Anonymous
Post 11/23/2014 07:13     Subject: John Eaton Open House - Wed. 10/22 9:15
Anonymous wrote:
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.
.

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


DCPS has done a decent job renovating buildings. I've been to a few other renovated schools and it's a very noticeable improvement in classroom size, often there is new furniture, fixing layout issues. Is there room in the school's average for a gym? Usually phase 1 focuses on classrooms and the main lobby and saves the gym, cafeteria and other spaces for phase 2.
Anonymous
Post 11/22/2014 23:20     Subject: Re:John Eaton Open House - Wed. 10/22 9:15
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I was a parent volunteer and I was surprised at how many questions there were about before and after care (JEAP at Eaton). They were all answered which took up time. I've been to a few of these open houses and this is the most time spent on that topic. Just how it went, I guess.

This was the first time that the student council kids spoke. They were told what kind of questions to expect and were told to answer honestly. Also took up some time.

Tours are definitely allowed/encouraged to enter classrooms-we obviously have to make sure that all parent tour guides know this. Sorry for that.

If anyone has lingering questions, please call the school.



Just my two cents but I think that having the students present for over half of the q&a led to softball questions. No one wanted to be the jerk asking about the Hardy transition or testing. Naturally, we were delighted they were there and wanted them to talk about things they are excited about which generally are the enrichment pieces at school. I thought it was great to get a sense of the student body! They were as adorable as they were articulate.

Perhaps they could add a bit more about curriculum, class sizes, student teacher ratios, and other hard facts in the packet in some sort of collective q&a?

Finally, thanks for being a parent guide! It was nice to get a sense of the parent community we will be entering next year.




[b] Interesting. I actually liked the students sharing their perspectives. I am often offended by questions that are clearly stated in the hand outs or found on-line. I wish more folks would do their homework in researching schools before they attend the open houses. I wanted to know about the extra-curriculars offered because it was clear to me the school had a sound track for the academic piece. Coming from a Kipp school I am not interested in my child being a data point. I know lots of kids that are not happy to be is the schools they are in and found some peace in hearing children share their experience. To each his own I suppose.
Anonymous
Post 10/24/2014 12:02     Subject: John Eaton Open House - Wed. 10/22 9:15
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Last year they had over 800 people apply through the lottery. Many inboundary parents did not get in through the PK. Maybe lots to nitpick but this school has people that want to be there (Both parents and teachers) and that makes a huge difference.


I'm not sure this is accurate.

Through the initial lottery 9 IB students were on the waitlist. I asked the registrar and at this point, all IB PK students that want one have a spot and they accepted 2 or 3 OOB students into PK as well. I'm guessing perhaps some of the other initial IB applicants peeled off to charters and other DCPS as they worked through their waitlists or decided to go private.

So while I agree with your assessment that people want to be there, at least this year, there was room for all IB who wanted in. (I was particularly concerned about PK enrollment since we are IB and would really like for our child to get a spot in PK for next fall.)


Yes, the registrar confirmed at the open house that every IB family who wanted a PK4 spot got one, and they even took a couple of OOB families. She also said that it is much easier to get in OOB for K, when many more slots open up.
Anonymous
Post 10/24/2014 11:41     Subject: John Eaton Open House - Wed. 10/22 9:15
Anonymous wrote:Last year they had over 800 people apply through the lottery. Many inboundary parents did not get in through the PK. Maybe lots to nitpick but this school has people that want to be there (Both parents and teachers) and that makes a huge difference.


I'm not sure this is accurate.

Through the initial lottery 9 IB students were on the waitlist. I asked the registrar and at this point, all IB PK students that want one have a spot and they accepted 2 or 3 OOB students into PK as well. I'm guessing perhaps some of the other initial IB applicants peeled off to charters and other DCPS as they worked through their waitlists or decided to go private.

So while I agree with your assessment that people want to be there, at least this year, there was room for all IB who wanted in. (I was particularly concerned about PK enrollment since we are IB and would really like for our child to get a spot in PK for next fall.)
Anonymous
Post 10/24/2014 11:17     Subject: John Eaton Open House - Wed. 10/22 9:15
Last year they had over 800 people apply through the lottery. Many inboundary parents did not get in through the PK. Maybe lots to nitpick but this school has people that want to be there (Both parents and teachers) and that makes a huge difference.
Anonymous
Post 10/24/2014 08:04     Subject: Re:John Eaton Open House - Wed. 10/22 9:15
Anonymous wrote:I was a parent volunteer and I was surprised at how many questions there were about before and after care (JEAP at Eaton). They were all answered which took up time. I've been to a few of these open houses and this is the most time spent on that topic. Just how it went, I guess.

