Aftercare at Bethune is abysmal. It was one of the main reasons for not choosing to send my child there.

Aftercare is a joke. It's probably my main peeve with the school.

Does anyone know anything about the aftercare?

Anonymous wrote:I also think that as test scores and parental involvement increases, the PTO can argue for 50/50 immersion beyond 2nd grade.

I brought that up with Principal Lewis at my tour, I will be going there this fall (PS-3) and he mentioned that many of the "new" families coming in have had an interest in extending the 50/50 immersion program past the current program. It sounds like it could be interesting to hear about where it could go.

I also think that as test scores and parental involvement increases, the PTO can argue for 50/50 immersion beyond 2nd grade.

OP here: After a few trial runs of doing the drop off and pick up commute, we have decided to give up our PK-3 slot. Just emailed the school. We just can't make it work unless we buy another car and we really don't can't swing that right now. Tried Metro/bus combo and it was over an hour commute each way.

We are going to accept a slot in a charter that does not have Spanish Immersion, but closer to where we live right now. Will just keep keep speaking Spanish at home.

That being said, I think it is a really nice, nurturing school environment. I can say that whenever I visited (3 times) I never noticed behavioral issues in upper grades.

Spanish immersion: from talking to parents who have kids at other immersion schools (LAMB, WIS, Bancroft), I think it is normal for kids to stop wanting to speak the non-dominant language as they get older. They don't want to be "different". We are hoping that our DD's early exposure to another language will give her a curiosity in other cultures and languages.

What I really struck me about MMBDA is that they really want to help develop students into well-rounded, good citizens. Academics are important, but they seemed to care about the holistic development of the children. If we lived in Brookland or a closer neighborhood, we would send her there.

I think Mary McLeod Bethune is going to achieve the goals it seeks and look forward to reading about people's experiences in the forums.

There are a few behavioral issues in the school-my source, close with staff members ...BUT, what school doesn't have issues?

The kids do forget a lot of the Spanish language with the current language model. The immersion classes are 50/50 from PreS to 2nd grade. When kids begin 3rd grade the model switches to taking a Spanish class.

I am sensing that the poster has a culture headache. Her perception makes her head hurt. I do believe when everything immediately went all BLACK she had fainted. Remember you can dream in color.

I am enrolling my child for PreK3 this year and have also visited unannounced a few times to drop off forms. The kids weren't any different than those at Stokes or IT. The second time I visited, one thing I liked is the security monitor recognized me from the tour (and it had been 2 months!).

My child is enrolled there. I have visited unannouced upteen times. I know people that have children enrolled there. I have never seen or heard of anything that even comes close to "considerable behavioral issues". Please site your sources and while you're at it, stop being so self righteous and ridiculous.

The culture, please elaborate.

I would talk to some of the parents of students in the upper elementary grades to see the full effects of the spanish immersion at that school. From what I understand a lot of what they get in the early childhood years is lost by middle elementary. There also seem to be considerable behavioral issues at the school that are reflective of the culture created there.

I received and email as well for PreK4. I too turned down the spot. Good luck to those who accepted the spot and are attending.

We received an email yesterday and unfortunately turned down a PS3 spot. There were about one dozen families on the email, so hopefully that means more spots will open up. It does seem like it's going to be great this year, but when we weren't sure we accepted a private preschool spot and cannot get the deposit back. Enjoy Bethune! And please post next year how the year went.

Enrollment forms are due June 30, but they are starting to call parents of admitted students now since they are running a waiting list.