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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As a parent of a kid who was at TR for years before and then the tail end of the pandemic I can assure you that none of the things people are blaming on Covid or Kristina or community meetings were newly discovered in the past few years. TR certainly offers a warm and nurturing ECE environment. The problem is and has always been that the school has no clue how to adjust for middle to upper ES and the changes in kids that accompany chronological age. I have no idea how EL is supposed to work, but certainly it can't be the way TR deploys it. They have always had a tail wagging the dog approach to core subjects. Instead of having a curriculum based on verb conjugation or core math principles they start with whatever the EL concept is and back into the core learning. It results in suboptimal educational outcomes and kids who are not prepared to study or learn. Kristina was incompetent and wielded race as a sword and shield to prevent the board or anyone else from asking hard questions. She was an EL consultant with little to no experience running anything. In many ways she was the poster child for what is wrong with TR; the Board focused on EL fluency and their principles of inclusion instead of core administration of an educational institution and learning. Covid merely exposed how unprepared and unserious she and the TR Board were.

When JO Wilson reopens in 2026 it will be the death knell for TR 4th street. I assume it will be shuttered by 2029 at the latest.  [/quote]

You're going to need ECE teachers at JO who actually like kids though. They barely go outside for recess if it's below 50 degrees, have the kids watch TV for indoor recess (which again, happens A LOT) and when they are outside, they don't play with the kids at all. No engagement at all. [/quote]

Weird take. JOW has received high marks for ECE for a number of years. Families avoid it due to 1st and up. Also, have you seen TR's "playground"? [/quote]

Oh I'm not pro TR by any means. I just don't think you all know JO. High marks for a number of years? Almost all those teachers are gone.  I can think of 4 that have left.[/quote]

JOW has lost several great ECE teachers in recent years which is troubling. Before those departures I do think they had an amazing ECE team (my kid went through it). There are still several incredibly nurturing ECE teachers still there though (and the new folks might be great, I just don't know them).

[b]Also regarding the thing about JOW teachers not taking kids outside-- a lot of this has to do with the school's bad playground set up (with very limited equipment for younger kids and no separation from equipment for older kids that can be dangerous for little ones) that will soon be totally overhauled with the new campus.[/b] Very little shade, bad equipment, and a persistent mosquito issue that they've struggled to address because poor facilities management results in a lot of standing water after rainstorms. My kid had PK teachers who really emphasized outdoor time and they were constantly battling these challenges. But the new campus is going to get an outdoor classroom and a bunch of shaded play space so that teachers can take kids out and not roast in the sun and have places for them to sit and play.

I would still choose JOW over TR even with the ECE losses and even in the old building though because there is something wrong with TR's curriculum. And their building is so small with incredibly limited outdoor space (maybe ECE classes spend more time outside but then kids are feet away from traffic on Florida including cars that sit idling waiting to get into the tire place-- air quality is a real question on that tiny playground). The main advantage of TR is access to a larger cohort of higher SES kids. Which I actually agree is helpful-- a high concentration of at risk kids creates challenges and this is true at JOW, though I think people who bailed from JOW for TR in PK likely overestimate what those challenges are.

But DCPS has a sound curriculum and high standards for teachers, who are well compensated and generally have more experience than TR teachers and at the ECE level specifically also have more training. DCPS has its issues but teaching quality is not one of them and this is probably the most important aspect of your child's education.

We spent 3 years at JOW and two at TR and we should have stayed at JOW, warts and all. Throw in a new campus and it's a no brainer which is the better school.[/quote]

Again, you're talking about the teachers who are gone. The current teachers don't take the kids outside because it's "to cold" at 45 degrees. They have the kids WATCH TV instead. You have old information.

IDK about TR. Don't know them at all. But your JO info is outdated.[/quote]

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