LAMB Enrollment Increase

[Anonymous]

It's pretty exciting to think that LAMB could be adding a decent number of new (non-sibling) spaces for a good number of years going forward.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I will definitely be filing a comment recommending that they not be allowed to expand unless they open their school to grades beyond PK-4. Even if it's only to those with previous montessori experience. It's insane that they are the only school that doesn't do this. Anyone else who feels this way should too. While there will be retention, there is also attrition and those seats remain open (even though there are families and children interested).

What a sour grades point-of-view! I'm hoping you're not a current parent. You sound like a gem...NOT! LAMB is a fantastic school looking to serve children in the District with a stellar program. As Montessori, it is alike all others in not permitting admission beyond Pre-K 4 (I understand they've *thought* about extending to K for last admission). Someone compared this to Jedi night training in another thread a long time ago, which I remember. You have to start the kid early before the anger sets in. The style of learning needs it's roots to be laid early. Older children cannot adapt. Not to mention the added layer of bilingual. With respect to granting admission to kids with prior Montessori, LAMB IS NOT ALLOWED TO DO THIS! Charter law prevents it. So, instead of trying to put a monkey wrench into their expansion efforts, but don't you lobby the Charter Board to change this. Including having a provision to allow kids with prior language experience to enter immersion schools at higher grades. MV and YY would love to give priority admission to native Spanish and Mandarin speakers, etc..., but they've been disallowed due to short-sighted rules. Why don't you do something positive and steer your energy to changing that?

LOL... I am a gem, actually. Hey I did all the hard work for you (Logan Montessori below)
Children are accepted at 3 years of age for the Primary Program (ages 3–6). Depending on space availability, transfer students are accepted for all grades from Pre-school through Grade 7 (and 8 grade beginning in school year 2015-2016), if the child transferring is from an accredited Association of Montessori Internationale school or program.

NP. OMG, you're so stupid. Logan is a DC public school, operating under more permissive rules denied to charter schools. Talk about being loud and wrong! So glad you're not at LAMB!

JEEZ. New poster here, but it seems the only nasty/crazy one is the LAMB one. Seek help for yourself



JEE

Agree. And she's wrong too. Other Montessori schools take kids past PK4, without Montessori experience including Lee and SSMA.

I'm the PP LAMB alum parent (who I hope isn't being lumped in with the other LAMB parent).

FWIW LAMB has argued in the past that the combination of Spanish immersion + Montessori makes it very difficult for an older child to catch up to. Perhaps either catching up on Spanish or Montessori is possible but not both.

I"m not sure that argument has ever been tested and think it's untenable for them to get 'special treatment' much longer. They could try it and if it is a disaster then appeal for a return to their current charter language. But who would want their kid to be that guinea pig? I wouldn't.

NP here.

YY's charter finalizes its entry year at 2nd grade, and everyone seems to understand why that makes sense. For those who don't: If you enter YY at 2nd grade with no Mandarin, you simply won't be able to catch up. The class a student would be entering would have had two full years of immersion (PS3 & PK4) and then two years of 1/2 English & 1/2 Mandarin (K & 1st). It's unfair to a child to bring them into an environment where they're going to be so far behind their classmates - the psychological repercussions would probably be even more severe than the academic ones of losing half a year of instruction (presumably they'd continue to learn in English, but be utterly lost in Chinese). FWIW, this is rarely of issue, because the retention rate is so high that there are rarely any open seats anyway. YY's entry classes are almost completely filled with siblings.

This is relevant, because a school's curriculum is part of its charter. When outsiders start demanding changes to the charter, they are unlikely to understand the repercussions to the curriculum and how their good faith attempts to make change can undermine the good work inside the school. I'm using the YY example because some people might find it easier to understand what a challenge a language like Chinese introduces.

LAMB's situation is in fact similarly specialized. Not only are they teaching the Montessori method, they're also immersing the students in another language. It's easy to demand from the outside that they revamp their charter and curriculum to suit someone's angry whims. It's a lot more to try to understand the ramifications in the classroom and to the educations of several hundred other students in the program.

I suspect you can complain to the PCSB and vent your spleen on DCUM, but at the end of the day, nobody is interested in trying to "fix" a school like LAMB, which clearly is not broken in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We will continue to have this mean-spirited circular argument where successful charters are s target until something is done to fix neighborhood schools.

