Anonymous
Post 04/27/2016 00:17     Subject: Franklin Montessori student age 3 left in Forest Hills Park by teachers today
Maybe they can have Popsicle sticks with each kid's name on one. When a kid goes to the park, his Popsicle stick gets moved from one container to a separate "park" jar. When the kid comes back, his stick gets moved back.
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2016 23:38     Subject: Franklin Montessori student age 3 left in Forest Hills Park by teachers today
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I generally like the aftercare program but you need to know what you're getting. It's mostly unstructured play time and feels a lot more like a daycare than the primary program does. It is also staffed with the younger teachers. For all of these reasons, my kids absolutely loved it and would do the aftercare program all day if they could, but if you're expecting experienced teachers and lesson plans like primary, you will be disappointed. The teachers can also vary a bit day to day and month to month, though every teacher at the school seemed to know my sons well and have a relationship with them. I never noticed them seeming worn out but it is true that many of them work during the primary program as well.


I'm not looking for lessons or anything resembling the regular day. I am fine with unstructured play time. However, when you have 30 kids in a room with 3 teachers and it's already the end of the day, it's still better to have either more experienced teachers or more teachers-- not just warm bodies to sit on a chair and make sure no one is being hurt. A few years ago, they actually started shortening the play time into 30 min for half the group rather than an hour for the whole group because the gym was just a jungle and totally chaotic. Yeah, my 4 YO active boy held his own, but not the younger 3s.

Many of the teachers were totally burned out by the end of the day. Wouldn't you be??


I've personally never seen close to 10-1 coverage during aftercare, but I think enrollment has been down a bit lately so maybe it was like that previously.
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2016 23:11     Subject: Franklin Montessori student age 3 left in Forest Hills Park by teachers today
Anonymous wrote:

That place needs to get shut down. It's a rip-off daycare, not a school. The owner is a first class shyster. Believe me.



OK now you are over the top.
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2016 23:08     Subject: Franklin Montessori student age 3 left in Forest Hills Park by teachers today


That place needs to get shut down. It's a rip-off daycare, not a school. The owner is a first class shyster. Believe me.

Anonymous
Post 04/26/2016 23:02     Subject: Franklin Montessori student age 3 left in Forest Hills Park by teachers today
Anonymous wrote:I generally like the aftercare program but you need to know what you're getting. It's mostly unstructured play time and feels a lot more like a daycare than the primary program does. It is also staffed with the younger teachers. For all of these reasons, my kids absolutely loved it and would do the aftercare program all day if they could, but if you're expecting experienced teachers and lesson plans like primary, you will be disappointed. The teachers can also vary a bit day to day and month to month, though every teacher at the school seemed to know my sons well and have a relationship with them. I never noticed them seeming worn out but it is true that many of them work during the primary program as well.


I'm not looking for lessons or anything resembling the regular day. I am fine with unstructured play time. However, when you have 30 kids in a room with 3 teachers and it's already the end of the day, it's still better to have either more experienced teachers or more teachers-- not just warm bodies to sit on a chair and make sure no one is being hurt. A few years ago, they actually started shortening the play time into 30 min for half the group rather than an hour for the whole group because the gym was just a jungle and totally chaotic. Yeah, my 4 YO active boy held his own, but not the younger 3s.

Many of the teachers were totally burned out by the end of the day. Wouldn't you be??
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2016 18:13     Subject: Franklin Montessori student age 3 left in Forest Hills Park by teachers today
I generally like the aftercare program but you need to know what you're getting. It's mostly unstructured play time and feels a lot more like a daycare than the primary program does. It is also staffed with the younger teachers. For all of these reasons, my kids absolutely loved it and would do the aftercare program all day if they could, but if you're expecting experienced teachers and lesson plans like primary, you will be disappointed. The teachers can also vary a bit day to day and month to month, though every teacher at the school seemed to know my sons well and have a relationship with them. I never noticed them seeming worn out but it is true that many of them work during the primary program as well.
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2016 15:47     Subject: Franklin Montessori student age 3 left in Forest Hills Park by teachers today
The aftercare program is OK but it's generally staffed by the least experienced assistants who have already been working all day and always look burned out when I pick up. I think if they have such inexperienced aftercare staff, they should add bodies so the teachers don't seem so overwhelmed.

