Basis fills a gap that shouldn’t exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's always so interesting how these BASIS threads go. Every thread brings out a cohort of posters who cannot stop themselves from maligning the school. Some people have legit complaints based on actual experiences and facts (and you can tell who they are) but many have no idea what they're talking about and simply accuse others of being boosters when they get called out. Of all the problems this city has with education, it's unbelievable how much energy people seem to spend dumping on this school.

LOL! THIS is hilarious. You don’t seem to realize that this thread was purposely started by OP who is dumping on all schools except Basis as if it’s the be all and end all for any high performing kid.

So yea, pot calling kettle much.

I don’t have any skin in this game. But I looked at Basis for my high performing kid and it was a hard no. Too many negatives weighing the positives. And there are many.

Ok. And I'm someone who spends a lot of time on this thread and was almost discouraged from trying BASIS for my kid by posters like you (maybe literally by you), until lottery time came and thank goodness I talked to real families, real BASIS teachers and spent time there with my husband and realized it was an excellent fit for our child (99th percentile PARCCs with a very good memory). It's not stressful for him, but it's appropriately challenging and I can see him getting smarter. It's also one of the only schools that is very low tech.

Now that we are there, I can't believe I almost didn't take this opportunity because of "secondhand information" people like you. There is no other middle school the city where he would be learning as much. Is it appropriate for every kid? Absolutely not. I can see a lot of his classmates are quite stressed. But it's filling a niche in the city for advanced kids. It just is.

It’s good for an advanced, fairly one-dimensional kid. The kid can’t care about there being strong arts, sports, clubs, a school newspaper, etc.

BASIS is only rigorous academics. The brain drain from BASIS because it manages to be only one thing is real.

Ok. It also has a debate team that has won nationals, and their science Olympiad team just took the regional award and will be competing in nationals this year.

Why would you try to discourage kids from this?

It has a dimension -- academics. Yes kids, even kids who felt moderately bright, might feel very very stressed there. But you need to start questioning whether or not your view of the school accurate.

You literally just listed more academics as proof that it’s not one dimensional. Just own it.

It is frustrating when your child loses friends and top kids in their class because they rightfully want more from school and BASIS stands in the way of it.

It’s not just that BASIS isn’t handing students what they want. It’s that they are actively standing in the way of making the school more well rounded. They do not allow a PTA to fundraise to support extracurriculars. They do not allow parents to raise money to support sports teams.

It’s great if you’re smart and all you want is academic challenge. But that’s not most kids. And the kids who are smart and care about more than that are not well served at BASIS.

Bingo! PP above with high performing kid that said it was a hard no.

I’ll also add that the academic challenge is a fairly rigid and narrow curriculum with not much elective offerings at all. Also trying to cram everything so that senior year kids don’t do much helps no one, especially in math. I say this with a kid testing in 98-99th math percentile

BTW, we were also very unimpressed with the HOS and leadership. Not much confidence from a talking salesmen with no substance.

The business model is to secure taxpayer dollars in exchange for showing they can churn out students with high test scores (number of students who don’t make it through is not important as long as some get good test scores). There’s no profitability in adding extras and you can convince parents it’s because you’re so serious about academics, not because you’re trying to keep costs down for shareholders.

[Anonymous]

I’ll summarize Basis and we can end it here.

If you have a high performing kid who wants to grind out middle and high school, Basis will work for you.

If you have a high performing kid who is more well rounded and wants or needs more then that, go elsewhere. It’s not worth the grind with no balance and not much joy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's always so interesting how these BASIS threads go. Every thread brings out a cohort of posters who cannot stop themselves from maligning the school. Some people have legit complaints based on actual experiences and facts (and you can tell who they are) but many have no idea what they're talking about and simply accuse others of being boosters when they get called out. Of all the problems this city has with education, it's unbelievable how much energy people seem to spend dumping on this school.

Honestly, I know two different families whose kids (three in total) didn't make it through (one did) and they were so hurt by the whole thing... they went in as happy, curious pro-school kids, and came out anxious and hating school. For the kids who work, it works and they're happy, but statistically it doesn't work for most kids... and for taxpayer dollars to go and support that kind of record, just to line the pockets of investors... yeah it really pisses me off.

