Is Brent PS3 going to be yet another year with long IB waitlist?

[Anonymous]

That's not a shock.

[Anonymous]

In light of this information about almost all of the PS spots going to siblings, does anyone know how or when the decision to add capacity will be made?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In light of this information about almost all of the PS spots going to siblings, does anyone know how or when the decision to add capacity will be made?

Why add to the capacity in ECE? Go find another school. The school needs some diversity in every sense of that word so they should focus on figuring that out and add capacity in the elementary grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In light of this information about almost all of the PS spots going to siblings, does anyone know how or when the decision to add capacity will be made?

Why add to the capacity in ECE? Go find another school. The school needs some diversity in every sense of that word so they should focus on figuring that out and add capacity in the elementary grades.

I bought in the Brent district because I want to live in a non-diverse section of the Hill. If you want diversity, go to another school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In light of this information about almost all of the PS spots going to siblings, does anyone know how or when the decision to add capacity will be made?

Why add to the capacity in ECE? Go find another school. The school needs some diversity in every sense of that word so they should focus on figuring that out and add capacity in the elementary grades.

You seem really unhappy with the elementary grades. Maybe you need to go find another school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In light of this information about almost all of the PS spots going to siblings, does anyone know how or when the decision to add capacity will be made?

Why add to the capacity in ECE? Go find another school. The school needs some diversity in every sense of that word so they should focus on figuring that out and add capacity in the elementary grades.

I bought in the Brent district because I want to live in a non-diverse section of the Hill. If you want diversity, go to another school.

Please tell me you're joking.

[Anonymous]

I just had to re-read that poster's comments twice to make sure I read it correctly. That's disgusting.

[Anonymous]

I think you've been trolled.

[Anonymous]

That's what I was going to say. Hope that was a troll!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In light of this information about almost all of the PS spots going to siblings, does anyone know how or when the decision to add capacity will be made?

Principal Young, in consultation with the LSAT, ultimately will make the decision. Based on my limited understanding, in order to add another ECE classroom, Brent will need to get buy-in from Central Office. The PTA (i.e., current parets) then will be asked to fund the cost of creating a new classroom, although the project will have to go through the DGS pipeline. There will also be a need to acquire classroom technology like smartboards, furniture and other equipment. Preliminary budgets for next year will be out in several weeks and then the school administration will know what it has to work with. There seem to be a lot of hurdles to overcome to get this all in place by August 2015. More info might be forthcoming at the next PTA meeting on 2/11.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's what I was going to say. Hope that was a troll!

Families generally aren't buying within the Brent District in an effort to find racia or socioeconomic diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In light of this information about almost all of the PS spots going to siblings, does anyone know how or when the decision to add capacity will be made?

Why add to the capacity in ECE? Go find another school. The school needs some diversity in every sense of that word so they should focus on figuring that out and add capacity in the elementary grades.

You seem really unhappy with the elementary grades. Maybe you need to go find another school.

I take it PP didn't volunteer for the ongoing Strategic Planning initiative so that her concerns about diversity could be addressed. Maybe DCHA should exercise its power of eminent domain, tear down a couple of blocks of row houses and build some public housing to supplement the Ellen Wilson development and market rate units to be included as part of the Hine project. There will be plenty of diversity to be found at Van Ness, not to mention Watkins and Tyler.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In light of this information about almost all of the PS spots going to siblings, does anyone know how or when the decision to add capacity will be made?

Principal Young, in consultation with the LSAT, ultimately will make the decision. Based on my limited understanding, in order to add another ECE classroom, Brent will need to get buy-in from Central Office. The PTA (i.e., current parets) then will be asked to fund the cost of creating a new classroom, although the project will have to go through the DGS pipeline. There will also be a need to acquire classroom technology like smartboards, furniture and other equipment. Preliminary budgets for next year will be out in several weeks and then the school administration will know what it has to work with. There seem to be a lot of hurdles to overcome to get this all in place by August 2015. More info might be forthcoming at the next PTA meeting on 2/11.

It's not a required grade and therefore should not be a priority. ECE classrooms are particularly costly because they require a teacher and an aide, rather than just a teacher. PS3 is not tested so it doesn't contribute significantly to helping the school meet the benchmarks that are set for it. The Chancellor has already announced several times that budgets will be flat this year. Unless you already have a child attending Brent you need to find another school for age 3 (and 4).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In light of this information about almost all of the PS spots going to siblings, does anyone know how or when the decision to add capacity will be made?

Principal Young, in consultation with the LSAT, ultimately will make the decision. Based on my limited understanding, in order to add another ECE classroom, Brent will need to get buy-in from Central Office. The PTA (i.e., current parets) then will be asked to fund the cost of creating a new classroom, although the project will have to go through the DGS pipeline. There will also be a need to acquire classroom technology like smartboards, furniture and other equipment. Preliminary budgets for next year will be out in several weeks and then the school administration will know what it has to work with. There seem to be a lot of hurdles to overcome to get this all in place by August 2015. More info might be forthcoming at the next PTA meeting on 2/11.

It's hard to imagine that the PTA would prioritize this sort of spending above other things to support students in the later/required/tested grades, particularly now that all testing is done on computers rather than pen and paper, which is a HUGE shift for DCPS and downtown did not provide the resources, training and funding to ensure that transition is a smooth one. We do not attend Brent but our school's PTA stepped up to pay for licenses for iReady math instruction modules because while iReady assessment is required and paid for by downtown the supporting instruction modules were not provided. I would much rather our PTA underwrite that cost than provide PS3 for another 15 kids.

[Anonymous]

Brent needs to revisit the idea of dropping PS3 from the ECE program. There just isn't any rationale which supports excluding dozens of IB kids until they turn 5 and can then attend K as a matter of right. Allowing the community to coalesce around a PK4 program that would be able to accommodate as many as 80 IB students seems far preferable to what has happened over the past two years.