Does any one know anything about Langley Elementary?

[Anonymous]

Does any one know anything about Langley Elementary?

[Anonymous]

I know a little-- mostly from other threads here and from living in the neighborhood. It's the neighborhood school for Eckington and Bloomingdale. It has a very nice facility and sometimes in the winter they let neighborhood kids play in the gym, so we did that. I have met the principal a few times and also a few teachers, and always had an overall positive impression. She also had a table at the farmers' market to meet parents. There is also a garden program and beehives.

[Anonymous]

I know one family that listed it in Round 2. I think they lotteried too optimistically and got a bad number. But it is fine for preschool and pretty convenient if you commute down North Capitol.

[Anonymous]

Principal Spann is excellent and very highly regarded within DCPS. The facility is also very nice and was completely renovated a couple of years ago.

Principal Spann will be starting her third year at the school this year. before she joined they had had a new principal every year or two and high turnover among staff and resulting poor results (which still haven't recovered). She has cleaned up things and I hear the teachers are now excellent. We were impressed with the PK and K teachers during a tour last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Principal Spann is excellent and very highly regarded within DCPS. The facility is also very nice and was completely renovated a couple of years ago.

Principal Spann will be starting her third year at the school this year. before she joined they had had a new principal every year or two and high turnover among staff and resulting poor results (which still haven't recovered). She has cleaned up things and I hear the teachers are now excellent. We were impressed with the PK and K teachers during a tour last year.

+1. I definitely get the impression that Spann runs a tight ship! We will list it in this year's lottery for DD2 and if that's where we end up, we'll embrace it. I have met two of the preschool teachers and one seemed excellent, the other good as well.

[Anonymous]

OP, are you looking for this year or next year, and what grade?

[Anonymous]

We live in Eckington and have toured Langley for PK3 entry. I agree that Principal Spann is great and runs an awesome program. My neighbor's children attend and are doing well. The school is still rebounding from previous years of problems. I believe that the school will improve immensely in the next few years as there are lots of little ones in the neighborhood. I think that it is fine for preschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in Eckington and have toured Langley for PK3 entry. I agree that Principal Spann is great and runs an awesome program. My neighbor's children attend and are doing well. The school is still rebounding from previous years of problems. I believe that the school will improve immensely in the next few years as there are lots of little ones in the neighborhood. I think that it is fine for preschool.

+1. The local toddler tsunami is starting to hit, and I think we will see improvement. Like so many schools, test scores will remain low because people will leave in the upper grades trying to get into better middle school feeders. But that doesn't really matter for preschool. I am comfortable with the preschool program and hopeful that improvements will eventually flow up to early elementary as well. I love living in the neighborhood and it pains me that such a cohesive neighborhood is dispersed to so many different schools.

At the open house they had some older kids demonstrating Lego Robots and it seemed like a neat program. They also have various animals and fish in addition to the beehives, with a real science curriculum, not just as pets. It was quite the menagerie and between that and the robots, DS3 was enthralled. I liked the lead science teacher a lot-- she seemed dedicated, and more than capable of keeping the big kids under control.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if neighborhood parents are involved at all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if neighborhood parents are involved at all?

I think this is a problem right now. I'm PP who stated that my neighbors attend the school. Their parents are not very active but the grandmother is. I recall from the last tour that we attended that Principal Spann wanted to increase parent engagement.

[Anonymous]

for fall 2015 pk3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:for fall 2015 pk3

Is that you, OP? I'm sure you could ask for a tour. The teachers will be at work in early August so it's a good time to meet them.

[Anonymous]

My friends kid went there and they weren't happy and left. My understanding is that the administration focuses a lot on prospective parent and ignores real needs of current parents. Their SN program is terrible, and administration doesn't do anything when a teacher is singling out and not helping a student.

All of that is 2nd hand, so take it for what it is worth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:for fall 2015 pk3

Is that you, OP? I'm sure you could ask for a tour. The teachers will be at work in early August so it's a good time to meet them.

Yes sorry. I'm new here and I figured out that I have to quote to reply to a response. But yes I did take a tour but since school is out I did not get to see anything much just the newly built facility. Since they have limited spots and I saw little to none reviews on it I was wondering if other parents had any experience with Langley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friends kid went there and they weren't happy and left. My understanding is that the administration focuses a lot on prospective parent and ignores real needs of current parents. Their SN program is terrible, and administration doesn't do anything when a teacher is singling out and not helping a student.

All of that is 2nd hand, so take it for what it is worth.

How long ago was this, PP?