AppleTree Public Charter preschool - candid opinions please.

[Anonymous]

I think for days off you could either hire a sitter or maybe work with 1-2 other parents to divide up coverage, so you wag watch the kids fewer times.

[Anonymous]

For those of you reading this thread in hope of some good news on the waitlists at Apple Tree, I might have a glimmer of hope. Just talked to the office staff at the CH location, where my son is #202 on the wait list. She said it wasn't a bad number at all, to give her a call in 3 weeks or so--if she hasn't already called me with a spot!

[Anonymous]

Please be kind and remember that there are single parents, separated parents. Maybe one parent lives in Maryland and the other in DC, or maybe the Grandmother or Aunt lives in MD and helps with drop off. I also know a lot of people who live in DC but have MD plates because their business is out of MD and car insurance is cheaper there. don't be so quick to judge. Spread love not hate

[Anonymous]

Cheating is cheating and there are too many people on too many waitlists to feel too much love.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please be kind and remember that there are single parents, separated parents. Maybe one parent lives in Maryland and the other in DC, or maybe the Grandmother or Aunt lives in MD and helps with drop off. I also know a lot of people who live in DC but have MD plates because their business is out of MD and car insurance is cheaper there. don't be so quick to judge. Spread love not hate

I will "spread love not hate" when the jerky mothers bringing their kids to school don't put my children, and the children of every other family in the neighborhood, at risk with their aggressive and illegal driving. Driving down the middle of a two-way road into oncoming traffic while talking on the cell phone, parking in such a way as to completely block cross-walks, illegal u-turns through pedestrians in the crosswalk, etc., do not inspire my sympathy. The question whether they are also illegally stealing a school spot that they are not entitled to is a wholly separate reason to dislike them, but it is not the only one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son was also admitted to Apple Tree, and I've heard such great things. Here is my question. How difficult is it to get into a school at the kindergarten level after the 2 years at AT are up? We got into a DCPS school that we feel lukewarm about (Tyler Traditional), and I'm trying to figure out if it's smart to give up a spot at Tyler which goes all the way until 5th (although who knows if we would stay that long) for a school that only goes for 2 years. Thoughts? Those whose kids went to AT for 2 years, how difficult was it to get into a school for K?

This is the challenge with Appletree, and while I know they specialize in their model, I hope they consider going into further grades in the future. Our DC is in PS3 now, and we LOVE our Appletree school, but we definitely played the lottery and if we get a great space, we're gone. Which I can honestly say I'm sad about in terms of what she'll miss at Appletree, because it really is great.

I worry for them that until they figure out expansion to higher grades, their great program will get diluted by all the transition. But in the meantime, it is an AWESOME Plan B (or even Plan A if you are IB for a good K) if you get shut out. We wish they went further, we would seriously consider staying.

Re: all the days off, I gotta be honest, if my DH wasn't unemployed for most of this school year, I don't know what we would have done. I love the idea of getting with other parents to figure out a care-share, but that's hard to do right off the bat, and I'm super picky about who watches DC so I probably would have had to negotiate with work to "work from home" those days (I'm lucky that I can do that sometimes - not always, but sometimes).

[Anonymous]

I posted before about Appletree vs. Tyler Traditional. I live in Brookland, so our K option is..not really an option. So we can't count on that. I guess I'm just wondering how much harder it is to get into a good K program vs. PS3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those of you reading this thread in hope of some good news on the waitlists at Apple Tree, I might have a glimmer of hope. Just talked to the office staff at the CH location, where my son is #202 on the wait list. She said it wasn't a bad number at all, to give her a call in 3 weeks or so--if she hasn't already called me with a spot!

You might get in, but we had a number lower than that last year and weren't offered a spot at CH. We were 120 or so at LP and got in in July.

[Anonymous]

My neighbor sent both of her children to Apple Tree Columbia Heights and she speaks highly of the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do working parents deal with all the days off in the Apple Tree calendar? We were waitlisted, so it's probably a moot point for us anyway, but looking at the calendar really gave me pause. I understand the importance of professional development, but when you factor in a PD day once a month, spring break, and federal and DC holidays, (and of course unscheduled sick days for your kids that you have to take off work) with no camp or care options available, I just don't know how we would be able to swing that as two working parents.

Not an Apple Tree parent, but this was the case at our daycare too and from what I can tell every other school under the sun. We trade off the days based on our schedules, and this is the case with every parent in my office that I know too. It's just par for the course.

[Anonymous]

We have been at Appletree Lincoln Park for the past two years for PS3 and PK4, and we have loved it. We got waitlisted everywhere else for PS3 but looking back, we count ourselves lucky or we wouldn't have chosen Appletree back then. The program is pretty incredible -- my daughter was reading (basic) at the end of PS3 and is learning things at a really advanced pace. She was reading fluently by the fall of PK4. Her vocabulary is amazing. This weekend, she conducted a survey at home of which planets our family liked best (Mars won but Jupiter and Venus came close) --when I asked her why Pluto wasn't on her list she informed me it was no longer a planet but a dwarf planet. They are currently studying palentology -- last night she asked me if I was an omnivore, herbivore, or carnivore. The teachers are great, and we have been very happy with their after care program. To respond to some, yes, there are a lot of days off on the calendar for various reasons and my husband and I both work full-time but we've learned to plan ahead looking at the calendar with babysitters, taking a day off, etc to make it work, it's been worth it. We are now waiting and praying like everyone else to get her a good Kindergarten placement so yes, that's stressful but we're very happy we kept her there for two years given how much she learned and how much confidence she gained.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please be kind and remember that there are single parents, separated parents. Maybe one parent lives in Maryland and the other in DC, or maybe the Grandmother or Aunt lives in MD and helps with drop off. I also know a lot of people who live in DC but have MD plates because their business is out of MD and car insurance is cheaper there. don't be so quick to judge. Spread love not hate

I will "spread love not hate" when the jerky mothers bringing their kids to school don't put my children, and the children of every other family in the neighborhood, at risk with their aggressive and illegal driving. Driving down the middle of a two-way road into oncoming traffic while talking on the cell phone, parking in such a way as to completely block cross-walks, illegal u-turns through pedestrians in the crosswalk, etc., do not inspire my sympathy. The question whether they are also illegally stealing a school spot that they are not entitled to is a wholly separate reason to dislike them, but it is not the only one.

Because I'm sure that every single driver that meets these criterion are Appletree parents. Please don't exaggerate. I live one block down from the school, and when I am walking my son to school, we see just as much of this type of driving from the residents on their way out to school as from anyone else. Does Appletree have a few parents that park illegally and/or practice rude driving? Of course they do, but so does every other school in the city.

[Anonymous]

PP here.

I got sidetracked, but I wanted to say that this year has been wonderful for my son at Lincoln Park. He was what I would consider a little behind his peer group prior to this school year and has made significant gains, I can't ask for anything else.

I do wish that the school would consider adding grades to go through at least the 3rd grade, because It's a reality that parents have to face, unless they live in a great district. As much as we love the school, we too entered multiple lotteries for the upcoming year in hopes of finding a placement to take us through 5th grade.

[Anonymous]

How is their after school program? Looks expensive--worth it?

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you for all the positive comments. BUT, are there no negatives? Anyone have a less than spectacular experience with the school? Thanks in advance.