What I like about my current child's aftercare program (DCPS K, privately run) is that the staff do not work at the school during the day, so they are fresh and ready to deal with a bunch of crazy kids from 3-6. If you've already been wrangling young children from 9-3, you are on your last legs from 3-6.
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2016 15:40     Subject: Franklin Montessori student age 3 left in Forest Hills Park by teachers today
Anonymous wrote:I am a parent there. I do think certain aspects of the program are high quality but the ratios are too high. They need more teachers in the aftercare program and perhaps more assistants in the regular primary program. As I understand it, the max class size for primary is 30 kids and 3 teachers. I think that's ridiculous. With more kids going to DCPS for PK4 or not staying for K, the class sizes have gotten naturally smaller and more manageable.


This is the PP who said it's a high quality program and I wouldn't hesitate to send my kid again. I will qualify that by saying that my child was not in aftercare so I can't speak to that aspect.
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2016 15:36     Subject: Franklin Montessori student age 3 left in Forest Hills Park by teachers today
I am a parent there. I do think certain aspects of the program are high quality but the ratios are too high. They need more teachers in the aftercare program and perhaps more assistants in the regular primary program. As I understand it, the max class size for primary is 30 kids and 3 teachers. I think that's ridiculous. With more kids going to DCPS for PK4 or not staying for K, the class sizes have gotten naturally smaller and more manageable.
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2016 15:34     Subject: Franklin Montessori student age 3 left in Forest Hills Park by teachers today
How can it be high quality if this has happened 2X? That is clearly NOT high quality, imo!!!
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2016 15:30     Subject: Franklin Montessori student age 3 left in Forest Hills Park by teachers today
My child was a student at Franklin until last year, including the time of the first child being left behind. I'm really surprised it would happen again -- particularly because I have so much faith in the school's leadership. It's such a high quality school that I wouldn't hesitate to send my child there all over again, despite this mix-up. I can only imagine how sick they are over it. This is a mistake -- a bad one -- but a mistake at an otherwise very well-run school.
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2016 14:30     Subject: Franklin Montessori student age 3 left in Forest Hills Park by teachers today
Anonymous wrote:It does not matter if it was 5 minutes or an hour.

1. A child was left at the park.
2. The school did not realize it until they were called.


Plus 1 million
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2016 13:50     Subject: Franklin Montessori student age 3 left in Forest Hills Park by teachers today
It does not matter if it was 5 minutes or an hour.

1. A child was left at the park.
2. The school did not realize it until they were called.
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2016 13:42     Subject: Franklin Montessori student age 3 left in Forest Hills Park by teachers today
Anonymous wrote:Fundamentally, it's just too many kids in a group and not enough adults who actually know the kids and their names.

Also, when your method of keeping track of kids is counting the kids and not a list of names, then you will have issues.
In this instance, because there was an extra child in that group that was not typically part of the group, the protocols all fell apart. Yes, I'm sure they did count the number of kids 4 times as they are supposed to, but it didn't take into account that Larla was in the group too.


They do use a list of names in addition to a count. The child's name was not on the list. But yes, I agree neither protocol works if there's an extra child.
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2016 13:35     Subject: Franklin Montessori student age 3 left in Forest Hills Park by teachers today
Anonymous wrote:It could not have been that long. I was at the school when the kids got back and it was after 5. If it was over an hour, no one came to pick up the kid before the school closed.


Yeah, I think whomever first posted it was an hour saw the first group of kids leaving and timed from then, which might have been an hour. It could not have been an hour from when the second group left.