S/O Is Janney the best of the JKLMM schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my 4 kids were atPre K and K at Janney, they had wild, abandon all your cares style recess three times a day 5 days a week. They each had Ms. Gero who has been there 30 years--she is of Dutch Extraction and would take the kids out no matter if it was pouring rain or temps of @ 20-25ºF. Janney with it's new wing has cross over from great school into the realm of fantasy-level perfection; diversity, curricula, and physical plant in perfect harmony....the jaguars purr with power.

This!

[Anonymous]

The question is not whether Janney is crowded. Of course it is. But the question is whether it is more crowded then the others in the list by comparison. It is not. They are all crowded. There are other DC schools that aren't crowded but they are not in the group that Janney is being compared against.

[Anonymous]

PP, you are incorrect. Janney is the ONLY one of the above schools that is entirely closed to out-of-boundary students. It has experienced 25% growth over the past 3 years. In contrast, Murch and Lafayette have grown by 5%.

[Anonymous]

They have grown less because they are less desirable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, you are incorrect. Janney is the ONLY one of the above schools that is entirely closed to out-of-boundary students. It has experienced 25% growth over the past 3 years. In contrast, Murch and Lafayette have grown by 5%.

You guys need to stop because when that cute little OOB kid squeakes in due to connections we are all going to laugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, you are incorrect. Janney is the ONLY one of the above schools that is entirely closed to out-of-boundary students. It has experienced 25% growth over the past 3 years. In contrast, Murch and Lafayette have grown by 5%.

I don't know if the facts we have seen are inconsistent with one another or if they are just different data points and not really inconsistent. But whether they are out of bound or in bound students, my understanding is that Janney will be above capacity for next year. Murch is above capacity already and has been for years and next year will be more so then this year. I have no idea why Murch might continue to take out-of-boundary kids when it is above capacity but I'm willing to accept your representation that they do. But whether Janney has grown more then Murch/Lafayette over the past several years doesn't answer the question. Since the Janney facility has grown and the number of out-of-bound kids is decreasing, the crowding level has apparently been partially offset. Murch is in fact more crowded the Janney.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, you are incorrect. Janney is the ONLY one of the above schools that is entirely closed to out-of-boundary students. It has experienced 25% growth over the past 3 years. In contrast, Murch and Lafayette have grown by 5%.

I don't know if the facts we have seen are inconsistent with one another or if they are just different data points and not really inconsistent. But whether they are out of bound or in bound students, my understanding is that Janney will be above capacity for next year. Murch is above capacity already and has been for years and next year will be more so then this year. I have no idea why Murch might continue to take out-of-boundary kids when it is above capacity but I'm willing to accept your representation that they do. But whether Janney has grown more then Murch/Lafayette over the past several years doesn't answer the question. Since the Janney facility has grown and the number of out-of-bound kids is decreasing, the crowding level has apparently been partially offset. Murch is in fact more crowded the Janney.

Are you trying to rationalize with a Janney poster? Come on, PP. Get with the program!!

[Anonymous]

You WILL be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

[Anonymous]

Who knows why downtown makes the decisions it does. For whatever reason, the decision has been made that Janney is closed to new OOB students at all grades.

I suspect that Lafayette and Murch are not far behind and the big difference in the past few years at all thee schools are the number of children that are staying and going on to Deal. There were never many spaces if any in the early years, but space opened up because kids left in 3rd/4th/5th because it was an easier year to get into private or the families decides to move before middle school hit.

My understanding, which is limited to Janney, is that kids are not even leaving for Latin in 5th which they were a couple of years ago.

[Anonymous]

So parents in-bound for Janney, please think about GDS or Sidwell. You will stimulate the local economy and leave Janney for the rest of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"but you do get more individualized attention, smaller classes, more appropriate gross motor play, and other benefits by going the private school route."

Really not true, but go ahead and convince yourself of that while I save $2500/month.

Actually it is true, and if you had the 2500 a month, which you obviously don't, you would at least seriously consider the value of private vs public since not at all an easy call. But since you can't afford private, all you can do is act petty and jealous. Right on!

[Anonymous]

Let's not rehash "Public vs. Private". There are thousands of posts on this topic. I'd be shocked if anyone has a unique take.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Janney is on par with a big 3 private. Yes it is officially 'crowded with 24 students in a classroom for 4th and 5th grade. But anyone who goes there knows that there is rarely a day when at least 2 or 3 kids aren't absent and many of the classes have a student teacher assisting. Shhhh-it's Sidwell/GDS but free. Plus bonus, your kid can easily get into those schools after 6th grade, if that's what you want--but Deal is equally awesome.

I think that Janney and the other JKLMM schools are excellent schools, but they are not on par with "big-3" schools (Beauvoir/GDS/Sidwell) at least at the K level. The teacher:student ratio and general class sizes are better at privates. GDS has a 10:1 student:teacher ratio (two teachers, not a teacher plus an aide or two) with the average K class at 20. There is a dedicated playground for K-2 grade (1-1.5 hours of daily outdoor play), plus PE four days a week, M-TH. They have dedicated teachers who specialize in science, music, reading, and math, and who teach the K class on a weekly or bi-weekly basis; there are also weekly visits in groups of 10 to the library.

I know that the price tag for private school education is steep and controversial, but you do get more individualized attention, smaller classes, more appropriate gross motor play, and other benefits by going the private school route. For some, the $30K price tag is not worth the curriculum, but for others it is.

å
Janney also has dedicated teachers for those subjects, has a separate playground for peek and K only, one for 1st and 2nd graders and one with a huge nylon tower à la Sheridan School for 3-5 graders. Yes PE an music are only once a month--but for an extra $150 per 6 week session you can have our hottie PE teacher run your kids until they drop on the heavenly school campus, or have a faculty members walk the kid across the street to Tae Kwon Do Class, or take a Lego™ brick building class (at school), or take french , italian or chinese, etc. Plus class ratios are the same as at private because large classes get 2 teachers--so no, the curriculum at private really is NOT better at private. But once your in private, if that's what you want, you are done and don't have to worry about getting in at 6th grade--except that I have no idea why anyone does that, with the equally stellar Deal awaiting you after Janney.

It's always amusing when ward 3 parents tout what happens after school as a way to compare dcps to the top independent schools' curricula.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They have grown less because they are less desirable.

In the case of Murch I would say it's becuase more of the inboundary households always go private and always will. The Cleveland Park phenomenon

[Anonymous]

Except that Murch doesn't cover Cleveland Park. Wrong again!