What’s your HS “back up” option?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t care about the cohort of kids as much as I care about the teachers and the admin of the school. I’m not taking my kids out of school just to avoid the poors.

People act like it’s just about snobs wanting to “avoid the poors.” But when you have a school with a lot of at risk kids you have some crazy behavior. And if kids who are doing well academically are in classes with dysregulated and dysfunctional kids then it affects everything.

Seriously. Get back to me after you've subjected your kid to a sub-par school for four years just so you can feel righteous. And then call me when your kid resents you twenty years later because of the names they were called in high school just so you could say on a message board that you're the most woke.

This. Who is willing to do this to their child? Most of the people I met who hold this stance in elementary school grew up in white suburban areas, too.

You have one shot to get your child's childhood right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Walls is our only hope. Otherwise we will have to move and I don’t know if we’d end up in NW DC or MD. Hate this system overall.

What system? Dcps, the lottery, living in a city where a huge percentage of kids come from generations of poverty?

People here are very scared of the generations of poverty and don’t want their precious children to be anywhere near it. Very sad when people think they are better than others.

I guess I'm just be of the people who is afraid if generational poverty, but it's not because I think I'm better than anyone. It's because I come from generational poverty (as well as violence, abuse, mental health issues, and substance abuse) and my biggest fear is that can't successfully keepy family lifted out of that situation.

I feel like if I had generational wealth or a family network of stable, supportive people to help me raise my kids, I'd feel less stressed about all this. But I'm on my own (with my spouse, from a similar background) and I want a school community that is going to reinforce the values of education, hard work, emotional maturity, and personal accountability. I think that can be hard to find at a high poverty school.

The teacher may be a subject matter expert, but many times they dont have the assertion to control a classroom with rowdy kids. I have seen many a bright eyed do gooder teacher leave Ward 8 schools for private or the suburbs because they just can't manage the behavior issues.

My family doesn’t come from poverty but I am not so privileged as to believe “my kid will be fine anywhere!” It also takes a weird set of beliefs to not see that a school with concentrated poverty won’t be significantly disadvantaged. I can’t put my finger on it but it is as if people believe their kids are so special that education actually doesn’t matter.

It does feel terrible that we work so hard to segregate ourselves. Either you move to avoid the at-risk kids, you lottery to avoid the at-risk kids, you perform/lottery to avoid the at-risk kids (Walls, etc.), or you buy a spot in private to avoid the at-risk kids. But at the end of the day there is no shame in wanting a "school community that is going to reinforce the values of education, hard work, emotional maturity, and personal accountability." Can't argue against those goals.

Well I actually think the at risk kids and families often value education, maturity and accountability. There’s no moral judgment on my part. I think that because they are poor they get access to worse services. Just like I wouldn’t buy a house in a dangerous part of w7 or 8 and assume it would have the top access to services and safety and amenities. That’s what it means to be marginalized. Also my kid doesn’t have better values than his current at risk classmates but I can afford to put him in a school where his individual values don’t matter.

Yes some at risk families do have those values. But the reality is that some don’t and these people should not be parents but it is what it is.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walls is our only hope. Otherwise we will have to move and I don’t know if we’d end up in NW DC or MD. Hate this system overall.

What system? Dcps, the lottery, living in a city where a huge percentage of kids come from generations of poverty?

People here are very scared of the generations of poverty and don’t want their precious children to be anywhere near it. Very sad when people think they are better than others.

I guess I'm just be of the people who is afraid if generational poverty, but it's not because I think I'm better than anyone. It's because I come from generational poverty (as well as violence, abuse, mental health issues, and substance abuse) and my biggest fear is that can't successfully keepy family lifted out of that situation.

I feel like if I had generational wealth or a family network of stable, supportive people to help me raise my kids, I'd feel less stressed about all this. But I'm on my own (with my spouse, from a similar background) and I want a school community that is going to reinforce the values of education, hard work, emotional maturity, and personal accountability. I think that can be hard to find at a high poverty school.

My family doesn’t come from poverty but I am not so privileged as to believe “my kid will be fine anywhere!” It also takes a weird set of beliefs to not see that a school with concentrated poverty won’t be significantly disadvantaged. I can’t put my finger on it but it is as if people believe their kids are so special that education actually doesn’t matter.

It does feel terrible that we work so hard to segregate ourselves. Either you move to avoid the at-risk kids, you lottery to avoid the at-risk kids, you perform/lottery to avoid the at-risk kids (Walls, etc.), or you buy a spot in private to avoid the at-risk kids. But at the end of the day there is no shame in wanting a "school community that is going to reinforce the values of education, hard work, emotional maturity, and personal accountability." Can't argue against those goals.

Well I actually think the at risk kids and families often value education, maturity and accountability. There’s no moral judgment on my part. I think that because they are poor they get access to worse services. Just like I wouldn’t buy a house in a dangerous part of w7 or 8 and assume it would have the top access to services and safety and amenities. That’s what it means to be marginalized. Also my kid doesn’t have better values than his current at risk classmates but I can afford to put him in a school where his individual values don’t matter.

Teaching quality is broadly the same--we are a high pay district that attracts quality instructors overall. Schools with a large percentage of at-risk kids get larger budges. And teachers at Title I schools can get larger bonuses. I don't know why you assume the services provided by the city are worse in W7 or W8. The difference between schools is primarily about the type of students that attend.

