Moving to Cap Hill from out of state, tell me about Brent elementary

[Anonymous]

When do majority of kids leave Brent? After 4th grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When do majority of kids leave Brent? After 4th grade?

Yes, not many are there at 5th grade as they play lottery, go private or move.

[Anonymous]

Many, many move or go private well before 5th grade. However by 5th grade most families have moved on...

[Anonymous]

Can someone give me insight in to kindergarten at brent? Do kids have play time built in? Naps? What grades have strong teachers?

[Anonymous]

The three first grade teachers are amazing! I have had a kid with each of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many, many move or go private well before 5th grade..

Complete and utter BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone give me insight in to kindergarten at brent? Do kids have play time built in? Naps? What grades have strong teachers?

It's been a few years but my recollection is that there are two recesses but no naps. The general consensus seems to be that the K-2 teachers are very strong. Third Grade is a mixed bag. IMO one teacher is excellent and while I have no first-hand experience with the other two a fair number of parents continue to express varying degrees of discontent. The Fourth Grade teachers are generally held in high regard. Brent will be adding an additional Fourth Grade classroom next year. My child is nevertheless continuing to do well socially and academically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone give me insight in to kindergarten at brent? Do kids have play time built in? Naps? What grades have strong teachers?

K is very strong. No naps. Plenty of playtime. My child has had a superlative year; I could not imagine a better k experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many, many move or go private well before 5th grade..

Complete and utter BS.

Between a 1/4 and 1/3 of the students leave in the period from K to 4th, based on a survey of class photos and who remains in my children's cohort. I'd say that's many.

[Anonymous]

Is there Junior Great Book or some other program for high ability kids at Brent like there is at other high performing DCPS elementary schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many, many move or go private well before 5th grade..

Complete and utter BS.

Between a 1/4 and 1/3 of the students leave in the period from K to 4th, based on a survey of class photos and who remains in my children's cohort. I'd say that's many.

Not our experience at all. We've had some attrition, principally aresultimg from out of state relocations and diplomatic/military postings. I can think of one family who transferred to CHDS after Second Grade and another withdrawal earlier this year involving a unique set of circumstances. IiRC there were about 54 or 55 kids in our K cohort. I would venture to guess that the experience of a student in Fourth Grade could be different overvthe past foe years because there was a much higher concentration of OOB students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have two kids at Brent now, and have a child at the school for eight years. We love the school. The principal and the building are both good/fine. The specials (art, music, foreign language, PE) are very good. The school is small and quite orderly. The teachers are amazing. We have had so many fabulous classroom teachers. The student body is nice, mostly very well prepared/ at grade level. We have not had a problem with any of our kids being bullied.

* The language program is in turmoil at the moment.

The Brent principal decided to move from Mandarin to Spanish next year for a variety of reasons which have been explained to parents. Some parents were unhappy with the process and the principal more generally, in part, because he originally hoped to offer Latin imstruction only to grades 2-5. This would have permitted reallocation about $50,000 in funds to hire additional staff to support the new strategic plan. DCPS turned down the request and language instruction will continue to be offered to all grades. Sorry, a handful of unhappy parents does not equate to turmoil.

The language program is in turmoil. Let's be completely honest about what is happening. The principal is getting rid of a solid Chinese program as a matter of convenience, in order to get rid of one teacher. Ignoring parent recommendations with regard to language, he came up with a half-baked plan to teach Latin and cut language instruction. Then, under pressure, he settled on another half-baked plan to teach Spanish. The PTA and LSAT squelched discussion on the matter. All of this is very reactive, without proper forethought. The "variety of reason which have been explained to parents" amount to propaganda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have two kids at Brent now, and have a child at the school for eight years. We love the school. The principal and the building are both good/fine. The specials (art, music, foreign language, PE) are very good. The school is small and quite orderly. The teachers are amazing. We have had so many fabulous classroom teachers. The student body is nice, mostly very well prepared/ at grade level. We have not had a problem with any of our kids being bullied.

* The language program is in turmoil at the moment.

The Brent principal decided to move from Mandarin to Spanish next year for a variety of reasons which have been explained to parents. Some parents were unhappy with the process and the principal more generally, in part, because he originally hoped to offer Latin imstruction only to grades 2-5. This would have permitted reallocation about $50,000 in funds to hire additional staff to support the new strategic plan. DCPS turned down the request and language instruction will continue to be offered to all grades. Sorry, a handful of unhappy parents does not equate to turmoil.

The language program is in turmoil. Let's be completely honest about what is happening. The principal is getting rid of a solid Chinese program as a matter of convenience, in order to get rid of one teacher. Ignoring parent recommendations with regard to language, he came up with a half-baked plan to teach Latin and cut language instruction. Then, under pressure, he settled on another half-baked plan to teach Spanish. The PTA and LSAT squelched discussion on the matter. All of this is very reactive, without proper forethought. The "variety of reason which have been explained to parents" amount to propaganda.

Yawn. Yes, the process was handled poorly. We get it. You guys gave it your best shot. We were subjected to churlish, boorish behavior and other incivilities, not to mention frivolous entreaties to stop donating funds to the PTA. You tried to monopolize discussions at more meetings than i want to remember. You posted ad hominem attacks on Brent Neighbors and DCUM. Still, we respectfully listened to what you had to say time and time again. In the end, your arguments and demeanor had no resonance. I'm truly sorry you can't seem to get past this, but the rest of us are looking forward to reapijg the benefits of a reconstituted and hopefully much stronger language program. In any event, this is far from the most significant challenge facing Brent, which you should have known had you been as engaged as other parents who have been attending PTA and LSAT meeting on a regular basis for a number of years. I understand that the bigger picture can be hard to grasp when your DC is still in Kindergarten, but until you are able to do so, please try to put your time and energy into something more constructive and beneficial.

[Anonymous]

As you can imagine the reality lies somewhere between PP and PPP as regard to the language program.

I an excited for the change, while also being disappointed with how it was handled.

[Anonymous]

That's what happens when parents think they can run a school themselves.