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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2015 10:37:16 GMT -5
Oh that's got to be a tough call. Has your son grown closer to his peer group so he doesn't want to switch to private? I might be inclined to base the decision on how good or bad of an influence his friends are. He has one good friend that moved from the Montessori to the public. He wants to be in school with him, but I reminded him that the school is so big that he would only see him occasionally anyhow. Otherwise, a lot of his peers are scouts and they mostly go to the private. He calls them "frienemies" though.
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Wisconsin Beth
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Oct 27, 2015 10:40:11 GMT -5
MPL, does he maybe think it'll be easier to skate though HS at the public school?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2015 10:43:53 GMT -5
MPL, does he maybe think it'll be easier to skate though HS at the public school? I'm not sure. Now that he's more willing to talk about it, we're going to have to have some serious heart to hearts in the next few months. So far, he's talked about his friend going to public and not wanting to take religion classes. He's actually more of a die hard atheist than I am, even though he's been through all the early stuff with first communion and having gone to Mass every Sunday until he was 8 or 9.
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cktc
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Post by cktc on Oct 27, 2015 10:47:29 GMT -5
Oh that's got to be a tough call. Has your son grown closer to his peer group so he doesn't want to switch to private? I might be inclined to base the decision on how good or bad of an influence his friends are. He has one good friend that moved from the Montessori to the public. He wants to be in school with him, but I reminded him that the school is so big that he would only see him occasionally anyhow. Otherwise, a lot of his peers are scouts and they mostly go to the private. He calls them "frienemies" though. Hmm my "frienemies" in school were all the smart kids. They were in all my classes and we got along fine, but there was a silent competition. My best friend wasn't in any of the advanced classes so even at a small school I rarely saw her. It sounds like friends aren't much of a factor so maybe just speak to the counselors and teachers in his favorite subjects and see if they have improved since your time there.
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luckyme
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Post by luckyme on Oct 27, 2015 11:19:34 GMT -5
" In the greater Boston area you are looking at 30k-40k/year from Kindergarten to 12th grade. But some of the schools have awesome aid for certain income brackets "
Just remember, they may "offer" great aid to the lower income kids, but how many really get in? And if they are subsidizing large numbers of lower paying students, then the school is grossly inflating the sticker price; to seem more impressive?
The main private high school in our area, around $40K a year offers this aid as well. Very few of the poorer kids actually go there. They need to take an entrance exam, and from those who pass, they offer a spot to a very small number. The feeder school is actually an expensive Catholic school in a very wealthy nearby district.
Same goes for college. The Ivies offer great aid to poorer students, but the kids actually have to be accepted to get it. With a very low acceptance rate to begin with that is like playing the lottery. Also, many of the better schools/Ivies were called out for having very low numbers of Pell students, an indicator of high financial need.
That being said, no I wouldn't send my kid to an expensive private school. DS probably would have qualified as he had the stats for it, but he liked his friends and he was in honors/AP classes anyway, so his experience was quite good in the public school. I knew he would forever be at a disadvantage at the private school as we simply didn't have the money to pay for his social life there.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Oct 27, 2015 11:33:11 GMT -5
I think my hangup with the public here is I went to it and I know how much they don't give a shit about the kids. I had a lot of problems in school that weren't related to academics but manifested themselves in bad grades and seriously, nobody cared. I remember going to the counseling office begging for help and being turned away. I was a junior and walked out that day for good. Never stepped in that school again for at least 25 years. I'm sorry to hear about this.
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TheHaitian
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Post by TheHaitian on Oct 27, 2015 11:46:26 GMT -5
" In the greater Boston area you are looking at 30k-40k/year from Kindergarten to 12th grade. But some of the schools have awesome aid for certain income brackets " Just remember, they may "offer" great aid to the lower income kids, but how many really get in? And if they are subsidizing large numbers of lower paying students, then the school is grossly inflating the sticker price; to seem more impressive? The main private high school in our area, around $40K a year offers this aid as well. Very few of the poorer kids actually go there. They need to take an entrance exam, and from those who pass, they offer a spot to a very small number. The feeder school is actually an expensive Catholic school in a very wealthy nearby district. Same goes for college. The Ivies offer great aid to poorer students, but the kids actually have to be accepted to get it. With a very low acceptance rate to begin with that is like playing the lottery. Also, many of the better schools/Ivies were called out for having very low numbers of Pell students, an indicator of high financial need. That being said, no I wouldn't send my kid to an expensive private school. DS probably would have qualified as he had the stats for it, but he liked his friends and he was in honors/AP classes anyway, so his experience was quite good in the public school. I knew he would forever be at a disadvantage at the private school as we simply didn't have the money to pay for his social life there. I was going under the assumption that your get actually get accepted... I understand and have first hand knowledge on how gruesome the entrance requirements are; my wife cousin is going through it now and he is applying for middle of the range private high schools (10-15k/year). Between the exams, applications, essays, interviews... He barely has enough time for his regular school work and they are only applying to 5 schools. He did not go to bed till 4 AM this past Sunday because he needed to finish an essay for a school application and his mom had to stay up with him. His top school is 10k/year and no discounts for siblings so at one point when all 3 are there (for 1 year) she will be shelling out ~30k/year (13, 11 and 10 years old)... Assuming the other 2 gets accepted into the same high school.
