For PP: did you guys choose AppleTree or go with Garrison for PK3?

Can anyone say how Garrison is affected by the new budget? Reading through the complaints about how the Hill schools are faring, I can't help but wonder if Garrison isn't in a similar situation.

Anonymous wrote:Here is a nice article by a mother who chose Garrison for her three year-old child:

http://greatergreatereducation.org/post/18687/why-we-chose-garrison-elementary/

OP here - that was a nice article. We toured the school, met the principal (seemed really great) but in the end we just couldn't pull the trigger. The parent coordinator made it clear that renovations are not for a "long time" (undefined by her) and something about it just didn't strike us as a good fit for our kid. Neither of us could quite put our fingers on it and articulate it. Part of it is that we have our current preschool to fall back on, part of it is that despite Marie Reed's poor facilities it seemed like a better fit, and part of it is that in one year we'll be able to apply to our boundary school. I wish the Garrison family well. The PTA does seem engaged and that is great to see.

Here is a nice article by a mother who chose Garrison for her three year-old child:

http://greatergreatereducation.org/post/18687/why-we-chose-garrison-elementary/

According to the Current, the Garrison upgrade is budgeted for FY 2015.

Anonymous wrote:Garrison is scheduled for an upgrade in a couple of years as I recall. When they do it they should merge it with ross, which is increasingly over crowded. Ross would make a perfect early years campus for a combined Ross Garrison with the older kids at Garrison.

I heard this proposal a few years ago -- to model it on the Capitol Hill Cluster Schools model. Makes sense to me. Not sure how easily Ross parents can be convinced. Of course, now the middle school that both schools feed is closing & moving to the high school... I suppose DCPS still has Shaw in the inventory, which perhaps they will eventually remodel and make into a decent campus. It's been vacant for a long time now.

But, if they're committed to the idea to close Garnet-Patterson, I hope they'll give some of the vacant buildings up for bid to charters. There are a few vacant or soon-to-be-vacant school properties in the neighborhood, and I can think of several charters looking for permanent homes.

Garrison is scheduled for an upgrade in a couple of years as I recall. When they do it they should merge it with ross, which is increasingly over crowded. Ross would make a perfect early years campus for a combined Ross Garrison with the older kids at Garrison.

Hi again. Sorry you cannot make it - we will definitely look into scheduling another one. We were trying to hold it before the requested enrollment form submission date of May 1, so not sure we can swing another one prior to then. We do have another PTA meeting scheduled for April 24 and you are welcome to attend that.

You are ALWAYS welcome to schedule a time to come to the school during classroom hours and observe. Just call our Principal Collin Hill to schedule something.

cheers
ann

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the info. Unfortunately the meet and greet conflicts with Shabbat. Will there be any others?

PP here - by the way, just wanted to be clear that we're ok with the event being on a Friday night; we just can't attend.

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately the meet and greet conflicts with Shabbat. Will there be any others?

Greetings everyone, this is Ann McLeod, Garrison PTA President.

My son is in 1st grade and been at Garrison since PK. I love our early childhood team - they are enthusiastic and very involved. My son's PK teacher retired (and got a Rubenstein award!) and his K teacher is there now and was great. I have no direct experience with PS3 so I won't comment on that. I will tell you that many of the families who could give you good insight are either on vacation for Spring Break or do not frequent DCUM. So, if you will email me at GarrisonPTA@gmail.com, I would be happy to forward your email to a few people so they can get back to you.

Second, as you know, we have a meet and greet on April 12 and current PS/PK/K families are invited too, so you can meet people already at the school, so I hope you will join us. We encourage you to ask candid questions - that's what the event is for. We want you to be comfortable with your decision to attend Garrison or find out now that its not for you.

