Feedback on Bridges PCS?
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Anonymous
| Bridges parent here with two kids at the school. Have been at the school for four years (beginning with PreK and now in the elementary school) and think it has been great. Our kids are typically developing and we have been very happy with the education program and our kids are doing extremely well. We really like and value the true commitment to inclusion and our typically developing kids have gotten the individualized attention and differentiation that we expected. We think they have done a good job building the elementary school and they have been serious in analyzing how to make it the best it can be. Our kids' teachers have been fantastic at both the PreK and elementary levels -- this has been key for us. We like the parents and the kids and are looking forward to the new building. Bridges was historically a PreK so the development of a solid PTO has been slow, but there are some dedicated and fantastic parents taking the lead on this. I work full-time out of the house and have little time for outside activities so I really appreciate their time and commitment. I agree with what others have said that different people will have different opinions. And, each family needs to decide what they believe will be best for them. No school is perfect - I have friends at most of the schools discussed favorably on this Board and they all have some complaints and some play the lottery every year in search of nirvana. We look forward to meeting new families in the fall who choose Bridges! |
Anonymous
| I think it's also a little touchy to raise concerns about an inclusion model school. I wouldn't want people to think I was insensitive to the issues kids with special needs face, and I've never seen anything but positive comments on here about the experience of the inclusion classroom. In practice, however, there are some very real practical concerns about serving all kids well in a class with a high population of special needs students if the teachers are not carefully and thoughtfully trained to handle it. I have no doubt it can be done well. But I think the reality is that every school has a weak teacher or two, and in a school where kids are in such a wide range of places/needs that is even more challenging for someone who isn't well prepared. And, by extension, for all the kids in that class. |
Anonymous
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Child is in Elementary and moved to Bridges from a DCPS. Our experience has been that Bridges has been excellent and providing differentiaton and a positive school atmosphere. Learning philosophy and practices have helped our child soar. Her gains at Bridges have really impressed us. And more impressive is the amount of empathy and insight she has learned by being in an environment with kids others label as "disruptive". The staffing of the school to meet all children's needs really stands out. Moving our child to Bridges was a great decision for our child.
All of this is said with the recognition that Bridges may not be for you, the parent, reading this post. If you are not comfortable with your child being "interrupted" by "disruptive behavior " or see your child as a fragile snowflake, it's not for you. If you are interested in traditional WOTP type school it is not for you. Real city life goes on around the current locations when the kids are out and about on walks and will probably in the new location as well. If that bothers you, also not for you. |
Anonymous
Still reading the thread, but wanted to note that this describes my son to a T and Bridges has been a great fit for him. |
Anonymous
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It is so interesting for me as a member of a current Bridges family to read this thread. I have no doubt that all opinions shared are honest. Negative experiences do seem over-represented compared to my perception, but who knows?
Anyhow, our experience has been that the school is far from perfect, but has a competent, committed administration who is working hard to meet the needs of all children in their care. They have a clear educational philosophy which they expect staff to follow. We have found all of the teachers our son has had in his two years at the school to be caring, intelligent, good teachers. Some were stronger than others in communicating with parents but all seemed to be great at teaching. Also, when we have needed to meet with administrators in some capacity or other, we have gotten meetings quickly and felt heard. Is the school perfect? No. But it is a really good choice. We will not be entering the lottery this year. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
I'll second all of this. We actually pulled our PK-3er out of aftercare beginning in November because it was so bad, without having any other option aside from the work-at-home parent picking him up at the regular dismissal time. We had no confidence that the staff knew where our child was at any given time, or even knew who he was. We weren't specifically aware of how badly they were out of ratio, but even my pretty easygoing husband found the situation to be out of control and worrisome at pick-up. We had to use aftercare for a week in December due to travel schedules, and had a fairly serious problem on the very first day. Dr. Gray called me within 15-20 minutes, which I did appreciate, but 1) he's gone now and 2) none of the staff seemed particularly interested, engaged, or attentive the rest of the week. We were also pretty surprised to be told by the aftercare staff that they did not know how to "control" our developmentally-normal 3-year-old. We have an older child, too, and both were in daycare, so we're pretty familiar with what's in the range of expected behavior at that age--nothing they mentioned was all that unusual and was probably at least in part due to the lack of supervision and overcrowding the PP mentioned. As far as the rest of the school goes, I honestly don't have much of an opinion one way or the other. It's been fine. I like the teacher and I think she gives the kids enough time to be kids during the day. I do wish they had more unstructured time outside each day, although that should be resolved with the new location. We aren't planning to be around for that, though, assuming our little one lotteries into our older kid's school for PK4. |
Anonymous
