How receptive are administrators at these Focus schools to ideas/contributions from parents? Also, are parents allowed to donate money directly to the school or a specific class for supplies? What if a classroom needed a makeover, could the PTA "sponsor" (don't know if that's the right word) that class and raise money to give it a fresh paint, new desks, etc.?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:My child goes to a focus school. I think a lot of interesting insight has already been covered. One point I want to touch on is the trouble we have in reaching out to other families. There is no school directory. They tried to do one last year and we were the only people who submitted contact information for the class. So for example birthday party invitations are a logistical challenge. I want to set up play dates for my child with his friends but I have run into a couple problems. One is that some of the parents don't seem receptive to them and the other issue is the awkwardness of having an initial conversation with another parent about things such as (no violent movies with curse words and do you have a gun and if so is it unloaded and locked up)

I had to tell my child that he couldn't go to someone's house because they wanted to watch The Purge which is a horror movie. My son is 6!

A directory could be intimidating to people who are residency insecure be they poor, illegal, staying with others, not really IB or just embarrassed by a small subsadized apt.

Right, nobody is blaming those people for not participating, but you can't pretend that issues like that don't have an impact on the school community.

This. It's understandable if families feel that way, but it's also understandable to realize that it leads to a vastly decreased sense of community. We are at a Focus school and have noticed the same thing. We do have a directory but about half the class each year is not in it.

Does the directory have to include addresses? The stated concerns could be addressed by just sharing e-mail addresses and phone numbers.

Just a note on field trips- it is very school specific. My children at Beverly Farms (not a focus school) get maybe 1 trip a year and they are not amazing trips. In 3rd grade, their one and only trip was to the zoo. In 4th grade, they went to a colonial school house. That is it! I wish we were getting 2 a school year. Each school has its pros and cons!

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Anonymous wrote:We're at a Focus school and love it. It's different than title 1 in that the poverty level isn't as high. It's socioeconomically and racially diverse and very friendly. Plenty of upper middle class families and plenty who are not. We've enjoyed having smaller class sizes. But that's just our experience with our local focus school. What school is it you aren't sure whether to send your kid to?

What is the name of your Focus school?

Flora Singer

Flora Singer has a fantastic reputation.

New poster/Singer parent. The description comparing focus school v. non focus school doesn't ring true in our experience, so I think it's worth reiterating the answers to many questions is "it depends on the school."

On parent participation, I've noticed that having a staff and PTA make a concerted effort to reach out to parents who may otherwise not feel comfortable participating makes a difference. The school has plenty of translators at PTA meetings, Latino parent coffees in Spanish, etc. There were lots of parents at the Valentines party this week.

My observation re: how ESOL v non ESOL students for my early elementary child is that the teachers coordinate well together for what is likely a large gap in reading when kids are new to English. Reading groups don't seem to be limited to a single classroom, so there's a comparable group for brand new English speakers all the way to the crazy advanced readers.

And yeah, the class size is so small I almost feel guilty - like I'm working the system or something.

To circle back to the OP (I'm the PP who talked about how we have 4 field trips), I'm not going to tell you that being at a Focus School is the most perfect amazing experience ever. There are frustrations, but from reading DCUM, it seems clear that there are frustrations everywhere.

The bottom line is that my high performing kids, who have two well educated parents with high expectations, are thriving at our local school. They are learning and their test scores show that they are well ahead of grade level, they have friends, and the facilities are fine.

In addition, they get to live in a neighborhood we really love, with a lot of other kids who also attend the public school, and a handful of kids doing language immersion or whatever.

Anonymous wrote:Our Focus School does 4 field trips a year, and has for as long as we've been there. The school has funds to cover kids who can't afford the field trip, and the PTA chips in when necessary.

I can't say they had lunch with the chef at the Kennedy Center, but they do cool stuff like the Strathmore, planetarium, University of Maryland, Natural History Museum, that African Circus thing at Montgomery College, Imagination Stage, etc.

+1 this is how it is at my kid's Title 1 school too.

Anonymous wrote:Our Focus School does 4 field trips a year, and has for as long as we've been there. The school has funds to cover kids who can't afford the field trip, and the PTA chips in when necessary.

I can't say they had lunch with the chef at the Kennedy Center, but they do cool stuff like the Strathmore, planetarium, University of Maryland, Natural History Museum, that African Circus thing at Montgomery College, Imagination Stage, etc.

Again. This is obviously school specific. I can absolutely say that we have not had any of those offered at our Focus School other than Imagination Stage and the mandatory 2nd grade one to strathmore.

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Anonymous wrote:Our focus school too does maybe 2 field trips a year. However, I'm fine with that. We do that sort of thing with the kids on the weekend. I'd rather the school focuses on math and reading.

Great for your kids, who get some enrichment outside of school. What about the lower income kids who don't get that opportunity?? You're fine with it because you can fill in the gaps, but the other kids end up missing out completely.

Although there are lots of free activities around DC, there's no need to take responsibility for your child's education and welfare that's the government's job!

That is what public school is about! Providing an edication to aLL kids. Not just wealthy ones. Kids at the focus Schools deserve just as awesome field trips as the kids in wealthier districts. Especially considering that it is all supposed to be one school system.

Our Focus School does 4 field trips a year, and has for as long as we've been there. The school has funds to cover kids who can't afford the field trip, and the PTA chips in when necessary.

I can't say they had lunch with the chef at the Kennedy Center, but they do cool stuff like the Strathmore, planetarium, University of Maryland, Natural History Museum, that African Circus thing at Montgomery College, Imagination Stage, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our focus school too does maybe 2 field trips a year. However, I'm fine with that. We do that sort of thing with the kids on the weekend. I'd rather the school focuses on math and reading.

Great for your kids, who get some enrichment outside of school. What about the lower income kids who don't get that opportunity?? You're fine with it because you can fill in the gaps, but the other kids end up missing out completely.

Although there are lots of free activities around DC, there's no need to take responsibility for your child's education and welfare that's the government's job!

Anonymous wrote:Our focus school too does maybe 2 field trips a year. However, I'm fine with that. We do that sort of thing with the kids on the weekend. I'd rather the school focuses on math and reading.

Great for your kids, who get some enrichment outside of school. What about the lower income kids who don't get that opportunity?? You're fine with it because you can fill in the gaps, but the other kids end up missing out completely.

Our focus school too does maybe 2 field trips a year. However, I'm fine with that. We do that sort of thing with the kids on the weekend. I'd rather the school focuses on math and reading.

I'm one of the PPs whose kid is at a Focus school.

Another difference that we have noticed is the Field Trips. Our friends at schools in Bethesda and Potomac do some fantastic field trips. One was to the Kennedy Center where they got to meet the chef and have a meal, etc.

First off, our Focus School doesn't seem to even have as many field trips overall. But they also can't be that elaborate. This year my 2nd grader has not even been on one field trip yet. They did an in house one in the first quarter. But not one away from school.

Anonymous wrote:Oakland Terrace has a strong PTA and very welcoming community. You get the benefits of the focus school like small class sizes but also a wonderful group of kids and families. I highly recommend it!

My oldest is a rising K for OTES, and I am so excited to read this post! It's consistent with everything we've heard from neighbors with kids there.

I also think that some of the things that have been described as social negatives are trade-offs of living in a diverse community and country. Some parents can't attend school meetings because they have to work, or can't get childcare, and these are real issues. I'd rather we be aware of these as a family than not.

Oakland Terrace has a strong PTA and very welcoming community. You get the benefits of the focus school like small class sizes but also a wonderful group of kids and families. I highly recommend it!