Jefferson Academy Kool-Aid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do any of you saying Jefferson is a viable option for Brent families know where it actually is relative to where people live. It's on the opposite side of the interstate. In another quadrant of the city. Across South Capitol. With no direct bus. And a walk that will soon be across an open trench with freight trains running through it. Totally a neighborhood school.

ˆˆˆ^Fair enough. I had the same thought, yet......when we got a spot at Latin ( 5 miles away ) I tossed my kids on the awful Latin bus and/or scary Metro to get there. Parents will do/go anywhere for quality schooling

While it may feel far because it's not the usual direction those that live on the Hill may normally travel, Jefferson really isn't all that far. Sports on the Hill soccer teams practice there all the time (such as girls u-11 tonight).

It actually IS that far if you're doing it every day, during rush hour.

You have lost your perspective. Get on the Metro at Eastern Market (three colored lines, three stops, free both ways), hop off L'Enfant Plaza, walk one and a half blocks and voila. My son does this on a regular basis. Easy and fast.

So true. By 6th grade you wouldn't be/shouldn't be driving your kids unless they're in a cast. They're city kids - teach them to use public transit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do any of you saying Jefferson is a viable option for Brent families know where it actually is relative to where people live. It's on the opposite side of the interstate. In another quadrant of the city. Across South Capitol. With no direct bus. And a walk that will soon be across an open trench with freight trains running through it. Totally a neighborhood school.

ˆˆˆ^Fair enough. I had the same thought, yet......when we got a spot at Latin ( 5 miles away ) I tossed my kids on the awful Latin bus and/or scary Metro to get there. Parents will do/go anywhere for quality schooling

While it may feel far because it's not the usual direction those that live on the Hill may normally travel, Jefferson really isn't all that far. Sports on the Hill soccer teams practice there all the time (such as girls u-11 tonight).

It actually IS that far if you're doing it every day, during rush hour.

You have lost your perspective. Get on the Metro at Eastern Market (three colored lines, three stops, free both ways), hop off L'Enfant Plaza, walk one and a half blocks and voila. My son does this on a regular basis. Easy and fast.

So true. By 6th grade you wouldn't be/shouldn't be driving your kids unless they're in a cast. They're city kids - teach them to use public transit.

Sorry, not quite ready to put my 11 year old on a system with regular delays and fires.

[Anonymous]

I went to the Open House at Jefferson last night too. There were about 16 or so Brent families there.

Impressions:

- It's a small school (<300 kids) and they seem to do a tremendous amount to really create individualized instruction for the kids (with a lot of the current focus on getting kids up to speed). But I suspect that same attention could and would get turned to helping students do more advanced work if they came in proficient or advanced and the school remained relatively small.

- The physical plant of the school seemed fine. No shiny all glass atriums or anything but fine. The classrooms have huge windows. A lot of the Brent parents checked out the bathrooms after all the Eliot-Hine talk (!), and they were fine too. I saw S-H post-renovation, and I wasn't any more excited about that. Jefferson has more natural light which is my big thing.

- Curriculum seemed fine (big humanities block and big math/science block during the day with some other classes in between). I imagine Latin (maybe Basis?) and the offerings of Deal would excite me more, but I haven't toured those schools yet. But I went to a PK3-8 grade school where the "middle school" grades were each taught by a single teacher with a bachelors degree in education and no specialized subject matter knowledge. So Jefferson's offering are a big step up on that.


- Didn't love all the focus on the upcoming PARCC test (spirit week, etc.) but having experienced another Title 1 school, I suspect Brent is one of the exceptions rather than the norm in not paying much attention to it teaching/student preparation-wise.

- I walked to the school from my Capitol Hill home. I hadn't gone that way for quite a while, so I was pretty pleasantly surprised by how pleasant it was. Tons of people on the street, kids playing on playgrounds and using the rec facilities, housing projects didn't seem scary. I could see myself biking there/back with a young middle schooler and probably eventually letting him or her bike by him/herself. To be determined as my kids are still young.

- I've also spoken a fair amount with the mom who has kids at Brent and Jefferson, and what she has said has alleviated a lot of my trepidation about the unknown. I don't want to drag her into this forum, but I would suggest Brent families thinking about Jefferson talk to her.

