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Email from Michelle Rhee - What does this mean? PS and Pre-K will be merged?
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Anonymous
| This move is opening up (free) preschool to the non-indigent. |
Anonymous
By world wide and city wide standards I am affluent. But making ~$100k a year, gross, preschool tuition of $14k was a huge thing. If my children who are now ~4th grade, could have gone to preschool in DC schools, I would have done that (they did go to preK in DCPS). Displacing a slot that would have gone to a head start eligible family, making I would guess less than $30k a year. That head start child would not attend the alternative $14k preschool, but likely would be in a family setting with grandma or an aunt or an unemployed parent. My kids who have shelves full of books, internet access to spelling games, family trips to historical sites, etc. etc. etc. would have the slot instead. Saving $14k a year would make me a happy voter, but the gap between rich and poor just got slightly slightly bigger. |
Anonymous
| Not sure enough head start eligible families were filling up all the program slots. And FT PS is over $20K. With 2-3 kids, that becomes unaffordable for a lot of families. You would be surprised at how many so-called middle class families have been hit with layoffs or lower income in the District (hint, they might not tell you). They want and need more affordable options during times of economic hardship too but either you pay a lot for private or get into a charter. How is this different than all the upper middle class families lining up at LAMB, Yu Ying, and Haynes for free pk and ps? Or Bridges and Appletree? I don't see the difference. |
Anonymous
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The program slots were more than full at our Title 1 School. Of course many of the low income parents didn't understand the online process to apply for PS3 and Pk4. On the other hand, the parents on DCUM seem to be pretty comfortable with the process.
It's a zero sum game. There are only 18 slots for each 3 year old classroom. For every affluent child that takes a slot, a low income child loses a seat. Is it any different than at LAMB or Yu Ying or Appletree? Nah. Does that make it good or fair? Michelle apparently thinks it is fantastic. Go Michelle! |
Anonymous
| There are many title one schools in neighborhoods that are gentrifying where there are now significant numbers of white parents. Neighborhoods like H St, Petworth, Columbia Heights, parts of Capitol Hill, Brookland, etc. If you believe in school integration, I think this is a smart move on Rhee's part. Separate but equal isn't a motto I think we should aspire to here in DC, yet if people believe that drawing whites into the system is a zero sum game then I guess that's what our system will continue to strive towards. |
Anonymous
Yeah, normally I try to overcome the negative reaction I have to a grammar mistake like this (because after all, isn't it a bit petty to worry about minor grammatical mistakes) but in this case, isn't she supposed to have an expensive publicist and all to help her with her public pronouncements? Sloppy! |
Anonymous
Why do you assume white equals high income? Many places found lower income families weren't signing up for head start slots because they thought the education was inferior to regular PK classrooms. They also felt stigmatized with a head start label so they purposely sought our non HS slots. With the the blended model, that goes away and more low income families actually benefit.
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Anonymous
| That's sought "out" non HS slots. |
Anonymous
I doubt it's a lack of understanding the process, it's a lack of awareness that it exists! The OOB process was alot different before. I have family on the Hill with kids that attended/still attend both Brent and Tyler and they never went through the lottery. They walked in and enrolled. I'm considered "highly educated" and was unaware of the new process, and wouldn't have known some charters (Elsie Stokes, Bridges) existed had it not been for DCUM. |
Anonymous
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What it means is that Head Start and non-Head Start pre-K kids will no longer sit in SEPARATE classrooms, with the Head Start kids SEGREGATED by their low income status.
The idea was the funding for the Head Start teachers, class supplies etc. were specifically federally funded, from a separate pool of money that might end at any moment. If you toured some DCPS preschools last year, you might have seen this in action. The administrators I spoke to were very pleased with the merged class concept, and so am I. |
Anonymous
| Thank you 3:30. That makes a lot more sense. Although I'm sure it's going to make a lot of parents unhappy that their kids are going to be mixing with the riff raff. |
Anonymous
| This is great. I toured Bancroft last year. The Head Start classroom was wonderful, well supplied, great teacher. The non-HS classes were awful. Poor kids were segregated (albeit in a nicer classroom). Seemed like a bad policy all around. I'm glad the eliminated it. |
Anonymous
To be fair, affluent white kids have been taking advantage of free Pre-S and Pre-K for many years now. It's not as if Pre-S and Pre-K aren't already available in DCPS and charter schools. This really means that poor kids won't be segregated into the H.S. program, because all Pre-S and Pre-K will fall under a larger umbrella now with greater economic diversity. Viewed in that light it's not such a bad thing. |
Anonymous
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Please forgive me. My kid is not yet old enough for preschool. I admit, despite extensive reading of DCUM, I am not sure I understand the previous system and how it is changing. What am I gathering, there was previously the lottery (including preschool and preK), which was available to any city resident (though not enough space for all, and not available in particularly affluent areas like Upper NW, which start in PreK 4)? And Head Start - which is preschool for income-eligible families? And there were separate classrooms for "HeadStart" and "preschool" within the same school. But now, the lower-income parents will still have some guaranteed spots (or not??) but all will be integrated in the classroom? Thanks for clarification.
Agree on the grammar gaff - ugh! |
Anonymous
| no, lower-income parents are no longer guaranteed spots. |