Anyone on tonight’s Lafayette PK4 call - location move

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Giving Lafayette PK3 would be absurd! Families that can afford to pay 1M for a single family home do NOT need Government subsidized childcare. Put that money w here it is needed in other parts of the city.

Families that live in $1M houses all over the city have access to free PK3 via the lottery. In fact, I do. You need to be advocating for free, high quality preschool all over the district so that free PK is truly universal. You don’t want universal preschool, you just want to be sure that someone who could afford something doesn’t have equal access to taxpayer funded services. This attitude doesn’t help improve citywide services (e.g., please just raise my taxes to pay for things for other people vs. raise my taxes so that everyone can have access).

Nope. Gov Public funded PK should only go to those who can’t afford private. It’s a waste of tax money to be paying for PK 4 for a family making upwards of $350,000! Many families at Janney, Mann, Lafayette etc are pulling in way over that amount. They need to do the right thing and pay childcare.

If they were to make PK means tested, it would be by individual income, not neighborhood. I would guess that 99% of dcum posters fretting about the PK3 lottery wouldn't qualify. Is that what you are suggesting?

It is NOT shameful to use public resources available to you. You would have people instead pay for private schools instead of public, private transportation instead of public, etc. That’s a recipe for getting LESS public support for the things you want. How about advocating for excellent public services available to all? Everybody gets a seat in preschool? Everybody gets a bus route? That’s how you gain broad public support for these programs.

You are overestimating DCUM posters incomes. The previous poster threw out the $350K threshold. We and most of our friends that check this site don’t make that kind of money. If you make a lot of money it’s shameful to take from DCPS, that has 80% of its students from low income households. Have some pride, pay for your kids education until they reach kindergarten.

Lafayette doesn’t need this new building. Many other schools do! Lafayette had a recent renovation that cost upwards of 70M. Within the last 10 years!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Giving Lafayette PK3 would be absurd! Families that can afford to pay 1M for a single family home do NOT need Government subsidized childcare. Put that money w here it is needed in other parts of the city.

Families that live in $1M houses all over the city have access to free PK3 via the lottery. In fact, I do. You need to be advocating for free, high quality preschool all over the district so that free PK is truly universal. You don’t want universal preschool, you just want to be sure that someone who could afford something doesn’t have equal access to taxpayer funded services. This attitude doesn’t help improve citywide services (e.g., please just raise my taxes to pay for things for other people vs. raise my taxes so that everyone can have access).

Nope. Gov Public funded PK should only go to those who can’t afford private. It’s a waste of tax money to be paying for PK 4 for a family making upwards of $350,000! Many families at Janney, Mann, Lafayette etc are pulling in way over that amount. They need to do the right thing and pay childcare.

We've decided in D.C. that public school begins at age 3, period. It doesn't matter how much money you make, you're entitled to a spot in a school for your kid for PK3 and PK4. (There isn't any PK3 in the DCPS schools in the neighborhoods west of the park, but that doesn't mean kids there can't go to PK3 in another school.) By your theory, why not just declare public school is only an option for families that can't afford private tuition, period?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Giving Lafayette PK3 would be absurd! Families that can afford to pay 1M for a single family home do NOT need Government subsidized childcare. Put that money w here it is needed in other parts of the city.

Families that live in $1M houses all over the city have access to free PK3 via the lottery. In fact, I do. You need to be advocating for free, high quality preschool all over the district so that free PK is truly universal. You don’t want universal preschool, you just want to be sure that someone who could afford something doesn’t have equal access to taxpayer funded services. This attitude doesn’t help improve citywide services (e.g., please just raise my taxes to pay for things for other people vs. raise my taxes so that everyone can have access).

Nope. Gov Public funded PK should only go to those who can’t afford private. It’s a waste of tax money to be paying for PK 4 for a family making upwards of $350,000! Many families at Janney, Mann, Lafayette etc are pulling in way over that amount. They need to do the right thing and pay childcare.

