does anyone else find the social scene at Janney hard to take?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do parents get one of the coveted Janney garage parking passes? A few parents have them. Are they the "queen bee" volunteers?

They buy them at the auction. $3-4k for a spot.

This being a Janney thread, I actually cannot tell if you are serious or this is a joke, people paying ("donating") for these privileges at a public school.

This is not a joke!

Back in the days before the construction, it was possible to buy a reserved parking spot in the teacher parking lot at the annual Mann auction. I don't remember what it would usually fetch. I do remember that one year it was won by a family whose kids were always late to school. It allowed them to pull in at 8:44 and drop their kids off before the second bell without having to waste time circling the block looking for parking.

It is still possible to buy prime reserved seating for the school play, principal for the day, sleepover birthday parties at school hosted by the principal, etc. at the Mann auction.

This seems wildly inappropriate, and possibly illegal.

Janney has sleepovers sold at the school auction too. About 4 to 5 grand a night. Buying these definitely helps you with popularity.

Yu Ying also auctions such items (parking spot/carpool lane access without a carpool, sleepover at school, playdates with teachers). It's called a fund-raiser - the point is to raise funds for the school: everybody wins. I've never heard anybody complain about such things until this thread. The popularity obsession comes across as particularly juvenile. It seems more likely to reflect a chip on one or two persons' shoulders than a characteristic which applies to the entire Janney population.

Agreed, our school offers these things in our auction, and they usually bring in several hundred (not thousands) of dollars. They are great because you don't have to go begging to local businesses and they are something people really like. For the sleepover, like 8 parents will chip in $75 to get it. We are not big spenders at our school but it is an easy way to raise money, an easy offering from the teachers, and a great treat for the kids. It is crazy to me that people are offended by this.

I am not one of the ones who is offended, but to me the dollar value at Janney is eyebrow-raising. $3,000 is a huge amount of money for one family to donate to a public school PTA on one day. Reminds me more of a law firm charity auction where the partners are bidding those sums on donated bottles of wine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, my kid is just starting pre-k but it seems a lot has changed since I went to school. Who would want to have a sleepover at school?!! And if my parents had 4k to spend on it, I'd tell them to give me the money and we'll book the penthouse at the Four Seasons instead.

You wait. When your child (third grader) is begging you because all the cool kids' parents are, you'll be getting out your checkbook too.

[Anonymous]

It was an attempt at a joke, and a poorly executed one at that. Let it die, just like the South African leaders let their indigenous subjects die.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do parents get one of the coveted Janney garage parking passes? A few parents have them. Are they the "queen bee" volunteers?

They buy them at the auction. $3-4k for a spot.

This being a Janney thread, I actually cannot tell if you are serious or this is a joke, people paying ("donating") for these privileges at a public school.

This is not a joke!

Back in the days before the construction, it was possible to buy a reserved parking spot in the teacher parking lot at the annual Mann auction. I don't remember what it would usually fetch. I do remember that one year it was won by a family whose kids were always late to school. It allowed them to pull in at 8:44 and drop their kids off before the second bell without having to waste time circling the block looking for parking.

It is still possible to buy prime reserved seating for the school play, principal for the day, sleepover birthday parties at school hosted by the principal, etc. at the Mann auction.

No one cares about Mann. The school is like apartheid era South Africa.

Please explain- my kid goes to Mann and I don't see it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Janney is a little different than other DCPS schools, even other NW schools. It is much more of a parent club. I've heard this from parents who later moved their kids to private and were surprised to see that parents could not influence school decisions as much as they were able to at Janney. That's one reason, I did not send my children there. I just felt that too many stay at home moms were running the show. I want real educators.

I've been at Janney for many years now, and this is simply not true. In fact, the vast majority of kids, in my experience, have both parents working. Many parents have alternative work schedules, so they are able to do pick-up, etc., but they simply do not have the time or interest to "run the show," as you suggest.

