Ludlow-Taylor principal made permanent!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The situation at LT is not good. Enrollment was a disaster over the summer - in addition to 1st grade being overenrolled, many kids in the ECE were not on the class lists when they were sent out a week prior to school, despite matching in the lottery and having sent in (and received confirmation) via paperwork that their child was enrolled. There is at least one family who has a prek4 child who was disenrolled and not able to be accommodated because the family was told that there was no room - despite the child matching and having the right paperwork. The first grade situation is bad - overenrollment and class lists that were changing until the day that school started. The construction which was supposed to have begun over the summer just started and their are nails and debris in the playground right near the ECE area (which is a real risk for the kids). Instead of looking to partner with parents, the Principal choose to no show at the first PTO meeting.

I don't think it's entitled of parents to want to know that their child is enrolled in school and that they have a teacher and not be at risk of getting stabbed by a rusty nail in the playground. I am not an LT parent by the way, my child attends another Hill elementary but Hill is a small community. LT has great teachers and families, it's a shame that the principal is doing such a bad job.

Gently I'd like to suggest that you are going off the comments of a very small number of people and including a lot of rumor in the mix. Almost none of this is accurate (I cannot speak to the enrollment experience of a specific PK4 student). Even some of what is accurate is not evidence of anything-- it is not unusual for class lists to shift in the week before school due to the surprise arrival of IB students. This happens at many if not most DCPS schools. You're talking about an overenrollment *of one* in 1st which is not a big deal given the transient nature of DC's population and the difficulty of estimating lottery spots based on prior year numbers (and contrary to what a PP said no one is forcing LT to offer lottery spots as though it's 2018-- if that were true they would be over-enrolled in every grade and by way more than 1). The construction situation sucks but actually it WAS started over the summer, it's just not done yet. And school administration has little control over that-- it's other agencies as supervised by DCPS. All the school can do is ask for new estimates for completion and hound the contractor about cleanup and safety (and even that isn't direct!).

You aren't describing a dire situation. You are describing a DCPS school in a better situation than most. Which yes means a host of problems. It's DCPS.

Also meant to say that I don't know what happened with the PTO meeting as I wasn't there (and neither were you! You don't even have kids at L-T!) but I've heard differing accounts. I tend to think they should have waited until this week for the meeting as having it the 2nd week of school (especially when there is so much going on with the construction and the higher-than-expected enrollment) is just a lot. At least wait until the 11th day of school when administrators have a better sense of true enrollment (no shows are considered merely absent until Day 11 so there may be students in the roster who have not yet shown up to school).

Anyway, you sure have a lot of opinions about a school your kids don't attend and a lot of it is based on rumors and false narratives.

I like how patronizingly you address PP for a parent who didn't bother to show up at the PTO meeting or find out what happened there, but apparently has a lot of thoughts on when and how the PTO should run its meetings. (You heard "differing accounts"? What? There were 200 people there, including lots of teachers. You must not have tried very hard.) The administration and teachers know how many kids are in the first grade. There aren't no shows being marked absent/who are unaccounted for at this point (nor were there after the first week/at the time of the PTO meeting), so I'm not quite sure what you're talking about.

Also, "rumors and false narratives"? The construction was supposed to start at the beginning of summer. Instead, it started the week before students came back. Enrollment was a mess and I know multiple 1st graders who switched classes over the weekend. I also know of a 3rd grade student who was randomly unenrolled, so apparently this was actually happening across grade levels.

Also, Ludlow-Taylor offered (from PK3-5th): 44, 19, 15, 5, 7, 10, 10 and 6 spots in the lottery. In 2018, it offered 43, 11, 3, 3, 0, 4, 0 and 0, so you're right, they don't offer lottery spots like it's 2018, they offer WAY WAY more than that. It is also clear that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

You get that the school administration has ZERO control over the construction, right? They aren't doing it themselves.

I am super curious about this 3rd grader who was "unenrolled" too. Where are they currently attending school? L-T right? So we're they unenrolled or was there some miscommunication over paperwork that only got resolved after school started? And now that student is in class as normal. Are you actually throwing fits about something that happens all over the city every fall like it's some grievous incident? Grow up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The situation at LT is not good. Enrollment was a disaster over the summer - in addition to 1st grade being overenrolled, many kids in the ECE were not on the class lists when they were sent out a week prior to school, despite matching in the lottery and having sent in (and received confirmation) via paperwork that their child was enrolled. There is at least one family who has a prek4 child who was disenrolled and not able to be accommodated because the family was told that there was no room - despite the child matching and having the right paperwork. The first grade situation is bad - overenrollment and class lists that were changing until the day that school started. The construction which was supposed to have begun over the summer just started and their are nails and debris in the playground right near the ECE area (which is a real risk for the kids). Instead of looking to partner with parents, the Principal choose to no show at the first PTO meeting.

I don't think it's entitled of parents to want to know that their child is enrolled in school and that they have a teacher and not be at risk of getting stabbed by a rusty nail in the playground. I am not an LT parent by the way, my child attends another Hill elementary but Hill is a small community. LT has great teachers and families, it's a shame that the principal is doing such a bad job.

Gently I'd like to suggest that you are going off the comments of a very small number of people and including a lot of rumor in the mix. Almost none of this is accurate (I cannot speak to the enrollment experience of a specific PK4 student). Even some of what is accurate is not evidence of anything-- it is not unusual for class lists to shift in the week before school due to the surprise arrival of IB students. This happens at many if not most DCPS schools. You're talking about an overenrollment *of one* in 1st which is not a big deal given the transient nature of DC's population and the difficulty of estimating lottery spots based on prior year numbers (and contrary to what a PP said no one is forcing LT to offer lottery spots as though it's 2018-- if that were true they would be over-enrolled in every grade and by way more than 1). The construction situation sucks but actually it WAS started over the summer, it's just not done yet. And school administration has little control over that-- it's other agencies as supervised by DCPS. All the school can do is ask for new estimates for completion and hound the contractor about cleanup and safety (and even that isn't direct!).

