Hardy v Deal

[Anonymous]

My rising 6th grader could go to Hardy or Deal (weird, but true). More friends going to Hardy, but a couple at Deal and Deal is more convenient. All the principal issues at Hardy led me to feel it was a clear choice picking Deal, but with a new principal in place I’m second guessing. Thoughts? I know Hardy is smaller and that’s appealing, but does it have a couple more years of rebuilding to do?

Child seems to be ok with either, though I imagine Deal would be a tougher transition since they know few people there.

[Anonymous]

Go Hardy

[Anonymous]

Not sure if the logistics at play that make this a choice for you also factor into which high school your child can attend, but if it were me, I'd also take into consideration whether you'd prefer Jackson-Reed vs MacArthur HS, since the middle school you choose may impact your feed into either of those.

[Anonymous]

You live in-bounds for Deal and your child went to a Hardy feeder? If your child wants to go to Hardy, I might go with that because you have the backdrop that you can always switch to Deal and/or J-R.

[Anonymous]

Questions I'd start by asking?

a) which one could you walk to
b) where are their friends/neighbors going
c) could you walk to macarthur/JR down the line

if your kid could walk to one school and the fed in high school, that school is a no brainer

[Anonymous]

Hardy for sure. Deal is too big.

[Anonymous]

Avoid Hardy

[Anonymous]

Three of three teachers got hit on one Deal team this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You live in-bounds for Deal and your child went to a Hardy feeder? If your child wants to go to Hardy, I might go with that because you have the backdrop that you can always switch to Deal and/or J-R.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Hardy has a fantastic new principal and is a smaller school. I’d go with Hardy and then if it’s not a great fit you can go to Deal.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all. I’m concerned the IB for Deal may change, so don’t think I can count on being able to switch after a year. Hardy would mean driving them each day- 15 min each way wi to out traffic. Deal could be a bus. But if Hardy were closer it would probably be my preference. But MacArthur would be even more difficult a commute.

The feedback i hear on Deal is so confusing. Some love it, some have nothing good to say. I guess it’s so big that the experience of individual kids and families can vary a lot. Any suggestions on how to navigate it to avoid the bad teachers? Is the school responsive if you ask for a class change?

[Anonymous]

luck of the draw. if you end up in a group where there's a teacher missing, it's tough. Hiring is REALLY hard - finding middle school teachers, attracting them AND getting them through the ridiculous process that DCPS requires means if there's an empty teacher position, it takes a long time to get filled. Advocating for more efficient onboarding is the best thing you can do.

We had a really great experience, FWIW, but I also have the kind of kid who might feel stifled in a small school (I did...)

[Anonymous]

and... since DC stinks, don't count on a bus route existing in the future. WMATA forgot to include schools when they envisioned their new routes and lines. https://dcist.com/story/23/04/11/metro-redesigning-bus-system/

[Anonymous]

Driving? They are both on Wisconsin Avenue or near.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks all. I’m concerned the IB for Deal may change, so don’t think I can count on being able to switch after a year. Hardy would mean driving them each day- 15 min each way wi to out traffic. Deal could be a bus. But if Hardy were closer it would probably be my preference. But MacArthur would be even more difficult a commute.

The feedback i hear on Deal is so confusing. Some love it, some have nothing good to say. I guess it’s so big that the experience of individual kids and families can vary a lot. Any suggestions on how to navigate it to avoid the bad teachers? Is the school responsive if you ask for a class change?

Deal has 1400 students. There is no way everyone's experience is going to be positive. We had one recently finish at Deal, had a great experience. We have another coming in in a year and I have no concerns sending them to Deal. My oldest had no major staff disruptions and only a few problematic teachers. I really think it all depends on who you talk to. Some people do have a bad experience, and I know families who have left Deal because their kid had specific needs or couldn't take the chaos. That being said, I have had some of the teachers mentioned on here as being a "nightmare" and I would not characterize it as dramatically. Or there have been times that DCUM would report some "major fight" that happened and when I ask my kid, they're like, oh yeah, that happened, no big deal. I think the average experience falls in the middle of what gets reported on DCUM.

I can't speak to Hardy but a lot of the issues I see at Deal are ones at all DCPS schools - staff turnover, filling staff gaps, and bad behavior. I can't imagine Hardy is much different from Deal aside from the size and feeder pattern.

On the bad teacher issue. There is no way to control your kids' schedule and unexpected absences or family leave/illness comes up and there's nothing you can do to anticipate it. I know people who have switched teachers but per my example above, I had a friend tell me their kid switched 2 teachers because they were "awful" and one of the ones they left was a teacher my child saw as a mentor who went out of their way to help my kid learn the material. And the other teacher they moved to was someone my kid really struggled with and would have rather they not have had.