Should DCPS add or shutdown any schools?

[Anonymous]

They have been at full enrollment or nearly full. I'm not sure if that will continue.

But they'd need a really significant decrease to go from 3 buildings to 2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They have been at full enrollment or nearly full. I'm not sure if that will continue.

But they'd need a really significant decrease to go from 3 buildings to 2.

Their debt situation is really bad and I bet that 4th St site is worth more than they paid for it by a lot given the Union Market development (that literally did not exist when the bought that building). I could totally see them selling that building. Their middle school is not full.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have been at full enrollment or nearly full. I'm not sure if that will continue.

But they'd need a really significant decrease to go from 3 buildings to 2.

Their debt situation is really bad and I bet that 4th St site is worth more than they paid for it by a lot given the Union Market development (that literally did not exist when the bought that building). I could totally see them selling that building. Their middle school is not full.

So, in the enrollment audit data from last year, the middle school had 224 kids. 4th St had 391, and Young elementary had 407. The Young building had, in the 2020 charter agreement, a capacity of 1296. So it does seem like that would be doable unless something has changed since then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have been at full enrollment or nearly full. I'm not sure if that will continue.

But they'd need a really significant decrease to go from 3 buildings to 2.

Their debt situation is really bad and I bet that 4th St site is worth more than they paid for it by a lot given the Union Market development (that literally did not exist when the bought that building). I could totally see them selling that building. Their middle school is not full.

What is the debt situation? I se it a positive $9.8 million in net assets on the 2023 990.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have been at full enrollment or nearly full. I'm not sure if that will continue.

But they'd need a really significant decrease to go from 3 buildings to 2.

Their debt situation is really bad and I bet that 4th St site is worth more than they paid for it by a lot given the Union Market development (that literally did not exist when the bought that building). I could totally see them selling that building. Their middle school is not full.

What is the debt situation? I se it a positive $9.8 million in net assets on the 2023 990.

That's measured against the value of the real estate. They are (more than) fine if they sell the 4th St building. The liquidity for debt payments is the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have been at full enrollment or nearly full. I'm not sure if that will continue.

But they'd need a really significant decrease to go from 3 buildings to 2.

Their debt situation is really bad and I bet that 4th St site is worth more than they paid for it by a lot given the Union Market development (that literally did not exist when the bought that building). I could totally see them selling that building. Their middle school is not full.

What is the debt situation? I se it a positive $9.8 million in net assets on the 2023 990.

That's measured against the value of the real estate. They are (more than) fine if they sell the 4th St building. The liquidity for debt payments is the issue.

Oh, I see what you mean. Are you saying they're not able to meet monthly obligations, though? Because that would be... wow.

[Anonymous]

Montessori can never fail the people. The people can only fail Montessori

Funny!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS needs to shutdown CHML (Montessori can stay for ECE) but use that beautiful space for 1-8th in an actual academic way. It is completed wasted right now on abysmal learning and beyond subpar behavior management.

I know this won't happen but actually agree. They aren't offering real Montessori past K or 1st, but the school is in a prime location with a fantastic campus. I wish DCPS would just keep the Montessori in ECE but convert the rest of the school to a regular DCPS campus with *some* Montessori influence (maybe do mixed age classrooms for specials, incorporate more independent learning than you see at other DCPS schools, stay totally screen free). It just doesn't make sense as is, and they wind up hemorrhaging families after K and then you have new families coming in during upper grades looking for Montessori, but it doesn't really exist when you have so much movement in and out of the school, yet it's not being replaced with anything.

Alternative, maybe get rid of grades 2-5th but expand the middle school and see if you can sell it to kids coming out of Lee and LAMB? I don't know. But right now it's vastly underutilized.

That is a great idea. As it stands, it's currently a dumping ground for kids who have been kicked out of their home schools and got lottery spots. This is mostly for upper elementary, but they come into the school with behavior issues, have never been exposed to Montessori and the independence it brings, and it truly ends up ruining the upper elementary classrooms to the point that ZERO learning is going on. I feel for the kids who have been at the school since pre-k. The same thing happens in lower elementary as well, just not to the same extremes as upper elementary. DCPS needs to do SOMETHING whether it's closing the lottery after a certain age or screening kids to see if they could actually handle this kind of independent environment or what you suggested. It is truly a disaster as it stands. The principal does absolutely nothing to quell these behavior issues and it just bleeds into the entire school community. She is not a leader.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS needs to shutdown CHML (Montessori can stay for ECE) but use that beautiful space for 1-8th in an actual academic way. It is completed wasted right now on abysmal learning and beyond subpar behavior management.

