OP here: I really appreciate that current Bethune parents have shared their experiences on DCUM. I've only heard positive things on the boards.

My husband and I both visited MMBDA on separate occasions.
The comments below should not reflect on the academics of Bethune at all, but our own personal concerns.

Both of us had the same impressions: lovely, warm administrators and teachers, great facilities and classes, nice students, PS-2nd grade Spanish Immersion classes (dedicated, earnest teachers, students who comprehend Spanish well, but don't seem to speak to each other in Spanish much, although will answer adults in Spanish, upper grades- kids were polite, well behaved and curious, little to no ethnic diversity among the students.

We are a multi-racial, bilingual family, but are on the fence about sending our child to a school with such little ethnic diversity in the student body. Before people get up-in-arms, I am non-white and grew up as the only brown skinned child in many of my classes in a Northeastern public, majority white lower middle class public school system. My high school had 2000 students, but only 50 kids of color. I know what it is like to be different, stared at and to want to fit in. When you grow up in a monoculture like that, you learn how to assimilate pretty quickly and shape shift your demeanor as needed. My DD is cafe colored and dark-eyed, so it's difficult to tell what ethnicity she is for most people.

Back to Bethune- my husband and I both noticed that in the PS3 classes, there was 1 white child in each class and in the PK4 classes, 1 white child in 1 class, and 2 perhaps latino children in the other. The rest of the 10 or 11 children in the class were all African American. In each of the classes, the white children were sitting alone, at tables , playing by themselves and looked pretty glum. In the PK4 class, the latino-looking children (both boys) played together and the other little boys spoke to them a bit but they were still in their own playgroup.

The truth is that kids are not color blind, even if we want them to be. Maybe the sad-looking children were having off days, but it seemed to be too much of a coincidence that on two different visits, my husband and I separately had the same observations. I actually had not shared my observations with my husband before he visited because I thought that it might have been a bad day for those kids or my own projections. If it was the Fall, we probably would have written it off as adjustment-to-school sadness, but it was May when we toured.

Actually, when I toured the lauded Mundo Verde, I had the similar observations- there's little ethnic diversity here in these classes- almost all of the children were white. If given a slot there, I'm not sure that is where I want my child to be either. On the playground, my husband, who is white, gets asked often, "What IS she?" from white parents.

We are looking for is a pre-school environment where my child can make friends, laugh, play and be in a safe environment where curiosity is valued and nurtured so that she will love learning. Making friends is an important part of the PS/PK experience so I am concerned that if my DD is the only cafe color kid in her class, that might not happen.

I think that the school is really going places and will be highly sought after by families from other parts of the city in a short time. It was the only charter school that I visited that had a dedicated full time music teacher, art teacher and PE teacher. That is amazing. A lot of public schools don't have that anymore. We may still send our DD to MMBDA- just have to do our own soul searching and get some therapy for ourselves

16:30 here. I agree, that would be AWESOME!

We are moving on this year (overseas for work) but I was looking forward to PK4 at Bethune.

Anonymous wrote:My DC attends Bethune and looooves going to school, especially Spanish class. She loves correcting my pronunciation too (she comes home and "teaches" me Spanish in the evenings). Her English teachers are wonderful too and very observant. The school benefits from small class sizes and 2 FT teachers in each room. I know 2 other families who miss this after switching to more coveted DCPS programs.

That said, aftercare at Bethune is a joke. The kids are all down in the library together, all ages. Also, the PTA seems active but I have yet to receive an email even though I have signed up a few times. This is partially my fault too. The parents I have met, however, are all really nice. From the flyers and fundraisers I've seen, the playground project definitely seems serious.

OP here: thanks for sharing your experience! I spoke with the gentleman who runs the aftercare and he seemed earnest, but the program structure did seem vague. Maybe with the new playground, there will be more opportunities for athletics?

I was a bit surprised that MMBDA does not have a relationship with Dance Place. Aftercare dance classes seem like they would be a great option.

Thanks again-

My DC attends Bethune and looooves going to school, especially Spanish class. She loves correcting my pronunciation too (she comes home and "teaches" me Spanish in the evenings). Her English teachers are wonderful too and very observant. The school benefits from small class sizes and 2 FT teachers in each room. I know 2 other families who miss this after switching to more coveted DCPS programs.

