Anonymous wrote:For the poster who wrote about Forrest Knolls, how does it work? I have a pre-schooler who had cerebellum damage beg. in Dec. 2011 and for now at least has lost the ability to walk independently completely over the past year; no cognitive issues at all. We got a walker recently. She is not using it enough. She's in a PEP pilot class.

At FK, is an aide shared among several kids? Around how many physically challenged kids are there in a class? Just curious as we think about next year. Do kids come from outside of SS in nearby clusters in Montg. Cty?

Why don't you see if you can transfer to the Forest Knolls Orthopedic Handicapped preschool. There is room in the 4 year old class and your child will get class 5 afternoons a week. Can you reopen your IEP and ask about it? The preschool is for kids who have primarily a physical disability but not a cognitive one, so your child would be right for this program. I would call the school and ask to speak to the staff member who handles the OH program. I don't know the person this year because the former person retired last June.

A lot of the people in MCIPT don't even know about this program and I don't know why. We had 5 therapists coming to our house and only 1 knew about this program. It is rather new.

Anonymous wrote:For the poster who wrote about Forrest Knolls, how does it work? I have a pre-schooler who had cerebellum damage beg. in Dec. 2011 and for now at least has lost the ability to walk independently completely over the past year; no cognitive issues at all. We got a walker recently. She is not using it enough. She's in a PEP pilot class.

At FK, is an aide shared among several kids? Around how many physically challenged kids are there in a class? Just curious as we think about next year. Do kids come from outside of SS in nearby clusters in Montg. Cty?

There are 2 schools in Montgomery County which have specific programs for physical disabilities, Forest Knolls in Silver Spring, and Judith Resnik in Gaithersburg. There are at least 2 kids in my child's class sharing a para-educator. There are 2 kindergarten classes which have aids. I don't know how many kids have a physical disability and not all of them who do have walkers or wheelchairs (my child has neither). I would make an appointment to talk to the principle if you want to talk about the kids who come to the school. If you live closer to Gaithersburg then you would go to that school. There are kids who are bussed in from out of the neighborhood, I don't know how far out of the neighborhood they are bussed from. Some of us actually live in the neighborhood by coincidence.

For the poster who wrote about Forrest Knolls, how does it work? I have a pre-schooler who had cerebellum damage beg. in Dec. 2011 and for now at least has lost the ability to walk independently completely over the past year; no cognitive issues at all. We got a walker recently. She is not using it enough. She's in a PEP pilot class.

At FK, is an aide shared among several kids? Around how many physically challenged kids are there in a class? Just curious as we think about next year. Do kids come from outside of SS in nearby clusters in Montg. Cty?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So forest knolls has so few kids in each class. It really is not comparable to RHPS at all then even though they both have K-2. RHPS has 40% more kids in a class. It just doesn't seem fair not to give an aide to those schools. No matter how wealthy some of their parents may be, they can't get much indiv attention.

Forest Knolls has fewer kids in each class because it houses the orthopedically handicapped program. (Kids in wheelchairs, or who use other walkers/crutches, etc.)

You know, a lot of posters just talk out of their asses without understanding what programs each elementary school has, and then complain or hypothesize about that school's affluence, minority enrollment etc. It's ridiculous.

My kid is one of those kids at Forest Knolls who is in the OH program and in K and there is an aid in his class to help with the children who are OH (Orthopedically handicapped) in his class. They also have a special education teacher just for K who works with all the kids in K with special needs. So she must be in and out of several classes. Not to mention the OT, the PT and the Speech Therapist at the school. Love our school.

FKES looks like a fantastic school. We are planning to send our kids there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So forest knolls has so few kids in each class. It really is not comparable to RHPS at all then even though they both have K-2. RHPS has 40% more kids in a class. It just doesn't seem fair not to give an aide to those schools. No matter how wealthy some of their parents may be, they can't get much indiv attention.

Forest Knolls has fewer kids in each class because it houses the orthopedically handicapped program. (Kids in wheelchairs, or who use other walkers/crutches, etc.)

You know, a lot of posters just talk out of their asses without understanding what programs each elementary school has, and then complain or hypothesize about that school's affluence, minority enrollment etc. It's ridiculous.

My kid is one of those kids at Forest Knolls who is in the OH program and in K and there is an aid in his class to help with the children who are OH (Orthopedically handicapped) in his class. They also have a special education teacher just for K who works with all the kids in K with special needs. So she must be in and out of several classes. Not to mention the OT, the PT and the Speech Therapist at the school. Love our school.

15 with 2 certified teachers. Small private school in Bowie.

Anonymous wrote:So forest knolls has so few kids in each class. It really is not comparable to RHPS at all then even though they both have K-2. RHPS has 40% more kids in a class. It just doesn't seem fair not to give an aide to those schools. No matter how wealthy some of their parents may be, they can't get much indiv attention.

Forest Knolls has fewer kids in each class because it houses the orthopedically handicapped program. (Kids in wheelchairs, or who use other walkers/crutches, etc.)

You know, a lot of posters just talk out of their asses without understanding what programs each elementary school has, and then complain or hypothesize about that school's affluence, minority enrollment etc. It's ridiculous.

So forest knolls has so few kids in each class. It really is not comparable to RHPS at all then even though they both have K-2. RHPS has 40% more kids in a class. It just doesn't seem fair not to give an aide to those schools. No matter how wealthy some of their parents may be, they can't get much indiv attention.

Anonymous wrote:Ashburton poster here. I never mentioned anything about paying more into the system, and I don't consider myself affluent. I have no issue with Silver Spring and/or Title I schools. I was just making the point that people, including myself, try to move into Bethesda neighborhoods for the schools. However, the Bethesda schools generally seem to be over-crowded with higher class sizes. For example, Asburton is over-capacity by at least 200 students. I'm sort of kicking myself for buying into this neighborhood and its local school, although the neighborhood is very nice and convenient. That is all.

I guess that, despite the conventional wisdom around here, housing cost is not always directly correlated with school quality, as least as far as class size is concerned in the lower grades. I think it's reasonable for this poster to have this regret, but of course it is also reasonable for parents across the county to expect the same quality of education no matter how much the pay for their homes.

The reason Bethesda Elementary has so many aides is because it has a huge SN program. It has nothing to do with affluence.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey all you Silver Spring 20901ers - do you mind posting your school? Thanks!

Another 20901 poster: Oakland Terrace

I thought that there were no 20901 houses/apartments feeding into OTES now that Flora Singer is open?

Yeah I mistyped -- OTES is 20902. Though we live in 20895 so that's why I didn't remember the school zip right.

another forest knolls parent here, awesome school, my k-er has 18 kids not sure home many are in DS' 2nd grande class but definitely less than 20.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RHPS is only K, 1 and 2nd grades. I think it has around 768 (somewhere around there). The 1 and 2nd grades have bigger classes than the Kindergarten.

TY PP
I thought all the ES were K-5

No there are a couple schools in Silver Spring which split the grades K-2, 3-5

Thanks, I was not aware. That's actually a nice split.