I know this won't happen but actually agree. They aren't offering real Montessori past K or 1st, but the school is in a prime location with a fantastic campus. I wish DCPS would just keep the Montessori in ECE but convert the rest of the school to a regular DCPS campus with *some* Montessori influence (maybe do mixed age classrooms for specials, incorporate more independent learning than you see at other DCPS schools, stay totally screen free). It just doesn't make sense as is, and they wind up hemorrhaging families after K and then you have new families coming in during upper grades looking for Montessori, but it doesn't really exist when you have so much movement in and out of the school, yet it's not being replaced with anything.

Alternative, maybe get rid of grades 2-5th but expand the middle school and see if you can sell it to kids coming out of Lee and LAMB? I don't know. But right now it's vastly underutilized.

That is a great idea. As it stands, it's currently a dumping ground for kids who have been kicked out of their home schools and got lottery spots. This is mostly for upper elementary, but they come into the school with behavior issues, have never been exposed to Montessori and the independence it brings, and it truly ends up ruining the upper elementary classrooms to the point that ZERO learning is going on. I feel for the kids who have been at the school since pre-k. The same thing happens in lower elementary as well, just not to the same extremes as upper elementary. DCPS needs to do SOMETHING whether it's closing the lottery after a certain age or screening kids to see if they could actually handle this kind of independent environment or what you suggested. It is truly a disaster as it stands. The principal does absolutely nothing to quell these behavior issues and it just bleeds into the entire school community. She is not a leader.

I've seen out-of-boundary students sent back to their home school for discipline issues. Is that not happening?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS needs to shutdown CHML (Montessori can stay for ECE) but use that beautiful space for 1-8th in an actual academic way. It is completed wasted right now on abysmal learning and beyond subpar behavior management.

I know this won't happen but actually agree. They aren't offering real Montessori past K or 1st, but the school is in a prime location with a fantastic campus. I wish DCPS would just keep the Montessori in ECE but convert the rest of the school to a regular DCPS campus with *some* Montessori influence (maybe do mixed age classrooms for specials, incorporate more independent learning than you see at other DCPS schools, stay totally screen free). It just doesn't make sense as is, and they wind up hemorrhaging families after K and then you have new families coming in during upper grades looking for Montessori, but it doesn't really exist when you have so much movement in and out of the school, yet it's not being replaced with anything.

Alternative, maybe get rid of grades 2-5th but expand the middle school and see if you can sell it to kids coming out of Lee and LAMB? I don't know. But right now it's vastly underutilized.

That is a great idea. As it stands, it's currently a dumping ground for kids who have been kicked out of their home schools and got lottery spots. This is mostly for upper elementary, but they come into the school with behavior issues, have never been exposed to Montessori and the independence it brings, and it truly ends up ruining the upper elementary classrooms to the point that ZERO learning is going on. I feel for the kids who have been at the school since pre-k. The same thing happens in lower elementary as well, just not to the same extremes as upper elementary. DCPS needs to do SOMETHING whether it's closing the lottery after a certain age or screening kids to see if they could actually handle this kind of independent environment or what you suggested. It is truly a disaster as it stands. The principal does absolutely nothing to quell these behavior issues and it just bleeds into the entire school community. She is not a leader.

I've seen out-of-boundary students sent back to their home school for discipline issues. Is that not happening?

Lol no. The kids with behavior problems are rewarded with candy, missing class to walk around with the dean, coloring pages, etc. She thinks they need "love", so she doesn't acknowledge that some of them have real issues that need addressing.

[Anonymous]

Our kids were at a charter Montessori and I don’t think there was a lot of learning going on at upper el either. Montessori is just not good past 2nd grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kids were at a charter Montessori and I don’t think there was a lot of learning going on at upper el either. Montessori is just not good past 2nd grade.

And yet there's 1,500 children on LAMB's waitlist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids were at a charter Montessori and I don’t think there was a lot of learning going on at upper el either. Montessori is just not good past 2nd grade.

And yet there's 1,500 children on LAMB's waitlist.

No one knows less about schools than parents doing the PK3 lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids were at a charter Montessori and I don’t think there was a lot of learning going on at upper el either. Montessori is just not good past 2nd grade.

And yet there's 1,500 children on LAMB's waitlist.

What most people don't understand is that Montessori doesn't work for everyone. Students need to be intrinsically motivated to thrive in that kind of setting and let's be real-not every student is. Parents don't seem to recognize this, so they send their kids anyway and then wonder why it's not working for them. They also need to be at schools with good administrators and Montessori trained teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids were at a charter Montessori and I don’t think there was a lot of learning going on at upper el either. Montessori is just not good past 2nd grade.

And yet there's 1,500 children on LAMB's waitlist.

No one knows less about schools than parents doing the PK3 lottery.

Exactly. They haven't had the time to learn about the whole school ecosystem. Plus, Montessori sounds fancy and gets a lot of positive press.