Moving kids from public to private in middle school
I appreciate the Get Schooled readers who helped AJC reporter Gracie Bonds Staples with her story on families who pull their children from public schools to enroll them in private middle school. Several of you called to say that you never saw the story so I am running it here.
Again, I appreciate the assistance on this and other stories as reporters on deadline often need to find “real” people fast. Increasingly, education writers are asking me to help find people off the blog, and I thank all those who come forward and respond to these requests.
Here is the story:
It used to be kids matriculated from one neighborhood public school to the next, until years later, they graduated and headed off to college.
Nowadays, in an effort to find the right learning environment to suit their children’s individual learning styles or ensure they reach their highest potential, parents are increasingly choosing a mix of public and private school.
That’s what Jim and Jill Burns decided to do when their daughter Samantha entered middle school and her grades started to plummet. So, too, did Mari Stilson of Atlanta, Bill and Nancy Boyk of Alpharetta, Dick and Linda Eydt of Buckhead and what seems to be a growing number of other metro Atlanta parents.
The trend in a lot of ways mirrors a changing educational landscape that gives families the power to choose the right learning environment for their children.
And while no one keeps numbers on how often this mix occurs, educators and parents agree it happens a lot, particularly in the middle school years when parents typically move from public elementary schools to private middle schools and sometimes back again.
Still, officials say, the vast majority of the 73,000 students enrolled in Georgia private schools come in the early years and remain there until they graduate. Only about 35 percent migrate in and out, some because of job transfers and family change and some because their public school didn’t meet parents’ expectations, said Jeff Jackson, executive director of the Georgia Independent School Association.
A handful of metro Atlanta private schools are reporting an increase in interest at the same time public school systems in Atlanta and DeKalb are facing accreditation issues and school systems in Cobb and Fulton are looking for new superintendents. February is when parents seeking to send a child to private school apply.
“It’s a different world than when our kids were in school, ” said Diane Starkovich, superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Atlanta. “Today, parents do their homework. They check websites. They take time and are reflective about the school that will best meet their child’s needs.”
For increasing numbers of public school students, however, the reverse seems to be true.
Burns said that he and his wife, Jill, a former public school teacher, never thought they’d be sending their kids to private school.
“We’re big supporters of public education but thought private school would be the best option for our children, ” he said.
Like most parents, the couple made their decision based on the perceived needs of each of their two children.
Their son, Jake, has attended Pace Academy since starting middle school , while daughter Samantha attended Fulton County public schools until the middle of seventh grade, when they moved her from the neighborhood school in Alpharetta to the Atlanta Girls’ School.
The move was so important to the Burnses they sold their home and moved into a Buckhead apartment to be able to afford the combined $45,000 cost of tuition and expenses.
“Our kids are average to above average, ” Jim Burns, 43, said. “They always had all A’s in public school but we felt they would blend in going into middle school, drift and fall off the radar screen because the classes would be larger.”
He said that they also noticed Samantha’s grades dropping and she had become more interested in socializing, “impressing boys and being popular” than studying and applying herself.
“The same things still go on [in private school], he said. “The difference is because of the smaller number of students, teachers and administrators are able to see it and address it in a timely fashion.”
Instead of enrolling her daughter in a public middle school, Helen Ensign of Atlanta also opted for private school but made the switch back to the Atlanta Public Schools for high school.
“She was really frightened of middle school, ” Ensign said of her daughter, Willamae, who was recently accepted at Reed College. “It was so much larger than her elementary school and the two school visits her fifth grade made were both bad experiences for her.”
Ensign said the public school students booed Willamae and other visitors, but during her visit to the Friends School of Atlanta, students told her things they loved about their school and took her on a scavenger hunt.
“Our goal as parents in making this choice was to make sure our child got out of middle school with a secure sense of who she was, so that she could do well in high school and beyond, ” Ensign said.
Anastasia Gavalas, a mother of five and parenting educational consultant, said she gets asked often about whether mixing public and private schools is a good thing.
The short answer is, “It is a very individualized decision and one that needs to be made together with your child.”
If a child is in a place where teaching is not child-centered or meaningful to them, she said parents have options and should make changes.
Gavalas said, however, parents should also be aware of the pros and cons to combining private and public school education.
