BASIS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something like 60% of BASIS kids take public transit. You’re probably better off going from NW to BASIS than some of the other metro lines.

That said, I don’t put my own kid on metro, because I think metro is dangerous.

lol what? Metro is not dangerous.

Stop laughing metro is dangerous. Kid has to be smart enough to get appropriate help if someone tries to abduct them.

LOL just teach them never to agree to step into someone's personal white traincar with tinted windows, and only ever climb into 7000 series public traincars. There, no abductions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t almost everybody generalizing from their particular experience on DCUM?! Sheesh.

It's fait to call out that poster for generalizing from their particular experience when their post starts with This statement screams to be qualified.

“My kid was straight As in BASIS DC middle school. We moved DC to a public school in Arlington after my spouse and I divorced. My kid got Bs at the new school and didn’t make the NOVA tri-county MS district band. Therefore, BASIS DC is bad and any BASIS DC boosters are just buying into BASIS exceptionalism, which is a total fiction.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t almost everybody generalizing from their particular experience on DCUM?! Sheesh.

It's fait to call out that poster for generalizing from their particular experience when their post starts with This statement screams to be qualified.

“My kid was straight As in BASIS DC middle school. We moved DC to a public school in Arlington after my spouse and I divorced. My kid got Bs at the new school and didn’t make the NOVA tri-county MS district band. Therefore, BASIS DC is bad and any BASIS DC boosters are just buying into BASIS exceptionalism, which is a total fiction.”

lol

Must be BASIS's fault. Obviously, the messy divorce, new school, and joint custody had nothing to do with it.

[Anonymous]

It’s easier for people to pretend that BASIS has the freedom and flexibility to violate DC law than it is to blame DC’s politicians for caring so little about educational outcomes in most DCPS middle and high schools. Everyone deserves to have an inbounds default school that cares about academic success. Too bad people leave DC before they can help vote these people out…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t almost everybody generalizing from their particular experience on DCUM?! Sheesh.

It's fait to call out that poster for generalizing from their particular experience when their post starts with This statement screams to be qualified.

“My kid was straight As in BASIS DC middle school. We moved DC to a public school in Arlington after my spouse and I divorced. My kid got Bs at the new school and didn’t make the NOVA tri-county MS district band. Therefore, BASIS DC is bad and any BASIS DC boosters are just buying into BASIS exceptionalism, which is a total fiction.”

Post all the overwrought derision you want but the PP who found new challenge in Arlington in 8th grade makes a valid point. Even the highest-performing DC public schools are average overall by the standards of top suburban programs in the DMV offering extensive middle school tracking, other than for science and math instruction at BASIS.

I'm not just referring to deluxe test-in magnets in MoCo. Fairfax still offers robust GT programming in most neighborhood middle schools, and Arlington is rolling out intensified classes for 7th graders in four core subjects in the fall. Loudoun county tracks the most. It's a myth that BASIS offers advanced humanities to middle schoolers. My kid had to read and write disappointingly little in 5th, 6th and 7th grade English and social studies classes at BASIS. Easy to get mired in relativism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s easier for people to pretend that BASIS has the freedom and flexibility to violate DC law than it is to blame DC’s politicians for caring so little about educational outcomes in most DCPS middle and high schools. Everyone deserves to have an inbounds default school that cares about academic success. Too bad people leave DC before they can help vote these people out…

Nobody's pretending that. Nobody's voting anybody out by staying either. No hope in hell that Charles Allen will be recalled in the fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s easier for people to pretend that BASIS has the freedom and flexibility to violate DC law than it is to blame DC’s politicians for caring so little about educational outcomes in most DCPS middle and high schools. Everyone deserves to have an inbounds default school that cares about academic success. Too bad people leave DC before they can help vote these people out…

Nobody's pretending that. Nobody's voting anybody out by staying either. No hope in hell that Charles Allen will be recalled in the fall.

I hope not. I'm not a fan of Ward 6 sitting without a representative.

[Anonymous]

Don't worry, Allen will easily survive and he's not gunning for BASIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something like 60% of BASIS kids take public transit. You’re probably better off going from NW to BASIS than some of the other metro lines.

That said, I don’t put my own kid on metro, because I think metro is dangerous.

lol what? Metro is not dangerous.

Stop laughing metro is dangerous. Kid has to be smart enough to get appropriate help if someone tries to abduct them.

The chances of someone trying to abduct a middle or high school child on the Metro are basically zero. That's not to say there are no potential problems, like the risk of getting hit by a car walking to and from the Metro and the risk of being bullied or mugged by other kids. However, my kids have not reported any such issues after many years of commuting to Basis, and there's a huge benefit of gaining confidence in their ability to get around the city independently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something like 60% of BASIS kids take public transit. You’re probably better off going from NW to BASIS than some of the other metro lines.

That said, I don’t put my own kid on metro, because I think metro is dangerous.

lol what? Metro is not dangerous.

Stop laughing metro is dangerous. Kid has to be smart enough to get appropriate help if someone tries to abduct them.

