The School
This fall we decided to send our kids to (gasp!) the public school. Not one of the top-notch in-demand public schools, but Stanton Elementary: the neighborhood school. The school around the corner from our house. The school that not so long ago was the lowest performing school in DC Public. The school with bars on the windows and litter on the front steps. Sounds like the perfect place to send our sweet, innocent children for seven hours every day, no?
When we arrived in DC last January, we visited Stanton as we were weighing our (very few) school options. We met with the then-principal (who won awards for her work at Stanton and has since been promoted to an administrative position) and walked around the school with her, and it didn't seem as scary as I had expected. The halls were bright and quiet, the teachers were professional and polite, and the students were calm and organized. Still, I was concerned about the large class sizes, the quality of academics, and the influences that might affect my children if they attended that school. Harvey had concerns as well, but he felt that we should give it a try. He has strong convictions about connecting with the community in which we live and making a difference where we are. I certainly agree with him to an extent, but I was worried for my kids.
We found a private Christian school near our house that we thought we could afford, so we applied to that school and decided to send our kids there last spring. Cornerstone wasn't perfect, but the kids loved it, made friends, and were learning. There were negative influences around them even there, but I knew that the teachers were believers and they were learning in a Christian context--Bible stories and Scripture were taught directly and also served as a framework for everything else they were learning. Tabitha joined the track team in the spring and excelled. So overall, Cornerstone was a good experience for my kids, a good place for them to transition to life in a new city and environment. My preference was to keep the kids there as long as we stayed in DC.
But after Harvey started receiving his monthly paycheck and seeing how much was left after taxes and insurance, we realized that we really couldn't afford the monthly tuition payment. On top of that, tuition was increasing for the 2013-2014 school year, and it was not financially wise for us to continue at Cornerstone. So last spring we began considering other options, including some of the higher-performing public and charter schools in our area. Not knowing whether we could get all three kids in at the same place, we decided to go ahead and enroll them at Stanton while we waited to see whether any other doors opened up.
Because Stanton had been such a rough, low-performing school, three years ago the district began to pour resources into it, and it entered into a partnership with a charter school called DC Scholars. It is now essentially run like a charter school, but it remains a DC public school in that it is open to all children who live in the surrounding neighborhood. Stanton also received funds to help implement a program in which all students receive a home visit from their teachers during the summer or early fall. Teachers come in pairs and ask parents questions and discuss goals for their students; parents are also able to raise questions and concerns about what goes on in the classroom and school. In July we received a call from Benjamin's teacher to schedule the home visit. We met with her and one of the deans, and after her visit, she contacted Gracie's and Tabitha's teachers to help arrange a visit in which the two of them could come together. We were able to meet with all three teachers before we headed to Oklahoma for our August vacation. All the teachers we met with were young and confident and enthusiastic about the school. This eased my mind and made me more comfortable with the idea of sending the kids there.
By the time we left for Oklahoma, none of the other schools we were considering could take all three kids. We could have sent one or two of them to a charter school, and the other probably would have made it up the wait list during the first week or two of school, but we didn't like the idea of one of them starting one place and having to move again so soon. And after much prayer and discussion and research, we felt like Stanton would be a good option for our family. We knew the teachers, and the teachers knew our kids and would be working to meet their academic needs. It would also give us a chance to get to know other children and families in our own community, become active supporters of the school, and hopefully find ways to minister to and serve the school and community. In the words of a scriptural but sometimes overused metaphor, we could be salt and light in a community that is in many ways tasteless and dark, a community many people have given up on but God will never give up on and expects his children to stand beside Him and fight for.
The kids have now been attending Stanton for more than a month. How are they doing? Tabitha has been praised by her teachers for her reading, writing, spelling, and math skills. Her teacher pairs her with students she knows Tabitha will influence in a positive way behaviorally. Benjamin is reading on grade level and is consistently making good behavioral choices when other boys in his class are making poor ones. Gracie inspired a group of students in her class to do a rainforest project with posters and dioramas; she recently wrote an opinion paper about saving the rainforest and presented it to older classes. She also spends an hour and a half each morning in a third-grade class for reading so she can be learning and doing work that's more on her level. Yesterday one teacher told me she's "the talk of the town." We have met several other parents, and we've planned a play date at our house for Gracie and one of her classmates and her mom, a single parent of seven.