Does DCPS have problems? yeah! big time! is Basis the answer? only for a small number of those who try it!

Look at the test scores. BASIS *trounces* almost every non-private school in the city. You should be pissed off at these schools that churn out graduates who can't even read.

https://www.empowerk12.org/public-dashboards

Look at the number of kids who go into basis and look how many graduate! That fraction of kids who makes it through the whole school would almost certainly be high scoring at any high school.

I don’t like low scores anywhere but siphoning tax dollars into a for profit system that fails the vast majority of students isn’t the solution.

I’m not anti charter school - pitch me some good non dcps ideas and I’ll bite. Basis ain’t it tho.

Eh, sounds like you just hate charters.

Parents send their kids to BASIS because DCPS is synonymous with low standards. Challenging smart kids is literally the last thing DCPS is worried about.

If you're worried about tax dollars (and I'm pretty sure you actually aren't), you should ask yourself how taxpayers can fund DCPS so well that even elementary school gym teachers make six figure salaries and yet DCPS test scores are worse than Mississippi's. Taxpayers spend an awful lot of public schools in this city and get very little in return.

You don't have to be anti-charter to see that the BASIS business model isn't built to support the 'whole child' and to find that deeply problematic when there could be more funds available locally if they weren't going towards BASIS Ed and when the business model presupposes that parents contributed $300,000 through direct contributions or fees for lock-ins/dances in order to pay the teachers.

I don't know what this word salad is supposed to say but BASIS gets a lot fewer tax dollars than public schools and yet gets far better results.

A lot better results for a narrow number of kids - most kids who start there don’t get the good results.

Look, if you have one of the narrow band of kids who excels in that environment, great… but why should my tax dollars pay for it? Finding alternatives to main stream public school is fine with me, since I think we can all agree that dcps version is not working for most kids in the city, but an alternative that only works for a fraction of the kids who try it shouldn’t be the answer. Even if it was a niche learning environment but the vast majority of kids who try it succeed, I could be okay with it. But basis really feels like a way for parents who really want to send their kids to a rigorous private but want someone else to pay.

Publicly financed education is about getting the best results for the most number of kids, dcps doesn’t do that, but neither does basis.

Do we have to close Banneker too if some kids decide it's too hard? Do you have the same policy for Duke Ellington, if some kids enroll but decide later they want to be engineers and not actors? What about our many bilingual schools? They lose an *enormous* number of kids. By your weird standard, I guess they'd have to go too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll summarize Basis and we can end it here.

If you have a high performing kid who wants to grind out middle and high school, Basis will work for you.

If you have a high performing kid who is more well rounded and wants or needs more then that, go elsewhere. It’s not worth the grind with no balance and not much joy.

You know some families and kids love BASIS, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's always so interesting how these BASIS threads go. Every thread brings out a cohort of posters who cannot stop themselves from maligning the school. Some people have legit complaints based on actual experiences and facts (and you can tell who they are) but many have no idea what they're talking about and simply accuse others of being boosters when they get called out. Of all the problems this city has with education, it's unbelievable how much energy people seem to spend dumping on this school.

Honestly, I know two different families whose kids (three in total) didn't make it through (one did) and they were so hurt by the whole thing... they went in as happy, curious pro-school kids, and came out anxious and hating school. For the kids who work, it works and they're happy, but statistically it doesn't work for most kids... and for taxpayer dollars to go and support that kind of record, just to line the pockets of investors... yeah it really pisses me off.

Does DCPS have problems? yeah! big time! is Basis the answer? only for a small number of those who try it!

Look at the test scores. BASIS *trounces* almost every non-private school in the city. You should be pissed off at these schools that churn out graduates who can't even read.

https://www.empowerk12.org/public-dashboards

Look at the number of kids who go into basis and look how many graduate! That fraction of kids who makes it through the whole school would almost certainly be high scoring at any high school.

I don’t like low scores anywhere but siphoning tax dollars into a for profit system that fails the vast majority of students isn’t the solution.

I’m not anti charter school - pitch me some good non dcps ideas and I’ll bite. Basis ain’t it tho.

Eh, sounds like you just hate charters.

