Petition to keep School-Within-School (SWS) a true neighborhood school!

[Anonymous]

Not judging the above thinking process or conclusions, but want to point out that this is exactly what the city government officials are counting on - engaged parents willing to dance to their tune, whatever it is, to get their kids a good public education, and unwilling to organize and fight for their neighborhood schools.

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This implies a far greater level of competence and foresight on the part of our city officials than any of them actually have (with the possible exceptions of Catania and Mendelson).


I think when it comes to destroying neighborhood schools and switching to an all charter system, they have been quite competent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[

PP here -- not dancing to anybody's tune. Just a realist about MS prospects. Could involve moving too. We have plenty of time to decide. I have low expectations for Stuart Hobson as it currently does little to attract, retain or seriously challenge neighborhood kids. If you could feed one MS with Brent, Maury, SWS, Van Ness, Watkins, and Tyler (SI at least) you could have a pretty good neighborhood middle school. I doubt it will ever happen.

maybe not consciously, but the effect is the same. Sounds like being a "realist" is accepting and adapting to whatever DCPS does or doesn't do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Not judging the above thinking process or conclusions, but want to point out that this is exactly what the city government officials are counting on - engaged parents willing to dance to their tune, whatever it is, to get their kids a good public education, and unwilling to organize and fight for their neighborhood schools.

- - - - - - -

This implies a far greater level of competence and foresight on the part of our city officials than any of them actually have (with the possible exceptions of Catania and Mendelson).


I think when it comes to destroying neighborhood schools and switching to an all charter system, they have been quite competent.

That's not a demonstration of competence, it's the result of inertia. Very few politicians have the courage to actually pursue change/reform/new ideas. It's much easier to do nothing, and the collapse of DCPS is the consequence.

[Anonymous]

among the charters Basis, Latin, EL Haynes, Yu Ying, Cap City and 2 Rivers are all more academically rigorous than any of the Hill DCPS options for MS (and of course, so is KIPP/KEY). Deal is the only DCPS I'd jump at, and would begrudgingly consider Hardy and Stuart Hobson if absolutely necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Not judging the above thinking process or conclusions, but want to point out that this is exactly what the city government officials are counting on - engaged parents willing to dance to their tune, whatever it is, to get their kids a good public education, and unwilling to organize and fight for their neighborhood schools.

- - - - - - -

This implies a far greater level of competence and foresight on the part of our city officials than any of them actually have (with the possible exceptions of Catania and Mendelson).


I think when it comes to destroying neighborhood schools and switching to an all charter system, they have been quite competent.

That's not a demonstration of competence, it's the result of inertia. Very few politicians have the courage to actually pursue change/reform/new ideas. It's much easier to do nothing, and the collapse of DCPS is the consequence.


Are you kidding - inertia?? they'be been doing plenty - mayoral control, cloisng schools, opening charters, hiring and firing 50% plus of the teachers and principals and central office, new teacher evaluation system and union contract, bonus and merit pay.

Some people are working very hard to see DCPS collapse - and citizens are standing by and watching it happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hell0. At least at Brent we fought for two or three years for a solution to the middle school problem on Capitol Hill. We polled and met and researched and came up with multiple scenarios that would keep parents in our local middle schools. These ranged from consolidating feeder patterns to controlled choice options among the three middle schools, to seed programs to start small and then when critical mass was gained located on the bigger middle schools. Ideas also included feeding Brent and Maury to Stuart Hobson. We had to fight to actually allow a feed from Brent to both Eliot Hine and Jefferson rather than just Jefferson to avoid the idiotic scenario DCPS favored which was Maury to one middle school, Watkins to another and Brent to another. We didn't demand anything, but laid in their laps multiple ways that they could capture the rising numbers of neighborhood families coming out of hill elementary schools before the charters grabbed them. Their "plan" was to wait for the growing numbers of Hill elementary graduates to get high enough so they would eventually naturally feel comfortable moving on to these middle schools all together. The result? As we predicted and told them would happen years ago, the fifth grades are emptying out as the neighborhood jumps to charters.

So People have been focused and working on these issues for several years now but have been told to ****off. Maybe it is time for a second wave of activism around this. Come up with a plan and get someone elected around it

Thanks for this post. I've often felt bad for the Brent parents who fought and lost on the neighborhood MS front. Yes, come up with a plan and get someone elected around it if you have the stamina. We're saving our pennies for parochial MS, not wanting to bang our heads against a wall, like you people did. We also can't stomach the ideal of listening to droves of short-sighted (parents, admins, pols) wax enthusiastic about demographics driving change. They generally haven't, and won't.

