OP here. We’re actually moving to MoCo over winter break from out of state and this board was giving me horrible buyer’s remorse. Just wanted to hear the good things. I get that DCUM seems to exist for the purpose of demonizing everything in the area and that people generally have to be masochists to post questions here, but I have found (most of) the answers heartening.

Thanks to those who answered thoughtfully.

OP, I posted something a few years ago in a similar mindset - I think it was like, 'if you're happy with MCPS, please tell me why!' and got tons of positive responses. My kids are young, and I'm sure someone will be like JUST YOU WAIT but we've been extremely happy these past few years, as have our neighbors (and these are not particularly easygoing / low standards people).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the best thing about your school?

That the MCPS Public Relations department uses anonymous chat rooms to promote the brand.

OP here. We’re actually moving to MoCo over winter break from out of state and this board was giving me horrible buyer’s remorse. Just wanted to hear the good things. I get that DCUM seems to exist for the purpose of demonizing everything in the area and that people generally have to be masochists to post questions here, but I have found (most of) the answers heartening.

Thanks to those who answered thoughtfully.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the best thing about your school?

That the MCPS Public Relations department uses anonymous chat rooms to promote the brand.

If they do than they are failing in a big way here.

Really nice tight-knit school community with a stellar principal. Nearly all the parents I have met have been down-to-Earth and not pretentious. Pretty small classes (18 in both K and 1st), beautiful school, diverse set of students--and the school seems to really embrace this diversity as a benefit, not a challenge.

Anonymous wrote:What’s the best thing about your school?

That the MCPS Public Relations department uses anonymous chat rooms to promote the brand.

Administration is excellent - hope principal doesn't retire before I can get my youngest through the school.

Responsive, kind, and caring teachers.

Fun and kind parent / child community (always a few outliers but one of the best I've had and have been part of many school communities over the years).

This is a W cluster elementary.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids go to a diverse school with 30%+ FARMS but as far as I can tell they do an awesome job. There are lots of opportunities for differentiated learning and my kids have managed to score 99%+ on their MAP tests so seems to be working great at least for kids who are interested in school. This is why I'm skeptical of all the naysayers. Maybe if they spent a few minutes talking to their kids about school instead of complaining about MCPS incessantly their kids would do better too.

I'm not surprised and you shouldn't be either. There aren't that many outliers in a school like this and it gives the teachers a break from students who are struggling or have issues at home that keep them from succeeding in school. They also have very small class sizes. Your experience is very different from what we have in a school with almost no farms where the class sizes are at the max and teachers think everyone is a "snowflake" so they just throw worksheets at them all day and expect the parents to teach their kids at home. The teachers seem to barely lift a finger.

So, can you move to an area with more kids who are poor, so that your kids can go to better schools?

Anonymous wrote:Our principal. He has a big heart, and it shows through the school's approach discipline and relationships.

Same answer here.

Anonymous wrote:My kids go to a diverse school with 30%+ FARMS but as far as I can tell they do an awesome job. There are lots of opportunities for differentiated learning and my kids have managed to score 99%+ on their MAP tests so seems to be working great at least for kids who are interested in school. This is why I'm skeptical of all the naysayers. Maybe if they spent a few minutes talking to their kids about school instead of complaining about MCPS incessantly their kids would do better too.

I'm not surprised and you shouldn't be either. There aren't that many outliers in a school like this and it gives the teachers a break from students who are struggling or have issues at home that keep them from succeeding in school. They also have very small class sizes. Your experience is very different from what we have in a school with almost no farms where the class sizes are at the max and teachers think everyone is a "snowflake" so they just throw worksheets at them all day and expect the parents to teach their kids at home. The teachers seem to barely lift a finger.

Our principal. He has a big heart, and it shows through the school's approach discipline and relationships.

My kids go to a diverse school with 30%+ FARMS but as far as I can tell they do an awesome job. There are lots of opportunities for differentiated learning and my kids have managed to score 99%+ on their MAP tests so seems to be working great at least for kids who are interested in school. This is why I'm skeptical of all the naysayers. Maybe if they spent a few minutes talking to their kids about school instead of complaining about MCPS incessantly their kids would do better too.

School #1: The teachers. The music and theater program. That it's walking distance.
School #2: The teachers. The curriculum. The challenge.

Both: That my tax dollars fund them and my children get to take advantage of them and I don't have to pay post-tax dollars to give my children excellent educations.

My daughter is only in kindergarten and we were very hesitant to enroll her in our neighborhood school due to its reputation, but it has exceeded our expectations. Her teacher is great and my daughter has learned so much in such a short period of time. She came in reading a little here and there but has progressed a great deal. I see evidence of differentiation in reading groups and their makeup has changed several times to accommodate the needs of the children. She has learned a couple of negative words/behaviors but so far nothing too worrying. I also really love the diversity of her peer group.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That we only have one year left and then moving to private.

We don't like 80% of the teachers, the principal, or the lack of parent involvement. There is only 15% FARMS. Most are middle or upper middle class and are completely uninvolved in the school. The same 10 parents out of 300 doing all the fundraising, PTA, and volunteering. I do think it is this area though for the most part. Parents are always too "busy" to be involved in their kid's lives.

"Involved in their kids' lives" and "involved in their kids' schools' PTA" are not synonyms. In fact, I'm not even sure that there is a lot of intersectional area on the Venn diagram.

+1. I don't under why you would really care how involved parents are in the PTA. Our PTA does some good things, but they hardly make or break the school. Plus for logistical and other reasons, it is always going to be a relatively small cohort of parents doing a lot of the PTA stuff. If you are upset because you think too much is left to you, just step back. Either someone else will take over (who has wanted to all along but not felt included or otherwise) or there will be one less fundraiser or activity -- and life will go on fine without really adversely affecting the school experience.