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I guess this is kind of getting off topic here, but I'll give you my two cents. I am just moving in from NY and all of my private school experience is with our four kids up here, but I was chairman of the school board for 5 years to have a good understanding. As was just mentioned, most private schools are a "college prep" program and tend to be pretty tough academically. Part of it is numbers... unless you are one of the largest private schools, you simply don't have enough LD kids to justify the additional staff that they may need. Our school here is only 350 kids (K-12), but was able to have a full time math and full time reading teacher to work with kids that needed extra help in elementary school. But once the kids hit middle and high school, it pretty much took off and your only choice was regular or advanced (which was a year ahead). Then come the AP courses. In NY, if there is an IEP, the public school districts provide assistance for the students, even those in private schools, but I don't believe it works that way in NC. I would say the larger the private school, the more chance that they could handle your needs more effectively, but just ask about it and they should be straight with you. They don't want to bring in a student that can't do well... that doesn't help you and it doesn't help them.
I guess this is kind of getting off topic here, but I'll give you my two cents. I am just moving in from NY and all of my private school experience is with our four kids up here, but I was chairman of the school board for 5 years to have a good understanding. As was just mentioned, most private schools are a "college prep" program and tend to be pretty tough academically. Part of it is numbers... unless you are one of the largest private schools, you simply don't have enough LD kids to justify the additional staff that they may need. Our school here is only 350 kids (K-12), but was able to have a full time math and full time reading teacher to work with kids that needed extra help in elementary school. But once the kids hit middle and high school, it pretty much took off and your only choice was regular or advanced (which was a year ahead). Then come the AP courses. In NY, if there is an IEP, the public school districts provide assistance for the students, even those in private schools, but I don't believe it works that way in NC. I would say the larger the private school, the more chance that they could handle your needs more effectively, but just ask about it and they should be straight with you. They don't want to bring in a student that can't do well... that doesn't help you and it doesn't help them.
My big concern is they would bring a child in and assume they could bring them along. They operate like a business, and quite frankly they want to see full classrooms. I don't know exactly how private schools identify those needing "services" - for some reason I don't think they have what is known as the IEP.
Don't assume your "best teachers" are at Christian schools. I am by no means trying to offend, attack or in any way be negative to any of our fine teacher friends teaching in Christian schools. I do have friends with children in private schools all over Wake County.. and I hear the same two things over and over... goofy for homework (matter of opinion I guess) and some of the teachers are substandard, out to lunch, not fully qualified whatever. My feeling is this : if you are paying for a private education, the teachers should always be top notch. This is NOT my personal experience, my dd attended catholic school for many years and had superior teachers year after year after year .. people think I'm kidding but I'm serious !!! The strange things I hear tend to be about the faith based schools.....
My big concern is they would bring a child in and assume they could bring them along. They operate like a business, and quite frankly they want to see full classrooms. I don't know exactly how private schools identify those needing "services" - for some reason I don't think they have what is known as the IEP.
Don't assume your "best teachers" are at Christian schools. I am by no means trying to offend, attack or in any way be negative to any of our fine teacher friends teaching in Christian schools. I do have friends with children in private schools all over Wake County.. and I hear the same two things over and over... goofy for homework (matter of opinion I guess) and some of the teachers are substandard, out to lunch, not fully qualified whatever. My feeling is this : if you are paying for a private education, the teachers should always be top notch. This is NOT my personal experience, my dd attended catholic school for many years and had superior teachers year after year after year .. people think I'm kidding but I'm serious !!! The strange things I hear tend to be about the faith based schools.....
I don't doubt what you are saying. In our school, we were operating on a per student budget that was half what some of the public schools were funded at. I know that there are some faith based schools we looked at with tuition around $5K/year, and I can tell you that is low compared to public school costs. With the majority of that going to salaries and benefits, I think you'll find that in some cases the teachers make less, but that doesn't mean they aren't as good... they are often going to be more committed and there for the right reasons. We always wanted to pay them more, but its a trade-off between pushing out lower income families with higher tuitions than they can afford, vs. paying the teachers better. But, I believe the teachers in out school were as good as any other school, based on our experience. With a smaller school, you will have less teachers though and less variety in style to adapt to particular students' needs.
Regarding the strange things you hear with faith based schools, I'd wonder if those people with the bad experiences are fully commited to the doctrine of the school, or they went along with it because they wanted to go to that school. I actually prefer schools that require one or both parents to sign something agreeing with the doctrine. I can't imagine sending my kids to a faith based school when I didn't agree with the school's beliefs that they were going to teach my kids. And that is largely why my kids go to faith based schools... because public schools have a doctrine. But that's another story.
The reason I think this was all brought up was in reference to older and younger kids being in the same school. This was one of the things that really attracted us to private schools, was when we attended a graduation at one of them. We saw that a lot of the kids in the graduating class had been together for all 13 years of their education, and most had been together for a long time. The bond and friendships were huge. But it was also nice to see whole families of kids that could go to school together and see each other throughout the day, at assemblies, sporting events, etc. I think that this also leads to more family involvement since everything is in one place, and all of this contributes to the experience as much as the teacher. I want good teachers, but its not the only important thing in the education process to me.
The reason I think this was all brought up was in reference to older and younger kids being in the same school. This was one of the things that really attracted us to private schools, was when we attended a graduation at one of them. We saw that a lot of the kids in the graduating class had been together for all 13 years of their education, and most had been together for a long time. The bond and friendships were huge. But it was also nice to see whole families of kids that could go to school together and see each other throughout the day, at assemblies, sporting events, etc. I think that this also leads to more family involvement since everything is in one place, and all of this contributes to the experience as much as the teacher. I want good teachers, but its not the only important thing in the education process to me.
