tired of "diversity for Deal and Wilson" as an argument

[Anonymous]

is dr. kim still with dcps? if yes, shouldnt she be in charge of getting all dcps middle schools on a higher trajectory?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:is dr. kim still with dcps? if yes, shouldnt she be in charge of getting all dcps middle schools on a higher trajectory?

Sadly she left after having her baby. The demands of the job were just too much, which I completely understand. I was just thinking that DCPS should invite her back in such a capacity.

[Anonymous]

I would argue, too, that Deal could have a successful trajectory without having to be selective because of the wealthy, educated and academically ambitious INBOUNDS population who had access to functional elementary schools.

The Deal model of leadership under Kim is a good one, but it may not be sufficient at middle schools in other parts of the city where the inbounds population and feeder elementary schools have different characteristics. It may take selective or magnet components at least at the beginning to draw in larger numbers of high performing students who currently have options to cluster together elsewhere

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would argue, too, that Deal could have a successful trajectory without having to be selective because of the wealthy, educated and academically ambitious INBOUNDS population who had access to functional elementary schools.

The Deal model of leadership under Kim is a good one, but it may not be sufficient at middle schools in other parts of the city where the inbounds population and feeder elementary schools have different characteristics. It may take selective or magnet components at least at the beginning to draw in larger numbers of high performing students who currently have options to cluster together elsewhere

This.

[Anonymous]

One other important reason why Deal and Wilson (and all other DC schools) should remain neighborhood based: From WMATA at 8:05am:

“Red Line: Delays now up to 30 minutes due to track problem. Trains are single tracking btwn Dupont Circle & Van Ness.”

Obviously, some kids successfully use METRO everyday, but to do away with neighborhood preferences would require a robust and reliable public transportation system able to accomodate thousands of ADDITIONAL riders each day at the beginning of morning rush hours. Not going to happen, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would argue, too, that Deal could have a successful trajectory without having to be selective because of the wealthy, educated and academically ambitious INBOUNDS population who had access to functional elementary schools.

The Deal model of leadership under Kim is a good one, but it may not be sufficient at middle schools in other parts of the city where the inbounds population and feeder elementary schools have different characteristics. It may take selective or magnet components at least at the beginning to draw in larger numbers of high performing students who currently have options to cluster together elsewhere

This may be the case in many parts of the city but I think the Dr. Kim model could be successful at a school like Hardy where there is a potential pool of high SES inbounds students who could attend but choose not to.

[Anonymous]

The magnet components are useless unless parents of the kids who would be interested in magnets are confident that the behavioral problems endemic to other DCPS MS and HS (fights, students roaming the halls between classes, general chaos caused by lack of meaningful administrative discipline and teacher fears of being assaulted by the junior thug population (both male and female)) are dealt with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The magnet components are useless unless parents of the kids who would be interested in magnets are confident that the behavioral problems endemic to other DCPS MS and HS (fights, students roaming the halls between classes, general chaos caused by lack of meaningful administrative discipline and teacher fears of being assaulted by the junior thug population (both male and female)) are dealt with.

Disagree, as long as magnet campuses are separate. Test-in schools setting a high bar for academic admission requirements should only admit serious students, even if they come from all Wards.

But crime/violence could be a bit of an issue for co-located schools.

And please-- let's build these magnet schools near Metro stations!! Not just a bus route or two winding well beyond the urban core with service at 20-30 minute intervals! Charter schools have been selecting remote locations because of cost, but for older students who should be using public transit, that's not much good. Lots of Ward 1 and 2 educated families who wish to stay urban and expect better transit options!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One other important reason why Deal and Wilson (and all other DC schools) should remain neighborhood based: From WMATA at 8:05am:

“Red Line: Delays now up to 30 minutes due to track problem. Trains are single tracking btwn Dupont Circle & Van Ness.”

Obviously, some kids successfully use METRO everyday, but to do away with neighborhood preferences would require a robust and reliable public transportation system able to accomodate thousands of ADDITIONAL riders each day at the beginning of morning rush hours. Not going to happen, unfortunately.

I agree. Shuttling everyone willy nilly would be a nightmare. I love that my DC can walk to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The magnet components are useless unless parents of the kids who would be interested in magnets are confident that the behavioral problems endemic to other DCPS MS and HS (fights, students roaming the halls between classes, general chaos caused by lack of meaningful administrative discipline and teacher fears of being assaulted by the junior thug population (both male and female)) are dealt with.

Disagree, as long as magnet campuses are separate. Test-in schools setting a high bar for academic admission requirements should only admit serious students, even if they come from all Wards.

But crime/violence could be a bit of an issue for co-located schools.

And please-- let's build these magnet schools near Metro stations!! Not just a bus route or two winding well beyond the urban core with service at 20-30 minute intervals! Charter schools have been selecting remote locations because of cost, but for older students who should be using public transit, that's not much good. Lots of Ward 1 and 2 educated families who wish to stay urban and expect better transit options!

This would defeat the entire purpose of the magnet program, which is to entice one demographic group to go to an otherwise homogeneous school to bring some measure of integration and diversity. There needs to be at least some co-curricular programming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:is dr. kim still with dcps? if yes, shouldnt she be in charge of getting all dcps middle schools on a higher trajectory?

Sadly she left after having her baby. The demands of the job were just too much, which I completely understand. I was just thinking that DCPS should invite her back in such a capacity.

Sadly, Melissa Kim left DCPS for New Schools Venture Fund.

[Anonymous]

Listen-- to solve all MS problems and whip one into Deal shape they just need to put the current6th grade asst principal (Ms. Neal) as the head of the school and she will turn tha place around. Bullhorn and all!

[Anonymous]

Ok when Deal and Wilson were diverse and rated high...before the subway line and there was larger school populations too.

Ms. Neal is she not the same one who FAILED miserably as a principal ofa MS. Remember she was hand picked by Rhee and kicked to the curb by her too. I love Ms. Neal but everyone can't look at education through rose-colored glasses and with a bull-horn too. There's only so many times I want to hear "my babies"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The magnet components are useless unless parents of the kids who would be interested in magnets are confident that the behavioral problems endemic to other DCPS MS and HS (fights, students roaming the halls between classes, general chaos caused by lack of meaningful administrative discipline and teacher fears of being assaulted by the junior thug population (both male and female)) are dealt with.

Disagree, as long as magnet campuses are separate. Test-in schools setting a high bar for academic admission requirements should only admit serious students, even if they come from all Wards.

But crime/violence could be a bit of an issue for co-located schools.

And please-- let's build these magnet schools near Metro stations!! Not just a bus route or two winding well beyond the urban core with service at 20-30 minute intervals! Charter schools have been selecting remote locations because of cost, but for older students who should be using public transit, that's not much good. Lots of Ward 1 and 2 educated families who wish to stay urban and expect better transit options!

This would defeat the entire purpose of the magnet program, which is to entice one demographic group to go to an otherwise homogeneous school to bring some measure of integration and diversity. There needs to be at least some co-curricular programming.

No, would create an ethnically diverse group of high achievers. That's an important feature of magnet programs. The magnet schools in the city where I grew up were often co-located, but not always.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok when Deal and Wilson were diverse and rated high...before the subway line and there was larger school populations too.

Ms. Neal is she not the same one who FAILED miserably as a principal ofa MS. Remember she was hand picked by Rhee and kicked to the curb by her too. I love Ms. Neal but everyone can't look at education through rose-colored glasses and with a bull-horn too. There's only so many times I want to hear "my babies"

She was not "kicked to the curb" what are you even talking about