Thomson Elementary

[Anonymous]

Are there any recent parents of Thomson students? I've read through the threads on Thomson but they are dated. We went to the open house and we were happy with what we saw, but it would be helpful to hear from parents of children currently attending the school.

[Anonymous]

You might want to cross post on PG County Schools forum.

[Anonymous]

Why?

[Anonymous]

historically there have been a lot of Maryland residents enrolling their children at Thomson. The classic was in 2011 the situation where a Thomson student share coke with classmates and the parent's said - you can not keep him in DC Child Protective Services b/c he is not a DC resident!

Go to the school at drop off and count the # of Maryland plates.

[Anonymous]

We went there and left after the principal mess. I have spoken to some parent who stayed and it appears to have stablized but has a very different demographic population than even a few years ago. When we started it was generally a plurality of Chinese, Hishpanic and African American kids. The Kindergarten and early grades now are dominantly Hispanic kids which has shifted a lot of the focus towards dealing with more ESL issues. There scores have shifted up, they are not the bottom, but obvioiusly reflecting the poverty and language issues only doing so-so. Do I think that could do better now that they have stablized yes. So yes go look at the school, do a tour sit in on some of the classes. It may be a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Old news.

Lots of new families in the PS3 and Pk4 classes. Chinese language and lots of the Chinese families come over from MVT because Walker Jones doesn't have an ELL program.

[Anonymous]

Do they teach Chinese or you mean Chinese-speaking families?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do they teach Chinese or you mean Chinese-speaking families?

Both.

[Anonymous]

It's only Chinese language instruction, not immersion. And it's not frequent enough to make a difference.

[Anonymous]

Is there a playground?

[Anonymous]

No there is not a playground which is a huge issue. There are these covered carport like areas that are dark and don't allow you to build much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's only Chinese language instruction, not immersion. And it's not frequent enough to make a difference.

So typical DC "it's only instruction". Well, join the PTA and make difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's only Chinese language instruction, not immersion. And it's not frequent enough to make a difference.

So typical DC "it's only instruction". Well, join the PTA and make difference.

I think foreign languages are great.

But seriously, why should that be a priority for a struggling school system? I don't get adding Chinese to a struggling school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No there is not a playground which is a huge issue. There are these covered carport like areas that are dark and don't allow you to build much.

It's the only school left in downtown DC. They also use the resources and attract the diversity of the city in a way that a school like Mann or Lafayette (in quasi suburbia) can't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I think foreign languages are great.

But seriously, why should that be a priority for a struggling school system? I don't get adding Chinese to a struggling school.

Thomson has had Chinese for a while -- its not a new addition. The school is in an area that has a relatively high (for DC) concentration of Chinese residents, and I'm pretty sure the school has a higher percentage of Asian (likely Chinese) students than any other DCPS. I suspect the Chinese instruction (limited though it is) helps retain those Asian students, who as a group perform better on DC-CAS than most of the other students.