Janney third grade parents--what do you think of the giant class sizes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the dialing!

Have Janney-aged kids ever seen a rotary phone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Janney did something similar a few years ago. They put over forty third graders into one classroom. It did not seem to work out well. I am surprised that they are trying something similar. Did parents know about this in advance? Two teachers or not, that is a huge class.

They should have known when they were fighting the boundary change. They are very, very smart and important people, you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't if they still rezone to Murch and ask them to stop taking OOB?

Murch is designed for 400 students, has over 620, is very very full, with entire grades in trailers, and a building from 100 years ago. In addition to that, Murch will be renovated in the next two year and the over 600 Murch kids will have to go somewhere we do not yet know where. in short, Murch is not the solution for Janney's overcrowding.

And it is very, very hard for DCPS to throttle OOB back. Parents EOTP have very settled expectations that a number of slots will be available in WOTP schools. Maybe not Janney and Mann, but certainly Hearst, Eaton, Murch. Reducing OOB slots significantly is the political third rail of DC politics, and chancellors and mayors Know it.

Eh, don't be too sure. Murch has -- wait for it -- dialed back the number of OOB spots every single year since I started watching 7 years ago.

If it's implemented a teeny bit at a time, the dialing back process doesn't rouse the lion across the park that is the (for the moment) politically connected Gold Coast class.

Agreed. This is actually happening at many WOTP schools. Even schools like Hearst that are largely OOB are shifting quickly (for better or worse). And this isn't new either. Janney had more OOB slots not that long ago.

When my DD started at Janney in 1999, it was more than 30% OOB. And only about 350 total enrollment. It was a very different school back then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the third grade classes are that big (31 to 33).

The kid who was injured was taken to the hospital and is doing fine.

If I was knocked out and the person who did this to me remained in school while I was sent to a new class I might not be "fine."

If DCPS teachers can't step in to stop this type of assault , and other threads say that is the case, kids are rightfully worried.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like an awkward arrangement to us but our child seems fine with it.

Not sure what classroom noise or this alleged concussion has to do with it though - 2 teachers ought to be better able to control a classroom than one.

What are the details on this concussion incident - your post is the first I've heard of it.

The concussion happened within the past few days.

And do you have details on what happened and whether it had anything to do with the 3rd grade classroom model? I can easily see how my child might get a concussion on the playground or maybe in PE but a concussion typically requires a serious blow to the head and I'm having a hard time figuring how that may have happened in a classroom.

Also we are pretty socially dialed in so I find it hard to believe we haven't heard about this already so I hope you are not making things up to stir the pot?

you mean you gossip! Happy to hear that the school is ding what it can to keep some things confidential. My kid has a physical altercation with another last year and I would have been incensed if it had been passed around among the "socially dialed in".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are all the third grade classes set up this way? Will it be like that for the 4th and fifth grades too then for this cohort?

all the 3rd grade classes are 31/32.
the old principal (who left in May) wouldn't answer this last year when asked about 4th/5th grade sizes. it would seem to be the plan because the school is out of rooms and
some neighborhood covenant prevents them from adding trailers to the yard.
It's concerning because some of the younger grades are even bigger.

It's pretty clear that Janney will have to redo it's boundaries or get rid of PreK

You guys need to think outside the box. Who says the only way to learn is to sit at a desk. There are 32 kids and 2 teachers. If there kids are not not keeping up bc of noise and whatever one teacher can always take a small group to focus on. They may be out of classrooms but there is a library, a cafeteria, lots of offices, a huge gym that is empty most of the school day and lots of hallwalls; weather permitting they also have outdoors!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like an awkward arrangement to us but our child seems fine with it.

Not sure what classroom noise or this alleged concussion has to do with it though - 2 teachers ought to be better able to control a classroom than one.

What are the details on this concussion incident - your post is the first I've heard of it.

The concussion happened within the past few days.

And do you have details on what happened and whether it had anything to do with the 3rd grade classroom model? I can easily see how my child might get a concussion on the playground or maybe in PE but a concussion typically requires a serious blow to the head and I'm having a hard time figuring how that may have happened in a classroom.

Also we are pretty socially dialed in so I find it hard to believe we haven't heard about this already so I hope you are not making things up to stir the pot?

you mean you gossip! Happy to hear that the school is ding what it can to keep some things confidential. My kid has a physical altercation with another last year and I would have been incensed if it had been passed around among the "socially dialed in".

Oh get over yourself - I have a child in the same grade at the same school as where this alleged incident took place and since things can escalate between kids on the playground I certainly would have hoped to learn about this incident from a fellow parent, the school or my child as I think most parents would have - this has nothing to do with gossip.

