I'm the mom of a child in 4th grade at CMI and I'm excited about the Middle School. I am hoping that parents are not choosing schools based on comments from anonymous Internet posters in a forum. Visit the school, meet the staff and some of the families in real life and then make decisions. The school is great for many reasons and I have trust in the school's leadership and commitment to make the MS a success too. And note that a lot of the comments here are from parents who don't have kids at CMI or have young children, so not sure how much first-hand information they have to contribute on this subject. Go to the source.

That's the interesting thing about school choice. What poster 9:12 finds important in a school, someone else might be looking for special needs services and a third person for Mandrin language.

A school can be different things to different people, especially depending on the age of their child.

I am the poster who remarked about touring a K-12 and how Creative Minds has more and then some. I did private school all of my life and was raised with the idea that private is better than public. When I did private, however, it did not cost as much private schools cost today relative to today's wages. Consequently for me, the question is, what do I consider to be important for my child's education and what does private offer that a public does not offer for the money that you have to pay. This applies only to ME and I cannot speak to other families at CMI. I know, for instance, that there are some families who are committed to public education--I am not one of them. I have discovered that FOR MY CHILD, CMI offers all that I want in a school and has more than what my desired private offers at little cost compared to the $30,000 of my desired private.

I believe that learning in an economically and racially diverse environment is also an important part of a child's education. CMI has that diversity that is important TO ME. I am not aware of one single private school that promotes a progressive education that has this type of diversity. I have toured GDS, Lowell, Stoneridge, OLV, Blessed Sacrament, and Holy Trinity and have friends with children at Sidwell, NCRC, WIS and St Augustines.

Not all CMI parents care about comparisons to private. I, however, truly do believe that CMI's offerings mean that private is not worth it for my family at this time.

Anonymous wrote:Oh come, well-regarded DC area privates offer seriously decent financial aid for very bright and hard-working poor kids. Our cleaning lady sends her daughter to the Potomac School in VA, with almost all expenses paid. Your middle-class kid with college educated parents would hardly be the most deprived child in a school community at a pricey private. Far from it. Just ask my cleaning lady.

So you're saying what exactly? That all private schools are diverse and inclusive and affordable because your cleaning lady sends her kid there? You sound pretty ignorant.