Parents send their kids to BASIS because DCPS is synonymous with low standards. Challenging smart kids is literally the last thing DCPS is worried about.

If you're worried about tax dollars (and I'm pretty sure you actually aren't), you should ask yourself how taxpayers can fund DCPS so well that even elementary school gym teachers make six figure salaries and yet DCPS test scores are worse than Mississippi's. Taxpayers spend an awful lot of public schools in this city and get very little in return.

You don't have to be anti-charter to see that the BASIS business model isn't built to support the 'whole child' and to find that deeply problematic when there could be more funds available locally if they weren't going towards BASIS Ed and when the business model presupposes that parents contributed $300,000 through direct contributions or fees for lock-ins/dances in order to pay the teachers.

I don't know what this word salad is supposed to say but BASIS gets a lot fewer tax dollars than public schools and yet gets far better results.

A lot better results for a narrow number of kids - most kids who start there don’t get the good results.

Look, if you have one of the narrow band of kids who excels in that environment, great… but why should my tax dollars pay for it? Finding alternatives to main stream public school is fine with me, since I think we can all agree that dcps version is not working for most kids in the city, but an alternative that only works for a fraction of the kids who try it shouldn’t be the answer. Even if it was a niche learning environment but the vast majority of kids who try it succeed, I could be okay with it. But basis really feels like a way for parents who really want to send their kids to a rigorous private but want someone else to pay.

Publicly financed education is about getting the best results for the most number of kids, dcps doesn’t do that, but neither does basis.

Do we have to close Banneker too if some kids decide it's too hard? Do you have the same policy for Duke Ellington, if some kids enroll but decide later they want to be engineers and not actors? What about our many bilingual schools? They lose an *enormous* number of kids. By your weird standard, I guess they'd have to go too.

Not closed, but restructured or reorganized or whatever.

And yeah, if Duke Ellington stops serving most of the kids that get sent there, it should be retooled or shut. We shouldn't be using tax dollars to support education that doesn't work for most people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll summarize Basis and we can end it here.

If you have a high performing kid who wants to grind out middle and high school, Basis will work for you.

If you have a high performing kid who is more well rounded and wants or needs more then that, go elsewhere. It’s not worth the grind with no balance and not much joy.

You know some families and kids love BASIS, right?

That's nice. But why should the rest of us pay for it?

Want fringe curriculum, send your kids to private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's always so interesting how these BASIS threads go. Every thread brings out a cohort of posters who cannot stop themselves from maligning the school. Some people have legit complaints based on actual experiences and facts (and you can tell who they are) but many have no idea what they're talking about and simply accuse others of being boosters when they get called out. Of all the problems this city has with education, it's unbelievable how much energy people seem to spend dumping on this school.

Honestly, I know two different families whose kids (three in total) didn't make it through (one did) and they were so hurt by the whole thing... they went in as happy, curious pro-school kids, and came out anxious and hating school. For the kids who work, it works and they're happy, but statistically it doesn't work for most kids... and for taxpayer dollars to go and support that kind of record, just to line the pockets of investors... yeah it really pisses me off.

Does DCPS have problems? yeah! big time! is Basis the answer? only for a small number of those who try it!

Look at the test scores. BASIS *trounces* almost every non-private school in the city. You should be pissed off at these schools that churn out graduates who can't even read.

https://www.empowerk12.org/public-dashboards

Look at the number of kids who go into basis and look how many graduate! That fraction of kids who makes it through the whole school would almost certainly be high scoring at any high school.

I don’t like low scores anywhere but siphoning tax dollars into a for profit system that fails the vast majority of students isn’t the solution.

I’m not anti charter school - pitch me some good non dcps ideas and I’ll bite. Basis ain’t it tho.

Eh, sounds like you just hate charters.

Parents send their kids to BASIS because DCPS is synonymous with low standards. Challenging smart kids is literally the last thing DCPS is worried about.

If you're worried about tax dollars (and I'm pretty sure you actually aren't), you should ask yourself how taxpayers can fund DCPS so well that even elementary school gym teachers make six figure salaries and yet DCPS test scores are worse than Mississippi's. Taxpayers spend an awful lot of public schools in this city and get very little in return.

