Reply to Two Rivers/Two Rivers Young: How Are Things Going Under New Leadership?

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Reply to "Two Rivers/Two Rivers Young: How Are Things Going Under New Leadership?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Weird to read this thread.  It has been several years, but back when we were looking into schools for the PK lottery, TR got a ton of hype, including from people we knew on the Hill.  I even toured it, though after doing so, I put it very low on the lottery list.  Not because of concerns about academics or leadership but because I thought that the playground area at TR4 was very sad.  I couldn't imagine having to play in that small little space right off Florida Ave.  Didn't seem healthy to me.[/quote]

PK3 parents are adorable. [/quote]

I'm laughing at this. I also shake my head at mention of playgrounds being the reason you select a school (or not). The irony is the kids don't even care. What matters most in the end is quality of education, which you will start seeing the fruit of sooner than later. [/quote]

You know what, I'm not a PK parent and I don't have a kid at TR, but I'm going to stick up for this PP.

Yes, caring about a small playground, in the grand scheme of things, is not a great reason to pick or not pick a school. However, the TR 4th playground is not merely small (I mean, the school is small, so the size of the playground is not that big of a deal). As the PP notes, it's right on Florida Avenue. Which means it's also loud and right next to a busy street with a lot of pollutants. Also, because of the tire place on the same block, cars often line up in the right lane on Florida Avenue to wait their turn at the tire place, so you have vehicles idling next to the playground frequently. Not great.

I live in the neighborhood, so I also know a little secret, which is that sometimes teachers at TR take kids to a public playground at the corner of 5th and K as a "treat." I learned this because when my kid was small, we loved that playground because it's very small scale and generally attracts fewer big kids, making it an ideal place to take a kid under age 3, especially during school hours. But sometimes TR classes would come in with 2nd and 3rd graders and take it over. Now, it's a public playground so that's their prerogative -- I generally didn't care that much. But I also wonder if the reason they do this is because the playground facilities at TR 4th are so paltry, so going to a tiny playground designed for toddlers is a "treat."

The truth is that the 4th street campus is not very appealing, and not just for PK families. We've toured it, and I dislike how little natural light is in the building, and how cramped it feels with the multiple floors of classrooms all clustered around that center gathering space in the middle.

Academically, the school seemed fine, but the space was not very appealing to me and that turned me off it. Yes, teaching and culture matter more than environment. But environment still matters, and the limited play space at TR, and its location on a very busy and loud street, are reasonable concerns for any grade parent, not just PK. My kid is now in middle elementary, and I'd have the same concerns about TR's physical space now as I did back then.[/quote]

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