*septimus* may I ask you some questions?

[liveintheville]

You used to live in Cambridge, if I remember correctly? Did your kids attend public or private? And if private, would you mind sharing which ones and your experiences?

[Deleted]

Public. We were very happy until 4th grade with CPS. SD had a 4th grade teacher who point blank said to me "I'm not concerned about SD, she's going to pass the test"... which she did and was the only kid to score advance on both section in her grade.

We switched her to Newton Country Day for 5th grade, but that was partly because her mom lived in Waltham and we then had to split the commute.

DS1 got into Cambridge Montessori and a co-op in Cambridgeport the week we decided to move.

DH was actively involved in CPS and I think it made a huge difference. He even ran a chatboard for all things CPS (budgets, consolidation, lottery, etc).

If I were you, I would become as active as you can be in your kids' school. Go down to central office, be friendly but figure out what you need to do get your DS on the waitlist, and where on the waitlist he is. I'm going to bet there aren't a lot of parents in your district that SAH and can do a lot of volunteering so if you can you'll be able to see what's going on inside the classroom, etc.

[liveintheville]

Thank you so much! I'm really hoping to get them into the brown school in Davis. Its got the best public elemtary rating in somerville. But if that doesn't pan out then we might consider going private. Good advice on becoming active in the district. Thanks!