advice on switching to Key
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Anonymous
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Hello--hoping for some advice from Key families. We've just been offered an OOB space at Key. We're currently in a decent charter school that is fine but likely not going to work past another year or two.
Here are some questions I have: Can you talk to me a bit about school culture, especially how it would be for a kid to join now, in the school's middle grades? How much DCPS worksheet/bureacracy culture comes into the classroom? (Obviously there's curriculum to follow and outside institutional pressures, but I'm trying to get at here is whether the teachers feel like they have some decent freedom to be creative and warm and flexible, or whether it's a place that's really top down; we've had experience a while back with that kind of DCPS with our older child.) How do you feel about the teachers and how they partner with parents? Are families tending to stay throught the full 5th grade? What's the classroom experience of the students in trailers? Basically, any perspective is welcome. The Hardy feeder line isn't a dealbreaker for us; we'll figure out middle school when the time comes. Commuting will also work with my pathway through town. Thanks! |
Anonymous
| Will you have a problem getting extended care at Key? Wonder if they will be able to use the new Palisades Recreation Center for aftercare. |
Anonymous
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OP here: Yes--aftercare is full with waiting list (as seems to be perenially the case with Key), but we're checking into alternate possibilities, including whether the rec center will offer anything and/or hiring someone to help. (Our current school's aftercare isn't cheap and it isn't great. It wouldn't be the same, but it's not as if we're not having to finagle that now and think about alternatives even if we stayed where we are.) But yes--that's the major issue, although not insurmountable.
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Anonymous
| Advice: It's going to be way higher SES and expensive than your previous school. You won't be able to be heard, but your kids will be happy and safe. There's little to no flexibility on aftercare options. There's little to no diversity. DCPS, in general, feels like shouting into the wind |
Anonymous
There is absolutely diversity at Key and just what OOB slots like hers are for. It is a white part of town and there is nothing wrong with it looking like that. Besides whites are a minority in DC so Key is minority majority ! |
Anonymous
What is a "white area of town", pray tell? |
Anonymous
NP. I'm guessing an area that is majority white? The part about Key being "majority minority" is of course ridiculous. |
Anonymous
No. OOB slots are to keep Key open. If it weren't for OOB students there would be too few students to justify keeping the school open. |
Anonymous
Huh? 84% in boundary (2016-17). |
Anonymous
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Once OOB students kept schools like Key and others kept some schools open.
From visits, it seems like a decent school with people friendly enough to speak to you. Some areas don’t seem so wealthy, but it is a beautiful part of the city with relatively large homes. Several houses being built or built within the last year. The Glass Forest is an attraction not far from Key which is a matter of taste if you like that type of art. |
Anonymous
| Every school should provide enough space for before and after school even if the government has to help subsidize or organize it. Extended care ensures the safety and socialization of children. Many parents work and there may not be enough nannies to go around. Don’t recall seeing any churches in area that might provide childcare. With all that space at the new Palisades Recreation Center, surely a bus/van should be able to take kids there for extended care with afterschool programs. Seems like an affluent/quasi affluent area should be able to get some basics. Lovely neighborhood. |
Anonymous
| So what is the education or teaching like? What is the school culture? Do students enjoy learning and are challenged? Do kids who need special ed get it and progress because of it? You don’t hear much about Key good or bad. |
Anonymous
| Are OOB kids able to fit in or is the social scene mainly focused on neighborhood kids and parents who all live close together? |
Anonymous
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few parents from Key frequent DCUM (first rule of Key, don't talk about Key on DCUM). That said, I'll violate.
The majority of the kids at Key have been there since PreK or K. There's about 10-15 OOB kids per each class, depending on the IB enrollment population which fluctuates (for instance, this year's 1st added a 4th class but the 2nd grade class doesn't fill up all 3 - just seems like birth year fluctuations). About 1/3 of the grade cohort leaves the school by 4th and 5th, so it goes from around 75 kids in 3rd down to 40 by 5th. Hardy, the IB middle school is changing dramatically, which is keeping more and more families invested, but at Key there is definitely a set of kids who will always be bound for privates and there is a large international population, and families moving in & out too. So, each year, by kids classes there is some proportion of kids moving to the area and some moving away. It is a WOTP school. Smaller than Janney, Murch, and Lafayette by a lot. So closer knit, and the Palisades is a geographically isolated neighborhood in the city 'small town in the city' - so you run into people from Key all up and down MacArthur Blvd, rec center, playground at Key, etc anytime you go out. Like other WOTP's the PTA funding supplements a lot - so things like supporting social emotional learning, supplies, aides for younger years, etc etc. We've had great experiences with all the teachers being very invested and engaged in our kids - and being highly available. They started things like acceleration blocks from differentiated learning, do some fun creative units, etc. But the school follows common core, has PARCC tests, and there are some teachers that are exceptional and some that are just good. They school seems to quickly turn over the not great teachers, but any given year with the regular teacher turnover you might get bad luck, or a mismatch for your kid. There's no real after school options option except the aftercare program, since the rec center at palisades is still under construction, but they did set up some sort of relationship with Jellef and some kids do go there, but lots of families have nannies, au pairs, or a stay at home parent. Key is about 67% white. 5% disadvantaged. The school is overcrowded so the person above who said the OOB keeps it open is about 15 years out of date. http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Key+Elementary+School |
Anonymous
| oh, and no one seems bothered by the trailers ('upper campus') |