Does he have any friends at BCC?

Are you even reading this board? So many cuts. So many reasons to leave ...

Anonymous wrote:Listen to your son. Changing schools is a big deal and most kids would be nervous to do it. If his feelings about his current school are greater than the anxiety about changing schools, they are valid and real. There are various tracks you can be on at BCC from what I understand. Something for everyone. There is an IB track that you apply for I think in Freshman or Soph year...? A plenty of honors and AP courses to take. Plus he can make neighborhood friends. Just make sure he knows there are academic pressures at BCC too. Kids feed off of eachother's anxiety about grades and achievement. You can't escape it in this area. But he may already know something about BCC and have a sense it will be a good fit for him.

IB is open to any student who opts to do it. It is not an entry by application program. Also a student can do the full IB program or just take one or a few classes. IB starts in jr year, so kids decide about IB in spring of sophmore year. The IB "middle years program" applies to all 9th and 10th graders. It is not a "program" or a specific set of classes, but rather an educational perspective. All 10th graders do a MYP project, which is not at all onerous.

Listen to your son. Changing schools is a big deal and most kids would be nervous to do it. If his feelings about his current school are greater than the anxiety about changing schools, they are valid and real. There are various tracks you can be on at BCC from what I understand. Something for everyone. There is an IB track that you apply for I think in Freshman or Soph year...? A plenty of honors and AP courses to take. Plus he can make neighborhood friends. Just make sure he knows there are academic pressures at BCC too. Kids feed off of eachother's anxiety about grades and achievement. You can't escape it in this area. But he may already know something about BCC and have a sense it will be a good fit for him.

Anonymous wrote:Why in the HELL do public schools still have cheerleaders? Cheerleading is an outdated, sexist, stereotyped, negative, body-focused, hypersexualized JOKE and should be baniushed from ALL sidelines. Competitive chher is different, it is a sport in and of itself. School-sport sidleine cheerleaders are awful. YUCK!

+ 3

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP - I think part of that may be that a lot of extracurriculars (like music, sports team, etc) are organized and handled by the teachers and schools in private; where many of these activities are more parent (or PTA) organized and run in public - especially at the elementary and middle school level.

Which may be true but goes to the point that there is lots of parent participation at a school like BCC while the private schools tend to want parents involved in things like the auction.

BCC alum here. Difference is that BCC parents are providing a lot of support fundraising for extras, but they're not doing it thru high end auctions where the parents buy each other's vacation home weeks. By and large, the "parent involvement" is things like working the concession stand at football games, getting ads to print the school playbill, running a car wash to raise funds for a club team, etc. There is a "sports boosters" group that runs the mulch sale, a "theater boosters" parent group, etc. FWIW, some of the largest "teams" at BCC are run by parents, because they are club sports not "school sports". Crew is one example. Also parents and community members run a BCC foundation that provides significant extra support at BCC for free after-school tutoring and various college application supports. There is a very do-it-yourself-if-MCPS-doesn't-do-it ethos at BCC. Tons of opportunity for parent involvement. It's just not the volunteer-in-class kind that parents are used to in elem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^yes but as a two FT working parents, four kids family, it is very hard to volunteer at school

Are you the OP? If not then I'm not sure what your point is. Congrats on having 4 children?

My response was to the person that said private school parents were more involved in the school than public school because they were paying for it. Having been in both that's not my experience.

Not OP. My point is that it sounded like public was all kumbaya with the parents involved in everything. For us it is really hard and I knnow lots of other families like mine where parents can't devote the kind of time to sustain a club or sport or other EC. Mine are in public but not BCC. I wish there were more EC options at our school but it seems like at private there are tons.

But we aren't talking about all public schools, we are talking about one, which happens to have plenty of parent involvement.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^yes but as a two FT working parents, four kids family, it is very hard to volunteer at school

Are you the OP? If not then I'm not sure what your point is. Congrats on having 4 children?

My response was to the person that said private school parents were more involved in the school than public school because they were paying for it. Having been in both that's not my experience.

Not OP. My point is that it sounded like public was all kumbaya with the parents involved in everything. For us it is really hard and I knnow lots of other families like mine where parents can't devote the kind of time to sustain a club or sport or other EC. Mine are in public but not BCC. I wish there were more EC options at our school but it seems like at private there are tons.

Anonymous wrote:^^yes but as a two FT working parents, four kids family, it is very hard to volunteer at school

Are you the OP? If not then I'm not sure what your point is. Congrats on having 4 children?

My response was to the person that said private school parents were more involved in the school than public school because they were paying for it. Having been in both that's not my experience.

^^yes but as a two FT working parents, four kids family, it is very hard to volunteer at school

Anonymous wrote:PP - I think part of that may be that a lot of extracurriculars (like music, sports team, etc) are organized and handled by the teachers and schools in private; where many of these activities are more parent (or PTA) organized and run in public - especially at the elementary and middle school level.

Which may be true but goes to the point that there is lots of parent participation at a school like BCC while the private schools tend to want parents involved in things like the auction.

Did you read about the B-CC basketball game last night? Sounds like lots of school spirit.