Peabody And SWS Are Expanding
Peabody Expansion FAQ
What grades will Peabody have for School Year (SY) 2012-2013? Where will these classes be located?
Peabody will have 3 PK3 (aka preschool) classes, 4 PK4 and 5 Kindergarten classes. All PK3s will be on the first floor in classrooms with bathrooms. One PK4 will be on the first floor as well. On the second floor, there will be 3 PK4s and 1 Kindergarten class. The third floor will house 4 Kindergarten classes. The 4th floor will continue to be in use as the Library and Art Studio.
How many spaces does Peabody have at each grade level?
The PK3 classes have 15 students with a teacher and an assistant. For SY 12/13, we will be admitting 45 new three year-olds through the lottery process. The PK4 classes have 20 students, also with a teacher and an assistant. Of the 80 spots, 30 will be taken by returning students from PK3 and 50 spots will be filled through the lottery process. At the Kindergarten level, we will have a total of 110 spots, with classes of 22 students. We have 60 returning PK4 students and will fill the remaining 50 spaces through the enrollment and lottery process.
How will new students and families be welcomed to Peabody and the Capitol Hill Cluster family? How can current families help?
As always, we will be holding an orientation for new families in May and a community potluck in September in addition to the first week of school conferences and Back to School Night. As families come to Peabody to complete the enrollment process this spring, they will be given information on joining the PTA and Peabody listservs. Each of the current classes will be regrouped for the next school year, so that each PK4 and Kindergarten class will be comprised of returning and new students. Peabody’s commitment to Responsive Classroom philosophy will help each of these classes form their own community in the fall.
We would like to have a welcome committee made up of current Peabody families to serve as a point of contact for the new families. If you have a child in PK3 or PK4 and would be available over the summer to be in touch with new families and to help organize the community potluck, please contact Melissa Smith (Melissa.smith2@dc.gov).
How is the Peabody staff preparing for the expansion?
Peabody has a strong building-level leadership team. The team has already begun working on issues surrounding the expansion, including forming a personnel committee and fielding resumes, communicating facilities needs to DCPS and planning orientations for new and returning families.
As a part of the expansion process, the building-level leadership team and Principal Clemens have decided that PK4 and Kindergarten teachers will not participate in a looping cycle this year. The Kindergarten teachers have devoted a significant amount of work to building a curriculum around the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and will continue this process next year. The PK3 and PK4 teachers have perfected their team planning process and will be prepared to incorporate new staff members into their strong teams next year. The Peabody staff plans to study different looping structures during the next year, with the possibility of adding loops again in SY 2013/2014.
What changes in personnel will occur as a result of Peabody’s expansion?
The current Peabody classroom teachers and assistants will be returning next year, as will our special subject teachers: librarian Sue Bloom, Art teacher Katie Cushman and PE teacher Asa Davis. Our wonderful administrative assistant, Ms. Turner, will be returning as well. When we receive our budget from DCPS, we will be able to plan for additional personnel, including classroom teachers, assistants, special subject teachers and support staff. Our personnel committee has begun constructing interview questions and reviewing resumes to find great candidates for the new positions at Peabody.
What changes in facilities will occur as a result of Peabody’s expansion?
Our building is the home to our students and staff for up to 11 hours each day and we want to make sure that everyone is comfortable, with access to what they need. We are planning some changes to facilities and routines. The PK3 students will eat lunch in the classrooms and the PK4 students will eat in the main and middle cafeterias. We have requested structural changes to the current nurse’s office so that it can be used as an additional cafeteria during the Kindergarten lunch period. That space will also be used for PE during the morning and afternoon.
The building-level Leadership Team is making a list of furniture and equipment that will be needed for the PE space and the four new classrooms. Principal Clemens is in regular contact with the appropriate people at DCPS to ensure that the building will be ready in August.
How do I obtain a spot for my child at Peabody and what is the enrollment process?
The PK and out-of-boundary lottery process has begun and ends on February 27. New and returning families should come to the Peabody office to complete the enrollment process by May 1.