This is a great point. I’m the PP who said I don’t see that schools just outside DC are significantly better. Richer and whiter, yes. Not throwing shade - this is where knowing your kid comes into play. My kid benefits from positive peer pressure. She’s creative and curious but not a striver and benefits from being part of a nice cohort of kind, nerdy peers. She is not the kid who will thrive anywhere. That said she is also anxious and I don’t want her in a pressure cooker (or with a bunch of snobs). Nor is she wildly advanced and counting down the days to multi variate calculus. So we’re looking for the balance between the two and hoping for a nice diverse group with a certain critical mass of serious-about-school types and some options for advanced classes if she qualifies but not to the point that it’s a competitive and hostile environment or one that is hyper focused on the accelerated kids. From where I’m sitting, I think we’re more likely to find that in DC than in the immediate suburbs.

You’re not being honest or you are very uniformed or you are one of those parents who will be like “Oh the DCPS IB schools is WONDERFUL but Larla chose Walls!”. I am in the middle of this decision and there is a massive difference between our IB DCPS HS and the schools we are looking at in Arlington. FWIW all of the Arlington and Fairfax schools are quite diverse.

I mean depending on what your IB is I’m sure that’s true. But mine is JR and I agree with the poster you responded to. I’m not willing to move far enough away from DC to get public HS that will be significantly better for my child’s needs. BCC and Whitman just don’t seem that much better for what my middle-of-the-road ish kid needs. And I would never move to VA (no shade on it, just not for me)

Ma’am this is a thread about high school backup plans. JR is not a backup plan.

DP but JR as your IB is 100% a backup plan. Many people have a priority list that looks like: first choice Walls, second choice one of three acceptable privates, backup plan JR as IB.

And I say that as someone not in that position. Our IB is Eastern. And I guess it's one of our backup plans, though it's not as solid of one as JR.

A backup plan is something you will do if all else fails. If you already live IB for JR, it's the perfect backup because you don't have to do anything to make it happen. It just does.

One families backup plan is another's dream school.

That's definitely true but also: do people genuinely have "dream schools" within DC's public system? I think I must be too cynical. I can see drawbacks to every school. Tho I can also see the silver linings to a lot of schools. I just see DC's system as largely a question of compromise, for better or worse.

My "dream school" for my kids would probably not reside in a district with as many structural obstacles to quality education. My wants:
- Academic tracking
- Strong emphasis on writing and oral communication skills
- A citizenship or volunteer requirement that really means something and isn't just a box kids check
- Lots of more casual and intramural sport options, care less about competitive sport programs
- Strong music and visual art programs, I don't care about theater
- Racially and socioeconomically diverse (I went to a HS like this and I think there are major advantages in terms of addressing the myopia pretty much everyone gets when they don't interact regularly with people from different backgrounds), but less than 20% economical disadvantaged with strong supports for those kids
- Strong alumni network locally (people are proud to go there and stay in touch)
- Easy commute

Probably the closest to these preferences is Latin or DCI, but neither checks off the whole list.

Umm, not sure this “school” exists anywhere inside the beltway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t care about the cohort of kids as much as I care about the teachers and the admin of the school. I’m not taking my kids out of school just to avoid the poors.

People act like it’s just about snobs wanting to “avoid the poors.” But when you have a school with a lot of at risk kids you have some crazy behavior. And if kids who are doing well academically are in classes with dysregulated and dysfunctional kids then it affects everything.

+1. This is the first year we have seen it an it is the real thing. I don’t really want to stick around to see how it gets actually dangerous in HS (guns etc)

I stabbed a kid with a protractor in high school because it was that or get beat up by him and his goons the next four years. I didn’t get in trouble because that was basically table stakes for survival. That’s how it is here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t care about the cohort of kids as much as I care about the teachers and the admin of the school. I’m not taking my kids out of school just to avoid the poors.

People act like it’s just about snobs wanting to “avoid the poors.” But when you have a school with a lot of at risk kids you have some crazy behavior. And if kids who are doing well academically are in classes with dysregulated and dysfunctional kids then it affects everything.

+1. This is the first year we have seen it an it is the real thing. I don’t really want to stick around to see how it gets actually dangerous in HS (guns etc)

I stabbed a kid with a protractor in high school because it was that or get beat up by him and his goons the next four years. I didn’t get in trouble because that was basically table stakes for survival. That’s how it is here.

lol well, my kid has a lot of swagger so nobody has tried to beat him up yet … but my concern would be if he got into it with the wrong person and got ganged up on. But yes, he is the type to wield a protractor if necessary. another reason to get him out of that environment.

[Anonymous]

The issue regarding poverty in schools is that when the percent of at risk students tips over a certain threshold, the school has little choice but to focus most resources on the needs of at risk kids.

We went through this in elementary. Zero issues with individual kids or families regardless of SES. But there came a point where our kid's needs weren't really being met because she was an outlier. We moved to a school with a smaller at risk percentage (not zero, just lower, with more families in our approximate income bracket). Her academic needs were better met, end of story.

It's not about fleeing poor students. It's about recognizing when a school's focus and aims don't align with yours.

You can sit around feeling guilty or wringing your hands over it. At the end of the day you look at your kid and try to find a school that makes sense for them.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walls is our only hope. Otherwise we will have to move and I don’t know if we’d end up in NW DC or MD. Hate this system overall.

What system? Dcps, the lottery, living in a city where a huge percentage of kids come from generations of poverty?

People here are very scared of the generations of poverty and don’t want their precious children to be anywhere near it. Very sad when people think they are better than others.