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whoisjohngalt
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Post by whoisjohngalt on Oct 27, 2015 12:01:33 GMT -5
Unless I was living in a ghetto or was ubber religious, I can't see myself sending my kids to any private schools. How about if your kid is falling through the cracks in an "excellent" public school system (Bergen County, NJ) and nothing else you've tried works? My son went to NY Military Academy for HS and it was worth every penny. What's interesting is that he lived with and worked with a far more diverse group of kids than he would have encountered in our suburb. It was a plus I hadn't expected.
But, to get back to the OP. My answer is that it would depend on the budget and the kid. Move into a good public school district and put them in private school only if it offers something they're not getting in public school. If I had a kid who was burning to be a President or a CEO and I thought he/she had the possibility of making it, I'd be more inclined to go for it. If they're headed for a good, respectable, middle-management job or a field where Ivy League connections don't get you much, I'd be more inclined to keep them in public schools.
OK, private schools and Military Academy is not exactly the same thing. If I had a problem kid, I can't tell you now what I would be doing, it would really depend on what kind of problems he was having. But under normal circumstances I wouldn't be inclined to send my kid to private school.
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MJ2.0
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Post by MJ2.0 on Oct 27, 2015 12:05:45 GMT -5
I'm already worried about DS starting Kindergarten next year. X insisted that we live in the town we live in because of the excellent school district. It is really good, but it is huge! DS is a smart little bugger, but he he goes berserk when there are too many kids or if he has to sit quietly for too long. My concern is that he will be overwhelmed by the large class sizes and either become the class clown/disruptor (which he already is somewhat) or otherwise completely fail. I have already considered that he may need schooling different from public school, something more intimate than a room with 29 other kids, one teacher, and hours of listening, taking notes, and sitting quietly. He is starting to become more thoughtful and expressive, and he's following directions better, so maybe things will change by September. Still can't believe my little baby's going to be in school next year. ?
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Post by mojothehelpermonkey on Oct 27, 2015 12:11:36 GMT -5
I think my hangup with the public here is I went to it and I know how much they don't give a shit about the kids. I had a lot of problems in school that weren't related to academics but manifested themselves in bad grades and seriously, nobody cared. I remember going to the counseling office begging for help and being turned away. I was a junior and walked out that day for good. Never stepped in that school again for at least 25 years. Now, to be fair, that was a long time ago. Things may have changed a lot, but it's still a large school and just walking in there makes me cringe with bad memories. That's awful, and you make a good point. The counselor at the public school I went to wasn't that bad, but she was completely useless when it came to helping kids apply to college. She seemed annoyed with me for not just applying to our state school, and then she forgot to send in the paperwork that the school I applied to was requesting.
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happyhoix
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Post by happyhoix on Oct 27, 2015 12:12:31 GMT -5
It would depend on my kid, the quality of the public school, and the quality of the private school. However, I would have sent DS to one of the less expensive private schools around town, not the really pricey ones. Yes, the really expensive ones do make it easier to get into the better colleges, and no doubt they have better student -teacher ratios and more extra curricular activities, but I think DS would have stood out as one of the poorer kids there, and kids can be mean about that kind of stuff. Hell, I work with some of the parents who have their kids in the pricey schools, and THEY can be snobby about their cars and expensive homes and fabulous vacations - so you know how their kids must act.
Fortunately, DS did just fine in our public school, so finding a private school wasn't necessary, and we were able to save our money to pay for his college expenses so he could graduate debt-free - which I think was a much better use of the money.
