Reply to Thoughts on Brent?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Hi Hive Mind. I know there are a lot of Brent threads here recently, but I am looking for specifics on the whole school experiences, not just 4th/5th. My kid is at another Capitol Hill school that we have mixed feelings about. We are climbing down the Brent waitlist quickly for kindergarten. I know it will be in a swing space next year and suspect that's the reason we have a shot at getting in.

What kind of experiences have you had with Brent, from K to 4/5? Is this a good school for a bright but sometimes shy rule-following kid? Native English speaker. No IEP, 504 or learning differences we are aware of. Looking for rigorous academics that would prepare kid for a middle school like Basis (even if we don't go there) and a good social environment. Hoping that's Brent![/quote]

Just flagging that you will be in swing space for TWO years.

Brent PK4-3rd is normally a pretty good experience. I think the next two years will be logistically very messy and there will be very little community building happening. I would not want to join the school as a newbie family during these two years. Do you live on the Hill? Because, if so, no way I'd abandon my basically no commute for what the swing space commute will be like.[/quote]

OP here. Thanks for the response! We know about the two years in a swing space,  but appreciate the clarification since others reading this may not.

To answer: We live fairly close to the Hill. Swing space is about equidistant from Brent's regular space so commute not a factor. We think Brent looks like a stronger school academically than our school, which has a strong parent community but some issues, including with behavior and lower test scores than Brent's. I know test scores aren't the end all be all of course and that Brent probably does well because of its demographics.

Just wondering what the school is like..are the teachers warm and experienced? Are behavior problems handled well? Is the admin responsive? What's the parent community like? Are kids challenged academically?

Thanks in advance for your insights! [/quote]

I'm not a huge fan of the principal. I think many of the teachers are excellent - but a few of my favorites are leaving (voluntarily) because of swing space issue. I think for test scores you really need to look at demographic comparisons to know if you should really consider it as a factor. It's hard to know since you don't want to name your school. I wouldn't switch for test scores if I was at [b]Maury, SWS, L-T or Payne[/b]; the sub populations at those schools do extremely similarly. My experience is a huge proportion of Brent families supplement (particularly at Mathnasium, which is crawling with Brent kids). Academically, Brent is fine, but not anything particularly special. Math is better than ELA in my experience. I like the parent community at Brent, but I don't think there will be much of one during swing space. Like some posters in the other thread, I am worried about the number of people leaving.[/quote]

Thanks for this! What don't you like about the principal?

My school is not any bolded above. But that's the last I'll say cause it's pretty narrowed down at this point. [/quote]

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