I guess I'm just be of the people who is afraid if generational poverty, but it's not because I think I'm better than anyone. It's because I come from generational poverty (as well as violence, abuse, mental health issues, and substance abuse) and my biggest fear is that can't successfully keepy family lifted out of that situation.

I feel like if I had generational wealth or a family network of stable, supportive people to help me raise my kids, I'd feel less stressed about all this. But I'm on my own (with my spouse, from a similar background) and I want a school community that is going to reinforce the values of education, hard work, emotional maturity, and personal accountability. I think that can be hard to find at a high poverty school.

My family doesn’t come from poverty but I am not so privileged as to believe “my kid will be fine anywhere!” It also takes a weird set of beliefs to not see that a school with concentrated poverty won’t be significantly disadvantaged. I can’t put my finger on it but it is as if people believe their kids are so special that education actually doesn’t matter.

It does feel terrible that we work so hard to segregate ourselves. Either you move to avoid the at-risk kids, you lottery to avoid the at-risk kids, you perform/lottery to avoid the at-risk kids (Walls, etc.), or you buy a spot in private to avoid the at-risk kids. But at the end of the day there is no shame in wanting a "school community that is going to reinforce the values of education, hard work, emotional maturity, and personal accountability." Can't argue against those goals.

Well I actually think the at risk kids and families often value education, maturity and accountability. There’s no moral judgment on my part. I think that because they are poor they get access to worse services. Just like I wouldn’t buy a house in a dangerous part of w7 or 8 and assume it would have the top access to services and safety and amenities. That’s what it means to be marginalized. Also my kid doesn’t have better values than his current at risk classmates but I can afford to put him in a school where his individual values don’t matter.

Teaching quality is broadly the same--we are a high pay district that attracts quality instructors overall. Schools with a large percentage of at-risk kids get larger budges. And teachers at Title I schools can get larger bonuses. I don't know why you assume the services provided by the city are worse in W7 or W8. The difference between schools is primarily about the type of students that attend.

This is a great point. I’m the PP who said I don’t see that schools just outside DC are significantly better. Richer and whiter, yes. Not throwing shade - this is where knowing your kid comes into play. My kid benefits from positive peer pressure. She’s creative and curious but not a striver and benefits from being part of a nice cohort of kind, nerdy peers. She is not the kid who will thrive anywhere. That said she is also anxious and I don’t want her in a pressure cooker (or with a bunch of snobs). Nor is she wildly advanced and counting down the days to multi variate calculus. So we’re looking for the balance between the two and hoping for a nice diverse group with a certain critical mass of serious-about-school types and some options for advanced classes if she qualifies but not to the point that it’s a competitive and hostile environment or one that is hyper focused on the accelerated kids. From where I’m sitting, I think we’re more likely to find that in DC than in the immediate suburbs.

You’re not being honest or you are very uniformed or you are one of those parents who will be like “Oh the DCPS IB schools is WONDERFUL but Larla chose Walls!”. I am in the middle of this decision and there is a massive difference between our IB DCPS HS and the schools we are looking at in Arlington. FWIW all of the Arlington and Fairfax schools are quite diverse.

I mean depending on what your IB is I’m sure that’s true. But mine is JR and I agree with the poster you responded to. I’m not willing to move far enough away from DC to get public HS that will be significantly better for my child’s needs. BCC and Whitman just don’t seem that much better for what my middle-of-the-road ish kid needs. And I would never move to VA (no shade on it, just not for me)

Ma’am this is a thread about high school backup plans. JR is not a backup plan.

DP but JR as your IB is 100% a backup plan. Many people have a priority list that looks like: first choice Walls, second choice one of three acceptable privates, backup plan JR as IB.

And I say that as someone not in that position. Our IB is Eastern. And I guess it's one of our backup plans, though it's not as solid of one as JR.

A backup plan is something you will do if all else fails. If you already live IB for JR, it's the perfect backup because you don't have to do anything to make it happen. It just does.

One families backup plan is another's dream school.

That's definitely true but also: do people genuinely have "dream schools" within DC's public system? I think I must be too cynical. I can see drawbacks to every school. Tho I can also see the silver linings to a lot of schools. I just see DC's system as largely a question of compromise, for better or worse.

My "dream school" for my kids would probably not reside in a district with as many structural obstacles to quality education. My wants:
- Academic tracking
- Strong emphasis on writing and oral communication skills
- A citizenship or volunteer requirement that really means something and isn't just a box kids check
- Lots of more casual and intramural sport options, care less about competitive sport programs
- Strong music and visual art programs, I don't care about theater
- Racially and socioeconomically diverse (I went to a HS like this and I think there are major advantages in terms of addressing the myopia pretty much everyone gets when they don't interact regularly with people from different backgrounds), but less than 20% economical disadvantaged with strong supports for those kids
- Strong alumni network locally (people are proud to go there and stay in touch)
- Easy commute

Probably the closest to these preferences is Latin or DCI, but neither checks off the whole list.

Umm, not sure this “school” exists anywhere inside the beltway.

That's the point. A "dream school" would have everything you wanted. In reality most people prioritize and make compromises. Latin, should you win the lottery and get in, would get you a lot of this, so would DCI. Banneker is close, though it's more sporty than described here. Blair and Richard Montgomery in MoCo would also be solid options. Nothing checks every box. I'd probably focus on the academics over extra curricular, since you can find ways to get the ECs you want outside of school. I'd probably look for an IB school since that's going to get you both tracking and the focus on writing, and take what I could get on the other preferences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a 7th grader and are starting to think ahead for next year. We don’t live in J-R school district and our in boundary isn’t an option. If you don’t get into one of the more highly regarded schools (walls, Banneker…), whats next on your list? Do you have another selective high school you’d be happy with, and if so, which one and why? Are you applying to private? Would consider moving?