You aren't describing a dire situation. You are describing a DCPS school in a better situation than most. Which yes means a host of problems. It's DCPS.

Also meant to say that I don't know what happened with the PTO meeting as I wasn't there (and neither were you! You don't even have kids at L-T!) but I've heard differing accounts. I tend to think they should have waited until this week for the meeting as having it the 2nd week of school (especially when there is so much going on with the construction and the higher-than-expected enrollment) is just a lot. At least wait until the 11th day of school when administrators have a better sense of true enrollment (no shows are considered merely absent until Day 11 so there may be students in the roster who have not yet shown up to school).

Anyway, you sure have a lot of opinions about a school your kids don't attend and a lot of it is based on rumors and false narratives.

I like how patronizingly you address PP for a parent who didn't bother to show up at the PTO meeting or find out what happened there, but apparently has a lot of thoughts on when and how the PTO should run its meetings. (You heard "differing accounts"? What? There were 200 people there, including lots of teachers. You must not have tried very hard.) The administration and teachers know how many kids are in the first grade. There aren't no shows being marked absent/who are unaccounted for at this point (nor were there after the first week/at the time of the PTO meeting), so I'm not quite sure what you're talking about.

Also, "rumors and false narratives"? The construction was supposed to start at the beginning of summer. Instead, it started the week before students came back. Enrollment was a mess and I know multiple 1st graders who switched classes over the weekend. I also know of a 3rd grade student who was randomly unenrolled, so apparently this was actually happening across grade levels.

Also, Ludlow-Taylor offered (from PK3-5th): 44, 19, 15, 5, 7, 10, 10 and 6 spots in the lottery. In 2018, it offered 43, 11, 3, 3, 0, 4, 0 and 0, so you're right, they don't offer lottery spots like it's 2018, they offer WAY WAY more than that. It is also clear that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

From one L-T parent to another: people like you make raising kids in the Hill so much harder than it needs to be. I am already trying to figure out which of the nightmare overzealous hyper-vigilant judgmental people you might be from the many, many options.

Of course there are "differing accounts" from a meeting attended by 200 people. Do you assume everyone sees things exactly the way you do? They don't. If you think everyone is in agreement about this situation then it is you who needs to try harder.

But do go on.

I think it would be weird for people to have vastly different experiences of what happened at a PTO meeting, yes. Such that you talked to multiple people but couldn't figure out what happened?

The bolded makes it sound like you really love the school community. Luckily, you are an outlier in my experience. Most people at the school love the teachers, students and other families. The community is my favorite thing about L-T. Sure I have met a few parents I don't click with, but "many, many" "nightmare overzealous hyper-vigilant judgmental people"?? Not at all. Most people I've met are great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The situation at LT is not good. Enrollment was a disaster over the summer - in addition to 1st grade being overenrolled, many kids in the ECE were not on the class lists when they were sent out a week prior to school, despite matching in the lottery and having sent in (and received confirmation) via paperwork that their child was enrolled. There is at least one family who has a prek4 child who was disenrolled and not able to be accommodated because the family was told that there was no room - despite the child matching and having the right paperwork. The first grade situation is bad - overenrollment and class lists that were changing until the day that school started. The construction which was supposed to have begun over the summer just started and their are nails and debris in the playground right near the ECE area (which is a real risk for the kids). Instead of looking to partner with parents, the Principal choose to no show at the first PTO meeting.

I don't think it's entitled of parents to want to know that their child is enrolled in school and that they have a teacher and not be at risk of getting stabbed by a rusty nail in the playground. I am not an LT parent by the way, my child attends another Hill elementary but Hill is a small community. LT has great teachers and families, it's a shame that the principal is doing such a bad job.

Gently I'd like to suggest that you are going off the comments of a very small number of people and including a lot of rumor in the mix. Almost none of this is accurate (I cannot speak to the enrollment experience of a specific PK4 student). Even some of what is accurate is not evidence of anything-- it is not unusual for class lists to shift in the week before school due to the surprise arrival of IB students. This happens at many if not most DCPS schools. You're talking about an overenrollment *of one* in 1st which is not a big deal given the transient nature of DC's population and the difficulty of estimating lottery spots based on prior year numbers (and contrary to what a PP said no one is forcing LT to offer lottery spots as though it's 2018-- if that were true they would be over-enrolled in every grade and by way more than 1). The construction situation sucks but actually it WAS started over the summer, it's just not done yet. And school administration has little control over that-- it's other agencies as supervised by DCPS. All the school can do is ask for new estimates for completion and hound the contractor about cleanup and safety (and even that isn't direct!).

You aren't describing a dire situation. You are describing a DCPS school in a better situation than most. Which yes means a host of problems. It's DCPS.

Also meant to say that I don't know what happened with the PTO meeting as I wasn't there (and neither were you! You don't even have kids at L-T!) but I've heard differing accounts. I tend to think they should have waited until this week for the meeting as having it the 2nd week of school (especially when there is so much going on with the construction and the higher-than-expected enrollment) is just a lot. At least wait until the 11th day of school when administrators have a better sense of true enrollment (no shows are considered merely absent until Day 11 so there may be students in the roster who have not yet shown up to school).

Anyway, you sure have a lot of opinions about a school your kids don't attend and a lot of it is based on rumors and false narratives.

I like how patronizingly you address PP for a parent who didn't bother to show up at the PTO meeting or find out what happened there, but apparently has a lot of thoughts on when and how the PTO should run its meetings. (You heard "differing accounts"? What? There were 200 people there, including lots of teachers. You must not have tried very hard.) The administration and teachers know how many kids are in the first grade. There aren't no shows being marked absent/who are unaccounted for at this point (nor were there after the first week/at the time of the PTO meeting), so I'm not quite sure what you're talking about.

