Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Community tensions" because some in boundary families got shut out of preschool? It's hard to be sympathetic about that considering it's a lottery. That neighborhood's three-year-olds don't need it, either.

Special circumstances intervened, in case you missed it. Not only were 30 in-boundary families shut out of preschool by the 2013 lottery, they were shut out automatically a second time when Brent didn't open any PreK spots for them. The LSAT helped make these decisions. If you think that excluding 40% of families in one cohort before K bodes well for school community cohesiveness, and fund-raising for that matter, tell us what logic you're following.

Anonymous wrote:"Community tensions" because some in boundary families got shut out of preschool? It's hard to be sympathetic about that considering it's a lottery. That neighborhood's three-year-olds don't need it, either.

Anonymous wrote:Lafayette, Janney, Murch, Stoddert, Mann and Key, are all way above capacity, close to double capacity in several cases. No thanks, even if they're "better." Most use classroom trailers, with kids forced to venture outside to access bathrooms in other buildings. Lafayette, with the city's highest test scores, doesn't even have many walls inside (it's being renovated, noisily).

JKLM and private schools have their own problems, too, a strong undercurrent of snobbery and droves of hopelessly pampered kids among them. You won't find a nicer or more grounded group of with-it urban parents than those associated with Brent.

Lower grades parents generally haven't been on the Hill very long. They don't remember the days when Brent was a stinky dark cave with broken glass on the tarmac and no in-boundary kids.

The principal seems pushed around more by his teachers than parents, especially the Early Childhood group. I have confidence that the LSAT will make needed changes this year.

Anonymous wrote:Rock throwing -- I am the 1st one to say that the kids are pretty crazy on the playground, before/after school and during recess. But by crazy I mean flying balls going stray from the kickball area, kids running around not necessarily paying a huge amount of attention to other people. The occasional friendly wrestling. Doesn't work well for MY kid, but DC is a shy type. That doesn't mean it's really an actual problem. As to ROCK THROWING?! What?! How could a kid under the age of 10/11 hurl a rock over a 16? 20?-foot fence? Balls get KICKED over all the time, but a rock? I've never seen it and if it did happen it's an incredibly rare occurrence.

Drop off -- very smooth for the most part as long as people follow the rules (no parking, no double parking). It is tough, especially when your kid is still too young to head onto the playground unescorted. There's U-turns, though they are against school rules. I would say 98% of the time I follow all rules and 2% I have to break one to get my kid there on time. I'm sure most other people are the same (we are OOB). Not ideal, but I've seen the same at many many other schools around town.

DC is in upper grade, receives great kudos for strengths and support for weaknesses. Teachers go above and beyond and always have with a few exceptions for both my kids (other DC is in MS). We are very pleased there for a multitude of reasons.

I am baffled why there can't be properly stocked bathrooms at such a rich school.

I'm not worried about MS, feel like I have several options.

Special ed seems to be better than many schools, not as good as many others.

A private school with smaller class sizes and fewer kids on the playground at the same time would be my ideal, but otherwise, I think Brent is a great fit for our child/family.

Rock throwing?!