Langley

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is K like at Langley? I see 18 spots are open.

They are trying to fill out the cohort-- it has always been small because it started with only two PK3s. After the good PK3 year we've had, and talking with current K parents, I would have no qualms about staying for K. The current PK3 cohort is bigger so I don't think it will be a problem to fill up K.

[Anonymous]

Can any current parents tell me if there are military families that go to Langley?

We are set to arrive on Joint Base Anacostia Bolling in 2 weeks and we toured Leckie and we were less than impressed with Kindergarten. We will be here for two school years and while I'm sure our daughter would be fine, we are looking at our options. I see that base has a bus that goes to Langley and was hoping someone could tell me if there were other military families that attend.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can any current parents tell me if there are military families that go to Langley?

We are set to arrive on Joint Base Anacostia Bolling in 2 weeks and we toured Leckie and we were less than impressed with Kindergarten. We will be here for two school years and while I'm sure our daughter would be fine, we are looking at our options. I see that base has a bus that goes to Langley and was hoping someone could tell me if there were other military families that attend.

Thank you!

There are military families, who I personally know, but I don't know anyone who lives on the base. But they would not run the bus if nobody rode it, right? Not sure why you didn't like Leckie, but K and 1st at Langley will be fine. My daughter is going into K along with some of her best friends, and I know both the current K teachers are good. It's a nice small school where everyone knows your name-- maybe that would be nice for your daughter after a move. We would love to have you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can any current parents tell me if there are military families that go to Langley?

We are set to arrive on Joint Base Anacostia Bolling in 2 weeks and we toured Leckie and we were less than impressed with Kindergarten. We will be here for two school years and while I'm sure our daughter would be fine, we are looking at our options. I see that base has a bus that goes to Langley and was hoping someone could tell me if there were other military families that attend.

Thank you!

There are military families, who I personally know, but I don't know anyone who lives on the base. But they would not run the bus if nobody rode it, right? Not sure why you didn't like Leckie, but K and 1st at Langley will be fine. My daughter is going into K along with some of her best friends, and I know both the current K teachers are good. It's a nice small school where everyone knows your name-- maybe that would be nice for your daughter after a move. We would love to have you!

I'm a teacher (high school though, not elementary) and at Leckie they switch between three teachers at the K level which I don't find developmentally appropriate.

I also heard really harsh language from one of the teachers. Not swear words or anything but when a child went up to the teacher, they didn't listen and put their hand out and said "bye" over and over until the kid walked away. And when the tour was over and I was leaving, she was straight up yelling at the kids. Loud enough that I heard it down the hall. I know that it was just a tour and only a snap shot but then I wonder, if that's what it's like when someone is touring, what is it like when no one is paying attention? Maybe I'm being too picky? But my gut feels like we should find a "softer" program.

A smaller school sounds wonderful. Leckie is preschool-8 and they say the older kids aren't around the younger ones but there were some very tall, definitely middle school kids sprinting wild through the halls and screaming as loud as they could in the stairs. I honestly left shocked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can any current parents tell me if there are military families that go to Langley?

We are set to arrive on Joint Base Anacostia Bolling in 2 weeks and we toured Leckie and we were less than impressed with Kindergarten. We will be here for two school years and while I'm sure our daughter would be fine, we are looking at our options. I see that base has a bus that goes to Langley and was hoping someone could tell me if there were other military families that attend.

Thank you!

There are military families, who I personally know, but I don't know anyone who lives on the base. But they would not run the bus if nobody rode it, right? Not sure why you didn't like Leckie, but K and 1st at Langley will be fine. My daughter is going into K along with some of her best friends, and I know both the current K teachers are good. It's a nice small school where everyone knows your name-- maybe that would be nice for your daughter after a move. We would love to have you!

I'm a teacher (high school though, not elementary) and at Leckie they switch between three teachers at the K level which I don't find developmentally appropriate.

I also heard really harsh language from one of the teachers. Not swear words or anything but when a child went up to the teacher, they didn't listen and put their hand out and said "bye" over and over until the kid walked away. And when the tour was over and I was leaving, she was straight up yelling at the kids. Loud enough that I heard it down the hall. I know that it was just a tour and only a snap shot but then I wonder, if that's what it's like when someone is touring, what is it like when no one is paying attention? Maybe I'm being too picky? But my gut feels like we should find a "softer" program.

A smaller school sounds wonderful. Leckie is preschool-8 and they say the older kids aren't around the younger ones but there were some very tall, definitely middle school kids sprinting wild through the halls and screaming as loud as they could in the stairs. I honestly left shocked.

Wow, I am so sorry to hear that. I had always assumed Leckie would be pretty good because of the base.

I'm not going to tell you Langley is perfect or that there is never a harsh word But no way would K classes rotate like that, and the rowdy middle school kids are in a different school across the alley-- they might be walking on the same sidewalk at dropoff or coming into Langley to pick up siblings, but their school is a separate building. Langley has either one or two classes per grade level for a total of about 300 in PK3-5th.

