Private School

Anyone else considering this? There is a small private school near me, would cost 10k per year to send my kindergartner and 2nd grader. My district is so over crowded as it is that I don't see anything good coming out of this covid situation.

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I work in a private school in Queens, my kids go to a private school in Nassau. Both principals said they have gotten many calls from public school parents looking to switch. Especially at my school, I think parents feel private schools have a much higher chance of opening than DOE buildings.

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My niece goes to private school. She was in 7th this past school year. They closed a few days before public school closed and every kid had a laptop. They had full days of school until the end (9-4). Zooms, open book tests, virtual work.

All my friends kids who are in public schools barely had school the entire time.

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My kids (going into 4th and 6th grade) go to catholic school in Queens, they just sent out a parent survey today I guess to gauge our comfort level with the 3 scenerios(full time school, hybrid, full time remote). I think in the end they will follow whatever the city ends up doing(and they are also waiting on Cuomo who is supposedly making an announcement the first week of August). I am also unsure of what is happening with the issue of 2 other catholic schools in same neighborhood closing and how many of those kids our school will end up taking-our 6th grade is already on the high end of students for the grade. A lot of uncertainty going on, but my kids will remain enrolled in their school.

ETA: I also think a lot of parents in younger grades(k and 1st) are waiting to see what's happening and also registered kids in public school in case it is remote again they don't want to pay tuition for coloring sheets from what I am hearing from friends with younger kids.

Message edited 7/23/2020 10:41:25 PM.

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Definitely considering, I've even toured some schools. However, I'm reluctant to make the financial commitment until I hear what the district plan is. If they offer a FT attempt (like Commack) I'm open to try it. If it is hybrid, then I'll definitely consider. I'm not really sure what I'll do with the kids if it is a hybrid. I've even considered taking them to work with me. I'm very aware that many parents may be looking into private if there is no FT option and that registration may be limited. However, something is telling me to wait it out.

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No way would my daughter be ok with being put in a new school knowing nobody at this point. It would be way too stressful for her.
Also I'm not keen on spending a ton of money on school when I pay a fortune in taxes every year too.

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We are switching my youngest to private. Public is all remote and the school we are moving him to is full day (for now). He did not do well at all with remote learning and he is young enough to not be attached to where he was. We are keeping my older kids in public.

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The private school nearby is more crowded than the public school, so I doubt their plan is any different.

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We considered it but my son has ADHD and an IEP so it would be tricky. Our public school has done right with his services prior to COVID.

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My sister's kids go to a Catholic School on LI that did a phenomenal job.

She is the Parent Association president and said that her school also has a lot of hoops to jump through because of the pandemic. One thing she mentioned is that hot lunch is usually organized by the parents and not a food services group, which will not be allowed due to Covid. Something you wouldn't even think abot.

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I recently started considering this. The private school in our area indicates they have the new CAC filtration system small class sizes and plans to reopen in the classroom full time.

I just worry that if we pay so much, $13,000 year per student, and infections rates spike locally they will be forced to close too and then I'm paying for my kids to be home still.

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I see absolutely no reason a private school would be better than a public school. None of my private school mom friends were any happier than the public school ones. I am either homeschooling or doing a hybrid model of public and homeschooling. There is no way I would even consider paying for private.

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Honestly, given that I pay a fortune in taxes there is no way I could ever justify the cost of private school. I don't think it's worth the money, JMO.

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It’s depends on the school. My sons school did live zoom classes everyday and had a schedule (ex. 8:15 Science, Math 9am etc.). They did a fantastic job, my son is the one who sucks and can’t handle it. He needs to be babysat. He has ADD and can’t focus. However, my nieces schools were crap. Worksheets, random zoom classes. One is in Catholic HS, the younger is a Catholic primary school. So you can pay and end up getting the same BS as public school. I will add that my sister did talk to the principal of both schools and they promised it would be 100% better in the fall. And they are fixing it according to the survey and meetings. One principal put herself on the Covid Task force for education to get it moving because she wanted her kids in her school.

In my case I benefited because the public schools here were horrible with distance learning, and they were also not the best before Covid. I also think it’s easier for some private schools because they tend to be smaller in student enrollments. My sons school has about 400 kids in the entire school. Growing up in NYC, My 6th class size alone was about 600+ students.

I think you need to research the schools and research what your district is doing before adding this expense. Catholic schools are also cheaper than private schools. So I’m not paying 10k a year for my son. We did think about pulling my son out if school was going to be full remote but decided not to.

Here are some benefits I am getting:
-smaller class size, easier to structure the learning according to Covid

-Ability to provide concerns and more input. I’ve had several meetings with the principal 1-1 about my son and concerns

-the school did implement a good remote learning considering they planned over a weekend. The kids did not miss one day of school in March for planning.

Cons or what you should consider:
- are you in a good district? Small class sizes already? It may not make sense to pull them out.

-what are their plans or what have they been sharing thus far?

-private still has to go by the CDC guidelines too. What size are their classes, how did they handle remote? It may not be better or just the same as public.


As for the comment, we might have to move to remote anyway and why pay for it still? I thought this too. Again this depends on the school. I know if we had to switch to full remote, my sons school will be capable and provide a better curriculum than the public schools in my area. So it would be worth the expense. Not sure if our mental state will handle it well but that’s a whole other issue.

Eta: I’m in North NJ

Message edited 7/24/2020 10:42:49 AM.

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We ended up doing it.

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I'm considering it, however, my daughter is going into 8th grade, and most private schools only go up to 8th grade around here. So she would have to go back to district for high school.

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I just moved my daughter from private school to public school for the 2019/2020 school year. Given what happened to the end of the school year, I can't even begin to say how much I regret that decision. Her former private school had live learning Monday-Friday 9-2 starting 3 days after the Governor closed schools. Her public school teachers uploaded worksheets to Google classroom. There was ZERO live instruction, there were no videos from core teachers (English, Math, Science, Social Studies), there were no scheduled zoom sessions for extra help - NOTHING! It was a complete disaster IMO. If I could afford to send her back, I would in a heartbeat.

Private School

There is no chance in hell I am paying for a private education when public is open. The guidelines set by the state are the guidelines. The public has the same rules to follow as the private so I don't really see any difference. Especially when I am already paying close to 20k in property taxes.

Now if school wasn't open full time, maybe. But no chance if they are open for business.

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