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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm still years away from having a kid in school, but I'm curious about the animosity towards Mount Vernon. I've lived in Del Ray for a few years now, and it's FULL of kids. It seems like the community and school have a great relationship, and neighbors of ours even moved just blocks away from where they were to get into the district instead of Jefferson-Houston. Are standardized test scores really that important? Don't kids learn at different paces and in different ways? Isn't socialization and making friends and being creative and inspired to learn important too, especially at the elementary level?[/quote]

I am a parent zoned for Mt. Vernon and we decided to send our kids to another public in the city. We also applied to several parochial and private schools as alternatives because we were that unimpressed with Mt. Vernon. The kids you see at the playground on the weekends, and in and around Del Ray are not the kids who populate the school. Watch the busses drop off in the morning - it's a demographic that is 60+% Hispanic/ESL and not the yuppie Del Ray families who descend on the playground during the weekends and evenings. We toured the school. We spoke with the principal. We talked to neighbors. We reviewed test scores and curriculum. The school is NOT succeeding. IMO, it's worse than Jefferson Houston. [b]The school is entirely devoted to Spanish immersion, not because del ray families want their kids to learn Spanish, but because the zoned population can't speak English and were failing subjects in English, failing test scores, etc., so they are trying to reach them in Spanish.[/b] The classes we saw were chaotic and noisy. The school is huge with 900+ children, the majority of which are ESL. Resources are focused toward ESL families and non-ESL children are not taught Spanish, But are expected to learn math and science in a language that isnt English. The English speaking kids are failing Bc they aren't learning Spanish, but are expected to do math word problems in Spanish. The SPANISH speaking kids are still failing even with immersion. And the dual language doesn't carry over into middle school, so all the kids will have to learn back in English again anyway.

Why would I subject my bright English-speaking children to such a flawed and failing institution? Especially at the start of their academic careers? We are appalled that this school is forced on us with the failing dual language paradigm. It should be an optional charter school. Dual language shouldn't be forced on any family.

We are very happy with our chosen public. Thank god for the admin transfer process. Otherwise, like many other families we know, we would be fleeing to Arlington or Fairfax ASAP!
[/quote]
That is absolutely untrue. The school will be 100% dual language precisely because the, as you put it, "del ray families" wanted dual language (I would argue the kids on the bus are also "del ray families" just not of the socio-economic group you like to recognize as living there). Every year there were more kindergartners, white/black and non Spanish speaking, families that were left out of the dual language classes. They added another class, than two, and finally decided that the entire school would be dual language. I do not have children that attend MVCS, we transferred out but if you did indeed visit the school as often as you say, that would be the first thing they told you. In previous years the Spanish instruction for math and science was by immersion (which is why we opted out) but it is no longer taught that way. Also, there are not, nor do I think there ever was, [b]900+[/b] students in the school. Last year was the largest enrollment ever and it was 817. There is plenty to complain about at MVCS but at least get your facts straight. One real positive, it has a very engaged and supportive PTA and community.[/quote]

Thank you for this. Nice to have some reason! Just to clarify: the math and science is or is not taught in Spanish currently? [/quote]

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