Interestingly I heard about it from none of the three groups and no other parent has chimed in to corroborate this story on this thread - since this incident, according to the OP, involved two classes of 32 students there is a 50/50 chance it would have involved one of dear child's classes and with the number of impacted parents it is odd this is apparently a secret several days after it allegedly happened.

[Anonymous]

As a first year, unlicensed (!) teacher in Baltimore city, I had a class of...wait for it...41 students! Has anyone auto-concussed just at the thought of it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Principal could have not allocated the additional classroom to PreK last year - but chose to do so.

So given the current population, 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classes for the foreseeable future will have 30+ children to a grade.

I would recommend that they look hard at families that were IB and moved OOB who are not enrolled because of Principal discretion.

Does any Janney family know a classmate who does not really live IBs? Willing to step up and report it to the school?

Do you really think the principal (and possibly downtown) does not know who these families are?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like an awkward arrangement to us but our child seems fine with it.

Not sure what classroom noise or this alleged concussion has to do with it though - 2 teachers ought to be better able to control a classroom than one.

What are the details on this concussion incident - your post is the first I've heard of it.

The concussion happened within the past few days.

And do you have details on what happened and whether it had anything to do with the 3rd grade classroom model? I can easily see how my child might get a concussion on the playground or maybe in PE but a concussion typically requires a serious blow to the head and I'm having a hard time figuring how that may have happened in a classroom.

Also we are pretty socially dialed in so I find it hard to believe we haven't heard about this already so I hope you are not making things up to stir the pot?

you mean you gossip! Happy to hear that the school is ding what it can to keep some things confidential. My kid has a physical altercation with another last year and I would have been incensed if it had been passed around among the "socially dialed in".

Oh get over yourself - I have a child in the same grade at the same school as where this alleged incident took place and since things can escalate between kids on the playground I certainly would have hoped to learn about this incident from a fellow parent, the school or my child as I think most parents would have - this has nothing to do with gossip.

Interestingly I heard about it from none of the three groups and no other parent has chimed in to corroborate this story on this thread - since this incident, according to the OP, involved two classes of 32 students there is a 50/50 chance it would have involved one of dear child's classes and with the number of impacted parents it is odd this is apparently a secret several days after it allegedly happened.

Come on. This was not made up just because it didn't filter down to your gossip channel. It was being talked about after school today. 2 parents mentioned it to me.
Actually, make that 3. Someone else texted me about it. It will die down in a day or two but parents are (rightfully) concerned.

[Anonymous]

PP again.
I'm being so persistent in refuting your denial about this because I think it's important that this type of thing isn't just swept under the rug. It serves no one to say that "gosh, this has to be made up, this would never happen at Janney!". It did happen and perhaps was a result of the school deciding to have extra large classes in a grade known to be a "spirited bunch" (to quote last year's principal).

[Anonymous]

Per our middle school last year, because of FERPA-the school can not divulge incidents to parents if there is a chance that anyone could deduce which child committed the offense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like an awkward arrangement to us but our child seems fine with it.

Not sure what classroom noise or this alleged concussion has to do with it though - 2 teachers ought to be better able to control a classroom than one.

What are the details on this concussion incident - your post is the first I've heard of it.

The concussion happened within the past few days.

And do you have details on what happened and whether it had anything to do with the 3rd grade classroom model? I can easily see how my child might get a concussion on the playground or maybe in PE but a concussion typically requires a serious blow to the head and I'm having a hard time figuring how that may have happened in a classroom.

Also we are pretty socially dialed in so I find it hard to believe we haven't heard about this already so I hope you are not making things up to stir the pot?

you mean you gossip! Happy to hear that the school is ding what it can to keep some things confidential. My kid has a physical altercation with another last year and I would have been incensed if it had been passed around among the "socially dialed in".

Oh get over yourself - I have a child in the same grade at the same school as where this alleged incident took place and since things can escalate between kids on the playground I certainly would have hoped to learn about this incident from a fellow parent, the school or my child as I think most parents would have - this has nothing to do with gossip.

Interestingly I heard about it from none of the three groups and no other parent has chimed in to corroborate this story on this thread - since this incident, according to the OP, involved two classes of 32 students there is a 50/50 chance it would have involved one of dear child's classes and with the number of impacted parents it is odd this is apparently a secret several days after it allegedly happened.

Pretty sure this is considered gossip. If the altercation warranted communication school wide the principal would have done so. You really have no reason to be aware of the circumstances because it's none of your business.

If it had been a lice outbreak, you would have known, as you should.

[Anonymous]

Why exactly is finding out that an injury occurred in a classroom with arguably too many kids relegated to "gossip"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why exactly is finding out that an injury occurred in a classroom with arguably too many kids relegated to "gossip"?

Because it's making Janney look bad on DCUM!