Moving to Cap Hill from out of state, tell me about Brent elementary

[Anonymous]

Are we really quibbling over process relating to a language program at an (non-immersion) elementary school offered once a week for 45 minutes? Geesh!

[Anonymous]

My kid's 4th grade class has lost some kids. I can think of a few who left for special needs schools. Some military families who left town. 1 joined an older sibling at a private school. A few moved to the suburbs. Some moved to other areas of the country. Can't think of anyone else leaving. Now most are leaving for BASIS, Latin, private, other DCPS/charter for 5th. Trying to get a jump on things before Jefferson.

The only poor teacher we've had after 8 years at the school (2 kids) has left for another school. The other teachers range from very good to absolutely excellent. I have also had occasion to be in other classrooms and have observed those teachers to be solid to excellent.

Principal is annoying in the way he comes down so hard on some issues and then is wishy-washy on others. Not great dealing with the behavior issues that do exist. I'm hoping that the new Behavior Tech position will help with that, though I won't have a kid there next year. Altogether as good of a public school experience as I would expect to have outside of some really rich areas of the city and country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many, many move or go private well before 5th grade. However by 5th grade most families have moved on...

A logical person would conclude that school enrollment must be shrinking with all these departures. And yet it isn't, despite the fact that an entire mixed age classroom was eliminated last year. And why did the school feel the need to add new classrooms for K through 4?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid's 4th grade class has lost some kids. I can think of a few who left for special needs schools. Some military families who left town. 1 joined an older sibling at a private school. A few moved to the suburbs. Some moved to other areas of the country. Can't think of anyone else leaving. Now most are leaving for BASIS, Latin, private, other DCPS/charter for 5th. Trying to get a jump on things before Jefferson.

The only poor teacher we've had after 8 years at the school (2 kids) has left for another school. The other teachers range from very good to absolutely excellent. I have also had occasion to be in other classrooms and have observed those teachers to be solid to excellent.

Principal is annoying in the way he comes down so hard on some issues and then is wishy-washy on others. Not great dealing with the behavior issues that do exist. I'm hoping that the new Behavior Tech position will help with that, though I won't have a kid there next year. Altogether as good of a public school experience as I would expect to have outside of some really rich areas of the city and country.

OP here-thank you so much for this! This is the kind of insight I was looking for, very helpful. Do you feel your kids are prepared for middle school? How is the reading program and Math program at Brent?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone from Brent actually go to Jefferson?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many, many move or go private well before 5th grade. However by 5th grade most families have moved on...

A logical person would conclude that school enrollment must be shrinking with all these departures. And yet it isn't, despite the fact that an entire mixed age classroom was eliminated last year. And why did the school feel the need to add new classrooms for K through 4?

There are always kids at crappier schools willing to take a spot given up at Brent.

[Anonymous]

My son had 3 or 4 kids join his class from Two Rivers. My son is now at Latin and was well prepared at Brent. He has friends at Basis who are also doing well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have two kids at Brent now, and have a child at the school for eight years. We love the school. The principal and the building are both good/fine. The specials (art, music, foreign language, PE) are very good. The school is small and quite orderly. The teachers are amazing. We have had so many fabulous classroom teachers. The student body is nice, mostly very well prepared/ at grade level. We have not had a problem with any of our kids being bullied.

* The language program is in turmoil at the moment.

The Brent principal decided to move from Mandarin to Spanish next year for a variety of reasons which have been explained to parents. Some parents were unhappy with the process and the principal more generally, in part, because he originally hoped to offer Latin imstruction only to grades 2-5. This would have permitted reallocation about $50,000 in funds to hire additional staff to support the new strategic plan. DCPS turned down the request and language instruction will continue to be offered to all grades. Sorry, a handful of unhappy parents does not equate to turmoil.

The language program is in turmoil. Let's be completely honest about what is happening. The principal is getting rid of a solid Chinese program as a matter of convenience, in order to get rid of one teacher. Ignoring parent recommendations with regard to language, he came up with a half-baked plan to teach Latin and cut language instruction. Then, under pressure, he settled on another half-baked plan to teach Spanish. The PTA and LSAT squelched discussion on the matter. All of this is very reactive, without proper forethought. The "variety of reason which have been explained to parents" amount to propaganda.

