Thoughts on Friendship Armstrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were originally placed in Friendship Armstrong this year for PK3, and we were ecstatic about their Reggio program. The instructors came across as genuinely loving and enthusiastic about the work. And the projects they were having kids do looked fun and engaging. But we found out that it was difficult to get in to the after care program (a must for us). The admin staff were sort of discouraging (but honest!) about the odds of getting in and there were no plans this year to expand the number of slots. Plus they didn't open the application until mid summer so we couldn't really "wait and see." We ended up grabbing a slot at Langley when one was offered in early June. (We are super pleased with Langley for what it is worth. We didn't feel we traded down for guaranteed after care.) Anyway, I think it is a good school with lots of love and creativity, but after care is a necessity, you may want to factor that in to your equation.

Pp do you mind sharing your waitlist numbers? We live (maybe near you) in Truxton Circle and are hoping for a spot at Langley or Armstrong. TBH I have a bit of envy that my child missed the age cutoff last year as I look at the Langley blog.

I think we were maybe 11 on the waitlist for Langley when the lottery results first came out. Then we dropped considerably, maybe to 19. We are not inbound, and we imagine a lot of inbound families jumped on the list when they didn't get their first 12 choices in the lottery, hence the drop. But we eventually made it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were originally placed in Friendship Armstrong this year for PK3, and we were ecstatic about their Reggio program. The instructors came across as genuinely loving and enthusiastic about the work. And the projects they were having kids do looked fun and engaging. But we found out that it was difficult to get in to the after care program (a must for us). The admin staff were sort of discouraging (but honest!) about the odds of getting in and there were no plans this year to expand the number of slots. Plus they didn't open the application until mid summer so we couldn't really "wait and see." We ended up grabbing a slot at Langley when one was offered in early June. (We are super pleased with Langley for what it is worth. We didn't feel we traded down for guaranteed after care.) Anyway, I think it is a good school with lots of love and creativity, but after care is a necessity, you may want to factor that in to your equation.

Pp do you mind sharing your waitlist numbers? We live (maybe near you) in Truxton Circle and are hoping for a spot at Langley or Armstrong. TBH I have a bit of envy that my child missed the age cutoff last year as I look at the Langley blog.

I think we were maybe 11 on the waitlist for Langley when the lottery results first came out. Then we dropped considerably, maybe to 19. We are not inbound, and we imagine a lot of inbound families jumped on the list when they didn't get their first 12 choices in the lottery, hence the drop. But we eventually made it!

Thanks, that gives me hope! I dunno why this has to be so stressful. I really would be quite happy with Langley despite the test scores. Yet even that feels out of reach sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most charters have attrition, especially those you don't see talked about much on these boards. Families are usually trying to 'trade up' to what they perceive as a better school.

The school is Title 1 and 61% of children are considered at risk (to be considered at risk, the family must qualify them for TANF or nutrition assistance, the child is in foster care, or is homeless). That, plus the fact that 91% of students are African American or Black and 15 are white seems to scare some people off.

People don't like to address this head on but.... do you want your child to be in the minority? I'm ok with it for preschool but would love to have a more diverse school as my child moves up. I'm hoping that more families will decide to stay through early elementary.

I should hope that minority is fine, there are almost no schools with white majorities here if any. Being literally the only one ... I guess you have to feel that out as time goes by and see how it is for your child. If your race is 15% that seems fine, I think the problem is by 2nd grade it's more like .001%.

Op here. I went to a high school were I was in roughly the 15% minority, though i was in the gifted program where it was more like 40/60. I thought it was a good change from being at a private school through middle school where it was 95% white. I don't mind my kid being in the minority at all, but I do think there is a difference between being a 15-20% minority and a 1-5% minority. I would prefer a truly diverse school, not a school that is basically all one race or another, regardless of what race that is.