Anonymous wrote:I seriously didn't see what the issue was with Eaton's building. Why is everyone so horrified by it? It seemed totally functional. A shiny building will make no difference in my child's education.

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The building is not horrible but by any measure it's pretty antiquated. In fact with renovations getting underway at Lafayette and planned at Murch, Eaton will have the oldest physical plant of any of the ward three schools. The Library needs modernization and the entrance for the school is dark and uninviting. Eaton already ranks quite low among the DCPS schools in square feet per pupil. On election days when the current multipurpose room is used for voting , students have no place to eat no place to play. It could certainly use new gymnasium or multipurpose facilities, possibly buried under the playground in a cut and cover construction. Parking for faculty and staff needs to be addressed long-term as they did Janney where they put a garage under the playground. Right now Eaton faculty are forced to plead for visitor parking passes from neighborhood families

Anonymous wrote:I seriously didn't see what the issue was with Eaton's building. Why is everyone so horrified by it? It seemed totally functional. A shiny building will make no difference in my child's education.

I also don't understand this fixation. It look almost exactly like the school I went to, which is still in use in the same fashion in my hometown. An historic brick schoolhouse. What are schools supposed to look like now according to naysayers?

Way better than the open classroom concept of my middle school.

I seriously didn't see what the issue was with Eaton's building. Why is everyone so horrified by it? It seemed totally functional. A shiny building will make no difference in my child's education.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:do people like the principal there? will there be more OOB spots open in early grades if some of the IB families now look at other options since no longer a Deal feeder?

It would be a shame if Eaton loses a lot of IB families and becomes just another Hearst.

Wow. You mean just another school with new facilities, awesome and abundant outdoor space, an active engaged parent community, a diverse student population, and no overcrowding issues?

I'll take my excellent little school with kids from all over the city any day, thank you very much. No "shame" here.

It is true that Heast is getting a newly renovated building while Eaton keeps getting pushed back in the renovation queue.

Anyone actually interested in learning about Hearst can come to an open house.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They explained that it's 40% IB but it's the destination school for 80% of the children in the district that choose public/charter schools. (The largest destination for those going elsewhere is Oyster.) Meaning it's a neighborhood school but the neighborhood doesn't have that many children who choose public/charters so it has space for OOB students.

Also, like Hearst, there's just not as many houses with school aged children as there are in Lafayette, Janney, etc. The boundaries are small and there are a lot of empty nesters still living there.

This could change. There are a number of families moving into McLean Gardens with pre-school aged kids.

Great, so the IB numbers at both Eaton and Hearst should go up and make everyone outside of the school happy. (Because those of us that actually go to the schools don't really care about the number of OOB kids, they are just classmates as far as the kids are concerned.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They explained that it's 40% IB but it's the destination school for 80% of the children in the district that choose public/charter schools. (The largest destination for those going elsewhere is Oyster.) Meaning it's a neighborhood school but the neighborhood doesn't have that many children who choose public/charters so it has space for OOB students.

Also, like Hearst, there's just not as many houses with school aged children as there are in Lafayette, Janney, etc. The boundaries are small and there are a lot of empty nesters still living there.

This could change. There are a number of families moving into McLean Gardens with pre-school aged kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:do people like the principal there? will there be more OOB spots open in early grades if some of the IB families now look at other options since no longer a Deal feeder?

It would be a shame if Eaton loses a lot of IB families and becomes just another Hearst.

Wow. You mean just another school with new facilities, awesome and abundant outdoor space, an active engaged parent community, a diverse student population, and no overcrowding issues?

I'll take my excellent little school with kids from all over the city any day, thank you very much. No "shame" here.

It is true that Heast is getting a newly renovated building while Eaton keeps getting pushed back in the renovation queue.

Anonymous wrote:They explained that it's 40% IB but it's the destination school for 80% of the children in the district that choose public/charter schools. (The largest destination for those going elsewhere is Oyster.) Meaning it's a neighborhood school but the neighborhood doesn't have that many children who choose public/charters so it has space for OOB students.

Also, like Hearst, there's just not as many houses with school aged children as there are in Lafayette, Janney, etc. The boundaries are small and there are a lot of empty nesters still living there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:do people like the principal there? will there be more OOB spots open in early grades if some of the IB families now look at other options since no longer a Deal feeder?

It would be a shame if Eaton loses a lot of IB families and becomes just another Hearst.

This is exactly the kind of attitude that makes me not interested in Eaton.

Eaton is currently 36% in boundary.

Strong schools depend on strong ties to their local neighborhoods. If Eaton loses local families it will lose neighborhood support -- the kind that donates pianos or shows up for fundraisers or supports the Christmas tree sale or works through the ANC for better traffic safety around the school. One reason why folks think that Eaton got shafted over Deal to Hardy was that there was not enough critical local mass to advocate for the school. What Councilmember steps up to advance Eaton's interests, whether it's Deal or the endless wait for renovation? 36% IB enrollment means that Eaton ranks near the bottom of Mary Cheh's school priority list. If I were an OOB parent I would very much want to see IB enrolment at 51% at least.

PS - a number of folks in Cleveland Park are scratching their heads over Eaton's decision to end the traditional Halloween parade through the neighborhood, which used to attract young and old alike, as well as kids who don't go to Eaton.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:do people like the principal there? will there be more OOB spots open in early grades if some of the IB families now look at other options since no longer a Deal feeder?

It would be a shame if Eaton loses a lot of IB families and becomes just another Hearst.

Wow. You mean just another school with new facilities, awesome and abundant outdoor space, an active engaged parent community, a diverse student population, and no overcrowding issues?

I'll take my excellent little school with kids from all over the city any day, thank you very much. No "shame" here.

They explained that it's 40% IB but it's the destination school for 80% of the children in the district that choose public/charter schools. (The largest destination for those going elsewhere is Oyster.) Meaning it's a neighborhood school but the neighborhood doesn't have that many children who choose public/charters so it has space for OOB students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:do people like the principal there? will there be more OOB spots open in early grades if some of the IB families now look at other options since no longer a Deal feeder?

It would be a shame if Eaton loses a lot of IB families and becomes just another Hearst.

This is exactly the kind of attitude that makes me not interested in Eaton.

Eaton is currently 36% in boundary.

So not really a neighborhood school like JKLM, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:do people like the principal there? will there be more OOB spots open in early grades if some of the IB families now look at other options since no longer a Deal feeder?

It would be a shame if Eaton loses a lot of IB families and becomes just another Hearst.

This is exactly the kind of attitude that makes me not interested in Eaton.

Eaton is currently 36% in boundary.

Anonymous wrote:do people like the principal there? will there be more OOB spots open in early grades if some of the IB families now look at other options since no longer a Deal feeder?

It would be a shame if Eaton loses a lot of IB families and becomes just another Hearst.

Isn't that pretty strange to have an open house and not even mention that the principal is on long-term leave? It wouldn't matter to me but it's strange that it wouldn't be mentioned.
It didn't sound like OOB has much chance for pre-K (unless it's a sibling) but it seems pretty possible for K.
Our tour guide actually said that they "focus mostly on reading and writing" in K and 1st grade. I'm hoping that it's not really the school policy to delay math until later.