Lafayette Kindergarten?

[Anonymous]

Can people please share there thoughts/ experiences about Kindergarten at Lafayette? We are trying to decide whether to send our son to one of the private schools to which he was admitted ( a major financial stretch with a house on the market back in New England and a mortgage here!) or whether to give Lafayette a shot. Neither of us is familiar with public school, but we've heard good things. Any insights into the pros and cons of the Lafayette K program and the school in general would be much appreciated!

[Anonymous]

I have at least four friends whose kids went to Lafayette for kindergarten and they love the school.

[Anonymous]

Lafayette is by all accounts a wonderful school. I'd be hard pressed to think of a reason to send your child to private school if you're in the Lafayette district. In fact, there was recently a study conducted (sorry I don't have a link) showing that Lafayette students were as likely if not more likely to get into top colleges as their private school counterparts. I think the point of hte study was to show that educational success is more about family/community support than anything else; Lafayette is a school full of kids from families that are very committed to high-quality education.

[Anonymous]

One drawback to Lafayette's popularity and quality is the Kindergarten classes are quite large now. That might be an issue if your child is used to a smaller class size; it was for us at least.

[Anonymous]

How large is "quite large"?

[Anonymous]

When my son was in the K at Lafayette there were 25/26 kids in the class. I heard they were going to add another class this year to get it down to a more acceptable 20 kids. The problem is that the early childhood wing is stuffed already with 3 preK's (they use to have only 2 but added the third about 5 years ago) and so they would have to put the class outside of the area which makes team teaching tough.

The biggest problem with Lafayette is the popularity (there is now 2 trailers) - the school has gone from like 480 students to over 600 in past few years - and open classroom design. I think the open classroom is more of an issue in the upper grades. This is the last year for 6th grade at the school so the over crowding should start to improve.

Otherwise a great school - good administration and teachers. Very active parents.

Have you toured it? call school 202 282-0116

[Anonymous]

We sent our child to a hard to get into private school in DC starting in pre-K. So far, we have invested alot in education and we have definitely liked many aspects of our investment. However, the biggest difference between a good public school and a good private school is most likely to be the class size, the student/teacher ratio and the facilities. I would even venture to add that the good public schools have more experienced faculty. In retrospect, I would have saved the money from private school for middle and high schools, and then college. If you are a a stay on things parent, then your child will thrive in school. If things don't work out, you can always rethink your decision later. Good luck.