We chose BASIS for 5th grade.

We’re good.

😀

Isn’t Basis that school that has the atmosphere of a depressing prison with a lot of stressed out kids?

This is fake news for smart kids. My BASIS student is not stressed out.

Agree. Also have a 5th grader at Basis and it’s been a decidedly low key experience. All A’s and not stressed, so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The issue regarding poverty in schools is that when the percent of at risk students tips over a certain threshold, the school has little choice but to focus most resources on the needs of at risk kids.

We went through this in elementary. Zero issues with individual kids or families regardless of SES. But there came a point where our kid's needs weren't really being met because she was an outlier. We moved to a school with a smaller at risk percentage (not zero, just lower, with more families in our approximate income bracket). Her academic needs were better met, end of story.

It's not about fleeing poor students. It's about recognizing when a school's focus and aims don't align with yours.

You can sit around feeling guilty or wringing your hands over it. At the end of the day you look at your kid and try to find a school that makes sense for them.

Did you move from a title 1 to non title 1? We are looking to make the same jump. We are at a title 1 that people like, but we have academic concerns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a 7th grader and are starting to think ahead for next year. We don’t live in J-R school district and our in boundary isn’t an option. If you don’t get into one of the more highly regarded schools (walls, Banneker…), whats next on your list? Do you have another selective high school you’d be happy with, and if so, which one and why? Are you applying to private? Would consider moving?

We chose BASIS for 5th grade.

We’re good.

😀

Isn’t Basis that school that has the atmosphere of a depressing prison with a lot of stressed out kids?

This is fake news for smart kids. My BASIS student is not stressed out.

Agree. Also have a 5th grader at Basis and it’s been a decidedly low key experience. All A’s and not stressed, so far.

My one big regret is buying into the anti-basis hype and not lotterying for in in 5th!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walls is our only hope. Otherwise we will have to move and I don’t know if we’d end up in NW DC or MD. Hate this system overall.

What system? Dcps, the lottery, living in a city where a huge percentage of kids come from generations of poverty?

People here are very scared of the generations of poverty and don’t want their precious children to be anywhere near it. Very sad when people think they are better than others.

I guess I'm just be of the people who is afraid if generational poverty, but it's not because I think I'm better than anyone. It's because I come from generational poverty (as well as violence, abuse, mental health issues, and substance abuse) and my biggest fear is that can't successfully keepy family lifted out of that situation.

I feel like if I had generational wealth or a family network of stable, supportive people to help me raise my kids, I'd feel less stressed about all this. But I'm on my own (with my spouse, from a similar background) and I want a school community that is going to reinforce the values of education, hard work, emotional maturity, and personal accountability. I think that can be hard to find at a high poverty school.

My family doesn’t come from poverty but I am not so privileged as to believe “my kid will be fine anywhere!” It also takes a weird set of beliefs to not see that a school with concentrated poverty won’t be significantly disadvantaged. I can’t put my finger on it but it is as if people believe their kids are so special that education actually doesn’t matter.

It does feel terrible that we work so hard to segregate ourselves. Either you move to avoid the at-risk kids, you lottery to avoid the at-risk kids, you perform/lottery to avoid the at-risk kids (Walls, etc.), or you buy a spot in private to avoid the at-risk kids. But at the end of the day there is no shame in wanting a "school community that is going to reinforce the values of education, hard work, emotional maturity, and personal accountability." Can't argue against those goals.

Well I actually think the at risk kids and families often value education, maturity and accountability. There’s no moral judgment on my part. I think that because they are poor they get access to worse services. Just like I wouldn’t buy a house in a dangerous part of w7 or 8 and assume it would have the top access to services and safety and amenities. That’s what it means to be marginalized. Also my kid doesn’t have better values than his current at risk classmates but I can afford to put him in a school where his individual values don’t matter.

Teaching quality is broadly the same--we are a high pay district that attracts quality instructors overall. Schools with a large percentage of at-risk kids get larger budges. And teachers at Title I schools can get larger bonuses. I don't know why you assume the services provided by the city are worse in W7 or W8. The difference between schools is primarily about the type of students that attend.

This is a great point. I’m the PP who said I don’t see that schools just outside DC are significantly better. Richer and whiter, yes. Not throwing shade - this is where knowing your kid comes into play. My kid benefits from positive peer pressure. She’s creative and curious but not a striver and benefits from being part of a nice cohort of kind, nerdy peers. She is not the kid who will thrive anywhere. That said she is also anxious and I don’t want her in a pressure cooker (or with a bunch of snobs). Nor is she wildly advanced and counting down the days to multi variate calculus. So we’re looking for the balance between the two and hoping for a nice diverse group with a certain critical mass of serious-about-school types and some options for advanced classes if she qualifies but not to the point that it’s a competitive and hostile environment or one that is hyper focused on the accelerated kids. From where I’m sitting, I think we’re more likely to find that in DC than in the immediate suburbs.

You’re not being honest or you are very uniformed or you are one of those parents who will be like “Oh the DCPS IB schools is WONDERFUL but Larla chose Walls!”. I am in the middle of this decision and there is a massive difference between our IB DCPS HS and the schools we are looking at in Arlington. FWIW all of the Arlington and Fairfax schools are quite diverse.

