Oyster middle school alternative for non-spanish speaker?

[Anonymous]

Considering a move to oyster middle school zone and DC1 will be going in to 6th grade. DC1 has not had spanish education at elementary school. is there an alternative middle school for adams morgan neighborhood if your kid didn't grow up going to oyster/bilingual elementary? or is it possible to go to oyster middle without speaking spanish?

thanks!

[Anonymous]

Well obviously not CHEC, which is also immersion

It’s not well publicized, but each whole-school immersion Spanish program in DCPS offers a non-lottery, alternative option. For Oyster-Adams, this is School Without Walls at Francis-Stevens.

Page 38 of this document:

https://enrolldcps.dc.gov/sites/dcpsenrollment/files/page_content/attachments/SY24-25%20DCPS%20Enrollment%20and%20Lottery%20Handbook.pdf

[Anonymous]

PP is correct except this year they changed the name of the school to John Francis Education Campus - they just got a full remodel on their building and it looks great!

I would note it is also a K-8 school, like Oyster, so they would be joining a cohort in progress though there are kids from Ross and Thompson ES that also start there in 6th grade.

[Anonymous]

How is JFEC for middle?

[Anonymous]

thanks, this is helpful. I thought maybe the alternative would be Hardy.

[Anonymous]

people like Francis Stevens/JFEC. it was also recently assigned as the feeder for a bunch of the shaw dcps schools which may mean an academically stronger cohort and not many oob lottery spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP is correct except this year they changed the name of the school to John Francis Education Campus - they just got a full remodel on their building and it looks great!

I would note it is also a K-8 school, like Oyster, so they would be joining a cohort in progress though there are kids from Ross and Thompson ES that also start there in 6th grade.

I hate the model of additional schools feeding into an already existing school/cohort. It just isn't the same. There's a similar/not quite as bad set up on the Hill with Stuart Hobson and Watkins both being in the "Cluster" and the L-T and JOW kids feeding in and feeling like second class citizens (on top of actual structural anomalies like the LSAT for SH governing the other Cluster schools as well).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is JFEC for middle?

Most of the school is below grade level for English and math but a few can escape to Walls for high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:people like Francis Stevens/JFEC. it was also recently assigned as the feeder for a bunch of the shaw dcps schools which may mean an academically stronger cohort and not many oob lottery spots.

There is already a cohort of academically strong kids at the school, fwiw. But I agree that there will probably be fewer lottery spots while the temporary feed lasts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Considering a move to oyster middle school zone and DC1 will be going in to 6th grade. DC1 has not had spanish education at elementary school. is there an alternative middle school for adams morgan neighborhood if your kid didn't grow up going to oyster/bilingual elementary? or is it possible to go to oyster middle without speaking spanish?

thanks!

No

[Anonymous]

We were told "no", which makes complete sense. We're in Adams Morgan and our in-bound would have been School Without Walls at Francis - Stevens. We chose private instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were told "no", which makes complete sense. We're in Adams Morgan and our in-bound would have been School Without Walls at Francis - Stevens. We chose private instead.

PP again. Meant to say that we moved to the neighborhood in 5th, so kid stayed put that year and we were looking at 6th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:people like Francis Stevens/JFEC. it was also recently assigned as the feeder for a bunch of the shaw dcps schools which may mean an academically stronger cohort and not many oob lottery spots.

There is already a cohort of academically strong kids at the school, fwiw. But I agree that there will probably be fewer lottery spots while the temporary feed lasts.

There is definitely a cohort of academically strong kids at Francis, but it's not clear if they are adequately challenged (no geometry, no differentiated classes, no National History Day, etc). I think some parents are agitating for more challenge, and I think the influx of new families will help with that push. Check back in a few years!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:people like Francis Stevens/JFEC. it was also recently assigned as the feeder for a bunch of the shaw dcps schools which may mean an academically stronger cohort and not many oob lottery spots.

There is already a cohort of academically strong kids at the school, fwiw. But I agree that there will probably be fewer lottery spots while the temporary feed lasts.

There is definitely a cohort of academically strong kids at Francis, but it's not clear if they are adequately challenged (no geometry, no differentiated classes, no National History Day, etc). I think some parents are agitating for more challenge, and I think the influx of new families will help with that push. Check back in a few years!

My strong student is adequately challenged there. Not maximally challenged, but that’s not our family’s goal for middle school and not something available in any DCPS middle school, as far as I can tell. It’s a small middle school, and will continue to be a small middle school after the temporary feed ends. We consider that a good thing, even though it comes with some inherent limitations.

As far as geometry goes, ideally DCPS would take responsibility for offering access to all qualified middle schoolers no matter which school they attend, instead of leaving it to individual schools to make resource tradeoffs. So far that has not been their approach, though.