Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed.

The fact of the matter is that if you need free PK, you can get it at another school. No, it won't be Janney, but it shortchanges the children who are there for education (not just daycare) to have gigantic class sizes. Pay for PreK or go get it free at some undesirable school and then come back for real school at K.

If you think ECE is "just daycare" then you really don't understand ECE

I understand ECE. I just don't believe what DCPS provides across the board necessarily counts as ECE.

So, kick the ECE program out of Janney, which doesn't need it anyway. The parents can afford pre-school. (In case you've forgotten everybody paid for pre-school up until 5 or so years ago. It's not a hardship.) The actual school experience will improve, and if you desperately want the free Pre-K, then get into one of the dozens of Pre-K programs that go begging for students (even on the PG County flight-path!) and have your au pair drive her there. It's only for a year, after all.

Free pre-k at DCPS is not a new program. I went to PK at Murch 35 years ago.

Terrific that your poor yet resourceful parents navigated the system for you to get into Head Start a few decades ago. Yippee.

The conversation is about whether or not it makes sense to compromise the education of K-5 students at Janney, by cramming them into overloaded classrooms, so that parents who can afford to live in Janney's catchement can have free PreK.

I for one, think no. No, it's not worth it. Smaller classrooms are a better experience for the students K - 5. As darling as PreK students are, they're a drain on resources for a school that can't spare the space.

WTF? Are you lashing out because you are wrong? Prek in DC started in 1972. It isn't going anywhere. Janney boundaries will change or trailers added before prek is dropped.

Signed -
DCPS preK grad of 1978

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed.

The fact of the matter is that if you need free PK, you can get it at another school. No, it won't be Janney, but it shortchanges the children who are there for education (not just daycare) to have gigantic class sizes. Pay for PreK or go get it free at some undesirable school and then come back for real school at K.

If you think ECE is "just daycare" then you really don't understand ECE

I understand ECE. I just don't believe what DCPS provides across the board necessarily counts as ECE.

So, kick the ECE program out of Janney, which doesn't need it anyway. The parents can afford pre-school. (In case you've forgotten everybody paid for pre-school up until 5 or so years ago. It's not a hardship.) The actual school experience will improve, and if you desperately want the free Pre-K, then get into one of the dozens of Pre-K programs that go begging for students (even on the PG County flight-path!) and have your au pair drive her there. It's only for a year, after all.

Some people rent and are scraping together savings to buy. Some people spend ALL their money on housing to live in a good school district. You have no idea if this is true. It may be true that most people in the boundary can afford it, but it's silly and narrow-minded to say they all categorically can afford it. We know someone who almost rented at $2k/month apartment in boundary for Janney for this school year. They no longer have preschoolers, but they couldn't really afford preschool.

+1. I hate the assumption that everyone IB for Janney is rich. There are some people who are well below the median income of the neighborhood. They may be renting, they may have stretched for a small house, and they may have done so since before the current boom. One parent may be unemployed, they may have unexpected triplets, whatever. You really have no basis to judge the financial situation of everyone in your neighborhood. It's fine that you want smaller class sizes, but don't just assume that everyone can easily afford private preschool.

I have 3 kids at Janney and have been there for 10+ years. I'd say that 95% of the inboundary students are well-off. There are a few families I know (lets say 3 out of 300) who inherited a house, etc and happen to live in AU Park but don't have a decent income (several of our very best friends fit this description). This is especially true in the lower grades. Lots of law partners, sub-specialist physicians, business owners, etc.

Clearly many families are below the median income of the neighborhood. I'd guess about half of them... But that doesn't mean they are poor by any stretch. Remember that median household income in the United States is about $50,000.

There is below, and there is well below, which still doesn't necessarily mean poor, but can mean that private preschool, especially for multiple kids, is a stretch. It is already unfair that there is no PK3 WOTP, and if PK4 gets slashed or reduced to a fig leaf, it would be even more unfair. Yes, I know, PK is geared towards low-income kids, but that's obviously not the only population that is benefitting EOTP. As someone who has already had the benefit of both PK3 and PK4, I'd have a hard time arguing that the following generations of parents should just pay up so that my second grader can have a smaller class size.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed.

The fact of the matter is that if you need free PK, you can get it at another school. No, it won't be Janney, but it shortchanges the children who are there for education (not just daycare) to have gigantic class sizes. Pay for PreK or go get it free at some undesirable school and then come back for real school at K.

