ludlow-taylor
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Anonymous
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"I will say I am probably on the low-maintenance side as DC parents go. I don't particularly care about bells and whistles outside the classroom, I don't mind a run-down building (though LT is getting renovated this summer), I don't require much in the way of ongoing communication with my kid's teachers. I can definitely see how more high-maintenance parents might find the school environment frustrating -- and I would encourage high-maintenance parents to steer clear, because I really like the homey, relaxed feeling the school has now.  "
Hmmm, I think the above poster summarized LT well. If your child is free of challenges in school and will really thrive in any environment, this school may work for you. It may work in part because you will say my child seems happy and never mind the fact that the principal is not responsive and communication regarding what is going on in the school at large and what is going on in the classroom is really lacking. I think that is a horrible way to run a school, but passable depending on the child. |
Anonymous
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I am stunned by the comments on this thread. I am a teacher at Ludlow. We are welcoming to ALL students. That is what this is about - the kids. Most parents at the school are impressed by the gains made by their students while at LT. If parents have difficulty with low-SES, OOB, or AA students in the classrooms learning alongside their children, perhaps another school would suit their needs better. Research has shown that integrating lower SES students into higher SES environments increases the achievement of the lower SES students while having no effect on higher SES students. It is our responsibility to ensure achievement for all students, regardless of gender, race, income level, religion, or disability. LT is welcoming to ALL children - and this is ultimately what we are discussing; CHILDREN. All of them have talents, abilities, potentials, and beauty. ALL OF THEM.
I find it troubling that people are posting these divisive and hurtful comments. I am incredibly proud of our school, our teachers, our tireless efforts, our parents that give everything they can to ensure the growth of their kids, and our principal who insists that our first priority is teaching every child. Not just IB students, not just higher SES students, and not only non-AA students. ALL children. I love LT and how it has enhanced my life - personally and professionally. |
Anonymous
I'm the PP you quoted -- I think "horrible" is pretty strong. To me, as long as kids are safe in school and children (not just mine, but all the kids) are learning to their full potential, everything else is relatively unimportant. Communication with the principal is more like customer service, which I consider a "nice to have," rather than an essential. I also feel strongly that my role as a parent is not to back-seat-drive my kid's teachers. There's a LOT I can do at home to support my kid's education, but pestering her teachers to keep me up-to-date on what she's doing at school this week is not supportive; it takes their attention away from my child. On the few occasions I have really needed to discuss something with my daughter's teachers at L-T, they have been gracious and attentive, taken my concerns seriously, and worked with me to address my concerns. In all the back and forth on this thread, has anyone alleged kids at Ludlow Taylor are unsafe or unhappy or failing to learn? Even with the high-SES parents supposedly fleeing in droves, the (post-cheating-scandal) DCCAS scores compare positively with other local schools. Cobbs may not be making all the parents happy, but she seems to be doing something right. |
Anonymous
I don't think parents have any problem with having OOB kids at the school. I certainly DO have a problem with kids who don't live in DC taking spots in the school, or any DC school. Unfortunately, at LT, no one seems to have any inclination to address this issue. |
Anonymous
I'm glad this teacher posted about how much she loves working at LT and the hard work that she and others are engaged in to improve the school. I genuinely believe that the principal believes that each decision that she makes will be beneficial to the school and enhance the teaching of children. But having sent my kid there a couple of years ago, I disagree with her approach entirely. In her view, parents are not an integral part of the LT community. It is not her responsibility or the responsibility of even the teachers to keep parents informed of what is happening in the classrooms (even though the school purports to use reggio and even though we are talking about 3 and 4 year olds in the early childhood program). Some of the teachers and parents have developed their own way to work around to incorporate parents and I think that is fantastic and really a testament to them - not to the principal. And I think in that way it makes LT worse than a lot of places on the Hill. |
Anonymous
I'm glad this teacher posted about how much she loves working at LT and the hard work that she and others are engaged in to improve the school. I genuinely believe that the principal believes that each decision that she makes will be beneficial to the school and enhance the teaching of children. But having sent my kid there a couple of years ago, I disagree with her approach entirely. That's how Ludlow-Taylor's reputation fuels on itself: some disgruntled parents who keep coming back here (and elsewhere) licking old wounds. What's the point? Or does the constant denigrating and pot-stirring make you feel better about your own decision to turn your back? Or is there some ulterior motive? Why don't you just move on. It's legitimate to do so; but spitting in other people's soup is not. Schools change so quickly, experiences can be radically different from year to year. And no, no one is expected to invite any principal to a cookout. They're there to manage schools while responding to numerous constituencies, inside, outside, up the street, down the street, and over the fence. Not always an altogether easy task, sure not one where you can please everybody at all times. |
Anonymous
| Yikes. I am again the parent who (regrettably) resurrected this thread and I am going to walk away slowly from LT...not because of anything other than the crazy defensive parents, who I really don't to deal with. I'll take the charter we got into and the language immersion that comes with it. |
Anonymous
You are free to do as you wish, of course, but I hope you're not really making your call based on what you read on DCUM. Ninety percent of what is written about Ludlow Taylor is written by people who don't have and never had kids who attended the school. Of course every school has a reputation that is based in some part on fact and history, but I hope you are basing your decision on what you see with your own eyes and hear from the lips of actual parents, former parents, teachers, etc. I am not an L-T parent or booster, but a parent at another charter that has a DCUM reputation that I strongly disagree with, so I know that the "intelligence" on these boards should be taken with a lot of salt. |
Anonymous
Then take a long look at yourself in the mirror: Why exactly is it that you feel the need to resurrect this thread? To make yourself feel better about trekking to your charter? You hereby have my very personal blessings. It is totally okay, and you will be fine. But please let Ludlow-Taylor parents take the school where they may. It's not longer yours and doesn't need to be. (I too write this as a non Ludlow-Taylor parent, just one who too gets frustrated by non-parents or no-longer parents taking schools down and feigning first-hand knowledge, be they charter or public.) |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
| ^^ +1 -- also left, but for oob dcps. Read the Eastern/Wells thread. Oh yes, they treat the high ses kids OK, but they sure don't think much of the parents. |
Anonymous
To answer your question, I really wanted to know about LT! No mal-intent. It sounds like there is too much conflict. Fwiw my husband and I are very pro public school and not so pro charter, so we were genuinely hoping that LT w an option. It's not the bad things people say about LT that are weighing in me, but that these arguments are present at a school we attended previously (old vs new, high SES vs low SES) and we just want to get away from it. It is exhausting. |
Anonymous
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Get away. Even the most idealistic and determined IB families burn out after a couple years at Ludlow, save a handful of quirky ultra liberal types.
We're going to have a new Ward 6 DC Council Member next year, since Wells is running for mayor and can't run for his seat in the same election. I'm hoping that parents of a 1 and 2 year olds in the Stanton Park neighborhood will be beating on the newbie's door fast, demanding that Cobbs is out. |
Anonymous
| Or that there's a real investigation of schools with patterns of suspicious test results, which would likely have the same effect. |
Anonymous
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Agree with the above two posters. Am IB for LT and feeling angry that it is not high SES friendly, and also find it galling that two schools that are extremely high-SES friendly are within walking distance but "city wide." It is time that IB LT parents find some decent political representation.
Also an investigation into being complicit in massive residency fraud might do the trick to force Cobbs out. |