I mean depending on what your IB is I’m sure that’s true. But mine is JR and I agree with the poster you responded to. I’m not willing to move far enough away from DC to get public HS that will be significantly better for my child’s needs. BCC and Whitman just don’t seem that much better for what my middle-of-the-road ish kid needs. And I would never move to VA (no shade on it, just not for me)

Ma’am this is a thread about high school backup plans. JR is not a backup plan.

DP but JR as your IB is 100% a backup plan. Many people have a priority list that looks like: first choice Walls, second choice one of three acceptable privates, backup plan JR as IB.

And I say that as someone not in that position. Our IB is Eastern. And I guess it's one of our backup plans, though it's not as solid of one as JR.

A backup plan is something you will do if all else fails. If you already live IB for JR, it's the perfect backup because you don't have to do anything to make it happen. It just does.

One families backup plan is another's dream school.

That's definitely true but also: do people genuinely have "dream schools" within DC's public system? I think I must be too cynical. I can see drawbacks to every school. Tho I can also see the silver linings to a lot of schools. I just see DC's system as largely a question of compromise, for better or worse.

My "dream school" for my kids would probably not reside in a district with as many structural obstacles to quality education. My wants:
- Academic tracking
- Strong emphasis on writing and oral communication skills
- A citizenship or volunteer requirement that really means something and isn't just a box kids check
- Lots of more casual and intramural sport options, care less about competitive sport programs
- Strong music and visual art programs, I don't care about theater
- Racially and socioeconomically diverse (I went to a HS like this and I think there are major advantages in terms of addressing the myopia pretty much everyone gets when they don't interact regularly with people from different backgrounds), but less than 20% economical disadvantaged with strong supports for those kids
- Strong alumni network locally (people are proud to go there and stay in touch)
- Easy commute

Probably the closest to these preferences is Latin or DCI, but neither checks off the whole list.

Umm, not sure this “school” exists anywhere inside the beltway.

That's the point. A "dream school" would have everything you wanted. In reality most people prioritize and make compromises. Latin, should you win the lottery and get in, would get you a lot of this, so would DCI. Banneker is close, though it's more sporty than described here. Blair and Richard Montgomery in MoCo would also be solid options. Nothing checks every box. I'd probably focus on the academics over extra curricular, since you can find ways to get the ECs you want outside of school. I'd probably look for an IB school since that's going to get you both tracking and the focus on writing, and take what I could get on the other preferences.

Blair, RM and Banneker would be “too academic” for this PP no doubt. There are dream schools, and there are parents who are still seeing their kids as elementary schoolers and don’t understand the system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a 7th grader and are starting to think ahead for next year. We don’t live in J-R school district and our in boundary isn’t an option. If you don’t get into one of the more highly regarded schools (walls, Banneker…), whats next on your list? Do you have another selective high school you’d be happy with, and if so, which one and why? Are you applying to private? Would consider moving?

We chose BASIS for 5th grade.

We’re good.

😀

Isn’t Basis that school that has the atmosphere of a depressing prison with a lot of stressed out kids?

This is fake news for smart kids. My BASIS student is not stressed out.

Agree. Also have a 5th grader at Basis and it’s been a decidedly low key experience. All A’s and not stressed, so far.

My one big regret is buying into the anti-basis hype and not lotterying for in in 5th!

I have a recent BASIS grad and a current student who will graduate in the not too distant future. As has been often discussed, BASIS is not for every kid, but that’s OK. IMO, families should not hold back from trying to lottery in just because it perceived as “grindy.” Like every school, BASIS has plenty of flaws. Good luck if your student wants to seriously pursue a sport. But for all of its flaws, it punches above its weight in college admissions, especially when accounting for socio-economic status of the student body. And few of these kids are “hooked” in the traditional sense.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walls is our only hope. Otherwise we will have to move and I don’t know if we’d end up in NW DC or MD. Hate this system overall.

What system? Dcps, the lottery, living in a city where a huge percentage of kids come from generations of poverty?

People here are very scared of the generations of poverty and don’t want their precious children to be anywhere near it. Very sad when people think they are better than others.

I guess I'm just be of the people who is afraid if generational poverty, but it's not because I think I'm better than anyone. It's because I come from generational poverty (as well as violence, abuse, mental health issues, and substance abuse) and my biggest fear is that can't successfully keepy family lifted out of that situation.

I feel like if I had generational wealth or a family network of stable, supportive people to help me raise my kids, I'd feel less stressed about all this. But I'm on my own (with my spouse, from a similar background) and I want a school community that is going to reinforce the values of education, hard work, emotional maturity, and personal accountability. I think that can be hard to find at a high poverty school.

My family doesn’t come from poverty but I am not so privileged as to believe “my kid will be fine anywhere!” It also takes a weird set of beliefs to not see that a school with concentrated poverty won’t be significantly disadvantaged. I can’t put my finger on it but it is as if people believe their kids are so special that education actually doesn’t matter.

It does feel terrible that we work so hard to segregate ourselves. Either you move to avoid the at-risk kids, you lottery to avoid the at-risk kids, you perform/lottery to avoid the at-risk kids (Walls, etc.), or you buy a spot in private to avoid the at-risk kids. But at the end of the day there is no shame in wanting a "school community that is going to reinforce the values of education, hard work, emotional maturity, and personal accountability." Can't argue against those goals.

