Pregnant and moving to PG (Hyattsville/Riverdale)

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I'm hoping that you might be able to help me with a crash course on Hyattsville/Riverdale school options? I'm moving to the area in a couple months and we are expecting our first.

I plan to sending my kids to public or public charter schools.

If you also live in the area, and send your kids to public or charters, can you share with me how it generally works? It sounds from what I'm reading here that the charters are extremely competitive. What are the options like? What are some of the best/most desirable charters? Are your kids attending a public school in one of these areas that you like?

Thanks for any insights you can share!

[Anonymous]

What is your housing budget?

Check out Cheverly -- nice community, lots of kids.

[Anonymous]

You cannot rely on getting into a charter school. You need to be ok with the potential that your child will go to the local public school.

-Mount Rainier Parent

[Anonymous]

There are 3 main types of public elementary schools in PG
1) Neighborhood Schools. In the areas you are talking about it is UP ES, Hyattsville ES, Riverdale ES and Felegly ES. There are some other neighborhood schools that are underenrolled that accept out of bounds kids as well. You can search this forum and see which school did that last year.
2) Specialty Program Elementary Schools- this is lottery based. In my experience the majority of people get a lottery placement to one of the programs. They are French Immersion, Spanish Immersion, Performing Arts, Montessori and Talented and Gifted (starts in 2nd grade).
3) Public Charter Schools. The only elementary school charters I have heard positive things about is CMIT. If you do a charter you need to provide your own transportation.

I don't know much about Riverdale ES or Fegely but I know people with kids at UPES and at Hyattsville that are happy. Other nearby publics that I have heard good things about are Berwyn Heights, Mt Rainier ES, Gladys Noon Spellman (Cheverly), Greenbelt ES, Magnolia Lane ES.
The weakest point in PGCPS are the middle schools. We did our neighborhood ES up until 5th and then got into one of the specialty programs for Middle.
I have heard mixed reviews of Hyattsville MS but if we lived inbounds we would have considered it for our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are 3 main types of public elementary schools in PG
1) Neighborhood Schools. In the areas you are talking about it is UP ES, Hyattsville ES, Riverdale ES and Felegly ES. There are some other neighborhood schools that are underenrolled that accept out of bounds kids as well. You can search this forum and see which school did that last year.
2) Specialty Program Elementary Schools- this is lottery based. In my experience the majority of people get a lottery placement to one of the programs. They are French Immersion, Spanish Immersion, Performing Arts, Montessori and Talented and Gifted (starts in 2nd grade).
3) Public Charter Schools. The only elementary school charters I have heard positive things about is CMIT. If you do a charter you need to provide your own transportation.

I don't know much about Riverdale ES or Fegely but I know people with kids at UPES and at Hyattsville that are happy. Other nearby publics that I have heard good things about are Berwyn Heights, Mt Rainier ES, Gladys Noon Spellman (Cheverly), Greenbelt ES, Magnolia Lane ES.
The weakest point in PGCPS are the middle schools. We did our neighborhood ES up until 5th and then got into one of the specialty programs for Middle.
I have heard mixed reviews of Hyattsville MS but if we lived inbounds we would have considered it for our kids.

ETA- the Specialty Program lottery is stressful for some families because of the way it is run. Often times families are offered placement at the last minute....sometimes after the school year has already started. It seems like the Spanish Immersion program is the easiest of the bunch to get a slot into for K. Everyone who is TAG eligible gets a spot at a TAG center if they want it.

[Anonymous]

Charters are not really big here. Most of the lottery is for specialty schools; ie magnet schools. They are part of the PGCPS system.
The options that are not test/audition in are language immersion and Montessori. Starting in mid-elementary you can start applying to talented&gifted and performing arts.

I only know of 2 charters, CMIT and college park academy and don’t know anything about them.

[Anonymous]

Ah, OP here - sounds like it's more a magnet system than a charter system - thanks for educating me.

Sounds like there is at least a medium good chance of getting into the language immersion and montessori elementary schools? They are considered pretty good? And if you don't get into one of those you might be able to arrange transport for your child to one of the under-enrolled elementary schools in the area if you prefer one of those schools.

Where can I find more info about TAG? Is the testing pre-k or later? Do you just go to your zoned ES first and then test into TAG programming later?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ah, OP here - sounds like it's more a magnet system than a charter system - thanks for educating me.

