Anonymous wrote:OP here...thanks for your advice. We looked in Arlington -- too expensive and not worth it.

You would need and fit in better in south Arlington and the schools there a little better than silver spring schools.

All of you ES parents who love your school, the teachers and all the warm fuzzies, let us know how you feel when your child gets to MS and HS. The curriculum is a disaster, the administration a mess, etc. I guess you will all be lucky that by the time your kids get there, the horrendous Curriculum 2.0 will be gone, but the MCPS administrators and central office staff will still be around. Trust those of us who have been there- done that, that unfortunately, it only gets worse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is this board so anti MCPS/Montgomery County?

When you are the Big Dog, everybody hates on you.
They are all wannabes.

Or it’s because MCPS has a failed K-8 curriculum, massive overuse of Chromebooks for very young kids, overcrowded schools, insufficient responses to child endangerment, etc.

But sure — those of us who complain are just wannabes

Yes, it's all that, but they also just lack a vision for what they want to be. They're a "me too" school system, teaching to the test. I, personally, would like to see some innovation in the curriculum and structure and a bigger picture of view of what they want our school system to look like.

OP
Where are you going to in arlington and where in SS are you considering? I used to go fro northern Wheaton area to close in arlington and traffic was really not awful if flexing schedule just a bit to earlier than the height of rush. To downtown SS area neighborhoods would have been even better. I did Rock Creek parkway which I would highly recommend after the construction is done since it was normally really predictable in ways 495 is not.

Anonymous wrote:What 12:49 said, plus people want good schools but don't want their taxes raised to pay for them. Plus MCPS keeps throwing money down the black hole they call the opportunity gap. And, because good staff (teachers AND Principals) are leaving because of all of the above. The new, young Principals have drunk the "MCPS is the grestest" Kool-Aide, and don't know how to do what's right for students, or support their teachers, and instead do whatever the entrenched Central Office staff tell them to do.

I for one and REALLY SICK of people flippantly defining a 'good school' or a 'good school district' as one that generates the strongest standardized PARCC and MAP scores. ANd then later the ones that generate strong ACT and SAT scores.

A school is the sum of its Student Peer Group, Teachers and Curriculum. If one or those are a distraction or ineffective, your kid will suffer.

On the school side: A good school should be engaged teaching, kids of all abilities learning and progressing, a well-rounded class schedule, useful feedback on child performance, and a cohesive curriculum that has textbooks, workbooks, and assignments.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What 12:49 said, plus people want good schools but don't want their taxes raised to pay for them. Plus MCPS keeps throwing money down the black hole they call the opportunity gap. And, because good staff (teachers AND Principals) are leaving because of all of the above. The new, young Principals have drunk the "MCPS is the grestest" Kool-Aide, and don't know how to do what's right for students, or support their teachers, and instead do whatever the entrenched Central Office staff tell them to do.

Yep, so even though we were hoping to be able to give our kid the benefit of going to a neighborhood school, we’ll likely have to do private school, almost certainly leading to social isolation (just because the private school near us that we can afford is small, so she’s not likely to have a lot of neighborhood friends who go there). It really worries me, but putting her through MCPS in its current state worries me more.

Have you tried your neighborhood school yet? It kind of sounds like no.

We did, because we wanted to give it a try. Not a good experience at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What 12:49 said, plus people want good schools but don't want their taxes raised to pay for them. Plus MCPS keeps throwing money down the black hole they call the opportunity gap. And, because good staff (teachers AND Principals) are leaving because of all of the above. The new, young Principals have drunk the "MCPS is the grestest" Kool-Aide, and don't know how to do what's right for students, or support their teachers, and instead do whatever the entrenched Central Office staff tell them to do.

Yep, so even though we were hoping to be able to give our kid the benefit of going to a neighborhood school, we’ll likely have to do private school, almost certainly leading to social isolation (just because the private school near us that we can afford is small, so she’s not likely to have a lot of neighborhood friends who go there). It really worries me, but putting her through MCPS in its current state worries me more.

Have you tried your neighborhood school yet? It kind of sounds like no.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What 12:49 said, plus people want good schools but don't want their taxes raised to pay for them. Plus MCPS keeps throwing money down the black hole they call the opportunity gap. And, because good staff (teachers AND Principals) are leaving because of all of the above. The new, young Principals have drunk the "MCPS is the grestest" Kool-Aide, and don't know how to do what's right for students, or support their teachers, and instead do whatever the entrenched Central Office staff tell them to do.

Sorry it's not working out for you but we actually love our MOCO Elementary school. Very little staff turnover and the principal and teachers are amazing. By the way I'm a product of MCPS so I know exactly what school here was like in the 80s and 90s vs now.

Can you offer some perspective on what’s changed and what hasn’t?

Anonymous wrote:What 12:49 said, plus people want good schools but don't want their taxes raised to pay for them. Plus MCPS keeps throwing money down the black hole they call the opportunity gap. And, because good staff (teachers AND Principals) are leaving because of all of the above. The new, young Principals have drunk the "MCPS is the grestest" Kool-Aide, and don't know how to do what's right for students, or support their teachers, and instead do whatever the entrenched Central Office staff tell them to do.

Yep, so even though we were hoping to be able to give our kid the benefit of going to a neighborhood school, we’ll likely have to do private school, almost certainly leading to social isolation (just because the private school near us that we can afford is small, so she’s not likely to have a lot of neighborhood friends who go there). It really worries me, but putting her through MCPS in its current state worries me more.

Anonymous wrote:What 12:49 said, plus people want good schools but don't want their taxes raised to pay for them. Plus MCPS keeps throwing money down the black hole they call the opportunity gap. And, because good staff (teachers AND Principals) are leaving because of all of the above. The new, young Principals have drunk the "MCPS is the grestest" Kool-Aide, and don't know how to do what's right for students, or support their teachers, and instead do whatever the entrenched Central Office staff tell them to do.

Sorry it's not working out for you but we actually love our MOCO Elementary school. Very little staff turnover and the principal and teachers are amazing. By the way I'm a product of MCPS so I know exactly what school here was like in the 80s and 90s vs now.

What 12:49 said, plus people want good schools but don't want their taxes raised to pay for them. Plus MCPS keeps throwing money down the black hole they call the opportunity gap. And, because good staff (teachers AND Principals) are leaving because of all of the above. The new, young Principals have drunk the "MCPS is the grestest" Kool-Aide, and don't know how to do what's right for students, or support their teachers, and instead do whatever the entrenched Central Office staff tell them to do.

Anonymous wrote:Why is this board so anti MCPS/Montgomery County?

Have you looked for yourself what the curriculum is K-8 in MCPS, DCPS, Fairfax or Arlington or parochials or privates? Talk to teachers, parents, students, neighbors.

public school today is not what public school was in the 1980s and 1990s.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is this board so anti MCPS/Montgomery County?

When you are the Big Dog, everybody hates on you.
They are all wannabes.

Or it’s because MCPS has a failed K-8 curriculum, massive overuse of Chromebooks for very young kids, overcrowded schools, insufficient responses to child endangerment, etc.

But sure — those of us who complain are just wannabes

Anonymous wrote:Why is this board so anti MCPS/Montgomery County?

When you are the Big Dog, everybody hates on you.
They are all wannabes.

Why is this board so anti MCPS/Montgomery County?