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][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]

[b]Academically, the school seemed fine, but the space was not very appealing to me and that turned me off it[/b]. 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]

700 words and yet you fail to grasp the point. The issue with TR is academics. But you're too worried about playgrounds to notice.[/quote]

I didn't "fail to grasp the point." I just disagree. At the elementary level, the physical school environment matters. And I actually think you overestimate the importance of instruction for the children of well-educated, high SES parents. Studies show these kids tend to do well on learning assessments independent of the school, because they get the support they need at home and having well educated parents is a huge boon for literacy, vocabulary, and other key elementary learning metrics.

So it's actually not crazy for a well-educated, high SES parent to place a premium on a pleasant physical environment for their kids. There's evident that many children do not spend enough time outside or exposed to nature, and a campus like TR4's will only make that worse. You can supplement reading and math, but if your child is spending 90% of their weekdays with limited access to sunshine and nature, and the time they do spend outside is close to noise and air pollution, there is no way to fix that with some extra assistance at home.[/quote]

We live in the city— of course there’s noise and air pollution all the time? What kind of bizarre take is this?[/quote]

Have you seen the TR playground?[/quote]

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