Shepherd Elementary

[Anonymous]

Please provide recent impressions of Shepherd Elementary. I am thinking of sending my almost 5 year old son there for K. How is the new principal doing in her second year? Did the IB issues get resolved? In short, would you send your child here? Why or why not? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I had children at Shepherd for 3 years, and left last June.

I think the new principal has a clear focus for the school. There has been very little staff turnover, but from what I can tell, the teacher who left was not great, and her replacement is good. There are many strong classroom teachers, and some less desirable ones.

It comes down to four substantive reasons why I left.

1) Language instruction. Although Shepherd still has some language instruction for all students in French or Spanish, the goal is not fluency. Language is a "special" with 2, 3, or 4 classes a week. More than most DCPS, but my kids are now at a school where fluency in a second language is a goal (charter school).

2) After care. If you need aftercare, I would be very cautious about Shepherd. The program is inexpensive, but not high quality in our experience.

3) Teach to the test. There is a strong emphasis on preparing for the DC-CAS tests, beginning in preK wiht the very youngest children being sent "constructed response" homework. I think this is pervasive in DCPS schools, not so much the charter we're at. All of the central Shepherd bulletin boards are focused on DC-CAs testing -- either preliminary DC-BAS scores, sample questions, etc. The school goes into shut down mode (think prison lock down) during the 3 or 4 weeks of DC-BAS testing and the 2 weeks of DC-CAS. There are no PE, Art, Language classes during those 4 to 6 weeks because the special teachers are all proctoring tests.

4) Diversity. Shepherd is 90% African American, we are not AA and I wanted a more diverse setting for my children.

The final reason, which hopefully is now resolved, is that I was tired of the drama of 7 principals in 2 years. . .. ever changing commitment to foreign language. . . . kids leaving mid-year and lots of turnover of dedicated families.

It is a good school, may some day be great, but not the best choice for us. Great music and art teachers.

You should definitely take a tour, read the school newsletters which are archived on the website, attend a PTA meeting, see if it feels like a good fit for your family.

As a final note, one of my children thrived, the other wilted, so the personality of your child may also determine fit.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anybody else?

[Anonymous]

yowsa. 7 principals in 2 years?

pp, what charter are you at where fluency is a goal? stokes?

[Anonymous]

PP, charter schools where fluency is a goal are:

Centronia/DC Bilingual (Spanish)
LAMB (Spanish)
Stokes (French & Spanish)
Washington Yu Ying (Mandarin)

[Anonymous]

Um, DC is close to 90% African American. I'm curious as to why a school that is in a middle-class, upper-mid neighborhood and is 90% AA is problematic for some people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um, DC is close to 90% African American. I'm curious as to why a school that is in a middle-class, upper-mid neighborhood and is 90% AA is problematic for some people?

DC isn't anywhere near 90% afam.

from wikipedia:

According to the 2007 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, the population distribution of Washington, D.C. is 55.6% Black or African American, 36.3% White, 3.1% Asian, and 0.2% American Indian. Individuals from some other race made up 4.8% of the District's population while individuals from two or more races made up 1.6%. In addition, Hispanics made up 8.3% of the District's population across all races.

[Anonymous]

You're right. My bad. I confused the total pop in DC with this, which is actually more shameful:

"Whites are now 32% of the population and 22% of the
population ages 5-17, but only 5% of DCPS enrollment.5 For decades African-Americans have
had more children in public schools than in the total population (as opposed to whites, who had
fewer), but the differences increased greatly after Brown and Bolling, and they have never been
greater than at present."

From a 2005 reort entitled: Separate and Unequal:
"The State of the District of Columbia Public Schools
Fifty Years After Brown and Bolling" by Parents United for the D.C. Public Schools (“Parents
Untied”) and a special Civil Leader Advisory Committee by the Washington Lawyers’
Committee for Civil Rights and the pro bono assistance of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP,
Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, Foley & Lardner, Fulbright & Jaworski, Steptoe & Johnson,
Michael H. Dardzinski, and the Education Project at the Washington School of Law of American University.
A

[Anonymous]

Ummm......... Wikipedia is in no way a reliable source!! I would check Census!!