Base school or center?

[Anonymous]

Assume that commute, siblings logistics stuff not an issue. Spring Hill or Churchill for AAP? Anyone been there done that and have any pros/cons they'd like to share? Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Both schools are good, can't go wrong. Tour the schools.

[Anonymous]

Churchill higher ratio of AAP to gen ed. Spring Hill less so. What do you want the overall culture to feel like?

[Anonymous]

It depends on the quality of the base program. Our base school (Aldrin) has a joke of an AAP program. My older DD went through gen ed at Aldrin and my younger DD spent 3rd grade at the local AAP program. AAP was no different than, or maybe even less challenging, than the gen ed program. Maybe we just got a bad teacher, who knows? DD is now at a center and there's a huge difference. I wish I would have asked around before sending her to base. That's the only way you'll really know.

[Anonymous]

Spring hill has a thriving center program.

[Anonymous]

Spring hill has a thriving base school level 4 program.

[Anonymous]

We like Churchhill but it's very crowded. If your kid can thrive in a shark tank environment, he/she will be fine.

[Anonymous]

They both have reputable programs

[Anonymous]

Churchill Road is far from a "shark tank" environment-no idea what that is supposed to refer to. The class sizes tend to be large, esp for AAP, as the AAP kids do slightly outnumber the GE kids, as there are identified kids from Kent Gardens that come over to the school-very few come from Spring Hill. The overall school culture is friendly, teachers are excellent, and the PTA is very involved (close to 90% participation).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Churchill Road is far from a "shark tank" environment-no idea what that is supposed to refer to. The class sizes tend to be large, esp for AAP, as the AAP kids do slightly outnumber the GE kids, as there are identified kids from Kent Gardens that come over to the school-very few come from Spring Hill. The overall school culture is friendly, teachers are excellent, and the PTA is very involved (close to 90% participation).

A few points to mention:

* Spring Hill is not an AAP center
* Spring Hill has huge student population
* Churchill Road is a center
* Churchill Road is projected to be underenrolled
* KG is starting a LLIV program next year which may decrease enrollment at CR.

[Anonymous]

Will every McLean school then have a center or local level Iv?

[Anonymous]

It is looking like every McLean school will have LLIV. Franklin Shean and Kent Gardens are suppose to have them soon. Now the question will they phase out the centers? And just have all schools with LLIV classes. Seems to be what is happening. Time will tell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is looking like every McLean school will have LLIV. Franklin Shean and Kent Gardens are suppose to have them soon. Now the question will they phase out the centers? And just have all schools with LLIV classes. Seems to be what is happening. Time will tell.

Franklin Sherman

[Anonymous]

Spring Hill has 2 of 5 classrooms AAP. Last I checked, very few (as in 3) kids left Spring Hill for Churchill AAP. They're both very good but nothing tips the balance to Churchill when you have friends, community, siblings, etc and are already happy with SH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Churchill Road is far from a "shark tank" environment-no idea what that is supposed to refer to. The class sizes tend to be large, esp for AAP, as the AAP kids do slightly outnumber the GE kids, as there are identified kids from Kent Gardens that come over to the school-very few come from Spring Hill. The overall school culture is friendly, teachers are excellent, and the PTA is very involved (close to 90% participation).

A few points to mention:

* Spring Hill is not an AAP center
* Spring Hill has huge student population
* Churchill Road is a center
* Churchill Road is projected to be underenrolled
* KG is starting a LLIV program next year which may decrease enrollment at CR.

The underenrollment argument is a fallacy, just as Cooper/Langley projected underenrollments are a fallacy too. Churchill currently has about 850 students, and the 2nd/3rd graders have to be in a mod (glorified trailer attached to the main building). Spring Hill currently runs at about 945, so the differences are really not that great. Not sure what building situation is at SH.

I am glad to hear KG is starting a center to relieve congestion at Churchill. 1st grade was up to 28 students in a class last year, for example, with no aides. Overall, the McLean school class sizes will be negatively affected by next year's budget cuts due to the likes of certain school board members who are content to let class sizes be 14 in some parts of the county and closer to 30 in McLean/GF.