Congrats to TPES Principal Gadsden

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are nine classes of 25-27 kids each in kindergarten. Whatever is online is inaccurate or out of date. It has frequently been said by school staff that this is one of the biggest classes they have had in a while, and there have been associated behavioral challenges with that. The article also speaks to this to some extent.

I'm sorry, but I don't believe you. It's always been accurate. When they had nine classes when my oldest was there, they only had 200 kids total, and the population has come down each year since.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are nine classes of 25-27 kids each in kindergarten. Whatever is online is inaccurate or out of date. It has frequently been said by school staff that this is one of the biggest classes they have had in a while, and there have been associated behavioral challenges with that. The article also speaks to this to some extent.

I'm sorry, but I don't believe you. It's always been accurate. When they had nine classes when my oldest was there, they only had 200 kids total, and the population has come down each year since.

DP, this isn’t true. As has been previously stated a large number of kids showed up on the first day of school that they were unprepared for. Also the class sizes have increased considerably as has the number who are not native English speakers. And your historic info is wrong too - when my oldest was there the classes were about 22 kids and there was 240 total in his grade which means there must have been 10 teachers.

[Anonymous]

TPES lost its status (I believe it was focus) a couple of years ago which means classes are larger now than they were previously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are nine classes of 25-27 kids each in kindergarten. Whatever is online is inaccurate or out of date. It has frequently been said by school staff that this is one of the biggest classes they have had in a while, and there have been associated behavioral challenges with that. The article also speaks to this to some extent.

I'm sorry, but I don't believe you. It's always been accurate. When they had nine classes when my oldest was there, they only had 200 kids total, and the population has come down each year since.

The most recent “at a glance” school info is from 2022. It’s definitely not reflective of the current kindergarten class. The class sizes have increased since the school lost its “focus school” status two years ago. The large size of the current k class was a shock and there was a scramble to hire teachers. I think two classes started the school year without a teacher. Dr Gadsen handled it as well as one could hope, but the huge class has presented many challenges.

[Anonymous]

Right, the at a glance clearly states that data is from 2022-2023, not 2023-2024. No idea why one or more posters are so invested in arguing the kindergarten class does not have the number of students that it actually has.

[Anonymous]

How did this post go from congratulating a principal for a well-deserved honor to arguing about how many students attend the school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did this post go from congratulating a principal for a well-deserved honor to arguing about how many students attend the school?

Some posters want to diminish her success and the school by inventing criticisms despite the lack of credible documentation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did this post go from congratulating a principal for a well-deserved honor to arguing about how many students attend the school?

DCUM gonna DCUM

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did this post go from congratulating a principal for a well-deserved honor to arguing about how many students attend the school?

Some posters want to diminish her success and the school by inventing criticisms despite the lack of credible documentation.

Isn’t it the opposite? To underscore how difficult it’s been with such an enormous number of kindergartners and she has rise the challenge? Which is basically what the article said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did this post go from congratulating a principal for a well-deserved honor to arguing about how many students attend the school?

Some posters want to diminish her success and the school by inventing criticisms despite the lack of credible documentation.

Isn’t it the opposite? To underscore how difficult it’s been with such an enormous number of kindergartners and she has rise the challenge? Which is basically what the article said.

No, it isn't. My kid is in K there. Their class size is in the low 20s. There are fewer K classes today than when my older child went through there a few years ago. I wouldn't rely on DCUM gossip but on more credible sources like the at-a-glance info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did this post go from congratulating a principal for a well-deserved honor to arguing about how many students attend the school?

Some posters want to diminish her success and the school by inventing criticisms despite the lack of credible documentation.

Isn’t it the opposite? To underscore how difficult it’s been with such an enormous number of kindergartners and she has rise the challenge? Which is basically what the article said.

No, it isn't. My kid is in K there. Their class size is in the low 20s. There are fewer K classes today than when my older child went through there a few years ago. I wouldn't rely on DCUM gossip but on more credible sources like the at-a-glance info.

It’s correct that there used to occasionally be even more classes than they have in kindergarten now (9), but that’s because it used to be a focus school and the class sizes were much smaller (around 16-18 kids per class). Class sizes are now around 26-27 per class. I think there may be a few classes out of the nine that *only* have 25. My kid is in a kindergarten class at TPES with 27 kids.