If you think ECE is "just daycare" then you really don't understand ECE

I understand ECE. I just don't believe what DCPS provides across the board necessarily counts as ECE.

So, kick the ECE program out of Janney, which doesn't need it anyway. The parents can afford pre-school. (In case you've forgotten everybody paid for pre-school up until 5 or so years ago. It's not a hardship.) The actual school experience will improve, and if you desperately want the free Pre-K, then get into one of the dozens of Pre-K programs that go begging for students (even on the PG County flight-path!) and have your au pair drive her there. It's only for a year, after all.

Some people rent and are scraping together savings to buy. Some people spend ALL their money on housing to live in a good school district. You have no idea if this is true. It may be true that most people in the boundary can afford it, but it's silly and narrow-minded to say they all categorically can afford it. We know someone who almost rented at $2k/month apartment in boundary for Janney for this school year. They no longer have preschoolers, but they couldn't really afford preschool.

+1. I hate the assumption that everyone IB for Janney is rich. There are some people who are well below the median income of the neighborhood. They may be renting, they may have stretched for a small house, and they may have done so since before the current boom. One parent may be unemployed, they may have unexpected triplets, whatever. You really have no basis to judge the financial situation of everyone in your neighborhood. It's fine that you want smaller class sizes, but don't just assume that everyone can easily afford private preschool.

I have 3 kids at Janney and have been there for 10+ years. I'd say that 95% of the inboundary students are well-off. There are a few families I know (lets say 3 out of 300) who inherited a house, etc and happen to live in AU Park but don't have a decent income (several of our very best friends fit this description). This is especially true in the lower grades. Lots of law partners, sub-specialist physicians, business owners, etc.

Clearly many families are below the median income of the neighborhood. I'd guess about half of them... But that doesn't mean they are poor by any stretch. Remember that median household income in the United States is about $50,000.

I'd venture to say that the lower 50% of AU Park is primarily longer term residents. It used to be the land of mid-level government workers, journalists. Almost everyone moving in are lawyers and lobbyists. I have Harvard Law grads at big firms on either side of me. Both have toddlers. I hae a kindergartener at Janney and it seemed like half the class were parents in big law. The neighborhood demographics have shifted remarkably within the past 10 and even 5 years.

I think they'd sooner change the boundary than remove PK4. But it does seem likely that before doing either of those things, they'd reduce the number of PK4 classes. They need at least a few for Early Stages placements.

Anonymous wrote:2% of Janney students are FARM students.

http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Janney+Elementary+School

This has to be the lowest percentage in all of DC, and also one of the lowest in all of the country.

And the are overwhelmingly the OOB students.

2% of Janney students are FARM students.

http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Janney+Elementary+School

This has to be the lowest percentage in all of DC, and also one of the lowest in all of the country.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed.

The fact of the matter is that if you need free PK, you can get it at another school. No, it won't be Janney, but it shortchanges the children who are there for education (not just daycare) to have gigantic class sizes. Pay for PreK or go get it free at some undesirable school and then come back for real school at K.

If you think ECE is "just daycare" then you really don't understand ECE

I understand ECE. I just don't believe what DCPS provides across the board necessarily counts as ECE.

So, kick the ECE program out of Janney, which doesn't need it anyway. The parents can afford pre-school. (In case you've forgotten everybody paid for pre-school up until 5 or so years ago. It's not a hardship.) The actual school experience will improve, and if you desperately want the free Pre-K, then get into one of the dozens of Pre-K programs that go begging for students (even on the PG County flight-path!) and have your au pair drive her there. It's only for a year, after all.

Some people rent and are scraping together savings to buy. Some people spend ALL their money on housing to live in a good school district. You have no idea if this is true. It may be true that most people in the boundary can afford it, but it's silly and narrow-minded to say they all categorically can afford it. We know someone who almost rented at $2k/month apartment in boundary for Janney for this school year. They no longer have preschoolers, but they couldn't really afford preschool.

+1. I hate the assumption that everyone IB for Janney is rich. There are some people who are well below the median income of the neighborhood. They may be renting, they may have stretched for a small house, and they may have done so since before the current boom. One parent may be unemployed, they may have unexpected triplets, whatever. You really have no basis to judge the financial situation of everyone in your neighborhood. It's fine that you want smaller class sizes, but don't just assume that everyone can easily afford private preschool.

I have 3 kids at Janney and have been there for 10+ years. I'd say that 95% of the inboundary students are well-off. There are a few families I know (lets say 3 out of 300) who inherited a house, etc and happen to live in AU Park but don't have a decent income (several of our very best friends fit this description). This is especially true in the lower grades. Lots of law partners, sub-specialist physicians, business owners, etc.

