S/O Inspired Teaching or Shepherd?

[Anonymous]

We are just finishing our first year at Shepherd. The school is a very small community, which is nice. The teachers and Principal are accessible. While the in-bound numbers have crept up to about 1/3 of the kids, the majority of OOB students come from nearby (TP, Petworth, Crestwood, Brightwood). With the addition of the pre-k classes and a bit of a baby boom in the neighborhood, there have been a steady influx of more in-bound students. The IB curriculum and foreign language classes have been a great bonus.

[Anonymous]

I am 9:26 and I don't think the upper grades at Shepherd are bad at all--but I think my child is having a hard time with them. Upper elementary is a time when kids start getting socialized, when gender divisions start to matter, and when conformity becomes an issue. Shepherd is a fairly traditional school, and most of the kids are from pretty traditional households. Girls like barbies and boys like sports. That being said, they take respecting others very seriously, and they do really try to make things work... and for that they have my respect. This is not a (to be blunt) black/white thing, or a socioeconomic thing: shepherd is an affluent school, with concerned and hard-working parents. (Although I've found pretty much everywhere, all parents are concerned and hard-working.) But it is also not an organic milk and yoga kind of school. If it was, many of its parents, who want their kids to excel, would have a fit. I did not originally consider myself to be a parent who wanted things like organic milk and yoga and painting about feelings in my child's school. This year has made me rethink that.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Shepherd becoming more of a yoga & organic milk kinda school within the next 3-4 years or so, given some of the demographic shifts you're seeing in SP as dying/dead octogenerians sell to upper-middle class real-estate bubble vintage Petworth transplants. I say this squarely looking in the mirror. I suspect Shepherd will (less and less) quietly become one of the most desired DCPS locations in the city.

[Anonymous]

That would be a disppointment.

[Anonymous]

We do not disagree about that, but I think some of the growing pains will be painful. I have a lot of respect for the old school Shepherd crowd. They are the ones who have been working very, very hard for a long time to make the school the great place that it is.

[Anonymous]

I think Shepherd is on a paritcularly interesting trajectory for a few reasons:

1) It is the highest performing majority AA school in DC with a fairly large OOB percentage
2) Shepherd Park is the only current Deal feeder boundary where you can buy a good size/quality SFH in walking distance to metro for well under $1M. (AU Park has quickly gotten out of control on prices)
3) As more families stay in DC and the lottery becomes less and less viable, more people are looking to skip the lottery by just buying IB for their DCPS.
4) As a result of 2&3, I think you'll see a rapid rise in IB students in Shepherd that stay all the way through.
5) A shift to all IB students will reduce the FARMS rate, which (like it or not) has a strong correlation to improving school performance (at a school that is already performing well).
6) With a subtle shift in neighborhood demographics and school IB percentage, Shepherd may very well wind up being the DCPS whose black/white ratio most directly mirrors that of the greater DC population.

All of those things are pretty intriguing to me. Since the school has a relatively small boundary (which will continue to include some very wealthy folks who will stick with private), it probably won't grow in size to become a Janney-like situation. I think it will evolve into an all in-bounds school within a few years and be the powerhouse model that other rising DCPSs in gentriying neighborhoods will strive to mirror.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We do not disagree about that, but I think some of the growing pains will be painful. I have a lot of respect for the old school Shepherd crowd. They are the ones who have been working very, very hard for a long time to make the school the great place that it is.

Most of that "old school" crowd still live in the neighborhood but have kids that are now grown or moved up, hence the high OOB numbers.

A new infusion of energy will be welcome. DC loves going to school and is doing extremely well, although I could certainly point our many things that the school could improve upon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That would be a disppointment.

+1 please leave the yoga and organic milk debates to the charters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do not disagree about that, but I think some of the growing pains will be painful. I have a lot of respect for the old school Shepherd crowd. They are the ones who have been working very, very hard for a long time to make the school the great place that it is.

Most of that "old school" crowd still live in the neighborhood but have kids that are now grown or moved up, hence the high OOB numbers.

A new infusion of energy will be welcome. DC loves going to school and is doing extremely well, although I could certainly point our many things that the school could improve upon.

Can you please point out some of those things? We're giving strong consideration to the neighborhood, and would love to know the good/bad/ugly about the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't be surprised to see Shepherd becoming more of a yoga & organic milk kinda school within the next 3-4 years or so, given some of the demographic shifts you're seeing in SP as dying/dead octogenerians sell to upper-middle class real-estate bubble vintage Petworth transplants. I say this squarely looking in the mirror. I suspect Shepherd will (less and less) quietly become one of the most desired DCPS locations in the city.