So my take home was that another school could potentially excite me more, but if the alternative is selling our house and moving to the burbs or paying $40K per year for private, I'd pick Jefferson. Our kids are still young though, so these decisions aren't in our immediate future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do any of you saying Jefferson is a viable option for Brent families know where it actually is relative to where people live. It's on the opposite side of the interstate. In another quadrant of the city. Across South Capitol. With no direct bus. And a walk that will soon be across an open trench with freight trains running through it. Totally a neighborhood school.

ˆˆˆ^Fair enough. I had the same thought, yet......when we got a spot at Latin ( 5 miles away ) I tossed my kids on the awful Latin bus and/or scary Metro to get there. Parents will do/go anywhere for quality schooling

While it may feel far because it's not the usual direction those that live on the Hill may normally travel, Jefferson really isn't all that far. Sports on the Hill soccer teams practice there all the time (such as girls u-11 tonight).

It actually IS that far if you're doing it every day, during rush hour.

You have lost your perspective. Get on the Metro at Eastern Market (three colored lines, three stops, free both ways), hop off L'Enfant Plaza, walk one and a half blocks and voila. My son does this on a regular basis. Easy and fast.

So true. By 6th grade you wouldn't be/shouldn't be driving your kids unless they're in a cast. They're city kids - teach them to use public transit.

Sorry, not quite ready to put my 11 year old on a system with regular delays and fires.

So put them on the 30/32/34/36.

[Anonymous]

Oh, it also seemed like they had a pretty good range of extracurriculars at the school, many taking advantage of organizations nearby (partnership with DC United, DC Sail leads a sailing program, etc.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to the Open House at Jefferson last night too. There were about 16 or so Brent families there.

Impressions:

- It's a small school (<300 kids) and they seem to do a tremendous amount to really create individualized instruction for the kids (with a lot of the current focus on getting kids up to speed). But I suspect that same attention could and would get turned to helping students do more advanced work if they came in proficient or advanced and the school remained relatively small.

- The physical plant of the school seemed fine. No shiny all glass atriums or anything but fine. The classrooms have huge windows. A lot of the Brent parents checked out the bathrooms after all the Eliot-Hine talk (!), and they were fine too. I saw S-H post-renovation, and I wasn't any more excited about that. Jefferson has more natural light which is my big thing.

- Curriculum seemed fine (big humanities block and big math/science block during the day with some other classes in between). I imagine Latin (maybe Basis?) and the offerings of Deal would excite me more, but I haven't toured those schools yet. But I went to a PK3-8 grade school where the "middle school" grades were each taught by a single teacher with a bachelors degree in education and no specialized subject matter knowledge. So Jefferson's offering are a big step up on that.


- Didn't love all the focus on the upcoming PARCC test (spirit week, etc.) but having experienced another Title 1 school, I suspect Brent is one of the exceptions rather than the norm in not paying much attention to it teaching/student preparation-wise.

- I walked to the school from my Capitol Hill home. I hadn't gone that way for quite a while, so I was pretty pleasantly surprised by how pleasant it was. Tons of people on the street, kids playing on playgrounds and using the rec facilities, housing projects didn't seem scary. I could see myself biking there/back with a young middle schooler and probably eventually letting him or her bike by him/herself. To be determined as my kids are still young.

- I've also spoken a fair amount with the mom who has kids at Brent and Jefferson, and what she has said has alleviated a lot of my trepidation about the unknown. I don't want to drag her into this forum, but I would suggest Brent families thinking about Jefferson talk to her.

So my take home was that another school could potentially excite me more, but if the alternative is selling our house and moving to the burbs or paying $40K per year for private, I'd pick Jefferson. Our kids are still young though, so these decisions aren't in our immediate future.

You made my day! Thanks for posting these details. It's really helpful to get some specifics and know what to look for. Likewise, our younger one isn't quite there yet but Jefferson's location would work well for us in many ways. I'll stay tuned.

[Anonymous]

Oh, another impression:

- We were there after regular school hours, but from the chatter in the hallway, it seemed like a very warm, friendly school where the teachers and staff know the kids really well. That would make sense, I suppose, given its small size.