Unfortunately, even Deal doesn't offer honors classes outside math, although advanced classes are par for the course in suburban middle schools throughout the Metro area. It's not just the 5th grades emptying out, it's charter middle and high schools, emptying of most high-SES families after 7th or 8th grade for reasons nobody wants to pin down. The exodus is slowing year on year, but not by a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hell0. At least at Brent we fought for two or three years for a solution to the middle school problem on Capitol Hill. We polled and met and researched and came up with multiple scenarios that would keep parents in our local middle schools. These ranged from consolidating feeder patterns to controlled choice options among the three middle schools, to seed programs to start small and then when critical mass was gained located on the bigger middle schools. Ideas also included feeding Brent and Maury to Stuart Hobson. We had to fight to actually allow a feed from Brent to both Eliot Hine and Jefferson rather than just Jefferson to avoid the idiotic scenario DCPS favored which was Maury to one middle school, Watkins to another and Brent to another. We didn't demand anything, but laid in their laps multiple ways that they could capture the rising numbers of neighborhood families coming out of hill elementary schools before the charters grabbed them. Their "plan" was to wait for the growing numbers of Hill elementary graduates to get high enough so they would eventually naturally feel comfortable moving on to these middle schools all together. The result? As we predicted and told them would happen years ago, the fifth grades are emptying out as the neighborhood jumps to charters.

So People have been focused and working on these issues for several years now but have been told to ****off. Maybe it is time for a second wave of activism around this. Come up with a plan and get someone elected around it

Thanks, I didn't know about this, but it sure fits my sense that DCPS is purposely driving people out of its schools and into charters. You showed them how to avoid charters grabbing the kids, and they let it happen. They must be mighty grateful to you for laying it all out for them.

Parents are putting in all this volunteer time, while DCPS staff is getting paid for screwing you. And they'll get paid again when they take the administrative jobs waiting for them in the new charter schools that pop up as DCPS disintegrates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for this post. I've often felt bad for the Brent parents who fought and lost on the neighborhood MS front. Yes, come up with a plan and get someone elected around it if you have the stamina.

-------

And make sure the person who gets elected follows through. I don't know how you do that. Something seems to happen to people once they're in. Gray might as well be Fenty in terms of turning DCPS over to the Chancellor.

It's not mayoral control, it mayoral relinquishment of responsibility.

What I think would make sense would be to confront the mayor and the council and the chancellor directly about their support for charters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hell0. At least at Brent we fought for two or three years for a solution to the middle school problem on Capitol Hill. We polled and met and researched and came up with multiple scenarios that would keep parents in our local middle schools. These ranged from consolidating feeder patterns to controlled choice options among the three middle schools, to seed programs to start small and then when critical mass was gained located on the bigger middle schools. Ideas also included feeding Brent and Maury to Stuart Hobson. We had to fight to actually allow a feed from Brent to both Eliot Hine and Jefferson rather than just Jefferson to avoid the idiotic scenario DCPS favored which was Maury to one middle school, Watkins to another and Brent to another. We didn't demand anything, but laid in their laps multiple ways that they could capture the rising numbers of neighborhood families coming out of hill elementary schools before the charters grabbed them. Their "plan" was to wait for the growing numbers of Hill elementary graduates to get high enough so they would eventually naturally feel comfortable moving on to these middle schools all together. The result? As we predicted and told them would happen years ago, the fifth grades are emptying out as the neighborhood jumps to charters.

So People have been focused and working on these issues for several years now but have been told to ****off. Maybe it is time for a second wave of activism around this. Come up with a plan and get someone elected around it

Thanks, I didn't know about this, but it sure fits my sense that DCPS is purposely driving people out of its schools and into charters. You showed them how to avoid charters grabbing the kids, and they let it happen. They must be mighty grateful to you for laying it all out for them.

Parents are putting in all this volunteer time, while DCPS staff is getting paid for screwing you. And they'll get paid again when they take the administrative jobs waiting for them in the new charter schools that pop up as DCPS disintegrates.

Oh bullshit. No charters are in a hurry to hire the losers that ran DCPS into the ground. The conspiracy theories here suggesting some grand plan on the part of DCPS to go charter are stupid. You sound like idiots.

[Anonymous]

no conspiracy theory -- just speculation.

If the point is to run DCPS into the ground to make way for charters, then the people who do it will not be considered losers, they are facilitators.