The “at a glance” info is accurate but the most recent data is from 2022.

It’s been extremely impressive to see how Dr Gadsden has handled this very challenging year, as well as the past few (also extremely challenging) years. I recently talked to Dr Gadsden and she’s hopeful the largest K class size next year will be 24 kids max.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did this post go from congratulating a principal for a well-deserved honor to arguing about how many students attend the school?

I suspect it’s because of a lot of people who have kindergartners this year haven’t been so thrilled, and it’s directly related to the class sizes.

Some people on this forum are saying that the school has 400 kindergarteners and others are arguing that the class has 160 kindergarteners and is smaller than usual. Neither is correct, and people are sighting “at a glance” information that is from 2022 as fact about the current situation.

The reality is that the school has nearly 250 kindergarteners. This is large — MUCH larger than most MCPS elementary schools. It was also a huge surprise to TPES as the school was not expecting so many kids to enroll at the last minute and was woefully unprepared to deal with this many children at the start of this school year. Dr Gadsden handled this as well as could possibly be expected. The pandemic was hard on TPES (and all schools), then TPES lost its “focus school” status in 2022, making class sizes larger. Then this year they had this massive/unexpected influx in kindergartners, pushing class sizes even larger. The teachers are barely hanging on.

It’s been a hard few years for the school, and Dr Gadsden has done an incredible job with a bunch of crappy circumstances that we’re out of her control. She’s a fantastic leader.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did this post go from congratulating a principal for a well-deserved honor to arguing about how many students attend the school?

Some posters want to diminish her success and the school by inventing criticisms despite the lack of credible documentation.

Isn’t it the opposite? To underscore how difficult it’s been with such an enormous number of kindergartners and she has rise the challenge? Which is basically what the article said.

No, it isn't. My kid is in K there. Their class size is in the low 20s. There are fewer K classes today than when my older child went through there a few years ago. I wouldn't rely on DCUM gossip but on more credible sources like the at-a-glance info.

It’s correct that there used to occasionally be even more classes than they have in kindergarten now (9), but that’s because it used to be a focus school and the class sizes were much smaller (around 16-18 kids per class). Class sizes are now around 26-27 per class. I think there may be a few classes out of the nine that *only* have 25. My kid is in a kindergarten class at TPES with 27 kids.

The “at a glance” info is accurate but the most recent data is from 2022.

It’s been extremely impressive to see how Dr Gadsden has handled this very challenging year, as well as the past few (also extremely challenging) years. I recently talked to Dr Gadsden and she’s hopeful the largest K class size next year will be 24 kids max.

There have been between 8-10 K classes there every year for the past decade. I've had 3 kids go through the school. It was 220 a few years back but it's gone way down to 160-180 more recently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did this post go from congratulating a principal for a well-deserved honor to arguing about how many students attend the school?

Some posters want to diminish her success and the school by inventing criticisms despite the lack of credible documentation.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did this post go from congratulating a principal for a well-deserved honor to arguing about how many students attend the school?

I suspect it’s because of a lot of people who have kindergartners this year haven’t been so thrilled, and it’s directly related to the class sizes.

Some people on this forum are saying that the school has 400 kindergarteners and others are arguing that the class has 160 kindergarteners and is smaller than usual. Neither is correct, and people are sighting “at a glance” information that is from 2022 as fact about the current situation.

The reality is that the school has nearly 250 kindergarteners. This is large — MUCH larger than most MCPS elementary schools. It was also a huge surprise to TPES as the school was not expecting so many kids to enroll at the last minute and was woefully unprepared to deal with this many children at the start of this school year. Dr Gadsden handled this as well as could possibly be expected. The pandemic was hard on TPES (and all schools), then TPES lost its “focus school” status in 2022, making class sizes larger. Then this year they had this massive/unexpected influx in kindergartners, pushing class sizes even larger. The teachers are barely hanging on.

It’s been a hard few years for the school, and Dr Gadsden has done an incredible job with a bunch of crappy circumstances that we’re out of her control. She’s a fantastic leader.

+1