Anonymous
02/23/2026 11:16
Subject: Why did you/do you want to go private?
We have kids in both private and MCPS. We are so fed up with MCPS this winter. Because they only built in 1 snow day in this year's academic calendar, are not using any contingency days in March-April, and have no virtual learning plan, the school year is now extended to June 26.
Contrast that with our private school, which has a virtual learning plan for snow days and works hard to open after a storm. My private school kid is at school today. My MCPS kid is not.
Contrast that with our private school, which has a virtual learning plan for snow days and works hard to open after a storm. My private school kid is at school today. My MCPS kid is not.
Anonymous
02/23/2026 10:56
Subject: Why did you/do you want to go private?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We switched from public way earlier than we wanted to, but we were very unhappy at our public.
We sought out less behavioral problems, a calmer learning environment, stronger academics (the writing instruction at my child’s private is incredible), and foreign language instruction in elementary school.
The cherry on top is that our school does a great job with STEM, and scaffolds sports and music for future years to create a really well-rounded student. Our kids get a lot of exposure to different things that simply aren’t available at our zoned public.
Our private also does an incredible job of teaching executive functioning skills. MCPS is definitely not doing that.
Which school is this?
Holton.
For a mere $60,000, you too could have this experience. Actually, doing a great job with STEM, “scaffolding” (lol) sports and music and doing an incredible job of teaching executive functioning skills are what you should expect for $60,000.
Anonymous
02/23/2026 10:47
Subject: Why did you/do you want to go private?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We switched from public way earlier than we wanted to, but we were very unhappy at our public.
We sought out less behavioral problems, a calmer learning environment, stronger academics (the writing instruction at my child’s private is incredible), and foreign language instruction in elementary school.
The cherry on top is that our school does a great job with STEM, and scaffolds sports and music for future years to create a really well-rounded student. Our kids get a lot of exposure to different things that simply aren’t available at our zoned public.
Our private also does an incredible job of teaching executive functioning skills. MCPS is definitely not doing that.
Which school is this?
Holton.
Anonymous
02/22/2026 22:32
Subject: Why did you/do you want to go private?
Anonymous wrote:We switched from public way earlier than we wanted to, but we were very unhappy at our public.
We sought out less behavioral problems, a calmer learning environment, stronger academics (the writing instruction at my child’s private is incredible), and foreign language instruction in elementary school.
The cherry on top is that our school does a great job with STEM, and scaffolds sports and music for future years to create a really well-rounded student. Our kids get a lot of exposure to different things that simply aren’t available at our zoned public.
Our private also does an incredible job of teaching executive functioning skills. MCPS is definitely not doing that.
Which school is this?
Anonymous
02/22/2026 22:27
Subject: Why did you/do you want to go private?
We switched from public way earlier than we wanted to, but we were very unhappy at our public.
We sought out less behavioral problems, a calmer learning environment, stronger academics (the writing instruction at my child’s private is incredible), and foreign language instruction in elementary school.
The cherry on top is that our school does a great job with STEM, and scaffolds sports and music for future years to create a really well-rounded student. Our kids get a lot of exposure to different things that simply aren’t available at our zoned public.
Our private also does an incredible job of teaching executive functioning skills. MCPS is definitely not doing that.
We sought out less behavioral problems, a calmer learning environment, stronger academics (the writing instruction at my child’s private is incredible), and foreign language instruction in elementary school.
The cherry on top is that our school does a great job with STEM, and scaffolds sports and music for future years to create a really well-rounded student. Our kids get a lot of exposure to different things that simply aren’t available at our zoned public.
Our private also does an incredible job of teaching executive functioning skills. MCPS is definitely not doing that.
Anonymous
02/22/2026 16:54
Subject: Why did you/do you want to go private?
Anonymous wrote:We didn’t send our three boys to private school to greatly improve their college choices. Whitman, our local public, does fine in that area.
We didn’t think the academics would be all that much better.
What we did think was that their overall high school experience would be superior. From the classroom to the playing fields, they would be treated as individuals. Their classmates and their families would share our values. And these values would be reinforced by the teachers and staff.
We paid a lot of money to give them a better high school experience. For us, it was our gift to them.
In public school, our sense was that the priority was the dictates and programs of the bureaucracy. And on top of that, it was influenced by a near Woke school board and activist parents. Not our cup of tea.
This is essentially our answer as well. It’s my gift to them and we are zoned for Wootton, which of course, also does just fine with college admissions.
Anonymous
02/22/2026 16:49
Subject: Why did you/do you want to go private?
We didn’t send our three boys to private school to greatly improve their college choices. Whitman, our local public, does fine in that area.
We didn’t think the academics would be all that much better.
What we did think was that their overall high school experience would be superior. From the classroom to the playing fields, they would be treated as individuals. Their classmates and their families would share our values. And these values would be reinforced by the teachers and staff.
We paid a lot of money to give them a better high school experience. For us, it was our gift to them.
In public school, our sense was that the priority was the dictates and programs of the bureaucracy. And on top of that, it was influenced by a near Woke school board and activist parents. Not our cup of tea.
We didn’t think the academics would be all that much better.
What we did think was that their overall high school experience would be superior. From the classroom to the playing fields, they would be treated as individuals. Their classmates and their families would share our values. And these values would be reinforced by the teachers and staff.
We paid a lot of money to give them a better high school experience. For us, it was our gift to them.
In public school, our sense was that the priority was the dictates and programs of the bureaucracy. And on top of that, it was influenced by a near Woke school board and activist parents. Not our cup of tea.
