Feedback on Eaton Elementary School in Cleveland Park, NW

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oyster has a bilingual program and the school traditionally has been one the most sought-after in the city.

And puppies are cute.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Oyster has a bilingual program and the school traditionally has been one the most sought-after in the city.

How sought-after is it by families who don't want a bilingual program?

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oyster has a bilingual program and the school traditionally has been one the most sought-after in the city.

How sought-after is it by families who don't want a bilingual program?

And I do know of families who live IB for Oyster who have chosen other public or charter schools because they were not interested in a bilingual program.

[Anonymous]

The Eaton annual Halloween parade is no more. But there is the daily Escalade-parade.

[Anonymous]

It is possible to want to live in MtPleasant because you like the neighborhood but not want your kids to go to Bancroft because you are not enamored of bilingual education. I wish Bancroft boosters would understand that.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But, yes, the middleclass OBers at Eaton from mt Pleasant would likely be fine with Bancroft if it was just 20-30% low income. That is what most of us want - a school that is diverse but majority middle class so we and our kids aren't in culturally alien territory. Unfortunately, 70% of the kids in DC are not middleclass or above, which sets us all up for a scramble.

This thread is getting increasingly confusing and convolunted. But I agree with the point above. I'm a Bancroft parent and I, too, wish the school had a better socioeconomic balance (more middle class families). The thing is, they are right there in the neighborhood. But they don't choose Bancroft (except for preschool). As a parent who has worked very hard to try to change that (by meeting with prospective families, doing what I can to improve the school, etc.), it's incredibly frustrating. Chicken and the egg problem, I guess.

But for any parents who are on the fence, I can tell you that Bancroft is a surprisingly good for a school that 70%+ low income Latino kids.

I applaud you for your honesty. If a few Janney/Murch parents would let themselves be rezoned for Hearst. If Mt. Pleasant families stayed home for Bancroft. If the Logan charter crowed stayed home for Garrison. And so on. We would eventually have a functional, logical and SUCCESSFUL elementary school system. Traffic would be reduced and everyone would win. But instead, because of poor policy decisions, we are left with this ridiculous system where neighbors flee their neighborhoods by claiming some elaborate OOB decision-making process, but in reality everyone knows what is going on.

Again, you may believe that you have special mind-reading capabilities, but the truth is that you don't. If everyone who chooses not to attend Bancroft is doing so because of the socio-economic mix, how do you explain those who are simply not interested in its bilingual program?

Or those not interested in a traditional elementary school. We love Montessori and love that we can get it for free. If our IB school was awesome, we'd still be at our charter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is possible to want to live in MtPleasant because you like the neighborhood but not want your kids to go to Bancroft because you are not enamored of bilingual education. I wish Bancroft boosters would understand that.

Well, there are loads of Mt P parents who send their kids to LAMB and Mundo Verde. Just check out the swarm of parents around the MV buses in front of Don Juan's in the morning. So there are plenty of families in the neighborhood who want bilingual education, but Bancroft is not good enough for them.

[Anonymous]

Please just come to the Eaton open house on November 19.

Long time Eaton parent here and although there is some good information in this thread, there are also some odd, untrue comments.

If you have questions about Eaton, please come. You can talk to the principal, staff members and parents. Ask us whatever question you want. You can go into classrooms and tour the building. Yes, we need a renovation, we know. But Eaton always makes the best of what it has, and the results are happy, engaged, smart kids who are appreciated for all that they are.

IB or OOB, if you become part of Eaton, you can be part of the renovation team. We'll be happy to have you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please just come to the Eaton open house on November 19.

Long time Eaton parent here and although there is some good information in this thread, there are also some odd, untrue comments.

If you have questions about Eaton, please come. You can talk to the principal, staff members and parents. Ask us whatever question you want. You can go into classrooms and tour the building. Yes, we need a renovation, we know. But Eaton always makes the best of what it has, and the results are happy, engaged, smart kids who are appreciated for all that they are.

IB or OOB, if you become part of Eaton, you can be part of the renovation team. We'll be happy to have you.