Well I actually think the at risk kids and families often value education, maturity and accountability. There’s no moral judgment on my part. I think that because they are poor they get access to worse services. Just like I wouldn’t buy a house in a dangerous part of w7 or 8 and assume it would have the top access to services and safety and amenities. That’s what it means to be marginalized. Also my kid doesn’t have better values than his current at risk classmates but I can afford to put him in a school where his individual values don’t matter.

Teaching quality is broadly the same--we are a high pay district that attracts quality instructors overall. Schools with a large percentage of at-risk kids get larger budges. And teachers at Title I schools can get larger bonuses. I don't know why you assume the services provided by the city are worse in W7 or W8. The difference between schools is primarily about the type of students that attend.

This is a great point. I’m the PP who said I don’t see that schools just outside DC are significantly better. Richer and whiter, yes. Not throwing shade - this is where knowing your kid comes into play. My kid benefits from positive peer pressure. She’s creative and curious but not a striver and benefits from being part of a nice cohort of kind, nerdy peers. She is not the kid who will thrive anywhere. That said she is also anxious and I don’t want her in a pressure cooker (or with a bunch of snobs). Nor is she wildly advanced and counting down the days to multi variate calculus. So we’re looking for the balance between the two and hoping for a nice diverse group with a certain critical mass of serious-about-school types and some options for advanced classes if she qualifies but not to the point that it’s a competitive and hostile environment or one that is hyper focused on the accelerated kids. From where I’m sitting, I think we’re more likely to find that in DC than in the immediate suburbs.

You’re not being honest or you are very uniformed or you are one of those parents who will be like “Oh the DCPS IB schools is WONDERFUL but Larla chose Walls!”. I am in the middle of this decision and there is a massive difference between our IB DCPS HS and the schools we are looking at in Arlington. FWIW all of the Arlington and Fairfax schools are quite diverse.

I mean depending on what your IB is I’m sure that’s true. But mine is JR and I agree with the poster you responded to. I’m not willing to move far enough away from DC to get public HS that will be significantly better for my child’s needs. BCC and Whitman just don’t seem that much better for what my middle-of-the-road ish kid needs. And I would never move to VA (no shade on it, just not for me)

Ma’am this is a thread about high school backup plans. JR is not a backup plan.

DP but JR as your IB is 100% a backup plan. Many people have a priority list that looks like: first choice Walls, second choice one of three acceptable privates, backup plan JR as IB.

And I say that as someone not in that position. Our IB is Eastern. And I guess it's one of our backup plans, though it's not as solid of one as JR.

A backup plan is something you will do if all else fails. If you already live IB for JR, it's the perfect backup because you don't have to do anything to make it happen. It just does.

One families backup plan is another's dream school.

That's definitely true but also: do people genuinely have "dream schools" within DC's public system? I think I must be too cynical. I can see drawbacks to every school. Tho I can also see the silver linings to a lot of schools. I just see DC's system as largely a question of compromise, for better or worse.

My "dream school" for my kids would probably not reside in a district with as many structural obstacles to quality education. My wants:
- Academic tracking
- Strong emphasis on writing and oral communication skills
- A citizenship or volunteer requirement that really means something and isn't just a box kids check
- Lots of more casual and intramural sport options, care less about competitive sport programs
- Strong music and visual art programs, I don't care about theater
- Racially and socioeconomically diverse (I went to a HS like this and I think there are major advantages in terms of addressing the myopia pretty much everyone gets when they don't interact regularly with people from different backgrounds), but less than 20% economical disadvantaged with strong supports for those kids
- Strong alumni network locally (people are proud to go there and stay in touch)
- Easy commute

Probably the closest to these preferences is Latin or DCI, but neither checks off the whole list.

Umm, not sure this “school” exists anywhere inside the beltway.

That's the point. A "dream school" would have everything you wanted. In reality most people prioritize and make compromises. Latin, should you win the lottery and get in, would get you a lot of this, so would DCI. Banneker is close, though it's more sporty than described here. Blair and Richard Montgomery in MoCo would also be solid options. Nothing checks every box. I'd probably focus on the academics over extra curricular, since you can find ways to get the ECs you want outside of school. I'd probably look for an IB school since that's going to get you both tracking and the focus on writing, and take what I could get on the other preferences.

I agree that Latin and DCI probably fits the most of the criteria above.

I can only speak for DCI but they do a good job of tracking in high school. Classes are teaching at grade level in 9th and 10th. They offer support classes for those below. They offer more challenging classes for those above.

Then starting in 11th, you need to commit to one of numerous tracks that they have. For the highest performing kids that would be the IB diploma track. But they also have other tracks that are more STEM focused if your kid is into STEM with great courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walls is our only hope. Otherwise we will have to move and I don’t know if we’d end up in NW DC or MD. Hate this system overall.

What system? Dcps, the lottery, living in a city where a huge percentage of kids come from generations of poverty?

People here are very scared of the generations of poverty and don’t want their precious children to be anywhere near it. Very sad when people think they are better than others.

I guess I'm just be of the people who is afraid if generational poverty, but it's not because I think I'm better than anyone. It's because I come from generational poverty (as well as violence, abuse, mental health issues, and substance abuse) and my biggest fear is that can't successfully keepy family lifted out of that situation.

I feel like if I had generational wealth or a family network of stable, supportive people to help me raise my kids, I'd feel less stressed about all this. But I'm on my own (with my spouse, from a similar background) and I want a school community that is going to reinforce the values of education, hard work, emotional maturity, and personal accountability. I think that can be hard to find at a high poverty school.

