What can we do to improve our neighborhood schools as a community?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think one part of the equation has to be encouraging charter schools to locate in PG. This has helped elevate the perception of DCPS - people no longer feel limited to move to certain school boundaries because of the flourishing charter system. As a result, neighborhoods improve and property values increase which by extension improves the local school. I have no idea how one goes about "encouraging" charters though.

+1

What DCPS has done with charters is inspirational (but DCPS is frankly a way better system - my husband has worked as an educator in both). There needs to be WAY more PGCPS, particularly (specifically) in the northern half of the county. It irks me to no end that the northern charters have wait lists of 400+ while spots in southern charters go unclaimed, because things have to be "equal". If parent interest/involvement/concern are not equal, don't make the charter school numbers equal. Go where the need is, and you'll get good parents involved--parents like those on this board, who'd love for their kids to be in public, and who'd love to be involved in the public system, but simply don't have viable options at the moment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think one part of the equation has to be encouraging charter schools to locate in PG. This has helped elevate the perception of DCPS - people no longer feel limited to move to certain school boundaries because of the flourishing charter system. As a result, neighborhoods improve and property values increase which by extension improves the local school. I have no idea how one goes about "encouraging" charters though.

+1

What DCPS has done with charters is inspirational (but DCPS is frankly a way better system - my husband has worked as an educator in both). There needs to be WAY more PGCPS, particularly (specifically) in the northern half of the county. It irks me to no end that the northern charters have wait lists of 400+ while spots in southern charters go unclaimed, because things have to be "equal". If parent interest/involvement/concern are not equal, don't make the charter school numbers equal. Go where the need is, and you'll get good parents involved--parents like those on this board, who'd love for their kids to be in public, and who'd love to be involved in the public system, but simply don't have viable options at the moment.

13:51 here from previous page. This is part of what I wrote to maxwell about. Specialty and charter schools need to be located at population centers, not geographic centers!

[Anonymous]

^^ Well done! Was this addressed in the response you received? I can only hope that the county administration understands our concerns.

I know this is a public system, but surely the services have to be located where the demand exists, rather than where the county *wishes* it existed (i.e. in the worst parts of the county in terms of crime and poverty). I understand the rationale that those kids are the most in need of a great new option in the form of a charter school.....but spots go unclaimed! I'm not going to speculate as to why, but the numbers speak for themselves.

Parents in the northern half of the county who would be great and involved parents in PGCPS are currently going elsewhere because we simply have no other choice. HUGE missed opportunity for this system. Stop being equitable and start looking at those wait lists.

[Anonymous]

Another geographic issue is that families in the northern part of the county are often commuting into DC for work and specialty and charter schools near the NE DC border are needed. Parents don't want to go deeper into the southern part of the county for school. A school like YuYing, LAMB, or Creative Minds would have so many families in the Mt. Ranier/ Hyattsville cooridor beating down their door that they would be overwhelmed with the demand.

[Anonymous]

^^ Yes! I am in MtR and this is exactly what I said to Maxwell. It makes no sense to have only a few token specialty programs in the northern half of the county, and not only that, but locate them OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY. What the heck! Also the closer to the District you get, the higher the concentration of Latino residents who could really benefit from a Spanish immersion school. As I said they provided a really thoughtful response overall but could have been more specific about that issue in particular.

Write to him and your board of education rep and tell them. [e-mail]. Also was given the name of Lupi Grady who is the newly elected board of ed rep for District 2 and is a Latina and pro-bilingual education.

[Anonymous]

I am in South county and think most of the best programs seem to be in North county. It looks like CMIT is looking at a South county location but I think North County has far better options that the rest of us.

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of new families that have moved to Accokeek new construction and in Fort Washington. Most all I know are doing private...more options down this way would help tremendously with the efforts to continue to attract and retain people down here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Same here. Anyone herein a school ranked 5 or higher? If I remember from another post, didn't Greenbelt go way up this year. Please tell what are you actually doing differently?

Ours is a 7. I only have one in school, so I'm not sure what makes it different. I know the things that I like about it, though. Purely anecdotally, I know that I see both men and women picking up their kids regularly. The principal knows all our names, even my youngest who doesn't go to the school, the teacher emails regularly, there are plenty of opportunities to get involved with the school, whether you stay home or WOHM. But, probably more than all these things, the socioeconomics is probably higher than in a lot of PG.

[Anonymous]

There definitely need to be more options in general, and that includes the southern part of the county! I think the county just needs to be more strategic about it. Identify what the needs are and locate those schools in parts of the county that are accessible (i.e. near transit, or on the way INTO DC not outside the beltway!). And be strategic about where you place the programs. For example -- the greatest need for bilingual Spanish education is where I live in Mount Rainier and the northern part of the county right outside DC. That is where the majority of PG's Hispanic population is. So the French or Chinese could then go in other parts of the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think there's clear consensus on what to do.

And I don't think that the people who have the power to make the changes have the political will to do so.

At any rate, I'd look at the couple of middle schools and high schools that are doing the best and see how those practices can be employed at a younger age.

I want so much to live in PG county (I love my area) and to support the public school but I just can't sacrifice my child's education for that greater good. Not sure we'll stick it out beyond elementary, but we will see how it goes.

+1

I agree that living in the County is wonderful for a lot of reasons. But I cannot sacrifice my own child's education which is why we schlep to a DC private. And thats hard on us from a commuting standpoint, so we are actually going to leave the County altogether and move to a place where the public schools are performing better and closer to our jobs in DC. Its sad, but I don't know if PG will ever get it together.