FVES vs Olney

[Anonymous]

we do not love FV, lots of issues in older grades , lots of tech and the new principal has not been great for my 4th grader

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend with a 5th grader At FV. She reports vaping in the bathroom that 4th and 5th graders are doing. School isn’t telling parents what’s going on.
This would give me pause. I don’t know about the other 2 schools.

There have been incidents of vaping at other ES also - Barnsley (also in the Wood cluster) sent home a letter last year because kids were caught vaping.

Though at least parents were informed, unlike FV.

[Anonymous]

Different pp looking into the Flower Valley neighborhood. It seems like a nice area with local pool and young family. Would those children mostly go to Wood MS/Rockville HS or opt for private after elementary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Different pp looking into the Flower Valley neighborhood. It seems like a nice area with local pool and young family. Would those children mostly go to Wood MS/Rockville HS or opt for private after elementary?

I have experience with both the Rockville and Sherwood HS clusters. Plenty of FVES kids go to Wood and Rockville. It is more socioeconomically diverse than Olney schools. But I have concluded that it is what you make of it. I know kids from Rockville HS who went to law and medical school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend with a 5th grader At FV. She reports vaping in the bathroom that 4th and 5th graders are doing. School isn’t telling parents what’s going on.
This would give me pause. I don’t know about the other 2 schools.

There have been incidents of vaping at other ES also - Barnsley (also in the Wood cluster) sent home a letter last year because kids were caught vaping.

Though at least parents were informed, unlike FV.

PP FVES parent here - we were notified of a vaping incident in December (I believe it was a school wide notification). My child is younger but has friends with older siblings. Everyone was very aware of the December incident. I have not heard anything since, but it’s possible that things are not getting reported.

Dr. Fish, the new principal is very polarizing but I personally have been happy with my limited interactions with her.

I am nervous about Wood though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend with a 5th grader At FV. She reports vaping in the bathroom that 4th and 5th graders are doing. School isn’t telling parents what’s going on.
This would give me pause. I don’t know about the other 2 schools.

There have been incidents of vaping at other ES also - Barnsley (also in the Wood cluster) sent home a letter last year because kids were caught vaping.

Though at least parents were informed, unlike FV.

PP FVES parent here - we were notified of a vaping incident in December (I believe it was a school wide notification). My child is younger but has friends with older siblings. Everyone was very aware of the December incident. I have not heard anything since, but it’s possible that things are not getting reported.

Dr. Fish, the new principal is very polarizing but I personally have been happy with my limited interactions with her.

I am nervous about Wood though.

I appreciate your follow-up with factual information about a letter being sent home. Oftentimes, posters make unfounded claims with others adding on without a correction. Remember, just because it's typed here doesn't mean it is fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend with a 5th grader At FV. She reports vaping in the bathroom that 4th and 5th graders are doing. School isn’t telling parents what’s going on.
This would give me pause. I don’t know about the other 2 schools.

There have been incidents of vaping at other ES also - Barnsley (also in the Wood cluster) sent home a letter last year because kids were caught vaping.

Though at least parents were informed, unlike FV.

PP FVES parent here - we were notified of a vaping incident in December (I believe it was a school wide notification). My child is younger but has friends with older siblings. Everyone was very aware of the December incident. I have not heard anything since, but it’s possible that things are not getting reported.

Dr. Fish, the new principal is very polarizing but I personally have been happy with my limited interactions with her.

I am nervous about Wood though.

Can you elaborate on “Dr. Fish is very polarizing”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Different pp looking into the Flower Valley neighborhood. It seems like a nice area with local pool and young family. Would those children mostly go to Wood MS/Rockville HS or opt for private after elementary?

Lots of FV families opt for Good Counsel. It’s very close and convenient.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend with a 5th grader At FV. She reports vaping in the bathroom that 4th and 5th graders are doing. School isn’t telling parents what’s going on.
This would give me pause. I don’t know about the other 2 schools.

There have been incidents of vaping at other ES also - Barnsley (also in the Wood cluster) sent home a letter last year because kids were caught vaping.

Though at least parents were informed, unlike FV.

PP FVES parent here - we were notified of a vaping incident in December (I believe it was a school wide notification). My child is younger but has friends with older siblings. Everyone was very aware of the December incident. I have not heard anything since, but it’s possible that things are not getting reported.

Dr. Fish, the new principal is very polarizing but I personally have been happy with my limited interactions with her.

I am nervous about Wood though.

Can you elaborate on “Dr. Fish is very polarizing”?

There have been a few very unpopular changes like no costumes at the harvest parade (it was basically a Halloween parade in everything but name before) and this, plus how the changes have been communicated have really pissed off some people. Other people just don’t seem to like her. I personally have not been bothered by any of the changes (which mostly seem in line with what other schools have done) and the couple times I have interacted with her have been professional and fine. But we haven’t had any problems that have needed office involvement tbh. That seems to be because we have so far had very good teachers at FVES. I know there is some significant unhappiness with one of the new teachers but I can’t speak to that personally either. I could feel very different next year so who knows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend with a 5th grader At FV. She reports vaping in the bathroom that 4th and 5th graders are doing. School isn’t telling parents what’s going on.
This would give me pause. I don’t know about the other 2 schools.

There have been incidents of vaping at other ES also - Barnsley (also in the Wood cluster) sent home a letter last year because kids were caught vaping.

