What kind of school will Van Ness Elementary end up being? More like Brent, Maury, or Ludlow-Taylor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PK4 is all Brent IB kids, not PK3. As much as people say they love Van Ness, I guarantee they will move their kids back to Brent for K despite Brent not having a strong K program as it's still more established than Van Ness.

PK3 and PK4 were both allegedly Brent overflow last year too

Yes but with the PK3 class starting this week, Van Ness has moved past that. It should be mostly IB for new classes going forward with some OOB students who might be from anywhere. Any PK3 kid IB for Brent this year who had a lottery draw good enough to get into Van Ness OOB would have also gotten into Brent, so the overlap is none.

This is 100% correct. Unless Brent has another 90-100% sibling class, I think the VN door is shut for those families.

Next year will be interesting. I have heard that half the kids from Brent could stay at VN for K. Makes sense as several of those families are very engaged in the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PK4 is all Brent IB kids, not PK3. As much as people say they love Van Ness, I guarantee they will move their kids back to Brent for K despite Brent not having a strong K program as it's still more established than Van Ness.

PK3 and PK4 were both allegedly Brent overflow last year too

Yes but with the PK3 class starting this week, Van Ness has moved past that. It should be mostly IB for new classes going forward with some OOB students who might be from anywhere. Any PK3 kid IB for Brent this year who had a lottery draw good enough to get into Van Ness OOB would have also gotten into Brent, so the overlap is none.

This is 100% correct. Unless Brent has another 90-100% sibling class, I think the VN door is shut for those families.

Next year will be interesting. I have heard that half the kids from Brent could stay at VN for K. Makes sense as several of those families are very engaged in the school.

That's good news for Van Ness, but on the other hand that may delay any calls to ameliorate the PK situation at Brent. And there's another bumper crop of sibling kids coming who are currently 1.

[Anonymous]

Calls to ameliorate the PreK situation at Brent have gone nowhere, and will continue in that vein, at least under this principal. Admitting more of the kids shut out for PreS3 for PreK4 just isn't a priority of the head, LSAT or PTA Board. Good thing that Van Ness has been taking up some of the slack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Calls to ameliorate the PreK situation at Brent have gone nowhere, and will continue in that vein, at least under this principal. Admitting more of the kids shut out for PreS3 for PreK4 just isn't a priority of the head, LSAT or PTA Board. Good thing that Van Ness has been taking up some of the slack.

Yes but the point made by PPs above (which is correct) is that Van Ness did not "take up any of the slack" with the current PK3 class and won't be doing so in the future because it is more or less full from IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Calls to ameliorate the PreK situation at Brent have gone nowhere, and will continue in that vein, at least under this principal. Admitting more of the kids shut out for PreS3 for PreK4 just isn't a priority of the head, LSAT or PTA Board. Good thing that Van Ness has been taking up some of the slack.

You realize adding a fifth PK clsssroom presents numerous logistical challenges, not the least of which being securing classroom space. Brent managed to build out one additional classroom space last year. Then there's the matter of scheduling for science, PE, art and music, and physical space in the playground twice a day for recess. There's also an issue in terms of moving another group of 17 three and four years around the building for transitions. Yes, Brent could accommodate a few more four year olds by reverting to separate classrooms but I don't think there has been a groundswell of demand for any of this. Let the school focus on the upper grades and assimilating a new cadre of teachers. Your little one will be just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calls to ameliorate the PreK situation at Brent have gone nowhere, and will continue in that vein, at least under this principal. Admitting more of the kids shut out for PreS3 for PreK4 just isn't a priority of the head, LSAT or PTA Board. Good thing that Van Ness has been taking up some of the slack.

You realize adding a fifth PK clsssroom presents numerous logistical challenges, not the least of which being securing classroom space. Brent managed to build out one additional classroom space last year. Then there's the matter of scheduling for science, PE, art and music, and physical space in the playground twice a day for recess. There's also an issue in terms of moving another group of 17 three and four years around the building for transitions. Yes, Brent could accommodate a few more four year olds by reverting to separate classrooms but I don't think there has been a groundswell of demand for any of this. Let the school focus on the upper grades and assimilating a new cadre of teachers. Your little one will be just fine.

