Reply to Feedback on Chevy Chase Elementary

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[quote=Anonymous]PP, sorry you feel your children are not being challenged.  Have you approached the teachers about this?  When I felt our DC was not being challenged in a non-HGC classroom, the teacher excused DC from some of the regular work and assigned more challenging projects instead.  The teacher also modified some homework requirements to better fit my DC.  Teacher also did some out of grade level reading testing on my DC which showed how far ahead DC really was.  Also, I have always found both teachers and the principal to be receptive to discussion about placement.  If your DC is not challenged in math, get the pre-assessment data next fall and have a discussion about acceleration.  Sometimes the school can err on the side of caution, particularly in situations where a kid knows 60% of the upcoming year of math.  The administration might choose not to accelerate that child unless the parent wants it.

Your perception of the PTA is interesting.  We also came from a DC school and notice quite a difference in PTA activity, but this is because of a huge systemic difference between DC and MoCo schools.  In our DC school, the PTA was constantly raising money (upwards of $150K/yer) so it could hire extra teachers -- aides for the classroom, music and art teachers, etc.  This is not permitted in MoCo.  In addition, the overall academics are far better and systematized than they were in DC, so there isn't the same sense in the PTA/parents about the need for oversight of the academic program at school.

At CCES, the PTA does raise some money, mostly for extra smart boards for classrooms.  The PTA organizes after school classes and helps with programs like the Book Fair, International Night, Bingo, etc., which are usually well-attended.

In addition, many parents choose to help out by working in the school during the day in the classrooms, or library, etc.

When important issues have arisen, such as the concerns about the 6th grade academic program and whether the 6th graders would be moved to  Westland, the PTA has moved into higher gear, organizing meetings and surveys and other activities. The PTA, at the behest of the parents, successfully fought off the Superintendent's move to put all 6th graders at Westland and instead a new middle school will be built.

If you still don't feel your children are challenged enough, perhaps you should look at some of the middle school magnet programs like Takoma and Eastern.  Many kids from CCES (inside and outside the HGC) have gone on to these schools.  (I'm assuming since you came from DC and are complaining about the HGC, that it is too late for your kids to apply to that.)[/quote]

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