That is the # 1 reason we chose private school in kindergarten. We were trying to avoid the whole "middle school" thing. The idea of a larger school community.. with multiple grades just felt right..... It worked for us for many years, but by middle school many of the kids left - for many reasons. We left because we needed a change... dd needed more than 40 kids in her grades. The school was very clicky, and although that is the mantra of middle school, its just harder to find your way with the same 40 or so kids. I do feel like she was overprotected and sheltered, what I treasured in the early grades became overdone in middle school. So for us, it worked best to transfer half way through middle school. And yes, I do feel like she had less distractions and better educational opportunities at private school. I also feel she would be severely short changed if she wasn't taking honors/AP level classes in high school.
I worry a lot about the underachievers or lower performing hs students.. or those somewhere in the middle. Are they being challenged and encouraged to fulfil their potential? I just don't know... If your child is taking honors, they WILL GET CHALLENGED. I don't care if they are at the lowest performing HS in Wake County - take honors/AP and they'll be fine.
I do have issues with WCPPS, but its been OK... and dd loves the larger school environment. BTW, she says she'll neve r EVER send her own kids to private school (as me again in 15 years).
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You can find the Original Post below for your review. ***
Quote:
Originally Posted by dahlia
My husband and I have been thinking about relocating to NC for a long time (we have family in the Cary area). We are looking into Cary or Apex. We love the area. The only thing holding us back is the redistricting that occurs. I know the schools are good but I am concerned for my one daughter who is quite shy and thrives on routine/stability. When kids are redistricted, are they sent to new schools with some of their old friends or are they just sent on their own to a new school? My daughter will be entering Kindergarten in the Fall and my other daughter will start Kindergarten two years later.
Thanks in advance for any information.
Last edited by autumngal; 02-13-2008 at 09:01 AM..
newsobserver.com | Cary talks of school secession (http://www.newsobserver.com/news/education/wake/story/943799.html - broken link)
Our schools have been among the best in the country for quite some time. I know that the common "concern" is that people don't want their kids sent somewhere else in the county, but let's cut to the chase and just admit that a lot of folks (and increasingly folks who are new to the area, and are from the Northeast) don't see what is casually referred to as "diversity" as compelling. Cary folks apparently want to send their children to self-contained, non-integrated (racially or economically) schools.
newsobserver.com | Cary talks of school secession (http://www.newsobserver.com/news/education/wake/story/943799.html - broken link)
Our schools have been among the best in the country for quite some time. I know that the common "concern" is that people don't want their kids sent somewhere else in the county, but let's cut to the chase and just admit that a lot of folks (and increasingly folks who are new to the area, and are from the Northeast) don't see what is casually referred to as "diversity" as compelling. Cary folks apparently want to send their children to self-contained, non-integrated (racially or economically) schools.
Wake County schools are fairly good, but among the best in the country? Not in my opinion. Maybe Cary parents don't understand why their children can't go to a school within walking distance while children are bused into that school from 10 miles away. My children are multi racial and I could care less what color their classmates are or how much the parents make. Neighborhood schools, in my opinion, are better for most kids. Honestly, I highly doubt this will ever happen, but at some point this fairly unaccountable school board needs to be brought to task.
Maybe Cary parents don't understand why their children can't go to a school within walking distance while children are bused into that school from 10 miles away. My children are multi racial and I could care less what color their classmates are or how much the parents make. Neighborhood schools, in my opinion, are better for most kids.
I think that's the point. When weighing the proven advantages of economic and racial diversity against convenience and proximity (and other benefits of neighborhood schools, which I agree certainly exist), Cary parents do not view diversity is sufficiently compelling.
My experience is that people from poor and predominantly minority neighborhoods (or in schools that meet the same criteria) do care what color their class mates are or how much their parents make because empirical evidence confirms that those schools do not receive the same resources, and the children, who are not responsible for the situations in which they find themselves, are disadvantaged.
School choice exists. If you want to send your children to public school in Wake County, accept that the schools will be racially and economically integrated. If you value neighboorhood schools for a host of legitimate reasons, send your children to private school.
I think that's the point. When weighing the proven advantages of economic and racial diversity against convenience and proximity (and other benefits of neighborhood schools, which I agree certainly exist), Cary parents do not view diversity is sufficiently compelling.
My experience is that people from poor and predominantly minority neighborhoods (or in schools that meet the same criteria) do care what color their class mates are or how much their parents make because empirical evidence confirms that those schools do not receive the same resources, and the children, who are not responsible for the situations in which they find themselves, are disadvantaged.
School choice exists. If you want to send your children to public school in Wake County, accept that the schools will be racially and economically integrated. If you value neighboorhood schools for a host of legitimate reasons, send your children to private school.
Yes, the neighborhood private school, that makes sense. Wake County has not provided any evidence to show that these disadvantaged children do better when bused out of their neighborhood. It's all about spreading poor children around so no one school looks terrible on paper. It's not about providing these children with better opportunities. That's obviously my opinion. I personally think Cary could run their schools much more efficiently than the county, which I think does a pretty lousy job.
I have the same concerns about redistricting. After "sharing" our address with friends who tried for a year to sell their dream home after they were rediscricted I vowed to put our kids in private school. These friends eventually sold their home. Soon after their home sold, they were rezooned again and their orininal home was in their district. We have other friends who sold the house they built and move 1/2 mile further away from their school to stay in the same district.
Private schools are expensive but probably more affordable than moving and building a new home.
Good luck
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