[Anonymous]

There is a clubby feel about the school, and there is pressure -- albeit subtle -- to stay with the in crowd so your kids get the birthday party invites and other opportunities. Maybe that's true everywhere, but at Janney I have seen one or two children in a class excluded from birthday parties because they are not cool. That should not be tolerated in an elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a clubby feel about the school, and there is pressure -- albeit subtle -- to stay with the in crowd so your kids get the birthday party invites and other opportunities. Maybe that's true everywhere, but at Janney I have seen one or two children in a class excluded from birthday parties because they are not cool. That should not be tolerated in an elementary school.

Oh please... It is all in your head.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a clubby feel about the school, and there is pressure -- albeit subtle -- to stay with the in crowd so your kids get the birthday party invites and other opportunities. Maybe that's true everywhere, but at Janney I have seen one or two children in a class excluded from birthday parties because they are not cool. That should not be tolerated in an elementary school.

Oh please... It is all in your head.

That is simply not true. There is a definitely clubby feel to many classes/grades. NOT across the entire school (and yes, you could attend and not encounter it) but this element does exist across some grades. I'm not imagining it and I did not experience it at our NW DC preschool. For instance, one of my children was invited to at least a half dozen birthday parties this year where only about 8/12 of the same gender kids in a class were invited--and it's ALWAYS the same kids who are invited and the same ones who are not. I shudder to say this but thankfully my child is among those in the "cool group".

[Anonymous]

I completely agree, and Janney would be a better school if it were not so clubby and more diverse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a clubby feel about the school, and there is pressure -- albeit subtle -- to stay with the in crowd so your kids get the birthday party invites and other opportunities. Maybe that's true everywhere, but at Janney I have seen one or two children in a class excluded from birthday parties because they are not cool. That should not be tolerated in an elementary school.

Oh please... It is all in your head.

That is simply not true. There is a definitely clubby feel to many classes/grades. NOT across the entire school (and yes, you could attend and not encounter it) but this element does exist across some grades. I'm not imagining it and I did not experience it at our NW DC preschool. For instance, one of my children was invited to at least a half dozen birthday parties this year where only about 8/12 of the same gender kids in a class were invited--and it's ALWAYS the same kids who are invited and the same ones who are not. I shudder to say this but thankfully my child is among those in the "cool group".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a clubby feel about the school, and there is pressure -- albeit subtle -- to stay with the in crowd so your kids get the birthday party invites and other opportunities. Maybe that's true everywhere, but at Janney I have seen one or two children in a class excluded from birthday parties because they are not cool. That should not be tolerated in an elementary school.

Oh please... It is all in your head.

That is simply not true. There is a definitely clubby feel to many classes/grades. NOT across the entire school (and yes, you could attend and not encounter it) but this element does exist across some grades. I'm not imagining it and I did not experience it at our NW DC preschool. For instance, one of my children was invited to at least a half dozen birthday parties this year where only about 8/12 of the same gender kids in a class were invited--and it's ALWAYS the same kids who are invited and the same ones who are not. I shudder to say this but thankfully my child is among those in the "cool group".

And can we ask which kids your child invited to his/her party? The same 8?

I think cliques of kids occur everywhere, which is unfortunate, but this is being laid at the feet of the parents relationships which is silly. What are you doing to teach your child to be inclusive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, it looks to me like popular schools are regularly subject to trashy threads like this one.
Mv, YY, Lamb, or JKLM, it rotates every week.
I feel sorry for the trashers. Use your energy to improve your local school. You will do a favor to your kids and to yourself.

HAHAHAHAHAHA. MV, YY, LAMB. NO ONE CARES ABOUT THOSE SCHOOLS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, my kid is just starting pre-k but it seems a lot has changed since I went to school. Who would want to have a sleepover at school?!! And if my parents had 4k to spend on it, I'd tell them to give me the money and we'll book the penthouse at the Four Seasons instead.

You wait. When your child (third grader) is begging you because all the cool kids' parents are, you'll be getting out your checkbook too.

Great. Something to look forward to.

[Anonymous]

Let's keep this thread going, it's making me feel better about keeping my rising 2nd grader at a Title 1 school east of the park. DD and her little sis are doing well there but we're losing a few good friends to charters and Md (again) this year and I have doubts every year during the lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a clubby feel about the school, and there is pressure -- albeit subtle -- to stay with the in crowd so your kids get the birthday party invites and other opportunities. Maybe that's true everywhere, but at Janney I have seen one or two children in a class excluded from birthday parties because they are not cool. That should not be tolerated in an elementary school.

