Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a PTA now?

personally I would consider the lack of a PTA to be a benefit, but that's just me ...

You must be an administrator. All the good schools - DCPS, DCPCS, and private - have active, involved parent communities.

They Payne ECE teachers are AMAZING. Consistently rated outstanding.

We are Payne family. I would absolutely recommend it. There is a new principal this year who has been very impressive thus far. Communication and organization has been noticeably better than last year and there is just something exciting in the air at Payne this year. Yes there is a PTA. Its in the building phase but there are lots of active and engaged parents and teachers. I'm sure that it will continue to grow. There is not a lot of diversity in the upper grades. My guess is that will be changing slowly year to year. It seems most of the neighborhood PK3 families from last year stayed for PK4 and many of the neighborhood Pk4 families stayed for K. I think this trend will continue and you will slowly see neighborhood families stay longer and longer. A word of caution there was a significant IB waitlist this year for PK3. I think most IB families eventually got offered a spot but I know many OOB siblings did not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know about Miner, but I've met several parents of PKers happy with Payne. They just got a renovation and are in a great location. Judging by the fact that our waitlist number for PK4 did not budge, it seems like people are pretty content there.

Yes, but are these families staying for K and 1st grade? I'm told that there are 2 white kids in K this year, in a catchment area that's now around 3/4 white. PreS and PreK are not the problem.

I bet an increasing number will stay for K.

Anonymous wrote:I don't know about Miner, but I've met several parents of PKers happy with Payne. They just got a renovation and are in a great location. Judging by the fact that our waitlist number for PK4 did not budge, it seems like people are pretty content there.

Yes, but are these families staying for K and 1st grade? I'm told that there are 2 white kids in K this year, in a catchment area that's now around 3/4 white. PreS and PreK are not the problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a PTA now?

personally I would consider the lack of a PTA to be a benefit, but that's just me ...

Certainly could be, depending on the school. But that's not what I gathered from the thread at 16:26.

PTA sounds a lot like PITA

Anonymous wrote:Is there a PTA now?

personally I would consider the lack of a PTA to be a benefit, but that's just me ...

Is there a PTA now?

I don't know about Miner, but I've met several parents of PKers happy with Payne. They just got a renovation and are in a great location. Judging by the fact that our waitlist number for PK4 did not budge, it seems like people are pretty content there.

Both schools are OK for PK and nothing more (at least right now). Miner has a bit more potential in my mind, because the school leadership is better, the PTA is active/engaged and the diversity at the PK level is largely IB-driven, so the families have some actual buy-in even if they're likely to leave post-PK (lots of the PKers also have younger sibs).

(Miner IB families have auto-attendance rights for PK, so that also helps because they don't risk losing their spots (at least in the short-term) by improving the school in advance, which is a catch 22 lots of Hill IB parents do face.)

Anonymous wrote:http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/45/295772.page

This thread is from 2013 but wow! is there a PTA at Payne now? Have things changed in the last 2 years? Are the teachers/staff supportive toward all students?

We've tried to go by the playground a few times hoping to meet current families, but it's been locked.

Bump

Haven't seen as much on this forum for these 2 schools. Plan on attending open houses this fall for the upcoming lottery for PK3. If you have a child at either of these schools, can you share some feedback on your experience there? Classroom and school facilities, teaching style, class size, do the kids go to music/art/etc, aftercare and additional activities, family involvement in the school, etc. Thank you!