You don't have to be anti-charter to see that the BASIS business model isn't built to support the 'whole child' and to find that deeply problematic when there could be more funds available locally if they weren't going towards BASIS Ed and when the business model presupposes that parents contributed $300,000 through direct contributions or fees for lock-ins/dances in order to pay the teachers.

I don't know what this word salad is supposed to say but BASIS gets a lot fewer tax dollars than public schools and yet gets far better results.

A lot better results for a narrow number of kids - most kids who start there don’t get the good results.

Look, if you have one of the narrow band of kids who excels in that environment, great… but why should my tax dollars pay for it? Finding alternatives to main stream public school is fine with me, since I think we can all agree that dcps version is not working for most kids in the city, but an alternative that only works for a fraction of the kids who try it shouldn’t be the answer. Even if it was a niche learning environment but the vast majority of kids who try it succeed, I could be okay with it. But basis really feels like a way for parents who really want to send their kids to a rigorous private but want someone else to pay.

Publicly financed education is about getting the best results for the most number of kids, dcps doesn’t do that, but neither does basis.

Do we have to close Banneker too if some kids decide it's too hard? Do you have the same policy for Duke Ellington, if some kids enroll but decide later they want to be engineers and not actors? What about our many bilingual schools? They lose an *enormous* number of kids. By your weird standard, I guess they'd have to go too.

Not closed, but restructured or reorganized or whatever.

And yeah, if Duke Ellington stops serving most of the kids that get sent there, it should be retooled or shut. We shouldn't be using tax dollars to support education that doesn't work for most people.

This is how you end up with nonsense like "differentiation is the same as segregation." race to the bottom, diluted curriculum that ends up benefitting no one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's always so interesting how these BASIS threads go. Every thread brings out a cohort of posters who cannot stop themselves from maligning the school. Some people have legit complaints based on actual experiences and facts (and you can tell who they are) but many have no idea what they're talking about and simply accuse others of being boosters when they get called out. Of all the problems this city has with education, it's unbelievable how much energy people seem to spend dumping on this school.

Honestly, I know two different families whose kids (three in total) didn't make it through (one did) and they were so hurt by the whole thing... they went in as happy, curious pro-school kids, and came out anxious and hating school. For the kids who work, it works and they're happy, but statistically it doesn't work for most kids... and for taxpayer dollars to go and support that kind of record, just to line the pockets of investors... yeah it really pisses me off.

Does DCPS have problems? yeah! big time! is Basis the answer? only for a small number of those who try it!

Look at the test scores. BASIS *trounces* almost every non-private school in the city. You should be pissed off at these schools that churn out graduates who can't even read.

https://www.empowerk12.org/public-dashboards

Look at the number of kids who go into basis and look how many graduate! That fraction of kids who makes it through the whole school would almost certainly be high scoring at any high school.

I don’t like low scores anywhere but siphoning tax dollars into a for profit system that fails the vast majority of students isn’t the solution.

I’m not anti charter school - pitch me some good non dcps ideas and I’ll bite. Basis ain’t it tho.

Eh, sounds like you just hate charters.

Parents send their kids to BASIS because DCPS is synonymous with low standards. Challenging smart kids is literally the last thing DCPS is worried about.

If you're worried about tax dollars (and I'm pretty sure you actually aren't), you should ask yourself how taxpayers can fund DCPS so well that even elementary school gym teachers make six figure salaries and yet DCPS test scores are worse than Mississippi's. Taxpayers spend an awful lot of public schools in this city and get very little in return.

You don't have to be anti-charter to see that the BASIS business model isn't built to support the 'whole child' and to find that deeply problematic when there could be more funds available locally if they weren't going towards BASIS Ed and when the business model presupposes that parents contributed $300,000 through direct contributions or fees for lock-ins/dances in order to pay the teachers.

I don't know what this word salad is supposed to say but BASIS gets a lot fewer tax dollars than public schools and yet gets far better results.

A lot better results for a narrow number of kids - most kids who start there don’t get the good results.

