Kaya Leaving; John Davis in as interim

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Correct me if I'm mistaken, but didn't the Chancellor used to be a direct report to the Mayor until Bower changed it so that the Chancellor reported to the DME?

Yes, and I always felt that would be the greatest source of tension. That DME layer between chancellor and mayor also means a major charter advocate has equal to greater influence with Mayor's office, and Catherine Bradley calls ALL of the shots there. That can't possibly help chancellor in negotiating with teachers union, which has become an increasingly sore subject among DCPS teachers and indirectly impacts charters.

The is the real issue. The Powers That Be in DC education do not care at all about high performing schools or advanced students. Really, they don't. The mission of deep-pocketed crusaders like Katherine Bradley is to "close the Achievement Gap" by any means necessary. These high-SES Saviors of Poor Brown Kids have zero accountability. They can throw money and influence around based on their personal preferences and whatever's trending in education reform. They have no qualms about experimenting on other people's kids so long as they can claim to be closing the gap.

Bradley and her CityBridge Foundation, the Federal City Council, TFA, FOCUS, DCPEF, and others we probably don't know about are the real kingmakers in DCPS and charter sectors. See this article on Bradley from City Paper if you don't know who she is. http://tinyurl.com/grxzbet Even more so now that Deal-for-All Muriel has fewer allies on the Council and no profile or credibility in the national education landscape.

I am glad these generous benefactors want to focus resources on students from low-income families in under-served parts of the city. I believe they honestly have the best interests of children at heart. I don't doubt their sincerity in seeing education as a crisis.

However, it's time there was more transparency and accountability. We shouldn't continue to give parents the false impression that there's anything "public" about major public education decisions. We can't have a reliable and fair system of public education if we are reliant on the kindness of strangers.

[Anonymous]

The benefactors are also the ones who supplied the money for the DCPS study abroad and learn to ride a bike programs. It isn't all about testing for them.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I agree Abigail Smith would be a good choice. I think she understands the scope of the problems facing DCPS and would listen to parents and teachers. She really does care and doesn't seem arrogant.

If you recall, several years ago, she wanted to do away with elementary school boundaries in favor of a system like Boston's, where parents are only guaranteed a spot at one of several schools in a local cluster. Our local cluster would have included a school with a DC-CAS proficiency pass rate of 80% and two in the 30s. Parents buying million dollar houses so their children could attend school #1 were really shaken up. She was the architect of the madness. Parents rose up in protest all over the city, and not just in upscale neighborhoods like Upper NW and Cap Hill. She squandered far too much political capital in the process to make an effective chancellor. The woman clearly lacks common sense in a big way. No thanks.

To be equally as fair in presentation, most of those community meetings used DC CAS scores as coded race discussions. I'm not a charter fan and agree that was the wrong approach, but let's keep in mind that at some point DC will have to address its growing classist and re-segregating schools.

Personally I feel it needs to be an outside candidate, hopefully with Fortune 500 experience. I want a buisness woman, not an DC politico.

Yes, I agree that the opposition to clusters was a race issue. I was against the idea at first, but now I totally get how it is a good solution to the problem of gentrified neighborhoods that exist within the drastic income inequality in this city. The idea should be revisited although the concerns of parents who feel their $1 mil house entitled them to a particular school will need to be addressed in a politically smart way. If we don't start thinking along these lines the Hill will never integrate the jr highs and high schools.

Total BS. There is no politically smart way to yank away the opportunity to send your kids to a strong neighborhood school for which you just bought a $1 million house. The Hill will never integrate the middle schools and high schools as long as DCPS refuses to allow the strongest cohorts of elementary schools students (from Maury, Brent, SWS and Watkins, maybe Ludlow in five years) feed to one middle school where a full menu of at-grade level and above-grade level classes are offered. And that's the name of that tune.

Sure there is a way to do it. There are limited seats already for PK spots - start out by creating an incentive for parents "shut out" of Brent to enroll at Tyler and go from there. There are enough families now zoned for Payne, Tyler, and Miner who would like to attend that I don't think it would be that difficult. But yeah I understand that people somehow believe they are purchasing a right to a public service when they buy those houses.

Wrong. A good many high SES Hill families already use Tyler Traditional (and Payne, Miner and Amidon) for ECE. But very few stay for K or the elementary grades, mainly because the structures aren't in place for them to have faith in the program, namely the staff needed to provide strong support to both academic stragglers and advanced learners, along with disruptive kids. They leave it to PTAs to fundraise to pay for classroom aides past K, along with behavioral technicians. It's a rotten system all around. Parents can't be blamed. New chancellor take note.

