Churchill elementary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in the neighborhood and chose to go private. I'm glad we did only because we got terrific teacher to student ratios. That said, Churchhill is a great school, especially if you get into AAP, but the classes can be more than 33. I'm glad I put the money into small classes for the younger years but I sure would like that cash back right now! (you do know that privates are very expensive here, right?)

Average K size at Churchill Road this year 22.5 students. Average for Grades 1-3 is 24.9 students. Average for Grades 4-6 is 25.9 students. So the averages are well above the FCPS averages, but there are other schools with higher averages, including Wolftrap and Flint Hill in Vienna, Canterbury Woods in Fairfax, and Stratford Landing in Alexandria.

K classes at Churchill are actually 25, 24, 24, & 25 this year. I'm looking at an in-house Teacher/Class List with Student Count. 1-3 average is low too, I believe it's 26.5; 4-6 is 26.8 and that includes 5 classes at 30 or higher. This is probably better than it's been in a couple years, but point is those averages make the class sizes sound better than they are.

I'm looking at the county information. Averages are averages.

http://www.fcps.edu/it/studentreporting/documents/ElmClassSizeAvg2013.pdf

Wouldn't be the first time the county's reported info. is wrong. I have current accurate numbers at the school and (1) those averages you gave are low & incorrect and (2) even if they were correct, give a misimpression of how large many of the individual classes are.

I'm more inclined to believe the FCPS information than whatever you think you know. You are an anonymous nobody who apparently doesn't understand what an average is.

I don't know what your angle is, we are all anonymous but assuming you and I are both telling the truth based on info we have access to: you seem to have no affiliation with the school or you wouldn't be citing the fcps website as your source. I am a current parent with both the directory and office supplied class count lists for PTA flyer copying purposes. Maybe you work at gatehouse because that's usually who is pretending the fcps data is accurate and motivated to pretend the class sizes are not so bad. Parents actually at these schools have a perfect understanding of "averages" and also how statistics can be manipulated and used to mislead.

There is nothing misleading about an average. The data was of October 2013. Since then the school has only added one student.

There is definitely something misleading about incorrect data.

[Anonymous]

One piece of information that may be playing into the difference in numbers is special education students. When FCPS calculates class size, level 2 students (students receiving more than 15 hours of special education services) are not counted in. So while there may be 24 bodies in a classroom, if any of those students are receiving more than 15 hours, they are taken out of the count even though they may be in the classroom all day and working with a special education teacher in a co-taught setting.

[Anonymous]

The class sizes vary year to year-last year, my first grader had 28 in the class, but this year in second there are only 23. The principal is pretty good about giving you a smaller class every other year, or at least that has been our experience thus far.

However, with the looming big budget cuts to FCPS next year and a board member like Janie Strauss looking out for cluster 1 schools, we are all doomed to larger class sizes next year and going forward, unless some of the AAP volume is offset by Kent Gardens opening local level IV at their school next fall. A lot of KG families still may choose Churchill though given its reputation. Remains to be seen.

[Anonymous]

1:28 back. Well all I can say is that my neighbor's kid had 33 children in his class on the first day, so his mom got on the phone and dialed every single private in the area to find out if they had any last minute "no-shows" and could they interview immediately for immediate placement. They wound up within the week at a very good private elementary school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1:28 back. Well all I can say is that my neighbor's kid had 33 children in his class on the first day, so his mom got on the phone and dialed every single private in the area to find out if they had any last minute "no-shows" and could they interview immediately for immediate placement. They wound up within the week at a very good private elementary school

Nice to have choices like that, but that is not typical- even in McLean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1:28 back. Well all I can say is that my neighbor's kid had 33 children in his class on the first day, so his mom got on the phone and dialed every single private in the area to find out if they had any last minute "no-shows" and could they interview immediately for immediate placement. They wound up within the week at a very good private elementary school

That's all nice, but we're missing some key facts like what year was this, and what was the "very good" private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1:28 back. Well all I can say is that my neighbor's kid had 33 children in his class on the first day, so his mom got on the phone and dialed every single private in the area to find out if they had any last minute "no-shows" and could they interview immediately for immediate placement. They wound up within the week at a very good private elementary school

Our principal calls 32 the "magic number." If a class enrollment gets to 32, he adds a class/teacher to reduce the ratio. Some families enroll at the very last minute. So if you walk in on day 1 and see 33 students, there's a good chance you'll see 16 students in a new classroom next week. Yes, it's not perfect but public schools can't say "we're full" to late-comers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1:28 back. Well all I can say is that my neighbor's kid had 33 children in his class on the first day, so his mom got on the phone and dialed every single private in the area to find out if they had any last minute "no-shows" and could they interview immediately for immediate placement. They wound up within the week at a very good private elementary school

Our principal calls 32 the "magic number." If a class enrollment gets to 32, he adds a class/teacher to reduce the ratio. Some families enroll at the very last minute. So if you walk in on day 1 and see 33 students, there's a good chance you'll see 16 students in a new classroom next week. Yes, it's not perfect but public schools can't say "we're full" to late-comers.

