recent experiences at takoma park elementary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it’s true that they started the year short a kindergarten teacher. The class had subs and teachers covering on planning periods until they found a full time teacher. A statement was made that many students registered over the summer for kindergarten and that it was hard to find additional teachers on short notice. And sometimes now when a teacher is out and they can’t find a sub, the kids go in small groups to other classes, say 5 to each class.

That's been true for years now. Ever since COVID subs are in short supply everywhere.

[Anonymous]

When my kids were there, it was awesome! It was a focus school, so class sizes were small, typically 16-18 kids. Also, it hosted the only ES magnet that provided enriched math and additional STEM to students who tested high on the CogAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my kids were there, it was awesome! It was a focus school, so class sizes were small, typically 16-18 kids. Also, it hosted the only ES magnet that provided enriched math and additional STEM to students who tested high on the CogAT.

Great, except none of these things are true anymore, so that doesn’t help OP.

[Anonymous]

My understanding is there are 9 classes of 25+ kids per class. I’m trying to wrap my head around how things function as a school that big! Is it easy for kids to make friends? Does the staff know the kids names? Are lunch/recess overwhelming? It might work great(?), but I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it all!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is there are 9 classes of 25+ kids per class. I’m trying to wrap my head around how things function as a school that big! Is it easy for kids to make friends? Does the staff know the kids names? Are lunch/recess overwhelming? It might work great(?), but I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it all!

1) Maybe, but depends on the kid. Problem is that they’ll make friends for one year then never be in the same class again.
2) Mostly, no. Except their actual teachers.
3) yes, for some kids

[Anonymous]

Do they try to keep kids in the same cohort from year to year or is it a totally new class each year? Parents who have kids at the school- do your kids keep friendships year to year? Is there a sense of community amongst the parents or do people not really want to invest bc kids only together for a year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is there are 9 classes of 25+ kids per class. I’m trying to wrap my head around how things function as a school that big! Is it easy for kids to make friends? Does the staff know the kids names? Are lunch/recess overwhelming? It might work great(?), but I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it all!

Like clockwork!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do they try to keep kids in the same cohort from year to year or is it a totally new class each year? Parents who have kids at the school- do your kids keep friendships year to year? Is there a sense of community amongst the parents or do people not really want to invest bc kids only together for a year?

Kids have friends from the neighborhood. They are more often than not in different classes but are able to see friends at recess orlunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know how a focus school is determined? What’s the FARMS rate cutoff? Does a school have to hit a certain FARMS metric for a certain number of years before the designation is changed?

I don't know the exact cutoff, but all of the focus schools are listed in the chart on page 3 here, so it can probably be extrapolated, if someone wants to take the time.

https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP25_Chapter3.pdf

The class size for focus schools is only for k to 2. My kid is in a focus school in 3rd grade and their class has 25 plus kids. The focus status does mean more staffing and paras.

I believe the cut off for focus is around 50-60 percent Farms

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/budget/archiveDetail.aspx?id=125&year=2016&order=39&keywords=

True, this only effects K-2 but since we're talking about TPES, which is K-2, does it matter?

Also, 50%-60% is well above what is required to be designated as Title 1, let alone a focus school. Focus is much lower like 30% or higher, but below title 1. In fact, TPES was around 30% farms when it was a focus school.

MCPS has the ability to choose how to use its Title I funds, and chooses to designate the absolutely neediest schools as "title I" while designating others as "Focus."

Given the size of MCPS, and the residential segregation that led to concentrated poverty, there are schools with functionally 100% FARMS. So, you have a situation where a specific school would be Title I in a different district, but is "only" Focus in MCPS. I've had kids in those schools, and the struggle is that the neediest kids in the school are every bit as traumatized and in need of support as the neediest kids in a Title I school but the school doesn't get the appropriate resources for those kids.

I thought title 1 was a federal designation so the threshold is determined at the federal level. It's usually over 70%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know how a focus school is determined? What’s the FARMS rate cutoff? Does a school have to hit a certain FARMS metric for a certain number of years before the designation is changed?

I don't know the exact cutoff, but all of the focus schools are listed in the chart on page 3 here, so it can probably be extrapolated, if someone wants to take the time.

https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP25_Chapter3.pdf

The class size for focus schools is only for k to 2. My kid is in a focus school in 3rd grade and their class has 25 plus kids. The focus status does mean more staffing and paras.

I believe the cut off for focus is around 50-60 percent Farms

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/budget/archiveDetail.aspx?id=125&year=2016&order=39&keywords=

True, this only effects K-2 but since we're talking about TPES, which is K-2, does it matter?

Also, 50%-60% is well above what is required to be designated as Title 1, let alone a focus school. Focus is much lower like 30% or higher, but below title 1. In fact, TPES was around 30% farms when it was a focus school.

MCPS has the ability to choose how to use its Title I funds, and chooses to designate the absolutely neediest schools as "title I" while designating others as "Focus."

Given the size of MCPS, and the residential segregation that led to concentrated poverty, there are schools with functionally 100% FARMS. So, you have a situation where a specific school would be Title I in a different district, but is "only" Focus in MCPS. I've had kids in those schools, and the struggle is that the neediest kids in the school are every bit as traumatized and in need of support as the neediest kids in a Title I school but the school doesn't get the appropriate resources for those kids.

