PGCPS lottery School ranking

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

My son was selected 2 out of 4 Montessori Program from the Prince George lottery. Anyone have feedback on of the four schools and which is the best. Thank you.

Judith P Hoyer Montessori- Waitlisted

Excel Academy / Charter Opportunity- Waitlisted

Legends Public Charter School / Charter- Seat confirmed

Thomas G Pullen Creative and Performing Arts School- Seat confirmed.

Thank you all.

[Anonymous]

Pullen hands down.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your help. Do you have anymore details why Pullen is the best of the bunch. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for your help. Do you have anymore details why Pullen is the best of the bunch. Thanks.

To be honest, charters are horrible.

[Anonymous]

I would say Pullen.

Many families have been leaving Hoyer over the last 2-3 years, especially at the upper grades. I know at least 12 families who have left since 2018.

All the families I know currently at Pullen have been happy with the school. I knew one family who wasn't thrilled with the experience but that was 8 or 9 years ago.

I don't know anything about the charter schools. If your child is not a POC, they may be one of the only white kids in the school. For some kids that is perfectly fine, for other kids it can be an issue.

The biggest drawback for Pullen is that the school day is longer than most elementary schools. I think that all K-8 schools have that issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for your help. Do you have anymore details why Pullen is the best of the bunch. Thanks.

To be honest, charters are horrible.

Details why its horrible. thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for your help. Do you have anymore details why Pullen is the best of the bunch. Thanks.

To be honest, charters are horrible.

Details why its horrible. thanks.

Np here, but in my experience with 2 different charters (Legends and Imagine) with 2 children, they've been no different from the regular public schools, if not worse, as far as curriculum, class size, low extracurricular offerings, meh facilities, low performance, etc. Out of everything, it was the awful communication that I couldn't work around. At the time we were coming from a DC charter, where as parents we were often in direct communication with leadership. The leadership, school admin, and teachers made it a point to keep its school community involved and in-the-know about all happenings, next steps, decisions, etc. If I asked for a meeting, it was accommodated in a timely manner. At the PG charters, there was just no school community and no regard for my role as a parent. That didn't work for how my family viewed the role of the school in our kid's life so the experience was horrible.

In the end, it all depends on what you're looking for, what alternatives you have, and probably who you have as a teacher. Having a solid teacher may make the experience a bit less stressful. I'm convinced some folks fall for the charter label trap and automatically assume they're getting something better or more so they go in blind. I do have a friend with a daughter at a Legends school now and we're close enough where she's comfortable sharing situations with me. She's not an active parent in the community, but that's her preference and she's not comfortable stirring the pot so she's not vocal about the issues she has. But there's a lot that wouldn't fly with me. She communicates with the teacher through an app which is fine, but the teacher takes days to respond or doesn't. Through the app she asked to speak with the teacher over the phone or in person about a hitting/bullying incident that occurred in her daughter's class (1st grade at the time, 2019-2020 school year pre-COVID) and her teacher responded 3 days later the app was the best mode or that PT conferences would be coming up in the next month. That was just one of too many incidents with different teachers at the school. Unfortunately, none have been deal breakers and she won't give her assigned neighborhood school a chance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for your help. Do you have anymore details why Pullen is the best of the bunch. Thanks.

To be honest, charters are horrible.

Details why its horrible. thanks.

Np here, but in my experience with 2 different charters (Legends and Imagine) with 2 children, they've been no different from the regular public schools, if not worse, as far as curriculum, class size, low extracurricular offerings, meh facilities, low performance, etc. Out of everything, it was the awful communication that I couldn't work around. At the time we were coming from a DC charter, where as parents we were often in direct communication with leadership. The leadership, school admin, and teachers made it a point to keep its school community involved and in-the-know about all happenings, next steps, decisions, etc. If I asked for a meeting, it was accommodated in a timely manner. At the PG charters, there was just no school community and no regard for my role as a parent. That didn't work for how my family viewed the role of the school in our kid's life so the experience was horrible.

In the end, it all depends on what you're looking for, what alternatives you have, and probably who you have as a teacher. Having a solid teacher may make the experience a bit less stressful. I'm convinced some folks fall for the charter label trap and automatically assume they're getting something better or more so they go in blind. I do have a friend with a daughter at a Legends school now and we're close enough where she's comfortable sharing situations with me. She's not an active parent in the community, but that's her preference and she's not comfortable stirring the pot so she's not vocal about the issues she has. But there's a lot that wouldn't fly with me. She communicates with the teacher through an app which is fine, but the teacher takes days to respond or doesn't. Through the app she asked to speak with the teacher over the phone or in person about a hitting/bullying incident that occurred in her daughter's class (1st grade at the time, 2019-2020 school year pre-COVID) and her teacher responded 3 days later the app was the best mode or that PT conferences would be coming up in the next month. That was just one of too many incidents with different teachers at the school. Unfortunately, none have been deal breakers and she won't give her assigned neighborhood school a chance.

This is spot on. We just turned down CMIT South because Kindergarten is 25 teachers to 1! No thank you