Or: until Kaya turns over some of the one million plus sq. ft. of unused school real estate, so that other desirable boutique programs can be made available to more families. Offer Stokes a second campus - so that Spanish can have its own and French can have its own. They'll fill up overnight.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I will definitely be filing a comment recommending that they not be allowed to expand unless they open their school to grades beyond PK-4. Even if it's only to those with previous montessori experience. It's insane that they are the only school that doesn't do this. Anyone else who feels this way should too. While there will be retention, there is also attrition and those seats remain open (even though there are families and children interested).

What a sour grades point-of-view! I'm hoping you're not a current parent. You sound like a gem...NOT! LAMB is a fantastic school looking to serve children in the District with a stellar program. As Montessori, it is alike all others in not permitting admission beyond Pre-K 4 (I understand they've *thought* about extending to K for last admission). Someone compared this to Jedi night training in another thread a long time ago, which I remember. You have to start the kid early before the anger sets in. The style of learning needs it's roots to be laid early. Older children cannot adapt. Not to mention the added layer of bilingual. With respect to granting admission to kids with prior Montessori, LAMB IS NOT ALLOWED TO DO THIS! Charter law prevents it. So, instead of trying to put a monkey wrench into their expansion efforts, but don't you lobby the Charter Board to change this. Including having a provision to allow kids with prior language experience to enter immersion schools at higher grades. MV and YY would love to give priority admission to native Spanish and Mandarin speakers, etc..., but they've been disallowed due to short-sighted rules. Why don't you do something positive and steer your energy to changing that?

LOL... I am a gem, actually. Hey I did all the hard work for you (Logan Montessori below)
Children are accepted at 3 years of age for the Primary Program (ages 3–6). Depending on space availability, transfer students are accepted for all grades from Pre-school through Grade 7 (and 8 grade beginning in school year 2015-2016), if the child transferring is from an accredited Association of Montessori Internationale school or program.

NP. OMG, you're so stupid. Logan is a DC public school, operating under more permissive rules denied to charter schools. Talk about being loud and wrong! So glad you're not at LAMB!

JEEZ. New poster here, but it seems the only nasty/crazy one is the LAMB one. Seek help for yourself



JEE

Agree. And she's wrong too. Other Montessori schools take kids past PK4, without Montessori experience including Lee and SSMA.

I'm the PP LAMB alum parent (who I hope isn't being lumped in with the other LAMB parent).

FWIW LAMB has argued in the past that the combination of Spanish immersion + Montessori makes it very difficult for an older child to catch up to. Perhaps either catching up on Spanish or Montessori is possible but not both.

I"m not sure that argument has ever been tested and think it's untenable for them to get 'special treatment' much longer. They could try it and if it is a disaster then appeal for a return to their current charter language. But who would want their kid to be that guinea pig? I wouldn't.

NP here.

YY's charter finalizes its entry year at 2nd grade, and everyone seems to understand why that makes sense. For those who don't: If you enter YY at 2nd grade with no Mandarin, you simply won't be able to catch up. The class a student would be entering would have had two full years of immersion (PS3 & PK4) and then two years of 1/2 English & 1/2 Mandarin (K & 1st). It's unfair to a child to bring them into an environment where they're going to be so far behind their classmates - the psychological repercussions would probably be even more severe than the academic ones of losing half a year of instruction (presumably they'd continue to learn in English, but be utterly lost in Chinese). FWIW, this is rarely of issue, because the retention rate is so high that there are rarely any open seats anyway. YY's entry classes are almost completely filled with siblings.

This is relevant, because a school's curriculum is part of its charter. When outsiders start demanding changes to the charter, they are unlikely to understand the repercussions to the curriculum and how their good faith attempts to make change can undermine the good work inside the school. I'm using the YY example because some people might find it easier to understand what a challenge a language like Chinese introduces.

LAMB's situation is in fact similarly specialized. Not only are they teaching the Montessori method, they're also immersing the students in another language. It's easy to demand from the outside that they revamp their charter and curriculum to suit someone's angry whims. It's a lot more to try to understand the ramifications in the classroom and to the educations of several hundred other students in the program.

I suspect you can complain to the PCSB and vent your spleen on DCUM, but at the end of the day, nobody is interested in trying to "fix" a school like LAMB, which clearly is not broken in the first place.

Thank you for this excellent post. I totally agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Predicting that if LAMB does add spaces after lottery results it will be the "big event" that affects waitlists this year. What I don't like is that the DCPCSB isn't voting on until after enrollment, so families will be enrolling and then disenrolling well into May and June. Hard for schools to plan.

