Reply to Brent parents: Give me the lowdown on the school

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "Brent parents: Give me the lowdown on the school"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]I think some of the PPs are looking for bogeymen where none truly exist.  Last year tbe ECE program consisted of two PS classes, two PK classes, and one blended PS/PK class.  I might be slightly off, but as best as i can recall, there were at least 38 PS-age lottery seats.  There also may have been a couple of students placed directly by DCPS through Early Stages or other programs.  In any event, there were approximately 16 students in each of the two PS classes, with the remainder filling out the blended class.  I should add that each of the three PS-age teachers is excellent.

With the change to the new ECE structure this year, Brent had to transition to four mixed age classrooms of 17 students.  My understanding is that these classes are split 10:7 between four-year olds and three-year olds (although that ratio could change to 9:8 next year).  This necessitated "reshuffling the decks."  In other words, because there were 16 students in each of the two PS classes last year, six of those students (i.e., a total of 12 students) had to be switched to a new classroom in order to accommodate the incoming three-year olds and achieve the 10:7 ratio dictated by DCPS.

From what I know, teachers discussed this with many parents toward the latter part of the school year.  While I have no first-hand knowledge of this, I have heard that some parents may have requested that children be separated, something which is not infrequent at Brent.

Some parents undoubtedly were unhappy that their four-year old was one of the dozen who had been selected to change to a different teacher.  However, there are both positives and negatives associated with being moved.  For example, that child gets the opportunity to bond with other four-year olds not in their class. Also, because each teacher is different, a new pairing might work better for some students, while in other cases, a strong bond my have developed between a child and teacher.

I can certainly empathize with parents who would have preferred that their child remain with the same teacher, as the goal of the ECE program going forward, but to think that some students were "cherry-picked" while others were "rejected" has no basis in fact.  Again, from what I heard from parents over the summer, the process of shuffling was ongoing until virtually the last day of school, which left some parents upset/disappointed/angry that what they had been told previously was no longer the case.  You also may want to remain mindful that some of the students who were moved to a new classroom have older siblings at Brent and were thrilled to have the opportunity to reconnect with the person who taught their older child.

Was this the smoothest transition?  Undoubtedly not, but as the saying goes, you have to break eggs in order to cook an omelette (unless you use Eggbeaters).  Could communication have been better?  As always, yes, because many parents were seemingly unaware that a reshuffling would follow from the restructuring.  One takeaway from all of this would be that, with the exception of a handful of students in the blended age classroom, your rising PKer would have changed teachers in any event under the former ECE structure and I have yet to see any evidence that they were any worse off as a result.  Take that for what it is.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics