Feedback on Jewish Full Day Preschools

[Anonymous]

We are having the best experience at the JCC in Rockville this year. The new director is amazing, and if you believe that creativity, imagination, learning being fun, and children loving school are important, this is a place for your child. There are a few new teachers this year, and talking to my friends, my understanding is that they are wonderful. They are using reggio and some the kids are doing incredible things. There is tons of communication and they close very few days in the year (depending on how the religious days of the Jewish holidays fall, of course).

[Anonymous]

Ohr Kodesh is a funny situation. The pre-school for SAHM is on one side of the building, with one director. The full day preschool is on the other, with another director. It has a very separate but UNequal feel, which is very creepy.

I'm glad they offer full day care, but jeepers, at least have integrated facilities, It's like the precious part-time nursery kids aren't allowed to even associate with the full day trash!

[Anonymous]

I think that Ohr Kodesh combined the preschools.

Temple Emanuel combines the part-time and full-time though it is my belief that the school will be entirely full-time in the next several years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ohr Kodesh is a funny situation. The pre-school for SAHM is on one side of the building, with one director. The full day preschool is on the other, with another director. It has a very separate but UNequal feel, which is very creepy.

I'm glad they offer full day care, but jeepers, at least have integrated facilities, It's like the precious part-time nursery kids aren't allowed to even associate with the full day trash!

Do you actually have your kid in the full day program at Ohr Kodesh, or are you just mouthing off? As a current parent of a full-day preschooler, I don't know why there would be any concern about the location of the classrooms. It has zero impact on the kids. The full day program is fantastic and my kid loves it.

[Anonymous]

My daughter went to Ohr Kodesh from 9/2006 to 8/2008 and it was not impressive. The 2-year-old room was very good but had a huge flaw-- no toilet facility in the room, so the kids had to take regular trips to the synagogue's toilets out in the hallway, which is no way to potty train (and my kid had a tough time doing so there). The 3 and 4 classroom, a combined classroom, had a number of problems. First, the teachers dealt horribly-- meaning not at all-- with a child who hit, bit, and kicked. They said that they had a three strikes policy with violent kids but it was BS. They were intimidated by the child's mother, so my child became a victim in spite of my begging them to do something on several occasions. Second, the now-former director was a bit scattered and didn't have great boundaries. She was let go, but that didn't happen until the school was really going downhill and was the only place around actively looking for kids as opposed to dealing with a wait list. Finally, the now-ex director dealt with a problem teacher very poorly. She should have been dismissed but was instead sent to a class to learn how to respond less angrily at kids. Please-- if you've got a temper with kids, you don't teach preschool.

I understand that many things have improved, and it does have a nice play ground. Another negative for me-- I was interested in a Jewish preschool but Ohr Kodesh goes way over the edge teaching an entirely Jewish curriculum with no balance of anything else. They did Israel independence day projects but no fourth of July. Their little graduations and assemblies would have 12 songs with religious or Hebrew themes and no plain old songs. The only charitable project the school had was for Israel and they turned down my request to organize something for local people in need so that the kids would understand that others in our city are less fortunate. Nothing for President's day, but weeks and weeks on Israel. It was as if they didn't want to acknowledge that these kids are both Jewish AND American.

DC JCC was better in that regard and I know that OP is not looking at DC but I think that Rockville would bbe the same. Yes, they learned Tzedakah in the Jewish sense but they applied it across the board and not just within the Jewish community. They had a seder but they had secular celebrations. It was just more balanced.

Another thing about DC JCC and I assume Rockville-- it is GREAT for the kids to be in a J facility because there is so much for them there. DCJCC turned the Pre-K into summer camp for 8 weeks, with field trips and swimming lessons. Wonderful experience.