Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do not want my children split between 2 schools and I am sure I am not the only one.

Was it Eaton, Hearst or Murch that used to only go through 3rd grade? They have moved to a consistent model for a reason.

Maybe it is time to reduce the number of PreK classes and make K smaller?

It was Hearst that only went to the 3rd grade. My now 9th grader at Wilson attended Janney afterwards.

Anonymous wrote:I do not want my children split between 2 schools and I am sure I am not the only one.

Was it Eaton, Hearst or Murch that used to only go through 3rd grade? They have moved to a consistent model for a reason.

Maybe it is time to reduce the number of PreK classes and make K smaller?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"The best thing would be to twin Hearst and Janney with one being the lower and the other the upper elementary school. Run a shuttle school bus between the two to facilitate dropping off and picking up siblings. You could cut class size, right-size the program to the boundary area and have a common curriculum."

I love this idea. We would still retain walkability because we could do drop off at the school closest to our homes with the proposed shuttle. If implemented in the relatively short term it would be a win-win for both schools. Greater OOB for Janney and greater IB for Hearst. I would love to have my child in a school dedicated to young children.

This could totally be seen as a win-win situation. Maybe as an olive branch the Janney PTA could ask to hear thoughts from the Hearst PTA?

Strangely, the real opposition to this could come from some in the Hearst community, as the result over time probably would be a sharp reduction in OOB spots.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"The best thing would be to twin Hearst and Janney with one being the lower and the other the upper elementary school. Run a shuttle school bus between the two to facilitate dropping off and picking up siblings. You could cut class size, right-size the program to the boundary area and have a common curriculum."

I love this idea. We would still retain walkability because we could do drop off at the school closest to our homes with the proposed shuttle. If implemented in the relatively short term it would be a win-win for both schools. Greater OOB for Janney and greater IB for Hearst. I would love to have my child in a school dedicated to young children.

This could totally be seen as a win-win situation. Maybe as an olive branch the Janney PTA could ask to hear thoughts from the Hearst PTA?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have any idea how many OOB children are at Janney?

How many children are there under false pretense? (parents own the property but rent it out so they do not really live there, family somehow provided fradulent information to register?)

Come on - everyone knows a family who used to live there but moved and stuck around in the best interest of their child.

Are you reporting them? Because it is not in the best interest of your child if you think it would be a better learning environment to have a smaller class size.

I know of at least one family at Janney who really lived in MD but registered under a neighborhood address. One parent was a DC government employee and maybe felt they would get a ‘pass’ as a result.

Anonymous wrote:"The best thing would be to twin Hearst and Janney with one being the lower and the other the upper elementary school. Run a shuttle school bus between the two to facilitate dropping off and picking up siblings. You could cut class size, right-size the program to the boundary area and have a common curriculum."

I love this idea. We would still retain walkability because we could do drop off at the school closest to our homes with the proposed shuttle. If implemented in the relatively short term it would be a win-win for both schools. Greater OOB for Janney and greater IB for Hearst. I would love to have my child in a school dedicated to young children.

Anonymous wrote:Do you have any idea how many OOB children are at Janney?

How many children are there under false pretense? (parents own the property but rent it out so they do not really live there, family somehow provided fradulent information to register?)

Come on - everyone knows a family who used to live there but moved and stuck around in the best interest of their child.

Are you reporting them? Because it is not in the best interest of your child if you think it would be a better learning environment to have a smaller class size.

Anonymous wrote:This is funny. You guys are wanting so, so hard not be be rezoned out of Janney forever, inclusive of preK through 5th.

Somehow, it's ok to lose that "walkability" during preK-2 (by being shunted to Hearst), so long as the Janney carrot remains for 3-5th. And the addresses north of Janney who aren't anywhere near Hearst? Get in the car, folks!

But back in the day (last fall 2014), it was NOT ok for any family equidistant btwn Janney & Hearst to lose their precious walkability to Janney. Thus, these addresses could not be rezoned.


Remember that one?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have had 25-29 students in every year of elementary school, as have many in JKLM schools. I do not see it as a problem. There are helpers, assistants, small groups, specialists. It is rare that the whole class is ever expected to learn one lesson together. Just because there are 26 in a class, it doesn't mean they function as a block like that from 9-3. PK students are a source of income for these schools. Each PK student receives more funding from DCPS than a K-5 student and the overall package helps the bottom line budget of a school. Fewer PK may mean a decrease in number of specialists, etc, for upper grades. It is not a simple cut the numbers question. DC has no mandated class size limits, except for PK (limited to 20 in a class). Janney & Mann are not going to get physically bigger. Lafayette and Murch eventually will, but they are all primarily IB schools already, so unless boundaries change the question is better phrased how do schools maximize lesson plans, scheduling, assistants, small group work, etc in schools with high numbers to make sure all children are learning and growing as the population grows.

based on my experience I strongly desagree. we are at Murch, with 2 kids (4th and K). class size has always been 18-22 (with one aide full time in Pre-k and K), except for K for my oldest, when there were 26 kids in her class. that year has been the worst we had and I strongly believe that a smaller class would have been easier for her. she was just learning how to read and many kids in her class were already reading at 1st grade level, and I think it was difficult for the teacher to follow all the kids. this year my youngest is in K and there are 17 kids in her class. the difference is dramatic. if I regularly found classes with 25-29 kids I would change schoool.

Anonymous wrote:My kids have had 25-29 students in every year of elementary school, as have many in JKLM schools. I do not see it as a problem. There are helpers, assistants, small groups, specialists. It is rare that the whole class is ever expected to learn one lesson together. Just because there are 26 in a class, it doesn't mean they function as a block like that from 9-3. PK students are a source of income for these schools. Each PK student receives more funding from DCPS than a K-5 student and the overall package helps the bottom line budget of a school. Fewer PK may mean a decrease in number of specialists, etc, for upper grades. It is not a simple cut the numbers question. DC has no mandated class size limits, except for PK (limited to 20 in a class). Janney & Mann are not going to get physically bigger. Lafayette and Murch eventually will, but they are all primarily IB schools already, so unless boundaries change the question is better phrased how do schools maximize lesson plans, scheduling, assistants, small group work, etc in schools with high numbers to make sure all children are learning and growing as the population grows.