Center City Public Charter Schools - Apply Online

[Anonymous]

I am a parent of two children at CCPCS Brightwood Campus. I can only speak to the Brightwood Campus experience. Overall I am very satisfied with the progress my children have made at the school. They are in Kindergarten. I also have a child in a JKLM (intentionally vague) school that attended CCPCS/Brightwood. The teachers we have had for our children have been very good and caring. The most outstanding attributes we have noticed is the special attention our children have recieved in regards to advanced work. When our children have not been sufficiently challenged, the teacher and principle have worked to give them more advanced work. In the past we found this to be the case with our older child. In terms of comparing the two schools we found that our older child is doing well at the JKLM school and did not find the work much harder (to our chagrin). She was a top student at Brightwood and is one now at the JKLM school. We like both schools and think the biggest difference is peer groups. i would suggest you stop by and make your own choice.

PS there have beend waitlists in some grades but I don't know which ones.

[Anonymous]

The Catholic versions of these schools closed because of decreasing enrollment, yes. The enrollment decreased because fewer and fewer people were able to afford the schools, the voucher program which provided the education for many kids was dying, and the parishes were resistant to continuing to pay for the education of other people's kids in addition to paying their own taxes (I mean individual parishioners would also pay taxes, not the church). So they hit upon the smart idea of turning them into charter schools. I have nothing to do with any of this and have no idea about the quality of the schools after (I know they were decent, not fabulous before, but certainly in keeping with the other ADW parish schools). I am sure some are happy with them and others are not, but I don't think we need to cry conspiracy on behalf of the ADW. Those buildings undoubtedly would have been snatched up by other charter schools if the particular situation that worked out had not worked out. The ADW has every right to make use of their buildings and also to decide not to continue to fund the education of massive numbers of non-Catholics/non-parishioners.

signed, not Catholic, kids not in a Catholic or charter school, no dog in this fight

[Anonymous]

17:52...if you don't know the FACTS, you should NOT post! The information provided are NOT correct.

[Anonymous]

I am a Center City-Trinidad Mom and [/b]I LOVE IT!!!

I am reassured EVERYDAY that I made the best decision for MY child.

Like anything else, everything is not for everybody. Do your research and go to open houses to decide which institution is best suited for YOUR child as opposed to listening to others personal experiences/prejudices/biases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it inappropriate for the principal to respond as such on a parent blog. I think we have read and get your POV, so please move on and work with corporate to make changes that the parents and/or former faculty are referencing. Once that occurs, let’s use the test scores as our measure oppose to the cheerleading.

This is crazy, I wish principals would post more often. These debates need multiple voices, not just parents. Yes it is their spin, but putting their name down allows one to hold them accountable in a way all of us random anonymous posts don't.

[Anonymous]

sound to me that your real problem is with race and not with the school i have been to the trinidad campus and even the staff is diverse...sounds like a personal problem to me all races have behavioral problems with there kids but it starts at home not at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Center City's online application:

www.centercitypcs.org/application/

They have 6 campuses (Brightwood, Capitol Hill, Congress Heights, Petworth, Shaw and Trinidad) that are PreK4 through 8th grade. They were former Catholic schools who converted to charters last school year.

[Anonymous]

Yikes. As a parent looking for PS3 options, I am worried about responses like 11:57. My son is also very bright, but I want pre-school to be a good mix of "academics," free play and social learning - I do not think 3 and 4 year olds, no matter how bright, need to be in a pressure-filled academic environment and that they learn best through play. Emotional and behavioral self-regulation are incredibly important skills to learn before they enter kindergarten. Mind you - I'm not suggesting 11:57 is a bad parent, but I wonder how much of this attitude exists amongst other parents in the city and how much that impacts the instructional model, because it's just not a philosophy I share.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yikes. As a parent looking for PS3 options, I am worried about responses like 11:57. My son is also very bright, but I want pre-school to be a good mix of "academics," free play and social learning - I do not think 3 and 4 year olds, no matter how bright, need to be in a pressure-filled academic environment and that they learn best through play. Emotional and behavioral self-regulation are incredibly important skills to learn before they enter kindergarten. Mind you - I'm not suggesting 11:57 is a bad parent, but I wonder how much of this attitude exists amongst other parents in the city and how much that impacts the instructional model, because it's just not a philosophy I share.

You need not worry. Center City does not offer PS3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yikes. As a parent looking for PS3 options, I am worried about responses like 11:57. My son is also very bright, but I want pre-school to be a good mix of "academics," free play and social learning - I do not think 3 and 4 year olds, no matter how bright, need to be in a pressure-filled academic environment and that they learn best through play. Emotional and behavioral self-regulation are incredibly important skills to learn before they enter kindergarten. Mind you - I'm not suggesting 11:57 is a bad parent, but I wonder how much of this attitude exists amongst other parents in the city and how much that impacts the instructional model, because it's just not a philosophy I share.

Did you see that the post you're concerned about was from the spring of 2010? Things might have changed, particularly since the Center City system has only operated as a charter for a few years.

The latest charter school report card also praises some CC campuses and pans others--so what was true at the Cap Hill campus may never have been true at Brightwood, Petworth, Trinidad or elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

The Brightwood campus has had four principals in as many years. I'm not kidding.

[Anonymous]

Do I need to send seperate applications to each campus if I am interested in let's say 2 of the Center City Public Charter Schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do I need to send seperate applications to each campus if I am interested in let's say 2 of the Center City Public Charter Schools?

Yes, you do. I believe that the application can be filled out online.

[Anonymous]

To anyone considering applying to these schools - these schools are very unstable. When our principal left last year I inquired about principal turnover at other campuses and was shocked to discover that EVERY single one of the center city campuses has a new principal this year! After asking around I also found out that several of their schools have had 4-5 principals and the schools are only in their 4th year!. The teacher and student turnover is rampant and it was a very chaotic experience for my child. That being said I am sure there are children at these schools who have great teachers or have a great experience but be wary and do your homework before ever enrolling your child here!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Center City Public Charter Schools are a fraud, all six of them. The converted Catholic schools should never have been granted charters in the first place. What happened is these schools could not survive as Catholic schools, they were loosing enrollment. The Archdiocese of Washington came up with a scheme to convert its failing city schools to charter schools and charge rent for the use of these schools. City officials should have realized these schools were failing for a reason: They simply were not good schools. Now that the schools are charter schools, we know they have posted low test scores. All six schools have had very low test scores in fact. One of the schools, the brightwood campus has had three principals in as many years. Center City Public Charter Schools has had three Chief Executive Officers in as many years also. Originally, there were seven schools which converted, but one school, the Brentwood campus was closed after one year due to falling enrollement. The interesting thing about this closing is that there was not one peep about this at the Charter Board web site. I'm not kidding about that, there was not one single thing about it. Parents, stay away from these outrageously bad schools. D.C. Charter Board, start looking into these schools, start giving us some answers and close these schools down for good.

This +10000

These schools were failures. Then came the vouchers. Before these schools were converted, most students were there on vouchers, and the schools could STILL not fill half the seats. Then, facing anemic enrollment, they talked about converting to a charter so that the taxpayers could pay for these failing schools. Now, the schools are still failing, but are using millions more taxpayer dollars. It's shameful.