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DC Public and Public Charter Schools
Where should we send our kids to school?
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Anonymous
| We are at Eaton and have been very happy there. We live in the neighborhood and my kid walks to school. BTW, the test scores this year were great. |
Anonymous
| Thumbs down to Peabody and Watkins. Prefer Hyde. |
Anonymous
Wouldn't recommend it, myself. Not impressed with the leadership. |
Anonymous
| Well, why don't you follow the mayor and his children. |
Anonymous
I thought Gladys Camp was supposed to be great. Acc to Jay Mathews, "Dr. Camp, as everyone calls her, is a legend. In the past two years, she has won awards from the National Association of Elementary School Principals and this newspaper as the best school leader in the city." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/09/AR2008110901937.html What do you dislike about the admin? |
Anonymous
I think this poster has old information. Test scores are actually good and Watkins made AYP last year. I think that there is too much emphasis on the standardized tests at the Cluster. Test scores have improved dramatically, but I don't like what preparing for the tests does to the kids. |
Anonymous
There is a core of parents at this school who are dedicated to its success, and I applaud them. That said, I don't believe that the school lives up to the reputation that these parents are trying to build through their concerted marketing plan. |
Anonymous
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"concerted marketing plan?"
Thomson is great, but the idea that we've got it together enough to have any sort of market plan is laughable. It's a poor kids school, three out of 4 children are on a free lunch. Half of the parents don't speak English as their first language. They struggle with providing for their families and are not on DC-Urban Moms. It's a nice little school and Dr. Camp is great. |
Anonymous
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While I am sure that the PP had a great experience at Thomson, there are others who did not. Leadership is an issue, and parents with problems are not always heard, and in my experience, issues are not dealt with appropriately. I know that I was not the only one who felt this way, and not the only one whose children are attending a different school this year.
I will not weigh in further, but it's only fair that parents who are considering this school for their children hear another perspective. |
Anonymous
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/27/AR2006112701362.html
Selling Parents On Public School But Thomson is different in another way. The school's principal and parents formed a marketing committee to aggressively recruit students. The team worked feverishly this spring, sending out fliers to Chinese nonprofit and business organizations, posting glowing messages on e-mail discussion groups and holding several open houses. All the promotion was done in three languages: English, Spanish and Chinese. "We really made a conscious effort," said Principal Gladys Camp, who saw enrollment grow from 287 students to about 345 this year. "We wanted to make sure that our enrollment didn't drop." |
Anonymous
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That was 4 years ago and it worked, we're over enrolled.
The "marketing plan" this year consisted of posting open houses on this list, the Capitol Hill Mom group and one parent doing a school night. That involved 3 parents. There is no master plan, other than do right by kids at Thomson. The people who are enacting it are Dr. Camp and the teachers. Really. Oh, we have bake sales too. I guess those are a concerted plan to overtake the downtown baked goods market. We're doing it slowly, one muffin at a time. Thomson is not a perfect school, but it is staffed by people who like kids and want them to succeed. |
Anonymous
We're considering sending our daughter to Yu Ying instead of Murch. You'll be in good company. There are a number of Janney, Lafayette, and Murch families at Yu Ying. |
), pick a charter over a neighborhood?
Anonymous
FYI, there are a LOT of Capitol Hill cluster school families at Two Rivers public charter. In fact, Two Rivers was founded by a group of Capitol Hill parents who were dissatisfied with the cluster schools. (Not that the cluster schools get a lot of love on DCUM, but most Hill families post to MOTH - Moms on the Hill - rather than DCUM. And Capitol Hill does love its cluster schools - especially the Montessori and Reggio programs.) |
Anonymous
OP, are Spring Valley or Wesley Heights feasible? If so, you should give Mann serious consideration. |
Anonymous
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I thought Lafayette actually had better scores than Mann. We're not at either one, btw but I thought someone did some analysis of the top elementaries in DCPS and Lafayette came out on top.
Not that it will affect my house's market value either way. 
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