Please refer to the following chart for more information.
| My child is a … | How to obtain a spot? | How to enroll my child? |
| In- or –out of boundary 3 or 4 yr. old (new student) | Complete the lottery process by February 27 | Follow the post-lottery instructions from DCPS |
| Current Peabody student | No action required | Complete enrollment packet in spring |
| Current SWS PK student(in- or out-of-boundary) | Notify Ms. Turner of your intent to enroll in Peabody for Kindergarten | Complete enrollment packet in spring |
| Current SWS K student(in- or out-of boundary) | Choose a school for 1st grade | Complete enrollment packet for Watkins or SWS |
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On Friday, February 10, DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced the relocation of the School-Within-School at Peabody to the Logan Annex beginning with the 2012-2013 school year.
SWS has shared space with Peabody for many years and nurtured hundreds of Cluster children at the beginning of their educational experience. We will miss working with their staff and interacting with SWS students every day. However, we are very happy for SWS as they embark on a new and exciting chapter for their school.
The Cluster looks forward to expanding Peabody’s successful and well-respected program throughout our entire building, and the opportunity it provides for both Peabody and SWS to create more high quality early childhood learning opportunities.
Planning is already underway to ensure a smooth transition, from gearing up to staff our new classes with excellent teachers and assistants to managing the behind-the-scenes work involved in expanding our school by one third.
Please see the FAQ below from the Chancellor’s office for additional information about the plans for next year and what our current and future families can expect during the transition period.
Thank you for your support of our students and our school.
Dawn Clemens
Principal, Capitol Hill Cluster School
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For more information, please see:
Peabody Expansion Changes Letter 2-20-12 (PDF). Text also appears below.
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Expansion Update 2/20/2012
Dear Peabody and SWS Parents:
As you know, Peabody will be expanding next year with many exciting changes around the building. We are writing to update you on this expansion and address many of the questions you may have about the changes at Peabody.
Peabody will continue to provide our scholars with an excellent educational experience as well as introducing our families to all the Capitol Hill Cluster School has to offer. Our current teaching staff is hard at work addressing new staffing needs, facilities issues and the instructional needs for the next school year.
One of the changes that will occur is in our looping structure. As you know, Peabody’s PreK-4 students in the past have largely “looped” with the same classmates and teachers as they move up to Kindergarten. “Looping” has proven to have many beneficial attributes: mainly a consistency in the learning experience, an enhanced familiarity for parents, teachers, and students alike, and the opportunity for our teachers to grow their knowledge base and skill set along with their students.
The transition by DCPS to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) as well as the expansion of the Peabody program have led us to re-examine the most effective way to meet our students’ needs. We have concluded that maintaining the current teaching teams in their grade levels and regrouping our current PreK-4 students for their Kindergarten year is in the best interest of our current students and the future of Peabody.
Classroom teachers will coordinate to construct class lists for next year, working to ensure continuity for our scholars as well as maintaining the diversity among classrooms, a hallmark of the Peabody experience.
Peabody’s current Kindergarten and Pre-K teams have committed significant time and resources to developing curricula that conform to Common Core State Standards as they apply to our scholars in each grade. Each grade team believes that next year’s students would be best served by teachers that have fully developed the grade-appropriate curricula, while at the same time, complete their work on building a solid template of expertise that could be better shared with and adopted by all Peabody teachers.
As we add four new classes, Peabody will be hiring a number of new teachers and assistants. The teacher leadership team is looking forward to identifying the right personnel to support Peabody’s expansion. Our new colleagues, and most importantly their students, will be best served coming into an educational environment strengthened by the incumbent experience and foundation laid by the current grade-level teams.
We plan to study “looping” structures again in the future, considering developmentally-appropriate practices, the needs of our students, and the strengths of our teachers. We will be considering in the next year whether a PreK-3 “loop” to PreK-4 or a PreK-4 “loop” to Kindergarten as it currently is practiced will serve our scholars best.
There will be physical changes to Peabody as well. We will be adding one new PreK-3 and one new PreK-4 class as well as two Kindergartens classes. We will be making changes to the ground floor to accommodate the additional students for lunch and to allow for our excellent Physical Education program to have a designated space. More information on the facilities and staffing can be found in the attached FAQ.