The chances of someone trying to abduct a middle or high school child on the Metro are basically zero. That's not to say there are no potential problems, like the risk of getting hit by a car walking to and from the Metro and the risk of being bullied or mugged by other kids. However, my kids have not reported any such issues after many years of commuting to Basis, and there's a huge benefit of gaining confidence in their ability to get around the city independently.

I love hearing this. My kid is starting next fall, and we are three Metro stops away from Basis. I really am looking forward to him taking ownership over this commute -- I can see that he'll gain a lot of confidence through that process. When did your child start doing it on their own?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something like 60% of BASIS kids take public transit. You’re probably better off going from NW to BASIS than some of the other metro lines.

That said, I don’t put my own kid on metro, because I think metro is dangerous.

lol what? Metro is not dangerous.

Stop laughing metro is dangerous. Kid has to be smart enough to get appropriate help if someone tries to abduct them.

The chances of someone trying to abduct a middle or high school child on the Metro are basically zero. That's not to say there are no potential problems, like the risk of getting hit by a car walking to and from the Metro and the risk of being bullied or mugged by other kids. However, my kids have not reported any such issues after many years of commuting to Basis, and there's a huge benefit of gaining confidence in their ability to get around the city independently.

I love hearing this. My kid is starting next fall, and we are three Metro stops away from Basis. I really am looking forward to him taking ownership over this commute -- I can see that he'll gain a lot of confidence through that process. When did your child start doing it on their own?

My child will also start BASIS in the fall and we are debating on whether Metro or Bus is better.

Metro pros: reliability, faster,
Bus: safer? less walking

Anyone here have strong opinions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something like 60% of BASIS kids take public transit. You’re probably better off going from NW to BASIS than some of the other metro lines.

That said, I don’t put my own kid on metro, because I think metro is dangerous.

lol what? Metro is not dangerous.

Stop laughing metro is dangerous. Kid has to be smart enough to get appropriate help if someone tries to abduct them.

The chances of someone trying to abduct a middle or high school child on the Metro are basically zero. That's not to say there are no potential problems, like the risk of getting hit by a car walking to and from the Metro and the risk of being bullied or mugged by other kids. However, my kids have not reported any such issues after many years of commuting to Basis, and there's a huge benefit of gaining confidence in their ability to get around the city independently.

I love hearing this. My kid is starting next fall, and we are three Metro stops away from Basis. I really am looking forward to him taking ownership over this commute -- I can see that he'll gain a lot of confidence through that process. When did your child start doing it on their own?

My child will also start BASIS in the fall and we are debating on whether Metro or Bus is better.

Metro pros: reliability, faster,
Bus: safer? less walking

Anyone here have strong opinions?

My kid had a strong preference for Metro. I'd try both with your kid and let them decide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something like 60% of BASIS kids take public transit. You’re probably better off going from NW to BASIS than some of the other metro lines.

That said, I don’t put my own kid on metro, because I think metro is dangerous.

lol what? Metro is not dangerous.

Stop laughing metro is dangerous. Kid has to be smart enough to get appropriate help if someone tries to abduct them.

The chances of someone trying to abduct a middle or high school child on the Metro are basically zero. That's not to say there are no potential problems, like the risk of getting hit by a car walking to and from the Metro and the risk of being bullied or mugged by other kids. However, my kids have not reported any such issues after many years of commuting to Basis, and there's a huge benefit of gaining confidence in their ability to get around the city independently.

I love hearing this. My kid is starting next fall, and we are three Metro stops away from Basis. I really am looking forward to him taking ownership over this commute -- I can see that he'll gain a lot of confidence through that process. When did your child start doing it on their own?

My child will also start BASIS in the fall and we are debating on whether Metro or Bus is better.

Metro pros: reliability, faster,
Bus: safer? less walking

Anyone here have strong opinions?

Depends on a lot of things. For example, it's easier to start off with whatever option does not require a kid to change lines. If there are other BASIS students at your bus/metro stop, they can ride together and that also makes it easier and more comfortable for newbies. Metro is also good if there is something going on downtown (construction, parades, protests, etc. etc.) that messes up the driving routes. We started with bus (direct route from near our house to the Navy Memorial) in fifth grade, with a bunch of other kids also going from our neighborhood; as my kid got older and more comfortable in crowded stations, they have increasingly chosen to take metro because it's faster and comes more often -- even though it requires changing lines. So it's been an evolution entirely driven (haha) by the kid's growing independence and comfort level. Overall, being able to take transit has been terrific.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Metro pros: reliability, faster,
Bus: safer? less walking

Anyone here have strong opinions?

I ride the H street to Penn Quarter bus (X2) every day that I go to work. (And for context I don't think metro is scary for kids of middle school age.) I do think there are situations on the bus that my kid would not know how to manage. Would probably ask my kid to take metro.

[Anonymous]

My kid started with the bus in 5th grade and switched to the metro starting in 8th. No problems at all except buses are crowded with a lot of middle schoolers.