BASIS DC to open in 2012-2013

[Anonymous]

Just think of it like this:

The city/DCPS are just acknowledging that DCPS doesn't have the chops to set up a new successful Ward 5 middle school.

Its previous Ward 5 middle only schools were failures. And anyway they're gone now.

Its current attempt to create PK-8 "education campuses" in Ward 5 has been a total bust. It's bad for the little kids, and it's bad for the middle school students.

So- It's time to bring in someone who really knows what they're doing, like KIPP. It'd be a charter school, but would be designed to address the specific problem that DCPS has been unable to perform AT ALL in Ward 5.

Ward 3 folks-- just be glad that you have public schools which work at all, please, and don't begrudge us lowly Ward 5 folks for trying to think creatively about how to guarantee a quality education for our children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do folks think about the Jefferson location in southwest. nice field, right downtown close to waterfront, museums, etc. JEfferson used to be a strong school, but looking at it's test scores, maybe it should be restructured as a charter like Basis.

Jefferson would be a great location - it's near L'Enfant Metro station - it's in a safe area - it is centrally located for all parts of the city - it's a beautiful huge building with great facilities. BASIS (or Latin or another program) could co-locate with Jefferson Academy and symbiotically strengthen both programs.

Unless there is a real estate "wow factor" forget it. BASIS will get only the best.

Where will a start-up to obtain the best real estate in this city. For all practical purposes, BASIS is a start up in DC.

Downtown or Chinatown through a purchase outright would do the trick. So doable.

[Anonymous]

I don't think Basis will operate at all like a start up charter. Given their record of success in Arizona, they can probably get some good credit and imagine there are some rather wealthy backers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Regarding Jefferson, parents from Brent (which feeds into the school) and SWDC are already planning to turn Jefferson into an amazing school with an IB program. I think the Jefferson facility is "spoken for."

Not really. There is actually just one parent at Brent thinking this will actually happen. And that parent happens to live in Southwest. The rest of the parents are making other plans for middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regarding Jefferson, parents from Brent (which feeds into the school) and SWDC are already planning to turn Jefferson into an amazing school with an IB program. I think the Jefferson facility is "spoken for."

Not really. There is actually just one parent at Brent thinking this will actually happen. And that parent happens to live in Southwest. The rest of the parents are making other plans for middle school.

I know at least 4 Brent graduates that have started at Jefferson Academy this year. It is a gorgeous building and does have fields-- I don't see how a chinatown campus could be anywhere near as good as Jefferson's campus. Now let's see if the acedemics at JEfferson will improve!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

She also said that the charter board prohibits giving preference to neighborhood or in-bounday students. If Brown or Wells could find away around those prohibitions, KIPP was very much interested in going into a school

Were this to happen, there would a line 2,956-strong outside Mary Cheh's office door to ensure that Ward 3 as well as Ward 5 gets to have an inbounds-only charter school designed for the neighbors.

I'd be in the front of that line.

Why "in-bounds-only"? seems like allowing charters to provide "neighborhood preference" is a much easier sell to the charter board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regarding Jefferson, parents from Brent (which feeds into the school) and SWDC are already planning to turn Jefferson into an amazing school with an IB program. I think the Jefferson facility is "spoken for."

Not really. There is actually just one parent at Brent thinking this will actually happen. And that parent happens to live in Southwest. The rest of the parents are making other plans for middle school.

Uh, wrong. How do I know? I am that Southwest Brent parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

She also said that the charter board prohibits giving preference to neighborhood or in-bounday students. If Brown or Wells could find away around those prohibitions, KIPP was very much interested in going into a school

Were this to happen, there would a line 2,956-strong outside Mary Cheh's office door to ensure that Ward 3 as well as Ward 5 gets to have an inbounds-only charter school designed for the neighbors.

I'd be in the front of that line.

Why "in-bounds-only"? seems like allowing charters to provide "neighborhood preference" is a much easier sell to the charter board.