Also, "rumors and false narratives"? The construction was supposed to start at the beginning of summer. Instead, it started the week before students came back. Enrollment was a mess and I know multiple 1st graders who switched classes over the weekend. I also know of a 3rd grade student who was randomly unenrolled, so apparently this was actually happening across grade levels.

Also, Ludlow-Taylor offered (from PK3-5th): 44, 19, 15, 5, 7, 10, 10 and 6 spots in the lottery. In 2018, it offered 43, 11, 3, 3, 0, 4, 0 and 0, so you're right, they don't offer lottery spots like it's 2018, they offer WAY WAY more than that. It is also clear that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

This was the most lottery seats L-T has ever offered. The next most was the year before. The current principal and/or DCPS is stuffing L-T to the gills even as attrition drops. There's a reason L-T gained 50 students last year. The PP who said "and contrary to what a PP said no one is forcing LT to offer lottery spots as though it's 2018" could not be more wrong.

Hmm here is where it might be relevant to point out that the construction people are complaining about is an annex expansion to increase capacity at the school. And that the school was assured it would be finished over the summer. And that the summer camp run by the school's aftercare provider was even relocated to CHMS to accommodate that construction. And that DCPS and the contractor effed this up by starting late, leaving the administration to scramble in August and September.

I also wonder how much the impending modernization of JOW two blocks away might have driven lottery numbers and activity.

Anyway -- L-T is not even over-enrolled despite these numbers and the school will soon have more capacity. So maybe actually these lottery numbers make sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The situation at LT is not good. Enrollment was a disaster over the summer - in addition to 1st grade being overenrolled, many kids in the ECE were not on the class lists when they were sent out a week prior to school, despite matching in the lottery and having sent in (and received confirmation) via paperwork that their child was enrolled. There is at least one family who has a prek4 child who was disenrolled and not able to be accommodated because the family was told that there was no room - despite the child matching and having the right paperwork. The first grade situation is bad - overenrollment and class lists that were changing until the day that school started. The construction which was supposed to have begun over the summer just started and their are nails and debris in the playground right near the ECE area (which is a real risk for the kids). Instead of looking to partner with parents, the Principal choose to no show at the first PTO meeting.

I don't think it's entitled of parents to want to know that their child is enrolled in school and that they have a teacher and not be at risk of getting stabbed by a rusty nail in the playground. I am not an LT parent by the way, my child attends another Hill elementary but Hill is a small community. LT has great teachers and families, it's a shame that the principal is doing such a bad job.

Gently I'd like to suggest that you are going off the comments of a very small number of people and including a lot of rumor in the mix. Almost none of this is accurate (I cannot speak to the enrollment experience of a specific PK4 student). Even some of what is accurate is not evidence of anything-- it is not unusual for class lists to shift in the week before school due to the surprise arrival of IB students. This happens at many if not most DCPS schools. You're talking about an overenrollment *of one* in 1st which is not a big deal given the transient nature of DC's population and the difficulty of estimating lottery spots based on prior year numbers (and contrary to what a PP said no one is forcing LT to offer lottery spots as though it's 2018-- if that were true they would be over-enrolled in every grade and by way more than 1). The construction situation sucks but actually it WAS started over the summer, it's just not done yet. And school administration has little control over that-- it's other agencies as supervised by DCPS. All the school can do is ask for new estimates for completion and hound the contractor about cleanup and safety (and even that isn't direct!).

You aren't describing a dire situation. You are describing a DCPS school in a better situation than most. Which yes means a host of problems. It's DCPS.

Also meant to say that I don't know what happened with the PTO meeting as I wasn't there (and neither were you! You don't even have kids at L-T!) but I've heard differing accounts. I tend to think they should have waited until this week for the meeting as having it the 2nd week of school (especially when there is so much going on with the construction and the higher-than-expected enrollment) is just a lot. At least wait until the 11th day of school when administrators have a better sense of true enrollment (no shows are considered merely absent until Day 11 so there may be students in the roster who have not yet shown up to school).

Anyway, you sure have a lot of opinions about a school your kids don't attend and a lot of it is based on rumors and false narratives.

I like how patronizingly you address PP for a parent who didn't bother to show up at the PTO meeting or find out what happened there, but apparently has a lot of thoughts on when and how the PTO should run its meetings. (You heard "differing accounts"? What? There were 200 people there, including lots of teachers. You must not have tried very hard.) The administration and teachers know how many kids are in the first grade. There aren't no shows being marked absent/who are unaccounted for at this point (nor were there after the first week/at the time of the PTO meeting), so I'm not quite sure what you're talking about.

Also, "rumors and false narratives"? The construction was supposed to start at the beginning of summer. Instead, it started the week before students came back. Enrollment was a mess and I know multiple 1st graders who switched classes over the weekend. I also know of a 3rd grade student who was randomly unenrolled, so apparently this was actually happening across grade levels.

Also, Ludlow-Taylor offered (from PK3-5th): 44, 19, 15, 5, 7, 10, 10 and 6 spots in the lottery. In 2018, it offered 43, 11, 3, 3, 0, 4, 0 and 0, so you're right, they don't offer lottery spots like it's 2018, they offer WAY WAY more than that. It is also clear that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

This was the most lottery seats L-T has ever offered. The next most was the year before. The current principal and/or DCPS is stuffing L-T to the gills even as attrition drops. There's a reason L-T gained 50 students last year. The PP who said "and contrary to what a PP said no one is forcing LT to offer lottery spots as though it's 2018" could not be more wrong.

