I'm waiting for someone to bring a Civil Rights case against PGCPS for the whole specialty program system.

Latinos are vastly under-represented in elementary level specialty programs and since those programs cost significantly more money than regular schools, latino children aren't being funded to the same extent as non-latino kids.

PGCPS does not do a good enough job explaining the lottery system to immigrant communities.

Anonymous wrote: I am not eligible to send my child to any of the schools you spoke of because of where I am located at in the county. Our options; Dora Kennedy, Phyliss E. Williams and Robert Goddard are consistently out of reach for practically everyone. If it's true that the schools in the other part of the county have open spots then maybe they need to revise the way that slots aware awarded. For instance, if those in the assigned areas do not accept the spots, perhaps they should be offered to those on the waitlist for the other part of the county.

I do not disagree that there need to be better MS options, but that should not preclude them from offering better options for ES students as well.

I think if budget wasn't an issue, then yes expanding ES options would be great but budget is an issue and I think that MS should be a higher priority.

I am not eligible to send my child to any of the schools you spoke of because of where I am located at in the county. Our options; Dora Kennedy, Phyliss E. Williams and Robert Goddard are consistently out of reach for practically everyone. If it's true that the schools in the other part of the county have open spots then maybe they need to revise the way that slots aware awarded. For instance, if those in the assigned areas do not accept the spots, perhaps they should be offered to those on the waitlist for the other part of the county.

I do not disagree that there need to be better MS options, but that should not preclude them from offering better options for ES students as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If that is the true site i'm completely bummed. This county HAS TO improve the offerings. For K we have #185 for Spanish Immersion and #84 for French Immersion.

This is such a bratty response. “HAS TO?!?” What do you think you’re entitled to? Public education? Surprise! You already have it. Go to your neighborhood school. PG County can improve in so many ways, but it already offers way more than most school districts across the country. Be thankful for what you have. Or, you know, continue whining that your precious may have to go to school with the poors.

Excuse me what? Do you realize how ridiculous this response is? PG county has the highest taxes of any MD county and yet the schools are by and large subpar. It is not "bratty" to want better options. I don't care that my neighborhood school is "poor", since logically if it's my school I obviously live in the catchment area. I do care that there are repeated behavior issues and incidents amongst students and staff members that are not adequately addressed. So no, my son can't go there and furthermore, he won't. There are only two "specialty" program schools (I'm not counting Pullen because the performing arts aspect doesn't start until 3rd grade) that you are eligible for in each section of the county. Each and every year they have waiting lists in the thousands. If you don't think that's an issue, that's fine, however, I do. I pay taxes and I'm entitled to want more for what I'm paying out than a failing school option.

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They do not have waitlists in the thousands. Maya Angelou French Immersion and Chaves and Overlook Spanish Immersion had slots for K at the end of last year and they reopened the lottery. Most of the elementary TAG centers had open slots at all grade levels.
The Montessori schools have long waitlists because people want free Pre-K.

PGCPS spends a ton of money on specialty elementary school programs and bussing those kids all over the county. If they moved that money to local elementary schools, the issues you cite might be able to be addressed. It is a cycle that the county has backed us into that can't easily be addressed.

I think that if they want to expand the Specialty programs the county's priority should be to expand Pullen's Middle School Program, expand Hyattsville MS's Arts program (or open another one), offer Middle School IB program/s that are open to all students in the county and add a TAG middle school center to the Northern part of the county. These are the specialty programs that have the longest waitlists and often the local schools are not an option.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If that is the true site i'm completely bummed. This county HAS TO improve the offerings. For K we have #185 for Spanish Immersion and #84 for French Immersion.

This is such a bratty response. “HAS TO?!?” What do you think you’re entitled to? Public education? Surprise! You already have it. Go to your neighborhood school. PG County can improve in so many ways, but it already offers way more than most school districts across the country. Be thankful for what you have. Or, you know, continue whining that your precious may have to go to school with the poors.

Excuse me what? Do you realize how ridiculous this response is? PG county has the highest taxes of any MD county and yet the schools are by and large subpar. It is not "bratty" to want better options. I don't care that my neighborhood school is "poor", since logically if it's my school I obviously live in the catchment area. I do care that there are repeated behavior issues and incidents amongst students and staff members that are not adequately addressed. So no, my son can't go there and furthermore, he won't. There are only two "specialty" program schools (I'm not counting Pullen because the performing arts aspect doesn't start until 3rd grade) that you are eligible for in each section of the county. Each and every year they have waiting lists in the thousands. If you don't think that's an issue, that's fine, however, I do. I pay taxes and I'm entitled to want more for what I'm paying out than a failing school option.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If that is the true site i'm completely bummed. This county HAS TO improve the offerings. For K we have #185 for Spanish Immersion and #84 for French Immersion.