Yawn. Yes, the process was handled poorly. We get it. You guys gave it your best shot. We were subjected to churlish, boorish behavior and other incivilities, not to mention frivolous entreaties to stop donating funds to the PTA. You tried to monopolize discussions at more meetings than i want to remember. You posted ad hominem attacks on Brent Neighbors and DCUM. Still, we respectfully listened to what you had to say time and time again. In the end, your arguments and demeanor had no resonance. I'm truly sorry you can't seem to get past this, but the rest of us are looking forward to reapijg the benefits of a reconstituted and hopefully much stronger language program. In any event, this is far from the most significant challenge facing Brent, which you should have known had you been as engaged as other parents who have been attending PTA and LSAT meeting on a regular basis for a number of years. I understand that the bigger picture can be hard to grasp when your DC is still in Kindergarten, but until you are able to do so, please try to put your time and energy into something more constructive and beneficial.

So typical for you, a member of Brent's LSAT-PTA cabal, to resort to name calling. The people who spoke up about this snafu were justifiably outraged, but rather than addressing the core issue or having any constructive conversation, you label the outrage as churlish, make it into an "us vs. them" issue, and try to whitewash it. The most significant issue at Brent isn't language. It isn't kids' behavior. It's your divisive nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone from Brent actually go to Jefferson?

No IB families of which I am aware. Virtually all leave after Fourth Grade for Basis, Latin or privates. It's possible that one or more OOB kids who stayed at Brent through Fifth Grade have moved on to Jefferson.

[Anonymous]

I would be shocked if more than a dozen Brent students matriculated to Jefferson in the last 15 years

[Anonymous]

Some IB families made the trek to Hardy in the the not too distant past, but let's not lose sight of the fact that the renaissance of Brent is a phenomenon that has taken place within the past decade. Indeed, despite the fact that a good chunk of the Brent district has been IB for Wilson, I've heard about only one or two kids who ever went that route.

[Anonymous]

After Jefferson lost a no-nonsense administrator--who had set up a de facto citywide math/science honors programs that fed to Wilson---left the school; the school went into decline. At that point Brent quietly started sending its graduates to seats set aside for them at Hardy. That's how it was when BrentNeighibors started to get active around 2004. And it lasted until Rhee arrived and started cracking down on all the wishy washy waitlist management. This "pipeline" to Hardy seems to have been re established in the last year or so in a legit way. Interesting.

[Anonymous]

A couple of kids transferring to Eaton, a least one of whom enrolled at BASIS, as opposed to Hardy, now constitutes a pipeline?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After Jefferson lost a no-nonsense administrator--who had set up a de facto citywide math/science honors programs that fed to Wilson---left the school; the school went into decline. At that point Brent quietly started sending its graduates to seats set aside for them at Hardy. That's how it was when BrentNeighibors started to get active around 2004. And it lasted until Rhee arrived and started cracking down on all the wishy washy waitlist management. This "pipeline" to Hardy seems to have been re established in the last year or so in a legit way. Interesting.

She was such a loss to that school. I remember when Jefferson attracted some of the brightest kids across the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many, many move or go private well before 5th grade. However by 5th grade most families have moved on...

A logical person would conclude that school enrollment must be shrinking with all these departures. And yet it isn't, despite the fact that an entire mixed age classroom was eliminated last year. And why did the school feel the need to add new classrooms for K through 4?

There are always kids at crappier schools willing to take a spot given up at Brent.

So, there are many, many of these kids? Where are they all being hidden? Why aren't they being reflected in the lottery data over the past three years? While it's certainly the case that Brent has populated newly added classrooms with some OOB kids via the lottery since 2011 or 2012, and some replaced a a small number of students whose families relocated outside the DC area, whether on a temporary or permanent basis, we better get sound the alarm to find the hoards of kids who remain unaccounted for!