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happyhoix
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Post by happyhoix on Oct 27, 2015 12:15:36 GMT -5
I'm already worried about DS starting Kindergarten next year. X insisted that we live in the town we live in because of the excellent school district. It is really good, but it is huge! DS is a smart little bugger, but he he goes berserk when there are too many kids or if he has to sit quietly for too long. My concern is that he will be overwhelmed by the large class sizes and either become the class clown/disruptor (which he already is somewhat) or otherwise completely fail. I have already considered that he may need schooling different from public school, something more intimate than a room with 29 other kids, one teacher, and hours of listening, taking notes, and sitting quietly. He is starting to become more thoughtful and expressive, and he's following directions better, so maybe things will change by September. Still can't believe my little baby's going to be in school next year. ? I would start him in the public school and see how he does. There's LOTS of kids in kindergarten who can't sit still for long. Usually they gear the school day around periods of activities and periods of desk time so that they aren't obligated to sit at a desk all day, at least not until second or third grade.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2015 12:21:27 GMT -5
I think my hangup with the public here is I went to it and I know how much they don't give a shit about the kids. I had a lot of problems in school that weren't related to academics but manifested themselves in bad grades and seriously, nobody cared. I remember going to the counseling office begging for help and being turned away. I was a junior and walked out that day for good. Never stepped in that school again for at least 25 years. Now, to be fair, that was a long time ago. Things may have changed a lot, but it's still a large school and just walking in there makes me cringe with bad memories. That's awful, and you make a good point. The counselor at the public school I went to wasn't that bad, but she was completely useless when it came to helping kids apply to college. She seemed annoyed with me for not just applying to our state school, and then she forgot to send in the paperwork that the school I applied to was requesting. The counselors at my school were just for helping kids with college applications it seemed. I have no idea if they were any good at it or not since I never got to that point. I had really bad anxiety problems and by the teenage years they were out of control. By my Junior year I could barely sit through a class, I would actually pass out. Of course, passing out in class does wonders for increasing your self esteem and reducing anxiety. So, it just got worse and worse. I went in crying and they told me they weren't a mental health facility. I could either suck it up and go to class or go home. I couldn't go to class, so I went home. I just remember all the anger and hurt and sending my kids in there seems wrong.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Oct 27, 2015 12:21:09 GMT -5
I'm already worried about DS starting Kindergarten next year. X insisted that we live in the town we live in because of the excellent school district. It is really good, but it is huge! DS is a smart little bugger, but he he goes berserk when there are too many kids or if he has to sit quietly for too long. My concern is that he will be overwhelmed by the large class sizes and either become the class clown/disruptor (which he already is somewhat) or otherwise completely fail. I have already considered that he may need schooling different from public school, something more intimate than a room with 29 other kids, one teacher, and hours of listening, taking notes, and sitting quietly. He is starting to become more thoughtful and expressive, and he's following directions better, so maybe things will change by September. Still can't believe my little baby's going to be in school next year. ? In kindergarten, the kids should not be expected to sit still for several hours at a time. At our school, the kids are expected to sit for 40 minutes at a time when they hit 5th grade. In kindy, all activities take about 15-20 minutes. The kids are taught when they are done with an art project/worksheet, etc, they get up and walk over to their mail slot. They rotate through stations. So, in an hour, kids work on language skills, but they do three different things. They get up and go to the different centers. After the hour chunk is done, they have to bend down and pick up all the crap they dropped. (Trust me, it's alot.) Kindy also has free choice with lots of play. My kids also get three recesses in K-3rd grade, plus gym two days a week. They have to get up and walk to other specials and back..library, computers , and spanish. In first grade, art is added to that. Computers is twice a week. Starting in 1st grade, the kids can sit on balance balls in the classroom. They are phased out in 4th grade. I remember DS's 3rd grade teacher said she WANTS the kids to be able to wiggle if they need to while they are doing peer edits of works or if they are writing. DD1 is in Second grade, and on the first day of school, she found a container of play doh on her desk that the teacher provided. A quiet way to work the wiggles out. ETA: Also with 29 kids in class, I'd expect there to be at least one assistant and some parent volunteers to help corral the kids. Honestly, as long as the teacher doesn't need to restrain your child by hugging him, I think you should be good. (We had an unmanageable kid in DD1's class. He got hugged lots by his teachers.)