This was the first time that the student council kids spoke. They were told what kind of questions to expect and were told to answer honestly. Also took up some time.

Tours are definitely allowed/encouraged to enter classrooms-we obviously have to make sure that all parent tour guides know this. Sorry for that.

If anyone has lingering questions, please call the school.



Just my two cents but I think that having the students present for over half of the q&a led to softball questions. No one wanted to be the jerk asking about the Hardy transition or testing. Naturally, we were delighted they were there and wanted them to talk about things they are excited about which generally are the enrichment pieces at school. I thought it was great to get a sense of the student body! They were as adorable as they were articulate.

Perhaps they could add a bit more about curriculum, class sizes, student teacher ratios, and other hard facts in the packet in some sort of collective q&a?

Finally, thanks for being a parent guide! It was nice to get a sense of the parent community we will be entering next year.
Anonymous
Post 10/24/2014 07:51     Subject: Re:John Eaton Open House - Wed. 10/22 9:15
I was a parent volunteer and I was surprised at how many questions there were about before and after care (JEAP at Eaton). They were all answered which took up time. I've been to a few of these open houses and this is the most time spent on that topic. Just how it went, I guess.

This was the first time that the student council kids spoke. They were told what kind of questions to expect and were told to answer honestly. Also took up some time.

Tours are definitely allowed/encouraged to enter classrooms-we obviously have to make sure that all parent tour guides know this. Sorry for that.

If anyone has lingering questions, please call the school.

Anonymous
Post 10/24/2014 06:32     Subject: John Eaton Open House - Wed. 10/22 9:15
The kindergarten classes do have an assistant.
They gave a ton of information on their before- and after-care program. The children seem to love it and it includes a bunch of options like chess, yoga, knitting, and Spanish (I think it includes Spanish but that might be a separate after school option).
Anonymous
Post 10/23/2014 21:44     Subject: John Eaton Open House - Wed. 10/22 9:15
Eaton has come a long way in the past ten years, from the days when one principal invited a feral cat neuterng clinic to operate in the lunch room to his successor who insisted that everyone address her as "Dr" despite having no EdD or PhD degree. (Both were forced out, which was no small feat in the pre-Rhee era.). The two principals after that have been a lot better.
Anonymous
Post 10/23/2014 21:00     Subject: John Eaton Open House - Wed. 10/22 9:15
Current Eaton parent here. Even though we've been at the school for about 3 months, we like it so far. The K classes are big, but not egregiously so (some MCPS schools and even some DCPS ones are similarly big.) The physical plant is quite old and could really use modernization. It is somewhat vexing that the aftercare kids are all crowded in the cramped mezzanines but the children certainly don't seem to mind. The best assets at Eaton are the people (the staff, teachers and the parents).
Anonymous
Post 10/23/2014 18:37     Subject: John Eaton Open House - Wed. 10/22 9:15
Anonymous wrote:
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.
.

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


I went back for a reunion (I'm an alum) and agree the school could use some freshening. And faculty should be allowed to park on the playground or somehow get parking permits. But the cafeteria/gym/theater room worked fine. There were less students there when I was there though, I thin - about city to sixty per grade. Are there more now?
Anonymous
Post 10/23/2014 18:35     Subject: John Eaton Open House - Wed. 10/22 9:15
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I was surprised to hear them say that they have 3 classes of 25 students each for K, admitting a bunch of OOB students to fill them. Seems like they could keep class sizes to a more manageable size by admitting fewer OOB kids for K.


Those are quite large classes for kindergarten


Do the K classes all have a teacher plus a fulltime aide?
Anonymous
Post 10/23/2014 18:34     Subject: Re:John Eaton Open House - Wed. 10/22 9:15
What kind of information was given about their aftercare program?
Anonymous
Post 10/23/2014 17:41     Subject: John Eaton Open House - Wed. 10/22 9:15
Anonymous wrote:I was surprised to hear them say that they have 3 classes of 25 students each for K, admitting a bunch of OOB students to fill them. Seems like they could keep class sizes to a more manageable size by admitting fewer OOB kids for K.


Those are quite large classes for kindergarten
Anonymous
Post 10/23/2014 17:27     Subject: John Eaton Open House - Wed. 10/22 9:15
I was surprised to hear them say that they have 3 classes of 25 students each for K, admitting a bunch of OOB students to fill them. Seems like they could keep class sizes to a more manageable size by admitting fewer OOB kids for K.