Walker Jones Preschool

[Anonymous]

Please go visit Walker Jones and make an informed decision. I can share my perspective fwiw. Our family is AA, doctor-lawyer couple. Until first DD was 3 we lived at CityVista (bought prior to kids, not thinking about school boundaries at all). Before entering DD1 in the 2011 lottery I visited a slew of schools - every Spanish immersion program available, every Capitol Hill school, Community Academy, Charter School Fair, Thompson , etc and also Walker Jones. In ll honesty, WJ was the only school I would never send my child to. Nothing to do with demographics o Racism -- I have no problem with a majority AA preschool setting for my kids. Rather, I was extremely concerned with (1) the lack of parental involvement (I was the only parent at one open house) and (2) the concept of mixed age, child driven classrooms including multiple kids the autiism spectrum (in a School where the administrators I encountered could not or would not address my concern of how this kind of mainstreaming into a nontraditional (Reggio) setting would be managed effectively and safely for all the children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would definitely send my kid there for preschool
And take it year by year. The building is nice. I know two families who had their kids in the autism classroom. One was extremely happy, and the other was not. Which actually seemed more about the kids/families than the school.

I have a child who is on the spectrum. Our educational consultant and developmental pediatrician who are both very familiar with all DCPS services for kids with ASD advised us not to send our child to Walker Jones. There are better programs out there.

[Anonymous]

This is around the corner from Walker Jones, and explains why the higher SES families in surrounding neighborhoods (NoMa, Bloomingdale, Shaw) don't support the school.

http://www.wtop.com/109/3246589/Police-release-video-of-drive-by-shooting

[Anonymous]

My kid is in pre k 4 there. We are happy enough with it for this year (last year too). Hoping to get into a charter for the fall. For the younger grades it is fine. Excellent teachers and the behavior problems don't derail learning until later.