Janney Open House this week - discussion on class size?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stoddert is a small school bursting at the seams. They used to have two preks and cut it back to one. There are 70-80 inboundary children seeking a PreK spot each year with only 19 spot to give (taken almost exclusively by younger siblings of current Stoddert kids). Glover Park residents get so little service compared to other hoods but that is what's necessary to ensure that required grades aren't overly crowded into classrooms. Janney needs to do that same for its populatio. Nix PreK. It's hard to administrators to do because of making tough staff decisions but that is why they are paid to lead.

I think DCPS needs to build an ECE campus in Ward 3 to alleviate crowding in all the elementary schools. The amount of square footage required for ECE is astounding for the small population of PKers, especially since they require separate playgrounds, lunch rooms, specials, everything, and that space could be put to much better use in the crowded schools for older kids.

Chevy Chase Community Center, which used to be a school? Mann, which was designed around its ECE program and doesn't fill the upper grades? Build a new center at Livingston Playground or Turtle Park? There are options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hiring an extra teacher for classes that exceed 30, bringing the teacher-student ration to 1:15 seems like a reasonable solution to me. Janney has done a great job of expanding its facilty to the degree possible, but may not be able to do much more (unless leasing nearby space like St. Ann's is viable). Still a great, well-managed public school despite the space pressure.

Trailers where the garden is.

True. I'm strongly in favor of garden-based education, but it doesn't have to take up that much space. Many schools in DC teach the same lessons using far less space. Reasonable core class sizes are far more important.

[Anonymous]

The former principal was responding to her constituents, who demand those pre-K classes. Good luck trying to get rid of those.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stoddert is a small school bursting at the seams. They used to have two preks and cut it back to one. There are 70-80 inboundary children seeking a PreK spot each year with only 19 spot to give (taken almost exclusively by younger siblings of current Stoddert kids). Glover Park residents get so little service compared to other hoods but that is what's necessary to ensure that required grades aren't overly crowded into classrooms. Janney needs to do that same for its populatio. Nix PreK. It's hard to administrators to do because of making tough staff decisions but that is why they are paid to lead.

I think DCPS needs to build an ECE campus in Ward 3 to alleviate crowding in all the elementary schools. The amount of square footage required for ECE is astounding for the small population of PKers, especially since they require separate playgrounds, lunch rooms, specials, everything, and that space could be put to much better use in the crowded schools for older kids.

Chevy Chase Community Center, which used to be a school? Mann, which was designed around its ECE program and doesn't fill the upper grades? Build a new center at Livingston Playground or Turtle Park? There are options.

Or God forbid use Hearst for that, and redistribute the few in-bound kids that are in the upper grades to Janney, Murch, or Eaton...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The former principal was responding to her constituents, who demand those pre-K classes. Good luck trying to get rid of those.

Why are the children and teachers not considered in this decision?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please see the notes and videos from the state of the school. There are several options being explored for the current third graders. The current 3rd grade is the bubble year, and the recent projections for enrollment have been spot on. To the exact number of students for 2015. The new principal is very forthcoming about information and seems very organized. If you have concerns I would strongly encourage you to talk to her.

isn't the current first grade just as large?

My son's first grade class has 24 kids in it.

That is the same size the current third grade was at 1st grade.
(24 or 25 kids per class x 5 classes)
When they turn that class into 4 classes come third grade there will also be 30/31 kids per class.
The cohort is just as large.
Plus the school always gains a few kids per class each year (in second grade, third grade etc) as more families move into the neighborhood.

....and those that move out are allowed to stay. Maybe enforcing boundary rules would help? If 2 children in each classroom of the upper grades moved to their new IB school we would be having a different conversation.

I really hope the new principal addresses this issue. There are students in each of the grades with large numbers (1st, 3rd, etc) who stayed in the school despite moving out of boundary, because the former principal exercised her discretion to grant residency waivers broadly. The classes are too big and having even just one or two extra students in a class because of these waivers negatively impacts the class.

[Anonymous]

Why doesn't the Janney PTA have a voice in this process?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stoddert is a small school bursting at the seams. They used to have two preks and cut it back to one. There are 70-80 inboundary children seeking a PreK spot each year with only 19 spot to give (taken almost exclusively by younger siblings of current Stoddert kids). Glover Park residents get so little service compared to other hoods but that is what's necessary to ensure that required grades aren't overly crowded into classrooms. Janney needs to do that same for its populatio. Nix PreK. It's hard to administrators to do because of making tough staff decisions but that is why they are paid to lead.

I think DCPS needs to build an ECE campus in Ward 3 to alleviate crowding in all the elementary schools. The amount of square footage required for ECE is astounding for the small population of PKers, especially since they require separate playgrounds, lunch rooms, specials, everything, and that space could be put to much better use in the crowded schools for older kids.

Chevy Chase Community Center, which used to be a school? Mann, which was designed around its ECE program and doesn't fill the upper grades? Build a new center at Livingston Playground or Turtle Park? There are options.

Or God forbid use Hearst for that, and redistribute the few in-bound kids that are in the upper grades to Janney, Murch, or Eaton...

