Lafayette- the good, the great, the bad, the ugly

[Anonymous]

https://wjla.com/news/local/dcps-parents-dc-public-schools-lafayette-elementary-school-kindergarten-jennifer-lilintahl-avra-siegel-age-cutoff-dcps-cheif-integrity-officer-advisory-neighbor-commissioner-anc

What happened here? These parents tried to redshirt and now the school is pushing them into 1st and making them skip K?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://wjla.com/news/local/dcps-parents-dc-public-schools-lafayette-elementary-school-kindergarten-jennifer-lilintahl-avra-siegel-age-cutoff-dcps-cheif-integrity-officer-advisory-neighbor-commissioner-anc

What happened here? These parents tried to redshirt and now the school is pushing them into 1st and making them skip K?

Wait, some Lafayette parents are trying to get DCPS to cater to their every single whim, and when DCPS refuses they're throwing a juvenile fit and going to the media? Now I've heard everything!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://wjla.com/news/local/dcps-parents-dc-public-schools-lafayette-elementary-school-kindergarten-jennifer-lilintahl-avra-siegel-age-cutoff-dcps-cheif-integrity-officer-advisory-neighbor-commissioner-anc

What happened here? These parents tried to redshirt and now the school is pushing them into 1st and making them skip K?

Wait, some Lafayette parents are trying to get DCPS to cater to their every single whim, and when DCPS refuses they're throwing a juvenile fit and going to the media? Now I've heard everything!

These parents are so embarrassing. Same ones that went to the media about indoor recess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://wjla.com/news/local/dcps-parents-dc-public-schools-lafayette-elementary-school-kindergarten-jennifer-lilintahl-avra-siegel-age-cutoff-dcps-cheif-integrity-officer-advisory-neighbor-commissioner-anc

What happened here? These parents tried to redshirt and now the school is pushing them into 1st and making them skip K?

I'm so embarrassed for these parents -- so much entitlement and "rules don't apply to me." These parents intentionally broke the law by not sending their 5 year olds to Kindergarden, as is mandated, and are now facing consequences.

Do these people not understand basic ethical values like "what if everyone behaved like me?"

[Anonymous]

Dr. B let always kids redshirt. All the other NWDC schools let kids redshirt. The preschools in the area all knew that and recommended these kids be held last year. The new principal changed it and didn't tell anyone. How were families supposed to know they shouldn't listen to their preschools who were telling them to hold the kids??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: All the other NWDC schools let kids redshirt.

lol, this is not true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr. B let always kids redshirt. All the other NWDC schools let kids redshirt. The preschools in the area all knew that and recommended these kids be held last year. The new principal changed it and didn't tell anyone. How were families supposed to know they shouldn't listen to their preschools who were telling them to hold the kids??

Private preschools? That have every incentive to keep a kid for another year of tuition? Also, I mean, are you really surprised that a brand new principal doesn’t want to bend the rules for you? This is on you, not her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: All the other NWDC schools let kids redshirt.

lol, this is not true.

At our NW DCPS, there are kids who have been allowed to repeat PK4 rather than move on to K. But it sounds here like these parents aren't doing PK at Lafayette and are just trying to enroll their kids into K instead of 1st?

[Anonymous]

These parents are having their kids do PK elsewhere. In several cases they have other, older kids who Dr. B let enroll in K with a summer birthday. Then the new principal came in...apparently changed how the school is going to do it...and then *didn't tell anyone*.

So now these families have to follow different rules than they did with their previous kids...because no one told them the rules had changed! And these decisions to hold were made a year ago.

If the new principal wants to start doing it differently, seems totally fine, but you have to *tell* people, in advance, so they can decide accordingly.

And redshirting is generally allowed within a reasonable range at Mann, Stoddert, Murch, Janney.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: All the other NWDC schools let kids redshirt.

lol, this is not true.

At our NW DCPS, there are kids who have been allowed to repeat PK4 rather than move on to K. But it sounds here like these parents aren't doing PK at Lafayette and are just trying to enroll their kids into K instead of 1st?

Sounds like that to me but the article leaves a lot to the imagination. Seems like these parents must have known the risks of going against the (very well known) DC age cutoff policy, even if they judged it to be a small one, it was still a risk particularly with new school admin coming in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These parents are having their kids do PK elsewhere. In several cases they have other, older kids who Dr. B let enroll in K with a summer birthday. Then the new principal came in...apparently changed how the school is going to do it...and then *didn't tell anyone*.

So now these families have to follow different rules than they did with their previous kids...because no one told them the rules had changed! And these decisions to hold were made a year ago.

If the new principal wants to start doing it differently, seems totally fine, but you have to *tell* people, in advance, so they can decide accordingly.

And redshirting is generally allowed within a reasonable range at Mann, Stoddert, Murch, Janney.

I'm not a Lafayette parent so I don't really have a dog in this fight, but it doesn't seem reasonable to put the onus on the new principal to make some kind of targeted outreach to specific jredshirt-inclined parents to say "we're going to follow DCPS policy on this point going forward". If you're planning on some kind of special wink/nudge treatment from the school because you've gotten it before, and then the person who has allowed it in the past departs, wouldn't you think to check in regarding whether it will continue happening?

Basically the rules didn't change, the principal's willingess to ignore the rules changed. It's not reasonable to expect a new admin to provide the same special off-the-books allowances as the previous one without any inquiry on your part, to the point you act like you've been denied due process when your special allowance is taken away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These parents are having their kids do PK elsewhere. In several cases they have other, older kids who Dr. B let enroll in K with a summer birthday. Then the new principal came in...apparently changed how the school is going to do it...and then *didn't tell anyone*.

So now these families have to follow different rules than they did with their previous kids...because no one told them the rules had changed! And these decisions to hold were made a year ago.

If the new principal wants to start doing it differently, seems totally fine, but you have to *tell* people, in advance, so they can decide accordingly.

And redshirting is generally allowed within a reasonable range at Mann, Stoddert, Murch, Janney.

How would the new principal know that there are kids, not currently at her school, who thought they'd be allowed to enroll in K when their age dictates they should be in 1st? How would she tell them? And how could she tell them before they made enrollment decisions for PK if she wasn't the principal then?

[Anonymous]

These poor kids--now their pictures and their moms' full names are on the news and everybody knows their parents didn't think they could succeed in kindergarten. For parents who appear very invested in their kids having every advantage, this seems strange--wouldn't you want your kid to have privacy about their learning or behavioral challenges?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These poor kids--now their pictures and their moms' full names are on the news and everybody knows their parents didn't think they could succeed in kindergarten. For parents who appear very invested in their kids having every advantage, this seems strange--wouldn't you want your kid to have privacy about their learning or behavioral challenges?

There’s a handful of Lafayette families who love running to the media. I don’t think they realize that it just makes them look unreasonable (and agree, wtf would you have your kids on there).

[Anonymous]

So it sounds like the previous principal bent the rules for some family and the new principal is not doing that. And is following the rules.