Actually, I believe yoga was offered in aftercare during the 2013-2014 school year--that instructor apparently left, which is why it wasn't offered this year. I think it was offered a few time in aftercare this month, though (I think this was in the newsletter).

Shepherd Park is an interesting mix. There are many multi-generational families in the neighborhood, and others who have moved out but have ties to Shepherd--and many of both still send kids to Shepherd. So I don't think the Petworth crowd will overtake the school quite that quickly (no offense, I have some great SP neighbors who've moved from Petworth, Columbia Heights, etc.--one thing I love about these folks is that they seem to be much more embracing of racial and socio-economic diversity than some WOTP families).

[Anonymous]

Can you please point out some of those things? We're giving strong consideration to the neighborhood, and would love to know the good/bad/ugly about the school.

It is hard to do this fairly, because one person's bad/good/ugly is another person's requirement, but this is information I have searched for myself, so here are my opinions. Which are not everyone's. Only mine.

There's a weird apathy in the community about the school. I've talked to a lot of parents who feel very disconnected from Shepherd--if that's because they work all the time, live far away, or just aren't involved... it's possible. The school does host several events to try and encourage family participation... but a lot of them seem to fall somewhat flat. I've seen several teachers try and coordinate more things like this--and not really have them advance.

Small things that shouldn't become huge issues become huge issues, and things that should be taken seriously aren't. I've seen some cultural clashes that were really nothing taken all out of proportion, and some cases of actual bullying ignored or denied. I'm still not very clear on what happened to the music teacher, as an example--but it sounded like parent overreaction basically got him fired. He was an asset to the school, I think it's a shame. (And I don't know all the details, so maybe there is something I don't know that happened more serious than what I heard.)

I have the impression that the administration and the parents are both working very hard to make the school a good place--but they're not working together. I'm not sure the organic milk and yoga crowd is going to help that... as in my experience they will become fixated on making the lunch trays recyclable and ignore the fact that most parents didn't go to the fundraising gala because the tickets were too expensive and the location too far away.

All that being said, it is an excellent school, with a committed staff and student body.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Can you please point out some of those things? We're giving strong consideration to the neighborhood, and would love to know the good/bad/ugly about the school.

It is hard to do this fairly, because one person's bad/good/ugly is another person's requirement, but this is information I have searched for myself, so here are my opinions. Which are not everyone's. Only mine.

There's a weird apathy in the community about the school. I've talked to a lot of parents who feel very disconnected from Shepherd--if that's because they work all the time, live far away, or just aren't involved... it's possible. The school does host several events to try and encourage family participation... but a lot of them seem to fall somewhat flat. I've seen several teachers try and coordinate more things like this--and not really have them advance.

Small things that shouldn't become huge issues become huge issues, and things that should be taken seriously aren't. I've seen some cultural clashes that were really nothing taken all out of proportion, and some cases of actual bullying ignored or denied. I'm still not very clear on what happened to the music teacher, as an example--but it sounded like parent overreaction basically got him fired. He was an asset to the school, I think it's a shame. (And I don't know all the details, so maybe there is something I don't know that happened more serious than what I heard.)

I have the impression that the administration and the parents are both working very hard to make the school a good place--but they're not working together. I'm not sure the organic milk and yoga crowd is going to help that... as in my experience they will become fixated on making the lunch trays recyclable and ignore the fact that most parents didn't go to the fundraising gala because the tickets were too expensive and the location too far away.

All that being said, it is an excellent school, with a committed staff and student body.

Wait, the location of Gala - located at Shepherd's IB high school is too far away??

Also, when did the music teacher get fired???

[Anonymous]

Week before last, I think?

And yes, all the way across the park from Shepherd? I think it was too far. We were going to go, but literally everyone I knew except one family wasn't going because of the expense and the distance. And the distance was a factor for us as well.

[Anonymous]

They actually lowered the price of gala tickets substantially this year to try to encourage better attendance. They were $35 apiece. I attended and it was a great time, but do wish more families would have attended. Those who attended were the usual suspects, in terms of the most engaged in-boundary and OOB families. And we scored some great lottery items!

[Anonymous]

Everyone there has the best of intentions. I think there just need to be more unifying activities. The fall festival was great. Was that a fundraiser? Could it have been? Ditto international day, the after school dance parties...