Constructive ways to decrease Janney class size

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm new this year with a K child. I read the emails from the Principal and she seems to feel that co teaching is some kind of magic bullet to fix the problem of large class sizes. I can't say to know the principal well, but I am starting to think that her leaving might be a good thing. If she doesn't think there is a problem - then she isn't going to address it. Perhaps the new principal will consider reducing PK classes. FWIW, my younger is in the lottery for PK this year, so yes, it would suck if we didn't get in - but I think this is the most reasonable and quick solution available to the school. In one of her recent emails she said enrollment next year will be 730, up from 700 this year.

What can the principal do to affect enrollment? I mean, other than running a crappy school and driving families away. DCPS is a by-right system, all 730 of those kids have the right to attend or they wouldn't be there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm new this year with a K child. I read the emails from the Principal and she seems to feel that co teaching is some kind of magic bullet to fix the problem of large class sizes. I can't say to know the principal well, but I am starting to think that her leaving might be a good thing. If she doesn't think there is a problem - then she isn't going to address it. Perhaps the new principal will consider reducing PK classes. FWIW, my younger is in the lottery for PK this year, so yes, it would suck if we didn't get in - but I think this is the most reasonable and quick solution available to the school. In one of her recent emails she said enrollment next year will be 730, up from 700 this year.

What can the principal do to affect enrollment? I mean, other than running a crappy school and driving families away. DCPS is a by-right system, all 730 of those kids have the right to attend or they wouldn't be there.

How does the OOB set aside work for Janney?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm new this year with a K child. I read the emails from the Principal and she seems to feel that co teaching is some kind of magic bullet to fix the problem of large class sizes. I can't say to know the principal well, but I am starting to think that her leaving might be a good thing. If she doesn't think there is a problem - then she isn't going to address it. Perhaps the new principal will consider reducing PK classes. FWIW, my younger is in the lottery for PK this year, so yes, it would suck if we didn't get in - but I think this is the most reasonable and quick solution available to the school. In one of her recent emails she said enrollment next year will be 730, up from 700 this year.

If you think Norah is the problem then you really do not know much about what has turned Janney into the school it is today, which is part of why we have the enrollment problem that we have. Seriously, she has made substantial changes over the years, not all easy but all for the good. She is strategic, understands education and supporting teachers, is an extraordinary navigator of DCPS, and is unbelievably good at hiring outstanding teachers. The school is a different place than it was before she arrived. (I had a K student in one of Norah's first years and a K student last year and the difference is a chasm).

Everyone can go on and on about IB percentages and such, and I do not dispute that having a prepared student body and an engaged community are important, but Norah created an incredibly progressive and inclusive school (I am talking about the kids' experience here, I have no comment on the debates about the parents) that I feel lucky to have had my children benefit from. That is all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm new this year with a K child. I read the emails from the Principal and she seems to feel that co teaching is some kind of magic bullet to fix the problem of large class sizes. I can't say to know the principal well, but I am starting to think that her leaving might be a good thing. If she doesn't think there is a problem - then she isn't going to address it. Perhaps the new principal will consider reducing PK classes. FWIW, my younger is in the lottery for PK this year, so yes, it would suck if we didn't get in - but I think this is the most reasonable and quick solution available to the school. In one of her recent emails she said enrollment next year will be 730, up from 700 this year.

If you think Norah is the problem then you really do not know much about what has turned Janney into the school it is today, which is part of why we have the enrollment problem that we have. Seriously, she has made substantial changes over the years, not all easy but all for the good. She is strategic, understands education and supporting teachers, is an extraordinary navigator of DCPS, and is unbelievably good at hiring outstanding teachers. The school is a different place than it was before she arrived. (I had a K student in one of Norah's first years and a K student last year and the difference is a chasm).

Everyone can go on and on about IB percentages and such, and I do not dispute that having a prepared student body and an engaged community are important, but Norah created an incredibly progressive and inclusive school (I am talking about the kids' experience here, I have no comment on the debates about the parents) that I feel lucky to have had my children benefit from. That is all.

I agree 100%. How is the principal supposed to make additional classrooms or funding come out of thin air in the 11th hour of the summer? The reality is, the school doesn't have space to add another K class. You either have large classes and add co-teachers or you...????? Educate the kids in the parking lot? Light a few AU Park houses on fire and knock off a few kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm new this year with a K child. I read the emails from the Principal and she seems to feel that co teaching is some kind of magic bullet to fix the problem of large class sizes. I can't say to know the principal well, but I am starting to think that her leaving might be a good thing. If she doesn't think there is a problem - then she isn't going to address it. Perhaps the new principal will consider reducing PK classes. FWIW, my younger is in the lottery for PK this year, so yes, it would suck if we didn't get in - but I think this is the most reasonable and quick solution available to the school. In one of her recent emails she said enrollment next year will be 730, up from 700 this year.

