Lafayette 4th grade families?

[hopey]

Yesterday I got a call from the school secretary at Lafayette, who said a spot had opened up and would my stepson like to attend Lafayette? His father and I enthusiastically said yes, since Lafayette was our #1 choice and we were on the waiting list.

I stopped by to chat with Principal Turner yesterday, but I was wondering if there are any other parents of Lafayette 4th graders lurking around? My stepson is new to Seattle this year, so any connections he can make before school starts would be wonderful.

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[Ken]

Hi Hopey. The stepgrandson is a Lafayette 4th grader this year. I will be homework monitor and driver again.

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[WSB]

Congratulations. Not to take away from any of the other FINE West Seattle schools, but our son’s three years at Lafayette (third through fifth grades) were the best years of his educational “career” so far. He’s been out two years and we still feel nostalgic when we drive by.

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[hopey]

Hi Ken! Guess that means we finally need to meet up, huh? :) Classroom assignments will be posted on the door tomorrow, I’ll be heading over in the AM to look. I’ll have Lee send you an email so we can connect.

And thanks for the congrats, TR! From my conversation with the principal yesterday, I think it’s going to be the right fit for my stepson.

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[WSKyle]

Good Luck, Hopey. Not to dump on Lafayette, it is certainly a popular school but you might want to get your stepson ready for worksheets and used to sitting in his desk for long periods of time. The school was a big shock for us moving from the South last year. Our son had a hard time settling in and really found the amount of work to be too much but not necessarily too hard. There is very little time for creativity and learning away from the desk. We felt like his teacher wasn’t interested in him and he was another number. I hope your, and his, experience is better. You may have gotten his place as he got a place in another school 10 days ago :)

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[hopey]

Thanks for the comments. :) We’ve already been warned that Lafayette is academically rigorous, and that is exactly what we were looking for. I do hope the teacher experience is a little better than what you describe. I’ve already had a chat with the principal, and she seems very attentive, so I’m optimistic. I really do appreciate the comments, so thank you!

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[c]

not 4th grade but a 1st and 2nd grader. I have been happy with Lafayette. It is a little more old school more like what I grew up with. (and I turned out fine)

I also have a son at pathfinder and have been happy with their school as well.

you can email me at my spam account taaj@gmail.com

if you have any question shoot me an email

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[maplesyrup]

No public school (or any school for that matter) in the area is going to be perfect, but so far my kids have had good experiences at Lafayette.

There are some *very* good teachers there and Ms. Turner is on the ball.

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[ABC]

Lafayette is a love it or leave it school. We had such a poor experience there and are now going elsewhere. We spoke with Ms. Turner who kept repeating her ”academically rigorous” mantra which I am sure is her code for ”the Xerox machine is my best friend”. The school has no interest in working with families to make for a happier environment, they know their WASL scores will always provide them with a waiting list and there is a constant flow of families in and out of there. What worries me most about this school is the lack of fun and creativity which is sacrificed for high WASL scores. There is no feeling of a love of learning and community in the school and there is no time for investigative or hands-on learning. If it can’t be learned from a worksheet, it simply isn’t learned.

That said, it has a strong PTA that seems to run the show alongside Ms. Turner. Parents get a pack of completed worksheets at the end of the week so they can track their child’s work. This is important to some parents I suppose but I’m not one of them.

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[hopey]

Thanks for all the opinions, everyone. I guess this is why Seattle has a “choice” system instead of a more typical location-based school assignment system. (Yes, I know that is in the process of changing, but it hasn’t changed yet.)

Different kids and different parents have different needs, as well as different ideas of what the “right” school looks like. Something that looks worrisome to one parent might be completely acceptable to another.

I’m taking everyone’s opinions with a grain of salt, but I appreciate all of them! It helps to give me a more rounded picture of what to expect at Lafayette.

Thanks for keeping it civil, as it seems like there are some strong opinions about this school.

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[maplesyrup]

ABC that is the opposite of the experience we’ve had, and we’re on our 3rd kid at Lafayette. Ms. Turner has always been open to meet with us and hear our concerns and there are some great teachers who have made our kids love going to school.

The “no feeling of a love of learning” comment is particularly off the mark. Maybe you had poor teachers but I have to defend Lafayette- it’s not perfect but we like it a lot.

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[hopey]

maplesyrup — as my comment above suggests, I think there is “something for everyone” in the Seattle School District, and the “choice” system encourages schools to be very different.

One of my stepson’s friends attends school at a Montessori-style public elementary school in Beacon Hill. I would rather claw my eyes out than send my stepson there. He would be miserable in that environment, which is why we were hoping for a school with a more structured environment. But the friend is thriving at that other school, because it suits him and his needs very well.

From what I have heard so far, I still believe Lafayette will end up being the right choice for my stepson’s needs and learning style.

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[OlMom]

Just curious.. is the “choice” system going away after this year?

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[hopey]

The way I understand it, it’s not going away so much as getting radically modified. From what I understand, there will now be a location-based “default school”, which kids will be assigned to if they do not make another choice, but there will still be some ability to choose other schools. I believe there will also be much more weighting by location in the choice process. But I’m not an expert and may very well be misunderstanding something. The school board hasn’t made a final decision on it either. Maybe TR has more information.

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[SpeakLoud]

There has been a final decision made and this is it. What they are working on right now are the boundries that each school will have. That will be voted on in Nov. There will be no more choice system for Seattle. You go to the school you are assigned. You can ask to go to another school but based on the new boundries chances are high you will not get in as they are designed to keep the schools full.

http://www.seattleschools.org/area/newassign/final_assign_plan_June17_Cleveland.pdf

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