This sounds like a total hoax-all of the "very good privates" also have long waitlists they would go to before taking a kid off of the street unless the family is connected somehow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The class sizes vary year to year-last year, my first grader had 28 in the class, but this year in second there are only 23. The principal is pretty good about giving you a smaller class every other year, or at least that has been our experience thus far.

However, with the looming big budget cuts to FCPS next year and a board member like Janie Strauss looking out for cluster 1 schools, we are all doomed to larger class sizes next year and going forward, unless some of the AAP volume is offset by Kent Gardens opening local level IV at their school next fall. A lot of KG families still may choose Churchill though given its reputation. Remains to be seen.

I'm not sure why having Local Level IV at KG impacts class size. If enough kids go back to KG, you just end up with fewer classes, but they could be the same size.

I guess you were also taking a dig at Janie Strauss. The Dranesville representative is just one voice on the School Board. It's a pipe dream to think that Board members in Mason, Braddock, Lee and Mount Vernon with lower test scores, fewer kids in AAP, and more ESOL and FARMS kids are going to roll over and agree Cluster 1 doesn't get enough resources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1:28 back. Well all I can say is that my neighbor's kid had 33 children in his class on the first day, so his mom got on the phone and dialed every single private in the area to find out if they had any last minute "no-shows" and could they interview immediately for immediate placement. They wound up within the week at a very good private elementary school

Nice to have choices like that, but that is not typical- even in McLean.

No, it's not typical. She (mom) was very fortunate, and the school they got into was in Maryland, so she had a lot of driving, but she said her son was just lost in the sea of kids at Churchhill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1:28 back. Well all I can say is that my neighbor's kid had 33 children in his class on the first day, so his mom got on the phone and dialed every single private in the area to find out if they had any last minute "no-shows" and could they interview immediately for immediate placement. They wound up within the week at a very good private elementary school

Our principal calls 32 the "magic number." If a class enrollment gets to 32, he adds a class/teacher to reduce the ratio. Some families enroll at the very last minute. So if you walk in on day 1 and see 33 students, there's a good chance you'll see 16 students in a new classroom next week. Yes, it's not perfect but public schools can't say "we're full" to late-comers.

This sounds like a total hoax-all of the "very good privates" also have long waitlists they would go to before taking a kid off of the street unless the family is connected somehow.

No, they don't have the resources or trailers to just add on a new class of 16. What they usually do is wait a few weeks and see if some, like my friend's son, drop out and go private. If that doesn't bring them down to 32 then they study the class and see if they can move someone forward or redshirt someone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The class sizes vary year to year-last year, my first grader had 28 in the class, but this year in second there are only 23. The principal is pretty good about giving you a smaller class every other year, or at least that has been our experience thus far.

However, with the looming big budget cuts to FCPS next year and a board member like Janie Strauss looking out for cluster 1 schools, we are all doomed to larger class sizes next year and going forward, unless some of the AAP volume is offset by Kent Gardens opening local level IV at their school next fall. A lot of KG families still may choose Churchill though given its reputation. Remains to be seen.

I'm not sure why having Local Level IV at KG impacts class size. If enough kids go back to KG, you just end up with fewer classes, but they could be the same size.

I guess you were also taking a dig at Janie Strauss. The Dranesville representative is just one voice on the School Board. It's a pipe dream to think that Board members in Mason, Braddock, Lee and Mount Vernon with lower test scores, fewer kids in AAP, and more ESOL and FARMS kids are going to roll over and agree Cluster 1 doesn't get enough resources.

Her voice is not the one I want representing my school cluster-and I will vote accordingly in 2016. Not alone on that one. And, for the life of me, I cannot imagine why so many Churchill parents, if you are one, are so content to let our class sizes be huge when we are all paying some of the highest property taxes in FC. Good for you be so altruistic. I personally don't think our schools should constantly be compromised at the expense of our kids' education all of the time-but then, I'm not a raging liberal that seems to be the constant poster on this board.

[Anonymous]

How is their SN support?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is their SN support?

+1. Would also like to know this!

[Anonymous]

What about SOL test scores? It looks like Churhill was one of the highest in McLean the past few year but they have dropped significantly over the last year or so....what gives?