Thoughts on Brent?
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Anonymous
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Hi Hive Mind. I know there are a lot of Brent threads here recently, but I am looking for specifics on the whole school experiences, not just 4th/5th. My kid is at another Capitol Hill school that we have mixed feelings about. We are climbing down the Brent waitlist quickly for kindergarten. I know it will be in a swing space next year and suspect that's the reason we have a shot at getting in.
What kind of experiences have you had with Brent, from K to 4/5? Is this a good school for a bright but sometimes shy rule-following kid? Native English speaker. No IEP, 504 or learning differences we are aware of. Looking for rigorous academics that would prepare kid for a middle school like Basis (even if we don't go there) and a good social environment. Hoping that's Brent! |
Anonymous
Just flagging that you will be in swing space for TWO years. Brent PK4-3rd is normally a pretty good experience. I think the next two years will be logistically very messy and there will be very little community building happening. I would not want to join the school as a newbie family during these two years. Do you live on the Hill? Because, if so, no way I'd abandon my basically no commute for what the swing space commute will be like. |
Anonymous
| Whatever it's like normally, it won't be like that for the 2 years in a swing space. It depends what other options you have, but I don't think the combined 4/5 classes are the best prep for BASIS. |
Anonymous
OP here. Thanks for the response! We know about the two years in a swing space, but appreciate the clarification since others reading this may not. To answer: We live fairly close to the Hill. Swing space is about equidistant from Brent's regular space so commute not a factor. We think Brent looks like a stronger school academically than our school, which has a strong parent community but some issues, including with behavior and lower test scores than Brent's. I know test scores aren't the end all be all of course and that Brent probably does well because of its demographics. Just wondering what the school is like..are the teachers warm and experienced? Are behavior problems handled well? Is the admin responsive? What's the parent community like? Are kids challenged academically? Thanks in advance for your insights! |
Anonymous
| JO Wilson is in a swing space next year, but that's one year rather than two. I imagine its waitlists will move considerably, if not over the summer, once school starts. I personally wouldn't choose Brent over JOW for the next couple of years unless it was a good commute to the swing space and I didn't care about obtaining SH feeder rights (either because I already had them or knew I wouldn't be sending a kid there). |
Anonymous
OP here. Thanks for this. We are not at JO Wilson currently. We are at a different school I'd rather not name here for privacy reasons. |
Anonymous
I'm not a huge fan of the principal. I think many of the teachers are excellent - but a few of my favorites are leaving (voluntarily) because of swing space issue. I think for test scores you really need to look at demographic comparisons to know if you should really consider it as a factor. It's hard to know since you don't want to name your school. I wouldn't switch for test scores if I was at Maury, SWS, L-T or Payne; the sub populations at those schools do extremely similarly. My experience is a huge proportion of Brent families supplement (particularly at Mathnasium, which is crawling with Brent kids). Academically, Brent is fine, but not anything particularly special. Math is better than ELA in my experience. I like the parent community at Brent, but I don't think there will be much of one during swing space. Like some posters in the other thread, I am worried about the number of people leaving. |
Anonymous
Thanks for this! What don't you like about the principal? My school is not any bolded above. But that's the last I'll say cause it's pretty narrowed down at this point. |
Anonymous
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We were an 8 year family; up until 5th grade our experience was fairly positive for a naturally bright, motivated kid. I wouldn't call Brent's curriculum academically rigorous, at any grade level, despite the number of highly educated parents so supplementing is very common.
Brent focuses heavily on iReady results in terms of teacher attention and student experience. If you kid is on grade-level or above (because of or despite of Brent) your kid will get less attention. The staff/principal have openly admitted that their priority is not to teach kids beyond grade level. Overall the teachers are very caring although only 50% remain from when we started. In terms of personality, Brent has a great student body and parent community. I find most of the kids are kind, thoughtful, and well-behaved -- perhaps related to the overall UMC community norms. Like any school however, some kids will be disruptive regardless. Every year Brent does the teacher shuffle depending on which teachers are leaving and which teachers want to change grade levels so one year 2nd grade group may be awesome, but the next year not so much. The special teacher are really fabulous! |
Anonymous
| OP it’s very obvious where your school is. Why don’t you just say it?! Why don’t you like it? |
Anonymous
| Absurdly woke? |
Anonymous
| We have also loved it. Once they know your kid, they put a lot of thought into class placement. Teachers have done their best to challenge each of my kids who have all thrived. Specials are great (especially music/arts and atelier). I am a big fan of the principal - she is thoughtful and good steward but keeps control over the school in an environment where there are a lot of parents with strong (and often conflicting) views. There are lots of great options on the hill but Brent is a wonderful community and we are excited to welcome new families during and after the renovation! |
Anonymous
Have to agree with woke. She's not realistic about what Brent's delivering, prioritizes support for needy OOB kids over pushing in-boundary kids who could work above grade level. Parents wouldn't mind if the school was serving higher-achieving kids well. Her approach alienates neighborhood parents and she doesn't give a hoot. Some of us paid so much for academic support in the upper grades, Mathnasium, writing tutors etc. that we might as well have invested in St. Peter around the corner. For us, Brent rocked for ECE, was fine for K-2nd, then went steadily downhill. Common experience. My impression is that Maury and Ludlow are stronger academically in the upper grades. I've been on the Hil for 30 years and my kids are in parochial middle school in VA now. We struck out in the BASIS and Latins lotteries and at DCI, too. |
Anonymous
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This. Don't delude yourself, OP.
Fine school for small kids. |
Anonymous
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I think a lot of people posted on here about experiences that were fairly long ago, though the principal and many of the teachers are still the same. You may want to seek out and talk to current parents.
I think Brent was mostly Brent due to its community. My kids certainly felt very safe and included there. But reading instruction was bad, and having to keep track of reading time in third grade basically killed my kid's interest in reading once it "didn't count." There was zero push for more math, even though my kid showed an aptitude for it. Maybe things have changed now, if kids are going to Mathnasium. Or not... We didn't have Mathnasium yet. 
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