Are you seriously coming to this board in late August asking these questions. You should have been sorting this out over the last several months. And holding those two spots this late in the summer makes you a jerk.

I am possible sending my son to Capitol Hill Montessori Logan in a few weeks( He is 3 years old), we still have the option to take him to Garrison Elementary School in DC.

What are the pros and cons of a Montessori school?
Why does it seem to be so many issues with Capitol Hill Montessori Logan?

And does anyone have a child at Garrison Elementary school?


Thanks
always good to hear different opinions!

How garrison was saved.
http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/how_garrison_elementary_was_saved/6551

Ha ha, yes, I created a username so no one could accuse me of being a troll or a booster. Also so posts are seen as by me.

We are actually 51% in-boundary. There are some data errors by DCPS that we are working to clear up - it seems they did not include the PS and PK classes when they came up with the 40% as the number. We hope to get that updated on the DCPS profiles page.

Also, I will say that while we are 51% in-boundary, 60% of our students are from Wards 1 and 2 (our boundaries are half in Ward 1 and half in Ward 2), so while technically someone may be OOB, they may live very close to the school.

Thanks again for all the congratulatory notes. It is so nice to hear. And a special congrats to Francis-Stevens, who we forged a great relationship with during this process. Our hearts go out to the 15 other schools who did not get the same results. I cannot imagine how they are feeling right now, and wish them the very best of luck moving forward.

best
ann

Congratulations Garrison! Garrison is located in an excellent location! I look forward to seeing Garrison becoming one of the great DC elementary schools. We're at a charter school, but I'm very happy to see the Garrisoon families working to help this school. I see that the scores also went up from 26% to 51% - that's great! I'm wondering why there are only 40% in-boundary families since I know/thought there were tons of kids in that neighborhood.

ALSO, it's really great to see someone other than "Anonymous" on this website.

Congrats, again!

Hi there, our principal is Collin Hill. Prior to Garrison (he was hired over the summer), he was AP at Walker-Jones for 2 years...he was at Scott Montgomery before that as AP...that school closed and consolidated into Walker-Jones. You can view a message from him on our website that gives a lot more details -
http://garrisonelementary.org/content.php?page=Our_Principal

Anyway...I think he is great. He came in and made immediate changes to things - students know exactly what is expected of them now and everyone is on the same page. Communication with parents has increased - he sends home a weekly letter whereas in the past it was more like every 6 weeks; he holds monthly coffees to chat with parents; and he reaches out to the community on his own accord. The culture in the school has improved tremendously since he came on board. He wants to make sure parents understand what their kids are supposed to be learning at school and at PTA meetings has committed to giving updates on academics...for instance, he gave us a good presentation on the common core standards and exactly what that means, because really, people don't understand. I feel he is exactly what our school needed and I have been thrilled.

Hopefully that answers some of your questions!

Thanks!
ann mcLeod
Garrison PTA president

What's the background of the current principal? The last one sounded like an interim band-aid to the long-time one before. (He kind of freaked me out.)

All, thanks so much for the kind words. We are obviously thrilled.

We are pushing for a modernization that would result in a building and grounds that can be used by the entire community (i.e. community meeting spaces, neighborhood garden, etc). Any way we can make this modernization happen we will find it. In no way do we advocate for a reduction in outdoor space as that is something we treasure. More info to come as we continue our fight for this (it is what we were working on before we got derailed by the closure announcement).

We welcome everyone to our open houses:
Tuesday, Jan. 29th 4:30 pm
Saturday, Feb. 2nd 9:00 am
Tuesday, Feb. 5th 8:30 am

Additional opportunities to bring prospective parents together with current parents and staff are being organized. We may also hold additional open houses toward the end of February.

Please check out our website (built by one of our amazing parents in just one week after the closure announcement was made) at www.garrisonelementary.org or email us at GarrisonPTA@gmail.com.

Best
Ann mcLeod
garrison PTA president

We have so little open space in DC. Definitely do not want to see any building on this great green space, which is being used more frequently for sports, etc.

+1. There isn't enough of this sort of thinking in dc gov.

As part of modernization, they should consider a creative, mixed-use site that incorporates the school but also integrates some revenue generating uses (ex. housing, retail, office, etc.) which could help support/finance a top-notch modernization. Such a great location and large site, but seems like there could be a more effective use of the land given its location and related development, and create a win-win situation.

I'm a few blocks away and was considering Charters. I had a Garrison parent reach out to me to talk to me about the school.

I love what they are doing and the outreach of the PTA. I'm thinking of enrolling and giving it a chance for a year.

Good job Garrison. A good principal, good teachers, and then a renovated building will combine with the strong parent community will get the job done!