Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids (3 different MCPS schools) have never reeked of air freshener either. In elementary school they did occasionally reek of hand sanitizer.

I will ask my middle-schooler about Febreeze this afternoon. I will say, "Larla, I read on DCUM that all of the teachers in MCPS go mad with air freshener. Is this something that you personally have noticed?"

That's like asking your husband's mistress if she can tell you are wearing Jean Nate. No doubt they don't notice it. And you wouldn't either since you are a febreez and air freshener fan. It kills the sense of smell.

?Do you know me?

Anonymous wrote:My kids (3 different MCPS schools) have never reeked of air freshener either. In elementary school they did occasionally reek of hand sanitizer.

I will ask my middle-schooler about Febreeze this afternoon. I will say, "Larla, I read on DCUM that all of the teachers in MCPS go mad with air freshener. Is this something that you personally have noticed?"

That's like asking your husband's mistress if she can tell you are wearing Jean Nate. No doubt they don't notice it. And you wouldn't either since you are a febreez and air freshener fan. It kills the sense of smell.

My kids (3 different MCPS schools) have never reeked of air freshener either. In elementary school they did occasionally reek of hand sanitizer.

I will ask my middle-schooler about Febreeze this afternoon. I will say, "Larla, I read on DCUM that all of the teachers in MCPS go mad with air freshener. Is this something that you personally have noticed?"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is cracking me up.

I send my kid to an on-paper "bad" school in Silver Spring. But now that the wealthier families have caught on that it's not actually the seventh circle of hell and some send their kids there, it's become harder to dodge conversations about organic produce, screen time (specifically, how it is evil), and what teachers are doing wrong.

I can identify. My kids went to East Silver Spring years before there was a wellness committee bitching about sugar content in the cafeteria yogurt.

Ohh ... the infamous Trix yogurt scandal?

This sounds like self-segregation at its finest. Better schools (private, and my kids are in public) are serving their kids healthy food while you snicker. We were at a nice private school over the weekend for an event, and I was shocked that there was no air freshener smell. I asked my kids if they noticed it, and one said, "Yeah, it smells real in here." My kids come home from MCPS public schools reeking of it.

I'd much rather my kids be in a healthy environment eating healthy food, but to each his own. Too bad we aren't wealthy enough for private.

Um. Yea. Let OP know what school you go to. Classic example of probably what OP is trying to avoid.

FWIW, my kids don't reek of air freshener when they come home from two different schools. They do reek of sweat and stinky feet, though. I can see why the teachers want air freshers is the classrooms, though I've never seen or smelled an air freshener in the classrooms.

What schools do your DC go to? I'll transfer mine there. We have been involved with 7 MCPS schools over the years and they all reek of air freshener. I think "down to earth" means teachers who are mature enough to smell sweaty kids after recess without reaching for the Fabreez. Grow up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is cracking me up.

I send my kid to an on-paper "bad" school in Silver Spring. But now that the wealthier families have caught on that it's not actually the seventh circle of hell and some send their kids there, it's become harder to dodge conversations about organic produce, screen time (specifically, how it is evil), and what teachers are doing wrong.

I can identify. My kids went to East Silver Spring years before there was a wellness committee bitching about sugar content in the cafeteria yogurt.

Ohh ... the infamous Trix yogurt scandal?

This sounds like self-segregation at its finest. Better schools (private, and my kids are in public) are serving their kids healthy food while you snicker. We were at a nice private school over the weekend for an event, and I was shocked that there was no air freshener smell. I asked my kids if they noticed it, and one said, "Yeah, it smells real in here." My kids come home from MCPS public schools reeking of it.

I'd much rather my kids be in a healthy environment eating healthy food, but to each his own. Too bad we aren't wealthy enough for private.

Um. Yea. Let OP know what school you go to. Classic example of probably what OP is trying to avoid.

FWIW, my kids don't reek of air freshener when they come home from two different schools. They do reek of sweat and stinky feet, though. I can see why the teachers want air freshers is the classrooms, though I've never seen or smelled an air freshener in the classrooms.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is cracking me up.

I send my kid to an on-paper "bad" school in Silver Spring. But now that the wealthier families have caught on that it's not actually the seventh circle of hell and some send their kids there, it's become harder to dodge conversations about organic produce, screen time (specifically, how it is evil), and what teachers are doing wrong.

I can identify. My kids went to East Silver Spring years before there was a wellness committee bitching about sugar content in the cafeteria yogurt.

Ohh ... the infamous Trix yogurt scandal?

This sounds like self-segregation at its finest. Better schools (private, and my kids are in public) are serving their kids healthy food while you snicker. We were at a nice private school over the weekend for an event, and I was shocked that there was no air freshener smell. I asked my kids if they noticed it, and one said, "Yeah, it smells real in here." My kids come home from MCPS public schools reeking of it.

I'd much rather my kids be in a healthy environment eating healthy food, but to each his own. Too bad we aren't wealthy enough for private.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, come back and please define "down-to-earth" for us!

