Janney Open House this week - discussion on class size?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are so lucky that we had the foresight to purchase in the Janney district and are pleased with how wonderful the school is for our kids. I talked to a colleague whose family is at Murch, and their renovation is again in doubt. I'm glad that our Janney community has been able to advocate so effectively for our children's needs, because less cohesive communities in DC are being shortchanged.

What a creepy, self-congratulatory post.

I call troll, I don't believe Janney parents are stupid enough to write something this obnoxious.

I suggest Janney families and those that are truly invested in solving the large cohort problem either go to the principal coffees, fill out the surveys that were referenced at the state of the school and should be linked to the newsletter, or contact the principal or LSAT to find out how to be kept updated and have your voice heard. Whining on DCUM that the only solution is to put trailers on the playground shows a lack of understanding of the options and does not really help anything.

Agree that this is a troll.

OK- so what are the options then? That's what this thread was trying to surface. Cut PreK. Trailers. Audit for OOB. What else?

[Anonymous]

The newsletter came out yesterday with the info on enrollment: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8GX-t702r_RUzA4aHpMUi1Uc28/view I have to say I am concerned with the "everything is great!" tone. A PP talked about how the ratios aren't entirely truthful - as in there might be 3 teachers in a 3rd grade class, but they aren't there all the time, and certainly not when the class is in specials. This is also true in PK - the two teachers are not always with the class. I still think cutting PK classes is the best way to free up room.

[Anonymous]

You all better make your voice heard before the lottery!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You all better make your voice heard before the lottery!

+1 and you need to make your voices heard individually because there are surely many current Janney parents, parents you consider friends, who are completely counting on pre-K for their younger child who are going to be just as loud saying that you can't cut pre-K because they were already counting on it. I personally think cutting pre-K is the best way forward but it will definitely create a lot of hard feelings among parents and will create tough staffing challenges ( for example, if a teacher is only licensed to teach early childhood education) so the principal would be well served by making a decision very quickly, as in now. And parents would be well served by making their voices heard today

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The newsletter came out yesterday with the info on enrollment: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8GX-t702r_RUzA4aHpMUi1Uc28/view I have to say I am concerned with the "everything is great!" tone. A PP talked about how the ratios aren't entirely truthful - as in there might be 3 teachers in a 3rd grade class, but they aren't there all the time, and certainly not when the class is in specials. This is also true in PK - the two teachers are not always with the class. I still think cutting PK classes is the best way to free up room.

Everything is always "great!"
I love how their enrollment predictions have every grade going down in numbers. I'm sure people are just going to magically start moving out of AU Park in 2016.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all better make your voice heard before the lottery!

+1 and you need to make your voices heard individually because there are surely many current Janney parents, parents you consider friends, who are completely counting on pre-K for their younger child who are going to be just as loud saying that you can't cut pre-K because they were already counting on it. I personally think cutting pre-K is the best way forward but it will definitely create a lot of hard feelings among parents and will create tough staffing challenges ( for example, if a teacher is only licensed to teach early childhood education) so the principal would be well served by making a decision very quickly, as in now. And parents would be well served by making their voices heard today

I hope none of the people advocating for cutting pre-K have benefitted from it themselves in the past... That would be the apex of hypocrisy.

[Anonymous]

I am for cutting PK and my child did not get in via lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all better make your voice heard before the lottery!

+1 and you need to make your voices heard individually because there are surely many current Janney parents, parents you consider friends, who are completely counting on pre-K for their younger child who are going to be just as loud saying that you can't cut pre-K because they were already counting on it. I personally think cutting pre-K is the best way forward but it will definitely create a lot of hard feelings among parents and will create tough staffing challenges ( for example, if a teacher is only licensed to teach early childhood education) so the principal would be well served by making a decision very quickly, as in now. And parents would be well served by making their voices heard today

I hope none of the people advocating for cutting pre-K have benefitted from it themselves in the past... That would be the apex of hypocrisy.

