Has anyone accepted a spot at a highly coveted DC Charter and then later been disappointed?
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Anonymous
Not ours. PS-3 was 19 kids with 3 adults. PK-4 is 18 with 2 adults. |
Anonymous
DC at a charter had 18:2 for prek4 and 17:2 for K. I have friends at other charters and looked at preK programs when we were applying two yrs ago and I never saw any program that had a class size of 25 for preschool. None. |
Anonymous
| Inspired Teaching has 23 kids with a teacher, teaching assistant and an aide. |
Anonymous
My feeling is that 1:9 (I'm talking to you, 2:18 poster) is no better, sorry. 25 kids with 3 teachers is 1:8, so there's very little difference. 23 is 1:7.5. The bottom line is that these programs are all too big, and it's not a good model for a lot of kids. You can argue the numbers all you want, it's the ratio that matters. And you will not convince me that the curriculum and structure at most of these schools is appropriate for very young children, especially for a 10 hour day when you factor in before and after care. |
Anonymous
Again, look at the ratios you're talking about - 1:9 and 1:8, same as my charter with 25 kids and three teachers. Not a good ratio for preschool either way sorry. |
Anonymous
Which school? 1:6 for PS3 is pretty good. Still would want to know what the structure and expectations are though, because again, we're talking a very long day for very small children. If others are having a better experience than we've had, I'm glad. But after seeing it from the inside, I'm still philosophically opposed to the public preschool model, though. If you have no other option for care or the child is coming from an impoverished background, I get it, though I still think ten hours of structure is too much. |
Anonymous
Well, good for you. Most of us don't have the option to keep our very small children home all day with a single caregiver or send them to a playgroup for a short time period. The system is also not structured so that you can opt out of PS and PK because you will be literally shut out of nearly everything by K. So you can talk a great game about unstructured time for preschoolers, but it's not feasible for the vast majority of parents on this board, who are trying to take advantage of public schools in DC. We try to keep our DC home from school one day a week to play with grandma and have a nice long nap, but that wouldn't work for most families, and it certainly won't work once we move to a more structured program. |
Anonymous
Still waiting for you to name the school that has 25 kids in a classroom and 10 hr days... |
Anonymous
Ours is 22:3 |
Anonymous
Look, I sympathize - I work out of necessity too and I am by no means rich. I still stand by my feeling that the system does not serve children well. It's not much of an option. We are currently planning to relocate where the cost of childcare is much more feasible, and where we will have tons of family who can help care for our child. The system has been a terrible disservice to my particular child, and as I've reviewed the situation, I've concluded that there are no acceptable options if we stay in this area. I'm either sacrificing my kid's early childhood, giving up on adding to our family because we can't afford two kids in daycare, moving to the far flung burbs where I can afford a house in a decent school district and living my life as a commuter, etc etc. The COL is too high, and I don't feel comfortable sacrificing my child's earliest years for the sake of making it work. I'm lucky my career is not tied here, and neither is my husband's. So yeah, I get all of your struggles, really I do. But I stand by my opinion. |
Anonymous
Lots of schools offer before care starting at 7:30 and after care ending at 6. You do the math. In many areas preschool is 3-4 hours and not every day of the week. It's not intended to be daycare. I have a niece who qualifies for head start in my hometown (because of a developmental delay), and as a public program there it does not run all day. And no, I am not naming the school because I'm not an idiot and I'm not outing myself here. You are certainly free to disagree with me if you wish. But the fact remains the ratios you are all throwing out here are not THAT much better than the ones at my school. |
Anonymous
Okay, you are moving away. Thanks for sharing your story, but it's not very helpful for those who live in DC. I didn't really see you offering any suggestions or insight other than, this sucks. So good luck to you. |
Anonymous
My story is not unique. I know a lot of families who are currently doing the same calculus we are. And to be honest, I didn't see anyone else offering great insights here either. We didn't get into a "highly coveted" charter, but it is one with a solid reputation. So I was answering the question - yes, I was disappointed, for all the reasons I mentioned. |
Anonymous
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We are at Yu Ying that does not have prek3. For prek4, 19:3. For k, 17:3. Very happy.
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Anonymous
If I'm reading your story right, the problem is that daycare is too expensive in DC? You don't want a full-day program and it's too expensive to keep sending your kid to daycare. Lord, I hear that. This is the downside to DC's competitive preschool for all system. The upside is that, if you are very, very lucky, your kid might be learning Spanish or Chinese or attending some other program that puts early education in most of the country to shame. My friends in other parts of the country can't believe that our kid is learning Mandarin at a free public school. It's not great for every kid, that is for sure. |