Hmm here is where it might be relevant to point out that the construction people are complaining about is an annex expansion to increase capacity at the school. And that the school was assured it would be finished over the summer. And that the summer camp run by the school's aftercare provider was even relocated to CHMS to accommodate that construction. And that DCPS and the contractor effed this up by starting late, leaving the administration to scramble in August and September.

I also wonder how much the impending modernization of JOW two blocks away might have driven lottery numbers and activity.

Anyway -- L-T is not even over-enrolled despite these numbers and the school will soon have more capacity. So maybe actually these lottery numbers make sense.

The construction was never supposed to be finished this summer. The designs aren't even complete. It was supposed to be started this summer and finished by next summer, which is now presumably in doubt. I don't disagree that it's not the administration's fault it's a bit delayed, but it was never supposed to be open this school year.

DCPS has actually not been very forthcoming about how the annex is supposed to interact with enrollment/capacity. It only has 4 classrooms and 2 are for ECE (so I assume they're adding 2 ECE classrooms, but I don't think they've said officially?), so it's not really going to have much effect on capacity in the upper grades, especially because we are short a classroom now and a few classes are in old office spaces and there are providers with no offices. I hope more information will be forthcoming on this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would add, however, that I definitely wouldn't count on a waitlist spot opening up unless maybe there's some lottery-based shuffling in ECE. 1st through 5th could all stand to have class sizes shrink, so even kids dropping out would not lead to additional waiting list spots.

Thanks, that's helpful.

Regarding class sizes, I think you need to check your expectations. We are at a Title 1 and we've had our kids in class sizes over 22 the last 3 years. Especially with the recent budget cuts, your expectations that you are going to be able to shrink class sizes at all, or resist pressure to add lottery spots, comes off as entitled to me. Especially on the Hill where elementary schools are very much a study of haves and have nots.

The WTU contract has 22 as the target size and 25 as the cap. Teachers are entitled to certain extra pay, etc for going over the cap. It is not entitled to say that additional children should not be added to classes that are already over target size. Instead, that is exactly DCPS’ written policy. It is one thing when you are trying to guess at class sizes before the fact. It is another when your classes already have 23-25 kids; if one leaves, you should not be replacing them under the WTU contract terms.

No one suggested adding kids over the cap or replacing kids who leave if the class is already over the cap. Rather, the complaint about DCPS pushing the school to add more lottery seats because this pushes class sizes over 22 (when even Title 1 schools are exceeding 22 in some classes and the entire district is facing budget shortfalls) is entitled.

There was a post up thread alleging L-T's administration had let the 1st grade class get over-enrolled by 20 kids. The reality is there is one 1st grade class with 26 kids and the others are at 25. Sounds like 3rd grade is full but not over-enrolled. The post also alleged that the school failed to process enrollments and u enrollments over the summer, but wait-lists in other grades moves steadily over the summer so this cannot be the case.

These complaints do come off as ticky-tacky and entitled when you are at other schools that are dealing with similar class size issues, losing paras and teachers, AND dealing with larger at-risk percentages and the issues that accompany that. I wouldn't be psyched if my kid was in that 26-kid class. But with a good teacher and some parental support, it's fine.

You were responding to a post that said there was unlikely to be movement because class sizes could stand to shrink (because they are over 22). I read your reply to that post as calling that poster entitled, which I think is unfair. If classes are over 22, new kids shouldn't be added to make them bigger on purpose. If I misread your post, apologies. I agree that class sizes over 22 are not a crisis and are very likely to become the new norm; that said, what keeps happening at L-T is admin mismanaging enrollment in various ways (last year they had to open a 3rd 5th grade classroom the week before school started because they over-pulled from the waitlist accidentally). The principal emailed first grade families the day before school started saying that she intended to hire an extra first grade teacher so everything is a bit up in the air right now.

Managing enrollment is very difficult and parents can get very entitled about it. No, the principal cannot hire an extra teacher because you want your child to be in a class of 17 instead of 25.

No, I mean the principal emailed the entire first grade and said she is going to repurpose available funds to hire another first grade teacher. It wasn't something "entitled" parents asked for. In fact, most parents found out about the over-enrolled class sizes from the same message in which she said she'd be hiring another teacher.

Ok so the issue is …?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The situation at LT is not good. Enrollment was a disaster over the summer - in addition to 1st grade being overenrolled, many kids in the ECE were not on the class lists when they were sent out a week prior to school, despite matching in the lottery and having sent in (and received confirmation) via paperwork that their child was enrolled. There is at least one family who has a prek4 child who was disenrolled and not able to be accommodated because the family was told that there was no room - despite the child matching and having the right paperwork. The first grade situation is bad - overenrollment and class lists that were changing until the day that school started. The construction which was supposed to have begun over the summer just started and their are nails and debris in the playground right near the ECE area (which is a real risk for the kids). Instead of looking to partner with parents, the Principal choose to no show at the first PTO meeting.

I don't think it's entitled of parents to want to know that their child is enrolled in school and that they have a teacher and not be at risk of getting stabbed by a rusty nail in the playground. I am not an LT parent by the way, my child attends another Hill elementary but Hill is a small community. LT has great teachers and families, it's a shame that the principal is doing such a bad job.

Gently I'd like to suggest that you are going off the comments of a very small number of people and including a lot of rumor in the mix. Almost none of this is accurate (I cannot speak to the enrollment experience of a specific PK4 student). Even some of what is accurate is not evidence of anything-- it is not unusual for class lists to shift in the week before school due to the surprise arrival of IB students. This happens at many if not most DCPS schools. You're talking about an overenrollment *of one* in 1st which is not a big deal given the transient nature of DC's population and the difficulty of estimating lottery spots based on prior year numbers (and contrary to what a PP said no one is forcing LT to offer lottery spots as though it's 2018-- if that were true they would be over-enrolled in every grade and by way more than 1). The construction situation sucks but actually it WAS started over the summer, it's just not done yet. And school administration has little control over that-- it's other agencies as supervised by DCPS. All the school can do is ask for new estimates for completion and hound the contractor about cleanup and safety (and even that isn't direct!).