Clearly many families are below the median income of the neighborhood. I'd guess about half of them... But that doesn't mean they are poor by any stretch. Remember that median household income in the United States is about $50,000.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed.

The fact of the matter is that if you need free PK, you can get it at another school. No, it won't be Janney, but it shortchanges the children who are there for education (not just daycare) to have gigantic class sizes. Pay for PreK or go get it free at some undesirable school and then come back for real school at K.

If you think ECE is "just daycare" then you really don't understand ECE

I understand ECE. I just don't believe what DCPS provides across the board necessarily counts as ECE.

So, kick the ECE program out of Janney, which doesn't need it anyway. The parents can afford pre-school. (In case you've forgotten everybody paid for pre-school up until 5 or so years ago. It's not a hardship.) The actual school experience will improve, and if you desperately want the free Pre-K, then get into one of the dozens of Pre-K programs that go begging for students (even on the PG County flight-path!) and have your au pair drive her there. It's only for a year, after all.

Some people rent and are scraping together savings to buy. Some people spend ALL their money on housing to live in a good school district. You have no idea if this is true. It may be true that most people in the boundary can afford it, but it's silly and narrow-minded to say they all categorically can afford it. We know someone who almost rented at $2k/month apartment in boundary for Janney for this school year. They no longer have preschoolers, but they couldn't really afford preschool.

+1. I hate the assumption that everyone IB for Janney is rich. There are some people who are well below the median income of the neighborhood. They may be renting, they may have stretched for a small house, and they may have done so since before the current boom. One parent may be unemployed, they may have unexpected triplets, whatever. You really have no basis to judge the financial situation of everyone in your neighborhood. It's fine that you want smaller class sizes, but don't just assume that everyone can easily afford private preschool.

I have 3 kids at Janney and have been there for 10+ years. I'd say that 95% of the inboundary students are well-off. There are a few families I know (lets say 3 out of 300) who inherited a house, etc and happen to live in AU Park but don't have a decent income (several of our very best friends fit this description). This is especially true in the lower grades. Lots of law partners, sub-specialist physicians, business owners, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The fact of the matter is that if you need free PK, you can get it at another school. No, it won't be Janney, but it shortchanges the children who are there for education (not just daycare) to have gigantic class sizes. Pay for PreK or go get it free at some undesirable school and then come back for real school at K.

If you think ECE is "just daycare" then you really don't understand ECE

I understand ECE. I just don't believe what DCPS provides across the board necessarily counts as ECE.

I'm certain you're quite expert on the 100+ ECE programs throughout DCPS. Give me a break

This is about tax-payers getting bilked, not about your feelings getting hurt. If the promise of Head Start and Free PreK and ECE in DC were being fulfilled, then over 40% of DC school children wouldn't be reading and doing math below grade level. Give ME a break. And then give me my money back.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The fact of the matter is that if you need free PK, you can get it at another school. No, it won't be Janney, but it shortchanges the children who are there for education (not just daycare) to have gigantic class sizes. Pay for PreK or go get it free at some undesirable school and then come back for real school at K.

If you think ECE is "just daycare" then you really don't understand ECE

I understand ECE. I just don't believe what DCPS provides across the board necessarily counts as ECE.

I'm certain you're quite expert on the 100+ ECE programs throughout DCPS. Give me a break

Anonymous wrote:We're thinking of moving into the AU Park neighborhood in the next few years. We plan on moving so our youngest kid could start at Janney in K. We just saw that the Janney school population has increased from 690 to 735 in the past year. What population is the school designed for? We're starting to get worried about overcrowding at Janney. What are the chances that PK4 gets reduced or eliminated so that the school has room for manageable class sizes.?

Janney overcrowding concerned us as well and it seems to be getting worse. Ultimately, we decided on Hearst and have been very pleased. My child literally knows everyone in his grade by name. It's like small town America. The test scores a few years ago gave us some pause, but if you drill down in the demographic/economic data you will see that most kids are on the same level as their peers at JKLMM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed.

The fact of the matter is that if you need free PK, you can get it at another school. No, it won't be Janney, but it shortchanges the children who are there for education (not just daycare) to have gigantic class sizes. Pay for PreK or go get it free at some undesirable school and then come back for real school at K.

