Brent K class size

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We left after Brent Kindergarten 2 years ago as it was pretty chaotic at all times-classroom, recess, field trips -and were not impressed with the school. K is not a strong year at Brent, teachers are average at best although I hear the new principal is great. GL.

Take this comment with a grain of salt, PP.

K was a very strong year for us at Brent for the past two years. Both our older and younger children (spaced close together) had the new K teacher, who rocks. Things have improved at Brent since you bailed. The recess situation is much less chaotic. The weakest K teacher retired.
The K OOB WL is a mile long.

Hello, Brent is a public school. Let me guess, you left for a tony private because, let's face it, DC public schools are chaotic places for parents who don't want the best for their kids, or are slackers who can't afford privates.

Take all feedback with a grain of salt because each family will have their own experiences. My oldest two had the teacher who retired and my youngest had another long-term teacher. There was a dramatic difference in how my youngest ended the year than the other two. The kids with the retired teacher had a much better year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The incoming K class is huge at all the Hill schools. It was a weird year.

There has been a massive influx of people and a baby boom on the Hill, starting about 6 years ago. The incoming K class won't be an outlier. DCPS reacts verrrry slowly to population changes.

This is an especially big year.

IIRC we had two classes, one with 27 and one with 28, a number of years ago, and our little snowflakes were just fine. They read, they learned math, they went on field trips to pumpkin patches and museums, and they played.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not new, at Brent for years, on the Hill for decades. 36 currently registered for 5th grade at Brent, including several 4th graders who took 6th grade math in 4th. More than half the 4th grade class is returning for 5th for the first time since Washington Latin opened its doors.

Sounds like you're out of date.

Please don't bring up facts that belie a narrative founded on truthiness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does the pp know where Brent is?

Huh? Are you disputing that Brent is high SES? They have a low enough FARMS rate that they can't report results for FARMS students. That's only true of like ~8 ESes in the District.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, just because the K classes are likely to be on the large side this fall doesn't mean that your child would be lost in the shuffle for K, or any other year at Brent.

PTA funds are used to hire half a dozen floating "teacher partners" (classroom aides) to improve the adult: kid ratio at least part of the school day. Some classes have full-time practice teachers on board. The higher you go in the school, the smaller the classes tend to be. Many parents work in the House of Representatives office buildings nearby, and some will return to their state when their Rep is voted out or whatever.

We haven't found that Brent is a disorganized school (and we could afford private). There are many strong teachers, including all the specials teachers. Brent offers more specials than most other public schools (Spanish, art, music, science, PE).

Good luck w/your choice.

To clarify, teacher:student ratios will be good in K even if a class has 25 or 26 students because each K class gets a teacher and full-time teachers aide courtesy of DCPS. After K, PTAs pay for aides.

K used to have pullout sessions (brain blocks) utilizing the PTA-funded teacher assistants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good luck finding a thriving dcps public elementary school where K class sizes are small.

We had 27 kids in our Maury K class, which turned out to be fine.

At least dcps provides full-time para professionals/teachers assistants in K.

No, DCPS does not provide paras for K. A principal can use pta money or move the budget around t cover this, but the standard docs budget does NOT include assistant teachers past prek4.

[Anonymous]

Hhmm, we've attended two separate DCPS schools (not Brent) and full time paras have always been standard in K classrooms...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck finding a thriving dcps public elementary school where K class sizes are small.

We had 27 kids in our Maury K class, which turned out to be fine.

At least dcps provides full-time para professionals/teachers assistants in K.

No, DCPS does not provide paras for K. A principal can use pta money or move the budget around t cover this, but the standard docs budget does NOT include assistant teachers past prek4.

Whatever. Brent has strong paras for K, just like the other Hill DCPS schools, Maury, SWS, Ludlow etc.

[Anonymous]

I had heard the reason so many kids going into K this year at Brent was because of new apartments in boundary. We were OOB family and hoped to get sibling preference for K at Brent. Super great school for those kindergarteners in bound!! We really enjoyed it there. Hyde Addison for us now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had heard the reason so many kids going into K this year at Brent was because of new apartments in boundary. We were OOB family and hoped to get sibling preference for K at Brent. Super great school for those kindergarteners in bound!! We really enjoyed it there. Hyde Addison for us now.

what new apartments?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had heard the reason so many kids going into K this year at Brent was because of new apartments in boundary. We were OOB family and hoped to get sibling preference for K at Brent. Super great school for those kindergarteners in bound!! We really enjoyed it there. Hyde Addison for us now.

More likely that some people who went to Van Ness for PK would return to their IB for K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had heard the reason so many kids going into K this year at Brent was because of new apartments in boundary. We were OOB family and hoped to get sibling preference for K at Brent. Super great school for those kindergarteners in bound!! We really enjoyed it there. Hyde Addison for us now.

More likely that some people who went to Van Ness for PK would return to their IB for K.

Pretty sure it is the baby boom in the neighborhood which started about 6 years ago plus inbound movement. Neighborhood density is increasing by more births and more homes in the catchment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had heard the reason so many kids going into K this year at Brent was because of new apartments in boundary. We were OOB family and hoped to get sibling preference for K at Brent. Super great school for those kindergarteners in bound!! We really enjoyed it there. Hyde Addison for us now.

what new apartments?

80 new apartments on the Hine site by Eastern Market won't come on line for a few more months.