DCPS Elementary School Resources

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the WOTP schools have already been named as this list being wholly innaccurate: Janney, Murch, Mann, Eaton. Is it Lafayette? I sort of doubt it.

Can’t be since their PTA member was embezzling money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is peers on or above grade level.

It is a PTA that raises six figures every year.

It is a high level of political influence so downtown and the mayor treats them well.

We are at an EotP ES and my dc has plenty of peers above grade level.

Yay for you. In 5th grade?

BS.no parcc scores show “plenty”’of kids at or above grade level.
I’m a parent at an EoTP school and much like all my UMC peers, we are bailing by 2nd grade. A solid cohort of peers is critical after third grade . We don’t want our daughter “helping
Other slow kids in class and the. Being told it’s good for our kid becasluae they are in unable to offer advanced stuff

I have a 4th grader and she has plenty of above grade level peers. You can’t base reality on one test. I’m at her school and seen her peers. You clearly don’t understand early elementary school. By third grade most slow readers have caught up to the advanced readers. My older child went to a big 3 private for a reason that DCPS couldn’t handle and the slower kids largely caught up by 3rd. You are judging small kids and clearly lack the understanding of education. Your post comes off as a high maintenance, aggressive idiot. Well, you and your UMC peers can bail. You will find the private don’t accelerate better than DCPS because I’ve BTDT. Good luck lady!

Yawn you will bail at middle school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is peers on or above grade level.

It is a PTA that raises six figures every year.

It is a high level of political influence so downtown and the mayor treats them well.

We are at an EotP ES and my dc has plenty of peers above grade level.

Yay for you. In 5th grade?

BS.no parcc scores show “plenty”’of kids at or above grade level.
I’m a parent at an EoTP school and much like all my UMC peers, we are bailing by 2nd grade. A solid cohort of peers is critical after third grade . We don’t want our daughter “helping
Other slow kids in class and the. Being told it’s good for our kid becasluae they are in unable to offer advanced stuff

I have a 4th grader and she has plenty of above grade level peers. You can’t base reality on one test. I’m at her school and seen her peers. You clearly don’t understand early elementary school. By third grade most slow readers have caught up to the advanced readers. My older child went to a big 3 private for a reason that DCPS couldn’t handle and the slower kids largely caught up by 3rd. You are judging small kids and clearly lack the understanding of education. Your post comes off as a high maintenance, aggressive idiot. Well, you and your UMC peers can bail. You will find the private don’t accelerate better than DCPS because I’ve BTDT. Good luck lady!

Yawn you will bail at middle school

No because I moved older child to DCPS for middle school. Your assumptions about things is priceless. Love when people with preK through 3 have all the answers about middle school. Lol! I’m actually living it. Get back to me when your kids are actually in MS.

[Anonymous]

What sort of fundraising do EOTP PTSAs do? By which I mean, what's a normal amount of money to raise? Like, $100/student/year? Or more like $10?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What sort of fundraising do EOTP PTSAs do? By which I mean, what's a normal amount of money to raise? Like, $100/student/year? Or more like $10?

It really varies. Some are more established, some are brand new. My first year we raised about $50 per student, some of it as in-kind donations of, for example, books or furniture. Just getting the 501c3 and city paperwork done was a huge effort and the principal covered the fees from her own pocket. My second year more like $300 per kid just because we had our feet under us and gentrification was bringing in more contributing parents. It can vary from year to year as we apply for grants and get or don't get them.

It is really hard to raise much from event admissions and shirt sales because you have to give freebies to the truly poor and then there is a large lower-middle income group that can't/won't pay much for things like school shirts. So things like shirt sales are often intentionally structured to break even using a sliding scale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What sort of fundraising do EOTP PTSAs do? By which I mean, what's a normal amount of money to raise? Like, $100/student/year? Or more like $10?

It really varies. Some are more established, some are brand new. My first year we raised about $50 per student, some of it as in-kind donations of, for example, books or furniture. Just getting the 501c3 and city paperwork done was a huge effort and the principal covered the fees from her own pocket. My second year more like $300 per kid just because we had our feet under us and gentrification was bringing in more contributing parents. It can vary from year to year as we apply for grants and get or don't get them.

It is really hard to raise much from event admissions and shirt sales because you have to give freebies to the truly poor and then there is a large lower-middle income group that can't/won't pay much for things like school shirts. So things like shirt sales are often intentionally structured to break even using a sliding scale.

Oops I mean $100 per kid in the second year. But remember, a lot is from grants and in-kind, not money you can choose what to do with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What sort of fundraising do EOTP PTSAs do? By which I mean, what's a normal amount of money to raise? Like, $100/student/year? Or more like $10?