If you think ECE is "just daycare" then you really don't understand ECE

I understand ECE. I just don't believe what DCPS provides across the board necessarily counts as ECE.

So, kick the ECE program out of Janney, which doesn't need it anyway. The parents can afford pre-school. (In case you've forgotten everybody paid for pre-school up until 5 or so years ago. It's not a hardship.) The actual school experience will improve, and if you desperately want the free Pre-K, then get into one of the dozens of Pre-K programs that go begging for students (even on the PG County flight-path!) and have your au pair drive her there. It's only for a year, after all.

Some people rent and are scraping together savings to buy. Some people spend ALL their money on housing to live in a good school district. You have no idea if this is true. It may be true that most people in the boundary can afford it, but it's silly and narrow-minded to say they all categorically can afford it. We know someone who almost rented at $2k/month apartment in boundary for Janney for this school year. They no longer have preschoolers, but they couldn't really afford preschool.

+1. I hate the assumption that everyone IB for Janney is rich. There are some people who are well below the median income of the neighborhood. They may be renting, they may have stretched for a small house, and they may have done so since before the current boom. One parent may be unemployed, they may have unexpected triplets, whatever. You really have no basis to judge the financial situation of everyone in your neighborhood. It's fine that you want smaller class sizes, but don't just assume that everyone can easily afford private preschool.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed.

The fact of the matter is that if you need free PK, you can get it at another school. No, it won't be Janney, but it shortchanges the children who are there for education (not just daycare) to have gigantic class sizes. Pay for PreK or go get it free at some undesirable school and then come back for real school at K.

If you think ECE is "just daycare" then you really don't understand ECE

I understand ECE. I just don't believe what DCPS provides across the board necessarily counts as ECE.

So, kick the ECE program out of Janney, which doesn't need it anyway. The parents can afford pre-school. (In case you've forgotten everybody paid for pre-school up until 5 or so years ago. It's not a hardship.) The actual school experience will improve, and if you desperately want the free Pre-K, then get into one of the dozens of Pre-K programs that go begging for students (even on the PG County flight-path!) and have your au pair drive her there. It's only for a year, after all.

Free pre-k at DCPS is not a new program. I went to PK at Murch 35 years ago.

Terrific that your poor yet resourceful parents navigated the system for you to get into Head Start a few decades ago. Yippee.

The conversation is about whether or not it makes sense to compromise the education of K-5 students at Janney, by cramming them into overloaded classrooms, so that parents who can afford to live in Janney's catchement can have free PreK.

I for one, think no. No, it's not worth it. Smaller classrooms are a better experience for the students K - 5. As darling as PreK students are, they're a drain on resources for a school that can't spare the space.

We weren't poor and it wasn't head start. It was PK4 that was part of the K-12 system, just like now. My point was that it isn't a new program.

I'm sorry that Janney planned poorly for its renovations (plural). It might need to have portable classrooms just like the rest of us.

(sigh) Janney planned just fine. As did Murch, for that matter. But, there's not much we can do about our incompetent elected officials and their inability to balance a budget.

Or just have one class of PK4...not 5? 4?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed.

The fact of the matter is that if you need free PK, you can get it at another school. No, it won't be Janney, but it shortchanges the children who are there for education (not just daycare) to have gigantic class sizes. Pay for PreK or go get it free at some undesirable school and then come back for real school at K.

If you think ECE is "just daycare" then you really don't understand ECE

I understand ECE. I just don't believe what DCPS provides across the board necessarily counts as ECE.

So, kick the ECE program out of Janney, which doesn't need it anyway. The parents can afford pre-school. (In case you've forgotten everybody paid for pre-school up until 5 or so years ago. It's not a hardship.) The actual school experience will improve, and if you desperately want the free Pre-K, then get into one of the dozens of Pre-K programs that go begging for students (even on the PG County flight-path!) and have your au pair drive her there. It's only for a year, after all.

Some people rent and are scraping together savings to buy. Some people spend ALL their money on housing to live in a good school district. You have no idea if this is true. It may be true that most people in the boundary can afford it, but it's silly and narrow-minded to say they all categorically can afford it. We know someone who almost rented at $2k/month apartment in boundary for Janney for this school year. They no longer have preschoolers, but they couldn't really afford preschool.

Did you just move here? $2K a month for an apartment large enough for a family is CHEAP.

No matter how much you want free PreK, free 2nd grade is more important. Period. And the 2nd graders get crammed into classrooms too small for all of them in order to make space for the PreK.

Get rid of the PreK. It's really that simple.