PS-3, Pre-K lottery - what would you do differently?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only upper NW school I could see using one of the 6 choices for would be Hyde, since they tend to have a substantial portion of their student body coming from OOB.

Unless I was inbounds for JKLMO, I wouldn't bother to even try for a PS3 or PK4 slot. I just don't see that happening unless your are inbounds.

OP - Funny you say that! It just happen I know 2 families in Petworth who both got 4 year olds into Hyde as OOB this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP: Are you applying to charter schools as well?

You know it!

[Anonymous]

To the PP who suggested Garrison - it is not a nice facility, and I don't see the kids being well-supervised on the playground. What makes you think that this is a school that parents should consider, other than its location?

[Anonymous]

Garrison seems like an urban school with poor test scores and no gym, that people WISH were better because of its location. Lots of hipsters moved to Logan Circle and Columbia Heights when it went from scary too-far-East-of-Dupont-crack house-prostituteville-with-mansions-with-potential in the early 90s to a renov. condo/Whole Foods/bike and walk downtown mecca and now they are having children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the PP who suggested Garrison - it is not a nice facility, and I don't see the kids being well-supervised on the playground. What makes you think that this is a school that parents should consider, other than its location?

What is happening at Garrison is what happened at Ross. Neighborhood parents (who are my friends and mostly not "hipsters" at PP says) who did not get in OOB at Ross, Cooke, Thomson are seriously thinking about sending their kids. There is a facebook page, they are meeting with the principal. They like the teachers and the principal! The inside of the school is much nicer than the outside. So, for a 3 year old or 4 year old, if you didn't get in anywhere, why not check it out and consider it. If 8 or 10 neighborhood families enroll in PS and PK it could really start a turn around at the school.

Someone has to be first -- and I know its hard to make your child first -- but think about it, what is the worst outcome from sending your 3 or 4 year old to Garrison for a year? Its probably at least as good an education as they are getting at their daycare. At those young age the race income issues are really non-issues. The little kids are not on the play ground with the big kids, so there is really no physical danger. It saves you 12K a year in daycare fees and maybe, just maybe, you find out Garrison is a fine school and you and your neighbors can be happy there (and you can stay in the hipster neighborhood and make PP green with envy ).

[Anonymous]

I am in boundary for Garrison, so I hope that your hopes are realized. This said, I jog by the school daily, and have observed children (under 7) leaving the playground to chase me up the streeet on more than one occasion. These children left the playground unnoticed by the staff who was supposed to be supervising them, and were brought back to the playground by older children who seemed to be in charge.

[Anonymous]

I just feel that there are so many posters from DCPS on this board nowadays boosting schools with little more than spin.

Why not focus on curriculum development and teacher training?

[Anonymous]

I agree with you wholeheartedly. DCUM can be a good source of information on schools that you might personally want to investigate, but you can't rely on the reputation that they might seem to have by reading about them here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the PP who suggested Garrison - it is not a nice facility, and I don't see the kids being well-supervised on the playground. What makes you think that this is a school that parents should consider, other than its location?

What is happening at Garrison is what happened at Ross. Neighborhood parents (who are my friends and mostly not "hipsters" at PP says) who did not get in OOB at Ross, Cooke, Thomson are seriously thinking about sending their kids. There is a facebook page, they are meeting with the principal. They like the teachers and the principal! The inside of the school is much nicer than the outside. So, for a 3 year old or 4 year old, if you didn't get in anywhere, why not check it out and consider it. If 8 or 10 neighborhood families enroll in PS and PK it could really start a turn around at the school.

Someone has to be first -- and I know its hard to make your child first -- but think about it, what is the worst outcome from sending your 3 or 4 year old to Garrison for a year? Its probably at least as good an education as they are getting at their daycare. At those young age the race income issues are really non-issues. The little kids are not on the play ground with the big kids, so there is really no physical danger. It saves you 12K a year in daycare fees and maybe, just maybe, you find out Garrison is a fine school and you and your neighbors can be happy there (and you can stay in the hipster neighborhood and make PP green with envy ).

That would be so great! Something we can wish for every school in DC really. But that post about the kids leaving the playground, not cool. Kind of like the little kids you see roaming the streets after 10 pm on their bikes, where is the supervision...

[Anonymous]

My kids go to a school where sometimes the older kids (under the supervision of the staff) help out on the playground. They do it to give the kids a sense of responsibility, and the younger kids like it too 'cause they get to play with the older kids. It's just like my kids' soccer coach, who has a few of the kids from his older team help out during practice. They feel all important, and the younger kids learn a lot from them.

When I was in elementary school, it was understood that the older kids on the playground watched out for the little ones and reined them in. We had one of those enormous former "fairground now a school / park" (think grounds of Banneker) playgrounds in the Midwest, so teachers couldn't be everywhere at once. When I went to summer camp, older kids regularly played with and watched over younger kids. It's part of growing up and getting babysitting experience.

So, let's not automatically discount the school just 'cause older kids help out. Let's trust our community and our kids just a little, shall we?

[Anonymous]

it's not that the bigger kids were reigning the little ones in, but the fact that a first grader was able to leave the playground, unobserved by the adults who were supposed to be in charge. I think that it was great that the fifth grader took responsibility, and if she hadn't, I would have walked the child back to an adult. Fact is, neither of us are responsible for the safety of that child, and the adult that was, was not doing their job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just feel that there are so many posters from DCPS on this board nowadays boosting schools with little more than spin.

Why not focus on curriculum development and teacher training?

Amen. There is so much boosterism here, I almost wonder if real estate agents are trying to haul back up the housing prices in some neighborhoods. Cooke is not in Ross's league, that's a joke (No, more accurately a naked attempt to promote one school at another's expense - Ed.). Garrison is an ugly old wreck that seems unsafe in more ways than one. Takoma's economic demographic doesn't come close to the neighborhood demographic. Curriculum development would be a splendid idea, but don't hold your breath. This is NOT a Rhee priority.