You aren't describing a dire situation. You are describing a DCPS school in a better situation than most. Which yes means a host of problems. It's DCPS.

Also meant to say that I don't know what happened with the PTO meeting as I wasn't there (and neither were you! You don't even have kids at L-T!) but I've heard differing accounts. I tend to think they should have waited until this week for the meeting as having it the 2nd week of school (especially when there is so much going on with the construction and the higher-than-expected enrollment) is just a lot. At least wait until the 11th day of school when administrators have a better sense of true enrollment (no shows are considered merely absent until Day 11 so there may be students in the roster who have not yet shown up to school).

Anyway, you sure have a lot of opinions about a school your kids don't attend and a lot of it is based on rumors and false narratives.

I like how patronizingly you address PP for a parent who didn't bother to show up at the PTO meeting or find out what happened there, but apparently has a lot of thoughts on when and how the PTO should run its meetings. (You heard "differing accounts"? What? There were 200 people there, including lots of teachers. You must not have tried very hard.) The administration and teachers know how many kids are in the first grade. There aren't no shows being marked absent/who are unaccounted for at this point (nor were there after the first week/at the time of the PTO meeting), so I'm not quite sure what you're talking about.

Also, "rumors and false narratives"? The construction was supposed to start at the beginning of summer. Instead, it started the week before students came back. Enrollment was a mess and I know multiple 1st graders who switched classes over the weekend. I also know of a 3rd grade student who was randomly unenrolled, so apparently this was actually happening across grade levels.

Also, Ludlow-Taylor offered (from PK3-5th): 44, 19, 15, 5, 7, 10, 10 and 6 spots in the lottery. In 2018, it offered 43, 11, 3, 3, 0, 4, 0 and 0, so you're right, they don't offer lottery spots like it's 2018, they offer WAY WAY more than that. It is also clear that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

From one L-T parent to another: people like you make raising kids in the Hill so much harder than it needs to be. I am already trying to figure out which of the nightmare overzealous hyper-vigilant judgmental people you might be from the many, many options.

Of course there are "differing accounts" from a meeting attended by 200 people. Do you assume everyone sees things exactly the way you do? They don't. If you think everyone is in agreement about this situation then it is you who needs to try harder.

But do go on.

I think it would be weird for people to have vastly different experiences of what happened at a PTO meeting, yes. Such that you talked to multiple people but couldn't figure out what happened?

The bolded makes it sound like you really love the school community. Luckily, you are an outlier in my experience. Most people at the school love the teachers, students and other families. The community is my favorite thing about L-T. Sure I have met a few parents I don't click with, but "many, many" "nightmare overzealous hyper-vigilant judgmental people"?? Not at all. Most people I've met are great.

The point is that people have different opinions about what happened. You are interpreting it one way and that is not the way all other people interpret it. This is inevitable with a large event.

The Hill has an above-average percentage of controlling know-it-all parents who like to freak out (anonymously, online) about every single thing. L-T has its share. I actually do really like the overall community at L-T a lot but you are displaying a host of behaviors that I have observed in some parents that I find exhausting. So do [many] others. We generally do our best to just work past them but these interactions with you in this thread are certainly a good representation of what it's like to try and disagree (a little!) with certain parents who not only have extremely firm opinions on everything but also assume that people who disagree with them must be stupid. It wears us all down. Frankly a lot more than the often-lacking leadership of Principal Miller. Which I find frustrating at points but even I get that there are certain things (like DCPS's horrible track record on construction projects starting or ending on time) that are outside her control.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The situation at LT is not good. Enrollment was a disaster over the summer - in addition to 1st grade being overenrolled, many kids in the ECE were not on the class lists when they were sent out a week prior to school, despite matching in the lottery and having sent in (and received confirmation) via paperwork that their child was enrolled. There is at least one family who has a prek4 child who was disenrolled and not able to be accommodated because the family was told that there was no room - despite the child matching and having the right paperwork. The first grade situation is bad - overenrollment and class lists that were changing until the day that school started. The construction which was supposed to have begun over the summer just started and their are nails and debris in the playground right near the ECE area (which is a real risk for the kids). Instead of looking to partner with parents, the Principal choose to no show at the first PTO meeting.

I don't think it's entitled of parents to want to know that their child is enrolled in school and that they have a teacher and not be at risk of getting stabbed by a rusty nail in the playground. I am not an LT parent by the way, my child attends another Hill elementary but Hill is a small community. LT has great teachers and families, it's a shame that the principal is doing such a bad job.

Lol classic Hill parent right here - not only whining on DCUM but ALSO whining based on rumors!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The situation at LT is not good. Enrollment was a disaster over the summer - in addition to 1st grade being overenrolled, many kids in the ECE were not on the class lists when they were sent out a week prior to school, despite matching in the lottery and having sent in (and received confirmation) via paperwork that their child was enrolled. There is at least one family who has a prek4 child who was disenrolled and not able to be accommodated because the family was told that there was no room - despite the child matching and having the right paperwork. The first grade situation is bad - overenrollment and class lists that were changing until the day that school started. The construction which was supposed to have begun over the summer just started and their are nails and debris in the playground right near the ECE area (which is a real risk for the kids). Instead of looking to partner with parents, the Principal choose to no show at the first PTO meeting.

I don't think it's entitled of parents to want to know that their child is enrolled in school and that they have a teacher and not be at risk of getting stabbed by a rusty nail in the playground. I am not an LT parent by the way, my child attends another Hill elementary but Hill is a small community. LT has great teachers and families, it's a shame that the principal is doing such a bad job.

