Murch?

[Anonymous]

We are a new to Murch K family and have been happy so far. I'm curious that more kids leave Murch, I had heard that Mann and Lafayette drop at least a class due to the 3rd grade entry year at privates. Not sure about Janney. A friend whose son was at Lafayette and who had been happy was very upset when in 4th grade pretty much all of his friends had left.

10:35 are birthday parties banned at Latin?

[Anonymous]

My vote is still out on the principal. She does not seem open or engaged.

[Anonymous]

I agree PP but had heard that she was an improvement over her predeceasor. The whole situation with the old art teacher was insane. I get the feeling that the current principal is a short timer. I don't love that bland fake niceness. The VP seems good though.

[Anonymous]

Class size targets for DCPS are 20 per class from preK to Grade 2, and 25 for grades 3 to 5. So, having 4 sections for 2nd grade accomodates 80 students. 3 sections for 3rd grade is 75 students.

Many times these guidelines, which are included in the now expired union contract, are not adhered to. There are many more kids in classes. One way to think of the guidelines, is that if the class size is lower than guideline, out of boundary students may be admitted, if higher, then in boundary students are added, because they have the right to attend. But certainly there are not out of boundary slots.

Last time I looked at the Janney expansion plans, there were 4 classrooms for the lower grades (target 80 students), and 3 classrooms for the upper (target 75 students).

One advantage of charter schools is that they can set there own class size target and staffing model, and don't need to accept anyone just because they show up at the door. . . . .

So, for example, one of my kids was offered an OOB slot in an upper grade at a highly desired NW school. When I asked about the younger siblings grade, class size was already in the 25 in each section. So, I figured it would take a large departure of in boundary kids for a sibling slot to open up, and stayed with the charter that had accepted both kids.

This is a meandering way of responding to the PP who said that there is a section dropped in upper grades at some NW schools. It probably does mean departure to privates, but it could also mean increasing class sizes.

[Anonymous]

Parent of a Murch 5th-grader here --a lot depends on the teacher. We had some phenomenal teachers (in K, 1st and 3rd grade) and some less exciting ones. Overall we have been very happy with the school --it is solid, and when our child needed some extra help the school was very responsive. That being said, if music and art are important for your child, don't expect much. After some terrific teachers left a few years ago, it's been pretty lame.

[Anonymous]

My kid, who loves music, never mentions music class. I thought that the new art teacher was an improvement?

[Anonymous]

22:25 What are your plans for next year?

[Anonymous]

We have had varied responses when our child has needed extra help. As PP said, a lot depends on the teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid, who loves music, never mentions music class. I thought that the new art teacher was an improvement?

the new art teacher is amazing. there is a murch art blog which you can see a link to on the murchschool.org page. she doe sgreat work with them and my boys love art again.

[Anonymous]

Actually, I think this principal is very engaged with her staff and pushing them to be better and stronger. She also managed the cuts superbly getting rid of a not very good business manager and preserving teachers and in-classroom aides. The last principal was dreadful in many ways and clearly did not want to be there in year 2.

I know people who moved out of NW DC to avoid sending their kids to Deal. I hear many good things about Deal now - one has to remember they just added 6th grade and lost 9th to Wilson.

I have thought of Wash Latin for 5th grade since I had a classical curriculum growing up, but after really looking at it, we realized that would not work for my child. Is he getting the academics at Murch - yes. It is a solid school. Is WL better? Well, better than it had been and better if you think a classical education meets some kind of higher standard.

Again, school for him means meeting his needs and not just my parental aspirations, so I expect he'll stay at Murch for 5th. There will be plenty of angst getting through middle school and he would not do well by sending him off away from the neighborhood and friends sooner than the natural separation.

[Anonymous]

PP mentions the new principal's engagement with staff and I wonder what the staff does think of her. That would matter to me.
As a parent, I have found her communications with the families to be superficial at best. She is very much a politician and reportedly is not always very helpful one on one. While some think she made a judicious choice during the RIF, her communications with parents during that stressful time were not sufficient and were full of jargon.

[Anonymous]

The comments above capture my opinion beautifully. Superficial.

[Anonymous]

Murch has gone through how many principals in the past 6 years? Maybe it's not the principals that are the problem?

[Anonymous]

Maybe the problem is the person selecting the principals, Michelle Rhee, and her boss, Adrian Fenty. Oops, I forgot Fenty was at the ribbon cutting for the new Murch playground, he must be a good guy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are a new to Murch K family and have been happy so far. I'm curious that more kids leave Murch, I had heard that Mann and Lafayette drop at least a class due to the 3rd grade entry year at privates. Not sure about Janney. A friend whose son was at Lafayette and who had been happy was very upset when in 4th grade pretty much all of his friends had left.

10:35 are birthday parties banned at Latin?

This is no longer true. More folks are staying these days - 4th grade is pretty packed, all of my daughter's close friends stayed for 4th and the majority are seriously considering Deal for 6th.