Only took 5 pages. Hearst will. Be packed with IB kids. K and PK now are. 1st and 2nd a ton. Principal isn't taking any OOB, no pref kids from K-5 this year in the lottery until after the summer. Just wait. Hearst is special and on the rise and filled with neighborhood kids. We love it. Maybe the Janney families shouldn't have fought so hard to stay in their overpacked school when DCPS tried to adjust their boundaries to push them into Hearst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stoddert is a small school bursting at the seams. They used to have two preks and cut it back to one. There are 70-80 inboundary children seeking a PreK spot each year with only 19 spot to give (taken almost exclusively by younger siblings of current Stoddert kids). Glover Park residents get so little service compared to other hoods but that is what's necessary to ensure that required grades aren't overly crowded into classrooms. Janney needs to do that same for its populatio. Nix PreK. It's hard to administrators to do because of making tough staff decisions but that is why they are paid to lead.

I think DCPS needs to build an ECE campus in Ward 3 to alleviate crowding in all the elementary schools. The amount of square footage required for ECE is astounding for the small population of PKers, especially since they require separate playgrounds, lunch rooms, specials, everything, and that space could be put to much better use in the crowded schools for older kids.

Chevy Chase Community Center, which used to be a school? Mann, which was designed around its ECE program and doesn't fill the upper grades? Build a new center at Livingston Playground or Turtle Park? There are options.

Or God forbid use Hearst for that, and redistribute the few in-bound kids that are in the upper grades to Janney, Murch, or Eaton...

Only took 5 pages. Hearst will. Be packed with IB kids. K and PK now are. 1st and 2nd a ton. Principal isn't taking any OOB, no pref kids from K-5 this year in the lottery until after the summer. Just wait. Hearst is special and on the rise and filled with neighborhood kids. We love it. Maybe the Janney families shouldn't have fought so hard to stay in their overpacked school when DCPS tried to adjust their boundaries to push them into Hearst.

You forgot to mention the Maryland kids still at Hearst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stoddert is a small school bursting at the seams. They used to have two preks and cut it back to one. There are 70-80 inboundary children seeking a PreK spot each year with only 19 spot to give (taken almost exclusively by younger siblings of current Stoddert kids). Glover Park residents get so little service compared to other hoods but that is what's necessary to ensure that required grades aren't overly crowded into classrooms. Janney needs to do that same for its populatio. Nix PreK. It's hard to administrators to do because of making tough staff decisions but that is why they are paid to lead.

Won't Stoddert also have to educate the children from the 40 unit homeless family apartment that DC plans to lease once it is built on Wisconsin Ave?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don't know what they're doing yet on class sizes for next year. They may add another 3rd, 4th and 5th grade, they may not.

Personally I hope they do. I have a third grader this year and it's been a rough year. 32 kids in the class.
I can't think of a single 3rd grade parent that would chose this size class again, 2 teachers or not.

Million dollar question - where are they getting space from? Are they going to Have a satellite campus for 1 grade at St. Ann's?

St. Ann's isn't theirs for the taking, sorry.

Isn't a lease at St. Ann's the likely "annex" solution if Janney is forced to expand to take the 10% "at risk" quota students?

The Diocese of Washington says no. Logical as it may seem to frustrated AU Park parents, moving into conveniently located private property isn't actually an entitlement.

[Anonymous]

Chevy Chase Community Center, which used to be a school? Mann, which was designed around its ECE program and doesn't fill the upper grades? Build a new center at Livingston Playground or Turtle Park? There are options.

You are drunk, go home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don't know what they're doing yet on class sizes for next year. They may add another 3rd, 4th and 5th grade, they may not.

Personally I hope they do. I have a third grader this year and it's been a rough year. 32 kids in the class.
I can't think of a single 3rd grade parent that would chose this size class again, 2 teachers or not.

Million dollar question - where are they getting space from? Are they going to Have a satellite campus for 1 grade at St. Ann's?

St. Ann's isn't theirs for the taking, sorry.

Isn't a lease at St. Ann's the likely "annex" solution if Janney is forced to expand to take the 10% "at risk" quota students?

The Diocese of Washington says no. Logical as it may seem to frustrated AU Park parents, moving into conveniently located private property isn't actually an entitlement.

Most AU Park parents want to shrink Janney's boundaries and/or seek an exception from the quota kids requirement. The school is way overcrowded already

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don't know what they're doing yet on class sizes for next year. They may add another 3rd, 4th and 5th grade, they may not.

Personally I hope they do. I have a third grader this year and it's been a rough year. 32 kids in the class.
I can't think of a single 3rd grade parent that would chose this size class again, 2 teachers or not.

Million dollar question - where are they getting space from? Are they going to Have a satellite campus for 1 grade at St. Ann's?

St. Ann's isn't theirs for the taking, sorry.

Isn't a lease at St. Ann's the likely "annex" solution if Janney is forced to expand to take the 10% "at risk" quota students?

The Diocese of Washington says no. Logical as it may seem to frustrated AU Park parents, moving into conveniently located private property isn't actually an entitlement.

Yup. DGS looked into it as a swing space option for Murch, as well. Not available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don't know what they're doing yet on class sizes for next year. They may add another 3rd, 4th and 5th grade, they may not.

Personally I hope they do. I have a third grader this year and it's been a rough year. 32 kids in the class.
I can't think of a single 3rd grade parent that would chose this size class again, 2 teachers or not.

Million dollar question - where are they getting space from? Are they going to Have a satellite campus for 1 grade at St. Ann's?

St. Ann's isn't theirs for the taking, sorry.

Isn't a lease at St. Ann's the likely "annex" solution if Janney is forced to expand to take the 10% "at risk" quota students?

The Diocese of Washington says no. Logical as it may seem to frustrated AU Park parents, moving into conveniently located private property isn't actually an entitlement.

Yup. DGS looked into it as a swing space option for Murch, as well. Not available.

It also would have been way too small to accommodate Murch's population, even for a year or so.