Public school remorse for rising K

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Island Creek -- I asked the teacher why we get no product and she said the school is very much against using lots of paper. It is very rare that something comes home for us to see as work product. Now that we are at the end of the year (for my first grader), we are getting some journals and stories they wrote back in the fall. They did get two books bound that had their poems inside. I've never seen a worksheet in two years. I've seen a math quiz maybe once. Nothing for science. We get a few art products. That's all. I know other FCPS that send home homework packets each week. We don't have that at all. The only homework is reading the leveled reading books for 20 min. Mon-Thurs.

Wish we had worksheets so that I could say "oh, my child is working on 'ar' sounds this week." (or the like).

Are you otherwise happy with Island Creek? We'll need to decide if we want to go the private school route. Any thoughts on the school would be much appreciated.

[Anonymous]

I am happy with the school. I think the community as a whole is also happy. There are a lot of families where both parents work (not that it is a poor neighborhood), but there is probably less parent involvement overall than in some communities where there are a lot of stay at home moms (I happen to be one at the moment).

The principal is retiring at the end of school year. When the county did the search for a replacement and asked for input from the community, only a handful of people came to the meeting -- I went b/c I wanted to hear what people thought was important for the next principal to be (I figured this would tell me about what complaints other parents have in the upper grades). The fact that there were very few people at the forum tells me that people are generally content with the way things are.... and in keeping with that point, the person selected as the new principal was one of our current vice principals (very outgoing, willing to get involved). When I've asked other parents what they think they say they are glad and they want to keep things going the way they have been.

While I've had some concerns about my child's class, I've come to realize that it's really more about the way school is taught today (pursuant to FCPS policies) which is significantly different than what school was like when I was a student.

There are some things I wish they did more of in the early grades: music performances (there aren't any and I LOVE my preschooler's holiday performances), more small group meetings for reading class (seems like they meet with the teacher once a week -- I do the reading homework with my child and make sure s/he is getting the words right, as a result, my child has made great progress and is reading above grade level) , more "cute" construction paper art projects, more worksheets, more spelling emphasis.

I wish FCPS did not release early on Mondays and I wish they started BEFORE Labor Day.

However, Island Creek is a nicely diverse school -- no one group overwhelms the school. It is neither snobby, pressure-cooker rich nor stuggling with poor students. You will not find parents trying to one-up the other parents. It seems like teaching staff is pretty happy as well b/c there isn't much turnover. (The front office could use some turn over b/c they can be kind of abrasive, but they are more pleasant this year than in the year before.)

As for making a decision about private school -- we could afford some of the private schools if we wanted (not the ones that cost $20K per year), but we wanted our kids to be able to walk to school, to have friends in the neighborhood, to have access to advanced academic programs, and to be part of a class that has diversity and is big enough to mix it up each year (not the same 25 kids in their class from kindergarten to 8th grade). Public school isn't perfect, but I am totally comfortable with the education my child is receiving at Island Creek.

[Anonymous]

Thanks very much, Island Creek parent. Your response was very helpful.