I have always thought that this is not a virtue at Eaton, but instead a weakness. For whatever reason, the school has been rather timid (especially compared to other schools in the area) is advocating for its needs. I don't know whether it's because of old liberal guilt or because a number of parents over the years have also been DCPS employees and therefore haven't wanted to rock the boat. But this reticence to ask holds the school back IMO. DCPS has gone through a massive rebuilding program in the last decade, which has resulted in the renovation of every other DCPS school in Ward 3 (more than once, in Janney's case) -- except for Eaton. Now, as the result of the profligate (perhaps criminally irresponsible) spending on Duke Ellington, there are indications that the cupboard is becoming bare. Eaton is likely to be left behind again.

[Anonymous]

PP above, are you an Eaton parent? My guess is that you are not. Trust me, the Eaton community, staff and parents have asked and held meetings and put great effort into the renovation question.
Agreed that our community has a unique population. Specifically, not enough Ward 3 voters for a council member to advocate for us.
Interesting that moving forward with and making the most of what we have is not virtuous enough for you. No matter what you think, we'll just keep taking care of our kids.

[Anonymous]

My last child finished at Eaton two years ago. I stand by my comment that the school community is more sheepish than other schools in self-advocacy. If there are relatively few ward 3 voters among Eaton parents, what is Eaton doing for outreach to compensate for that? How many meetings have their been with Mary Cheh on the renovation? With other councilemmbers? Are they waiting for permission from DCPS? Has the school enlisted the support of the ANC? Not to my knowledge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP above, are you an Eaton parent? My guess is that you are not. Trust me, the Eaton community, staff and parents have asked and held meetings and put great effort into the renovation question.
Agreed that our community has a unique population. Specifically, not enough Ward 3 voters for a council member to advocate for us.
Interesting that moving forward with and making the most of what we have is not virtuous enough for you. No matter what you think, we'll just keep taking care of our kids.

Good -- you seem to be knowledgeable about what is going on. Perhaps you can speak to what has resulted from the effort on the renovation. What priorities and "asks" have been identified for the renovated building? What are the next steps in the planning process? When would the renovation begin? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Isn't Garrison due before Eaton?

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oyster has a bilingual program and the school traditionally has been one the most sought-after in the city.

How sought-after is it by families who don't want a bilingual program?

In most other countries in the world, bilingual education is just called education. Most people in DC are pretty well traveled and are more likely to speak other languages than a randomly drawn US sample, so most of them value bilingual education. An individual parent may not value bilingual education, but the benefits for kids are well documented.

My lawyer friends would mostly like to pretend that you can get by professionally without much knowledge of math, but the number of decent jobs that don't require it are dwindling, so they accept it when the school insists that their child learn it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hmm, based on these posts maybe OOB isn't code word for brown or poor, maybe it really is about you can't afford to live in my neighborhood (which is why op isn't bothered about being the unwanted OOB at Stoddard because she does feel she lives in the neighborhood). We lived in a crappy 2 bedroom condo IB for Eaton, and I can tell you people in my neighborhood knew we couldn't "really" afford to live there and treated us accordingly though we are white and hyper-educated with kids likely to do well when testing comes around in 3rd grade.

We were in a similar circumstance and but the supposed attitude you mention was not our experience at all. The real point is that there is more economic diversity within the Eaton boundary area than people may realize.

The people who live right around Eaton understand that there are many rental apartments along the avenues. They've been there since the 1920s, so this isn't news to anyone who lives in the general area. It's also not newsworthy that rent for a 1-bed + den apartment on Connecticut is less than the mortgage payment for $4.5 million Victorian on Newark St.

well, just try to get a playdate for your three year old at Macomb playground. I'd be standing with two other moms talking about our babies/toddler, we all just met each other and went through the oh where do you live routine. Then I'd go follow my three year old for five minutes and come back to hear the tail ends of a playdate established by the other two. And it's not me, because now that we live elsewhere playdates just fall from the trees.

i am sure the IBers at Eaton would have been lovely to us (whether they lived in Victorians or apartments) because that is a self-selecting population, but we never made it that long.

Here's one difference, at Halloween, as candy was handed out to my very slow going 2 year old, I can't tell you how many people asked "Do you live in the neighborhood." Never was this asked, not once, in my new neighborhood. It is just a mindset difference. Perhaps some of it is feeling we overstretched ourselves for this mediocre house in a good neighborhood and it isn't fair that others get the same school or neighborhood etc without the sacrifice. Or perhaps it is true snobbery.

Glad you had a better experience in CP.

This was my experience in CP. It was just a really unfriendly place. This has no bearing on Eaton though since I did not end up sending kids there.