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My child is currently attending Bridges in Kindergarten and this will be his last year. I have become very unhappy with Bridges. I looked high and low for a forum where I could express this but kept pulling up old threads on how wonderful the school is. To be fair, my son's pre-k year, although started off rocky, was a really great experience for him. He has Autism, and as soon as he became a student, they worked to create an educational plan that was right on with his needs. Coming from DCPS, I was ecstatic. Soon, he was assigned a dedicated aid that worked with him and was also a great resource for our family. I couldn't be any happier. Nevertheless, from the first year of his attendance, we noticed a very high turnover of teachers in his classroom. Within the first month of Pre-K, his head teacher left. Two more teachers were added to the classroom (one head teacher and one assistant). Soon enough, both of the new teachers left the school. By the time we all visited the pumpkin patch (October/November) there was a brand new set of teachers in the classroom. I was appreciative that during staff changes, my child's educational plan did not stop in any way. The rotating special ed teacher was wonderful. Coupled with my son's dedicated aid, he was progressing and reaching beyond his goals in his IEP. By the end of the school year, my son was eligible for Extended School Year classes, and we were so pleased to find out that his dedicated aid was going to be one of the head teachers in his class! We were super excited.
But we quickly realized that all good things come to an end. By the beginning of the school year and within the first two weeks, the head teacher of the Kindergarten class left. At the same time, my son was being placed from a Non-cat class back into inclusion. Before his head teacher left, it was her recommendation that he be placed back into general education and that his dedicated aid from last year be assigned to him or at least there be a transitional period to where she will be phased out as his DA. This is when we hit our bumps in the road, but being that we felt Bridges has always had our child's best interest in mind, we trusted the process and remained patient. My son was transferred from non-cat to inclusion, whoever, he was not able to retain his DA because she was needed in non-cat to help the new head teacher in the class. However, because his IEP requires for him to have a DA, another child's DA was snatched from her for my son. This created problems for the mother of the other child, the DA of the other child, and myself. What was worse was that the decision makers did not thoroughly think about how that would affect the children being involved. The DA wasn't familiar with the ABA style of learning that my son was used to. So she wasn't confident in being a DA for my son in the inclusion environment. The parent was upset because at that point, her daughter didn't have the support that she needed. And I was upset because I didn't think it was fair for the other child to be stripped of her support, plus I wasn't understanding why the DA was apprehensive with working with my son. The Asst. Principal explained that they were in the process of finding another DA for my son but that he had to remain in his Non-cat class until one was hired. Essentially, we were okay with this. Another DA was hired through a temp agency and my son began his transition. She was also working with his last DA to incorporate some of the same protocols in the new inclusive classroom. Although we wanted desperately for his old DA to be with him, we settled for the DA that was assigned and she was really nice and very helpful with my son. Soon enough, she left the school. Rumors began to circulate on the reasons from other teachers, and when I spoke with her, she was quite embarrassed and sad that her financial issues were being told to the parents behind her back. I thought that to be very unprofessional. In addition, my son didn't have a special ed teacher, so his hours per week of special ed were not being met. Another young lady was ushered into the classroom to be my sons DA. As nice as she is, she didn't have the ABA training to meet my son's needs. In the interim, I've sent numerous of emails with my concerns on the turnover of my sons DAs and the lack of communication as to what was really going on with his services and what services were/were not being met (as is my right and his right as a child protected by IDEA laws). I continuously received "fluff" from the administration. The teachers were telling me one thing, and the Asst. Principal was telling me different things. My husband and I's head was spinning in circles. Pretty soon, the head teacher in the class pulled us to the side and said they were practically pleading for the Principal to make accommodations for my son's old DA to come into the classroom and help his new DA with his ABA protocols. Although each day, we asked about my son's progress and was told his days were good, in reality, he was regressing and exhibiting behaviors that were a hindrance to his learning and the learning of other children. I took to email again about how dissatisfied I am that they have made decisions that were affecting not only my child, but other children and was not taking our concerns into consideration. In addition, they did not want to meet with us. Our IEP was to be updated in January and I've still not received an update of a meeting, even after emailing and requesting one. Now when I see the director, Asst Principal, or the Special Ed Coordinator, they either run past me and act like they don't see me or ignore my presence altogether. I've stopped trying to communicate, will be surrendering my son's seat for the next person who wish to deal with the unprofessionalism, rash decision-making, and lack of accountability. |
Anonymous
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The turnover at Bridges has made it a crap shoot in terms of what to expect. I've had a lot of dealings with the principal. She's not a bad person at all, although her personality can be a bit offputting at first. She genuinely cares about the kids and the future of the school. With that said, last year was her first year as a principal anywhere. If you talked to the right people they would tell you that Bridges had a great pre-k program but the upper grades weren't in the best shape. I think that's why the founder stepped out of that role. She couldn't continue to spread herself thin with the school growing and trying to get a permanent building. Enter the new principal.