That said, aftercare at Bethune is a joke. The kids are all down in the library together, all ages. Also, the PTA seems active but I have yet to receive an email even though I have signed up a few times. This is partially my fault too. The parents I have met, however, are all really nice. From the flyers and fundraisers I've seen, the playground project definitely seems serious.

Anonymous wrote:Is that what Dr. Linda McKay told you or isthis something you are assuming?

OP here: I did not meet Dr. McKay, only Principal Lewis since he is principal of the elementary school. He did say that dual immersion ends t grade 2. I did think it was unusual that they start middle school at grade 5 rather than 6. Does anyone know why? This is their 10th year, so it does make them more "established" in the world of charters. Are there other charters that do this?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll be honest, MMB has only a few Spanish-speaking students. For our PS3 class, the Spanish session has seemed to me to be exclusively Spanish. In my experience, many native Spanish speaking families are seeking out other DCPS options where there are more Spanish-speaking children, so it becomes a cycle. We'd love to attract more Spanish speaking kids!

We are not native speakers, so we supplement with Spanish speaking aftercare and other resources. Our child sings, counts, and does the alphabet in Spanish, and as you said, seems to understand most of what he hears when spoken to. We will continue to supplement as much as we can; fortunately, it is very easy to get extra Spanish help in this area.

I hope you consider Bethune; we have been very happy there and feel that it is a great program for the Spanish and other reasons.

How long do you plan on staying at the school? Will you try the lottery again next year for one of the other bilingual options in DC?

The program change form the 50/50 model in to just a daily class model beginnin g in 3rd grade.

That's because DC CAS testing starts in 3rd grade and about a 1/3 of the students are reading at grade level in English.

Is that what Dr. Linda McKay told you or is this something you are assuming? Did she say thatis why she follows this model?

Is that what Dr. Linda McKay told you or isthis something you are assuming?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll be honest, MMB has only a few Spanish-speaking students. For our PS3 class, the Spanish session has seemed to me to be exclusively Spanish. In my experience, many native Spanish speaking families are seeking out other DCPS options where there are more Spanish-speaking children, so it becomes a cycle. We'd love to attract more Spanish speaking kids!

We are not native speakers, so we supplement with Spanish speaking aftercare and other resources. Our child sings, counts, and does the alphabet in Spanish, and as you said, seems to understand most of what he hears when spoken to. We will continue to supplement as much as we can; fortunately, it is very easy to get extra Spanish help in this area.

I hope you consider Bethune; we have been very happy there and feel that it is a great program for the Spanish and other reasons.

How long do you plan on staying at the school? Will you try the lottery again next year for one of the other bilingual options in DC?

The program change form the 50/50 model in to just a daily class model beginnin g in 3rd grade.

That's because DC CAS testing starts in 3rd grade and about a 1/3 of the students are reading at grade level in English.

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if the waitlist at Bethune for PS3 is moving?

We are likely giving up our spot for PS3

Anonymous wrote:I'll be honest, MMB has only a few Spanish-speaking students. For our PS3 class, the Spanish session has seemed to me to be exclusively Spanish. In my experience, many native Spanish speaking families are seeking out other DCPS options where there are more Spanish-speaking children, so it becomes a cycle. We'd love to attract more Spanish speaking kids!

We are not native speakers, so we supplement with Spanish speaking aftercare and other resources. Our child sings, counts, and does the alphabet in Spanish, and as you said, seems to understand most of what he hears when spoken to. We will continue to supplement as much as we can; fortunately, it is very easy to get extra Spanish help in this area.

I hope you consider Bethune; we have been very happy there and feel that it is a great program for the Spanish and other reasons.

OP here: thanks for the insight. I am not a native speaker either, but majored in Spanish and started speaking Spanish to DD as a baby.

DD is bilingual since we are in a nannyshare where the other child is bilingual and our nanny only speaks to the girls in Spanish. I think that has helped a ton. I definitely need to improve my formal language skills though.

Spanish speaking aftercare: is there an option through the school? We don't live in Brookland, so I think we will need school based aftercare.

