First time poster. My son is a rising 1st grader at OTES so he was in the pilot year of Spanish immersion. Like most of the PPs we felt and still feel so lucky to have gotten this giant perk. First, you don't need to do anything to prepare your child. My son came out of K with probably passable preschool level Spanish. They learn a lot through songs, which is very fun to hear when they come home. They learn the basics - letters, sounds, numbers, etc. The Spanish teacher that my son had was very impressive. It must be very hard to speak SOLELY in another language to first time kindergarteners! Of course, some of the kids go in with Spanish as their native language, which is why this is a good community for a two-way immersion.

We WANTED to love this program and really really are hoping for the best in first grade. We aren't the type to make waves or judge too quickly so we gave it the entire Kindergarten year. And after talking to a lot of parents that I've gotten to know, this seems this has been the prevailing sentiment - people haven't known what to expect and wanted to give a lot of leeway for the first year of the program, but everyone has had the same observations....

There was zero communication from teachers. Zero. Including e-mails that often went unanswered until I followed up twice. There was a complete stone wall about volunteering. I signed up to volunteer and then followed up 3 times and was told no. There was never any correspondence home and literally never an update on what the kids were doing in class. This is my first child in elementary school so I didn't know if I was expecting too much, but after talking to teachers in other schools I know that this is unusual. I don't need a weekly or even monthly newsletter. But we never ever heard from the teachers. It's strange to send your 5 year old to Kindergarten all day and NEVER hear what they are up to. And frustrating when you have a small concern or even question and don't get a response. I have a friend who e-mailed the teacher about her child's epi-pen and never heard back.

I didn't want to rock the boat and I'm not up the teachers asses or anything. But it was a very very disengaged year. My son came home happy. He made friends, liked his teachers, and learned Spanish. But I'm surprised because I heard it was such an engaged community and we as parents were not involved at all, even when we tried.

I have chalked Kindergarten up to a wash. It doesn't matter anyway, my son is academically fine, and I do understand that it must be quite the endeavor to start a new program.

That said, at least for his grade, its going to be a huge upheaval every single year. There are 3 new teachers teaching 1st grade this year because of course they need Spanish certified teachers. Each year he moves up, multiple teachers will have to move out. In this sense, there is no comparing the new OTES to the one parents of older children know.

And I'm surprised I guess at the low standards people who love OTES seem to have in general. We got a "back to school" postcard in the mail yesterday from the principal, directing us to the website to read her welcome letter. When you go to the website the welcome letter hasn't been updated - it's the 2018-19 one. It's not a school that feels on top of their stuff. The online portal where the teachers can update you or whatever stayed completely blank the entire year. They did standardized testing that they didn't tell us about ahead of time throughout the year, and the results sometimes showed up in the portal, sometimes not.

I'd actually love to hear from parents of older OTES students to see if this is a different experience from what they got. I still want to like OTES, and the Spanish program is invaluable, but our experience can't possibly be what people are talking about when they say they love the school.

Anyway, just some honest feedback. We have met some really nice families, love that it is a walking school and plan to be engaged members of the community. However, there are a number of things we are really hoping improve in our son's second year.

Good luck, OP! Kindergarten is exciting!

I'm an ES teacher in up-county. Flora Singer is very highly regarded. We bought in OTES for the immersion program but FS would have been our 2nd choice.

You should lobby the BOE for an immersion program there!

Anonymous wrote:Forget about that stupid lottery process. Buy a house in-bounds and your kids are on their way to bilingualism. Good show, MoCo.

Glad we bought here last year. Oldest starts in a few weeks!

Yeah I wish we had bought in-bounds for OTES! We had zeroed in on there and Flora Singer when buying a house and ended up in a neighborhood that goes to the latter. This was a few years ago and the bilingual program hadn't been proposed yet. I'm kinda bummed now even though I've heard good things about Flora Singer.

We just signed a lease for an in-bounds rental. We may buy in a year or two but want to test it (the immersion program) out first. So far so good neighbor-wise. Very friendly.

Forget about that stupid lottery process. Buy a house in-bounds and your kids are on their way to bilingualism. Good show, MoCo.

Glad we bought here last year. Oldest starts in a few weeks!

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I haven't posted since the second page FWIW and wasn't the "big law" poster of course since we already live in Kensington. I appreciate the feedback on OTES.

FWIW, the vice principal did tell me the immersion program will be carried through such that students will be able to continue in Newport.

