Your experiences at Janney

[Anonymous]

according to my neighbor who is parent of current 5th grader all but a "handful" - e.g., less than 10 kids - went on from Janney 5th grade last year and are currently at Deal. I think I'm right on this that there were 3 5th grade classes last year at Janney - approx. 25 kids/class - 75 total less 10+/- = eh, call it 90% ish of kids went on to deal. could be even higher % if it were actually 4 5th grade classes last year

going forward i understand there are min. 4 classes per grade all the way up to 5th and beginning this shcool year there are 5 K classes

[Anonymous]

This year there are 5 first grades and 5 kindergartens and I believe next year there will be 6 kindergarten classes.

[Anonymous]

I'm confused, how does Janney have space to go from 4 classes per grade to 6? I thought it was already overcrowded? But I don't really know any numbers or anything.

[Anonymous]

They are currently constructing 6 additional classrooms

[Anonymous]

Interested parent here, may move into Janney district down the line, is the school generally going to be overcrowded, common areas and lunch room, with 6 classes per grade? 25*6*7 grades is a lot of students. Genuinely interested, because I thought it was already crowded.

[Anonymous]

Current student count is about 627. Current parent report principal has stated forecast is for student count to go as high as 700 within next couple years. No one knows yet but lots of speculation that dcps may propose shifting part of the janney boundary (Murch too) so that more homes will be in boundary for Hearst which Is much smaller (300 kids)

[Anonymous]

Ok, that makes sense. You can't have an elementary with 800 kids, right?

[Anonymous]

But they are currently remodeling Hearst with no plans to make it larger. I would bet 1 million dollars that the Janney boundaries are never changed to shift kids to Hearst. It's been "talked" about for years but will never happen.
Janney will continue to expand and expand until it reaches a point where parents start to withdraw and use private and/or move to Mont Co. because it's too big.

[Anonymous]

I have neighbors with children in their early 20s. They told me that when their children were at Hearst, some of the now- IB Janney neighbors fought to have the boundary redrawn to include them IB for Janney. Seems like those boundaries could be changed back to Hearst.

[Anonymous]

According to the most recent Principal presentation last week the plans next year are for 3-PK, 5-K, 5-1st, 5-2nd, 4-3rd, 4-4th and 4-5th. Projections for enrollment next year are 670-680.

My kids started in later grades after private. In first grade the year my child started there were 10 other new kids. In 3rd there were fewer new kids, but still a number of them. There have been new kids added every year we have been there. Some from private, so who move into the area. We have been very happy with the curriculum, the teachers and the accessibility of the staff and administration. The kids were welcomed in by other students, even my rather "energetic" son. I switched because I wanted the kids to be part of the neighborhood school. I felt they were really missing out on being part of the community we lived in (we are IB) and it has made a huge difference in their personalities, confidence and play. When I toured Janney originally I noticed the new building, but also that most of the curriculum they were teaching was exactly the same as what my kids were getting in private. Same math curriculum, same writing curriculum, same reading assessments, same music and art exposure. Even the same artist happened to be performing at an assembly that we had just had at the private school the week before. When I added it up it seemed like a logical choice and in hindsight, one of the best ones I have made for my kids.

As for Deal, over 90 percent of the kids from Janney, Lafayette, Murch, etc are going there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No eye candy.

Yeah, not anymore. Just fleece draped trust funders with designer chicken coops in the back yard. Still, we soldier on.

[Anonymous]

What?!

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But they are currently remodeling Hearst with no plans to make it larger. I would bet 1 million dollars that the Janney boundaries are never changed to shift kids to Hearst. It's been "talked" about for years but will never happen.
Janney will continue to expand and expand until it reaches a point where parents start to withdraw and use private and/or move to Mont Co. because it's too big.

Isn't Janney getting a second renovation after the first? I think it will fill up even with the second renovation.

[Anonymous]

When we first started at Janney 8 years ago, there was 1 PK4 and 250 children total. Then after the 2011 addition (beautifully done!) there war 620. Now 700+ and a new addition coming…I've sent 3 classes of kids through from PK4-5th.
In each class in the last 4 years, all but about 4 or 5 kids have gone on to Deal. Deal and Wilson are on the horizon for nearly everyone. This is going to be interesting.