Look, if you have one of the narrow band of kids who excels in that environment, great… but why should my tax dollars pay for it? Finding alternatives to main stream public school is fine with me, since I think we can all agree that dcps version is not working for most kids in the city, but an alternative that only works for a fraction of the kids who try it shouldn’t be the answer. Even if it was a niche learning environment but the vast majority of kids who try it succeed, I could be okay with it. But basis really feels like a way for parents who really want to send their kids to a rigorous private but want someone else to pay.

Publicly financed education is about getting the best results for the most number of kids, dcps doesn’t do that, but neither does basis.

Do we have to close Banneker too if some kids decide it's too hard? Do you have the same policy for Duke Ellington, if some kids enroll but decide later they want to be engineers and not actors? What about our many bilingual schools? They lose an *enormous* number of kids. By your weird standard, I guess they'd have to go too.

Not closed, but restructured or reorganized or whatever.

And yeah, if Duke Ellington stops serving most of the kids that get sent there, it should be retooled or shut. We shouldn't be using tax dollars to support education that doesn't work for most people.

ok crazy pants, but there are literally dozens of elementary schools in this city where fewer than 10 percent of the students meet or exceed CAPE standards in math. how about we focus on fixing the garbage schools instead of tearing down the ones the excellent ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll summarize Basis and we can end it here.

If you have a high performing kid who wants to grind out middle and high school, Basis will work for you.

If you have a high performing kid who is more well rounded and wants or needs more then that, go elsewhere. It’s not worth the grind with no balance and not much joy.

You know some families and kids love BASIS, right?

That's nice. But why should the rest of us pay for it?

Want fringe curriculum, send your kids to private.

Ha! Having high academic standards is "fringe"? Sweetie, you are the problem here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's always so interesting how these BASIS threads go. Every thread brings out a cohort of posters who cannot stop themselves from maligning the school. Some people have legit complaints based on actual experiences and facts (and you can tell who they are) but many have no idea what they're talking about and simply accuse others of being boosters when they get called out. Of all the problems this city has with education, it's unbelievable how much energy people seem to spend dumping on this school.

Honestly, I know two different families whose kids (three in total) didn't make it through (one did) and they were so hurt by the whole thing... they went in as happy, curious pro-school kids, and came out anxious and hating school. For the kids who work, it works and they're happy, but statistically it doesn't work for most kids... and for taxpayer dollars to go and support that kind of record, just to line the pockets of investors... yeah it really pisses me off.

Does DCPS have problems? yeah! big time! is Basis the answer? only for a small number of those who try it!

Look at the test scores. BASIS *trounces* almost every non-private school in the city. You should be pissed off at these schools that churn out graduates who can't even read.

https://www.empowerk12.org/public-dashboards

Look at the number of kids who go into basis and look how many graduate! That fraction of kids who makes it through the whole school would almost certainly be high scoring at any high school.

I don’t like low scores anywhere but siphoning tax dollars into a for profit system that fails the vast majority of students isn’t the solution.

I’m not anti charter school - pitch me some good non dcps ideas and I’ll bite. Basis ain’t it tho.

Eh, sounds like you just hate charters.

Parents send their kids to BASIS because DCPS is synonymous with low standards. Challenging smart kids is literally the last thing DCPS is worried about.

If you're worried about tax dollars (and I'm pretty sure you actually aren't), you should ask yourself how taxpayers can fund DCPS so well that even elementary school gym teachers make six figure salaries and yet DCPS test scores are worse than Mississippi's. Taxpayers spend an awful lot of public schools in this city and get very little in return.

You don't have to be anti-charter to see that the BASIS business model isn't built to support the 'whole child' and to find that deeply problematic when there could be more funds available locally if they weren't going towards BASIS Ed and when the business model presupposes that parents contributed $300,000 through direct contributions or fees for lock-ins/dances in order to pay the teachers.

I don't know what this word salad is supposed to say but BASIS gets a lot fewer tax dollars than public schools and yet gets far better results.

A lot better results for a narrow number of kids - most kids who start there don’t get the good results.

Look, if you have one of the narrow band of kids who excels in that environment, great… but why should my tax dollars pay for it? Finding alternatives to main stream public school is fine with me, since I think we can all agree that dcps version is not working for most kids in the city, but an alternative that only works for a fraction of the kids who try it shouldn’t be the answer. Even if it was a niche learning environment but the vast majority of kids who try it succeed, I could be okay with it. But basis really feels like a way for parents who really want to send their kids to a rigorous private but want someone else to pay.