This enrollment expansion is happening over 10 years. That means more spots will be slowly added. I suspect that they will be opening another primary class at the South Dakota campus if Perry Street Prep will lease LAMB the space. I understand that they are underenrolled, but I'm not sure whether they want to give up any space. I genuinely don't know.

[Anonymous]

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NP here.

YY's charter finalizes its entry year at 2nd grade, and everyone seems to understand why that makes sense. For those who don't: If you enter YY at 2nd grade with no Mandarin, you simply won't be able to catch up. The class a student would be entering would have had two full years of immersion (PS3 & PK4) and then two years of 1/2 English & 1/2 Mandarin (K & 1st). It's unfair to a child to bring them into an environment where they're going to be so far behind their classmates - the psychological repercussions would probably be even more severe than the academic ones of losing half a year of instruction (presumably they'd continue to learn in English, but be utterly lost in Chinese). FWIW, this is rarely of issue, because the retention rate is so high that there are rarely any open seats anyway. YY's entry classes are almost completely filled with siblings.

This is relevant, because a school's curriculum is part of its charter. When outsiders start demanding changes to the charter, they are unlikely to understand the repercussions to the curriculum and how their good faith attempts to make change can undermine the good work inside the school. I'm using the YY example because some people might find it easier to understand what a challenge a language like Chinese introduces.

LAMB's situation is in fact similarly specialized. Not only are they teaching the Montessori method, they're also immersing the students in another language. It's easy to demand from the outside that they revamp their charter and curriculum to suit someone's angry whims. It's a lot more to try to understand the ramifications in the classroom and to the educations of several hundred other students in the program.

I suspect you can complain to the PCSB and vent your spleen on DCUM, but at the end of the day, nobody is interested in trying to "fix" a school like LAMB, which clearly is not broken in the first place.

Thank you for this excellent post. I totally agree.

This argument makes a lot of sense - BUT not accepting at all grades is against the letter of what the charter law calls for and the DCPCSB has to at least go through the exercise of pushing on the provision a little.

FWIW when LAMB's charter was approved back in the day it was approved by the now-defunct DC School Board, not the PCSB.

Each time LAMB has come up for an amendment they have had discussion about this policy and have said they would prefer LAMB changed it. I do not think they have allowed any other recently chartered elementary school to follow suit.

[Anonymous]

Lamb is grandfathered in PP.

[Anonymous]

As one PP noted, the LAMB expansion is anticipated to occur gradually (a 'steady growth' strategy) over the next ten years. There will be additional students added each year gradually via expansion of the Perry Street facility and the movement to Walter Reed in Fall of 2017. I'm not sure if the expansion this particular year will be a new primary class or just the addition of a new upper elementary class as more 3rd graders stay at LAMB through fifth grade.

The school was planning to submit for an enrollment increase to allow for additional students this year and next. Instead of submitting for an enrollment increase now for a slight enrollment increase and then later submit again for another enrollment increase, they decided to just ask for one increase to 600 students now. The goal is that in five to ten years, there will be 600 LAMB students across 3 campuses (Missouri, South Dakota, and Walter Reed). For people lotterying for LAMB over the next five years, this is likely to be good news as chances will be better than in some previous years. This is the intention of the administration as it is their goal for their bilingual montessori program to serve more students in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will definitely be filing a comment recommending that they not be allowed to expand unless they open their school to grades beyond PK-4. Even if it's only to those with previous montessori experience. It's insane that they are the only school that doesn't do this. Anyone else who feels this way should too. While there will be retention, there is also attrition and those seats remain open (even though there are families and children interested).

What a sour grades point-of-view! I'm hoping you're not a current parent. You sound like a gem...NOT! LAMB is a fantastic school looking to serve children in the District with a stellar program. As Montessori, it is alike all others in not permitting admission beyond Pre-K 4 (I understand they've *thought* about extending to K for last admission). Someone compared this to Jedi night training in another thread a long time ago, which I remember. You have to start the kid early before the anger sets in. The style of learning needs it's roots to be laid early. Older children cannot adapt. Not to mention the added layer of bilingual. With respect to granting admission to kids with prior Montessori, LAMB IS NOT ALLOWED TO DO THIS! Charter law prevents it. So, instead of trying to put a monkey wrench into their expansion efforts, but don't you lobby the Charter Board to change this. Including having a provision to allow kids with prior language experience to enter immersion schools at higher grades. MV and YY would love to give priority admission to native Spanish and Mandarin speakers, etc..., but they've been disallowed due to short-sighted rules. Why don't you do something positive and steer your energy to changing that?