Finally, I'll just comment on a few things that have been brought up. I have no plans to pull my son from Garrison. I will say that we are moving, and I plan to stay at Garrison unless we are way out of the neighborhood, but it is my intention to stay nearby and at Garrison. The teachers are great and sure, the test scores may not be as high as at other schools, but we are a Title I school with 75% low-income students so you really cannot expect scores as high as those at schools West of the Park given this. We are simply a different demographic. But - this is what makes Garrison great. Personally, I chose to live in the city and in Logan Circle, and want my son to go to a school that reflects his neighborhood. There are families in Logan who have lived there for generations and those families attend Garrison as well as people like me who moved to the neighborhood a few years ago. My son is a very strong reader and he learned this from the teachers there. His teacher sends home additional reading and math for him so he is challenged. His teacher knows my son loves baseball so even sends home baseball magazines with him. Two of our PTA officers have kids who have been at Garrison since PS3 and both are advanced - one in 4th grade and one in 2nd. Sure, people have dropped off in the past but I think more are staying now b/c of the increased level of engagement.

Yes, there was not an active PTA prior to three years ago so the students in the upper grades now did not have the influence of a lot of adults being involved at the school. Believe me, all the kids notice that more adults are involved and genuinely care about them...and that does motivate them.

Regarding Middle School, I totally get it. The option right now is scary. But, as another poster said, I cannot make decisions today based on 4 years from now. I know others will but that's just not me. However, the middle school options are NEVER going to get better if more parents do not get involved and stay in the system. For that matter, no school will get better if parents do not get involved and stay with it. (Sorry for the soapbox.)

Thank you for starting this thread and thanks for your interest in Garrison! We hope to see you on April 12 for the meet-n-greet. Anyone who sees this and is on the waitlist for Garrison, you are welcome to join us - please email GarrisonPTA@gmail.com for more info and so we know you are coming.

best
ann

Anonymous wrote:Garrison is also our IB school and we live very close to the school. Three years ago I didn't consider it to be a long-term option so we went charter. A lot has changed (for the better) in those three years and if I had to choose today, I wouldn't hesitate to send my children there for PS-1st grade. I don't know enough about upper grades to comment. I see many more local families, including some we know, sending their kids to G and having a positive experience. I believe it is scheduled to be renovated soon. You really can't beat all of that outdoor space. Also, if you have never been inside, it is much more attractive than it is on the outside.

Will Garrison really be renovated? I ask b/c why would DCPS renovate a school that just months ago it slated to close, especially when schools like Mann and Hearst are bursting at the seams, were not slated to close, and still had their funding pulled? I'd love it if Garrison was renovated, but it just doesn't seem like it's in the cards.

Anonymous wrote:My guess is that at both IT & Garrison, parents will start to pull students around 2nd or 3rd grade to get on track for a strong MS option.

Even tho IT will have the option, most parents/kids want a larger MS than one or two classes. It wouldn't surprise me if IT ended up having only thru grade 5 or 6, because attrition is so great for MS years.

And right now, Garrison doesn't feed to a desirable MS (don't know for sure).

So, I would not weigh MS in PreS 3 decision. Location would weigh a lot for me.

Not an IT parent but don't quite agree. IT still looks better through 5th than Garrison. Garrison looks strictly Ps/Pk only.

My guess is that at both IT & Garrison, parents will start to pull students around 2nd or 3rd grade to get on track for a strong MS option.

Even tho IT will have the option, most parents/kids want a larger MS than one or two classes. It wouldn't surprise me if IT ended up having only thru grade 5 or 6, because attrition is so great for MS years.

And right now, Garrison doesn't feed to a desirable MS (don't know for sure).

So, I would not weigh MS in PreS 3 decision. Location would weigh a lot for me.

Anonymous wrote:If you had a PS-3 spot at Garrison, but also had secured a spot at a well-regarded charter school like Inspired Teaching -- what would you do? Is there even a question about what to do in this case?

Every instinct tells me to lean strongly toward IT. I think Garrison would be great for my kid for a few years, but will it work for all of elementary? And IT's plan to grow to 8th grade is super attractive at this point. My concern is whether IT will move locations to somewhere more permanent (but harder to get to for my C-H dwelling family) in a year or two.

I can't speak to your particular options but I can speak to the fact that parents of smaller children seem to be easily attracted by K-8 options but as kids grow older seem to look for other, bigger opportunities. I wouldn't weigh middle school all that heavily at this point.