This. I was at a happy hour for Miner PK3 admits and there were ~20 high SES IB families there. The ECE is actually diverse at most of these Hill schools now, while the upper grades remain unused by high SES IB families. I actually know a high SES IB family whose sent their kid to Miner for K two years ago (parents are both Drs). Thought they would take a chance after being satisfied with PK and shut out of lottery. Thought they had a bit more flexibility than other families to take the risk since their kid is mixed race (AA/white), so wouldn't "stand out" as obviously even if he were the only high SES attendee. Were absolutely horrified and pulled kid for best lottery placement they could get the next year (mediocre charter).

I'm very interested in your story, but it is incomprehensible. Can you add back all the missing words? Who was horrified at what?

I don't understand why you're having difficulty reading the above. They were horrified by their K experience. Think that's pretty clear from the context.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Were all the parents of Miner PK3 admits included in this happy hour?

Hope so.

I mean, given that there is no list of Miner admits available to people whose kids haven't even started attending for use for a non-official purpose, obviously no. Was it an open invitation publicized at the school, in the neighborhood and via MOTH? Yes. I'm not sure what else they could have done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any chance of Muriel Bowser hiring anyone decent? Or will cronyism prevail?

Of course it will prevail. It's a proud DC tradition.

Will definitely prevail.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I agree Abigail Smith would be a good choice. I think she understands the scope of the problems facing DCPS and would listen to parents and teachers. She really does care and doesn't seem arrogant.

If you recall, several years ago, she wanted to do away with elementary school boundaries in favor of a system like Boston's, where parents are only guaranteed a spot at one of several schools in a local cluster. Our local cluster would have included a school with a DC-CAS proficiency pass rate of 80% and two in the 30s. Parents buying million dollar houses so their children could attend school #1 were really shaken up. She was the architect of the madness. Parents rose up in protest all over the city, and not just in upscale neighborhoods like Upper NW and Cap Hill. She squandered far too much political capital in the process to make an effective chancellor. The woman clearly lacks common sense in a big way. No thanks.

To be equally as fair in presentation, most of those community meetings used DC CAS scores as coded race discussions. I'm not a charter fan and agree that was the wrong approach, but let's keep in mind that at some point DC will have to address its growing classist and re-segregating schools.

Personally I feel it needs to be an outside candidate, hopefully with Fortune 500 experience. I want a buisness woman, not an DC politico.

Yes, I agree that the opposition to clusters was a race issue. I was against the idea at first, but now I totally get how it is a good solution to the problem of gentrified neighborhoods that exist within the drastic income inequality in this city. The idea should be revisited although the concerns of parents who feel their $1 mil house entitled them to a particular school will need to be addressed in a politically smart way. If we don't start thinking along these lines the Hill will never integrate the jr highs and high schools.

Total BS. There is no politically smart way to yank away the opportunity to send your kids to a strong neighborhood school for which you just bought a $1 million house. The Hill will never integrate the middle schools and high schools as long as DCPS refuses to allow the strongest cohorts of elementary schools students (from Maury, Brent, SWS and Watkins, maybe Ludlow in five years) feed to one middle school where a full menu of at-grade level and above-grade level classes are offered. And that's the name of that tune.

Sure there is a way to do it. There are limited seats already for PK spots - start out by creating an incentive for parents "shut out" of Brent to enroll at Tyler and go from there. There are enough families now zoned for Payne, Tyler, and Miner who would like to attend that I don't think it would be that difficult. But yeah I understand that people somehow believe they are purchasing a right to a public service when they buy those houses.

Wrong. A good many high SES Hill families already use Tyler Traditional (and Payne, Miner and Amidon) for ECE. But very few stay for K or the elementary grades, mainly because the structures aren't in place for them to have faith in the program, namely the staff needed to provide strong support to both academic stragglers and advanced learners, along with disruptive kids. They leave it to PTAs to fundraise to pay for classroom aides past K, along with behavioral technicians. It's a rotten system all around. Parents can't be blamed. New chancellor take note.

