Thanks so much for your thoughtful responses! I keep hearing that about springboard - any hope for change with that next year? Is the CHAW aftercare a viable alternate?

Love TRY deeply dislike the Springboard aftercare.

I think your impressions are very accurate. TR replicated with a great deal of fidelity and the programs are the same at either campus. With the green space at TRY, I think they really have a leg up on 4th street.

Anonymous wrote:Pass

Thanks for your enlightening comment!

Pass

Anonymous wrote:I have met a lot of principals through my job. The best principal I have met is at TRY.

Also there are a lot of people who are in education who are parents at the school (educators, education policy people, etc). The fact that they have chosen to send their children there gives me confidence that the grass is not greener elsewhere.

gosh, you're not helping my disappointment at not getting a spot! I met the principal when I toured and I thought he seemed really great. Good to know it wasn't just appearances!

I have met a lot of principals through my job. The best principal I have met is at TRY.

Also there are a lot of people who are in education who are parents at the school (educators, education policy people, etc). The fact that they have chosen to send their children there gives me confidence that the grass is not greener elsewhere.

Thanks so much for your responses -- we're going with TRY!

We're just finishing our first year at TRY and absolutely love it. The teachers go above and beyond in their commitment to the students and communicating with the parents.
The aftercare is meh but perfectly fine--we didn't have high expectations (manage your expectations, you can't have everything). I did hear that the first grade teachers began staying afterschool on a regular basis to help students with reading--that blew me away.

I get the sense that there is a push to make the Middle School more rigorous to address concerns. That being said, my DS is pretty average, so I'm sure it will be fine for him.

We have been at Young for the past two years (PK3 and PK4). We love it, and I would recommend it wholeheartedly.

As far as we can tell, yes, the program/experience at Young mirrors that at 4th Street. For example, when they opened Young 2 years ago, a lot of the teachers transferred over from 4th Street - they were not totally new people to the program, so they had the experience of being at 4th Street to use when shaping Young. Same goes for the admins. Furthermore, there is a lot of outside-of-school-hours joint programming with 4th Street -- because Young has a bigger outdoor space, for example, the welcome back BBQ for both campuses was held at Young -- so they very much are treated as two sides of the same coin vs. two separate and distinct programs.

I would agree with your impressions about the atmosphere and people. We love the Two Rivers culture, we have been super pleased with our teachers, and our child has thrived there.

Young was our first choice followed by 4th street. Didn't get into either unfortunately.

jealous! I visited TRY for my K student and really liked it, but did not get a spot. I would take it.

jealous! I visited TRY for my K student and really liked it, but did not get a spot. I would take it.

They are both well run schools. They have always lost a significant portion of students as middle school approaches and some families want more traditional school/rigor. Or a path to a high school.

People complain about the after care.

They did a good job of standing up TRY - brought just enough teachers from other campus that they have a pretty consistent experience.

We just got a spot in their K program - any thoughts? Love it, hate it, or somewhere in between?

Program sounds incredible, the building and campus are nice, but are the TR and TRY programs consistently executed as promised? (I.e., is TRY essentially the same as TR, but really just in a different location?). We have the impression that teachers are happy and invested, the curriculum is interesting and academically challenging, and the environment is warm and inclusive where children get to be kids (time for play, not hyper focus on testing, etc.). Are we off base with our impressions?