Gently I'd like to suggest that you are going off the comments of a very small number of people and including a lot of rumor in the mix. Almost none of this is accurate (I cannot speak to the enrollment experience of a specific PK4 student). Even some of what is accurate is not evidence of anything-- it is not unusual for class lists to shift in the week before school due to the surprise arrival of IB students. This happens at many if not most DCPS schools. You're talking about an overenrollment *of one* in 1st which is not a big deal given the transient nature of DC's population and the difficulty of estimating lottery spots based on prior year numbers (and contrary to what a PP said no one is forcing LT to offer lottery spots as though it's 2018-- if that were true they would be over-enrolled in every grade and by way more than 1). The construction situation sucks but actually it WAS started over the summer, it's just not done yet. And school administration has little control over that-- it's other agencies as supervised by DCPS. All the school can do is ask for new estimates for completion and hound the contractor about cleanup and safety (and even that isn't direct!).

You aren't describing a dire situation. You are describing a DCPS school in a better situation than most. Which yes means a host of problems. It's DCPS.

Also meant to say that I don't know what happened with the PTO meeting as I wasn't there (and neither were you! You don't even have kids at L-T!) but I've heard differing accounts. I tend to think they should have waited until this week for the meeting as having it the 2nd week of school (especially when there is so much going on with the construction and the higher-than-expected enrollment) is just a lot. At least wait until the 11th day of school when administrators have a better sense of true enrollment (no shows are considered merely absent until Day 11 so there may be students in the roster who have not yet shown up to school).

Anyway, you sure have a lot of opinions about a school your kids don't attend and a lot of it is based on rumors and false narratives.

I like how patronizingly you address PP for a parent who didn't bother to show up at the PTO meeting or find out what happened there, but apparently has a lot of thoughts on when and how the PTO should run its meetings. (You heard "differing accounts"? What? There were 200 people there, including lots of teachers. You must not have tried very hard.) The administration and teachers know how many kids are in the first grade. There aren't no shows being marked absent/who are unaccounted for at this point (nor were there after the first week/at the time of the PTO meeting), so I'm not quite sure what you're talking about.

Also, "rumors and false narratives"? The construction was supposed to start at the beginning of summer. Instead, it started the week before students came back. Enrollment was a mess and I know multiple 1st graders who switched classes over the weekend. I also know of a 3rd grade student who was randomly unenrolled, so apparently this was actually happening across grade levels.

Also, Ludlow-Taylor offered (from PK3-5th): 44, 19, 15, 5, 7, 10, 10 and 6 spots in the lottery. In 2018, it offered 43, 11, 3, 3, 0, 4, 0 and 0, so you're right, they don't offer lottery spots like it's 2018, they offer WAY WAY more than that. It is also clear that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

The principal doesn’t control when construction starts. How can you not know that?

Take a beat and calm down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The situation at LT is not good. Enrollment was a disaster over the summer - in addition to 1st grade being overenrolled, many kids in the ECE were not on the class lists when they were sent out a week prior to school, despite matching in the lottery and having sent in (and received confirmation) via paperwork that their child was enrolled. There is at least one family who has a prek4 child who was disenrolled and not able to be accommodated because the family was told that there was no room - despite the child matching and having the right paperwork. The first grade situation is bad - overenrollment and class lists that were changing until the day that school started. The construction which was supposed to have begun over the summer just started and their are nails and debris in the playground right near the ECE area (which is a real risk for the kids). Instead of looking to partner with parents, the Principal choose to no show at the first PTO meeting.

I don't think it's entitled of parents to want to know that their child is enrolled in school and that they have a teacher and not be at risk of getting stabbed by a rusty nail in the playground. I am not an LT parent by the way, my child attends another Hill elementary but Hill is a small community. LT has great teachers and families, it's a shame that the principal is doing such a bad job.

Gently I'd like to suggest that you are going off the comments of a very small number of people and including a lot of rumor in the mix. Almost none of this is accurate (I cannot speak to the enrollment experience of a specific PK4 student). Even some of what is accurate is not evidence of anything-- it is not unusual for class lists to shift in the week before school due to the surprise arrival of IB students. This happens at many if not most DCPS schools. You're talking about an overenrollment *of one* in 1st which is not a big deal given the transient nature of DC's population and the difficulty of estimating lottery spots based on prior year numbers (and contrary to what a PP said no one is forcing LT to offer lottery spots as though it's 2018-- if that were true they would be over-enrolled in every grade and by way more than 1). The construction situation sucks but actually it WAS started over the summer, it's just not done yet. And school administration has little control over that-- it's other agencies as supervised by DCPS. All the school can do is ask for new estimates for completion and hound the contractor about cleanup and safety (and even that isn't direct!).

You aren't describing a dire situation. You are describing a DCPS school in a better situation than most. Which yes means a host of problems. It's DCPS.

Also meant to say that I don't know what happened with the PTO meeting as I wasn't there (and neither were you! You don't even have kids at L-T!) but I've heard differing accounts. I tend to think they should have waited until this week for the meeting as having it the 2nd week of school (especially when there is so much going on with the construction and the higher-than-expected enrollment) is just a lot. At least wait until the 11th day of school when administrators have a better sense of true enrollment (no shows are considered merely absent until Day 11 so there may be students in the roster who have not yet shown up to school).

Anyway, you sure have a lot of opinions about a school your kids don't attend and a lot of it is based on rumors and false narratives.

I like how patronizingly you address PP for a parent who didn't bother to show up at the PTO meeting or find out what happened there, but apparently has a lot of thoughts on when and how the PTO should run its meetings. (You heard "differing accounts"? What? There were 200 people there, including lots of teachers. You must not have tried very hard.) The administration and teachers know how many kids are in the first grade. There aren't no shows being marked absent/who are unaccounted for at this point (nor were there after the first week/at the time of the PTO meeting), so I'm not quite sure what you're talking about.