Publicly financed education is about getting the best results for the most number of kids, dcps doesn’t do that, but neither does basis.

Do we have to close Banneker too if some kids decide it's too hard? Do you have the same policy for Duke Ellington, if some kids enroll but decide later they want to be engineers and not actors? What about our many bilingual schools? They lose an *enormous* number of kids. By your weird standard, I guess they'd have to go too.

Not closed, but restructured or reorganized or whatever.

And yeah, if Duke Ellington stops serving most of the kids that get sent there, it should be retooled or shut. We shouldn't be using tax dollars to support education that doesn't work for most people.

This is how you end up with nonsense like "differentiation is the same as segregation." race to the bottom, diluted curriculum that ends up benefitting no one.

segregation is using taxpayer dollars to fund a for-profit that caters to a small group of kids who, demographically, aren't representative of the city and saying "well don't blame me, Banneker is a lousy school, give me your money to fund my kid and eff those kids in public".

Suggest to a BASIS parent that the money we send to the investors would be better used improving DCPS and you'll hear all sorts of bizarre arguments. Bad schools or schools that only serve a fraction of the population should not be funded by taxpayer dollars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's always so interesting how these BASIS threads go. Every thread brings out a cohort of posters who cannot stop themselves from maligning the school. Some people have legit complaints based on actual experiences and facts (and you can tell who they are) but many have no idea what they're talking about and simply accuse others of being boosters when they get called out. Of all the problems this city has with education, it's unbelievable how much energy people seem to spend dumping on this school.

Honestly, I know two different families whose kids (three in total) didn't make it through (one did) and they were so hurt by the whole thing... they went in as happy, curious pro-school kids, and came out anxious and hating school. For the kids who work, it works and they're happy, but statistically it doesn't work for most kids... and for taxpayer dollars to go and support that kind of record, just to line the pockets of investors... yeah it really pisses me off.

Does DCPS have problems? yeah! big time! is Basis the answer? only for a small number of those who try it!

Look at the test scores. BASIS *trounces* almost every non-private school in the city. You should be pissed off at these schools that churn out graduates who can't even read.

https://www.empowerk12.org/public-dashboards

Look at the number of kids who go into basis and look how many graduate! That fraction of kids who makes it through the whole school would almost certainly be high scoring at any high school.

I don’t like low scores anywhere but siphoning tax dollars into a for profit system that fails the vast majority of students isn’t the solution.

I’m not anti charter school - pitch me some good non dcps ideas and I’ll bite. Basis ain’t it tho.

Eh, sounds like you just hate charters.

Parents send their kids to BASIS because DCPS is synonymous with low standards. Challenging smart kids is literally the last thing DCPS is worried about.

If you're worried about tax dollars (and I'm pretty sure you actually aren't), you should ask yourself how taxpayers can fund DCPS so well that even elementary school gym teachers make six figure salaries and yet DCPS test scores are worse than Mississippi's. Taxpayers spend an awful lot of public schools in this city and get very little in return.

You don't have to be anti-charter to see that the BASIS business model isn't built to support the 'whole child' and to find that deeply problematic when there could be more funds available locally if they weren't going towards BASIS Ed and when the business model presupposes that parents contributed $300,000 through direct contributions or fees for lock-ins/dances in order to pay the teachers.

I don't know what this word salad is supposed to say but BASIS gets a lot fewer tax dollars than public schools and yet gets far better results.

A lot better results for a narrow number of kids - most kids who start there don’t get the good results.

Look, if you have one of the narrow band of kids who excels in that environment, great… but why should my tax dollars pay for it? Finding alternatives to main stream public school is fine with me, since I think we can all agree that dcps version is not working for most kids in the city, but an alternative that only works for a fraction of the kids who try it shouldn’t be the answer. Even if it was a niche learning environment but the vast majority of kids who try it succeed, I could be okay with it. But basis really feels like a way for parents who really want to send their kids to a rigorous private but want someone else to pay.