Just curious, what are the class sizes at Brent for K-3? Does Brent have a bulging at the seams problem with the grades for which they must accept IB students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calls to ameliorate the PreK situation at Brent have gone nowhere, and will continue in that vein, at least under this principal. Admitting more of the kids shut out for PreS3 for PreK4 just isn't a priority of the head, LSAT or PTA Board. Good thing that Van Ness has been taking up some of the slack.

You realize adding a fifth PK clsssroom presents numerous logistical challenges, not the least of which being securing classroom space. Brent managed to build out one additional classroom space last year. Then there's the matter of scheduling for science, PE, art and music, and physical space in the playground twice a day for recess. There's also an issue in terms of moving another group of 17 three and four years around the building for transitions. Yes, Brent could accommodate a few more four year olds by reverting to separate classrooms but I don't think there has been a groundswell of demand for any of this. Let the school focus on the upper grades and assimilating a new cadre of teachers. Your little one will be just fine.

Just curious, what are the class sizes at Brent for K-3? Does Brent have a bulging at the seams problem with the grades for which they must accept IB students?

No, our experience has been they are in the 20 to 25 range. Most of the lower grades have between 60 and 70 kids in them. The issue is they only accept ~30 kids in PK3, hence the large wait list numbers. Hopefully a 2nd 5th grade next year will force the Principal's hand as it is time to do away with PS3 like many of the desirable schools in NW.

However none of this has anything to do with VN being a good school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calls to ameliorate the PreK situation at Brent have gone nowhere, and will continue in that vein, at least under this principal. Admitting more of the kids shut out for PreS3 for PreK4 just isn't a priority of the head, LSAT or PTA Board. Good thing that Van Ness has been taking up some of the slack.

Yes but the point made by PPs above (which is correct) is that Van Ness did not "take up any of the slack" with the current PK3 class and won't be doing so in the future because it is more or less full from IB.

Not sure I believe this. I know two Brent IB families without older siblings in the school who started at Van Ness for PreS3 this week (after getting off the WL in the 11th hour). There must be more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calls to ameliorate the PreK situation at Brent have gone nowhere, and will continue in that vein, at least under this principal. Admitting more of the kids shut out for PreS3 for PreK4 just isn't a priority of the head, LSAT or PTA Board. Good thing that Van Ness has been taking up some of the slack.

You realize adding a fifth PK clsssroom presents numerous logistical challenges, not the least of which being securing classroom space. Brent managed to build out one additional classroom space last year. Then there's the matter of scheduling for science, PE, art and music, and physical space in the playground twice a day for recess. There's also an issue in terms of moving another group of 17 three and four years around the building for transitions. Yes, Brent could accommodate a few more four year olds by reverting to separate classrooms but I don't think there has been a groundswell of demand for any of this. Let the school focus on the upper grades and assimilating a new cadre of teachers. Your little one will be just fine.

Yes, yes, but as PP's point out, the Upper NW DCPS schools don't offer PreS3. Instead, they do their best to accommodate all IB families for PreK4. By shutting out a good many IB families for both PreS3 and PreK4, Brent loses some families for good. Their K spots are auctioned off for OOB. I'd rather see everybody IB incentivized to come, to build a stronger neighborhood school. Let the parents debate the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calls to ameliorate the PreK situation at Brent have gone nowhere, and will continue in that vein, at least under this principal. Admitting more of the kids shut out for PreS3 for PreK4 just isn't a priority of the head, LSAT or PTA Board. Good thing that Van Ness has been taking up some of the slack.

You realize adding a fifth PK clsssroom presents numerous logistical challenges, not the least of which being securing classroom space. Brent managed to build out one additional classroom space last year. Then there's the matter of scheduling for science, PE, art and music, and physical space in the playground twice a day for recess. There's also an issue in terms of moving another group of 17 three and four years around the building for transitions. Yes, Brent could accommodate a few more four year olds by reverting to separate classrooms but I don't think there has been a groundswell of demand for any of this. Let the school focus on the upper grades and assimilating a new cadre of teachers. Your little one will be just fine.

Just curious, what are the class sizes at Brent for K-3? Does Brent have a bulging at the seams problem with the grades for which they must accept IB students?

The three K classes this year have 20, 20 and 22

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calls to ameliorate the PreK situation at Brent have gone nowhere, and will continue in that vein, at least under this principal. Admitting more of the kids shut out for PreS3 for PreK4 just isn't a priority of the head, LSAT or PTA Board. Good thing that Van Ness has been taking up some of the slack.