“The pros are that parents can custom-create an educational experience for their child … that supports their individual learning styles and philosophies, ” she said. “The cons are that this may cause anxiety, academic and social-emotional delays from the inconsistency.”
Despite the inconsistency, many parents argue these are reason enough to make the switch.
Although two of his children attended Fayette County schools, including one who recently graduated, Scott Bodkin of Tyrone said his daughter, Ashlyn, opted to attend Our Lady of Mercy in Fairburn after middle school.
“It was her choice, ” Bodkin said. “As kids get older, they tend to deviate from their innocent nature. I think that bothered her to the extent she was ready to make a change.”
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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76 comments Add your comment
AJinCobb
February 28th, 2011
6:58 pm
@Edugator
February 28th, 2011
4:30 pm
Great comments. I just shake my head over the future of this country when I contemplate the ignorance and hatred of the underclass displayed by most of the contributors here, though.
Cobb History Teacher
February 28th, 2011
7:04 pm
@kimZ’spackage and Chuck
Would the two of you knock it off you sound like a couple of elementary school students….your stupid…no your stupid….I’m tellin.
Bottom line there are some very good public schools and some very good private schools there are also bad private schools and bad public schools. Just because you go to a private school it doesn’t make you better and just because you go to a public school it doesn’t make you poor.
Shhhhhsh.
fultonschoolsparent
February 28th, 2011
7:04 pm
I watched three brilliant friends of my oldest son go through school. We knew them and their parents because they were all in an area music organization together. One boy went to Westminster, one boy to N. Springs H.S. (a LOT of bussing going on, so pretty urban at that time), and the final young man went to Milton H.S. (very rural at the time). ALL THREE were accepted at Princeton, despite vastly different educations and personalities. The reason – all three had highly involved active parents who stayed involved in their educations.
mom to four
February 28th, 2011
7:09 pm
” that a good number of private school teachers REMOTELY match the subjects they are teaching. Outside of the few “elite” private school, most are barely surviving. They don’t pay as much as public schools and typically end up with teachers who ran from public schools because they had no classroom management skills.”
Chuck, I have to disagree with you about private schools barely surviving. My children attend private school (and after reading this blog, will always attend private school) and their schools are thriving! The elementary/middle school has increased enrollment since the recession.. My son’s private high school is very selective and has to turn away students every year. The teachers and staff are very stable, with very little turnover. Most of my son’s teachers have advanced degrees (ph.d) or are working toward advanced degrees. I am not sure what private schools you refer to when you state “they are barely surviving.”
As for managment skills, I would bet any of the Sisters teaching at our school could manage even the worst offenders at any school. Sister Mary,… had 18 second graders and never spoke above a whisper. Didn’t have to, at 4′11″, she commanded respect. Sister D taught in our middle school and was tough. Yet the kids cried when she left to be principal at another school.
If you are going to use your “personal experience” to make a point, just know that we all have different experiences and easily counter your poiint.
edugator
February 28th, 2011
7:14 pm
Kim Z- clearly your package is as flawed as the trio that guided Dorothy to OZ- no brain, no heart, no courage. You’re right about one thing- throwing money at public schools is a bad idea, and revisions are necessary. But private schools aren’t going to solve the nation’s problems. Private schools are a fine choice, but public schools are needed for the vast majority of Americans.
atlmom
February 28th, 2011
7:15 pm
One of the biggest problems in the schools is that when there is a disruptive kid, in the public schools, there’s nothing they can do. If there was somewhere for the disciplinary problem kids to be taken – where they’d get something akin to the military school treatment – the schools would run much better.
But those kids know that they have a lot of power over the school, the teachers and the other students…so they use it.
I guess it’s politically incorrect to tell a kid to behave.
