Van Ness Elementary Finally Open

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know how many students are in the kindergarten class?

[Anonymous]

About 25, as of last week.

[Anonymous]

Is there a waitlist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:About 25, as of last week.

Wow, that's certainly good news for the school. I previously thought that they were going to have trouble filling the K grade.

[Anonymous]

Why is that good news? I would argue that the class should have been capped at 21 or 22.

[Anonymous]

Numbers will likely shake out where 2 or 3 leave once they get a waitlist call from a higher ranked school. The class will right size in the next 2-3 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anybody willing to give us an overview of demographics without snark?

Did this year's student body turn out mostly white or AA (either way, defying various emphatic predictions on earlier Van Ness threads)?

Do PreK3 demographics clearly lean more "gentrified" than K?

Did they reach the 40% Title 1 threshold? How many kids seem to have crossed South Capitol?

Roughly what percentage of PreK3 seems to be Brent refugees - half?

[Anonymous]

Why does it matter? Are you IB for Van Ness? Or are you just a SAHM shit stirrer?

[Anonymous]

Hopefully the 11:00 post makes it clear that those obsessed with the school's demographics aren't even attending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hopefully the 11:00 post makes it clear that those obsessed with the school's demographics aren't even attending.

I think it was a legitimate quesiton given the pages and pages of people pontificating and predicting what the demographics would be like. Also, this is one of the few schools with gauranteed entry for IB preschool kids. The catchment area is two extremes-wealthy/educated/gentrifiers in Cap Riverfront and very very low income from Public housing on the other side of S.Capitol. Most education experts agree that for a school to be "successful" it needs to not exceed 35% FARMS kids. So this is an interesting question to answer as it points to how the school might grow. The demand is there now in preschool but honestly the school needs to retain those higher SES families as the years go on.

[Anonymous]

You all know school hasn't even started yet for the majority of students right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anybody willing to give us an overview of demographics without snark?

Did this year's student body turn out mostly white or AA (either way, defying various emphatic predictions on earlier Van Ness threads)?

Do PreK3 demographics clearly lean more "gentrified" than K?

Did they reach the 40% Title 1 threshold? How many kids seem to have crossed South Capitol?

Roughly what percentage of PreK3 seems to be Brent refugees - half?


[/quote

I'd suggest to visit the school as if you belong and scope it out for yourself. You could even sit in your car with some binoculars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hopefully the 11:00 post makes it clear that those obsessed with the school's demographics aren't even attending.

I think it was a legitimate quesiton given the pages and pages of people pontificating and predicting what the demographics would be like. Also, this is one of the few schools with gauranteed entry for IB preschool kids. The catchment area is two extremes-wealthy/educated/gentrifiers in Cap Riverfront and very very low income from Public housing on the other side of S.Capitol. Most education experts agree that for a school to be "successful" it needs to not exceed 35% FARMS kids. So this is an interesting question to answer as it points to how the school might grow. The demand is there now in preschool but honestly the school needs to retain those higher SES families as the years go on.

The facts actually suggest that the IB demand is not there for PK given (1) the number of Brent families who were able to secure spots and (2) the one K class isn't filled with IB kids. A legitimate question might be something along the lines of how many high-SES IB families decided to pass on a guaranteed PK spot and opt for a charter or another DCPS. I also take issue with the characterization of UMC Capitol Quarter residents as gentrifiers. The old neighborhood was torn down and the residents dispersed. There was nothing left to gentrify.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hopefully the 11:00 post makes it clear that those obsessed with the school's demographics aren't even attending.

I think it was a legitimate quesiton given the pages and pages of people pontificating and predicting what the demographics would be like. Also, this is one of the few schools with gauranteed entry for IB preschool kids. The catchment area is two extremes-wealthy/educated/gentrifiers in Cap Riverfront and very very low income from Public housing on the other side of S.Capitol. Most education experts agree that for a school to be "successful" it needs to not exceed 35% FARMS kids. So this is an interesting question to answer as it points to how the school might grow. The demand is there now in preschool but honestly the school needs to retain those higher SES families as the years go on.

+1. Just talk about demographics on the ground without squeamishness already, given that a high SES participation rate augurs collective success for low-income students of color. If that's what's netted out at Van Ness, many of us will privately cheer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hopefully the 11:00 post makes it clear that those obsessed with the school's demographics aren't even attending.

I think it was a legitimate quesiton given the pages and pages of people pontificating and predicting what the demographics would be like. Also, this is one of the few schools with gauranteed entry for IB preschool kids. The catchment area is two extremes-wealthy/educated/gentrifiers in Cap Riverfront and very very low income from Public housing on the other side of S.Capitol. Most education experts agree that for a school to be "successful" it needs to not exceed 35% FARMS kids. So this is an interesting question to answer as it points to how the school might grow. The demand is there now in preschool but honestly the school needs to retain those higher SES families as the years go on.

The facts actually suggest that the IB demand is not there for PK given (1) the number of Brent families who were able to secure spots and (2) the one K class isn't filled with IB kids. A legitimate question might be something along the lines of how many high-SES IB families decided to pass on a guaranteed PK spot and opt for a charter or another DCPS. I also take issue with the characterization of UMC Capitol Quarter residents as gentrifiers. The old neighborhood was torn down and the residents dispersed. There was nothing left to gentrify.

You're really splitting hairs on this one, a couple blocks from the southern reaches of Cap Hill. Relevance?