Anonymous
02/22/2026 16:20
Subject: Re:Why did you/do you want to go private?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I was looking forward to our neighborhood school so our kids could have a group of friends to run around with. My spouse was more keen on private. Then I started hearing stories from parents of kids a year or two ahead of us. Regimented butts in seats, learning to count with an iPad app, teachers spending the majority of their time with the ESL population, minimal outdoor time.
My kids are in public for elementary and our plan is to switch to private for middle onward. (That was also the max we could afford.) Kids have had a great experience socially, and I also love the community, but I think that's also a byproduct of our school being on the smaller end for DCPS. There's only 2-3 classes per grade, most friends are walking distance, it's great. But we also know families at much bigger schools who don't have that experience at all.
Our ES (and maybe DCPS generally) does a good job with the fundamentals. The current math and reading curriculum have really clicked for my kids. That said, just the daily classroom experience, especially in the upper grades, is ... not good. My kids have had some wonderful, driven teachers, but they have big classes and enormous pressure to close achievement gaps. So kids who are doing decent-to-great tend to get left to their own devices. My oldest spends a lot of time on the chromebook doing educational apps that are basically video games. The class has read one book, doesn't have science, doesn't have foreign language, etc. We're at a SEM school, and the kids love that program, but it's one teacher trying to serve the entire school.
We’re in Arlington so it’s an APS school. About 1/3 of the elementary class population is learning English as a second language and it sounds like that’s where most of the teacher’s time is going (which, frankly, is understandable).
Our big hope is that private will preserve our kids’ curiosity, love of school and joy of learning for longer. The nuts and bolts of what they’re studying when is less important to us than that.
I tbjnk many well regarded private schools will def serve this goal
Anonymous
02/22/2026 14:42
Subject: Why did you/do you want to go private?
Class size and more attention K-8. Big fish small pond 9-12. Admitted to T30 and received full ride and merit aid at schools outside of T30.
Anonymous
02/22/2026 14:34
Subject: Why did you/do you want to go private?
I haven’t read all of the responses yet but I haven’t seen our family’s thinking yet.
1. We have three kids, so PK-8 means they can be together for a longer period of time. One drop off and in the same community for longer. Closer connections with other families.
2. When I visited my son’s K class, I was disturbed by the screen time. It was constant. Our Catholic school doesn’t have all of these random videos like “brain breaks” or fake SEL videos. (I don’t think SEL is fake, just watching videos!)
3. Waaaaaaay more outdoor time, even in “bad” weather.
1. We have three kids, so PK-8 means they can be together for a longer period of time. One drop off and in the same community for longer. Closer connections with other families.
2. When I visited my son’s K class, I was disturbed by the screen time. It was constant. Our Catholic school doesn’t have all of these random videos like “brain breaks” or fake SEL videos. (I don’t think SEL is fake, just watching videos!)
3. Waaaaaaay more outdoor time, even in “bad” weather.
Anonymous
02/22/2026 08:16
Subject: Re:Why did you/do you want to go private?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I was looking forward to our neighborhood school so our kids could have a group of friends to run around with. My spouse was more keen on private. Then I started hearing stories from parents of kids a year or two ahead of us. Regimented butts in seats, learning to count with an iPad app, teachers spending the majority of their time with the ESL population, minimal outdoor time.
My kids are in public for elementary and our plan is to switch to private for middle onward. (That was also the max we could afford.) Kids have had a great experience socially, and I also love the community, but I think that's also a byproduct of our school being on the smaller end for DCPS. There's only 2-3 classes per grade, most friends are walking distance, it's great. But we also know families at much bigger schools who don't have that experience at all.
Our ES (and maybe DCPS generally) does a good job with the fundamentals. The current math and reading curriculum have really clicked for my kids. That said, just the daily classroom experience, especially in the upper grades, is ... not good. My kids have had some wonderful, driven teachers, but they have big classes and enormous pressure to close achievement gaps. So kids who are doing decent-to-great tend to get left to their own devices. My oldest spends a lot of time on the chromebook doing educational apps that are basically video games. The class has read one book, doesn't have science, doesn't have foreign language, etc. We're at a SEM school, and the kids love that program, but it's one teacher trying to serve the entire school.
We’re in Arlington so it’s an APS school. About 1/3 of the elementary class population is learning English as a second language and it sounds like that’s where most of the teacher’s time is going (which, frankly, is understandable).
Our big hope is that private will preserve our kids’ curiosity, love of school and joy of learning for longer. The nuts and bolts of what they’re studying when is less important to us than that.
Anonymous
02/20/2026 09:43
Subject: Re:Why did you/do you want to go private?
Anonymous wrote:I was looking forward to our neighborhood school so our kids could have a group of friends to run around with. My spouse was more keen on private. Then I started hearing stories from parents of kids a year or two ahead of us. Regimented butts in seats, learning to count with an iPad app, teachers spending the majority of their time with the ESL population, minimal outdoor time.
My kids are in public for elementary and our plan is to switch to private for middle onward. (That was also the max we could afford.) Kids have had a great experience socially, and I also love the community, but I think that's also a byproduct of our school being on the smaller end for DCPS. There's only 2-3 classes per grade, most friends are walking distance, it's great. But we also know families at much bigger schools who don't have that experience at all.
Our ES (and maybe DCPS generally) does a good job with the fundamentals. The current math and reading curriculum have really clicked for my kids. That said, just the daily classroom experience, especially in the upper grades, is ... not good. My kids have had some wonderful, driven teachers, but they have big classes and enormous pressure to close achievement gaps. So kids who are doing decent-to-great tend to get left to their own devices. My oldest spends a lot of time on the chromebook doing educational apps that are basically video games. The class has read one book, doesn't have science, doesn't have foreign language, etc. We're at a SEM school, and the kids love that program, but it's one teacher trying to serve the entire school.