Why don't you want to go to your local elementary school?

If the county is going to improve specialty program offerings they need to do it at middle school level not elementary. There are plenty of good neighborhood elementary schools that would be even better if they didn't have all the highest achieving kids pulled into specialty programs. There aren't many good neighborhood middle school options.

This x1,000. Your local elementary school is probably completely fine for your kid. Invest time and energy there and let the county offer more for older students.

As a point of fact, my local elementary school is NOT an option. But thanks for your input.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If that is the true site i'm completely bummed. This county HAS TO improve the offerings. For K we have #185 for Spanish Immersion and #84 for French Immersion.

This is such a bratty response. “HAS TO?!?” What do you think you’re entitled to? Public education? Surprise! You already have it. Go to your neighborhood school. PG County can improve in so many ways, but it already offers way more than most school districts across the country. Be thankful for what you have. Or, you know, continue whining that your precious may have to go to school with the poors.

There is no need to tone police the previous poster. You don’t know their personal situation and even if you did, they have the right to their completely normal and not at all inappropriate emotions. Feel free to stay off this thread if you wanna talk down to people understandably fretting over their lottery admissions — especially since that is basically the premise of the op.

Anonymous wrote:If that is the true site i'm completely bummed. This county HAS TO improve the offerings. For K we have #185 for Spanish Immersion and #84 for French Immersion.

This is such a bratty response. “HAS TO?!?” What do you think you’re entitled to? Public education? Surprise! You already have it. Go to your neighborhood school. PG County can improve in so many ways, but it already offers way more than most school districts across the country. Be thankful for what you have. Or, you know, continue whining that your precious may have to go to school with the poors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If that is the true site i'm completely bummed. This county HAS TO improve the offerings. For K we have #185 for Spanish Immersion and #84 for French Immersion.

Why don't you want to go to your local elementary school?

If the county is going to improve specialty program offerings they need to do it at middle school level not elementary. There are plenty of good neighborhood elementary schools that would be even better if they didn't have all the highest achieving kids pulled into specialty programs. There aren't many good neighborhood middle school options.

This x1,000. Your local elementary school is probably completely fine for your kid. Invest time and energy there and let the county offer more for older students.

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if, all else equal, the county tends to offer placements in numerical order? I know this is a lucky problem, but we got raw numbers that are likely placements in two schools. Our number for Spanish (my preferred school) is in the low 20s. My number for French is 90. I know either of those numbers could get a placement. Is the likelihood that we would be placed in Spanish?

I'm not exactly sure but I would guess you would get placement at the Spanish immersion. The FI schools have less than 90 slots for K per school and some are set aside for preference. If you are at 90 then you shouldn't make the first round at french immersion.

Does anyone know if, all else equal, the county tends to offer placements in numerical order? I know this is a lucky problem, but we got raw numbers that are likely placements in two schools. Our number for Spanish (my preferred school) is in the low 20s. My number for French is 90. I know either of those numbers could get a placement. Is the likelihood that we would be placed in Spanish?

Anonymous wrote:Pretty sure it’s the raw numbers. My DC has a sibling preference and got “waitlist” #11.

You just made my day! Looks like we are headed to Kenmoor!

Anonymous wrote:If that is the true site i'm completely bummed. This county HAS TO improve the offerings. For K we have #185 for Spanish Immersion and #84 for French Immersion.

Why don't you want to go to your local elementary school?

If the county is going to improve specialty program offerings they need to do it at middle school level not elementary. There are plenty of good neighborhood elementary schools that would be even better if they didn't have all the highest achieving kids pulled into specialty programs. There aren't many good neighborhood middle school options.

Pretty sure it’s the raw numbers. My DC has a sibling preference and got “waitlist” #11.

Anonymous wrote:If that is the true site i'm completely bummed. This county HAS TO improve the offerings. For K we have #185 for Spanish Immersion and #84 for French Immersion.

They might be the raw numbers. If they are, you are in good shape for French Immersion.