LOL... I am a gem, actually. Hey I did all the hard work for you (Logan Montessori below)
Children are accepted at 3 years of age for the Primary Program (ages 3–6). Depending on space availability, transfer students are accepted for all grades from Pre-school through Grade 7 (and 8 grade beginning in school year 2015-2016), if the child transferring is from an accredited Association of Montessori Internationale school or program.

NP. OMG, you're so stupid. Logan is a DC public school, operating under more permissive rules denied to charter schools. Talk about being loud and wrong! So glad you're not at LAMB!

JEEZ. New poster here, but it seems the only nasty/crazy one is the LAMB one. Seek help for yourself



JEE

Agree. And she's wrong too. Other Montessori schools take kids past PK4, without Montessori experience including Lee and SSMA.

I'm the PP LAMB alum parent (who I hope isn't being lumped in with the other LAMB parent).

FWIW LAMB has argued in the past that the combination of Spanish immersion + Montessori makes it very difficult for an older child to catch up to. Perhaps either catching up on Spanish or Montessori is possible but not both.

I"m not sure that argument has ever been tested and think it's untenable for them to get 'special treatment' much longer. They could try it and if it is a disaster then appeal for a return to their current charter language. But who would want their kid to be that guinea pig? I wouldn't.

NP here.

YY's charter finalizes its entry year at 2nd grade, and everyone seems to understand why that makes sense. For those who don't: If you enter YY at 2nd grade with no Mandarin, you simply won't be able to catch up. The class a student would be entering would have had two full years of immersion (PS3 & PK4) and then two years of 1/2 English & 1/2 Mandarin (K & 1st). It's unfair to a child to bring them into an environment where they're going to be so far behind their classmates - the psychological repercussions would probably be even more severe than the academic ones of losing half a year of instruction (presumably they'd continue to learn in English, but be utterly lost in Chinese). FWIW, this is rarely of issue, because the retention rate is so high that there are rarely any open seats anyway. YY's entry classes are almost completely filled with siblings.

This is relevant, because a school's curriculum is part of its charter. When outsiders start demanding changes to the charter, they are unlikely to understand the repercussions to the curriculum and how their good faith attempts to make change can undermine the good work inside the school. I'm using the YY example because some people might find it easier to understand what a challenge a language like Chinese introduces.

LAMB's situation is in fact similarly specialized. Not only are they teaching the Montessori method, they're also immersing the students in another language. It's easy to demand from the outside that they revamp their charter and curriculum to suit someone's angry whims. It's a lot more to try to understand the ramifications in the classroom and to the educations of several hundred other students in the program.

I suspect you can complain to the PCSB and vent your spleen on DCUM, but at the end of the day, nobody is interested in trying to "fix" a school like LAMB, which clearly is not broken in the first place.

Just to clarify, if I entered my child in 2nd grade, they would not have had 2 full years of Chinese (as the current class did not have PS3).

Although, I agree with you in theory - your facts are not correct.

[Anonymous]

For those of you who keep quoting "the law" -

have you actually read the authorizing statute for DCPSB and language that governs charter authorization?

[Anonymous]

Clearly no one has bothered to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will definitely be filing a comment recommending that they not be allowed to expand unless they open their school to grades beyond PK-4. Even if it's only to those with previous montessori experience. It's insane that they are the only school that doesn't do this. Anyone else who feels this way should too. While there will be retention, there is also attrition and those seats remain open (even though there are families and children interested).

What a sour grades point-of-view! I'm hoping you're not a current parent. You sound like a gem...NOT! LAMB is a fantastic school looking to serve children in the District with a stellar program. As Montessori, it is alike all others in not permitting admission beyond Pre-K 4 (I understand they've *thought* about extending to K for last admission). Someone compared this to Jedi night training in another thread a long time ago, which I remember. You have to start the kid early before the anger sets in. The style of learning needs it's roots to be laid early. Older children cannot adapt. Not to mention the added layer of bilingual. With respect to granting admission to kids with prior Montessori, LAMB IS NOT ALLOWED TO DO THIS! Charter law prevents it. So, instead of trying to put a monkey wrench into their expansion efforts, but don't you lobby the Charter Board to change this. Including having a provision to allow kids with prior language experience to enter immersion schools at higher grades. MV and YY would love to give priority admission to native Spanish and Mandarin speakers, etc..., but they've been disallowed due to short-sighted rules. Why don't you do something positive and steer your energy to changing that?