My family doesn’t come from poverty but I am not so privileged as to believe “my kid will be fine anywhere!” It also takes a weird set of beliefs to not see that a school with concentrated poverty won’t be significantly disadvantaged. I can’t put my finger on it but it is as if people believe their kids are so special that education actually doesn’t matter.

It does feel terrible that we work so hard to segregate ourselves. Either you move to avoid the at-risk kids, you lottery to avoid the at-risk kids, you perform/lottery to avoid the at-risk kids (Walls, etc.), or you buy a spot in private to avoid the at-risk kids. But at the end of the day there is no shame in wanting a "school community that is going to reinforce the values of education, hard work, emotional maturity, and personal accountability." Can't argue against those goals.

Well I actually think the at risk kids and families often value education, maturity and accountability. There’s no moral judgment on my part. I think that because they are poor they get access to worse services. Just like I wouldn’t buy a house in a dangerous part of w7 or 8 and assume it would have the top access to services and safety and amenities. That’s what it means to be marginalized. Also my kid doesn’t have better values than his current at risk classmates but I can afford to put him in a school where his individual values don’t matter.

Teaching quality is broadly the same--we are a high pay district that attracts quality instructors overall. Schools with a large percentage of at-risk kids get larger budges. And teachers at Title I schools can get larger bonuses. I don't know why you assume the services provided by the city are worse in W7 or W8. The difference between schools is primarily about the type of students that attend.

This is a great point. I’m the PP who said I don’t see that schools just outside DC are significantly better. Richer and whiter, yes. Not throwing shade - this is where knowing your kid comes into play. My kid benefits from positive peer pressure. She’s creative and curious but not a striver and benefits from being part of a nice cohort of kind, nerdy peers. She is not the kid who will thrive anywhere. That said she is also anxious and I don’t want her in a pressure cooker (or with a bunch of snobs). Nor is she wildly advanced and counting down the days to multi variate calculus. So we’re looking for the balance between the two and hoping for a nice diverse group with a certain critical mass of serious-about-school types and some options for advanced classes if she qualifies but not to the point that it’s a competitive and hostile environment or one that is hyper focused on the accelerated kids. From where I’m sitting, I think we’re more likely to find that in DC than in the immediate suburbs.

You’re not being honest or you are very uniformed or you are one of those parents who will be like “Oh the DCPS IB schools is WONDERFUL but Larla chose Walls!”. I am in the middle of this decision and there is a massive difference between our IB DCPS HS and the schools we are looking at in Arlington. FWIW all of the Arlington and Fairfax schools are quite diverse.

I mean depending on what your IB is I’m sure that’s true. But mine is JR and I agree with the poster you responded to. I’m not willing to move far enough away from DC to get public HS that will be significantly better for my child’s needs. BCC and Whitman just don’t seem that much better for what my middle-of-the-road ish kid needs. And I would never move to VA (no shade on it, just not for me)

Ma’am this is a thread about high school backup plans. JR is not a backup plan.

DP but JR as your IB is 100% a backup plan. Many people have a priority list that looks like: first choice Walls, second choice one of three acceptable privates, backup plan JR as IB.

And I say that as someone not in that position. Our IB is Eastern. And I guess it's one of our backup plans, though it's not as solid of one as JR.

A backup plan is something you will do if all else fails. If you already live IB for JR, it's the perfect backup because you don't have to do anything to make it happen. It just does.

One families backup plan is another's dream school.

That's definitely true but also: do people genuinely have "dream schools" within DC's public system? I think I must be too cynical. I can see drawbacks to every school. Tho I can also see the silver linings to a lot of schools. I just see DC's system as largely a question of compromise, for better or worse.

My "dream school" for my kids would probably not reside in a district with as many structural obstacles to quality education. My wants:
- Academic tracking
- Strong emphasis on writing and oral communication skills
- A citizenship or volunteer requirement that really means something and isn't just a box kids check
- Lots of more casual and intramural sport options, care less about competitive sport programs
- Strong music and visual art programs, I don't care about theater
- Racially and socioeconomically diverse (I went to a HS like this and I think there are major advantages in terms of addressing the myopia pretty much everyone gets when they don't interact regularly with people from different backgrounds), but less than 20% economical disadvantaged with strong supports for those kids
- Strong alumni network locally (people are proud to go there and stay in touch)
- Easy commute

Probably the closest to these preferences is Latin or DCI, but neither checks off the whole list.

Umm, not sure this “school” exists anywhere inside the beltway.

That's the point. A "dream school" would have everything you wanted. In reality most people prioritize and make compromises. Latin, should you win the lottery and get in, would get you a lot of this, so would DCI. Banneker is close, though it's more sporty than described here. Blair and Richard Montgomery in MoCo would also be solid options. Nothing checks every box. I'd probably focus on the academics over extra curricular, since you can find ways to get the ECs you want outside of school. I'd probably look for an IB school since that's going to get you both tracking and the focus on writing, and take what I could get on the other preferences.

I agree that Latin and DCI probably fits the most of the criteria above.

I can only speak for DCI but they do a good job of tracking in high school. Classes are teaching at grade level in 9th and 10th. They offer support classes for those below. They offer more challenging classes for those above.

Then starting in 11th, you need to commit to one of numerous tracks that they have. For the highest performing kids that would be the IB diploma track. But they also have other tracks that are more STEM focused if your kid is into STEM with great courses.

