Mary McLeod Bethune Day Academy

[Anonymous]

Does anybody have any info on this charter school, particular for preschool? I did a search but didn't really find any info. Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

I live in the Brookland neighborhood and considered Bethune Day because it has Spanish Immersion. I met the principal at the Charter School Fair and he was very enthusiastic about the school. However, there is no buzz around this school because it lacks diversity and the majority of the children come from the Brookland Manor apartments (also known as "the hood"). I would pay them a visit though. Because it really could be a hidden gem in Brookland. Everybody is not going to get in Stokes or Yu Ying, if anybody gets in. We have to find and create the next best thing.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your response!

[Anonymous]

I also live in Brookland and want Spanish immersion. Are you applying, 16:40?

[Anonymous]

So it's Spanish immersion in PreK through 2nd? And they introduce Latin later?

http://mmbethune.org/schoolprogram.html

[Anonymous]

I just checked out the DC-CAS result and the 8th grade class 35% of the class is Advance in Reading. I guess Latin maybe a god language to learn.

[Anonymous]

sorry I meant good! :p

[Anonymous]

interesting program...

[Anonymous]

I also looked at the this school, but the DC CAS results are pretty poor. The other charters in Brookland area have considerable better scores (like Stokes, DC Prep) Only 41% of kids were proficient in Math last year, although it looks like it is on an upward slope.
Mary Mcleod Bethune Day Academy Pcs - Slowe-Brookland Campus E 3Reading Proficient 51.38 Math Proficient 41.67

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in the Brookland neighborhood and considered Bethune Day because it has Spanish Immersion. I met the principal at the Charter School Fair and he was very enthusiastic about the school. However, there is no buzz around this school because it lacks diversity and the majority of the children come from the Brookland Manor apartments (also known as "the hood"). I would pay them a visit though. Because it really could be a hidden gem in Brookland. Everybody is not going to get in Stokes or Yu Ying, if anybody gets in. We have to find and create the next best thing.

Excellent point. For language, it's best to start as early as you can. Overall scores aren't really relevant at PK-1st, IMHO.

OP, apply now before the word gets out to the 1,0000 OOB lottery applicants at Oyster. (Seriously. A thousand? No public school is that good. ) Some of the best charters in DC started in a church basement in the 'hood.

Thanks for posting about Bethune's Spanish and Latin programs. Good to know about options.

[Anonymous]

Exactly. If you can get a small band of parents together to apply, you can make a difference.

[Anonymous]

Hope the school is better this year than it was this year. My friends pulled their 2 children out of the program because of the many discipline/bullying problems in the school- and they were in grades below 2nd. I was told that the kids in the school were bad and that the staff counldn't/didn't know how to resolve the problem. BUT, if a group of new parents went to the school, maybe that problems would start to disappear.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I called the school yesterday and they offered me a spot for PS3; they said they had three spots available. That's a little odd, considering I thought they had to go through some lottery. But on the DCCS website, where they list the enrollment dates and lottery dates, that one does not have a lottery date listed.

I took the spot, considering it would be a good backup in case she doesn't get accepted anywhere else. I would consider transferring my DD in K, when she will have more options available for her age. The curriculum sounds great, however the bullying problem does concern me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I called the school yesterday and they offered me a spot for PS3; they said they had three spots available. That's a little odd, considering I thought they had to go through some lottery. But on the DCCS website, where they list the enrollment dates and lottery dates, that one does not have a lottery date listed.

I took the spot, considering it would be a good backup in case she doesn't get accepted anywhere else. I would consider transferring my DD in K, when she will have more options available for her age. The curriculum sounds great, however the bullying problem does concern me.

Yes, That is strange. Maybe they thought you were asking about PreS for this current school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, That is strange. Maybe they thought you were asking about PreS for this current school year.

That's what I thought, but I confirmed that the spot was for the 2011-2012 school year.