Also, "rumors and false narratives"? The construction was supposed to start at the beginning of summer. Instead, it started the week before students came back. Enrollment was a mess and I know multiple 1st graders who switched classes over the weekend. I also know of a 3rd grade student who was randomly unenrolled, so apparently this was actually happening across grade levels.

Also, Ludlow-Taylor offered (from PK3-5th): 44, 19, 15, 5, 7, 10, 10 and 6 spots in the lottery. In 2018, it offered 43, 11, 3, 3, 0, 4, 0 and 0, so you're right, they don't offer lottery spots like it's 2018, they offer WAY WAY more than that. It is also clear that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

The principal doesn’t control when construction starts. How can you not know that?

Take a beat and calm down.

Huh? I didn't say the principal did control when construction started. I said that the PP's post wasn't full of rumors or false narratives, because the construction was in fact delayed just like the PP said. I don't blame the principal for the delay nor does the post you're responding to blame the principal for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The situation at LT is not good. Enrollment was a disaster over the summer - in addition to 1st grade being overenrolled, many kids in the ECE were not on the class lists when they were sent out a week prior to school, despite matching in the lottery and having sent in (and received confirmation) via paperwork that their child was enrolled. There is at least one family who has a prek4 child who was disenrolled and not able to be accommodated because the family was told that there was no room - despite the child matching and having the right paperwork. The first grade situation is bad - overenrollment and class lists that were changing until the day that school started. The construction which was supposed to have begun over the summer just started and their are nails and debris in the playground right near the ECE area (which is a real risk for the kids). Instead of looking to partner with parents, the Principal choose to no show at the first PTO meeting.

I don't think it's entitled of parents to want to know that their child is enrolled in school and that they have a teacher and not be at risk of getting stabbed by a rusty nail in the playground. I am not an LT parent by the way, my child attends another Hill elementary but Hill is a small community. LT has great teachers and families, it's a shame that the principal is doing such a bad job.

Gently I'd like to suggest that you are going off the comments of a very small number of people and including a lot of rumor in the mix. Almost none of this is accurate (I cannot speak to the enrollment experience of a specific PK4 student). Even some of what is accurate is not evidence of anything-- it is not unusual for class lists to shift in the week before school due to the surprise arrival of IB students. This happens at many if not most DCPS schools. You're talking about an overenrollment *of one* in 1st which is not a big deal given the transient nature of DC's population and the difficulty of estimating lottery spots based on prior year numbers (and contrary to what a PP said no one is forcing LT to offer lottery spots as though it's 2018-- if that were true they would be over-enrolled in every grade and by way more than 1). The construction situation sucks but actually it WAS started over the summer, it's just not done yet. And school administration has little control over that-- it's other agencies as supervised by DCPS. All the school can do is ask for new estimates for completion and hound the contractor about cleanup and safety (and even that isn't direct!).

You aren't describing a dire situation. You are describing a DCPS school in a better situation than most. Which yes means a host of problems. It's DCPS.

Also meant to say that I don't know what happened with the PTO meeting as I wasn't there (and neither were you! You don't even have kids at L-T!) but I've heard differing accounts. I tend to think they should have waited until this week for the meeting as having it the 2nd week of school (especially when there is so much going on with the construction and the higher-than-expected enrollment) is just a lot. At least wait until the 11th day of school when administrators have a better sense of true enrollment (no shows are considered merely absent until Day 11 so there may be students in the roster who have not yet shown up to school).

Anyway, you sure have a lot of opinions about a school your kids don't attend and a lot of it is based on rumors and false narratives.

I like how patronizingly you address PP for a parent who didn't bother to show up at the PTO meeting or find out what happened there, but apparently has a lot of thoughts on when and how the PTO should run its meetings. (You heard "differing accounts"? What? There were 200 people there, including lots of teachers. You must not have tried very hard.) The administration and teachers know how many kids are in the first grade. There aren't no shows being marked absent/who are unaccounted for at this point (nor were there after the first week/at the time of the PTO meeting), so I'm not quite sure what you're talking about.

Also, "rumors and false narratives"? The construction was supposed to start at the beginning of summer. Instead, it started the week before students came back. Enrollment was a mess and I know multiple 1st graders who switched classes over the weekend. I also know of a 3rd grade student who was randomly unenrolled, so apparently this was actually happening across grade levels.

Also, Ludlow-Taylor offered (from PK3-5th): 44, 19, 15, 5, 7, 10, 10 and 6 spots in the lottery. In 2018, it offered 43, 11, 3, 3, 0, 4, 0 and 0, so you're right, they don't offer lottery spots like it's 2018, they offer WAY WAY more than that. It is also clear that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

The principal doesn’t control when construction starts. How can you not know that?

Take a beat and calm down.

Huh? I didn't say the principal did control when construction started. I said that the PP's post wasn't full of rumors or false narratives, because the construction was in fact delayed just like the PP said. I don't blame the principal for the delay nor does the post you're responding to blame the principal for that.

The thread is about the principal. FWIW I would suggest L-T parents try to stay off DCUM unless the complaints are really serious, otherwise you will hurt your school’s reputation and possibly impact future principal and teacher candidates. Nobody wants to work at a school with a toxic parent culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The situation at LT is not good. Enrollment was a disaster over the summer - in addition to 1st grade being overenrolled, many kids in the ECE were not on the class lists when they were sent out a week prior to school, despite matching in the lottery and having sent in (and received confirmation) via paperwork that their child was enrolled. There is at least one family who has a prek4 child who was disenrolled and not able to be accommodated because the family was told that there was no room - despite the child matching and having the right paperwork. The first grade situation is bad - overenrollment and class lists that were changing until the day that school started. The construction which was supposed to have begun over the summer just started and their are nails and debris in the playground right near the ECE area (which is a real risk for the kids). Instead of looking to partner with parents, the Principal choose to no show at the first PTO meeting.

