hours preparing their children for tests.
“I understand why legislators and the public in general feel (schools) should be accountable for public education, but what they’ve done is create a structure … that creates more complicated requirements that get in the way of what the educational possibilities really are,” Weaver added. “On top of that, they don’t give them enough money to do the job and on top of that, they test them to death and if they don’t do well on testing, they take away more money.”
Linda Strean, the managing editor of GreatSchools.net, a site that compares different public and private schools, said that there tends to be less credentialed teachers at private schools where there isn’t a requirement like in public schools. Private schools also tend to have fewer programs that specifically address students with learning disabilities, which is a required service in public schools, she added.
“You need to look at your child and see what is the best fit,” Strean said.
While it’s widely stated that one of the advantages of a private school is its ability to offer more electives and AP classes than public schools, the SMMUSD is perhaps unique in its ability to offer just that, with an elementary music program and a wide array of honors and college preparatory courses.
“I’ve worked in other districts before, but the emphasis in art and music is just immense,” SMMUSD Chief Academic Officer Sally Chou said.
Another key difference between public and private schools is diversity in the former, not just in racial, but economic and religious, Chou said. Such diversity often leads to a development of tolerance, Chou said.
Escarce echoed Chou’s sentiment, adding that the district is able to draw from a wide cross-section of the community.
“This is what real life is like,” Escarce said. “Real life is living in a diverse world, not everyone is perfect and not everyone is rich, that is what is great about our public schools.”
Diversity was among the reasons why Rebecca Kennerly, the president of the district’s PTA Council,chose SMMUSD for her kids.
“It isn’t just the top kids who are hand-picked to go to college that are allowed within the walls,”Kennerly said.“Our kids are learning with kids from struggling families, of English language learners, students with special needs.”
Though competition is always healthy, school heads in Santa Monica insist that the relationship between the various public and private schools is not adversarial, but rather collaborative, with the same goal of educating children.
“We always supported the public school system,” PS #1 headmaster Joel Pelcyger said. “Often times, we recommend that kids, after they graduate from our (elementary) school, go to public school system.”
DIVERSITY IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS The private schools in Santa Monica are not cookie cutter, which is one of the reasons why they are so attractive to the residents here, giving them different options to serve their children’s needs, McManus said.
Founded in 1971, Crossroads is a K-12 independent school serving about 1,130 students. With an emphasis on the arts and science, the private school’s curriculum taps into the student’s internal creative and expressive imagination and uses that to generate an interest in certain subjects.
“We feel it provides them more of an education and balance of them and those two components actually complement each other,” Weaver said.
The general assumption is that arts and science is usually enjoyed at the expense of academics, but the school has been able to incorporate the two ends of the spectrum into a harmonious relationship.
“If you validate and value arts and make a place for that, you actually strengthen the child’s connection,” Weaver added.
Located a few blocks away, PS #1 is an independent elementary school founded by Pelcyger more than 37 years ago. The school takes a progressive approach to learning, mixing students of all ages together in various classrooms,which are divided by grade or intellectual level. The “P”in PS #1 stands for pluralistic.
“We don’t offer grades, we don’t have straight-graded classes like kindergarten or first grade,” Pelcyger said. “It’s all about how kids learn,being with people different than yourself.”
The school has small class sizes with a total enrollment of about 200.
“We think of ourselves as a private school with a public purpose,” Pelcyger said.
Santa Monica mom Emanuela Boni, chose PS #1 for her son because its approach to education mirrored the Reggio-method, which was developed in Reggio, Italy. The method involves the teacher listening to the children’s ideas.
Boni lives in the McKinley Elementary School zone, but opted for a private school because of the smaller class sizes.
Now her son is 12 years old and about to enter middle school. Boni said she isn’t considering enrolling her son in a public school and is instead applying for Crossroads as well as Harvard-Westlake.
“We’re hoping to remain in a smaller school and we’re hoping to remain in a somewhat progressive school,” Boni said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 8, 2008. Read the original PDF.