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Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)
I keep hearing rumors about Wood Acres Elem. and I need advice!
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Anonymous
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Some of the mothers in my preschool have been gossiping recently about Wood Acres elementary next year. Word on the street is that it is already terribly overcrowded and will be even more crowded next year. I heard whispers last year about classes with substitute teachers for months - in some cases, even delaying parent/teacher conferences becuase the subs didn't know the kids well enough to talk to the parents. This may very well all be baloney - it's hard to say, as an outsider - buit it has me freaked out about my DD who woul dbe a first grader there next fall. I have a tour set up for January, at which time the guides will apparently answer all our questions, but I wanted to see if anyone here had any first-hand experience they'd be willing to share about Wood Acres lately.
On a side note, my husband wants to try to move her to another school wihtin the cluster if these rumors are true. Any idea if that's even possible? Thanks in advance for your help. |
Anonymous
| I can't comment on the rumors about WA. I have always heard good things about the school. Of course it's well known that it's bursting at the seams. The county recently announced a study that might expand Bannockburn ES and move some of the kids from Wood Acres to Bburn. I think it would be at least 5 years until this happened however... |
Anonymous
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We are sending our kids to our local public school in northern virginia and understand the struggles. I know first hand that parents who lobby for their kids schools, especially overcrowding, can be successfully addressed. Keep on Attend meetings, pressure the principal, write letters, etc. It will work.
On a side note, I am very surprised to hear about this overcrowding. From reading this board I was under the impression that most familieis in this area chose private over public for their kids. It is refreshing to hear that this area of Bethesda has some "normal" families. We are sending our kids to public in Fairfax because we like what we see coming out of our local high school. Well rounded kids who lots of opportunites. These kids are going to some of our top notch VA Colleges as well as privates. |
Anonymous
| We are at a significantly crowdede MoCo elementary school, OTES. I attended a meeting recently about a proposal to send the kindergarteners to a sattelite school within our cluster to relieve the crowding. Someone in the audience asked if they had considered allowing the Ks (or anyone) to instead get a waiver to transfer to another school. The response was that we could apply for a hardship waiver. They couldn't answer whether all incoming students could be granted a waiver, but it did seem like it was possible that an individual family could be granted a transfer based on overcrowding. Now, the question of why they are allowing kids to transfer into OTES when it is almost at twice its capacity was not addressed... |
Anonymous
Hardship waivers are notoriously difficult to get in MCPS and are supposed to be for "unique" hardships only, which wouldn't be the case in a school where all kids are suffering from overcrowding. While I agree with you that it seems logical to alleviate overcrowding in the short term by allowing transfers, I'd be surprised if MCPS actually allowed it. This strikes me as a case where the MCPS rep implies hardship transfer could be an option in a public forum, but then individual requests are denied. Please post back if OTES folks do get these hardship waivers as it would be quite unusual! |
Anonymous
| I have heard Wood Acres is filled with bullies. |
Anonymous
Apparently the situation at OTES is highly unusual- there are 400 extra students and the basics (such as sufficient bathrooms for faculty and students) are not being provided. I don't know that the usual disinclination toward hardship waivers will apply. They are DESPARATE. |
Anonymous
Yup, because private school families are of course abnormal. Good grief. |
Anonymous
Because Wood Acres is full of bullies. Geesh |
Anonymous
| I have heard terrible things about Wood Acres and witnessed them first hand on our tour. There were subs in many of the classrooms and teachers MIA (out testing kids according to the prinicpal). The principal also seemed quite dejected and resigned to me, complaining about federal contraints, overcrowding, limited resources etc-- all on the tour. |
Anonymous
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my dd goes to wood acres. i have my issues with the school, but they are mostly related to the moco curriculum. i only know about k and 1st grade (because dd is a 1st grader), but the only teacher i am aware of in those grades who has consistently not been there is a k teacher who was out with skin cancer. she's back now.
