Principal at Bunker Hill Elementary School

[Anonymous]

I've lived in this area for many years and have yet to meet any neighbors who send their kids to BH of course that is not to say that there aren't any. Also I was the one who said I'm hopeful that the middle school will encourage families to give BH a second look. I am definitely not a DCPS booster. I'd just like to see the school serve the community better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP to this thread. It would be great if you reached out to the Brookland kids listserv. You can find it in yahoo groups. I am one of many parents in bound for bunker hill with a toddler. I haven't been able to meet any bunker hill parents through the neighborhood, but would love to do so and to learn more about the school, whether to have my child attend or volunteer.

+1. I have been on the BKids listserv for 6 years, and recall many parents asking about Bunker Hill, including my husband. He never received a response from any other parents in the neighborhood. The Burroughs principal, on the other hand, has hosted living room chats with local families to promote the school.

Yes indeed! But maybe the planned new Bunker Hill principal will do just that (host living room chats etc). I remember the previous principal at Burroughs wasn't into outreach either.

[Anonymous]

I too believe in neighborhood schools. Which is why I'll be sending my child to Burroughs instead of my in-bound, Noyes. It's still in my neighborhood

[Anonymous]

Great suggestions on the BKids list serve. When the announce of the new principal is made, you suggestions will be offered.

[Anonymous]

I am IB and was considering Bunker Hill for the fall for PK3. There were about 6-7 parents on the Brookland Kids listserv who expressed interest before the lottery. When I wrote after results came out, not a single other person was sending their kid there, which was pretty discouraging to us. To be honest, if it were w/in walking distance to our house, we liked the PK3 teacher, etc. enough to try it, but without knowing a single IB person who remained interested after the lottery and having to add a drive to drop off our child, we decided it against it too. Have hopes for it to become a great neighborhood school, but I do think it is difficult to gain momentum without a group of IB parents deciding it's time to enroll their kids and to work toward improvement.

[Anonymous]

Describe what a high performing IB program would look like and what do you want to see in a PK 3- 5 program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Describe what a high performing IB program would look like and what do you want to see in a PK 3- 5 program.

Central office staffer: do your own leg work. Talk to families at the playgrounds. Knock on doors. Look at where everyone In Brookland is already sending their kids and take notes off that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am IB and was considering Bunker Hill for the fall for PK3. There were about 6-7 parents on the Brookland Kids listserv who expressed interest before the lottery. When I wrote after results came out, not a single other person was sending their kid there, which was pretty discouraging to us. To be honest, if it were w/in walking distance to our house, we liked the PK3 teacher, etc. enough to try it, but without knowing a single IB person who remained interested after the lottery and having to add a drive to drop off our child, we decided it against it too. Have hopes for it to become a great neighborhood school, but I do think it is difficult to gain momentum without a group of IB parents deciding it's time to enroll their kids and to work toward improvement.

Brookland parents have been making pinky promises for years - swearing that they are ALL going to enroll in both Burroughs and Bunker Hill! After the lottery, those fingers point in other directions. LOL! Perhaps with the new lottery and less chances of real movement in charters and publics, those schools will see a boost in enrollment.

[Anonymous]

Again not a central staffer. It would not be productive or ethical to engage in a forum with an any other motive than to improve upon my neighborhood school. If you know what a strong IB program looks like at your child school, please share.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Competition is good for everyone. However, the charter schools in the neighborhood are not exceeding expectation. Additionally, the new trend will be on building neighborhood schools, where parents have much more control. As a new residence in the area, I will be enrolling my two children in Bunker Hill.

Interesting statement. I would argue that well over half of the top charter schools are either within Brookland or its contiguous neighborhoods.

The post said "exceeding expectations". Most of the "popular" Charters in that neighborhood aren't at it's testing grades yet. Although IT is, you can look at the recent threads on this issue.

There is also, DC Prep (or something similar) and the Arts focused Charter with not so great test scores.

IT, in only 3rd grade of testing actually has pretty great scores. They match Hearst in score, exceed nearby Stokes. Cap City is not terribly far as well as Creative Minds. YY also has great scores and in demand for your neighbors. Same thing with LAMB Ne location.

[Anonymous]

*3rd year of testing

[Anonymous]

The new principal of Bunker Hill ES is Kara Kuchemba. An experience administrator from within DC Public Schools.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. Do you have a link?

[Anonymous]

You really can't compare charters to Bunker Hill. The only thing you could do is try and get a cohort of parents to invest in the school by sending their kids there. It's not like you can just kick the low performing kids out. You'll have to improve the school from within and it will take several years and a lot of growing pains (just look at the capital hill cluster threads). I think it can be done but you won't see any significant changes for at least 10 years from now.

[Anonymous]

The Bunker Hill community is not going to wait ten years. The fundamentals are in place to correct many of the mistakes that Central Administration created-namely, adding a middle school. That was a terrible mistake. However, with a new vibrant leader, an a great staff and student body, watch Bunker Hill take off and become a excellent alternative for many parents who are looking for a student centered school.