Langley is also a pilot site for socioemotional programming. We use Conscious Discipline and I really, really love it-- it's all about the kids feeling safe and loved and teaching them social skills. So it's a very warm and nurturing place. There are five DCPS pilot sites, you might check out Beers as well if you're interested. We also have Playworks for fitness and social skills, and Foodprints for gardening. I know it's not the best test scores and doesn't have a good high school feeder, but we've liked it well enough to turn down several other offers last year and this year.

[Anonymous]

Thank you!

We are looking at schools that Bolling can bus to so beers wouldn’t be on the list. I work part time and can drive to school most days if needed but not all.

I know that no school is perfect and I’m definitely not looking for perfect. I just felt so uncomfortable the way teachers were speaking to 5/6 year olds. Calling a girl “little girl” in a nasty way when telling her to sit down? Maybe that’s a dc thing? I don’t know but that just seems so far from kind let alone developmentaly appropriate. And I’d like my daughter to have a kind experience in K. This is our first year in public school as where we are coming from doesn’t have preschool. She has gone to part time preschool but this is her first full time experience. I just would love for her to have a caring, nurturing teacher and I didn’t get that impression of Leckie. Not to mention a ton of base families go to other schools because they also don’t have a warm feeling about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you!

We are looking at schools that Bolling can bus to so beers wouldn’t be on the list. I work part time and can drive to school most days if needed but not all.

I know that no school is perfect and I’m definitely not looking for perfect. I just felt so uncomfortable the way teachers were speaking to 5/6 year olds. Calling a girl “little girl” in a nasty way when telling her to sit down? Maybe that’s a dc thing? I don’t know but that just seems so far from kind let alone developmentaly appropriate. And I’d like my daughter to have a kind experience in K. This is our first year in public school as where we are coming from doesn’t have preschool. She has gone to part time preschool but this is her first full time experience. I just would love for her to have a caring, nurturing teacher and I didn’t get that impression of Leckie. Not to mention a ton of base families go to other schools because they also don’t have a warm feeling about it.

Yeah, I'm not gonna tell you Langley is perfect, but I know both K teachers and the 1st Grade teacher and there is just no way they would ever be nasty. We're all about kindness and nurturing!

https://www.langleyelementary.org/tiger-tales This year the parents did a little blog so you can get a feel for the school. There are interviews with various teachers as well as mini articles that the parents write.

[Anonymous]

You might want to double check that your base has a bus that goes to Langley DCPS and not another Langley. That send like a really long drive to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You might want to double check that your base has a bus that goes to Langley DCPS and not another Langley. That send like a really long drive to me.

There are buses to schools all over the city. Even layfette which is like 15 miles from base.

[Anonymous]

Okay I take that back. They will no longer bus to Mann, Layfette, and Murch. But they bus to Eaton, Peabody, Hyde, Key and other schools that are not in ward 8.

[Anonymous]

Have you toured the school to see if it's worth the schlep? I'm a new poster, but I also know the boosters well. I would go visit and check it out for yourself. The PTA leadership is not going to give you an honest take.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay I take that back. They will no longer bus to Mann, Layfette, and Murch. But they bus to Eaton, Peabody, Hyde, Key and other schools that are not in ward 8.

Distance isn't a factor; they bus to where there are at least a handful of students. The students go where they can get in via the lottery, or where there isn't a wait list (if they arrive mid-year).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you toured the school to see if it's worth the schlep? I'm a new poster, but I also know the boosters well. I would go visit and check it out for yourself. The PTA leadership is not going to give you an honest take.

Well having a pta is one step higher than Leckie?

Yes I will go tour if we get into a school.

I understand the bus ride will be a bit of time. I understand it might not be perfect. But I’ve done a lot of research so far and it’s not like I can pick any school in dc. I’m holding these schools up against leckie which makes me feel very uncomfortable from the experience I had while visiting. So I’m going into all of this pretty eyes wide open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay I take that back. They will no longer bus to Mann, Layfette, and Murch. But they bus to Eaton, Peabody, Hyde, Key and other schools that are not in ward 8.

Distance isn't a factor; they bus to where there are at least a handful of students. The students go where they can get in via the lottery, or where there isn't a wait list (if they arrive mid-year).

Yes I figured that much. I was responding to the person who told me to double check it was Langley in dc because of it being far from base. I was just explaining that the base does bus to “far” schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay I take that back. They will no longer bus to Mann, Layfette, and Murch. But they bus to Eaton, Peabody, Hyde, Key and other schools that are not in ward 8.

Distance isn't a factor; they bus to where there are at least a handful of students. The students go where they can get in via the lottery, or where there isn't a wait list (if they arrive mid-year).

Yes I figured that much. I was responding to the person who told me to double check it was Langley in dc because of it being far from base. I was just explaining that the base does bus to “far” schools.

It is far, but Langley makes sense for a bus because it's a school with room in almost every grade level, and they can take all IEPs. And it's next to McKinley Middle and McKinley Tech, so that's good for sibling groups and people who want to go to McKinley Tech.