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Post by mojothehelpermonkey on Oct 27, 2015 12:30:31 GMT -5
That's awful, and you make a good point. The counselor at the public school I went to wasn't that bad, but she was completely useless when it came to helping kids apply to college. She seemed annoyed with me for not just applying to our state school, and then she forgot to send in the paperwork that the school I applied to was requesting. The counselors at my school were just for helping kids with college applications it seemed. I have no idea if they were any good at it or not since I never got to that point. I had really bad anxiety problems and by the teenage years they were out of control. By my Junior year I could barely sit through a class, I would actually pass out. Of course, passing out in class does wonders for increasing your self esteem and reducing anxiety. So, it just got worse and worse. I went in crying and they told me they weren't a mental health facility. I could either suck it up and go to class or go home. I couldn't go to class, so I went home. I just remember all the anger and hurt and sending my kids in there seems wrong. Yikes! I am sorry you had to go through that, and I can see why you wouldn't want your kids to go there.
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Wisconsin Beth
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Oct 27, 2015 12:44:56 GMT -5
I'm already worried about DS starting Kindergarten next year. X insisted that we live in the town we live in because of the excellent school district. It is really good, but it is huge! DS is a smart little bugger, but he he goes berserk when there are too many kids or if he has to sit quietly for too long. My concern is that he will be overwhelmed by the large class sizes and either become the class clown/disruptor (which he already is somewhat) or otherwise completely fail. I have already considered that he may need schooling different from public school, something more intimate than a room with 29 other kids, one teacher, and hours of listening, taking notes, and sitting quietly. He is starting to become more thoughtful and expressive, and he's following directions better, so maybe things will change by September. Still can't believe my little baby's going to be in school next year. ? In kindergarten, the kids should not be expected to sit still for several hours at a time. At our school, the kids are expected to sit for 40 minutes at a time when they hit 5th grade. In kindy, all activities take about 15-20 minutes. The kids are taught when they are done with an art project/worksheet, etc, they get up and walk over to their mail slot. They rotate through stations. So, in an hour, kids work on language skills, but they do three different things. They get up and go to the different centers. After the hour chunk is done, they have to bend down and pick up all the crap they dropped. (Trust me, it's alot.) Kindy also has free choice with lots of play. My kids also get three recesses in K-3rd grade, plus gym two days a week. They have to get up and walk to other specials and back..library, computers , and spanish. In first grade, art is added to that. Computers is twice a week. Starting in 1st grade, the kids can sit on balance balls in the classroom. They are phased out in 4th grade. I remember DS's 3rd grade teacher said she WANTS the kids to be able to wiggle if they need to while they are doing peer edits of works or if they are writing. DD1 is in Second grade, and on the first day of school, she found a container of play doh on her desk that the teacher provided. A quiet way to work the wiggles out. ETA: Also with 29 kids in class, I'd expect there to be at least one assistant and some parent volunteers to help corral the kids. Honestly, as long as the teacher doesn't need to restrain your child by hugging him, I think you should be good. (We had an unmanageable kid in DD1's class. He got hugged lots by his teachers.) And the classes should be smaller for K4 and K5. And they often have some kind of assistant. I think my kids had 24 kids in their K4 classes and 1 assistant. ETA - here the K4 and K5 kids still get 2 recesses and naptime. And possible outdoor time after lunch - I'm hazy on that one. I think the longest mine were expected to sit still is the after 2nd recess period. They come in, gather up their stuff and head to the lunchroom for parental pickup. So by the time I'd get DD, in K4, she's be in there like 30 minutes.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2015 15:25:51 GMT -5
I wouldn't put DD in a school where we would be significantly below the norm in HH income. I am just not interested in DD getting the impression that we are poor because we aren't massively rich. We had a long conversation last year about why she wasn't going to Spain! I feel better when she can afford to do what her peers can do.
