Reply to No more Pk3 at Ross ?

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Reply to "No more Pk3 at Ross ?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's on the Ross website, as well.  [/quote]

It is? Where?[/quote]

http://rosselementary.org/principals-weekly-newsletter-december-3-2018/

Each fall, DCPS shares enrollment projections with Principals and Local School Advisory Teams (LSAT) to inform planning and budgeting for the next school year. We opened with a record enrollment this year (196 students) compared to opening with 171 students in August 2017.

We created a mixed-age K-1 model three years ago to manage robust enrollment trends in those grades and we are now seeing class sizes grow in Grades 2-5 as well. We expect this trend to continue based on strong retention of 5thgraders and current housing construction within the boundary. We currently exceed the recommended class sizes for K-2 and our teachers are feeling strained by this and by limited teaching space. When the LSAT met this fall, I requested they identify short and long term solutions to our physical space constraints. The LSAT identified and discussed a variety of options, including eliminating the PK3 program and requesting completion of the attic space, and shared them in two community meetings in addition to soliciting electronic feedback. After consulting with a variety of stakeholders and central office, the best course of action going forward to immediately manage class size is to eliminate PK3 at Ross. I understand that our PK3 program has been a highly-sought after benefit for our community and that many families with rising PK3 children will be disappointed by this news. However, as a non-Title I school, we are not required to offer this level of programming to our community, especially when our compulsory attendance grades are over-capacity. The Head Start model was created by President Johnson in 1964 as part of his “war on poverty” and was designed to meet the social, emotional, health, nutritional and psychological needs of children from low-income families.  We are grateful that the District of Columbia has a strong commitment to PK3 and is a city of school choice. All city residents can enter the MySchoolDC lottery for PK3 for the coming school year. The lottery opens Monday, December 10. MySchoolDC is hosting the annual “EdFest” at the Stadium Armory on Saturday, December 8 from 11:00am to 3:00pm. All DCPS and public charters will be represented at this event. www.MySchoolDC.org[/quote]

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