What can the principal do to affect enrollment? I mean, other than running a crappy school and driving families away. DCPS is a by-right system, all 730 of those kids have the right to attend or they wouldn't be there.

Well I think last year there were 4 PK classes at 20, so that is 80 kids. I am guessing this next year there will be again 4 PK classes - so 80 kids. PK is not by right.

[Anonymous]

Wasn't there a proviso in the redistricting report that Janney boundaries might need to be revisited before the next overall redistricting? Changing boundaries is the only realistic solution. It will take more political courage then has been demonstrated so far.

[Anonymous]

Someone should find that language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm new this year with a K child. I read the emails from the Principal and she seems to feel that co teaching is some kind of magic bullet to fix the problem of large class sizes. I can't say to know the principal well, but I am starting to think that her leaving might be a good thing. If she doesn't think there is a problem - then she isn't going to address it. Perhaps the new principal will consider reducing PK classes. FWIW, my younger is in the lottery for PK this year, so yes, it would suck if we didn't get in - but I think this is the most reasonable and quick solution available to the school. In one of her recent emails she said enrollment next year will be 730, up from 700 this year.

If you think Norah is the problem then you really do not know much about what has turned Janney into the school it is today, which is part of why we have the enrollment problem that we have. Seriously, she has made substantial changes over the years, not all easy but all for the good. She is strategic, understands education and supporting teachers, is an extraordinary navigator of DCPS, and is unbelievably good at hiring outstanding teachers. The school is a different place than it was before she arrived. (I had a K student in one of Norah's first years and a K student last year and the difference is a chasm).

Everyone can go on and on about IB percentages and such, and I do not dispute that having a prepared student body and an engaged community are important, but Norah created an incredibly progressive and inclusive school (I am talking about the kids' experience here, I have no comment on the debates about the parents) that I feel lucky to have had my children benefit from. That is all.

I agree 100%. How is the principal supposed to make additional classrooms or funding come out of thin air in the 11th hour of the summer? The reality is, the school doesn't have space to add another K class. You either have large classes and add co-teachers or you...????? Educate the kids in the parking lot? Light a few AU Park houses on fire and knock off a few kids?

---

Yes...you need to educate Janney kids in the parking lot. Just like Murch is doing this year...with the entire 4th grade in portables IN THE PARKING LOT. Get in line for your trailers now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm new this year with a K child. I read the emails from the Principal and she seems to feel that co teaching is some kind of magic bullet to fix the problem of large class sizes. I can't say to know the principal well, but I am starting to think that her leaving might be a good thing. If she doesn't think there is a problem - then she isn't going to address it. Perhaps the new principal will consider reducing PK classes. FWIW, my younger is in the lottery for PK this year, so yes, it would suck if we didn't get in - but I think this is the most reasonable and quick solution available to the school. In one of her recent emails she said enrollment next year will be 730, up from 700 this year.

If you think Norah is the problem then you really do not know much about what has turned Janney into the school it is today, which is part of why we have the enrollment problem that we have. Seriously, she has made substantial changes over the years, not all easy but all for the good. She is strategic, understands education and supporting teachers, is an extraordinary navigator of DCPS, and is unbelievably good at hiring outstanding teachers. The school is a different place than it was before she arrived. (I had a K student in one of Norah's first years and a K student last year and the difference is a chasm).

Everyone can go on and on about IB percentages and such, and I do not dispute that having a prepared student body and an engaged community are important, but Norah created an incredibly progressive and inclusive school (I am talking about the kids' experience here, I have no comment on the debates about the parents) that I feel lucky to have had my children benefit from. That is all.

I agree 100%. How is the principal supposed to make additional classrooms or funding come out of thin air in the 11th hour of the summer? The reality is, the school doesn't have space to add another K class. You either have large classes and add co-teachers or you...????? Educate the kids in the parking lot? Light a few AU Park houses on fire and knock off a few kids?

---

Yes...you need to educate Janney kids in the parking lot. Just like Murch is doing this year...with the entire 4th grade in portables IN THE PARKING LOT. Get in line for your trailers now.

There is some neighborhood provision that prohibits portables in the Janney school yard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm new this year with a K child. I read the emails from the Principal and she seems to feel that co teaching is some kind of magic bullet to fix the problem of large class sizes. I can't say to know the principal well, but I am starting to think that her leaving might be a good thing. If she doesn't think there is a problem - then she isn't going to address it. Perhaps the new principal will consider reducing PK classes. FWIW, my younger is in the lottery for PK this year, so yes, it would suck if we didn't get in - but I think this is the most reasonable and quick solution available to the school. In one of her recent emails she said enrollment next year will be 730, up from 700 this year.