You realize adding a fifth PK clsssroom presents numerous logistical challenges, not the least of which being securing classroom space. Brent managed to build out one additional classroom space last year. Then there's the matter of scheduling for science, PE, art and music, and physical space in the playground twice a day for recess. There's also an issue in terms of moving another group of 17 three and four years around the building for transitions. Yes, Brent could accommodate a few more four year olds by reverting to separate classrooms but I don't think there has been a groundswell of demand for any of this. Let the school focus on the upper grades and assimilating a new cadre of teachers. Your little one will be just fine.

Just curious, what are the class sizes at Brent for K-3? Does Brent have a bulging at the seams problem with the grades for which they must accept IB students?

No, our experience has been they are in the 20 to 25 range. Most of the lower grades have between 60 and 70 kids in them. The issue is they only accept ~30 kids in PK3, hence the large wait list numbers. Hopefully a 2nd 5th grade next year will force the Principal's hand as it is time to do away with PS3 like many of the desirable schools in NW.

However none of this has anything to do with VN being a good school.

The only reason VN is a good school is because Brent families send their kids there. If that were to stop, VN would be in the basement like all other Capitol Hill schools.

[Anonymous]

Did any IB Brent K kids stay at Van Ness for K?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calls to ameliorate the PreK situation at Brent have gone nowhere, and will continue in that vein, at least under this principal. Admitting more of the kids shut out for PreS3 for PreK4 just isn't a priority of the head, LSAT or PTA Board. Good thing that Van Ness has been taking up some of the slack.

Yes but the point made by PPs above (which is correct) is that Van Ness did not "take up any of the slack" with the current PK3 class and won't be doing so in the future because it is more or less full from IB.

Not sure I believe this. I know two Brent IB families without older siblings in the school who started at Van Ness for PreS3 this week (after getting off the WL in the 11th hour). There must be more.

Really? I'd be surprised if there is more than one Brent family in that position (without an older sibling or a proximity preference). Here's why: we are very, very low on the Brent PK3 waitlist (less than 5). However, we are #70 on the Van ness PK3 waitlist. Therefore my view that if you had a good enough draw to get into VN OOB for pk3 this year, it was also a good enough draw to get into Brent without a sibling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PK4 is all Brent IB kids, not PK3. As much as people say they love Van Ness, I guarantee they will move their kids back to Brent for K despite Brent not having a strong K program as it's still more established than Van Ness.

PK3 and PK4 were both allegedly Brent overflow last year too

Yes but with the PK3 class starting this week, Van Ness has moved past that. It should be mostly IB for new classes going forward with some OOB students who might be from anywhere. Any PK3 kid IB for Brent this year who had a lottery draw good enough to get into Van Ness OOB would have also gotten into Brent, so the overlap is none.

PK4 had a few Brent kids last year, but the grade was not an "overflow". I think all (or nearly all) of my child's class returned for K this year.

Are any still IB for Brent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calls to ameliorate the PreK situation at Brent have gone nowhere, and will continue in that vein, at least under this principal. Admitting more of the kids shut out for PreS3 for PreK4 just isn't a priority of the head, LSAT or PTA Board. Good thing that Van Ness has been taking up some of the slack.

You realize adding a fifth PK clsssroom presents numerous logistical challenges, not the least of which being securing classroom space. Brent managed to build out one additional classroom space last year. Then there's the matter of scheduling for science, PE, art and music, and physical space in the playground twice a day for recess. There's also an issue in terms of moving another group of 17 three and four years around the building for transitions. Yes, Brent could accommodate a few more four year olds by reverting to separate classrooms but I don't think there has been a groundswell of demand for any of this. Let the school focus on the upper grades and assimilating a new cadre of teachers. Your little one will be just fine.

Yes, yes, but as PP's point out, the Upper NW DCPS schools don't offer PreS3. Instead, they do their best to accommodate all IB families for PreK4. By shutting out a good many IB families for both PreS3 and PreK4, Brent loses some families for good. Their K spots are auctioned off for OOB. I'd rather see everybody IB incentivized to come, to build a stronger neighborhood school. Let the parents debate the issue.

+1000