A PS3 Parent's Perspective on Bancroft

[Anonymous]

It's lottery time, and the past few years I know Bancroft has attracted more and more folks both in and out of boundary. As a current PS3 parent, here are things I wish I'd known going in:

1. The waiting "list" may not actually be written down anywhere, or, at least, it's pretty opaque how it's actually being managed. We were on it as an in boundary family, but suspect we got in through persistence more than anything. We had to go in in person and call repeatedly throughout the summer to secure a spot, which we didn't end up getting until a few days before the school year started, despite being in the single digits on the list. At no point could we get any definitive answer about what number we were on the list. As of count day there were five empty slots in one of the three PS3 classes that never ended up being filled.

2. The school does not do any electronic communication with parents whatsoever. Last year the principal said this is due to the demographics of the school, which are largely low income and Hispanic. I work in communications, so I know this is patently inaccurate, as this is exactly the demographic that relies heavily on smart phone technology. It's also the tyranny of low expectations that the school would assume that these parents cannot or would not use email updates about what's going on in the school. Instead we get a weekly piece of paper sent home in our kid's backpack. We get information about important events--school assemblies, picture day--with as little as a day's notice. For us, this meant when we reached out to the other parents we knew in our kid's class about the holiday assembly our kids were performing in, exactly NONE of them had heard about it as late as the day before. When we showed up, the school had set out 20 chairs for parents for the entire school, most of which were empty. This was not surprising to us given the fact that we'd gotten 24 hours' notice of the event. For working parents, especially at a school where many might not have schedules they can easily shift on short notice, it's no wonder so few could make it.

3. Nearly four months in we have no class list or school directory. One of the parents in our class has had to insist on getting to be a room parent so she can help coordinate volunteer activities from other parents and donations.

4. We have never received a single piece of art our kid has done in art class. We spoke to the art teacher about this, and she was perplexed about it, as she said she sent them to the teacher each week to send home to us. We don't know where they are. When I asked my son's teachers for some of his play plans (which they do every day as part of the Tools of the Mind curriculum) she was evasive and nervous about my request, and I have yet to see them.

5. In sum, our experience has been that you will have to work hard at Bancroft. You''ll have to insist repeatedly on volunteering and getting information out of the administration and your kid's teachers. They do not appear to be accustomed to accommodating involved parents, and don't seem to see it as part of their core mission. If you do, you'll probably make things better for not only your kid, but also for the other kids and parents at the school. But you also might not be blamed for looking for a school that's more welcoming of your involvement and knows that your role is part of your kid's success.

[Anonymous]

The school has long had a bad reputation, with occasional suggestions that a new principal had her heart in the right place and would turn the place around in the future. It never happens. When we lived in Mt.P, everyone we knew who sent their kids there pulled them out eventually.

[Anonymous]

Sorry your experience has been so bad. I think this is pretty par for the course at a lot of school similar to Bancroft. We share a few similar frustrations at our Eotp school. Fortunately, it's improving and overall we are quite happy.

[Anonymous]

OP - so are you entering your child in the lottery for somewhere else for next year? If so, what would be your top choice?

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for typing this up, I really appreciate knowing this.

Other parents in schools EoTP, is this typical?!

[Anonymous]

OP here. We will not be staying, though it makes us sad to go. We very much wanted to be part of a neighborhood school that we could get involved in and commit to improving. But to be honest, it's just a huge bummer to have to fight so hard to get information out of the place, and feel like they're so uninterested in involving parents. Another parent we know describes her experience with the administration as Kafkaesque.

The refusal to engage in electronic communication in this day and age is just plain weird to me. Even if only half the parents use email, why NOT try to communicate with those who would use it? A crumpled piece of paper in my kid's backpack is as likely as not going to get lost between school and our house.

After considerable pressure from some of us, our son's teacher finally sent her first email out last week with dates for field trips and other information about what they're doing in class. I don't understand why we should have had to pressure her into doing that? We *want* to volunteer for stuff and support what she's doing with them during the day. Wouldn't that make her job easier? [And as it turned out, every parent in our class, both Spanish-speaking and English-speaking, has email. ]

[Anonymous]

This was exactly my experience at Meridian. PCS. It's utter incompetency and totally inexcusable.

[Anonymous]

thanks OP. I have the same concerns about Bruce Monroe Spanish Immersion for ps3/pk4. There is no PTA and the and school is majority ELL. The principal was very nice when we met her but I am worried that we will have the same issues you are experiencing based on demographics. There is little to no parent participation, no email communication etc all because "most parents" can't do it. It probably is about low expectations. I worry about my childs social life if we are never able to get a parents list for play dates or birthdays. and to me, pre school is primarily based for socialization. Being an "only" in a predominantly ELL school is probably not a good fit. Thanks for being so honest OP.