So I would say it's working out so far. It's not perfect--I don't think any school (or homeschool) is. But the kids are learning and even being challenged academically; they're not being bullied; they're not coming home spouting obscenities; they are happy.
We will continue to ask them and their teachers lots of questions and try to be intentional and active in their education. If things change or start to go downhill, we will certainly consider a change for next spring or next fall. For now, we are pleased with DC Scholars Stanton Elementary; thankful for Ms. Haynes, Ms. Stone, and Ms. Lucas and their young "City Year" assistants who work with our children; and grateful to the Lord for being faithful to us in this decision and providing opportunities to minister and serve in his name.
www.dcscholars.org/stanton
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| First day: Would they survive? |
We found a private Christian school near our house that we thought we could afford, so we applied to that school and decided to send our kids there last spring. Cornerstone wasn't perfect, but the kids loved it, made friends, and were learning. There were negative influences around them even there, but I knew that the teachers were believers and they were learning in a Christian context--Bible stories and Scripture were taught directly and also served as a framework for everything else they were learning. Tabitha joined the track team in the spring and excelled. So overall, Cornerstone was a good experience for my kids, a good place for them to transition to life in a new city and environment. My preference was to keep the kids there as long as we stayed in DC.
But after Harvey started receiving his monthly paycheck and seeing how much was left after taxes and insurance, we realized that we really couldn't afford the monthly tuition payment. On top of that, tuition was increasing for the 2013-2014 school year, and it was not financially wise for us to continue at Cornerstone. So last spring we began considering other options, including some of the higher-performing public and charter schools in our area. Not knowing whether we could get all three kids in at the same place, we decided to go ahead and enroll them at Stanton while we waited to see whether any other doors opened up.
Because Stanton had been such a rough, low-performing school, three years ago the district began to pour resources into it, and it entered into a partnership with a charter school called DC Scholars. It is now essentially run like a charter school, but it remains a DC public school in that it is open to all children who live in the surrounding neighborhood. Stanton also received funds to help implement a program in which all students receive a home visit from their teachers during the summer or early fall. Teachers come in pairs and ask parents questions and discuss goals for their students; parents are also able to raise questions and concerns about what goes on in the classroom and school. In July we received a call from Benjamin's teacher to schedule the home visit. We met with her and one of the deans, and after her visit, she contacted Gracie's and Tabitha's teachers to help arrange a visit in which the two of them could come together. We were able to meet with all three teachers before we headed to Oklahoma for our August vacation. All the teachers we met with were young and confident and enthusiastic about the school. This eased my mind and made me more comfortable with the idea of sending the kids there.
By the time we left for Oklahoma, none of the other schools we were considering could take all three kids. We could have sent one or two of them to a charter school, and the other probably would have made it up the wait list during the first week or two of school, but we didn't like the idea of one of them starting one place and having to move again so soon. And after much prayer and discussion and research, we felt like Stanton would be a good option for our family. We knew the teachers, and the teachers knew our kids and would be working to meet their academic needs. It would also give us a chance to get to know other children and families in our own community, become active supporters of the school, and hopefully find ways to minister to and serve the school and community. In the words of a scriptural but sometimes overused metaphor, we could be salt and light in a community that is in many ways tasteless and dark, a community many people have given up on but God will never give up on and expects his children to stand beside Him and fight for.
The kids have now been attending Stanton for more than a month. How are they doing? Tabitha has been praised by her teachers for her reading, writing, spelling, and math skills. Her teacher pairs her with students she knows Tabitha will influence in a positive way behaviorally. Benjamin is reading on grade level and is consistently making good behavioral choices when other boys in his class are making poor ones. Gracie inspired a group of students in her class to do a rainforest project with posters and dioramas; she recently wrote an opinion paper about saving the rainforest and presented it to older classes. She also spends an hour and a half each morning in a third-grade class for reading so she can be learning and doing work that's more on her level. Yesterday one teacher told me she's "the talk of the town." We have met several other parents, and we've planned a play date at our house for Gracie and one of her classmates and her mom, a single parent of seven.
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| Gracie's rainforest poster |
So I would say it's working out so far. It's not perfect--I don't think any school (or homeschool) is. But the kids are learning and even being challenged academically; they're not being bullied; they're not coming home spouting obscenities; they are happy.
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| With Arthur at the National Book Festival: Still happy after a month in school |
www.dcscholars.org/stanton
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