Is Lafayette (or Much or Janney) strict/harsh with the kids?

[Anonymous]

Hi! My husband and I are both DC natives, we moved to the beach a few years ago and are moving back with our sons, 7 and 9. We are looking in Chevy Chase but I've heard Lafayette is quite a strict school, ie: no putting your head down when you're writing, silent lunch, kids have to be very quiet and stay in line in the hallways, etc.

My sons currently attend a public Montessori, so they have a lot of freedom of movement, topics are largely a discussion as opposed to teacher asking and kids raising their hands, learning is through projects or experience and not just workbooks, etc. My kids have no behavioral issues but like most little boys, they're wiggly and need redirection when it comes to focusing.

Would really appreciate any info anyone has! We're also considering Murch and Janney.

PS - anyone know how these schools teach? Is it mostly worksheets and technology or it is more hands on exploration and projects?

[Anonymous]

I don’t want to put the other schools down, and they’re all DCPS schools operating under the same policies, but imho you want Murch.

[Anonymous]

You should seriously consider one of the Montessori charters or something like Inspired Teaching.

IMHO, Montessori works great for some kids and terrible for some kids, but when it works, it's pretty awesome. If it is working well for your kids at those ages, I'd be looking to stick with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should seriously consider one of the Montessori charters or something like Inspired Teaching.

IMHO, Montessori works great for some kids and terrible for some kids, but when it works, it's pretty awesome. If it is working well for your kids at those ages, I'd be looking to stick with it.

PP just to add - I'm not a Montessori booster - in fact we decided against because our kids are pretty little and we don't know if it'll work and we're not looking to have to hop schools in two years when it turns out their test scores are not where we want them. But in your case? Kids proven to thrive in Montessori? I'd go with it, at least for the rest of elementary school. I was impressed with Lee when I toured them.

[Anonymous]

I don't have experience at any of those schools, but I can speak from experience that large and overcrowded schools tend that way because the sheer number of kids moving or talking in one place practically requires it. So, you might be happier at a smaller school, or at least once that isn't overcrowded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should seriously consider one of the Montessori charters or something like Inspired Teaching.

IMHO, Montessori works great for some kids and terrible for some kids, but when it works, it's pretty awesome. If it is working well for your kids at those ages, I'd be looking to stick with it.

Disagree unless OP is interested/committed to doing private school. If the plan is to stay in public through HS, I think it's important for kids to transition to more traditional classroom environments sooner, or you are setting them up for very difficult transitions in MS or HS. DC doesn't not have good Montessori options past about 3rd grade. Even the good Montessori charters start to fall off in the upper elementary grades specifically because families start to leave for the reason I've mentioned.

I would also note that none of the Montessori charters are close to the upper NW neighborhoods OP is looking at, and that there is no guarantee they'd get into the one they wanted. LAMB is likely the most successful Montessori in DC and it doesn't backfill past K, so her kids can't go there even if they lucked out in the lottery. If what you want is a nurturing, community environment, you are far better off with a neighborhood school with high inbound buy in, where where kids will go to school with neighbors, can walk to school and do playdates after, and spend less time commuting and not give yourself such an uphill climb for forming social bonds.

Agree with the PP that of the three schools you mentioned, Murch is likely the most nurturing in the way a Montessori parent will appreciate. I would also look at the Hardy feeders, as I think Hardy might be a better fit for a family like OP's, than Deal, which Lafayette, Murch, and Janney all feed to. Deal has the best academic scores in the city for MS, but it's also large and crowded and might not be appealing to a family who has done well with Montessori.

[Anonymous]

Lafayette does not have silent lunch. I don't know if having your head on your desk is considered a problem for teachers because my child has never said anything about it either way (I would be fine if they were told not do that) and yes, they do make kids stand quietly in line, as much as that's actually possible with kids. I don't have any other school to compare it to, but I don't think it is especially strict but it is definitely not comparable to Montessori education.

[Anonymous]

My kids went from Montessori to Murch. Seamless.

[Anonymous]

You want Murch.

[Anonymous]

I have pretty energetic kids at Lafayette and they definitely don't have silent lunch, nor are they perfectly quiet in the hallways (I'm in and out of the school a fair bit and see kids moving around). They do move in lines and aren't running around at their preferred personal levels of chaos, like you'd expect for a school, but it all seems like a pretty normal range for elementary school kids. There are definitely a fair number of worksheets that the kids go through, and they use tech for things like iReady lessons, but I think most of the DCPS schools do that to some degree at least?

[Anonymous]

Just curious how you’ve heard such specific things about behavior management but whoever shared didn’t say anything about the teaching?

[Anonymous]

Montessori was not good for my kids and we left after two years in lower elementary. But I've kept in touch with families that stayed all the way through 6th and their kids had no trouble transitioning to "traditional" school. Traditional school isn't so traditional anymore - no desks in rows, for example, it's tables with kids facing each other. So I agree you should lottery for Montessori if you can make the commute work. I think all the charter montessoris are true montessori schools. Shinning Stars had an awful admin for a while but not sure their status now.

Also, look at the demographics at the schools you are looking at. There is no way UMC families are going to put up with harsh or strict discipline. Lafayette didn't have silent lunch when we were there. The teachers did try to keep kids quiet when they walked in a line in the halls, but their success at this wasn't great and no consequences followed.

[Anonymous]

You want Mann.

[Anonymous]

There are teachers that yell at Lafayette. It didn't bother my kids but it bothered me. Yelling teachers decreased in middle and high school, or at least the kids reported it less. I'd be more bothered by this than silent hall walking. But yelling teachers seem to be tolerated in every school.