It really varies. Some are more established, some are brand new. My first year we raised about $50 per student, some of it as in-kind donations of, for example, books or furniture. Just getting the 501c3 and city paperwork done was a huge effort and the principal covered the fees from her own pocket. My second year more like $300 per kid just because we had our feet under us and gentrification was bringing in more contributing parents. It can vary from year to year as we apply for grants and get or don't get them.

It is really hard to raise much from event admissions and shirt sales because you have to give freebies to the truly poor and then there is a large lower-middle income group that can't/won't pay much for things like school shirts. So things like shirt sales are often intentionally structured to break even using a sliding scale.

Oops I mean $100 per kid in the second year. But remember, a lot is from grants and in-kind, not money you can choose what to do with.

And remember, we have to work for every dollar. We can't just ask parents for $500 and expect that most will pay it-- that would be really culturally inappropriate. Optional dues of $10.

[Anonymous]

Don't forget that the team of parents is usually small, like 10-15 people. One-year terms for board members because people tend to leave the school, so not a lot of institutional memory. Mostly preschool parents, so lots of babies and it is really hard to juggle it all with so many people being pregnant or nursing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are the resources that WotP have that EotP elementary schools don’t? Is it just bells and whistles, like chickens and an edible garden? (I don’t want my kids to do gardening in school!)

Some of it is bells and whistles - like chickens and edible gardens.....but think about what chickens do. Kids learn about the lifecycle of a egg. They watch it hatch and see how chicks are cared for. For the garden the kids learn about science through the garden. Is science a bell or a whistle?

I have had my children in EOTP and WOTP schools. In general - my experience is the that WOTP teachers are better. They have more diverse student body and the needs that come along with that. The complexities of dealing with a Title 1 student body day to day in the class room are greater than when 95% of the class is UMC. But teachers can only do so much. When the children are not in the classroom consistently or come exhausted each day because no one at home told them to go to bed.

The WOTP parents pull their kids for a ski trip - b/c their extended family is going that week. EOTP kids were not in school for a week b/c it was serious rain and getting too and from the bus stop + walking from the stop to the school was too much of a barrier.

The behavior differences in the classroom are real - do not underestimate this and the impact it has on your child. Tour schools and notice the volume. Listen to how children communicate with each other on the playground - in the hall - in the classroom.

Having the resources makes it easier for teachers. Paper towels, tissues, dry erase markers. Having a parent make sure your room is stocked with what ever you need so that you spend 0 energy doing those things makes a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What sort of fundraising do EOTP PTSAs do? By which I mean, what's a normal amount of money to raise? Like, $100/student/year? Or more like $10?

Depends on the school. Some EOTP raise more per kid than WOTP--about $800 per kid.

Are PTA/PTO budgets required to be public?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the resources that WotP have that EotP elementary schools don’t? Is it just bells and whistles, like chickens and an edible garden? (I don’t want my kids to do gardening in school!)

Some of it is bells and whistles - like chickens and edible gardens.....but think about what chickens do. Kids learn about the lifecycle of a egg. They watch it hatch and see how chicks are cared for. For the garden the kids learn about science through the garden. Is science a bell or a whistle?

I have had my children in EOTP and WOTP schools. In general - my experience is the that WOTP teachers are better. They have more diverse student body and the needs that come along with that. The complexities of dealing with a Title 1 student body day to day in the class room are greater than when 95% of the class is UMC. But teachers can only do so much. When the children are not in the classroom consistently or come exhausted each day because no one at home told them to go to bed.

The WOTP parents pull their kids for a ski trip - b/c their extended family is going that week. EOTP kids were not in school for a week b/c it was serious rain and getting too and from the bus stop + walking from the stop to the school was too much of a barrier.

The behavior differences in the classroom are real - do not underestimate this and the impact it has on your child. Tour schools and notice the volume. Listen to how children communicate with each other on the playground - in the hall - in the classroom.

Having the resources makes it easier for teachers. Paper towels, tissues, dry erase markers. Having a parent make sure your room is stocked with what ever you need so that you spend 0 energy doing those things makes a difference.

I was shocked at the behaviors that are consistently allowed. Also shocked at the way adults speak to children in hallways. Very compliance oriented. I don't know how you would get an honest answer, but I would ask how a school handles violence toward other students. After a particularly aggressive and violent planned attack, the victim got moved not the aggressor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What sort of fundraising do EOTP PTSAs do? By which I mean, what's a normal amount of money to raise? Like, $100/student/year? Or more like $10?

Depends on the school. Some EOTP raise more per kid than WOTP--about $800 per kid.

Are PTA/PTO budgets required to be public?

No, other than the IRS form 990. But they should at least publicize it to their members.