I thought title 1 was a federal designation so the threshold is determined at the federal level. It's usually over 70%

Regardless, TPES wasn't a Title 1 school. It was a focus school which is something MCPS defines, and it no longer qualifies for this status since it's moderately low-FARMS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is there are 9 classes of 25+ kids per class. I’m trying to wrap my head around how things function as a school that big! Is it easy for kids to make friends? Does the staff know the kids names? Are lunch/recess overwhelming? It might work great(?), but I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it all!

Like clockwork!

The size of the school is no big deal. In fact, I feel it's more of a benefit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know how a focus school is determined? What’s the FARMS rate cutoff? Does a school have to hit a certain FARMS metric for a certain number of years before the designation is changed?

I don't know the exact cutoff, but all of the focus schools are listed in the chart on page 3 here, so it can probably be extrapolated, if someone wants to take the time.

https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP25_Chapter3.pdf

The class size for focus schools is only for k to 2. My kid is in a focus school in 3rd grade and their class has 25 plus kids. The focus status does mean more staffing and paras.

I believe the cut off for focus is around 50-60 percent Farms

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/budget/archiveDetail.aspx?id=125&year=2016&order=39&keywords=

True, this only effects K-2 but since we're talking about TPES, which is K-2, does it matter?

Also, 50%-60% is well above what is required to be designated as Title 1, let alone a focus school. Focus is much lower like 30% or higher, but below title 1. In fact, TPES was around 30% farms when it was a focus school.

MCPS has the ability to choose how to use its Title I funds, and chooses to designate the absolutely neediest schools as "title I" while designating others as "Focus."

Given the size of MCPS, and the residential segregation that led to concentrated poverty, there are schools with functionally 100% FARMS. So, you have a situation where a specific school would be Title I in a different district, but is "only" Focus in MCPS. I've had kids in those schools, and the struggle is that the neediest kids in the school are every bit as traumatized and in need of support as the neediest kids in a Title I school but the school doesn't get the appropriate resources for those kids.

I thought title 1 was a federal designation so the threshold is determined at the federal level. It's usually over 70%

Regardless, TPES wasn't a Title 1 school. It was a focus school which is something MCPS defines, and it no longer qualifies for this status since it's moderately low-FARMS.

Not for long.

[Anonymous]

Please share more details as to why!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is there are 9 classes of 25+ kids per class. I’m trying to wrap my head around how things function as a school that big! Is it easy for kids to make friends? Does the staff know the kids names? Are lunch/recess overwhelming? It might work great(?), but I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it all!

Like clockwork!

The size of the school is no big deal. In fact, I feel it's more of a benefit.

[Anonymous]

What does this mean?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know how a focus school is determined? What’s the FARMS rate cutoff? Does a school have to hit a certain FARMS metric for a certain number of years before the designation is changed?

I don't know the exact cutoff, but all of the focus schools are listed in the chart on page 3 here, so it can probably be extrapolated, if someone wants to take the time.

https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP25_Chapter3.pdf

The class size for focus schools is only for k to 2. My kid is in a focus school in 3rd grade and their class has 25 plus kids. The focus status does mean more staffing and paras.

I believe the cut off for focus is around 50-60 percent Farms

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/budget/archiveDetail.aspx?id=125&year=2016&order=39&keywords=

True, this only effects K-2 but since we're talking about TPES, which is K-2, does it matter?

Also, 50%-60% is well above what is required to be designated as Title 1, let alone a focus school. Focus is much lower like 30% or higher, but below title 1. In fact, TPES was around 30% farms when it was a focus school.

MCPS has the ability to choose how to use its Title I funds, and chooses to designate the absolutely neediest schools as "title I" while designating others as "Focus."

Given the size of MCPS, and the residential segregation that led to concentrated poverty, there are schools with functionally 100% FARMS. So, you have a situation where a specific school would be Title I in a different district, but is "only" Focus in MCPS. I've had kids in those schools, and the struggle is that the neediest kids in the school are every bit as traumatized and in need of support as the neediest kids in a Title I school but the school doesn't get the appropriate resources for those kids.

I thought title 1 was a federal designation so the threshold is determined at the federal level. It's usually over 70%

Regardless, TPES wasn't a Title 1 school. It was a focus school which is something MCPS defines, and it no longer qualifies for this status since it's moderately low-FARMS.

Not for long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is there are 9 classes of 25+ kids per class. I’m trying to wrap my head around how things function as a school that big! Is it easy for kids to make friends? Does the staff know the kids names? Are lunch/recess overwhelming? It might work great(?), but I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it all!

Like clockwork!

The size of the school is no big deal. In fact, I feel it's more of a benefit.

It’s no big deal that kids get shuffled into new classes where they only know 1-2 kids every year? That the lunchroom is chaotic since there are so many kids? That there are only a few adults supervising a large number of students at recess? I’m willing to believe that there are benefits to a larger school for older grades when there could be more specialized course offerings, for example. Here I am not seeing a benefit. I would love to hear more.