I've really liked the families we have met thus far on rising-K play dates.

To throw in my 2 cents, we absolutely love Kensington, the neighborhood, farmer's market/events, our local pool, etc. I have lived in Silver Spring, Chevy Chase, Bethesda, and Germantown in my time in the area, and Kensington is my favorite hands down. I frequent the mall and have never seen/had any issues.

That’s really exciting news that the dual immersion program will continue to Newport!

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I haven't posted since the second page FWIW and wasn't the "big law" poster of course since we already live in Kensington. I appreciate the feedback on OTES.

FWIW, the vice principal did tell me the immersion program will be carried through such that students will be able to continue in Newport.

I've really liked the families we have met thus far on rising-K play dates.

To throw in my 2 cents, we absolutely love Kensington, the neighborhood, farmer's market/events, our local pool, etc. I have lived in Silver Spring, Chevy Chase, Bethesda, and Germantown in my time in the area, and Kensington is my favorite hands down. I frequent the mall and have never seen/had any issues.

Thanks for coming back OP. Fellow Kensington resident and love it here too. Hope you love OT - I've talked to many happy parents there!

OP here. I haven't posted since the second page FWIW and wasn't the "big law" poster of course since we already live in Kensington. I appreciate the feedback on OTES.

FWIW, the vice principal did tell me the immersion program will be carried through such that students will be able to continue in Newport.

I've really liked the families we have met thus far on rising-K play dates.

To throw in my 2 cents, we absolutely love Kensington, the neighborhood, farmer's market/events, our local pool, etc. I have lived in Silver Spring, Chevy Chase, Bethesda, and Germantown in my time in the area, and Kensington is my favorite hands down. I frequent the mall and have never seen/had any issues.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This escalated quickly. I think it really bothers some people that it's possible to have great public education options and friendly, safe neighborhoods for median prices. Fear of the unknown can have a price (about 300-400k)!

Most of the people commenting on this thread live in the neighborhood. It is a great neighborhood. Most people in the neighborhood do not have the income to comfortably buy a $900,000 home and question whether spending $900,000 to be right by Wheaton Mall is a good investment. Wheaton Mall is not a luxury shopping experience. I go to Costco, Dick's, Joanns, Target if I must, the movie theater. That is about it for me. My teen daughter and her friends go there a lot to hang out. It is not dangerous, but it is also lacking in nicer restaurants and stores that one could indulge in if they have a high HHI.

Also, ather big law folks will think they are crazy. It is an area of the legal industry where building relationships and networking (both inside and outside of work) is important to succeed.

We don’t live in the Mad Men era of throwing dinner parties for your bosses/superiors. Biglaw lawyers spend all their time working. They don’t care where each other lives. I think the most important thing for a biglaw associate (who has kids) is to live in a place you like the public schools because 3 kids in private school doesn’t give you the option to leave whenever you please. And most people at some point leave if they can.

Seriously. BigLaw doesn't care about where you live. They care about your book, your hours, and your work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This escalated quickly. I think it really bothers some people that it's possible to have great public education options and friendly, safe neighborhoods for median prices. Fear of the unknown can have a price (about 300-400k)!

Most of the people commenting on this thread live in the neighborhood. It is a great neighborhood. Most people in the neighborhood do not have the income to comfortably buy a $900,000 home and question whether spending $900,000 to be right by Wheaton Mall is a good investment. Wheaton Mall is not a luxury shopping experience. I go to Costco, Dick's, Joanns, Target if I must, the movie theater. That is about it for me. My teen daughter and her friends go there a lot to hang out. It is not dangerous, but it is also lacking in nicer restaurants and stores that one could indulge in if they have a high HHI.

Also, ather big law folks will think they are crazy. It is an area of the legal industry where building relationships and networking (both inside and outside of work) is important to succeed.

We don’t live in the Mad Men era of throwing dinner parties for your bosses/superiors. Biglaw lawyers spend all their time working. They don’t care where each other lives. I think the most important thing for a biglaw associate (who has kids) is to live in a place you like the public schools because 3 kids in private school doesn’t give you the option to leave whenever you please. And most people at some point leave if they can.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This escalated quickly. I think it really bothers some people that it's possible to have great public education options and friendly, safe neighborhoods for median prices. Fear of the unknown can have a price (about 300-400k)!