I definitely like the facilities and the principal and teachers seem caring and dedicated. I loved that there were separate classrooms for music, art and gym.

Principal Lewis mentioned that they are seeking NAEYC accreditation and pursuing instituting an IB curriculum for upper grades. Does this seem attainable? Are a lot of parents volunteering for the playground project on May 15? I think that I may be able to help out in the morning and thought it might be a good way to get to know the school a bit more.

Thanks again!

Does anyone know if the waitlist at Bethune for PS3 is moving?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll be honest, MMB has only a few Spanish-speaking students. For our PS3 class, the Spanish session has seemed to me to be exclusively Spanish. In my experience, many native Spanish speaking families are seeking out other DCPS options where there are more Spanish-speaking children, so it becomes a cycle. We'd love to attract more Spanish speaking kids!

We are not native speakers, so we supplement with Spanish speaking aftercare and other resources. Our child sings, counts, and does the alphabet in Spanish, and as you said, seems to understand most of what he hears when spoken to. We will continue to supplement as much as we can; fortunately, it is very easy to get extra Spanish help in this area.

I hope you consider Bethune; we have been very happy there and feel that it is a great program for the Spanish and other reasons.

How long do you plan on staying at the school? Will you try the lottery again next year for one of the other bilingual options in DC?

The program change form the 50/50 model in to just a daily class model beginnin g in 3rd grade.

My long-term hope is to get into a DCI feeder; until that happens I am happy to stay at Bethune. Yes, they believe that Spanish language ability can be maintained after 5 years of immersion. We'll see how that works, but I am not personally that worried about it. We are committed to language acquisition and feel lucky to have the option of early immersion.

Anonymous wrote:I'll be honest, MMB has only a few Spanish-speaking students. For our PS3 class, the Spanish session has seemed to me to be exclusively Spanish. In my experience, many native Spanish speaking families are seeking out other DCPS options where there are more Spanish-speaking children, so it becomes a cycle. We'd love to attract more Spanish speaking kids!

We are not native speakers, so we supplement with Spanish speaking aftercare and other resources. Our child sings, counts, and does the alphabet in Spanish, and as you said, seems to understand most of what he hears when spoken to. We will continue to supplement as much as we can; fortunately, it is very easy to get extra Spanish help in this area.

I hope you consider Bethune; we have been very happy there and feel that it is a great program for the Spanish and other reasons.

How long do you plan on staying at the school? Will you try the lottery again next year for one of the other bilingual options in DC?

The program change form the 50/50 model in to just a daily class model beginnin g in 3rd grade.

I'll be honest, MMB has only a few Spanish-speaking students. For our PS3 class, the Spanish session has seemed to me to be exclusively Spanish. In my experience, many native Spanish speaking families are seeking out other DCPS options where there are more Spanish-speaking children, so it becomes a cycle. We'd love to attract more Spanish speaking kids!

We are not native speakers, so we supplement with Spanish speaking aftercare and other resources. Our child sings, counts, and does the alphabet in Spanish, and as you said, seems to understand most of what he hears when spoken to. We will continue to supplement as much as we can; fortunately, it is very easy to get extra Spanish help in this area.

I hope you consider Bethune; we have been very happy there and feel that it is a great program for the Spanish and other reasons.

Can any MMBDA parents provide their views on the quality of instruction in the Spanish immersion classes? I recently toured and loved the bright, open classrooms for the PS/PK. The PS3 classes were on a field trip, so I could not observe them, but observed the PK4 classes. I spoke to some students in Spanish and it was obvious that the children understood some Spanish, but would often answer in English.

In one class, the lead Spanish teacher was a non-native Spanish speaker and spoke to the students in English a great deal. Are songs and music used in these classrooms? In one class, the 5 year olds were sitting at desks and being instructed by the native Spanish teacher. Are any field trips centered around Spanish speaking culture/arts or conducted in Spanish only?

My 3 year old is bilingual so I would like for her to be in an environment that encourages even more use of Spanish. I speak to her in Spanish 95% of the time and my husband uses English. I am concerned that she may feel shy about speaking in Spanish if the majority of her peers are not.

Thanks so much.