We've decided in D.C. that public school begins at age 3, period. It doesn't matter how much money you make, you're entitled to a spot in a school for your kid for PK3 and PK4. (There isn't any PK3 in the DCPS schools in the neighborhoods west of the park, but that doesn't mean kids there can't go to PK3 in another school.) By your theory, why not just declare public school is only an option for families that can't afford private tuition, period?

Eh? No, DC has decided to gradually expand from Title 1 schools only to make PK available for every age 3 and age 4 student. It is by lottery, not by entitlement or right. You can have a spot, but it may not be exactly where you want it to be. Good grief.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just read that many students are failing due to the pandemic. I can’t believe DCPS is investing resources and intellectual/admin bandwidth on maintaining or even expanding PK at Lafayette. Of all places. What a scandal.

And that’s not even taking into account all the Urgently needed money which will be spent on free testing, social services, and health care Bc of the pandemic. Again, it’s not just a matter of money. .1 percent of DC residents have actually died of Covid so far. Why is Lafayette even on the radar? Outrageous.

We are a Lafayette family and we could not agree more. What makes us really laugh are people who are not even at the school complaining that they bought in the neighborhood for PK4. Two things that are a joke about that - 1) you are not guaranteed a slot even in normal times and 2) what about the other 13 years of your kids school career?

[Anonymous]

One thing nobody talks about - there is percentage (and its not small) of families that send their kids to Lafayette PK4 because it's free, and then pull them for private, mainly Blessed Sacrament, for K and beyond. They freely admit they are doing it to save $$$s, but are depriving someone a space who is long term committed to DCPS. I'm guessing some of these people are running the Save Lafayette PK4 website. The sense of entitlement is incredible, and I apologize for our neighbors. Not everyone in CC is that gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing nobody talks about - there is percentage (and its not small) of families that send their kids to Lafayette PK4 because it's free, and then pull them for private, mainly Blessed Sacrament, for K and beyond. They freely admit they are doing it to save $$$s, but are depriving someone a space who is long term committed to DCPS. I'm guessing some of these people are running the Save Lafayette PK4 website. The sense of entitlement is incredible, and I apologize for our neighbors. Not everyone in CC is that gross.

As much as I loathe the savepkatlafayette group, I don't think they're private school parents. Unfortunately, we've have to deal with them for a long time at Lafayette. I agree that this group's entitlement is gross though.

[Anonymous]

One thing I don't get: Barely any of the people who are protesting the loudest are going to be affected by moving Pk4 across the park, as basically none of them have young kids anymore. The same can be said about possible removal from Deal/Wilson. Any such move is going to have a grandfather clause attached to it, and any kid who's at Lafayette now or will be before boundaries are redrawn will still be going to Deal/Wilson.

Makes me think there are other reasons why they're so afraid. Hmmm, I wonder what those reasons are...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Giving Lafayette PK3 would be absurd! Families that can afford to pay 1M for a single family home do NOT need Government subsidized childcare. Put that money w here it is needed in other parts of the city.

Families that live in $1M houses all over the city have access to free PK3 via the lottery. In fact, I do. You need to be advocating for free, high quality preschool all over the district so that free PK is truly universal. You don’t want universal preschool, you just want to be sure that someone who could afford something doesn’t have equal access to taxpayer funded services. This attitude doesn’t help improve citywide services (e.g., please just raise my taxes to pay for things for other people vs. raise my taxes so that everyone can have access).

Nope. Gov Public funded PK should only go to those who can’t afford private. It’s a waste of tax money to be paying for PK 4 for a family making upwards of $350,000! Many families at Janney, Mann, Lafayette etc are pulling in way over that amount. They need to do the right thing and pay childcare.

We've decided in D.C. that public school begins at age 3, period. It doesn't matter how much money you make, you're entitled to a spot in a school for your kid for PK3 and PK4. (There isn't any PK3 in the DCPS schools in the neighborhoods west of the park, but that doesn't mean kids there can't go to PK3 in another school.) By your theory, why not just declare public school is only an option for families that can't afford private tuition, period?