Sounds like there is at least a medium good chance of getting into the language immersion and montessori elementary schools? They are considered pretty good? And if you don't get into one of those you might be able to arrange transport for your child to one of the under-enrolled elementary schools in the area if you prefer one of those schools.

Where can I find more info about TAG? Is the testing pre-k or later? Do you just go to your zoned ES first and then test into TAG programming later?

PGCPS teacher and parent here. TAG is usually identified in first grade and third grade via a test. However, a parent and/or teacher can request a TAG screening any year. My son tested in fifth grade and was identified as TAG. This allowed him to go into the TAG lottery. He was able to get a spot. If you are TAG, you almost always get a spot. The performing arts lottery is a bit harder to get into. You only audition in when they hit middle school. Other than that, it’s by luck through the lottery. I do not know much about the language immersion schools, sorry. I also do not know much about the area in which you are seeking. However, I live in Bowie and I love it. I would never move anywhere else

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ah, OP here - sounds like it's more a magnet system than a charter system - thanks for educating me.

Sounds like there is at least a medium good chance of getting into the language immersion and montessori elementary schools? They are considered pretty good? And if you don't get into one of those you might be able to arrange transport for your child to one of the under-enrolled elementary schools in the area if you prefer one of those schools.

Where can I find more info about TAG? Is the testing pre-k or later? Do you just go to your zoned ES first and then test into TAG programming later?

I forgot to say (I’m the teacher/parent here) that yes, you go to your neighborhood school and through there, they will be tag identified. You can find more information on the pgcps website. Being a teacher, I have given the OLSAT test many times and I must say, it’s about thinking outside of the box to get the right answer. We will look at the test score as well as the grades and the child’s behavior

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ah, OP here - sounds like it's more a magnet system than a charter system - thanks for educating me.

Sounds like there is at least a medium good chance of getting into the language immersion and montessori elementary schools? They are considered pretty good? And if you don't get into one of those you might be able to arrange transport for your child to one of the under-enrolled elementary schools in the area if you prefer one of those schools.

Where can I find more info about TAG? Is the testing pre-k or later? Do you just go to your zoned ES first and then test into TAG programming later?

My son got into TAG but there were no more spaces in the program.

Another time:

We tried many times and never got into any programs due to either lack of space or the ineptitude of the systems. We were #2 on the list for one program. Teachers said their classes were not full at all. But the computer system was messed up and said the school was full.

For a high school program, they do not have a science teacher so the kids are in a room and asked to fill in worksheets.

It is a hot mess in this county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ah, OP here - sounds like it's more a magnet system than a charter system - thanks for educating me.

Sounds like there is at least a medium good chance of getting into the language immersion and montessori elementary schools? They are considered pretty good? And if you don't get into one of those you might be able to arrange transport for your child to one of the under-enrolled elementary schools in the area if you prefer one of those schools.

Where can I find more info about TAG? Is the testing pre-k or later? Do you just go to your zoned ES first and then test into TAG programming later?

My son got into TAG but there were no more spaces in the program.

Another time:

We tried many times and never got into any programs due to either lack of space or the ineptitude of the systems. We were #2 on the list for one program. Teachers said their classes were not full at all. But the computer system was messed up and said the school was full.

For a high school program, they do not have a science teacher so the kids are in a room and asked to fill in worksheets.

It is a hot mess in this county.

Getting a specialty program spot now is a lot easier than it was 7 or more years ago. PGCPS has expanded language immersion, Montessori and TAG programs significantly. My son is in K and all of his neighborhood friends who applied for specialty programs got into at least one.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't bank on charters. I work at one of the charter middle schools. Our waitlist usually has 1500-2000 people on it. There are only about 150 spots for sixth graders, and fewer than 15 get called off the list for seventh and eighth grade. Only move to a location where you're okay with the neighborhood school.

[Anonymous]

The French Immersion is top rated but not for everyone. One of the advantages of it is that it goes through middle school which (research based) is the preferred model.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The French Immersion is top rated but not for everyone. One of the advantages of it is that it goes through middle school which (research based) is the preferred model.

Spanish Immersion will be though middle schools starting next year I think. Montessori, Performing Arts and TAG go thought MS which is one of the big advantages of going to a specialty program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The French Immersion is top rated but not for everyone. One of the advantages of it is that it goes through middle school which (research based) is the preferred model.

How hard is it to get into French Immersion? What are the acceptance rates vs application rates? Is that info public?


Is it a strict lottery system for French Immersion, or are there any other criteria they look at? (maybe one of the parents being francophone, etc?)