PP again. Above is for DC. Can’t comment and don’t know much about burbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walls is our only hope. Otherwise we will have to move and I don’t know if we’d end up in NW DC or MD. Hate this system overall.

What system? Dcps, the lottery, living in a city where a huge percentage of kids come from generations of poverty?

People here are very scared of the generations of poverty and don’t want their precious children to be anywhere near it. Very sad when people think they are better than others.

I guess I'm just be of the people who is afraid if generational poverty, but it's not because I think I'm better than anyone. It's because I come from generational poverty (as well as violence, abuse, mental health issues, and substance abuse) and my biggest fear is that can't successfully keepy family lifted out of that situation.

I feel like if I had generational wealth or a family network of stable, supportive people to help me raise my kids, I'd feel less stressed about all this. But I'm on my own (with my spouse, from a similar background) and I want a school community that is going to reinforce the values of education, hard work, emotional maturity, and personal accountability. I think that can be hard to find at a high poverty school.

My family doesn’t come from poverty but I am not so privileged as to believe “my kid will be fine anywhere!” It also takes a weird set of beliefs to not see that a school with concentrated poverty won’t be significantly disadvantaged. I can’t put my finger on it but it is as if people believe their kids are so special that education actually doesn’t matter.

It does feel terrible that we work so hard to segregate ourselves. Either you move to avoid the at-risk kids, you lottery to avoid the at-risk kids, you perform/lottery to avoid the at-risk kids (Walls, etc.), or you buy a spot in private to avoid the at-risk kids. But at the end of the day there is no shame in wanting a "school community that is going to reinforce the values of education, hard work, emotional maturity, and personal accountability." Can't argue against those goals.

Well I actually think the at risk kids and families often value education, maturity and accountability. There’s no moral judgment on my part. I think that because they are poor they get access to worse services. Just like I wouldn’t buy a house in a dangerous part of w7 or 8 and assume it would have the top access to services and safety and amenities. That’s what it means to be marginalized. Also my kid doesn’t have better values than his current at risk classmates but I can afford to put him in a school where his individual values don’t matter.

Teaching quality is broadly the same--we are a high pay district that attracts quality instructors overall. Schools with a large percentage of at-risk kids get larger budges. And teachers at Title I schools can get larger bonuses. I don't know why you assume the services provided by the city are worse in W7 or W8. The difference between schools is primarily about the type of students that attend.

This is a great point. I’m the PP who said I don’t see that schools just outside DC are significantly better. Richer and whiter, yes. Not throwing shade - this is where knowing your kid comes into play. My kid benefits from positive peer pressure. She’s creative and curious but not a striver and benefits from being part of a nice cohort of kind, nerdy peers. She is not the kid who will thrive anywhere. That said she is also anxious and I don’t want her in a pressure cooker (or with a bunch of snobs). Nor is she wildly advanced and counting down the days to multi variate calculus. So we’re looking for the balance between the two and hoping for a nice diverse group with a certain critical mass of serious-about-school types and some options for advanced classes if she qualifies but not to the point that it’s a competitive and hostile environment or one that is hyper focused on the accelerated kids. From where I’m sitting, I think we’re more likely to find that in DC than in the immediate suburbs.

You’re not being honest or you are very uniformed or you are one of those parents who will be like “Oh the DCPS IB schools is WONDERFUL but Larla chose Walls!”. I am in the middle of this decision and there is a massive difference between our IB DCPS HS and the schools we are looking at in Arlington. FWIW all of the Arlington and Fairfax schools are quite diverse.

I mean depending on what your IB is I’m sure that’s true. But mine is JR and I agree with the poster you responded to. I’m not willing to move far enough away from DC to get public HS that will be significantly better for my child’s needs. BCC and Whitman just don’t seem that much better for what my middle-of-the-road ish kid needs. And I would never move to VA (no shade on it, just not for me)

Ma’am this is a thread about high school backup plans. JR is not a backup plan.

DP but JR as your IB is 100% a backup plan. Many people have a priority list that looks like: first choice Walls, second choice one of three acceptable privates, backup plan JR as IB.

And I say that as someone not in that position. Our IB is Eastern. And I guess it's one of our backup plans, though it's not as solid of one as JR.

A backup plan is something you will do if all else fails. If you already live IB for JR, it's the perfect backup because you don't have to do anything to make it happen. It just does.

One families backup plan is another's dream school.

That's definitely true but also: do people genuinely have "dream schools" within DC's public system? I think I must be too cynical. I can see drawbacks to every school. Tho I can also see the silver linings to a lot of schools. I just see DC's system as largely a question of compromise, for better or worse.

My "dream school" for my kids would probably not reside in a district with as many structural obstacles to quality education. My wants:
- Academic tracking
- Strong emphasis on writing and oral communication skills
- A citizenship or volunteer requirement that really means something and isn't just a box kids check
- Lots of more casual and intramural sport options, care less about competitive sport programs
- Strong music and visual art programs, I don't care about theater
- Racially and socioeconomically diverse (I went to a HS like this and I think there are major advantages in terms of addressing the myopia pretty much everyone gets when they don't interact regularly with people from different backgrounds), but less than 20% economical disadvantaged with strong supports for those kids
- Strong alumni network locally (people are proud to go there and stay in touch)
- Easy commute

Probably the closest to these preferences is Latin or DCI, but neither checks off the whole list.

Umm, not sure this “school” exists anywhere inside the beltway.

Mcinley isn't this . . . except for the amazing alumni network. I've never seen anything like it. So much school pride. 3rd generations of kids attending.