As we prepare for these changes, we are asking for the help of our energetic parent community. We would like to form a “Welcome Wagon” committee of parents who can be available over the summer to answer questions and organize park “meet-ups” for incoming families. We are also looking for Peabody families who are interested in participating more actively with the PTA as our student body grows. If you are interested in helping with either of these items please contact Melissa Smith, Peabody teacher at Melissa.smith2@dc.gov.
Please feel free to contact Principal Dawn Clemens at dawn.clemens@dc.gov if you have any further questions or concerns regarding the upcoming expansion.
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Frequently Asked Questions SWS Move to Logan Annex
1. What will be the SWS school boundary for SY12-13 and until a permanent location has been
identified?
SWS will not change its boundary for the 2012-13 school year, the school will continue to share a boundary with Peabody. SWS will remain with the same boundary until a permanent location has been identified.
2. Will SWS remain in the Capitol Hill Cluster for SY12-13?
No. SWS will become a stand-alone school, starting next school year. This means that SWS will be staffed as a school and benefit from the comprehensive school staffing model, including having its own principal. For this year’s lottery (Jan – Feb 2012), SWS, Peabody, Watkins, and Stuart-Hobson families will all receive sibling preference across all campuses. This preference will not carry over to next year’s lottery (Jan – Feb 2013).
3. What will be the school’s feeder pattern?
SWS will add a grade every year, starting with 1st grade next school year. The destination middle school will be determined once a permanent location is identified. We know now that it will not be Stuart-Hobson. There is no room at Stuart-Hobson to support an additional feeder school. The remaining options are Eliot-Hine MS and Jefferson MS. Both Jefferson and Eliot-Hine feed to Eastern HS.
4. What grades will be offered in the Logan Annex?
SWS will add first grade in SY12-13 and 2nd grade in SY13-14. An expansion to PS (3 year old) cannot be supported in the Annex, but we hope will be part of the expansion when SWS moves to a permanent location.
5. Can SWS families transfer to Peabody next year, if they do not want to move?
Currently, there is a school level policy that does not allow students in either Peabody or SWS to switch programs. Due to the move, SWS families will be given the opportunity to transfer to Peabody, without going through the lottery, for next school year. Peabody families who have children in both SWS and Peabody will also have the opportunity to switch to SWS, in an effort to limit the burden on families who must travel to two locations. This exception will only be made for next school year. Families interested
in doing this must inform their school leader as soon as possible.
6. When will the long-term site decision be made?
DCPS will engage the SWS community in this decision. We anticipate the community engagement process to begin in Spring 2013. A decision will be made no later than the opening of the lottery in January 2014.
7. Will SWS be located in the main Logan building?
No, Capitol Hill Montessori is located in the main building. The SWS program will be located in the Annex. There may be opportunities to use some space in the main building in year 2 (SY13-14) for auxiliary purposes, but we expect all classrooms will be in the Annex.
8. If there are enough Capitol Riverfront and SWS families to re-open Van Ness, why not do it now?
Some of you have presented compelling data that indicate there are enough students, between SWS and the Capitol Riverfront families, to support the opening of Van Ness now or next year. While we don’t doubt the commitment from SWS and the Capitol Riverfront community to fully enroll any classes at Van Ness, we believe that the DCPS inventory will change and the decision of where SWS should be permanently location should not be limited to the buildings we have available right now. Van Ness will
continue to be a long-term option we consider.
9. What are the next steps?
DCPS is committed to ensuring that the transition for families and staff goes as smoothly as possible, both for SWS and Peabody. Over the next several weeks we will work with schools on the following:
• Move logistics – packing, timeline, classroom set-up, inventory items that move/stay
• Space needs – identify space modifications and needs for Annex and Peabody
• Program development – With SWS expanding to first grade, it is important that the school leadership and staff are able to work on curriculum development and programming.
10. Who is the point of contact for transition/move questions?
All questions and concerns should first be taken to your principal. Claudia Lujan will be the central office point of contact for the move. She can be reached at claudia.lujan@dc.gov. She will be working closely with principals and instructional superintendents during the transition.