Most of the people commenting on this thread live in the neighborhood. It is a great neighborhood. Most people in the neighborhood do not have the income to comfortably buy a $900,000 home and question whether spending $900,000 to be right by Wheaton Mall is a good investment. Wheaton Mall is not a luxury shopping experience. I go to Costco, Dick's, Joanns, Target if I must, the movie theater. That is about it for me. My teen daughter and her friends go there a lot to hang out. It is not dangerous, but it is also lacking in nicer restaurants and stores that one could indulge in if they have a high HHI.

Also, ather big law folks will think they are crazy. It is an area of the legal industry where building relationships and networking (both inside and outside of work) is important to succeed.

Oh come on. All malls are hell holes. I served on a jury that put a man away for decades for an attempted kidnapping at the Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. Guy was a total creeper who had been banned from the mall off and on for years but constantly stalked young girls there.

The Wheaton Mall is not a luxury shopping experience but sorry neither is the mall in Bethesda and I won't even go to Tyson's because it's always a horrific experience. Wheaton is fine if you need something from Target or Costco or want to grab Starbucks. It sucks not much more or less than any other mall. That's why malls are going out of business and consumers are demanding online or other retail experiences.

Anonymous wrote:This escalated quickly. I think it really bothers some people that it's possible to have great public education options and friendly, safe neighborhoods for median prices. Fear of the unknown can have a price (about 300-400k)!

Most of the people commenting on this thread live in the neighborhood. It is a great neighborhood. Most people in the neighborhood do not have the income to comfortably buy a $900,000 home and question whether spending $900,000 to be right by Wheaton Mall is a good investment. Wheaton Mall is not a luxury shopping experience. I go to Costco, Dick's, Joanns, Target if I must, the movie theater. That is about it for me. My teen daughter and her friends go there a lot to hang out. It is not dangerous, but it is also lacking in nicer restaurants and stores that one could indulge in if they have a high HHI.

Also, ather big law folks will think they are crazy. It is an area of the legal industry where building relationships and networking (both inside and outside of work) is important to succeed.

This escalated quickly. I think it really bothers some people that it's possible to have great public education options and friendly, safe neighborhoods for median prices. Fear of the unknown can have a price (about 300-400k)!

I get panhandled in Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Buenos Aires... so if i get panhandled at Target i don't much care.

Come to think of it I get panhandled every single time i go to Barnes and Noble on Rockville Pike.

Target here i come.. panhandle or not!

Anonymous wrote:I am now (apparently) the evil poster.

So what then are you assuming about the race of my family? Just a bit confused on that. Maybe then you are the racist making assumptions? I never talked about race - only you did. But I will let my kids know that tonight. And they will have a good laugh. You assume that only white people care about security or something?

That is ok. I am sure your next come back will be that regardless of my race that I am a "snob". (Or do you not remember the people at the beginning of this thread calling out the OP as a snob because she dropped that her husband was "big law"? Were you one of the people who focused on that?) Should I alert you to my income so you can pass judgement? (Let me help you out - we are median income and home value - https://datausa.io/profile/geo/montgomery-county-md/)

And for the comment re: "Say something at Target". I did once. After I was panhandled in the checkout line. I alerted management they may not want their "guests" being harassed.

Seems the majorty doesn't have these kinds of experiences at Wheaton. My bad. But just because I say I have had these experiences and don't like the mall as a result - that makes me a bad person? So strange it is that AS A RESULT of those experiences that I want my kids to have community that is respectful and avoid the place? No way to win with you.

Calm your ass down. You’re talking to multiple posters. I’m the one who said say something at target. I never mention race or racism so you can put that back in your pocket Polly.
I also said that I’m very aware of criminal offense that of happened at that mall and I don’t let my teenagers hang out there without adult supervision . But we still frequent the mall I don’t necessarily feel unsafe at the mall. You do you do you don’t like it you don’t like the community you are free to move your experiences are not invalid. But for you to try to color other peoples experience and for them to feel the way that you do that’s the issue. And by the way I work on K St. you think you get panhandles at target go downtown DC is full of homeless, usually homeless mentally ill. And unless the target managers said that the person panhandling you was a target employee or they said that’s OK we encourage panhandling at the target I’m not a understanding why you feel it’s their fault did they say we don’t care did they say yeah whatever of it do they cuss you out or you feel like it was their job to iSpy the pan handler before they got in the store? Because a lot of these folks panhandling and asking for stuff are dressed and look like you and I. Had that experience in downtown Silver Spring, downtown Bethesda, downtown DC .