Escuela Key

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see anywhere in the Arlnow article where it says the graffiti threats were a repeated problem, as a PP says upthread. If that’s in a different article, will someone please link it?

From ArlNow: “After winter break ended, students at the dual-language, Spanish immersion school, also called Escuela Key, began noticing “bad words,” or “malas palabras,” on the bathroom stall. Katherine says her child and a friend formed a detectives club to figure out who wrote them.

It had been going on for weeks.

The threat is HORRIBLE and scary. But graffiti on bathroom walls beforehand for weeks is not the same thing. At all.

[Anonymous]

The point is that it was obscene graffiti, wasn’t handled, and escalated.

[Anonymous]

I am writing to inform you that Marleny Perdomo will resume her position as Escuela Key principal effective tomorrow, Wed, Feb. 15.

The safety of our students and staff remains a responsibility that we take very seriously. We understand that families are seeking reassurance that our schools are safe and will remain safe for students and staff.

We are in the final stages of completing our internal review of the incident that occurred on January 19 and will provide you with a summary of the after-action report (in English and Spanish) by Fri, Feb. 24. The summary will include an overview of our findings, actions taken and next steps to support students and maintain a safe learning environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see anywhere in the Arlnow article where it says the graffiti threats were a repeated problem, as a PP says upthread. If that’s in a different article, will someone please link it?

Katherine says her child and a friend formed a detectives club to figure out who wrote them.

A student detective club to snitch on others? Sounds like NextDoor for kids!

[Anonymous]

Have there been any updates? Happy to hear the principal reinstated. We were interested in Key prior to this incident, and had generally heard good things. After the incident we are nervous. We know it's a lottery, so who even knows if we would get a spot.

Are there any current parents out there who can share pros and cons of the school? We want our child to learn a second language, we value a close knit community and socioeconomic and racial diversity. BUT, most important to us is a safe environment and high standards / good teaching / emphasis on academics. Are those available at this school as well? Obviously no school is perfect, so I am curious what current parents like and wish were different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have there been any updates? Happy to hear the principal reinstated. We were interested in Key prior to this incident, and had generally heard good things. After the incident we are nervous. We know it's a lottery, so who even knows if we would get a spot.

Are there any current parents out there who can share pros and cons of the school? We want our child to learn a second language, we value a close knit community and socioeconomic and racial diversity. BUT, most important to us is a safe environment and high standards / good teaching / emphasis on academics. Are those available at this school as well? Obviously no school is perfect, so I am curious what current parents like and wish were different.

We’ve been very happy at key. I really wouldn’t let the recent incident influence your decision. My oldest went all the way through Key & is continuing immersion at Gunston. His Spanish is very good at this point. My younger child is at Key now. I don’t have a direct comparison to other elementary schools, but I do feel it’s a safe environment. I assume academic standards are the same as other APS schools, with of course half the day in Spanish. Actually, 80% in Spanish for K starting this fall I believe. Think of it this way: your kid learns all the same stuff they’d learn at another APS school, but they also get to learn a second language for “free.” Very worthwhile, in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have there been any updates? Happy to hear the principal reinstated. We were interested in Key prior to this incident, and had generally heard good things. After the incident we are nervous. We know it's a lottery, so who even knows if we would get a spot.

Are there any current parents out there who can share pros and cons of the school? We want our child to learn a second language, we value a close knit community and socioeconomic and racial diversity. BUT, most important to us is a safe environment and high standards / good teaching / emphasis on academics. Are those available at this school as well? Obviously no school is perfect, so I am curious what current parents like and wish were different.

pros—generally nice people.
cons—academic rigor (ymmv)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have there been any updates? Happy to hear the principal reinstated. We were interested in Key prior to this incident, and had generally heard good things. After the incident we are nervous. We know it's a lottery, so who even knows if we would get a spot.

Are there any current parents out there who can share pros and cons of the school? We want our child to learn a second language, we value a close knit community and socioeconomic and racial diversity. BUT, most important to us is a safe environment and high standards / good teaching / emphasis on academics. Are those available at this school as well? Obviously no school is perfect, so I am curious what current parents like and wish were different.

