Woodmore Elementary School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow this is an interesting article. I do not understand how one school can spend more than another in the same county. Why not each school gets a certain amount per child per year? Also interesting since we pay taxes and living in pg especially in certain areas taxes are high and our kids still get less. Disturbing and I see why parents run for private. However, it is not fair for those who deserve a great education in public such as woodmore or other surrounding schools. I wonder what TAG schools Spend?

There are a lot of factors that figure into how much money is spent per child at different schools even within the same county. The biggest one is probably teacher experience. Teachers with more experience are paid more in salary. If one school has a lot of teachers who have been teaching 20+ years and are at the top of the salary scale, and anoethr school has a lot of first year teachers without MA degrees -- that will be a big difference right there.

Another factor would be how many ESOL or Special Education students the school has. The number of these students in your school affects how much additional funding the school needs in order to hire additional staff.

A factor affecting per student cost is how big the school is. Since every school needs to have a principal, maybe a media specialist, and certain other staff members by state law or school district policy, schools with fewer students will pay more per student than schools with more students.

Explained more here:

http://www.edexcellencemedia.net/Metro-DC-School-Spending-Explorer/#

[Anonymous]

Due to financial reasons we will have to pull our daughter out of private. Looks like our school is woodmore elementary. She will be in second grade next year. I have heard so many negatives about pg county schools. Does anyone know if this school encourage a lot of parent involvement or input? Do they offer a lot of activities at the school for my daughter to be involved in? It seems like such and old building from the outside, I hope the inside is warm and inviting?

[Anonymous]

It's a nice school, PP! Yes they encourage parent involvement, and the inside is well kept up and attractive (for a school). It is an old building, that is true. The second grade teachers are nice!

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much for your sincere comment. I really appreciate it and it is good to hear about second grade teachers especially when you hear so much negativity with pg county schools. Any comment on aftercare. Should I do it at school or does anyone know of a good aftercare program that comes to the school for pick up?

[Anonymous]

the school has aftercare (I haven't tried it) and Largo Community Church has a program, too, as well as several others in the area.

[Anonymous]

There is a la petite down the street. I have seen the bus come to the day care. Unsure if it is expensive or if anyone on the forum has used this center. My daughter went to woodmore years ago and no problems and i would wait to pay for private until she hits middle school.

[Anonymous]

Any parents on the forum have there child at Woodmore and are in their TAG program. Just wondering if more kids stay at the local school or go to the TAG school heather hills?

[Anonymous]

My child attends Woodmore and is in the Tag program. My family's experience with Woodmore has been positive. I love Woodmore as a parent and kept dc there for an additional year instead of sending dc to a highly regarded private. Better effort made this year with TAG program but a weekly pull-out program is not the same as a TAG center like Heather Hills. If you can get in Heather Hills, then try for the lottery but it will be okay.

[Anonymous]

Is the pull out everyday or once a week? Also does the pullout affect recess or specials?

[Anonymous]

Once a week. They have specials or remedial time (whatever is appropriate) every day, which is a new concept for Woodmore. I like the change and it gives the students an opportunity to do more extra curricular activities. It does impact Specials but since Orchestra/Chorus/TAG/Student Council are all considered specials and, at times, the specials conflict but dc seems to enjoy the excitement of trying to make them all so no complaints from us. It is my understanding that the TAG program has no impact on recess.

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much for your insight. We put in for the lottery but if we do not get in i am happy that our alternative is still a good option at woodmore.

[Anonymous]

You are very welcome! Good luck with lottery. We did not fair too well. I guess it will be private or maybe we will luck up and get into the TAG Center for Middle School.

[Anonymous]

I am sending your family good vibes that you will get a spot in the lottery. Thank you for taking to the time to respond. Same here if we do not get into the lottery. She will go to woodmore until 5th and private school.

[Anonymous]

I accept those vibes for TAG Center lottery ! DC got accepted into both schools applied to - Sidwell and another top private but I would still like to have a good public school alternative.

[Anonymous]

Late to the conversation but just wanted to add that my husband and I recently put an offer in on a home that will serve Woodmore Elementary. I looked at the scores on greatschools and looked up the principle and reached out to her on 5/18/15 via email to schedule a tour. I am an early bird as I have a 17month old and 7 year old who are both early risers so my email went out to Jill Walker at 6:30am. Later that morning after I dropped my son off at school and was headed to get gas, probably around 9:30am, Jill Walker was calling my phone to schedule a tour of the school. That right there impressed me immediately and I scheduled the tour for the next afternoon 5/19/15.

I must be honest when I pulled up to the school I almost didn't go in because of the looks of the grounds and bldg but didn't want to pre-judge. Once Jill came and introduced herself and told me about herself I felt much better! She is from Prince George county and still lives in the county, matter of fact she lives down the road from the school. She also has children that attended Woodmore Elementary which speaks volumes to me. She seemed very invested in the school and students, as we toured she knew students names and was well equip to answer every question I had for her.

To other posters asking about programs and parent involvement, she informed me that she does have a very involved PTA and they do activities such as, Fall Celebration, Winter Celebration, Sweetheart dance, Field Day, Grandparents day, Career Day, College salute days, etc. I also noticed that they did have technology in the classrooms such has MACS/Dell computer banks. They also have male teachers for Science and Math(I believe for 3rd grade). The Ratio she gave me for the 3rd grade class is 20/1 which my son is in 2nd grade at Crofton Elem and his class size is 25 kids.

I must say I left the meeting very impressed and feel fairly confident that we will enroll our son for 3rd grade into the school. We moved this way from NY and were in DC where my son went to YY(Washington Yu Ying) we left the city looking for better schools and more house/land...we rented in Crofton because of the schools and home price and quickly came to see that it wasn't the right fit for us which sent us up the road to Bowie. I'm glad I took the time to visit the school and not listen to what everyone has to say about living in Prince George county and the schools.

Sorry for the long post but just hoping this might help other parents in my similar situation.