I'm afraid you might need to leave the DC metro area entirely for this.

OP back. Ha ha, that's what I'm afraid of! I guess by "down-to-earth" I mean not extremely wealthy, not extremely fixated on Ivy colleges, not focused solely on outward experiences. My high school experience was maybe unique in that I went to school in a small down dominated by a land-grant public research university specializing in the sciencies, so my classmates were kids of physicists, ranchers, and migrant farmworkers. Very little pretension, but academically very sound. I may have to get in my time machine and return to the 80s as well, I realize.

I guess the ONE thing that freaks me out the most is the wealth that seems to correlate with the "good" school clusters ... i.e. Bethesda. I have no problem with material success, but I'm just unfamiliar and alienated by the idea of my kid being surrounded mainly by the children of law firm partners, etc.

Do not I repeat do not move to Chevy chase.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having experienced pretension in high school in Bethesda, I would also say Rockville is more down-to-earth as well.

At the high school level, would you say this includes both Rockville and Richard Montgomery?

NP. My kids are still in ES, but we have a bit of experience in both these clusters. In my experience, most of the parents aren't pretentious in either clusters. There are a few, though, but certainly not the majority. RM, especially, is a mixed bag as it draws from well off areas (though not at the level of Bethesda), and not so well off areas, like east of the pike, near Twinbrook.

DD is at Bannockburn ES and the people are so kind and grounded - real salt of the earth folks.

Anonymous wrote:Having experienced pretension in high school in Bethesda, I would also say Rockville is more down-to-earth as well.

At the high school level, would you say this includes both Rockville and Richard Montgomery?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is cracking me up.

I send my kid to an on-paper "bad" school in Silver Spring. But now that the wealthier families have caught on that it's not actually the seventh circle of hell and some send their kids there, it's become harder to dodge conversations about organic produce, screen time (specifically, how it is evil), and what teachers are doing wrong.

I can identify. My kids went to East Silver Spring years before there was a wellness committee bitching about sugar content in the cafeteria yogurt.

Ohh ... the infamous Trix yogurt scandal?

I'll admit I laughed at this, but I want to go to bat for any parents, anywhere, who are getting involved in their kids' schools. No, the amount of sugar in the MCPS lunch parfait is not the battle I would pick, personally. But I admire the parents who know what their priorities are, and work productively with their kids' school or even the county administration to effect small changes that benefit all of the kids in the school.

One thing I like about Takoma Park and Silver Spring is that so many families are involved in nonprofits or grassroots politics, and bring their (constructive) advocacy skills to their involvement with the schools. I see very few folks working on projects that benefit only their own kids, and a lot of parents advocating for projects that benefit the whole school, including kids whose parents don't have the English language or advocacy skills to get involved.

So, yeah, when OP asks about "down to earth schools," I do think of schools where parents take the time to get involved if they see something they want changed.

NP here - Spot ON with that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Churchill cluster is down to earth. At least from our view (we have 2 at Potomac ES and love it)," said the nanny and au pair to the maid.

Lololol

Having experienced pretension in high school in Bethesda, I would also say Rockville is more down-to-earth as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is cracking me up.

I send my kid to an on-paper "bad" school in Silver Spring. But now that the wealthier families have caught on that it's not actually the seventh circle of hell and some send their kids there, it's become harder to dodge conversations about organic produce, screen time (specifically, how it is evil), and what teachers are doing wrong.

I can identify. My kids went to East Silver Spring years before there was a wellness committee bitching about sugar content in the cafeteria yogurt.

Ohh ... the infamous Trix yogurt scandal?

I'll admit I laughed at this, but I want to go to bat for any parents, anywhere, who are getting involved in their kids' schools. No, the amount of sugar in the MCPS lunch parfait is not the battle I would pick, personally. But I admire the parents who know what their priorities are, and work productively with their kids' school or even the county administration to effect small changes that benefit all of the kids in the school.

One thing I like about Takoma Park and Silver Spring is that so many families are involved in nonprofits or grassroots politics, and bring their (constructive) advocacy skills to their involvement with the schools. I see very few folks working on projects that benefit only their own kids, and a lot of parents advocating for projects that benefit the whole school, including kids whose parents don't have the English language or advocacy skills to get involved.

So, yeah, when OP asks about "down to earth schools," I do think of schools where parents take the time to get involved if they see something they want changed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Well, yes, the wealth correlates with the "good" (i.e., Wealthy/White) school clusters, because wealth/SES and test scores are correlated. But it doesn't necessarily correlate with the actually good schools. There are plenty of us in the Ganglandia and Bumfuckistan parts of MCPS who are perfectly happy with the education our kids are getting, and also plenty of people (at least judging from DCUM) in Wealthy/White who are very unhappy with the education their kids are getting.

They will say it's because we have low expectations.

I thought it was because we're too dumb to know better. Or maybe it's both!