Experience with Oak View Elementary

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have experience with Oak View? How are the CES kids integrated (or not) into the school, and how is the social experience? Our kid was accepted to Oak View for CES, and seems like she would benefit academically, because she is bored in 3rd grade. But we like a lot of things about our home elementary school - a great and active PTA, after school clubs, convenient aftercare, good support staff - and she is nervous about starting over in a new school with strangers. Just trying to balance it out.

[Anonymous]

I was coming here to ask the same questions as OP. I found some posts from last year that said one of the veteran teachers at Oak View CES was leaving. How is the new teacher?

I’m also wondering about logistics of buses and aftercare. Is there aftercare at Oak View? Who is the provider and does anyone use them? Husband and I both work FT, so we need an aftercare option. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I also have a child accepted in Oak View CES. My plan (as I’ve been thinking today anyways) will be to continue using aftercare at my current ES. The bus from Oak View picks up and drops off at all the feeder schools. For us this will be ideal since we have a younger still at the school.

I don’t know anything about Oak View and very little about the CES program. Do the teachers have additional/specialized training?

[Anonymous]

Welcome! The Oak View CES has been great for my child, and I hope you come to the Open House and check it out.

Some thoughts on the OP.

Oak View is overall a well-run school as far as I can tell. It is clean and updated, the kids are respectful and polite, and the administration it very visible.

With that said, the CES kids are not particularly well integrated. Part of that is just coming into a new school in 4th grade with kids who have been together since younger grades and part is language/culture.

My child has found the CES to be a very easy social adjustment but they also came over with several peers from the home school, and knew some of the other kids from YSP, soccer, and other extracurriculars.

HOWEVER, this is not the Center for Well Behaved and Calm Children. I would say there are the same number of kids struggling with impulse control, and other behaviors, as at our home school. They just happen to ALSO have high test scores.

There is no before- or after-care at Oak View, but there is bus service back to the home school. Because Oak View is a Tier 1 (early start) school, most kids at Tier 2 schools could get back in time for after school clubs.

The 4th grade teachers are both young and very energetic. They are both doing their MAs in Gifted Education and seem very motivated to teach the kids in new ways.

Happy to answer more questions if people have them.

[Anonymous]

I agree there's not a ton of integration, but all the kids in a grade level are together for lunch and recess, and on field trips.

The Oak View principal is great. Very approachable and dedicated.

[Anonymous]

Most CES students who ride the bus home from Oak View first take a shuttle bus to Pine Crest, and wait there for a bit for another bus, which picks up Pine Crest CES students too, and takes them all to their home stops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was coming here to ask the same questions as OP. I found some posts from last year that said one of the veteran teachers at Oak View CES was leaving. How is the new teacher?

I’m also wondering about logistics of buses and aftercare. Is there aftercare at Oak View? Who is the provider and does anyone use them? Husband and I both work FT, so we need an aftercare option. Thanks!

We like both 5th grade CES teachers. The kids have one homeroom teacher and switch to the other teacher's room for a block covering either math/science or reading/social studies. This is true in the 4th grade classes too.

No aftercare at Oak View, but they can take the bus to schools that do have it.

[Anonymous]

How much HW is there in each grade? An hour or so per night? How about Compacted Math? Is there a pullout group or are all the admitted kids in CM?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most CES students who ride the bus home from Oak View first take a shuttle bus to Pine Crest, and wait there for a bit for another bus, which picks up Pine Crest CES students too, and takes them all to their home stops.

This isnt true for my child, and I think won't be true at all next year because PCES and OVES will have separate feeder patterns. This years 5th graders are the last to have been split between the 2 schools.

[Anonymous]

This is so helpful, thank you! Does Oak View have band or chorus? At our home school, those start in 4th grade. Also, anyone have any experience with the counselor or the health aide? My son has Type 1 diabetes, and he handles most of his care himself, but he needs an adult to supervise his insulin shots and some basic staff awareness for emergencies. We were lucky that our home school had other Type 1 kids, so already had a great system.

[Anonymous]

My child was also accepted to Oak View for next year. If your child attended the CES, would you recommend it, even if someone is pretty happy at their current school? I really like the staff and most of the teachers at our home school. On the other hand, there really isn’t a large cohort of my child’s peers, and I’m sure it will get even smaller next year when some of them go to the CES.

I noticed the Open House is during the school day. Are kids supposed to attend?

My son has an IEP for speech and some other accommodations. I assume that will transfer over? I saw there is a speech therapist at Oak View.

Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

Yes, there is band and instrumental music. That is standard across every school in MCPS beginning in 4th grade. The teacher is perfectly fine, and my child with previous musical experience is totally happy.

There is chorus as a lunchtime activity once a week, purely optional.

Yes, any IEPs or 504s will follow but I can't speak to the speech therapist there.

One thing to know is that OVES is a pretty high needs school outside the CES, so if you are coming from one of the lower needs schools, you may find that the counselor has some pretty pressing priorities (families facing homelessness, familes worried about deportation, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child was also accepted to Oak View for next year. If your child attended the CES, would you recommend it, even if someone is pretty happy at their current school? I really like the staff and most of the teachers at our home school. On the other hand, there really isn’t a large cohort of my child’s peers, and I’m sure it will get even smaller next year when some of them go to the CES.

I noticed the Open House is during the school day. Are kids supposed to attend?

My son has an IEP for speech and some other accommodations. I assume that will transfer over? I saw there is a speech therapist at Oak View.

Thanks in advance!

Yes, the open house is for kids and parents. In the past, they sent the kids to the classrooms to meet the teachers and current students, and the parents will meet with the admin in the cafeteria, the "Dragon's Lair."

I would recommend the switch, even if you're happy at your home school. It takes awhile (a couple months?) To adjust at the start of 4th grade, but most everyone is in the same boat, and it's been a positive experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much HW is there in each grade? An hour or so per night? How about Compacted Math? Is there a pullout group or are all the admitted kids in CM?

I'd say an hour max, and it seems like there's less HW in 5th than there was in 4th. Everyone isn't automatically assigned to compacted math, but I believe they were all recommended for CM by their earlier teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much HW is there in each grade? An hour or so per night? How about Compacted Math? Is there a pullout group or are all the admitted kids in CM?

An hour a night is probably the maximum unless you have a child who is either struggling or who just tends to "write long." I have a kid in the latter group and definitely need to help him figure out what when enough is enough.