They might also be able to expand 6-8th at Pullen. The school isn't at full capacity.

Anonymous wrote:If you can get into the TAG program in elementary and attend school at one of the elementary TAG centers you'll be automatically sent to a TAG program in middle school. It's harder to lottery into a TAG middle school from a regular elementary. This may change as they add more middle school programs, but if you're offered an elementary slot take it, even if the commute is longer. And then if your TAG middle school grades support it you can get into the IB programs without having to test in. In my experience the TAG elementary an middle schools are excellent and worth it. I have heard from parents whose turned down an elementary TAG slot because their inbounds elementary school was good and kicked themselves when they did not lottery into the TAG program in middle school.

This largely depends on where you live. I was offered a TAG ES slot for Highland Park and declined and I have NO regrets. Since the new TAG center at Tasker started all the students who applied to Tasker and Kenmoor got in for 6th grade this year. Walker Mill also accepted everyone who applied. Greenbelt MS and Accokeek are another story. Folks who live in the Northern part of the County should put pressure on PGCPS to open a new TAG center somewhere....Maybe MLK or Eisenhower Middle School?

If you can get into the TAG program in elementary and attend school at one of the elementary TAG centers you'll be automatically sent to a TAG program in middle school. It's harder to lottery into a TAG middle school from a regular elementary. This may change as they add more middle school programs, but if you're offered an elementary slot take it, even if the commute is longer. And then if your TAG middle school grades support it you can get into the IB programs without having to test in. In my experience the TAG elementary an middle schools are excellent and worth it. I have heard from parents whose turned down an elementary TAG slot because their inbounds elementary school was good and kicked themselves when they did not lottery into the TAG program in middle school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happens at places like Hyattsville Middle is a mystery to me. Schools like Hyattsville Elem and UP Elem are excellent schools with committed parents and dynamic teachers. Middle school comes and those schools feed into Hyattsville middle where kids are smoking weed in 7th grade, kids regularly get beat up, kids are juling in the bathrooms, skipping classes, pregnant, vandalizing yards after school. The list goes on. The parents and community complain to the principal and the school system and nothing is done. This is a year's long known problem. Where is the breakdown?

The breakdown? Other elementary schools besides UP & Hyattsville feed into Hyattsville Middle so the excellence is diluted. Also, most of my neighbors/friends, including myself, bailed out for privates.

Yeah, until you can get a core group of residence of UP and Hyattsville to commit to sending their kids to the school the dilution is just going to get worse. We have a similar issue with our ES. The surrounding neighborhood is fairly affluent for PG but the school is Title 1 because a lot of middle class families go with specialty programs or privates rather than give the local school a chance. About 8 years ago a set a families decided that they were going to commit to sending their kids to the ES and since then more and more families are sending their kids there.

I was in a meeting with Dr Goldson in 2016 and she asked us if we had any suggestions on how to get middle class families to go to our in bounds middle school (Gholdson). I was pretty frank and said that I can't send my white child into a school where she would be the only white kid in her class or grade. In lower elementary school, that isn't an issue but in 7th grade it is. At the time she seemed well aware that middle school was a huge challenge in PGCPS so hopefully that is something she tackles now that she is acting CEO.

Anonymous wrote:What happens at places like Hyattsville Middle is a mystery to me. Schools like Hyattsville Elem and UP Elem are excellent schools with committed parents and dynamic teachers. Middle school comes and those schools feed into Hyattsville middle where kids are smoking weed in 7th grade, kids regularly get beat up, kids are juling in the bathrooms, skipping classes, pregnant, vandalizing yards after school. The list goes on. The parents and community complain to the principal and the school system and nothing is done. This is a year's long known problem. Where is the breakdown?

The breakdown? Other elementary schools besides UP & Hyattsville feed into Hyattsville Middle so the excellence is diluted. Also, most of my neighbors/friends, including myself, bailed out for privates.

I don't think it's entirely the schools. I think MS is when people being pushed out of DC actually transfer / enroll their kids in PG schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College Park Academy solves some of the bigger problems with local middle schools but in return you get a soul-less mess of a school.

That's what I've heard. It's a shame because the premise behind the school seemed so promising.

I was SO EXCITED by the concept. The population of students was just not ready for the level of independence that was required of the original concept, so the administration quickly abandoned their original plans. In my opinion, this was a huge mistake. Within the first year, the school became much more like a traditional middle school but it had the disadvantage of having teachers required to teach a curriculum that is entirely developed and put online by a for-profit company. Different teachers have different ways of interacting with this platform and some are more successful than others. However, for the most part, being tied to the Connections Education curriculum and platform hobbled teachers and was a nightmare when it came to matching it with the timelines and grading requirements of PGCPS. The advantages of the school were the ability to take advanced math that was not available at the local middle school and overall safety (they were more or less ok at making sure kids don't get beat up or Jule in the bathrooms). Most of my DS's cohort (the smart cohort) left for high school either going to lottery programs (sci-tech, aero space, health sciences) or private school. My DS reports that ALL of them are SO MUCH HAPPIER and enjoy learning again now that they are out of that environment. It's sad because they had such a good idea and they squished it.

Anonymous wrote:College Park Academy solves some of the bigger problems with local middle schools but in return you get a soul-less mess of a school.

That's what I've heard. It's a shame because the premise behind the school seemed so promising.

Anonymous wrote:So what are the options for middle school? Do you send the kids to a private middle or just try your luck with the lottery school?

We did lottery and got into kenmoor. Very pleased with kenmoor.

College Park Academy solves some of the bigger problems with local middle schools but in return you get a soul-less mess of a school.

Anonymous wrote:So what are the options for middle school? Do you send the kids to a private middle or just try your luck with the lottery school?

We are going to try our luck with the lottery/auditions and then if that doesn't work we will homeschool for middle. Our ES goes to 6th so it would be for 2 years. Our child will apply to TAG MS for 6th and Hyattsville's Arts program for 7th if the TAG program doesn't work out.
College Park Academy is also an option but I have heard mixed reviews.
You could also apply for an administrative transfer to a "better" middle school. I think that last year Tasker and MLK middle were on the list of available schools. You would be responsible for transportation in that case.

Anonymous wrote:So what are the options for middle school? Do you send the kids to a private middle or just try your luck with the lottery school?

Yes.

We have kids at UP and are going private for middle school, and plan to reasses for high school. I think families who can afford it send their kids to private schools for middle school, so the remaining kids that go to Hyattsville middle (only mentioned here because it’s our home school) tend to be lower income with perhaps less parental supervision and involvement. Not saying all the kids are bad, just saying that it’s likely that there is a concentration of problem kids because all the “good” (aka, middle, upper middle class) kids go to private middle schools. Lots of families send their kids to Friends Community School and St. Bernadette’s for 7th and 8th grade.

So what are the options for middle school? Do you send the kids to a private middle or just try your luck with the lottery school?

What happens at places like Hyattsville Middle is a mystery to me. Schools like Hyattsville Elem and UP Elem are excellent schools with committed parents and dynamic teachers. Middle school comes and those schools feed into Hyattsville middle where kids are smoking weed in 7th grade, kids regularly get beat up, kids are juling in the bathrooms, skipping classes, pregnant, vandalizing yards after school. The list goes on. The parents and community complain to the principal and the school system and nothing is done. This is a year's long known problem. Where is the breakdown?