LOL... I am a gem, actually. Hey I did all the hard work for you (Logan Montessori below)
Children are accepted at 3 years of age for the Primary Program (ages 3–6). Depending on space availability, transfer students are accepted for all grades from Pre-school through Grade 7 (and 8 grade beginning in school year 2015-2016), if the child transferring is from an accredited Association of Montessori Internationale school or program.

NP. OMG, you're so stupid. Logan is a DC public school, operating under more permissive rules denied to charter schools. Talk about being loud and wrong! So glad you're not at LAMB!

JEEZ. New poster here, but it seems the only nasty/crazy one is the LAMB one. Seek help for yourself



JEE

Agree. And she's wrong too. Other Montessori schools take kids past PK4, without Montessori experience including Lee and SSMA.

I'm the PP LAMB alum parent (who I hope isn't being lumped in with the other LAMB parent).

FWIW LAMB has argued in the past that the combination of Spanish immersion + Montessori makes it very difficult for an older child to catch up to. Perhaps either catching up on Spanish or Montessori is possible but not both.

I"m not sure that argument has ever been tested and think it's untenable for them to get 'special treatment' much longer. They could try it and if it is a disaster then appeal for a return to their current charter language. But who would want their kid to be that guinea pig? I wouldn't.

NP here.

YY's charter finalizes its entry year at 2nd grade, and everyone seems to understand why that makes sense. For those who don't: If you enter YY at 2nd grade with no Mandarin, you simply won't be able to catch up. The class a student would be entering would have had two full years of immersion (PS3 & PK4) and then two years of 1/2 English & 1/2 Mandarin (K & 1st). It's unfair to a child to bring them into an environment where they're going to be so far behind their classmates - the psychological repercussions would probably be even more severe than the academic ones of losing half a year of instruction (presumably they'd continue to learn in English, but be utterly lost in Chinese). FWIW, this is rarely of issue, because the retention rate is so high that there are rarely any open seats anyway. YY's entry classes are almost completely filled with siblings.

This is relevant, because a school's curriculum is part of its charter. When outsiders start demanding changes to the charter, they are unlikely to understand the repercussions to the curriculum and how their good faith attempts to make change can undermine the good work inside the school. I'm using the YY example because some people might find it easier to understand what a challenge a language like Chinese introduces.

LAMB's situation is in fact similarly specialized. Not only are they teaching the Montessori method, they're also immersing the students in another language. It's easy to demand from the outside that they revamp their charter and curriculum to suit someone's angry whims. It's a lot more to try to understand the ramifications in the classroom and to the educations of several hundred other students in the program.

I suspect you can complain to the PCSB and vent your spleen on DCUM, but at the end of the day, nobody is interested in trying to "fix" a school like LAMB, which clearly is not broken in the first place.

Just to clarify, if I entered my child in 2nd grade, they would not have had 2 full years of Chinese (as the current class did not have PS3).

Although, I agree with you in theory - your facts are not correct.

Nitpicky but correct. I think this year's kindergarteners were the last class not to have PK3. PP's point is still valid.

[Anonymous]

I love the magical thinking that happens when you mention immersion schools. People really think it's a good idea to dump their older kids in an immersion setting. I personally think it can't be a good idea to set your kid up for failure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love the magical thinking that happens when you mention immersion schools. People really think it's a good idea to dump their older kids in an immersion setting. I personally think it can't be a good idea to set your kid up for failure.

That would be the parent's choice. it's a public school, they should serve the public. many Spanish speaking kids out there already. Why is it ok just because they are Montessori or Spanish but not okay to limit for schools like ITS or CMI?

[Anonymous]

In theory, I always thought immersion schools sounded nice. Who doesn't want their child to learn another language?

However, from watching my friends pull out of them one by one in upper grades, I have to conclude there can be issues. There are only so many hours in a day. Something has to give. Finding and retaining good staff becomes additionally challenging.

The other, more insidious thing that an immersion school does is cherry pick. If you can't add students you lose from attrition, you end up with your most dedicated and proficient students as the others fall by the wayside.

Is this bad? I suppose not, if the system gets extra help for students who need it. However, from what I've heard from parents who have left o-a, Stokes, MVthat doesn't always happen. Which is why they leave.

As I said, our Montessori is accredited (I don't know if it's ami or AMS and I can't remember the difference and I don't care) and does a good job of working with kids at a variety of levels. It also accepts into elementary. I agree with a language requirements doing that would be hard. But I'm wondering, does the Montessori aspect of lamb help them reach a wide variety of learning levels? Do they have less counsel outs than the pure language schools?