Current parents at SWS Goding

[Anonymous]

Welcome to ward 6 PP. Talk to me in 3rd Grade when you're being forced to commit to a school where your kid is a distinctive minority, on many levels (and now apparently in a building in serious disrepair) or you're called a bigot. There's no middle ground. This is not an SWS problem, it's a Brent, Maury, LT, problem. You'll learn to bite your tongue - come back in a few years and let us know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to ward 6 PP. Talk to me in 3rd Grade when you're being forced to commit to a school where your kid is a distinctive minority, on many levels (and now apparently in a building in serious disrepair) or you're called a bigot. There's no middle ground. This is not an SWS problem, it's a Brent, Maury, LT, problem. You'll learn to bite your tongue - come back in a few years and let us know.

Can you explain this comment PP? You are a current SWS parent who is unhappy with the school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to ward 6 PP. Talk to me in 3rd Grade when you're being forced to commit to a school where your kid is a distinctive minority, on many levels (and now apparently in a building in serious disrepair) or you're called a bigot. There's no middle ground. This is not an SWS problem, it's a Brent, Maury, LT, problem. You'll learn to bite your tongue - come back in a few years and let us know.

I've read this twice and still can't figure out what you are saying. And I'm even a parent of a third grader at one of those schools.

[Anonymous]

Hi current SWS parents! I'm a prospective new parent - we have a very favorable PK3 waitlist number - and nothing I've read here dissuades me from wanting to enroll my child.

Do y'all have any wisdom regarding waitlist movement last year? I don't want to get my hopes up tooooooo high. I'm guessing families rarely - if ever - turn down PK slots.

Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to ward 6 PP. Talk to me in 3rd Grade when you're being forced to commit to a school where your kid is a distinctive minority, on many levels (and now apparently in a building in serious disrepair) or you're called a bigot. There's no middle ground. This is not an SWS problem, it's a Brent, Maury, LT, problem. You'll learn to bite your tongue - come back in a few years and let us know.

I've read this twice and still can't figure out what you are saying. And I'm even a parent of a third grader at one of those schools.

don't follow either -- but on the issue of "in a building in serious disrepair" you're mistaken. There are issues with the building and modernization needs like expanding classroom size and updating hvac and windows, but the building itself is generally OK, at least by DCPS standards. Not great but not falling apart either. Brand new playground, nature area and community garden fwiw.

[Anonymous]

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What you are describing about the upper grades sounds EXACTLY like the programming at Watkins, which makes sense because that is where the 3rd grade teachers worked before joining SWS. They need someone to lead with a little more vision for the upper grades, whether it's the principal or someone else. They can't just wait for the renovations to start innovating. This has been coming for a long time.

so the two highly effective former Watkins teachers leading SWS 3rd grade are not good enough for you? The other upper grade teachers have extensive experience as well, both at SWS and beyond. The renovations have little to do with the pedagogy or personnel. You're conflating two entirely separate issues.

I agree PP. Certainly these two 3rd grade teachers don't need to be lead by the plans for renovation to innovate. They are innovators: they were the vanguards at Watkins that built-up the team teaching, project-based model. They did it together for more than 10 years, with nearly 20 years of teaching. They used the "whole child" approach, albeit not Reggio, without calling it starting many years ago.

PP here. I agree that the 3rd grade team is great. As an SWS parent, however, I think there has been a little too much focus on the playground, garden, worrying about the now-on-hold-again renovations. I would prefer that there be more attention paid to things that matter to the students in the older grades, like a better-resourced library and student government and maybe some computers. If we have to wait for a renovation for the library to have more books in it, my student will have read everything in it long before 5th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to ward 6 PP. Talk to me in 3rd Grade when you're being forced to commit to a school where your kid is a distinctive minority, on many levels (and now apparently in a building in serious disrepair) or you're called a bigot. There's no middle ground. This is not an SWS problem, it's a Brent, Maury, LT, problem. You'll learn to bite your tongue - come back in a few years and let us know.

Parent of a third grader at Brent here. I don't have clue what you're talking about. Apparently neither do you.