If you think Norah is the problem then you really do not know much about what has turned Janney into the school it is today, which is part of why we have the enrollment problem that we have. Seriously, she has made substantial changes over the years, not all easy but all for the good. She is strategic, understands education and supporting teachers, is an extraordinary navigator of DCPS, and is unbelievably good at hiring outstanding teachers. The school is a different place than it was before she arrived. (I had a K student in one of Norah's first years and a K student last year and the difference is a chasm).

Everyone can go on and on about IB percentages and such, and I do not dispute that having a prepared student body and an engaged community are important, but Norah created an incredibly progressive and inclusive school (I am talking about the kids' experience here, I have no comment on the debates about the parents) that I feel lucky to have had my children benefit from. That is all.

I agree 100%. How is the principal supposed to make additional classrooms or funding come out of thin air in the 11th hour of the summer? The reality is, the school doesn't have space to add another K class. You either have large classes and add co-teachers or you...????? Educate the kids in the parking lot? Light a few AU Park houses on fire and knock off a few kids?

---

Yes...you need to educate Janney kids in the parking lot. Just like Murch is doing this year...with the entire 4th grade in portables IN THE PARKING LOT. Get in line for your trailers now.

There is some neighborhood provision that prohibits portables in the Janney school yard.

---

"Some neighborhood provision" sounds pretty vague to me. Would you please post the link to the law or statute so that other DCPS schools can potentially replicate this so-called "neighborhood provision"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm new this year with a K child. I read the emails from the Principal and she seems to feel that co teaching is some kind of magic bullet to fix the problem of large class sizes. I can't say to know the principal well, but I am starting to think that her leaving might be a good thing. If she doesn't think there is a problem - then she isn't going to address it. Perhaps the new principal will consider reducing PK classes. FWIW, my younger is in the lottery for PK this year, so yes, it would suck if we didn't get in - but I think this is the most reasonable and quick solution available to the school. In one of her recent emails she said enrollment next year will be 730, up from 700 this year.

If you think Norah is the problem then you really do not know much about what has turned Janney into the school it is today, which is part of why we have the enrollment problem that we have. Seriously, she has made substantial changes over the years, not all easy but all for the good. She is strategic, understands education and supporting teachers, is an extraordinary navigator of DCPS, and is unbelievably good at hiring outstanding teachers. The school is a different place than it was before she arrived. (I had a K student in one of Norah's first years and a K student last year and the difference is a chasm).

Everyone can go on and on about IB percentages and such, and I do not dispute that having a prepared student body and an engaged community are important, but Norah created an incredibly progressive and inclusive school (I am talking about the kids' experience here, I have no comment on the debates about the parents) that I feel lucky to have had my children benefit from. That is all.

I agree 100%. How is the principal supposed to make additional classrooms or funding come out of thin air in the 11th hour of the summer? The reality is, the school doesn't have space to add another K class. You either have large classes and add co-teachers or you...????? Educate the kids in the parking lot? Light a few AU Park houses on fire and knock off a few kids?

I also agree with PP here. Norah's reliance on the co-teaching model ignores the reality of the situation. We need those pre-K classrooms for the K, 1st, and 2nd grade classes, to keep the class size small for those critical years. Also, astonishingly, the 5th grade classes are super small (19 in 2 of the classes and 20 in the other two classes). If she had made 3 fifth grade classes with 26 kids each, instead of 4 fifth grade classes, and used the extra classroom for a K class, so that the K classes only had 20 kids in them, that would have made much more sense from a pedagogical perspective. The research is pretty consistent that the smaller classes are much more important/necessary for early elementary than for later elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm new this year with a K child. I read the emails from the Principal and she seems to feel that co teaching is some kind of magic bullet to fix the problem of large class sizes. I can't say to know the principal well, but I am starting to think that her leaving might be a good thing. If she doesn't think there is a problem - then she isn't going to address it. Perhaps the new principal will consider reducing PK classes. FWIW, my younger is in the lottery for PK this year, so yes, it would suck if we didn't get in - but I think this is the most reasonable and quick solution available to the school. In one of her recent emails she said enrollment next year will be 730, up from 700 this year.

If you think Norah is the problem then you really do not know much about what has turned Janney into the school it is today, which is part of why we have the enrollment problem that we have. Seriously, she has made substantial changes over the years, not all easy but all for the good. She is strategic, understands education and supporting teachers, is an extraordinary navigator of DCPS, and is unbelievably good at hiring outstanding teachers. The school is a different place than it was before she arrived. (I had a K student in one of Norah's first years and a K student last year and the difference is a chasm).

Everyone can go on and on about IB percentages and such, and I do not dispute that having a prepared student body and an engaged community are important, but Norah created an incredibly progressive and inclusive school (I am talking about the kids' experience here, I have no comment on the debates about the parents) that I feel lucky to have had my children benefit from. That is all.