i have not seen or heard of any bullying, and the school places significant emphasis on WAVE values, which is basically an antibullying effort. it is definitely a crowded and large school. probably this is because many kids who would have gone to privates didnt' because of the economy. i've heard that in the next few years where will be redistricting and many wood acres kids will be sent to bannockburn. nevertheless, my dd, who would benefit from a much smaller atmosphere, has done well in this school. her teacher has inspired intellectual curiosity. my younger dd receives speech and ot services at the school (she's in preschool), and the therapists are very good (particularly the speech therapist -- she's fantastic!!) i would talk to current parents at the school. don't listen to rumors. |
Anonymous
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We skipped Wood Acres because of it's size several years ago. It had just been remodled and was already overcrowded. They had 4 classes per grade and some were getting 5 - now I think they all have 5 classes per grade. That said, our neighbors are all there and seem happy. Of course they wouldn't tell me if they weren't - boy did I get grief from them when we put our kids elsewhere. It was as if we were bashing their school when it it purely a decision about what type of environment would work best for our shy kids.
I did hear a lot about the missing teacher last year where one class had a string of subs for the whole first part of the year so I think there is some truth to that. There was also some talk about a teacher that was hired and dismissed before ever starting after something was dug up in the Internet about the teacher by a parent. I blame that (whatever the story because I never got the whole truth) on the county hiring though - I not the school. I think the best thing is to listen to all sides and go see for yourself. Things always look different that way. |
Anonymous
Seems to me that Maryland is a bit different than NoVa in this regard, since Maryland has long had some excellent private schools. In NoVa, there are fewer good private schools, except in Alexandria, and it used to be commonly assumed that students in NoVa sent to private schools had behavioral or learning problems. That is less the case today, and parents should certainly do what they think is best for their kids. Families who live in an area where the overwhelming majority of the kids attend the public schools may start to feel a bit like outsiders in their own neighborhoods, however, if they send their kids to private schools. |
Anonymous
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I am writing with first hand knowledge. Have a child in 4th grade, and two that have just finished kindergarten here.
1) it is a big school: 700+ children in grades K-5; having said that, the KIDS don't seem to notice it 2) there are issues with bullying: I know a mom who was less than satisfied with the school's response (...more a lack of one), and transferred her child to another MoCo School. Having said that... I also know the incidents involved... and I personally would not have labeled this "bullying". This is a label/red flag that has gone up with this case, and because of privacy concerns for the student(s), no one talks about it. This then leads any family to feel that if child was victimized (e.g. continually not picked for a "team" at recess) to label something as an act of bullying. I am not speaking in defense of the school--- I am trying to show that it becomes much more layered and complex than you might think, while trying to remain positive with the kids, and maintain privacy for the families. 3) extended teacher absences: as luck would have it, I know in detail about these two events, too. Again, I believe strong leadership by the principal would have mitigated much of the dragging out of substitute policies. But--- from the flip side--- the principal could not fill the slot with a permanent teacher until the actual teacher in that slot has given up her job. This is basic HR constraints we're talking about here--- hence, the substitute teachers were in place until they gave up the position (last year it was a teacher taking care of a failing health relative, this year it is health issues related to the teacher herself). In the one case, there was a parade of substitutes from Sept.-November '09 (that teacher remained as a sub until the end of last year and was then permanently hired). Substitute teachers are paid on a daily basis-- and get asked by different schools to sub-- if one of the first subs was given a long term sub assignment, or even an offer of employment (if she were a fully qualified teacher), then she would be a fool not to take that job with the longer commitment to her. Again, I'm not advocating for what was done as being wrong or right, but, want to shed light that these are complex situations with not a clearcut black and white "answer". 4) Your underlying question: will this affect the quality of teaching that my child receives? From my point of view--- we moved to this area from Capitol Hill specifically for a good public school district-- no, your child will receive an education based on curriculum--- not on teacher popularity (my gripe with our DCPS school on the 'Hill), that takes place independent of actually WHO is teaching your child. Look at the kids in the hallway, in the lunchroom, on the playground, they seem to be having a good time here. And, I am impressed with the academics. Our child was identified as being advanced in math--- and is taking math 2 years above his grade level, with similar kids--- he's not the only one! 5) I do believe these are things that can happen at any school; because of the school's size--- 25 teachers--- you have a greater chance of it happening here. In the end, make the best fit decision for your child. Hope this has been helpful. |