This. I was at a happy hour for Miner PK3 admits and there were ~20 high SES IB families there. The ECE is actually diverse at most of these Hill schools now, while the upper grades remain unused by high SES IB families. I actually know a high SES IB family whose sent their kid to Miner for K two years ago (parents are both Drs). Thought they would take a chance after being satisfied with PK and shut out of lottery. Thought they had a bit more flexibility than other families to take the risk since their kid is mixed race (AA/white), so wouldn't "stand out" as obviously even if he were the only high SES attendee. Were absolutely horrified and pulled kid for best lottery placement they could get the next year (mediocre charter).

I'm very interested in your story, but it is incomprehensible. Can you add back all the missing words? Who was horrified at what?

I don't understand why you're having difficulty reading the above. They were horrified by their K experience. Think that's pretty clear from the context.

Why are you so opposed to using pronouns?? What horrified them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, who do people actually want? What would an ideal candidate be?

I know my suggestion won't be popular -- least of all with the person I'm suggesting -- but I think Abigail Smith should be considered. I can't defend her entire track record, but I think she has dealt with the system long enough to know what can and should be fixed.

you're brave to post that here

She would be worth considering but I don't see it after the boundary review fallout

She is and was an effective leader that took on an issue that needed to be dealt with after 40 years. But think about it. She was Mayor Gray's deputy. Wrong team.

So was Kaya

Anyone think she was forced out?

She was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, who do people actually want? What would an ideal candidate be?

I know my suggestion won't be popular -- least of all with the person I'm suggesting -- but I think Abigail Smith should be considered. I can't defend her entire track record, but I think she has dealt with the system long enough to know what can and should be fixed.

you're brave to post that here

She would be worth considering but I don't see it after the boundary review fallout

She is and was an effective leader that took on an issue that needed to be dealt with after 40 years. But think about it. She was Mayor Gray's deputy. Wrong team.

So was Kaya

Anyone think she was forced out?

She was.

Details????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Were all the parents of Miner PK3 admits included in this happy hour?

Hope so.

I mean, given that there is no list of Miner admits available to people whose kids haven't even started attending for use for a non-official purpose, obviously no. Was it an open invitation publicized at the school, in the neighborhood and via MOTH? Yes. I'm not sure what else they could have done.

Have the school email it to the potential attendees. It's just not that hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Were all the parents of Miner PK3 admits included in this happy hour?

Hope so.

I mean, given that there is no list of Miner admits available to people whose kids haven't even started attending for use for a non-official purpose, obviously no. Was it an open invitation publicized at the school, in the neighborhood and via MOTH? Yes. I'm not sure what else they could have done.

Have the school email it to the potential attendees. It's just not that hard.

They said the publicized it at/via the school, so I would assume that's what they did. I think email isn't the best way to reach many of the families you're asking about though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Were all the parents of Miner PK3 admits included in this happy hour?

Hope so.

I mean, given that there is no list of Miner admits available to people whose kids haven't even started attending for use for a non-official purpose, obviously no. Was it an open invitation publicized at the school, in the neighborhood and via MOTH? Yes. I'm not sure what else they could have done.

Have the school email it to the potential attendees. It's just not that hard.

I'm not sure all schools will do this before people officially accept their spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree Abigail Smith would be a good choice. I think she understands the scope of the problems facing DCPS and would listen to parents and teachers. She really does care and doesn't seem arrogant.

As a parent at a school that was dismissed as "collateral damage" during the boundary redistricting, there's no way I'd accept Abigail Smith. She's a clueless social engineering ideologue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any Stoddert, Key, Marie Reed, Ross or Hyde-Addison parents with thoughts on the Fillmore Arts debacle? Davis owns that one too, no? When he met with the Stoddert community did he share that their arts program was going to be eliminated 2 months later?

He's a hack. Nobody gave the Fillmore schools notice about anything. Now the schools are stuck without any arts classes or classrooms, unless the new person steps in to keep it.

If he's a hack, he'll fit right in with most of the appointees of Mayor Barry-Bowser.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree Abigail Smith would be a good choice. I think she understands the scope of the problems facing DCPS and would listen to parents and teachers. She really does care and doesn't seem arrogant.

As a parent at a school that was dismissed as "collateral damage" during the boundary redistricting, there's no way I'd accept Abigail Smith. She's a clueless social engineering ideologue.

Exactly how would you go about blocking it if she were appointed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is time for the District to get an experienced SUPERINTENDENT, not a Chancellor. There is a huge difference in the requirements. Montgomery County Public Schools just chose their new Superintendent yesterday from a pool of seventy candidates.

But they probably didn't weigh race as a criterion.