Thoughts on Bruce Monroe @ Parkview

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here-

Thanks for all the feedback! We are a Spanish speaking family and want a nurturing environment where Spanish is heavily spoken. Do you think we would get that experience there?

Also- thoughts on giving up Stokes EE match for BM?

Where do you live? Stokes EE is a not close to BM.

Neither one is close to us. It would be about an equidistant driving commute to either. We have no good IB school options. Moving/private is our plan for middle school. We live off the green line so it would be an easy commute via metro to BM. We would have to drive to stokes EE. There’s lots of pros and cons but no one place will ever check all the boxes I suppose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here-

Thanks for all the feedback! We are a Spanish speaking family and want a nurturing environment where Spanish is heavily spoken. Do you think we would get that experience there?

Also- thoughts on giving up Stokes EE match for BM?

We’re a BMPV family and absolutely. It is about two-thirds Latino, and many Latino parents speak minimal English. No 50/50 immersion school, which is all in DC after K (BMPV is 90/10 through K), can force a kid who defaults to English to speak Spanish outside of class time. Stokes or BMPV or anywhere else. But it is a wonderful environment with a high performing cohort of kids, and we’re happy enough there that we’ve turned down Stokes and MV offers to stay. That said, if you’re closer to Stokes or highly prioritize the DCI preference, then I may still choose Stokes. But as an elementary school itself, BMPV is equal or better in the areas important to us.

It’s wonderful to hear your perspective! Thank you. How do you feel communication with teachers and admin is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're IB, and I have two there. We've been happy there overall, though the older kid hasn't had the best year. About half of families are IB, and many who are OOB still live nearby. We see many families walking to school every morning.

Is the bad year due to academic performance or behavioral issues at the school?

[Anonymous]

We lotteried into YY and should have stayed ib with Bruce Monroe. Big regret

[Anonymous]

Communication is really good, some teachers send newsletters weekly. Most are around at pickup to talk. The PTA is active and leadership is well liked by teachers and parents. From what I’ve seen, I don’t think they teach to the test, they seem pretty understanding driven. Given that you aren’t looking for a middle school feeder, I don’t think there’s a downside for you to BMPV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We lotteried into YY and should have stayed ib with Bruce Monroe. Big regret

This has got to be a troll. Why would you go to a Chinese school in higher grades if you don’t speak it or can’t support.
Plus you can go back to your IB school anytime.

[Anonymous]

I'm not trying to diss YY, but everyone's impression is that the Chinese language is not taught very seriously there and none of the kids really speak it, so if you have a kid that isn't straight up allergic to language learning, you're probably going to be able to jump in and swim just as poorly as everyone else is, pretty much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here-

Thanks for all the feedback! We are a Spanish speaking family and want a nurturing environment where Spanish is heavily spoken. Do you think we would get that experience there?

Also- thoughts on giving up Stokes EE match for BM?

We’re a BMPV family and absolutely. It is about two-thirds Latino, and many Latino parents speak minimal English. No 50/50 immersion school, which is all in DC after K (BMPV is 90/10 through K), can force a kid who defaults to English to speak Spanish outside of class time. Stokes or BMPV or anywhere else. But it is a wonderful environment with a high performing cohort of kids, and we’re happy enough there that we’ve turned down Stokes and MV offers to stay. That said, if you’re closer to Stokes or highly prioritize the DCI preference, then I may still choose Stokes. But as an elementary school itself, BMPV is equal or better in the areas important to us.

It’s wonderful to hear your perspective! Thank you. How do you feel communication with teachers and admin is?

I cannot tell you how highly I think of the admin and vast majority of the teachers. We had a hard year once as well (though not worse than could happen anywhere else and my child is particularly sensitive), and once I looped in the admin, their response gave me so much confidence in the school that I was a BMPV loyalist through and through. It's a little under 500 kids, but every adult in the building knows your child's name and who their adults are.

And we have never experienced teaching to the test, whatever that actually means. If anything, my kids are terrible test takers and I WISH they'd teach test taking a bit more! But my normal "above average" bright kids have always been challenged, and the teachers are good with knowing when to push them harder and when to support more when needed. And not specific to BMPV, but the DCPS math curriculum (Eureka) is sort of dull and repetitive, but also moves quickly. My now third grader started multiplication last year, for example, and they work on spelling and writing more than the standard DCPS curriculum requires.

It's a unique little school, and if it wasn't for the middle school issue, I think you'd have a ton of neighborhood buy in. There are just too many DCI feeders nearby that provide families that don't want to move a more certain pathway. Plus the building is old and unappealing, though they're scheduled for renovation (and a swing space) in the next five years.