[Anonymous]

I'm a parent at a growing EOTP school (and don't quite feel comfortable outing myself or the school) but even though we have some similar issues I feel much more positive and optimistic.

Communication is done by every avenue available from phone call to email to text message and parents have set up a message board and active parents are frequently working together via email. Parents have good relationships with teachers and administration. Administration always, always communicates as much as humanly possible, though faster would always be nice. As OP mentioned, finding about an assembly less than a week out means working parents usually can't get time off.

The really big issue is institutionalization. The parent organization is active but is building the car as it is being driven. The organization does not have set officers so every event is put together by recruiting willing parents and self-assigning roles. Active parents put together events with cooperation of administration on a one-off basis rather than a strong set schedule that lets everyone know what to prep for, how much money should be on hand to do it or to raise.

And in classrooms anyone active can participate, sign up to bring snacks, etc., but no one is assigned a role as home room mom or anything. So a snack assignment can go missed.

It's the institutions that are still being created that make it tough. We have limited knowledge of how to create such institutions and it feels like reinventing the wheel sometimes. A strong existing PTA west of Park just pulls you in and I assume mostly has to just acculturate you to what is happening. We are deciding whether X, Y or Z are good/important/unnecessary, etc. by the seat of our pants.

On the other hand for parents like me, it has been really rewarding to build up those institutions and see everyone get behind new events and institutions we are creating. And I feel optimistic we are adding social capital to the school and the neighborhood. The optimistic scrappy attitude at the school is infectious - like the montage scene where the little guy trains/studies/works all night to overcome the low expectations set for him confident he's gonna come out successful and jaws are gonna drop. It feels great despite being the PTA equivalent of one-handed pushups.

So it must be tough to be at Bancroft. Everyone thinks of it as post-gentrified but Bancroft's parental complaints seem to persist despite change. The overall vibe seems to be stagnation, which is no fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We will not be staying, though it makes us sad to go. We very much wanted to be part of a neighborhood school that we could get involved in and commit to improving. But to be honest, it's just a huge bummer to have to fight so hard to get information out of the place, and feel like they're so uninterested in involving parents. Another parent we know describes her experience with the administration as Kafkaesque.

The refusal to engage in electronic communication in this day and age is just plain weird to me. Even if only half the parents use email, why NOT try to communicate with those who would use it? A crumpled piece of paper in my kid's backpack is as likely as not going to get lost between school and our house.

After considerable pressure from some of us, our son's teacher finally sent her first email out last week with dates for field trips and other information about what they're doing in class. I don't understand why we should have had to pressure her into doing that? We *want* to volunteer for stuff and support what she's doing with them during the day. Wouldn't that make her job easier? [And as it turned out, every parent in our class, both Spanish-speaking and English-speaking, has email. ]

The refusal of electronic information also exists for us in Alex City. And yes, I am also aware of the stat about lower incomes using mobile technology, etc and have shared that a few times with the school admin. They are pretty surprised but I am not sure why. They see the families coming to pick their kids and checking their iphones, etc.

I feel it comes down more to the admin being scared to use technology themselves.

[Anonymous]

When we were at Thomson, parents said they had email but did not feel comfortable signing up for email blasts. Communication was a nightmare of translation and paper. I would say in some communities and I would include Hispanic parents here, having a smart phone does not mean they feel that it is how they should get information from the school. Also middle class/ electronically driven parents are not really the priority issue for meaningful engagement even if it is the way you want it. The key issue with so many of these parents is to get them to own some role in their kids education beyond bringing them to school. The issues are just different.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing your take, OP. Very interesting that there were a handful of PS 3 seats not taken. I've met 3 different in-boundary families who say they were shut out of Bancroft for PS3. It sounds like organization is not the new principal's forte.

[Anonymous]

Bancroft was on my list but our number was in the 100s glad we were accepted to Powell PS3. Powell has a high population of low income Hispanic families and the electronic communications are great. We get papers sent home about important announcements along with a phone call which is followed up with a email. I get all my child's art work, drawings etc. whenever they are done. Maybe this can be a topics of discussion for a family group? But who will be responsible to compose the email, send it etc. from the school staff? Do they have anyone capable?

[Anonymous]

There was a thread awhile back that praised the new principal. This goes to show you a reality check. Glad to hear an honest opinion about the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was a thread awhile back that praised the new principal. This goes to show you a reality check. Glad to hear an honest opinion about the school.

It's one person's opinion and doesn't mean the entire school is like this. If OP feels like she could, I'd recommend she email the principal her concerns as I know she'd want to improve upon the school's PR. Perhaps OP's teacher is new to teaching and/or new to DCPS. I'm not going to excuse not sending home artwork and communicating about school events, but with feedback, she and the principal can improve.