The DCPS leaders are such obvious losers, why are they still in control? Why does the Washington Post still support them?

[Anonymous]

If the point is to run DCPS into the ground then why expand SWS and allow them to creste their own school? It would seem to me they're creating a system of their own charters, run by local PTAs or highly motivated and skilled staff - depending on whatever they can make happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:no conspiracy theory -- just speculation.

If the point is to run DCPS into the ground to make way for charters, then the people who do it will not be considered losers, they are facilitators.

The DCPS leaders are such obvious losers, why are they still in control? Why does the Washington Post still support them?

Totally and completely wrong.

When you show up to interview with a job at Kipp or Latin or Friendship or DCI, and in response to the questions about your experience and qualifications you say "I facilitated charter growth by running DCPS into the ground" you will reveal yourself as witless and incompetent. No-one at any of those schools would want you. From their standpoint, you were the competition and they beat you fair and square. They humiliated you and then kicked sand in your face. They don't want a loser like you on their team. Go join the Detroit or Newark public school systems, that's more your speed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:no conspiracy theory -- just speculation.

The DCPS leaders are such obvious losers, why are they still in control? Why does the Washington Post still support them?

First, your speculation is a conspiracy theory; they are not mutually exclusive terms.

Second, they are still in control for the same reasons that half of city employees (and half the city council) still have their jobs. The electorate doesn't care. More accurately, the portion of the electorate that wants meaningful change lacks a leader to unify it, and as a result, they splinter into factions, allowing the status quo to continue.

It will probably happen again next year. Tommy Wells, while well-intentioned, lacks the gravitas and charisma to unite everyone who didn't vote for Anita Bonds. I'm not exactly sure why Jack Evans thinks there is a market for old, establishment white guys city-wide, but every vote for him is a vote against change. Bowser can't compete with Wells in Ward 6, and without that treasure trove of old Fenty supporters, she can't win. Who does that leave? Could I interest you in a second term of Vince Gray?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hell0. At least at Brent we fought for two or three years for a solution to the middle school problem on Capitol Hill. We polled and met and researched and came up with multiple scenarios that would keep parents in our local middle schools. These ranged from consolidating feeder patterns to controlled choice options among the three middle schools, to seed programs to start small and then when critical mass was gained located on the bigger middle schools. Ideas also included feeding Brent and Maury to Stuart Hobson. We had to fight to actually allow a feed from Brent to both Eliot Hine and Jefferson rather than just Jefferson to avoid the idiotic scenario DCPS favored which was Maury to one middle school, Watkins to another and Brent to another. We didn't demand anything, but laid in their laps multiple ways that they could capture the rising numbers of neighborhood families coming out of hill elementary schools before the charters grabbed them. Their "plan" was to wait for the growing numbers of Hill elementary graduates to get high enough so they would eventually naturally feel comfortable moving on to these middle schools all together. The result? As we predicted and told them would happen years ago, the fifth grades are emptying out as the neighborhood jumps to charters.

So People have been focused and working on these issues for several years now but have been told to ****off. Maybe it is time for a second wave of activism around this. Come up with a plan and get someone elected around it

When I hear people talk about how the Capitol Hill community needs to build a great MS through parental involvement, I can't help think of this. I watched from the outside, but it was still incredibly demoralizing. You had a large collection of smart, engaged parents with a strong track record of building a successful school (people forget how far Brent has come so quickly) and they couldn't get any traction with DCPS. Then I'm told by DCPS that Eliot Hine will be a superb option, so no harm, no foul.

Where is the incentive for parents to try again?

As others have said, the best answer is to start by feeding Brent, SWS, and Maury into their own MS. Unless you exclude schools like Ludlow-Taylor, Payne, and Miner, it will be much harder to get the necessary initial buy-in. That's the harsh truth.

[Anonymous]

Brent parent here-- where is the incentive for parents to try again? As I see it, as long as there is hope that BASIS and Latin and other seemingly successful middle school options are available, there is no incentive. Yes, it will be a bit sad next year when my kid skips out of 5th grade at Brent to attend a charter school instead, but Brent friendships seem pretty tight and are likely to last even though they will mostly disburse before 5th. Maybe it is good for parents to be forced to think about what type of school really works for their kid for middle school, rather than just blindly follow the herd onto the next school as what we did in my community as a kid where no one had the pleasure/pain of school choice. Yes, it is annoying to have to go to all those open houses and do all the research, but it may actually be the best thing for the kids. Silver lining of the lack of a definite path to one, specific, middle school from Brent, I guess.