Murch has a very active community of parents. the HSA contributes over $200,000 a year to teh school, paying for staff positions (teacher aides and playground aides), a variety of school supply, improvements and so on. also as a result of these efforts, all pre-K and K classes have one teacher and one full time aide, while the classes in each fo the higher grades share a aide. Classes are not large in my esperience. with my kid, there were 20 kids in pre-K, 25 in K, 20 in 1 st grade and I think 20 or 21 in 2nd gr. Parents can donate to the HSA, and there are several fundraisers throughout the year. A number of parents also lead after-school activities (various hands-on science classes, herb, vegetable, and batterfly gardens) .

Murch is scheduled for renovation in 2014. I share the concerns about the playground. I noticed the one at Jenney shrank considerably after the renovation, hope the one at Murch is not headed for the same fate. my undertanding from talks with school officials is that the main building of Murch is considered some kind of historic building and the outside shell must be maintained, or that there are limits to the changes that can be made. to me, this is ridiculous. I am all for preservation, but we are not talking about the Coliseum. I was happy that the older part of Wilson with the tower was preserved, but the criteria should be that a school must be build or renovated so it work best to accomodate the students (all of them, and anticipating that there will be more and more of them), not that a red brick building must be maintained so everything must work around it.

Janney allocated to much space to outdoor space at large foyers at the expense of not having enough classrooms. Lafayette and Murch parents: make sure your schools don't do the same thing when they renovate!

Anonymous wrote:Seems like Lafayette, Murch, Janney have tons of kids as more and more people are choosing those schools over privates. How are the schools accommodating the enrollment boom? I am guessing this is the impetus for rennovations/expansions? Are they also adding more teachers? How many kids can be in a class? And can patents donate individually or through the PTA to aid rennovations or hire more staff?

Class size isn't a problem at Murch; it's space. Fifth grade, art, and music are in trailers. The renovations are intended to alleviate the space problem (as well as to modernize, of course). Of course, Janney's renovation was just completed and they're already over capacity, I believe.

HSA at Lafayette funds staff positions. I assume other schools do this as well but I am not certain.

Seems like Lafayette, Murch, Janney have tons of kids as more and more people are choosing those schools over privates. How are the schools accommodating the enrollment boom? I am guessing this is the impetus for rennovations/expansions? Are they also adding more teachers? How many kids can be in a class? And can patents donate individually or through the PTA to aid rennovations or hire more staff?

They must take all in bounds kids from K through 5. Perhaps PPs kids are in preK - there are no guaranteed spots for preK even if you are IB.

PP indicated that children are in boundary for Murch but had been wait listed. How is that possible? It is a public--don't they have to take all children who live in boundary?

Anonymous wrote:Lafayette is going to undergo a major renovation next year. Maybe that was already mentioned. Not sure if Murch is on schedule for one soon as well.

Murch reno set for 2014.

Both good schools--you'll be fine either place.

Lafayette is going to undergo a major renovation next year. Maybe that was already mentioned. Not sure if Murch is on schedule for one soon as well.

First year Murch parent. Moved to the area a few years ago from downtown DC after having kids. We love it here. Great community, Block parties. Lots of families with kids close by, neighbors with kids, parks, good commute. Still can walk to Starbucks, Conn Ave, restaurants, metro. As for 80% attending private not sure how that is. My kids were wait listed at Murch this year and we are in-bounds. Eventually got in but class is filled with in bound kids. Each year more and more are using or switching to Murch, Lafayette, Janney, Deal, Wilson.

You are lucky to be deciding between the two! Both are good. Of course, like any school there are some teachers that are better than others - but you will find that anywhere. Public, private, charter, suburban etc...

live in Lafayette boundary but DD goes to Murch (due to move after pre-K, she loved it and we were happy so decided not to change). with the caveat that I know Lafayette only based on what my neighbours say, I think they are in general equivalent (meaning they provide a good education). I think the student body at Murch is more diverse, also due to the higher variery in housing choices available, single family homes, condos and rentals, while at Lafayette seems to be less diverse in terms of race and economic background. Murch is also smaller I think.

Is it fair to say that Lafayette and Murch are relatively similar and both provide a solid education? I'm not lookin to get into nitty gritty bit rather a generalization.

I this the playground can be Livington (go there during the day or week end, tons of kids of all ages - I have been going there since my first was born, and we still go there with a 7 yr old and a 3.5 yr old), can be the small one next to the library, or even Murch playground, after school is over, especially if you are closer to Nebraska. lots of kids there too, there is a smaller playground with toddlers, but my kids always used the bigger one, eve when they were 2. there are tons of kids everywhere. we are est of Cn, our kids go to public, as the three kids who live across the st. from us. the three kids next door are teen now, but they all went to public school. Cleveland Park has very expensive homes (= people with $$$$) and, at least until recently, a not so good el school, or at least not good enough for the $$$$ people. in this area we have good schools IMO, and this is why more people who could afford private go public

The closest playground IS livingston. Re very young kids, it depends on what pocket of cc you're talking about. On the west side, if you're in a 2 block pocket with the smaller homes and / or row homes, there are equal numbers of preschoolers and elementary kids. But if you're in the $1.5M+ subarea, then not so much. PP had that right -- those homes have either teens, empty nesters or elementary kids in private.

I don't know how to characterize the subarea above military and east of 41st; someone else should chime in there