[Anonymous]

My guess is pp is talking about the looming middle school problem-a problem that the lead SWS class is distinctly feeling and frankly one that stands to undermine 4th and 5th grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My guess is pp is talking about the looming middle school problem-a problem that the lead SWS class is distinctly feeling and frankly one that stands to undermine 4th and 5th grade

We're years away from middle school so not too worried about it at the time. But, if we're attending SWS (a possibility with our wait-list number) and inbound for Stuart-Hobson, we would have rights to go to SH for middle, correct?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My guess is pp is talking about the looming middle school problem-a problem that the lead SWS class is distinctly feeling and frankly one that stands to undermine 4th and 5th grade

We're years away from middle school so not too worried about it at the time. But, if we're attending SWS (a possibility with our wait-list number) and inbound for Stuart-Hobson, we would have rights to go to SH for middle, correct?

As of today, yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

What you are describing about the upper grades sounds EXACTLY like the programming at Watkins, which makes sense because that is where the 3rd grade teachers worked before joining SWS. They need someone to lead with a little more vision for the upper grades, whether it's the principal or someone else. They can't just wait for the renovations to start innovating. This has been coming for a long time.

so the two highly effective former Watkins teachers leading SWS 3rd grade are not good enough for you? The other upper grade teachers have extensive experience as well, both at SWS and beyond. The renovations have little to do with the pedagogy or personnel. You're conflating two entirely separate issues.

I agree PP. Certainly these two 3rd grade teachers don't need to be lead by the plans for renovation to innovate. They are innovators: they were the vanguards at Watkins that built-up the team teaching, project-based model. They did it together for more than 10 years, with nearly 20 years of teaching. They used the "whole child" approach, albeit not Reggio, without calling it starting many years ago.

PP here. I agree that the 3rd grade team is great. As an SWS parent, however, I think there has been a little too much focus on the playground, garden, worrying about the now-on-hold-again renovations. I would prefer that there be more attention paid to things that matter to the students in the older grades, like a better-resourced library and student government and maybe some computers. If we have to wait for a renovation for the library to have more books in it, my student will have read everything in it long before 5th grade.

by garden you make it sound like they're hobbyists-- it's integral Foodprints and it's integrated into the curriculum in any number of ways for science and math. Student Government for elementary students? Really? You want class presidents and Roger's Rules of Order for 3rd graders? Sounds very un-Reggio. Do any DC elementary schools have student government. that sounds like something out of the 80s. A good school library is more than titles -- it doesn't need to be massive and what it lacks in scope it more than compensates with a phenomenal school librarian. The NE library is all of 2 blocks away and class periodically visit as well.

[Anonymous]

The "garden" referenced in the earlier post should have been the "nature garden", which I understand is important to Reggio, but is yet to be much of a resource for the elementary students.

Maybe student government is too strong. How about "civic engagement", such as safety patrol or making morning announcements?

Which class has gone to the NE library for research or to check out books? Why? The librarian is outstanding -- she should be given more resources and not have to scrounge money from book sales. If the hoped-for library renovation occurred, somehow books would magically appear to fill the doubled space. Why wait?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The "garden" referenced in the earlier post should have been the "nature garden", which I understand is important to Reggio, but is yet to be much of a resource for the elementary students.

Maybe student government is too strong. How about "civic engagement", such as safety patrol or making morning announcements?

Which class has gone to the NE library for research or to check out books? Why? The librarian is outstanding -- she should be given more resources and not have to scrounge money from book sales. If the hoped-for library renovation occurred, somehow books would magically appear to fill the doubled space. Why wait?

3 different classes across 2 years. not to mention the obvious, as it's a public resource and steps away from Goding. There's zero excuse to ever exhaust available reading material.

Nature as teacher is a fundamental Reggio concept. You really sound on the fence about the whole school philosophy - good thing you didn't wait until your child nearly finished elementary school to take issue with the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The "garden" referenced in the earlier post should have been the "nature garden", which I understand is important to Reggio, but is yet to be much of a resource for the elementary students.

Maybe student government is too strong. How about "civic engagement", such as safety patrol or making morning announcements?

Which class has gone to the NE library for research or to check out books? Why? The librarian is outstanding -- she should be given more resources and not have to scrounge money from book sales. If the hoped-for library renovation occurred, somehow books would magically appear to fill the doubled space. Why wait?

It sounds as if you want a more "traditional" setting than Reggio. Both Ludlow-Taylor and Watkins emphasize citizenship and also have gardens, the Watkins garden being one of the most established on the Hill. The FoodPrints program started there as well and both are integrated into the project-based learning. Neither has the "feel" of SWS for sure. I've had kids at SWS and Watkins, and been involved in L-T some through a community group so have some limited basis to compare.

[Anonymous]

The point is that the elementary grades are neither Reggio or traditional and seem to be floating in space.