I would only send your kid to this school if they fit into one of the categories below:
1. Spanish/Hispanic background and the language is regularly spoken in the home.
2. The child is from a State Dept/foreign service family and has lived in a Spanish speaking country and was exposed to the language during their language formative years.
3. Rich kid with Spanish speaking nanny who has spoken Spanish to them since they were a baby.

With the exception of kids who are born with exceptional linguistic abilities, kids who have not had previous exposure to the language are at a HUGE disadvantage. They start slow, but by second grade, it seemed as if they were expecting students to be nearly fluent. Those of us who have had to learn Spanish or any other language in an academic setting know that this is nearly impossible. And if students fall behind in Spanish, they will fall behind in all of the subjects that are taught in Spanish, especially math. That being said, I understood Spanish well enough to see that the math instruction at Key was simply bad and not very rigorous. It took two years of tutoring and moving to another school to undo all of the damage. More generally, we tried to seek extra help for our kids in learning the Spanish language and no one cared. They only care about English learners. It is not all bad. There are some wonderful, caring teachers and a very friendly parent community. But, in my opinion, the education and curriculum is deficient in comparison to other schools and it is simply not worth it for kids who are not native speakers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have there been any updates? Happy to hear the principal reinstated. We were interested in Key prior to this incident, and had generally heard good things. After the incident we are nervous. We know it's a lottery, so who even knows if we would get a spot.

Are there any current parents out there who can share pros and cons of the school? We want our child to learn a second language, we value a close knit community and socioeconomic and racial diversity. BUT, most important to us is a safe environment and high standards / good teaching / emphasis on academics. Are those available at this school as well? Obviously no school is perfect, so I am curious what current parents like and wish were different.

pros—generally nice people.
cons—academic rigor (ymmv)

Thank you - can you say more about the academic rigor? What examples come to mind?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have there been any updates? Happy to hear the principal reinstated. We were interested in Key prior to this incident, and had generally heard good things. After the incident we are nervous. We know it's a lottery, so who even knows if we would get a spot.

Are there any current parents out there who can share pros and cons of the school? We want our child to learn a second language, we value a close knit community and socioeconomic and racial diversity. BUT, most important to us is a safe environment and high standards / good teaching / emphasis on academics. Are those available at this school as well? Obviously no school is perfect, so I am curious what current parents like and wish were different.

I would only send your kid to this school if they fit into one of the categories below:
1. Spanish/Hispanic background and the language is regularly spoken in the home.
2. The child is from a State Dept/foreign service family and has lived in a Spanish speaking country and was exposed to the language during their language formative years.
3. Rich kid with Spanish speaking nanny who has spoken Spanish to them since they were a baby.

With the exception of kids who are born with exceptional linguistic abilities, kids who have not had previous exposure to the language are at a HUGE disadvantage. They start slow, but by second grade, it seemed as if they were expecting students to be nearly fluent. Those of us who have had to learn Spanish or any other language in an academic setting know that this is nearly impossible. And if students fall behind in Spanish, they will fall behind in all of the subjects that are taught in Spanish, especially math. That being said, I understood Spanish well enough to see that the math instruction at Key was simply bad and not very rigorous. It took two years of tutoring and moving to another school to undo all of the damage. More generally, we tried to seek extra help for our kids in learning the Spanish language and no one cared. They only care about English learners. It is not all bad. There are some wonderful, caring teachers and a very friendly parent community. But, in my opinion, the education and curriculum is deficient in comparison to other schools and it is simply not worth it for kids who are not native speakers.

To undo the math damage - did you move them to private or to another APS school?

Math is one of the bigger concerns for me. On the one hand, math is math in whatever language you do it. But it's so important to get a good foundation on it, that it's off to me that they are teaching it in Spanish. That would be the one thing I would want them to learn in English. If there are issues with the curriculum, wouldn't that affect the native Spanish speakers also?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have there been any updates? Happy to hear the principal reinstated. We were interested in Key prior to this incident, and had generally heard good things. After the incident we are nervous. We know it's a lottery, so who even knows if we would get a spot.

Are there any current parents out there who can share pros and cons of the school? We want our child to learn a second language, we value a close knit community and socioeconomic and racial diversity. BUT, most important to us is a safe environment and high standards / good teaching / emphasis on academics. Are those available at this school as well? Obviously no school is perfect, so I am curious what current parents like and wish were different.

