Rolling Terrace Elementary School - Non-Spanish Immersion? Neighborhood?

[Anonymous]

We are moving to the DC area in December and are considering a home in the Rolling Terrace Elementary School area in Takoma Park. Our DC is in second grade, and while both parents speak Spanish, she does not. We would love to have her in the immersion program, but from what I read on their web-site, she would not be allowed in since she doesn't have the language yet. So... my questions are:

1) How is the non-Spanish immersion instruction at Rolling Terrace? Does it feel like the orphaned step-child of Spanish immersion, or is it on par?
2) Is the rule hard and fast re: no entrance into the Spanish program without some Spanish knowledge for older kids?
3) Any other thoughts, impressions, opinions re: this school?
4) How is the neighborhood? Convenient? Stores / restaurants / parks?

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

We love Takoma Park and lived there for almost ten years. It's convenient to downtown, has a cute downtown with a great farmer's market and has relatively affordable housing. The people who live around there tend to be very welcoming, progressive and inclusive.

However, we moved just outside the beltway when our kids hit kindergarten. Our kids would have fed into RT and we went to several open houses to learn about the immersion program. It is definitely the "star" of the school. The school is absolutely divided and if you can't get into the immersion program, the rest is pretty poor quality. There seem to be discipline and other issues at the school overall, plus the physical plant leaves much to be desired. It's a very economically mixed neighborhood and there are many rentals around, making for a fluctuating student body. Finally, we were very unimpressed by the teachers we saw at the open houses -- they were really bland and didn't seem like they would encourage our kids to stretch or learn.

If you can move into Takoma Park proper and send your kids to TPES, I would highly recommend it as an alternative.

Take a look at Blair, too -- you may or may not like what you learn about that high school.