Though at least parents were informed, unlike FV.

PP FVES parent here - we were notified of a vaping incident in December (I believe it was a school wide notification). My child is younger but has friends with older siblings. Everyone was very aware of the December incident. I have not heard anything since, but it’s possible that things are not getting reported.

Dr. Fish, the new principal is very polarizing but I personally have been happy with my limited interactions with her.

I am nervous about Wood though.

Can you elaborate on “Dr. Fish is very polarizing”?

There have been a few very unpopular changes like no costumes at the harvest parade (it was basically a Halloween parade in everything but name before) and this, plus how the changes have been communicated have really pissed off some people. Other people just don’t seem to like her. I personally have not been bothered by any of the changes (which mostly seem in line with what other schools have done) and the couple times I have interacted with her have been professional and fine. But we haven’t had any problems that have needed office involvement tbh. That seems to be because we have so far had very good teachers at FVES. I know there is some significant unhappiness with one of the new teachers but I can’t speak to that personally either. I could feel very different next year so who knows.

I should add both my kids seem to like her fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend with a 5th grader At FV. She reports vaping in the bathroom that 4th and 5th graders are doing. School isn’t telling parents what’s going on.
This would give me pause. I don’t know about the other 2 schools.

There have been incidents of vaping at other ES also - Barnsley (also in the Wood cluster) sent home a letter last year because kids were caught vaping.

Though at least parents were informed, unlike FV.

PP FVES parent here - we were notified of a vaping incident in December (I believe it was a school wide notification). My child is younger but has friends with older siblings. Everyone was very aware of the December incident. I have not heard anything since, but it’s possible that things are not getting reported.

Dr. Fish, the new principal is very polarizing but I personally have been happy with my limited interactions with her.

I am nervous about Wood though.

Can you elaborate on “Dr. Fish is very polarizing”?

There have been a few very unpopular changes like no costumes at the harvest parade (it was basically a Halloween parade in everything but name before) and this, plus how the changes have been communicated have really pissed off some people. Other people just don’t seem to like her. I personally have not been bothered by any of the changes (which mostly seem in line with what other schools have done) and the couple times I have interacted with her have been professional and fine. But we haven’t had any problems that have needed office involvement tbh. That seems to be because we have so far had very good teachers at FVES. I know there is some significant unhappiness with one of the new teachers but I can’t speak to that personally either. I could feel very different next year so who knows.

..

Most schools have done away with in-school Halloween celebrations s if that's the worst decisions she's made, so
e it.

Going into.tue Halloween issue a bit more, principals have to consider all families, not just the ones that celebrate. It sounds like there is still.some type of fall celebration which makes the kids happy. That's who matters, not the parents who just want a photo opt to post.and to say they volunteered at school that day. If families celebrate Halloween, they can do it at night on their own time rather than the school set up an alternative activity that makes the opt out kids in there sad not to be with their friends and engaged in all the fun, costume hoopla. The parents opt out for the kids, most of the kids want to opt in due to what they see around them. It's actually very sad if you witness it year after year. The schools I worked in tried to make it fun for the opt out kids but it paled in comparison to the Halloween stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend with a 5th grader At FV. She reports vaping in the bathroom that 4th and 5th graders are doing. School isn’t telling parents what’s going on.
This would give me pause. I don’t know about the other 2 schools.

There have been incidents of vaping at other ES also - Barnsley (also in the Wood cluster) sent home a letter last year because kids were caught vaping.

Though at least parents were informed, unlike FV.

PP FVES parent here - we were notified of a vaping incident in December (I believe it was a school wide notification). My child is younger but has friends with older siblings. Everyone was very aware of the December incident. I have not heard anything since, but it’s possible that things are not getting reported.

Dr. Fish, the new principal is very polarizing but I personally have been happy with my limited interactions with her.

I am nervous about Wood though.

Can you elaborate on “Dr. Fish is very polarizing”?

There have been a few very unpopular changes like no costumes at the harvest parade (it was basically a Halloween parade in everything but name before) and this, plus how the changes have been communicated have really pissed off some people. Other people just don’t seem to like her. I personally have not been bothered by any of the changes (which mostly seem in line with what other schools have done) and the couple times I have interacted with her have been professional and fine. But we haven’t had any problems that have needed office involvement tbh. That seems to be because we have so far had very good teachers at FVES. I know there is some significant unhappiness with one of the new teachers but I can’t speak to that personally either. I could feel very different next year so who knows.

..

Most schools have done away with in-school Halloween celebrations s if that's the worst decisions she's made, so
e it.

Going into.tue Halloween issue a bit more, principals have to consider all families, not just the ones that celebrate. It sounds like there is still.some type of fall celebration which makes the kids happy. That's who matters, not the parents who just want a photo opt to post.and to say they volunteered at school that day. If families celebrate Halloween, they can do it at night on their own time rather than the school set up an alternative activity that makes the opt out kids in there sad not to be with their friends and engaged in all the fun, costume hoopla. The parents opt out for the kids, most of the kids want to opt in due to what they see around them. It's actually very sad if you witness it year after year. The schools I worked in tried to make it fun for the opt out kids but it paled in comparison to the Halloween stuff.

PP you are responding to and I agree that it was not a big deal. I think some of the families with older kids don’t like change but also I think are just low level upset about a bunch of things (additional portables this year, left over frustration from COVID).