I don't know if she cleaned up shop with the teachers or just rubbed them the wrong way. Either way, the high turnover doesn't reflect well on the school and it does a disservice to maintaining the culture. There's simply too many people leaving too fast. The effect of teachers leaving midyear won't necessarily do lasting damage to the kids, but it isn't reassuring to parents. New administration, new teachers, new paraprofessionals, and new building. There's too much change for anyone to really give an historical perspective on the school. You'll probably do best to limit yourself to current parents and play it by ear. |
Anonymous
| Hmm. This is not our experience at all. Our child is in the elementary school - her original Preschool teacher is still at Bridges. Sure, there are imperfections as there are anywhere, but we have been very pleased with our child's elementary school experience and her academic progress and the teachers have been great. None of the teachers in her room are new to Bridges, and the teachers in her grade who are new are talked about quite positively by parents. It is a growing school and there will of course be growing pains, but none of that has negatively impacted the educational experience, in our opinion. Our child is typically developing, so we admittedly do not have much knowledge of what might be happening with the special needs kids but her inclusion classroom seems fantastic to us. And, we are looking forward to the new building! |
Anonymous
| I wouldn't discredit other parent's experience of the turnover to growing pains from the school expanding. Staff turnover is not a fairytale; teachers have really been leaving. In addition to the several teachers that have come and go out of my son's class, the Pre-K rotating Sped teacher left as well as the ABA manager. These were phenomenal educators. As a concerned parent, I've asked other teachers why so many teachers are leaving. There isn't a direct answer to that; many teachers do not speak about it, but I've heard that many others are thinking about leaving as well. In addition, the Asst Principal is currently subbing for a class at 1246 because either a teacher left or is out sick. The Director of Student Support Services have also been called into classes to help with teaching. So although parents and their children have been able to experience a substantial learning environment for their children, the turnover rate is real and it has nothing to do with the expansion of the school. |
Anonymous
Wait, by "ABA manager" do you mean they lost their BCBA?? That would explain a few things we've run into... But yes, the early/mid-year departures created some real problems that I'm not clear are all ironed out right now (suspect they're not), on the special ed side of things, and have resulted in some not so great staffing switches. Sounds like departures may have extended beyond sped too, but I could easily see how certain classrooms and kids could simply be insulated from the impacts - if you don't have an IEP and it's not your teacher who left, life goes on as it always has for your kid, probably even more true given the campus division. |
Anonymous
| Bridges is an extremely stressful place to teach. The school seems to want to be all things for all people. You end up with a classroom that's a mix of typically developing kids, kids with autism, kids with emotional disturbance, kids with special medical needs, etc. and teachers aren't given the support to meet all of those diverse needs. Inclusion is only a good thing when teachers are given the resources and support necessary to meet the needs of all students. |
Anonymous
I don't disagree with this premise - you can't really do inclusion well for anyone without properly supporting the student needs you have. As a former sped teacher, I've certainly seen that. And I'm not happy with how some of the staffing changes have impacted my kid. But I do question the idea that Bridges is more stressful than, say, many a DCPS where students are provided with far far less support than Bridges typically provides (like fight tooth and nail for a dedicated aide even when clearly needed less support) - on this issue alone. We came from a (generally well regarded EOTP) DCPS with at least similarly diverse needs (in part because DCPS does not have the appropriate continuum), where kids were getting a fraction of the support that they would have gotten at Bridges (which is still far from perfect). To the extent Bridges is *more* stressful than other places, and I can't speak to that at all that may be true, I think there must be something additional going on than isn't going on at most other DCPS schools beyond simply kids with special needs. |
Anonymous
| bump |