Eh? No, DC has decided to gradually expand from Title 1 schools only to make PK available for every age 3 and age 4 student. It is by lottery, not by entitlement or right. You can have a spot, but it may not be exactly where you want it to be. Good grief.

Not true -- PK3 and PK4 are an entitlement and a right. The fact that it isn't exactly where you want it to be doesn't make it any less of an entitlement. Any D.C. 3-year-old who wants to go to pre-kindergarten can go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Giving Lafayette PK3 would be absurd! Families that can afford to pay 1M for a single family home do NOT need Government subsidized childcare. Put that money w here it is needed in other parts of the city.

Families that live in $1M houses all over the city have access to free PK3 via the lottery. In fact, I do. You need to be advocating for free, high quality preschool all over the district so that free PK is truly universal. You don’t want universal preschool, you just want to be sure that someone who could afford something doesn’t have equal access to taxpayer funded services. This attitude doesn’t help improve citywide services (e.g., please just raise my taxes to pay for things for other people vs. raise my taxes so that everyone can have access).

Nope. Gov Public funded PK should only go to those who can’t afford private. It’s a waste of tax money to be paying for PK 4 for a family making upwards of $350,000! Many families at Janney, Mann, Lafayette etc are pulling in way over that amount. They need to do the right thing and pay childcare.

We've decided in D.C. that public school begins at age 3, period. It doesn't matter how much money you make, you're entitled to a spot in a school for your kid for PK3 and PK4. (There isn't any PK3 in the DCPS schools in the neighborhoods west of the park, but that doesn't mean kids there can't go to PK3 in another school.) By your theory, why not just declare public school is only an option for families that can't afford private tuition, period?

Eh? No, DC has decided to gradually expand from Title 1 schools only to make PK available for every age 3 and age 4 student. It is by lottery, not by entitlement or right. You can have a spot, but it may not be exactly where you want it to be. Good grief.

Not true -- PK3 and PK4 are an entitlement and a right. The fact that it isn't exactly where you want it to be doesn't make it any less of an entitlement. Any D.C. 3-year-old who wants to go to pre-kindergarten can go.

No, this isn't correct. If all PK3 seats are taken, and there aren't more seats (which isn't the reality b/c there are lots of seats in schools people consider less desirable) your child doesn't get in anywhere. It's an opportunity, not a right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing I don't get: Barely any of the people who are protesting the loudest are going to be affected by moving Pk4 across the park, as basically none of them have young kids anymore. The same can be said about possible removal from Deal/Wilson. Any such move is going to have a grandfather clause attached to it, and any kid who's at Lafayette now or will be before boundaries are redrawn will still be going to Deal/Wilson.

Makes me think there are other reasons why they're so afraid. Hmmm, I wonder what those reasons are...

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Giving Lafayette PK3 would be absurd! Families that can afford to pay 1M for a single family home do NOT need Government subsidized childcare. Put that money w here it is needed in other parts of the city.

Families that live in $1M houses all over the city have access to free PK3 via the lottery. In fact, I do. You need to be advocating for free, high quality preschool all over the district so that free PK is truly universal. You don’t want universal preschool, you just want to be sure that someone who could afford something doesn’t have equal access to taxpayer funded services. This attitude doesn’t help improve citywide services (e.g., please just raise my taxes to pay for things for other people vs. raise my taxes so that everyone can have access).

Nope. Gov Public funded PK should only go to those who can’t afford private. It’s a waste of tax money to be paying for PK 4 for a family making upwards of $350,000! Many families at Janney, Mann, Lafayette etc are pulling in way over that amount. They need to do the right thing and pay childcare.

We've decided in D.C. that public school begins at age 3, period. It doesn't matter how much money you make, you're entitled to a spot in a school for your kid for PK3 and PK4. (There isn't any PK3 in the DCPS schools in the neighborhoods west of the park, but that doesn't mean kids there can't go to PK3 in another school.) By your theory, why not just declare public school is only an option for families that can't afford private tuition, period?

