Brent ES Swing Space and ECE
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Anonymous
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Will it be worth it in the swing space? It’s a little ways away but my oldest will start PK 3 next school year (2026-27).
I see they are in the swing space for 2 school years. Also does anyone know how many PK classes they have? Is the school (number of students and hopefully teachers) going to increase with the larger space for the 2027-28 year in the new space? |
Anonymous
| Depends. What are your options if you aren’t enrolling this year? |
Anonymous
Begrudgingly private school. I’d rather my child go to public school for as long as possible. |
Anonymous
Full disclosure, I'm a Brent parent and sticking it through for the modernization, but we're not PK3. It's hard to know. Might depend on the maturity of your PK3 kid (wow that feels ridiculous to type) on how they'd handle the bus two times a day. Some days are going to be long with how bad traffic can get on that route. My older kid would have probably been fine at 3, but no way I'd have done it with my younger one, ha. Honestly, I likely would have opted for another year at our daycare, which was fantastic, or another private preschool versus bussing up to near Columbia Heights daily. If had your situation, I'd get my names on the lists / apply for whatever private /daycare situations you'd seriously consider for PK3 2026-2027. Then I'd check back in around the holidays before the DCPS lottery with people who opted to do ECE at Brent@Meyer and see how it's going. They have a full year to work out the kinks before you'd be joining, but still isn't ideal for PK3. You lose out on so much of what I valued with our ECE experience when the school is that far away. I assume you're IB? If so, you could always try for a spot at PK4 when the building re-opens or take your spot at Kinder, which is what a lot of families do anyway. I haven't checked the data to see if every IB kid without a sibling got a PK3 spot this year. Someone smarter than me probably knows. I'm sure the list moved way more than normally given the swing space, but it may still not even be a guarantee you'd get a PK3 spot without an older sibling, so another reason to do diligence on all other schools anyway. |
Anonymous
You can rank any schools you prefer above it. There are 3 or 4 appletrees, dcps schools with and without boundaries, and charters that are all worth considering, at least for pk3. Like would I usually pick two rivers or amidon over brent? No, but if Brent is in the swing space and the others are a decent commute and I know I have a right to Brent in k? Sure. |
Anonymous
Yeah, very good point. Only thing is if you get into Appletree, etc. and you’ve ranked it above Brent, you don’t even get a number for Brent to decide. (Appletree being a good option for this situation because it is just PK, and then all kids move on to various K, so everyone is in the same boat.) |
Anonymous
| I thought Brent was swinging to the old Emery building. |
Anonymous
Meyer— 2501 11th St NW, Washington, DC 20001 https://www.brentelementary.org/our-school-2/modernization |
Anonymous
Huh. Wonder if that means Langley swings to Emery. |
Anonymous
I still don't get why they picked this lousy swing space. |
Anonymous
Someone more plugged in than me will have the right answer, but important distinction between picked and was assigned. It’s what was available. Had the modernization been punted a year, the space JO is in now might have been back on the table. But I wouldn’t want to push it back, either. I think the fact the project is now a two year deal makes it a whole lot harder, though, that’s for sure. |
Anonymous
| To answer OP’s other question the plan is for there to be more PK classes in the new Brent. I believe the goal is 6 rather than the current 4. Six would align better with the size of the other grades (3 classes per grade). |
Anonymous
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We did PK and K at another DCPS school but several of our friends from daycare and soccer attend Brent. We lotteried there for 1st and have decided to take a seat even with the swing space concerns.
I know there have been a lot of criticisms of the principal for not pushing for a different swing space and for performance issues in the upper grades, but I've been impressed with the level of communication we've received this summer. They're keeping a running log of their emails online, and reviewing them may help give you an idea of what to expect. https://us11.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=7e41bdf908faa5822df471415&id=fd2c68d80f |
Anonymous
| We're keeping our kids at Brent for the renovation too. Confirming that the swing space location was assigned. Brent's building desperately needs the renovation and can't wait another year or longer. To answer OP, I would send my 3 year old next year- the ECE teachers at Brent are awesome and the atelier class is magical. As a community we're all trying our best to make sure the swing space a positive experience for all of the kids. |
Anonymous
| I'm not too concerned about the swing space years. It's the god-awful 5th grade in 4th grade classrooms that worries me. |