Don't be daft. PreK made sense when there was space, now there is not. We get it, you don't want to pay another year of tuition at St. Columba's but don't try and shame people into the right decision for NOW.

[Anonymous]

And the truth of the matter is that Principal Lutz should already recognize the need to cut PreK and should be a leader and do it and not wait for parents to be pitted against one another in making their individual arguments. It's better for the school community if she would just do her job and find a solution.

[Anonymous]

So in summary -
during the open house there was no discussion on changes that may be forthcoming to support a smaller class sizes

[Anonymous]

What's crazy is that the prior principal added a PK classroom last year ('14-15) rather than look ahead to what the current 3rd grade class would look like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all better make your voice heard before the lottery!

+1 and you need to make your voices heard individually because there are surely many current Janney parents, parents you consider friends, who are completely counting on pre-K for their younger child who are going to be just as loud saying that you can't cut pre-K because they were already counting on it. I personally think cutting pre-K is the best way forward but it will definitely create a lot of hard feelings among parents and will create tough staffing challenges ( for example, if a teacher is only licensed to teach early childhood education) so the principal would be well served by making a decision very quickly, as in now. And parents would be well served by making their voices heard today

I hope none of the people advocating for cutting pre-K have benefitted from it themselves in the past... That would be the apex of hypocrisy.

The year my second was eligible for pre-k they halved the eligible spots from 20 to 10 to accommodate a larger k class than expected. My kid was 20 on the list. I was disappointed but it was the right move. Janney needs to cut its pre-k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all better make your voice heard before the lottery!

+1 and you need to make your voices heard individually because there are surely many current Janney parents, parents you consider friends, who are completely counting on pre-K for their younger child who are going to be just as loud saying that you can't cut pre-K because they were already counting on it. I personally think cutting pre-K is the best way forward but it will definitely create a lot of hard feelings among parents and will create tough staffing challenges ( for example, if a teacher is only licensed to teach early childhood education) so the principal would be well served by making a decision very quickly, as in now. And parents would be well served by making their voices heard today

I hope none of the people advocating for cutting pre-K have benefitted from it themselves in the past... That would be the apex of hypocrisy.

Don't be daft. PreK made sense when there was space, now there is not. We get it, you don't want to pay another year of tuition at St. Columba's but don't try and shame people into the right decision for NOW.

We can't afford St. Columba's, but thanks for trying to shame me for pointing out that it's easy to say for those whose kids are already in 3rd grade (or who have 200K+ HHIs).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's crazy is that the prior principal added a PK classroom last year ('14-15) rather than look ahead to what the current 3rd grade class would look like.

I'm guessing because the current Janney parents with rising PreKers were a bug in her ear...the added class was filled almost exclusively with siblings of current IB students. As much as people liked that principal, she showed she could be brow beaten into making a decision that was bad for the school and created additional problems down the road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all better make your voice heard before the lottery!

+1 and you need to make your voices heard individually because there are surely many current Janney parents, parents you consider friends, who are completely counting on pre-K for their younger child who are going to be just as loud saying that you can't cut pre-K because they were already counting on it. I personally think cutting pre-K is the best way forward but it will definitely create a lot of hard feelings among parents and will create tough staffing challenges ( for example, if a teacher is only licensed to teach early childhood education) so the principal would be well served by making a decision very quickly, as in now. And parents would be well served by making their voices heard today

I hope none of the people advocating for cutting pre-K have benefitted from it themselves in the past... That would be the apex of hypocrisy.

Don't be daft. PreK made sense when there was space, now there is not. We get it, you don't want to pay another year of tuition at St. Columba's but don't try and shame people into the right decision for NOW.

We can't afford St. Columba's, but thanks for trying to shame me for pointing out that it's easy to say for those whose kids are already in 3rd grade (or who have 200K+ HHIs).

Well, you better be entering the lottery for 11 other schools.