Cobb History Teacher
February 28th, 2011
7:17 pm
@KimZ’spackage
Before you paint all public and private schools with the same brush here’s some reading material.
http://privateschool.about.com/od/issues/qt/scandals.htm
http://www.vanityfair.com/style/features/2009/07/miss-porters-school200907
P.S. I have a brother that teaches at a private school in western Connecticut he says they have some of the same behavior at private schools the only difference many parents of students of private schools have the money to sweep the problems under the rug.
ken
February 28th, 2011
7:34 pm
Can we send Chip Rogers and his voucher buddy, Eric Johnson, to a private middle school far away? Chipper has got an infatuation with vouchers. Someone please vote this guy out of office. He won’t stop until he’s destroyed public education.
chuck
February 28th, 2011
8:11 pm
mom to four
I know of at least 8 private schools in metro Atlanta that have closed in the last 3 years. Some are doing fine, some are barely surviving. Private schools are fine for those that want to send their kids there. Let’s not kid ourselves though. The reason most people do so has NOTHING to do with getting a better education. It has to do with who we DON’T want our kids going to school with.
As I posted earlier, there is NO DIFFERENCE in test scores between public schools and private schools. A white middle class kid will score the same whether he is in public school or private school. A black middle class kid will score the same whether she is in public school or private school. Same for every demographic.
BlondeHoney
February 28th, 2011
9:45 pm
Interesting topic as I did the complete opposite with my two children…had them (with the financial help of their grandparents) in private school until they reached middle, then enrolled them in public school, albeit a science magnet. They stayed in public until graduation and I felt then and now that it was the right thing to do; during the formative early years, they got the small class sizes and I worked with their teachers to ensure good study habits were learned early so when they went to public, they did not fall through any cracks. This was in South Florida, not Georgia; not sure if that makes a difference.
atlmom
February 28th, 2011
10:07 pm
edugator: why are there so many distinctions? I don’t get it. What we’re doing IS NOT WORKING. The school board sucks. Why do we think electing a new one will be any better?
Why shouldn’t ALL parents – not just those who have money – get to choose the schools to send their kids to?
You make absolutely no sense. Create “NEW” types of schools. Do something completely different. Create more charter type schools – allow parents to choose those schools. Who the hell cares if some of them are run by a ‘private’ organization? The public schools (many of them – not the ones in certain districts, but I digress) have a model that isn’t working for the majority of students. Do we want to keep up this downward trajectory because people like you think that there is some magic to calling a school public and having it run by people who don’t know what they are doing?
atlmom
February 28th, 2011
10:10 pm
Where I grew up the schools were public – but they were pretty much like a private school. The school taxes were astronomical – you lived there because the schools were so good, and the high school I graduated from was a top 10 high school (public or private – now it’s top 20).
So, really – the whole idea that there is some big divide between public and private is absurd. some of both are good, some are bad.
Really?
March 1st, 2011
2:07 am
@Chuck; “It has to do with who we DON’T want our kids going to school with.”
Works for me…. too bad there isn’t a private school here.
Until parents are forced to parent- and the schools are allowed to remove the problems,
the kids who are there to learn will suffer.
www.honeyfern.org
March 1st, 2011
7:54 am
Come see HoneyFern if you want to get out of public school but cannot afford private. I am in West Cobb and only accept 8 students for about half the cost of private school (everything included!). http://www.honeyfern.org, or on Facebook @HoneyFern (look for the bee!). I currently have 3 openings for fall 2011.
I specialize in middle school and up, gifted and twice-exceptional students, with a one-room schoolhouse philosophy that incoporates community service, projects and individualized curriculum. I am entering the accreditation process and expect to be accredited in September. I am an approved provider of AP classes and currently have 3, adding US history for the fall.
Edugator
March 1st, 2011
8:20 am
Atlmom: Money or not, most parents don’t get to choose where their kid goes to school. The highly sought after college prep schools only admit top performing kids, and toss out those that don’t measure up academically or behaviorally. Choice won’t get average kids into top programs.
Furthermore, who do you want educating the children of America? Which church? Which value system? The idea of the public school, providing a free education for all, is a noble and daunting task- yet necessary to the continuation of our country. This balkanization of American education will not serve anyone well.
We’re in trouble, but not to the point of doom and gloom that so many on this blog seem to see. This is not the time to for radical change. Have a little faith, work to bring quality instruction to all classrooms, shed the enormously overweight school bureaucracy, put more teachers in smaller classrooms, and we can make the public system work.
KimZ'spackage
March 1st, 2011
9:53 am
If kids feared more of what was at home than at school the kids would love to be at school. When kids had to feed the chickens, collect eggs for breakfast, harvest the fields, and kill the dinner they would work hard to walk to school just to be away from the hard work at home. Kids now want to be out of school because it is easier to not be in class.
atlmom
March 1st, 2011
9:58 am
Edugator: i shouldn’t choose who educates the students. The parents should choose. We give college scholarships to children, or loans, from the governments – and the CHILDREN GET TO CHOOSE WHERE THEY GO.