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quince
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Post by quince on Oct 27, 2015 15:40:10 GMT -5
We're not considering private school at this time, but of course our eventual decisions will be based on the needs of our kid(s). Homeschooling is on the table as well. Even if we send them to public school, our kids are likely to be showered with less material luxury than their peers based on our own values and spending habits. The area we live in in high income/high COL. We don't have cable at this point and are not likely to at any time in the future. I shop at thrift stores, and our household income is 6 figures. My son is 2 and is going on his 3rd trip to Hawaii this December, though.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Oct 27, 2015 16:21:27 GMT -5
I wouldn't put DD in a school where we would be significantly below the norm in HH income. I am just not interested in DD getting the impression that we are poor because we aren't massively rich. We had a long conversation last year about why she wasn't going to Spain! I feel better when she can afford to do what her peers can do. I agree, to a point. Our other choice was putting our kids in a public school where my kiddos would be rich and the norm would be that the kids aren't regularly fed at home. At our neighborhood school, 15% of the kids in grades 3-5 read at grade level. So, in a class of 20, my kids would be one of 3 that were performing as expected. The goal, next year, is to raise that percentage to 17%. Again, I'm not so sure this is good, either, to have my kids be one of a handful that's just meeting expectations in class. In our city, there is no middle ground. Either you are a have or a have not. Personally, I think this is becoming the norm for urban areas... I also think attitudes at home are more important than school exposure. Yes, peers influence, but I don't think ultimately, peers are more influential than your home environment. I had no idea I grew up middle class until I was an adult. Seriously, I thought being middle class meant you were one paycheck away from losing your house. Because that's how my mom acted when it came to financial issues.
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hoops902
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Post by hoops902 on Oct 27, 2015 16:46:51 GMT -5
2 points:
1. The people saying they wouldn't pay $42k/year. It's probably irrelevant if they're offering that kind of financial aid. It's like the private colleges where tuition is super high but everyone qualifies for massively free financial aid. What matters in both cases is how much it costs you, not what some bloated "suggested retail price" is.
2. The issue of your kid being poorer than all the other kids. If they offer THAT kind of financial aid, I'd bet the school has a LOT of students getting that financial aid. It's probably a closer mix to his own income level to send a kid to a $42k school that offers massive financial aid than a school that costs $10K and doesn't.
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alabamagal
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Post by alabamagal on Oct 27, 2015 19:04:00 GMT -5
I started youngest in private K5 because he was super advanced for his age ( stRted reading at 3) and missed cutoff by 13 days. He was also born 13 days past his due date. Other 2 were moved over to private the next year when they were in 3rd and 4th grade. All went through 12th. Our public elementary was ok but middle and high school were terrible.
There were 2 private schools in our city. The "rich" one nondenominational (tuition $10k) and the religious one (tuition $6k 3 years ago) that my kids went to. I didn't always agree with all the religious parts but was ok overall. There were some rich kids (like driving a Lexus convertible) but some on scholarship.
I was glad to be able to send them there. They all went to good public universities on full or 90% tuition scholarship.
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plugginaway22
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Post by plugginaway22 on Oct 27, 2015 19:55:17 GMT -5
We live in a highly ranked public school district and probably had below the average HH income of the district while 3 kids attended. They all got an excellent education, but there were some tough times for them dealing with the 'Haves'. Most kids had anything and everything and went on several amazing vacations a year. My 3 kids had many friends from that group, and never felt excluded, but they learned early that we could not compete with the 'stuff'. Now we look back and have no regrets, it built character and maybe instilled some drive to do better financially. Not sure about that yet with youngest!
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milee
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Post by milee on Oct 27, 2015 20:27:39 GMT -5
ETA: Also with 29 kids in class, I'd expect there to be at least one assistant and some parent volunteers to help corral the kids. Highly dependent on where the poster lives.
When we were in Phoenix, we lived in a really good school district (area where many of the star athletes, the governor and people like Alice Cooper - who BTW was a very active volunteer in the public school system, lived) and although these were some of the "best" public schools in Phoenix, class size was a major issue. The year our son started K (2005), the local district elementary school was boasting about how it was going to be able to keep all the K classes to under 30 kids each that year... and each of those classes of 29 students had a single teacher. Four classrooms shared one aide.
It may be better now - or it may be worse - but class size was one of the reasons that we didn't put our oldest son in that local public school, even though it was one of the better ones in town.
So maybe the poster's K with 29 kids will have an assistant and maybe it won't.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2015 20:42:27 GMT -5
29 with one teacher is pretty bad. Ours is 24 kids with one teacher and two assistants, although only one of the assistants is a licensed teacher. The other is an early education major college student.
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Oct 27, 2015 20:48:56 GMT -5
Goodness. I can remember the K teachers wanting to get 19 students because at 19, they got an aide!
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milee
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Post by milee on Oct 27, 2015 20:51:19 GMT -5
I went to middle and high school at a magnet type school that although public, required a test to get in and was in a very wealthy community. I'd imagine the socioeconomic demographics of that school were very similar to what would happen in a private school such as the one described in the OP. Predominantly very, very wealthy and successful families, a reasonable minority of upper middle class families and one or two lower middle class and poor families. I had friends who drove Porsches, Jaguars (one is now a prominent judge and I can't help but remember her as the 16 year old brat who cried when her daddy bought her the wrong color Jag on her 16th birthday), Mercedes and even a Ferrari. There was no uniform so it was very obvious what the economic levels were in clothes anyways.
