How are things going at Walls this year?

[Anonymous]

DS is applying

[Anonymous]

Terrible. No french department. Uninspired teachers. Lots of busy work. Administration is unresponsive. There is nothing impressive about this school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Terrible. No french department. Uninspired teachers. Lots of busy work. Administration is unresponsive. There is nothing impressive about this school.

What grade is your child in? Do you think there will be a lot of kids who don't return next year?

[Anonymous]

My 9th grade is having a terrific year, she is challenged by the work and motivated. I think a lot of kids landed at Walls that normally would not have ended up there due to the admission process implemented during COVID. My kids says there are lot of kids that don't want to put in any work and are academically all over the place. There will probably be attrition, the school isn't for everyone and the COVID admission process opened it up to many that probably wouldn't have been offered a spot in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Agree with previous poster. Some/many kids got in who didn't do much or any work in middle school and have no interest in doing it in high school either. (remember, admissions were only based on grades and 7th grade grades for this cohort were grossly inflated due to term 3/4 work being graded as extra credit in DCPS). Other kids are doing very well and are motivated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Terrible. No french department. Uninspired teachers. Lots of busy work. Administration is unresponsive. There is nothing impressive about this school.

What grade is your child in? Do you think there will be a lot of kids who don't return next year?

9th. I have no idea if kids will leave or not. We will probably stay because we have no other decent options but if you do have options explore them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Terrible. No french department. Uninspired teachers. Lots of busy work. Administration is unresponsive. There is nothing impressive about this school.

What grade is your student in?

What do you mean, no French department? The French teachers all quit and haven't been replaced? What happens during French classes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Terrible. No french department. Uninspired teachers. Lots of busy work. Administration is unresponsive. There is nothing impressive about this school.

What grade is your student in?

What do you mean, no French department? The French teachers all quit and haven't been replaced? What happens during French classes?

Both French teachers quit right before the school year. One was replaced a few weeks ago, the other position is still open. The kids do nothing. No online program, despite tons of technology. It’s absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Terrible. No french department. Uninspired teachers. Lots of busy work. Administration is unresponsive. There is nothing impressive about this school.

What grade is your student in?

What do you mean, no French department? The French teachers all quit and haven't been replaced? What happens during French classes?

Both French teachers quit right before the school year. One was replaced a few weeks ago, the other position is still open. The kids do nothing. No online program, despite tons of technology. It’s absurd.

Missing permanent teachers is a DCPS-wide problem. Wilson for example is facing the same thing. My 10th grader at Walls is enjoying it and learning a lot. The classrooms are well behaved and the kids are there to learn. The administration is okay but not great. One big time dud teacher last year (Spanish) but all teachers this year are strong.

The administration this year chose to weaken the admissions standards with the stated purpose to enable more students from Wards 7 and 8 to gain admission but the lower standards apply to students from all Wards. So going forward the school likely will need to lower the rigor of its classes somewhat to account for students (from all Wards) who are not as academically prepared. That's a bummer for highly prepared students of which there are many at Walls. And it may lead some top students to go private in search of teaching that is more appropriate for their level of academic preparedness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Terrible. No french department. Uninspired teachers. Lots of busy work. Administration is unresponsive. There is nothing impressive about this school.

What grade is your student in?

What do you mean, no French department? The French teachers all quit and haven't been replaced? What happens during French classes?

Both French teachers quit right before the school year. One was replaced a few weeks ago, the other position is still open. The kids do nothing. No online program, despite tons of technology. It’s absurd.

Missing permanent teachers is a DCPS-wide problem. Wilson for example is facing the same thing. My 10th grader at Walls is enjoying it and learning a lot. The classrooms are well behaved and the kids are there to learn. The administration is okay but not great. One big time dud teacher last year (Spanish) but all teachers this year are strong.

The administration this year chose to weaken the admissions standards with the stated purpose to enable more students from Wards 7 and 8 to gain admission but the lower standards apply to students from all Wards. So going forward the school likely will need to lower the rigor of its classes somewhat to account for students (from all Wards) who are not as academically prepared. That's a bummer for highly prepared students of which there are many at Walls. And it may lead some top students to go private in search of teaching that is more appropriate for their level of academic preparedness.

They effectively don't have criteria for admission-no essay, no recommendations, no admission test, etc. The commute from Wards 7 & 8 is awful and plays a major factor. In addition to more looking or staying in private, I suspect more will give Banneker a look and it will become more diverse. Banneker keeps its standards but Walls basically kills all of theirs. Makes absolutely no sense......

[Anonymous]

My 10th grader is having a great year. Finally making connections and this makes a huge difference. Walls is the right place for him.

However - I agree with the comments on the administration. Over the last year, they lost their Principal and an AP.

The replacements do not come close.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Terrible. No french department. Uninspired teachers. Lots of busy work. Administration is unresponsive. There is nothing impressive about this school.

What grade is your student in?

What do you mean, no French department? The French teachers all quit and haven't been replaced? What happens during French classes?

Both French teachers quit right before the school year. One was replaced a few weeks ago, the other position is still open. The kids do nothing. No online program, despite tons of technology. It’s absurd.

Missing permanent teachers is a DCPS-wide problem. Wilson for example is facing the same thing. My 10th grader at Walls is enjoying it and learning a lot. The classrooms are well behaved and the kids are there to learn. The administration is okay but not great. One big time dud teacher last year (Spanish) but all teachers this year are strong.

The administration this year chose to weaken the admissions standards with the stated purpose to enable more students from Wards 7 and 8 to gain admission but the lower standards apply to students from all Wards. So going forward the school likely will need to lower the rigor of its classes somewhat to account for students (from all Wards) who are not as academically prepared. That's a bummer for highly prepared students of which there are many at Walls. And it may lead some top students to go private in search of teaching that is more appropriate for their level of academic preparedness.

I am PP and don’t disagree that there is a shortage of teachers. My issue is that admin has made no attempt to get kids online resources for French class. It shows a lack of initiative and value on instruction.

[Anonymous]

DCPS changed the admissions policy, not Walls. DCPS was never going to allow an admissions test again.

[Anonymous]

My 9th grader is bored- there's plenty of work but it's mostly busy work. Teachers are mediocre at best. The other students are fine and well-behaved but there's no school spirit and it's hard to maintain social relationships with kids from around the city. It has been disappointing.

[Anonymous]

We have been very disappointed with Walls (DC is in 10th grade). We’ll stick it out but last year was terrible (his friends at Wilson had much better remote experiences.) I’ve head Wilson is crazy this year but I also know several people who are happy there. We expected much more from Walls. The best part is his peers, who are pretty hardworking and conscientious.