Some go to seminary, or rabbi school or a christian (or jewish) college. Is that a problem for you? Why?
What we are doing SUCKS. The dept of education has only been around for 30 years. Education standards have gone DOWN since then, and now our schools are beholden to the feds for money. It is unconscionable – treating the schools like children themselves.
What we are doing IS. NOT. WORKING.
Why *shouldn’t* the parents choose? Why should only parents with money be able to choose where their kids go?
KimZ'spackage
March 1st, 2011
10:00 am
Edugator
The idea of the public school, providing a free education for all, is a noble and daunting task- yet necessary to the continuation of our country.
In what world do live in that you think Govt. schools are FREE?
Govt. schools teach that the US is a Democracy and that is so fundamentally wrong to start with. When most teachers start with a flawed belief of the foundation of America the Govt. school system is losing from the start.
Edugator
March 1st, 2011
10:37 am
What we are doing in our public schools is largely good. There are gross flaws, but tax supported education (I know schools aren’t free) remains one of America’s best ideas. We’ve gone astray, allowing a bureaucracy to become bloated and families to believe that the schools alone are responsible for education. But the core ideal is solid, and the movement toward privatization will further us on the path toward a dual society, one group educated and wealthy, a second ignorant and poor. That’s intolerable in a republic.
I want my tax money to pay for education for all for the betterment of society, not to be given to some private group to benefit a handful.
atlmom
March 1st, 2011
10:46 am
Edugator: we’re already there. Have been there for decades. What we’re doing is not working. Why do you think I mean not using taxpayer money, though?
I’m just saying that ALL parents should have school choice.
Edugator
March 1st, 2011
11:22 am
Sure- choose. Just use your own money and go- there’s nothing stopping you.
RBH
March 1st, 2011
11:43 am
I am in an area where the ES, MS & HS are all excellent PUBLIC schools with high parent involvement. Rather interesting that many of the parents that have their kids in private schools will switch in MS to public. The kids that do seem to stay a year or so and go back to private. The reason: because they are disruptive when the get to public and mom & dad switch back to private. Also note that parent never became involved at the public school.
Also, see a trend in our area where quite a few that are sending their kids to private are having financial troubles (ie houses foreclosed on).
RBH
March 1st, 2011
11:51 am
“I’m just saying that ALL parents should have school choice.”
Agree with you in concept, but it will never happen. Vouchers will not ensure choice for all. The divide will only get wider between the have’s and have not’s. Personal wealth will always be the trump card. Parent involvement is the ticket.
atlmom
March 1st, 2011
12:16 pm
edugator: i already have school choice. we chose to live in a district where we have great schools. i could choose to live in a less expensive place and send my kids to private school if i wanted. I feel horrible for those parents who don’t have as much choice as I do. I think it’s a crying shame what we do to our children in many public schools.
It’s disgusting how little kids know after 12 years in school.
I have friends who home school – and their school day can be as little as four hours a day. That’s crazy, don’t you think? when their kids are better educated than many…and their kids aren’t even in school that long.
What are they doing in the public schools then?
Hmmm
March 1st, 2011
12:48 pm
… I have friends who home school – and their school day can be as little as four hours a day. That’s crazy, don’t you think? when their kids are better educated than many…and their kids aren’t even in school that long …
Those kids are in Target, Walmart, Publix, Macy’s, etc… making shopping for the rest of us a miserable experience. You may “think” those kids are smarter, and their behavior is often deplorable in public. Mom is teaching them ZERO about consumerism or good public manners and often ignores them, until they become very disruptive as to disturb HER.
atlmom
March 1st, 2011
1:00 pm
hmmm: that is completely and totally not the case. I know those kids – and while it is a small group – no, they are extremely well behaved, and well mannered. So, perhaps *some* kids are behaving like that.
My point was that what needs to be taught can be done in a few hours, yet the schools have our kids for 7 hours a day.
And most countries outside the US have a public school day of 4-5 hours. What the heck do kids do most days?