SELA PICKS WARD 4 - Takoma, DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I posted earlier saying I thought the location was great. At that time I thought it was much closer to Ft.Totten. Now that I have come to understand that it's off Kansas Ave, I have a different opinion, but if it works for you, it's all good. You better own a car to get there is all I have to say.

Really depends where you live. It's a five-minute bus-ride from FT, where I live. It's also on several major bus lines.

[Anonymous]

Went out to the Moms on the Hill event today to learn more about Sela and other charters. Very impressed with Sela (and also Cap City). The Sela administrators seemed very committed to providing a quality education option. Diverse group, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Went out to the Moms on the Hill event today to learn more about Sela and other charters. Very impressed with Sela (and also Cap City). The Sela administrators seemed very committed to providing a quality education option. Diverse group, too.

Agreed. Sharp group. I wish they had pre-K 3.

[Anonymous]

I suspect that Sela, Yu Ying, Lamb, etc. would LOVE to take later grade students who are already speakers of the target immersion language. Really we should lobby the people who have the admissions test rule in place for an exception for later admitted students in immersion charters. Is that the charter school board? The city council? Congress?

I think that the idea may be that the charter school board doesn't want to provide a school for just a subsection of society.
In terms of Sela, think about what would happen if they allowed all the more senior grades to be filled with children who were already strong Hebrew speakers, right from the onset. What we would have would be nothing but a thinly veiled Jewish day school funded by public dollars, where students learn hebrew in school and supplement it with religious instruction at their temple, thus, all but eliminating any culture of diversity and inclusion. I as a parent would be discouraged from sending my daughter to a school where it had been established that mostly Jewish children go to learn Hebrew as an alternative to Jewish Day School and where she might feel like an outsider rather than as a part of a diverse student community whose sole goal is to achieve high standards of education and explore the language and culture of israel.

I'm going to the principal's coffee thing next week, but it looks like there is a lot of positive energy surrounding this program so far. I think it may be the right choice for my daughter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I suspect that Sela, Yu Ying, Lamb, etc. would LOVE to take later grade students who are already speakers of the target immersion language. Really we should lobby the people who have the admissions test rule in place for an exception for later admitted students in immersion charters. Is that the charter school board? The city council? Congress?

I think that the idea may be that the charter school board doesn't want to provide a school for just a subsection of society.
In terms of Sela, think about what would happen if they allowed all the more senior grades to be filled with children who were already strong Hebrew speakers, right from the onset. What we would have would be nothing but a thinly veiled Jewish day school funded by public dollars, where students learn hebrew in school and supplement it with religious instruction at their temple, thus, all but eliminating any culture of diversity and inclusion. I as a parent would be discouraged from sending my daughter to a school where it had been established that mostly Jewish children go to learn Hebrew as an alternative to Jewish Day School and where she might feel like an outsider rather than as a part of a diverse student community whose sole goal is to achieve high standards of education and explore the language and culture of israel.

I'm going to the principal's coffee thing next week, but it looks like there is a lot of positive energy surrounding this program so far. I think it may be the right choice for my daughter.

Totally agree with this. Completely.

[Anonymous]

We have just accepted our spot for Sela. We have been continually impressed with their leadership when I have encountered them and when others I know have encountered them. Not Jewish (Asian) and they answered my pointed questions about what they were doing to build a diverse school candidly and enthusiastically. A friend who has her kids at JPDS received a polite caution that they would love to have her family, too, but that she should not expect a Jewish day school experience, that Sela was committed to building a diverse, inclusive school that reflected DC in a language immersion/academically rigorous setting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I suspect that Sela, Yu Ying, Lamb, etc. would LOVE to take later grade students who are already speakers of the target immersion language. Really we should lobby the people who have the admissions test rule in place for an exception for later admitted students in immersion charters. Is that the charter school board? The city council? Congress?

I think that the idea may be that the charter school board doesn't want to provide a school for just a subsection of society.
In terms of Sela, think about what would happen if they allowed all the more senior grades to be filled with children who were already strong Hebrew speakers, right from the onset. What we would have would be nothing but a thinly veiled Jewish day school funded by public dollars, where students learn hebrew in school and supplement it with religious instruction at their temple, thus, all but eliminating any culture of diversity and inclusion. I as a parent would be discouraged from sending my daughter to a school where it had been established that mostly Jewish children go to learn Hebrew as an alternative to Jewish Day School and where she might feel like an outsider rather than as a part of a diverse student community whose sole goal is to achieve high standards of education and explore the language and culture of israel.

I'm going to the principal's coffee thing next week, but it looks like there is a lot of positive energy surrounding this program so far. I think it may be the right choice for my daughter.

Totally agree with this. Completely.

+2

[Anonymous]

Just enrolled my 4 year old this afternoon. They still have spots in all grades.