Feedback on Hearst for 2nd and K

[Anonymous]

Our kids were offered spots for K and 2nd at Hearst. Can current/recent Hearst families please share experiences with the school, teachers, and families/community? What's their approach to instruction? Is the community welcoming to OOB families (15 mins away)? Best part/worst part? Thank you for any feedback you can share!

[Anonymous]

Am amazed at the number of OOB seats at Hearst this year. They must have lost a bunch of inboundary families because of the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am amazed at the number of OOB seats at Hearst this year. They must have lost a bunch of inboundary families because of the pandemic.

Could be, but looking at another thread from July it sounds like they are opening a new 2nd, 1st, and maybe K class? We were told 20 students per class in both K and 2nd.

[Anonymous]

we love it. small town vibe, great families, teachers, kids and facilities.

[Anonymous]

Are the trailers back? That is a good sign in that it seems like a popular school then..,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are the trailers back? That is a good sign in that it seems like a popular school then..,

Yes

[Anonymous]

Curious how this will affect the already-crowded Deal down the line. Unless these Hearst OOB kids were already in Deal feeders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious how this will affect the already-crowded Deal down the line. Unless these Hearst OOB kids were already in Deal feeders.

Not a particularly helpful or welcoming comment. OOB families are DC residents who also pay DC taxes and have every right to attend a DC public school where they were offered a slot through the DC public school lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious how this will affect the already-crowded Deal down the line. Unless these Hearst OOB kids were already in Deal feeders.

Not a particularly helpful or welcoming comment. OOB families are DC residents who also pay DC taxes and have every right to attend a DC public school where they were offered a slot through the DC public school lottery.

You must not have a kid at Deal

[Anonymous]

I have had a child OOB, but I am curious why one would accept OOB in elementary if it necessitates trailers? Does that not mean the school is over capacity? Not sure why an OOB family would want that either?

[Anonymous]

Also, seems increasingly likely to me that Deal and Wilson will be predominantly feeder OOB down the road, and the proposed "new" schools deeper in Spring Valley will be In bounds kids. Personally, I think a mix is best--but not sure what the knock on effect of building new schools will be and what the DCPS plan is for how children are allotted. ^

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have had a child OOB, but I am curious why one would accept OOB in elementary if it necessitates trailers? Does that not mean the school is over capacity? Not sure why an OOB family would want that either?

There are a couple of reasons why a school with trailers would accept OOB, but here's one (simplified, streamlined) example. Say a school expects to end up with 40 in-bounds kid for 2nd grade but has only one 2nd grade classroom. They can't put all 40 2nd graders in a single 2nd grade classroom, so they arrange for trailers. But now they have two 2nd grade classrooms of 20 students, each of which could accept a few more kids (and more money with those kids to help offset the cost of those trailers. Obviously in reality it's much more complicated, but the number of IB kids don't always align with class sizes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had a child OOB, but I am curious why one would accept OOB in elementary if it necessitates trailers? Does that not mean the school is over capacity? Not sure why an OOB family would want that either?

There are a couple of reasons why a school with trailers would accept OOB, but here's one (simplified, streamlined) example. Say a school expects to end up with 40 in-bounds kid for 2nd grade but has only one 2nd grade classroom. They can't put all 40 2nd graders in a single 2nd grade classroom, so they arrange for trailers. But now they have two 2nd grade classrooms of 20 students, each of which could accept a few more kids (and more money with those kids to help offset the cost of those trailers. Obviously in reality it's much more complicated, but the number of IB kids don't always align with class sizes.

Is this the case at Hearst?

[Anonymous]

Seems odd that with a renovation, they did not end up with enough to.for.projected inbounds families?

[Anonymous]

Hearst is a good school. There are mostly good teachers, a few okay teachers, and at times recalcitrant principal. Most of the lower grade teachers- PK through 1st grade did not return in-person last year and it left a bad taste with many of the families with the younger kids.