Oh please... It is all in your head.

That is simply not true. There is a definitely clubby feel to many classes/grades. NOT across the entire school (and yes, you could attend and not encounter it) but this element does exist across some grades. I'm not imagining it and I did not experience it at our NW DC preschool. For instance, one of my children was invited to at least a half dozen birthday parties this year where only about 8/12 of the same gender kids in a class were invited--and it's ALWAYS the same kids who are invited and the same ones who are not. I shudder to say this but thankfully my child is among those in the "cool group".

And can we ask which kids your child invited to his/her party? The same 8?

I think cliques of kids occur everywhere, which is unfortunate, but this is being laid at the feet of the parents relationships which is silly. What are you doing to teach your child to be inclusive.

It's definitely parent driven given the ages of the kids involved. If they were 4th graders (for example) it would be different.

[Anonymous]

Very Interesting. after a couple years at Janney, I am a bit surprised by the number of people chilling in shorts and just hanging out with their BFFs. Clearly some folks have bonded due to proximity & shared experiences, kid love or whatever. Good for them for establishing a community. Funny thing is, DH thinks I know a lot of people at Janney - I chaperoned and helped at a school function here and there, so it just depends on the time you can give. Can't say I felt excluded for not being part of the "in" crowd. It's a great school with humans and guess what, human nature..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do parents get one of the coveted Janney garage parking passes? A few parents have them. Are they the "queen bee" volunteers?

They buy them at the auction. $3-4k for a spot.

This being a Janney thread, I actually cannot tell if you are serious or this is a joke, people paying ("donating") for these privileges at a public school.

This is not a joke!

Back in the days before the construction, it was possible to buy a reserved parking spot in the teacher parking lot at the annual Mann auction. I don't remember what it would usually fetch. I do remember that one year it was won by a family whose kids were always late to school. It allowed them to pull in at 8:44 and drop their kids off before the second bell without having to waste time circling the block looking for parking.

It is still possible to buy prime reserved seating for the school play, principal for the day, sleepover birthday parties at school hosted by the principal, etc. at the Mann auction.

This seems wildly inappropriate, and possibly illegal.

Janney has sleepovers sold at the school auction too. About 4 to 5 grand a night. Buying these definitely helps you with popularity.

Yu Ying also auctions such items (parking spot/carpool lane access without a carpool, sleepover at school, playdates with teachers). It's called a fund-raiser - the point is to raise funds for the school: everybody wins. I've never heard anybody complain about such things until this thread. The popularity obsession comes across as particularly juvenile. It seems more likely to reflect a chip on one or two persons' shoulders than a characteristic which applies to the entire Janney population.

Agreed, our school offers these things in our auction, and they usually bring in several hundred (not thousands) of dollars. They are great because you don't have to go begging to local businesses and they are something people really like. For the sleepover, like 8 parents will chip in $75 to get it. We are not big spenders at our school but it is an easy way to raise money, an easy offering from the teachers, and a great treat for the kids. It is crazy to me that people are offended by this.

I am not one of the ones who is offended, but to me the dollar value at Janney is eyebrow-raising. $3,000 is a huge amount of money for one family to donate to a public school PTA on one day. Reminds me more of a law firm charity auction where the partners are bidding those sums on donated bottles of wine.

I am really appalled by comments by this. you are basically complaining that a family donated $3000 of their money to a public school instead of splurging on something for themselves. I am a parent at another JKLM school, and in my kids' 5 year at the school, I bought once a $150 at the auction and once a $300 item, and I can certainly not donate anywhere near $3000 without denting our savings. a lot of people in our school are the same, but there have been people who bought items at the action for significant amounts. I am extremely grateful to them, instead of spending that money of themselves or their kids, they donated it to the school, allowing the school to finance teacher aides and other important staff positions, field trips, electronic equipment for the school and stuff like that, which clearly benefits the most the kids who have less privileged backgrounds.