I agree 100%. How is the principal supposed to make additional classrooms or funding come out of thin air in the 11th hour of the summer? The reality is, the school doesn't have space to add another K class. You either have large classes and add co-teachers or you...????? Educate the kids in the parking lot? Light a few AU Park houses on fire and knock off a few kids?

I also agree with PP here. Norah's reliance on the co-teaching model ignores the reality of the situation. We need those pre-K classrooms for the K, 1st, and 2nd grade classes, to keep the class size small for those critical years. Also, astonishingly, the 5th grade classes are super small (19 in 2 of the classes and 20 in the other two classes). If she had made 3 fifth grade classes with 26 kids each, instead of 4 fifth grade classes, and used the extra classroom for a K class, so that the K classes only had 20 kids in them, that would have made much more sense from a pedagogical perspective. The research is pretty consistent that the smaller classes are much more important/necessary for early elementary than for later elementary.

That proposal completely ignores the structure of classes in the 4th and fifth grades. 4 classes work well because they shift classrooms for four periods, they have math, reading, and writing asses and a fourth class that switches between social studies and science on the 6 week specials schedule. The 4th and 5th grades share their subject specific support teachers as well. Your proposal would disrupt that well thought out structure that builds on the third grade curriculum. I would much rather support reduction of pre-k than a single year reduction in class size (because there are over 100 4th graders this year) for 5th grade that would be very short sighted. This years fifth grade class is also the grade that dealt with the double sized class in third grade (over 40 kids and 2 teachers) so they have had their fair share of compromises as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wasn't there a proviso in the redistricting report that Janney boundaries might need to be revisited before the next overall redistricting? Changing boundaries is the only realistic solution. It will take more political courage then has been demonstrated so far.

It woukd be better to call a spade a spade and admit that the proposed OOB set asides are unworkable in crowded Janney's case. Moreover, it seems a shame to consider throwing neighborhood families out of the school just to indulge some bureaucrats' notions of social engineering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm new this year with a K child. I read the emails from the Principal and she seems to feel that co teaching is some kind of magic bullet to fix the problem of large class sizes. I can't say to know the principal well, but I am starting to think that her leaving might be a good thing. If she doesn't think there is a problem - then she isn't going to address it. Perhaps the new principal will consider reducing PK classes. FWIW, my younger is in the lottery for PK this year, so yes, it would suck if we didn't get in - but I think this is the most reasonable and quick solution available to the school. In one of her recent emails she said enrollment next year will be 730, up from 700 this year.

What can the principal do to affect enrollment? I mean, other than running a crappy school and driving families away. DCPS is a by-right system, all 730 of those kids have the right to attend or they wouldn't be there.

How does the OOB set aside work for Janney?

Janney has an exemption on OOB set asides due to the current size of the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm new this year with a K child. I read the emails from the Principal and she seems to feel that co teaching is some kind of magic bullet to fix the problem of large class sizes. I can't say to know the principal well, but I am starting to think that her leaving might be a good thing. If she doesn't think there is a problem - then she isn't going to address it. Perhaps the new principal will consider reducing PK classes. FWIW, my younger is in the lottery for PK this year, so yes, it would suck if we didn't get in - but I think this is the most reasonable and quick solution available to the school. In one of her recent emails she said enrollment next year will be 730, up from 700 this year.

If you think Norah is the problem then you really do not know much about what has turned Janney into the school it is today, which is part of why we have the enrollment problem that we have. Seriously, she has made substantial changes over the years, not all easy but all for the good. She is strategic, understands education and supporting teachers, is an extraordinary navigator of DCPS, and is unbelievably good at hiring outstanding teachers. The school is a different place than it was before she arrived. (I had a K student in one of Norah's first years and a K student last year and the difference is a chasm).

Everyone can go on and on about IB percentages and such, and I do not dispute that having a prepared student body and an engaged community are important, but Norah created an incredibly progressive and inclusive school (I am talking about the kids' experience here, I have no comment on the debates about the parents) that I feel lucky to have had my children benefit from. That is all.

I agree 100%. How is the principal supposed to make additional classrooms or funding come out of thin air in the 11th hour of the summer? The reality is, the school doesn't have space to add another K class. You either have large classes and add co-teachers or you...????? Educate the kids in the parking lot? Light a few AU Park houses on fire and knock off a few kids?

---

Yes...you need to educate Janney kids in the parking lot. Just like Murch is doing this year...with the entire 4th grade in portables IN THE PARKING LOT. Get in line for your trailers now.

Janney cannot have trailers. The only available space is over a parking lot and this is prohibited by zoning laws and/or construction norms. Not happening.