Education
North Cobb Christian School
Looking For A Better Fit The pandemic pushes some parents to choose private schools. By Cory Sekine-Pettite
S
ince the earliest days of the pandemic in 2020, when it was clear that schools across the country would be closed for the year — and that all students would have to adapt to online learning — many parents determined that full-time, at-home education wasn’t the best option for their family. As Forbes reported this past June (https:// bit.ly/3z7k20N), parents saw and heard how different private and public schools handled educating kids at the start of the pandemic, and they weren’t always pleased
18
COBB
with what they saw in the public realm. Additionally, the article stated that private schools largely went back to in-person learning at the beginning of the school year last fall, while public schools remained closed or opened with a hybrid model. “While remote learning during COVID-19 was definitely better than nothing, many parents also found they couldn’t handle the uncertainty about it all, or the potential for having to homeschool their kids while also trying to work,” reported the magazine’s Robert Farrington.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
According to a report from EdChoice (an American education reform organization) earlier this year, 41 percent of parents were more likely to prefer a private education for their children post-pandemic. Overall, private school enrollment doesn’t quite bare out this preference on a national scale, but many private schools have reported increased registration this year — including some in Cobb County. We spoke with two schools (Brookwood Christian and North Cobb Christian) about their growth.
