Reply to Van Ness Elementary School Lottery Results

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think anti VN boosters likely fall into one of two groups:
-Parents like pp who have been turned off by the obsession some (one?) posters have with demographics and how many FARM students will or will not attend and
-Capitol Hill parents (mostly Brent) who put years of hard work into improving the schools and are offended by the notion that all it takes to be a top school is having enough white students show up.

Every thread about Van Ness ends up about demographics, but so little is discussed about the actual program.  What curriculum will they follow? Will there be dedicated art/music/PE teachers? What about special education? Foreign language? Will there be aftercare? uniforms?  The school location is convenient for my family and these are the types of things that would make us interested in attending.  [/quote]

From attending meetings at the school, here's what little I know:

They'll do the Creative Curriculum for PK3 and 4, and DC's standard curriculum (without special approaches like Reggio or Montessori) for K and up

There have to be dedicated art/music/PE/foreign language teachers for Kindergarten and up. DCPS hasn't figured out yet whether those classes will be available for PK3 and 4, at least not for next year. And no decision's been made on which foreign language.

They will have to follow federal law on special ed. The personnel haven't been hired/assigned to VN yet so it remains to be seen how good they are at implementing things.

Since it's planned as a Title I school there will be aftercare. No word on who will operate it, what it will offer, what hours it will run, or how much it will cost. Also no word on beforecare, and what the school day will actually be (I personally doubt it will be extended school day, since the schools that offer that had their teachers vote on it, and there aren't any teachers yet).

No word on uniforms, despite the planning principal being asked. I guess that's something that the new principal will decide. Also no word on if the school will have a mascot or colors--though that would be a good thing to choose now, so school colors could be integrated into the renovation.

Finally, you didn't ask these but I don't think they've decided whether there will be a full time nurse on site, a social worker, school psychologist, partnership with a family strengthening collaborative or other social service provider, or library/librarian.

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Thanks for sharing what is known for now, PP.  I"ll just add (also from attending meetings) that the interim principal seems understandably reticent to make a lot of the decisions that the PP pointed out are yet unmade.  I was under the impression that it was because she wanted room for the permanent principal to play a role in shaping the school (including, choosing an approach for higher grades and hiring the staff to implement the vision).  If I remember correctly, they said they'd be looking at/interviewing principal candidates by now and they would announce the hire once it was made *if* it wasn't a current DCPS principal, but if it was a current DCPS principal, the announcement wouldn't be made until after the end of the school year.
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