I don't think it's entitled of parents to want to know that their child is enrolled in school and that they have a teacher and not be at risk of getting stabbed by a rusty nail in the playground. I am not an LT parent by the way, my child attends another Hill elementary but Hill is a small community. LT has great teachers and families, it's a shame that the principal is doing such a bad job.

Lol classic Hill parent right here - not only whining on DCUM but ALSO whining based on rumors!!

What do you mean rumors? When a parent says to you "this happened to me and my kid" is that a rumor? if not, then I don't know why you are jumping on this as rumor. I don't understand the refusal to believe that this is happening. Did you see the list of questions that parents have put together after the AP ended the PTO meeting early? These are real issues that parents have questions about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The situation at LT is not good. Enrollment was a disaster over the summer - in addition to 1st grade being overenrolled, many kids in the ECE were not on the class lists when they were sent out a week prior to school, despite matching in the lottery and having sent in (and received confirmation) via paperwork that their child was enrolled. There is at least one family who has a prek4 child who was disenrolled and not able to be accommodated because the family was told that there was no room - despite the child matching and having the right paperwork. The first grade situation is bad - overenrollment and class lists that were changing until the day that school started. The construction which was supposed to have begun over the summer just started and their are nails and debris in the playground right near the ECE area (which is a real risk for the kids). Instead of looking to partner with parents, the Principal choose to no show at the first PTO meeting.

I don't think it's entitled of parents to want to know that their child is enrolled in school and that they have a teacher and not be at risk of getting stabbed by a rusty nail in the playground. I am not an LT parent by the way, my child attends another Hill elementary but Hill is a small community. LT has great teachers and families, it's a shame that the principal is doing such a bad job.

Lol classic Hill parent right here - not only whining on DCUM but ALSO whining based on rumors!!

What do you mean rumors? When a parent says to you "this happened to me and my kid" is that a rumor? if not, then I don't know why you are jumping on this as rumor. I don't understand the refusal to believe that this is happening. Did you see the list of questions that parents have put together after the AP ended the PTO meeting early? These are real issues that parents have questions about.

Yes! It is when you extrapolate that because one parent you know *claims* their child was unenrolled this means that enrollment was a mess. You don't actually know what happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The situation at LT is not good. Enrollment was a disaster over the summer - in addition to 1st grade being overenrolled, many kids in the ECE were not on the class lists when they were sent out a week prior to school, despite matching in the lottery and having sent in (and received confirmation) via paperwork that their child was enrolled. There is at least one family who has a prek4 child who was disenrolled and not able to be accommodated because the family was told that there was no room - despite the child matching and having the right paperwork. The first grade situation is bad - overenrollment and class lists that were changing until the day that school started. The construction which was supposed to have begun over the summer just started and their are nails and debris in the playground right near the ECE area (which is a real risk for the kids). Instead of looking to partner with parents, the Principal choose to no show at the first PTO meeting.

I don't think it's entitled of parents to want to know that their child is enrolled in school and that they have a teacher and not be at risk of getting stabbed by a rusty nail in the playground. I am not an LT parent by the way, my child attends another Hill elementary but Hill is a small community. LT has great teachers and families, it's a shame that the principal is doing such a bad job.

Lol classic Hill parent right here - not only whining on DCUM but ALSO whining based on rumors!!

What do you mean rumors? When a parent says to you "this happened to me and my kid" is that a rumor? if not, then I don't know why you are jumping on this as rumor. I don't understand the refusal to believe that this is happening. Did you see the list of questions that parents have put together after the AP ended the PTO meeting early? These are real issues that parents have questions about.

Someone posting anonymously about what a parent told them about something that happened to yet a different kid, all at a school their child *Does not attend*, is pretty much the definition of a rumor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The situation at LT is not good. Enrollment was a disaster over the summer - in addition to 1st grade being overenrolled, many kids in the ECE were not on the class lists when they were sent out a week prior to school, despite matching in the lottery and having sent in (and received confirmation) via paperwork that their child was enrolled. There is at least one family who has a prek4 child who was disenrolled and not able to be accommodated because the family was told that there was no room - despite the child matching and having the right paperwork. The first grade situation is bad - overenrollment and class lists that were changing until the day that school started. The construction which was supposed to have begun over the summer just started and their are nails and debris in the playground right near the ECE area (which is a real risk for the kids). Instead of looking to partner with parents, the Principal choose to no show at the first PTO meeting.

I don't think it's entitled of parents to want to know that their child is enrolled in school and that they have a teacher and not be at risk of getting stabbed by a rusty nail in the playground. I am not an LT parent by the way, my child attends another Hill elementary but Hill is a small community. LT has great teachers and families, it's a shame that the principal is doing such a bad job.

Lol classic Hill parent right here - not only whining on DCUM but ALSO whining based on rumors!!

What do you mean rumors? When a parent says to you "this happened to me and my kid" is that a rumor? if not, then I don't know why you are jumping on this as rumor. I don't understand the refusal to believe that this is happening. Did you see the list of questions that parents have put together after the AP ended the PTO meeting early? These are real issues that parents have questions about.

Yes! It is when you extrapolate that because one parent you know *claims* their child was unenrolled this means that enrollment was a mess. You don't actually know what happened.

And it wasn’t even that PP’s friend’s kid! It was some other kid the PP’s friend was talking about.

[Anonymous]

First-grade parent at LT. I am often critical of Miller — both her decision making and her communication — but I think she nailed this situation. The grade is marginally over enrolled, and yet she has been proactive and clear-headed. She has explained the situation well to the parents, and then adopted a set of decisions that made sense. I don’t see sensible complaints — other than ones based on speculation about the context of her decision.