It was sometimes very, very hard to be the poor kid at a school like that. There definitely were activities I wasn't able to participate in and social things that just weren't going to happen. And it was sometimes embarrassing to have really crappy clothes.
On the other hand, I think the short term pain of being occasionally embarrassed by my clothes or not being able to join in the ski outings was very minor compared to the benefits I got out of being at that school. Off the top of my head:
1) I saw clearly what type of income is needed to have a certain lifestyle and it made me very determined to get that income so I could also live that lifestyle. That drive has served me very well in my professional career. I'm now in the economic group whose children are appropriately dressed and able to participate in any activity they want; I could buy my kids a Porsche (but I won't) and live a good life from a financial standpoint. I doubt if I hadn't gone to that school if I would have had the same drive. So being the poor kid was extremely motivating for me and that enabled me to have the grit to compete at the top levels. The wealthy families I interacted with provided some of the modeling that my own family did not.
2) I was surrounded by families who were fantastic examples of how to achieve wealth. Aside from one or two, these were not trustafarians but people who earned their money - doctors, lawyers, businesspeople. So not only did I know I wanted that lifestyle, I was surrounded by examples of what professions to pick to achieve it. It was pretty obvious to me at 16 what types of college majors lent themselves to allowing your kid to drive a Porsche versus the ones that meant your family shared a 10 year old beater. So I had real life examples and families I could spend time with to have models of how to achieve.
3) Sounds minor, but I learned how to interact with wealthy people. Having been to my share of Debutante Balls, formal dinner parties, yacht club galas, etc., I know the intricacies of how rich people interact, which has been hugely helpful in getting and being successful at high level jobs. No gaffes involving table manners, gawking inappropriately at someone's opulent foyer or missing the designer label they're wearing. No "showing off" stuff like nouveau riche do.
4) Hate to say it but there were some connections that have been helpful over the years. Not exactly Ivy League level, but still strong and helpful. Many of my former classmates are influential in various places and it doesn't hurt to have that connection.
So although I'm tight with my spending and don't think it would be smart for anyone to go into debt to put a kid into a school as described in the OP, I wouldn't avoid it because my kid was the "poor" kid there. That speaks more to the inferiority complex of the parents, IMHO.
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milee
Senior Associate
Joined: Jan 17, 2012 13:20:00 GMT -5
Posts: 12,344
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Post by milee on Oct 27, 2015 20:52:36 GMT -5
29 with one teacher is pretty bad. This is the understatement of the century.
I actually asked how they managed to hire people that were willing to "teach" 29 Kindergarteners.
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Deleted
Joined: Sept 28, 2024 18:07:05 GMT -5
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2015 20:56:52 GMT -5
I can't imagine much teaching goes on. Even babysitting that many to the level of keeping them from hurting themselves or each other would be tough.
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Ryan
Senior Member
Joined: Jun 16, 2014 13:40:36 GMT -5
Posts: 2,217
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Post by Ryan on Oct 27, 2015 21:02:38 GMT -5
I think when I was in school, the class sizes were close to 30 kids. My son now has 19 kids in his class and they have an aide in the classroom.
In regards to the original question, there is no way I would send my kids to a private school unless I was in a subpar public school. If I was in a subpar public school district, I'd be more likely to move than to put my kids in private schools. The only situation where it makes sense to stay is if you have to be located in a certain city (if you are a cop or something) and the schools kinda suck.
Personally, I wouldn't stretch to get in a great school if you are already in a really good school. My wife teaches in an affluent district where the median purchase price on homes is $675K and rising and that includes the purchase price of houses they are intending on tearing down. People in her school have summer homes, they go away for spring/thanksgiving/christmas break. I think it would be tough to be in a school like that if you are not living that lifestyle.
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gooddecisions
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 22, 2010 13:42:28 GMT -5
Posts: 2,418
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 27, 2015 21:03:39 GMT -5
I would have no problem sending my kids to a magnet public school, IB program or advanced specialty school, if they got in and it's what they wanted. It would not matter to me in the least if they were the poorest. But, hell no would I pay those prices or any price for private school. I live in a good public school district for a reason.
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