Eh? No, DC has decided to gradually expand from Title 1 schools only to make PK available for every age 3 and age 4 student. It is by lottery, not by entitlement or right. You can have a spot, but it may not be exactly where you want it to be. Good grief.

Not true -- PK3 and PK4 are an entitlement and a right. The fact that it isn't exactly where you want it to be doesn't make it any less of an entitlement. Any D.C. 3-year-old who wants to go to pre-kindergarten can go.

No, this isn't correct. If all PK3 seats are taken, and there aren't more seats (which isn't the reality b/c there are lots of seats in schools people consider less desirable) your child doesn't get in anywhere. It's an opportunity, not a right.

+1. It's not guaranteed, although in reality you could get into PK3 somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing I don't get: Barely any of the people who are protesting the loudest are going to be affected by moving Pk4 across the park, as basically none of them have young kids anymore. The same can be said about possible removal from Deal/Wilson. Any such move is going to have a grandfather clause attached to it, and any kid who's at Lafayette now or will be before boundaries are redrawn will still be going to Deal/Wilson.

Makes me think there are other reasons why they're so afraid. Hmmm, I wonder what those reasons are...

They've been pretty explicit that their concern is overcrowding, which would affect students in the upper Lafayette grades. I'm not saying I necessarily agree with them, but there's no reason to think they have ulterior motives based on the ages of their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing nobody talks about - there is percentage (and its not small) of families that send their kids to Lafayette PK4 because it's free, and then pull them for private, mainly Blessed Sacrament, for K and beyond. They freely admit they are doing it to save $$$s, but are depriving someone a space who is long term committed to DCPS. I'm guessing some of these people are running the Save Lafayette PK4 website. The sense of entitlement is incredible, and I apologize for our neighbors. Not everyone in CC is that gross.

I don’t care if people are at school for free PK4. Who cares if they are “committed” to school? I don’t. I want to send my kids to DCPS because it’s FREE. That’s the extent of my commitment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing I don't get: Barely any of the people who are protesting the loudest are going to be affected by moving Pk4 across the park, as basically none of them have young kids anymore. The same can be said about possible removal from Deal/Wilson. Any such move is going to have a grandfather clause attached to it, and any kid who's at Lafayette now or will be before boundaries are redrawn will still be going to Deal/Wilson.

Makes me think there are other reasons why they're so afraid. Hmmm, I wonder what those reasons are...

They've been pretty explicit that their concern is overcrowding, which would affect students in the upper Lafayette grades. I'm not saying I necessarily agree with them, but there's no reason to think they have ulterior motives based on the ages of their kids.

The new building would solve overcrowding at the main building, because there are enough people IB for Lafayette who would take advantage of free PK even if it meant a drive across the park to a different building. The IB waitlist numbers every year bear this out. The unfounded claims that this will create hundreds of OOB spots is just unseemly fearmongering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing I don't get: Barely any of the people who are protesting the loudest are going to be affected by moving Pk4 across the park, as basically none of them have young kids anymore. The same can be said about possible removal from Deal/Wilson. Any such move is going to have a grandfather clause attached to it, and any kid who's at Lafayette now or will be before boundaries are redrawn will still be going to Deal/Wilson.

Makes me think there are other reasons why they're so afraid. Hmmm, I wonder what those reasons are...

They've been pretty explicit that their concern is overcrowding, which would affect students in the upper Lafayette grades. I'm not saying I necessarily agree with them, but there's no reason to think they have ulterior motives based on the ages of their kids.

The new building would solve overcrowding at the main building, because there are enough people IB for Lafayette who would take advantage of free PK even if it meant a drive across the park to a different building. The IB waitlist numbers every year bear this out. The unfounded claims that this will create hundreds of OOB spots is just unseemly fearmongering.

This. Plus they've been beating the anti-OOB kids drum since prior to this and none of their concerns have ever been proven valid. They even advocated for larger class sizes and trailers taking up outdoor space just to keep out OOB kids. They don't want overcrowding solved; they want to keep out OOB kids. Their "concerns" are just a fig leaf for racism.