I would only send your kid to this school if they fit into one of the categories below:
1. Spanish/Hispanic background and the language is regularly spoken in the home.
2. The child is from a State Dept/foreign service family and has lived in a Spanish speaking country and was exposed to the language during their language formative years.
3. Rich kid with Spanish speaking nanny who has spoken Spanish to them since they were a baby.

With the exception of kids who are born with exceptional linguistic abilities, kids who have not had previous exposure to the language are at a HUGE disadvantage. They start slow, but by second grade, it seemed as if they were expecting students to be nearly fluent. Those of us who have had to learn Spanish or any other language in an academic setting know that this is nearly impossible. And if students fall behind in Spanish, they will fall behind in all of the subjects that are taught in Spanish, especially math. That being said, I understood Spanish well enough to see that the math instruction at Key was simply bad and not very rigorous. It took two years of tutoring and moving to another school to undo all of the damage. More generally, we tried to seek extra help for our kids in learning the Spanish language and no one cared. They only care about English learners. It is not all bad. There are some wonderful, caring teachers and a very friendly parent community. But, in my opinion, the education and curriculum is deficient in comparison to other schools and it is simply not worth it for kids who are not native speakers.

To undo the math damage - did you move them to private or to another APS school?

Math is one of the bigger concerns for me. On the one hand, math is math in whatever language you do it. But it's so important to get a good foundation on it, that it's off to me that they are teaching it in Spanish. That would be the one thing I would want them to learn in English. If there are issues with the curriculum, wouldn't that affect the native Spanish speakers also?

We moved our kids to a private school. Other than math, I didn’t think at the time that all of the curriculum was bad, but now that the kids are in a more academically rigorous school, I have realized that those parts really weren’t all that either. In retrospect, I just would have gone with another school.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone think that the School Board will get rid of one of the Spanish Immersion schools? Does a small county like Arlington really need two? Is the demand still there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone think that the School Board will get rid of one of the Spanish Immersion schools? Does a small county like Arlington really need two? Is the demand still there?

Both schools have wait lists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone think that the School Board will get rid of one of the Spanish Immersion schools? Does a small county like Arlington really need two? Is the demand still there?

Both schools have wait lists.

That is surprising

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have there been any updates? Happy to hear the principal reinstated. We were interested in Key prior to this incident, and had generally heard good things. After the incident we are nervous. We know it's a lottery, so who even knows if we would get a spot.

Are there any current parents out there who can share pros and cons of the school? We want our child to learn a second language, we value a close knit community and socioeconomic and racial diversity. BUT, most important to us is a safe environment and high standards / good teaching / emphasis on academics. Are those available at this school as well? Obviously no school is perfect, so I am curious what current parents like and wish were different.

I would only send your kid to this school if they fit into one of the categories below:
1. Spanish/Hispanic background and the language is regularly spoken in the home.
2. The child is from a State Dept/foreign service family and has lived in a Spanish speaking country and was exposed to the language during their language formative years.
3. Rich kid with Spanish speaking nanny who has spoken Spanish to them since they were a baby.

With the exception of kids who are born with exceptional linguistic abilities, kids who have not had previous exposure to the language are at a HUGE disadvantage. They start slow, but by second grade, it seemed as if they were expecting students to be nearly fluent. Those of us who have had to learn Spanish or any other language in an academic setting know that this is nearly impossible. And if students fall behind in Spanish, they will fall behind in all of the subjects that are taught in Spanish, especially math. That being said, I understood Spanish well enough to see that the math instruction at Key was simply bad and not very rigorous. It took two years of tutoring and moving to another school to undo all of the damage. More generally, we tried to seek extra help for our kids in learning the Spanish language and no one cared. They only care about English learners. It is not all bad. There are some wonderful, caring teachers and a very friendly parent community. But, in my opinion, the education and curriculum is deficient in comparison to other schools and it is simply not worth it for kids who are not native speakers.

I’m sorry if your kid had trouble/you didn’t feel it was rigorous enough. But your implication that 5 is too old to learn a language by immersion is just not true and is not supported by the research. My kids had no prior Spanish & picked it up fine… and I know tons of kids in the same position. They don’t all have “extraordinary linguistic abilities.” Learning via immersion is not like taking a Spanish class in high school.