Seaton/Trusdell/Garrison/Whittier?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good point. Seaton used to be harder to get into but between the principal at Garrison and the renovations, I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes harder than Seaton to get into this year. I went to the open house at Garrison this week and was so impressed with Principal Kiplinger. He seems like the real deal.

You’re not the first person I’ve heard say this, including current Garrison families. What is so amazing about this principal? Can a principal really make that big a difference at a school?

Yes a principal can make a huge difference. He is energetic and motivated to consider new ideas and make changes. In the particular case of Garrison I think they were underwhelmed with the prior principal and that is what is causing all the praise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good point. Seaton used to be harder to get into but between the principal at Garrison and the renovations, I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes harder than Seaton to get into this year. I went to the open house at Garrison this week and was so impressed with Principal Kiplinger. He seems like the real deal.[/quote

My daughter is IB for Garrison in PK3 and we absolutely love it. We were waitlisted for Seaton and Cleveland and never heard back. I had friends OOB with bad lottery numbers, who still got a call for Garrison. Highly highly recommend. My daughter loves her teacher and aide, the new space is beautiful and Principal Kip is indeed amazing. It feels like the school is going places! There doesn't seem to be a problem getting aftercare for PreK level and parents got spots for the older grades after the waitlist was brought to Principal Kip's attention.

Thinking it will be more competitive this year, but it wasn't really last year yet.

[Anonymous]

I'm a Seaton parent and I've also heard this about the Garrison principal. I think he is very good at starting conversations that others tiptoe around (like about race/class/etc) and i think those kinds of people are very effective and finding out how people really feel, and what they need from the school to stay.

[Anonymous]

Seaton had a superstar principal for 6 years (lost her to a promotion this past year) and here are the things that I observed about how a principal can make a difference:

1. she was a problem solver -- she was constantly scanning the school culture for problems, and then figuring out how to solve them
2. her communication skills helped with this -- she was in constant communication with the school community, DCPS and other organizations that could help her. She would come to the PTO meetings and say things like "so, i picked up the phone and called "x" and said, what can we do to solve this? and so the new plan is "y"
3. she radiated positive energy
4. she focused on making the school a happy, healthy place, and someone found concrete ways to do this. it really is happy, healthy, peaceful place
5. she focused on hiring -- she had a strategy for hiring the best teachers (i think she started really early in the year, and also looked at other schools for their best teachers, and also hired on from unexpected places occasionally). the teachers are notably outstanding.

so, she left that legacy and we are enjoying it. the new principal (the former AP) is much, much more low key and she doesn't communicate what she is accomplishing, so it is very hard to know if she will be as effective. i think she is trying to keep Jackson's plan going, but it remains to be seen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good point. Seaton used to be harder to get into but between the principal at Garrison and the renovations, I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes harder than Seaton to get into this year. I went to the open house at Garrison this week and was so impressed with Principal Kiplinger. He seems like the real deal.

You’re not the first person I’ve heard say this, including current Garrison families. What is so amazing about this principal? Can a principal really make that big a difference at a school?

Yes a principal can make a huge difference. He is energetic and motivated to consider new ideas and make changes. In the particular case of Garrison I think they were underwhelmed with the prior principal and that is what is causing all the praise.

Principals run hiring.

Hiring and retaining good teachers is a HUGE part of making a school good. Heck, it's a huge part of running any organization. Talent matters.
I think that's the biggest reason why the principal matters.

[Anonymous]

Some IB kids do initially get waitlisted for Whittier PK3 but I believe they have all gotten in in recent years. We also applied to add a PK3 room for next year as we phase out our middle grades, so there will hopefully be additional seats. That said, Manor Park has an obvious baby/toddler boom so my sense is that we're just keeping up.

And yes the principal has an enormous impact on school culture and operations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a Seaton parent and I've also heard this about the Garrison principal. I think he is very good at starting conversations that others tiptoe around (like about race/class/etc) and i think those kinds of people are very effective and finding out how people really feel, and what they need from the school to stay.

My kids go to Garrison and I couldn’t agree more about the impact that a strong principal can have. Mr. Kip has absolutely transformed the school in both obvious and subtle ways. He has brought in some incredible new talent and previous posts are right that he is not afraid to have tough conversations and confront issues that have held Garrison back for so many years. I would say he has the potential to run DCPS one day but we’d hate to lose him!

[Anonymous]

I've been to open houses at Garrison and Seaton, and between the two of them, I think I'd pick Garrison over Seaton. Seaton does better on some of the STAR scores, but they are really close. And the school seems warm and lovely. But Garrison has a brighter, nicer facility (inside and out), more time outside playing, a more dynamic principal, and more Spanish language instruction. These are just my impressions, and they both seem like lovely schools, but there you go, if you want another take on how to rank them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been to open houses at Garrison and Seaton, and between the two of them, I think I'd pick Garrison over Seaton. Seaton does better on some of the STAR scores, but they are really close. And the school seems warm and lovely. But Garrison has a brighter, nicer facility (inside and out), more time outside playing, a more dynamic principal, and more Spanish language instruction. These are just my impressions, and they both seem like lovely schools, but there you go, if you want another take on how to rank them.

Yep, these two are about a tie for me now. But I really like the programs at Seaton and its location is central to bus/metro lines for access. I don't think you can go wrong with either. Seaton is over due for a reno but its playground for little kids is new-ish, and it built a new garden area last year. And the inside is well maintained and the school makes the most of what it has. There are significant differences in after care, if that is important to you, so that would be worth asking about on tours.

[Anonymous]

Whittier over Noyes, noyes aftercare is terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whittier over Noyes, noyes aftercare is terrible.

NP--can you explain why/how? In-bound for Noyes and considering it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been to open houses at Garrison and Seaton, and between the two of them, I think I'd pick Garrison over Seaton. Seaton does better on some of the STAR scores, but they are really close. And the school seems warm and lovely. But Garrison has a brighter, nicer facility (inside and out), more time outside playing, a more dynamic principal, and more Spanish language instruction. These are just my impressions, and they both seem like lovely schools, but there you go, if you want another take on how to rank them.

Yep, these two are about a tie for me now. But I really like the programs at Seaton and its location is central to bus/metro lines for access. I don't think you can go wrong with either. Seaton is over due for a reno but its playground for little kids is new-ish, and it built a new garden area last year. And the inside is well maintained and the school makes the most of what it has. There are significant differences in after care, if that is important to you, so that would be worth asking about on tours.

What are the aftercare differences, in a nutshell?