It's not about the charter school board. It's the charter school LAW that would have to change. Good luck with that one.

When will people realize you can't control public charter school enrollment by address. What part of "public" in public charter is so hard to grasp?

[Anonymous]

When will people realize you can't control public charter school enrollment by address. What part of "public" in public charter is so hard to grasp?

Um, there's the word "public" in "public schools," and these are all controlled by address. It's not like it's written in the Bible or something that charter schools have to be District-wide. This is something that leaders chose once upon a time, and it can be changed.

Also, I get the sense that Vincent Gray is interested in expanding charter schools across the city to address specific performance issues at DCPS. For places that are poorly served by DCPS and where parents are worried about their ability to get in someplace good via lottery, it would make sense to give preference to the students whose local, in-bounds DCPS options are weak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Deal is "well regarded" first and last because of the student population. Not the shiny building, not the impressive Ms. Kim. It's the students. Who come primarily from the neighborhood.

Now imagine how awesome it would be if we could design a school from the ground up, without the strictures of DCPS and the central office, and designed it with Ward 3 kids in mind!

It is only in recent years that ward 3 residents began sending their children to Deal in droves. At one point, Deal was majority OOB. IB students decided on private or MC. Now Deal is at the brink of over capacity. IB students are attending and OOB are being locked out. There will be no seats for OOB. The school offerings are not equal in Deal compared to other DC middle schools. The increase of IbB students at Deal has a lot to do with new facilities, new course offerings, greater technology, restructuring of classes, dynamic principal, increase in private schiol tuition, and downgrades in ones investment accounts I know you would like to think that the parents and students in Ward 3 are better than the rest of us plebes, But they are not. They simply have more money.

Traditionally, DCPS has run failing schools for poor people, or people with not as much money as ward 3. Those families who could get out ran to parochial, charters, Deal, or moved to VA or MD. Believe me, there are highly involved parents and students throughout DC, but DCPS has ignored them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regarding Jefferson, parents from Brent (which feeds into the school) and SWDC are already planning to turn Jefferson into an amazing school with an IB program. I think the Jefferson facility is "spoken for."

Not really. There is actually just one parent at Brent thinking this will actually happen. And that parent happens to live in Southwest. The rest of the parents are making other plans for middle school.

I know at least 4 Brent graduates that have started at Jefferson Academy this year. It is a gorgeous building and does have fields-- I don't see how a chinatown campus could be anywhere near as good as Jefferson's campus. Now let's see if the acedemics at JEfferson will improve!

Oh come on. 4 Brent graduates out of how many? And how does that compare to years before the Jefferson Academy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh come on. 4 Brent graduates out of how many? And how does that compare to years before the Jefferson Academy?

In 2009-2010 one student from Brent to its feeder - Jefferson. In 2010-2011 seven out of 18 went to Jefferson Academy. For most it was a fall back choice - after not getting into Deal, Stuart Hobson and Hardy.

[Anonymous]

To say that Brent parents are uninterested in Jefferson Academy is not true. Brent parents are looking (desperate) for options, and Jefferson Academy has significant potential. The Jefferson Academy principal panel had 13 people from Brent participate in the two sessions - investing seven hours and taking a half day off of work. The Jefferson Collaborative has seven active Brent participants. Last night at the Brent PTA meeting Jefferson Academy was discussed with interest, and a group of parents went out afterwards and spent two hours discussing Jefferson Academy and middle schools. There is intense interest in exploring all options and while Jefferson Academy has yet to emerge, it is certainly in the mix for many in the Brent community.

[Anonymous]

How many beers does it take before Jefferson starts to look cute?

[Anonymous]

It takes a lot of beer for anything to look cute these days. There are currently no solid options.

Do I detect schadenfreude by the pp because of the lack of good options for middle school?

What would you do? Try to make the DCPS feeder middle schools better? Move to the suburbs? Go charter? Beg borrow and steal for private school tuition? Send your kid to a struggling school and hope for the best? Home school? Scam your way into Deal?