Publicly financed education is about getting the best results for the most number of kids, dcps doesn’t do that, but neither does basis.

Do we have to close Banneker too if some kids decide it's too hard? Do you have the same policy for Duke Ellington, if some kids enroll but decide later they want to be engineers and not actors? What about our many bilingual schools? They lose an *enormous* number of kids. By your weird standard, I guess they'd have to go too.

Not closed, but restructured or reorganized or whatever.

And yeah, if Duke Ellington stops serving most of the kids that get sent there, it should be retooled or shut. We shouldn't be using tax dollars to support education that doesn't work for most people.

ok crazy pants, but there are literally dozens of elementary schools in this city where fewer than 10 percent of the students meet or exceed CAPE standards in math. how about we focus on fixing the garbage schools instead of tearing down the ones the excellent ones.

How many students start at BASIS and how many graduate? That's the percentage I'm concerned about.

If we looked at that troubled elementary schools and said "actually it's a success if you look at those 10 percent who meet or exceed CAPE... if you send the other 90 percent somewhere else" they'd look a lot better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll summarize Basis and we can end it here.

If you have a high performing kid who wants to grind out middle and high school, Basis will work for you.

If you have a high performing kid who is more well rounded and wants or needs more then that, go elsewhere. It’s not worth the grind with no balance and not much joy.

You know some families and kids love BASIS, right?

That's nice. But why should the rest of us pay for it?

Want fringe curriculum, send your kids to private.

Ha! Having high academic standards is "fringe"? Sweetie, you are the problem here.

Well that's a red herring.

As I've said, I want the highest academic standards for all kids, not a few kids.

Setting up a system that only benefits a fraction of potential students and casting off the rest as "not BASIS material" isn't a viable solution for me. That's not how public schools work--that's how private schools work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll summarize Basis and we can end it here.

If you have a high performing kid who wants to grind out middle and high school, Basis will work for you.

If you have a high performing kid who is more well rounded and wants or needs more then that, go elsewhere. It’s not worth the grind with no balance and not much joy.

You know some families and kids love BASIS, right?

That's nice. But why should the rest of us pay for it?

Want fringe curriculum, send your kids to private.

Ha! Having high academic standards is "fringe"? Sweetie, you are the problem here.

Well that's a red herring.

As I've said, I want the highest academic standards for all kids, not a few kids.

Setting up a system that only benefits a fraction of potential students and casting off the rest as "not BASIS material" isn't a viable solution for me. That's not how public schools work--that's how private schools work.

No. That's also how DCPS application high schools work, and how many other charter schools work.

Your "values" are actually internally consistent -- you want a public schools system that only funds neighborhood public schools that everyone can attend, plus private schools that people with means can opt to attend.

There are actually many cities and towns around the country where that is what exists. But, that's not DC (or NYC, or SF, and Philly and New Orleans, etc). Maybe you need to move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll summarize Basis and we can end it here.

If you have a high performing kid who wants to grind out middle and high school, Basis will work for you.

If you have a high performing kid who is more well rounded and wants or needs more then that, go elsewhere. It’s not worth the grind with no balance and not much joy.

You know some families and kids love BASIS, right?

That's nice. But why should the rest of us pay for it?

Want fringe curriculum, send your kids to private.

Ha! Having high academic standards is "fringe"? Sweetie, you are the problem here.

Well that's a red herring.

As I've said, I want the highest academic standards for all kids, not a few kids.

Setting up a system that only benefits a fraction of potential students and casting off the rest as "not BASIS material" isn't a viable solution for me. That's not how public schools work--that's how private schools work.

No. That's also how DCPS application high schools work, and how many other charter schools work.

Your "values" are actually internally consistent -- you want a public schools system that only funds neighborhood public schools that everyone can attend, plus private schools that people with means can opt to attend.

There are actually many cities and towns around the country where that is what exists. But, that's not DC (or NYC, or SF, and Philly and New Orleans, etc). Maybe you need to move.

If 70 percent of the kids who enroll at Walls or Duke Ellington wash out before graduation we would not find it acceptable.

[Anonymous]

You also probably need to do some research to learn why DC decided to open its doors to charter schools in the first place -- it's because DCPS was failing the community in the 1990s.