- And the teacher dedication seemed amazingly high. We met one of the 6th grade math teachers who was there past 7:30 pm because she had been working with kids on their homework until then. And parents of current students said that their kids could text any of the teachers while they were working on homework in the evenings, and the teachers would call them back to give them help. And I heard lots of stories about teachers and coaches giving kids rides home or texting parents when practice let out so parents could expect the kids home shortly thereafter. It made me worry about teacher burnout a bit, but it seemed like a very caring place.

[Anonymous]

Gosh - maybe Kaya Henderson and Grosso were right that it is a solid option???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gosh - maybe Kaya Henderson and Grosso were right that it is a solid option???

What is true is that is better to see a school for yourself rather than panicking after listening to random gossip. DCUM is full of trolls who like to disparage and sometimes tell outright lies about various schools in DC. I'm at another EOTP school and the things said about that school on this board would make me run for the hills -- but none of it is true in real life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gosh - maybe Kaya Henderson and Grosso were right that it is a solid option???

What is true is that is better to see a school for yourself rather than panicking after listening to random gossip. DCUM is full of trolls who like to disparage and sometimes tell outright lies about various schools in DC. I'm at another EOTP school and the things said about that school on this board would make me run for the hills -- but none of it is true in real life.

+1

[Anonymous]

In regarding to getting to Jefferson from Brent, there have been discussions about extending the Navy Yard Circulator down to the Waterfront Metro. Then it would be less than a 10 min walk and that route basically goes right through the middle of the Brent district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gosh - maybe Kaya Henderson and Grosso were right that it is a solid option???

I don't want to be mean to 19:21, but the thing is that you will find a lot of warm, caring, hardworking teachers working in DCPS. And when your kids are little, everyone is good.

Where things fall apart is when the kids get older and some of them see reading/studying as not cool and they use "MF" in every sentence (with no regard with whether or not there are adults around) and the girls like to fight and classrooms are disrupted regularly by a few out of control kids -- that is when you have to decide to keep your child, who has up until now liked school, in that environment. Add on the fact that the classes aren't that interesting to your child. The school culture is one more of culture than academics.

Not saying that this is what is going on at Jefferson, but it is going on in other Ward 6 middle schools. The culture of medium-low expectations on behavior and academics is what wears and wears on you. And then you worry if your child will even have enough education under their belt to be able to do well in high school and college . . .

[Anonymous]

It is exactly the same length walk/bike from Brent to Eliot-Hine or Brent to Jefferson. And within the next couple years, the walk from Brent to Jefferson will even go past a Whole Foods--what more could discerning Hill families want?

[Anonymous]

Frankly, I am more curious about the impressions that parents of older students in 4th or 5th grade had of the open house.

Parents of small children can be dangerous because they really have no idea unless they are in the education field of how to evaluate a secondary school. And they have absolutely no skin in the game. Cheerful optimism from them can be dangerous because it maintains the status quo and doesn't fire bold action or change. Mostly they are thinking "well, it's fine for those kids". But when their own kid gets close enough to actually Go there it doesn't happen. Justifications abound.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gosh - maybe Kaya Henderson and Grosso were right that it is a solid option???

I don't want to be mean to 19:21, but the thing is that you will find a lot of warm, caring, hardworking teachers working in DCPS. And when your kids are little, everyone is good.

Where things fall apart is when the kids get older and some of them see reading/studying as not cool and they use "MF" in every sentence (with no regard with whether or not there are adults around) and the girls like to fight and classrooms are disrupted regularly by a few out of control kids -- that is when you have to decide to keep your child, who has up until now liked school, in that environment. Add on the fact that the classes aren't that interesting to your child. The school culture is one more of culture than academics.

Not saying that this is what is going on at Jefferson, but it is going on in other Ward 6 middle schools. The culture of medium-low expectations on behavior and academics is what wears and wears on you. And then you worry if your child will even have enough education under their belt to be able to do well in high school and college . . .

10:26, I don't discount what you say at all. I'd want to see classrooms in action before making final decisions. But I won't assume the disruptive environment is the norm at Jefferson until I have evidence, and the parents I spoke to didn't talk about that as being a problem.