DCI or Deal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the same position and sending my kid to DCI. She is a great student and will likely do well anywhere and I don't want her to lose her Spanish or her friends if she doesn't have to. Plus since we are in-bounds for Deal, if DCI turns out to be disaster we can just enroll in Deal. We feel lucky to have the choice.

I’m the OP and we made the same decision. The middle school years are tough no matter what school you attend, so we opted for DCI since there was some built in enthusiasm and familiarity there. We can always transfer if it doesn’t work out, but in the meantime we’re one less family contributing to Deal overcrowding!

[Anonymous]

I don't know about the HS kids, mine are in MS. But we have been disappointed that more classes aren't offered in the target language. Other than that, it has been better than expected even with a few road bumps along the way. Not sure we will stay for HS but haven't ruled it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a very bad experience at dci. Teachers discourage parent involvement, rampant bullying, and lots of behavioral problems. I’d go with Deal.

+100. Common sense works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the same position and sending my kid to DCI. She is a great student and will likely do well anywhere and I don't want her to lose her Spanish or her friends if she doesn't have to. Plus since we are in-bounds for Deal, if DCI turns out to be disaster we can just enroll in Deal. We feel lucky to have the choice.

Doesn’t Deal have advanced Spanish for fluent or immersion kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the same position and sending my kid to DCI. She is a great student and will likely do well anywhere and I don't want her to lose her Spanish or her friends if she doesn't have to. Plus since we are in-bounds for Deal, if DCI turns out to be disaster we can just enroll in Deal. We feel lucky to have the choice.

Doesn’t Deal have advanced Spanish for fluent or immersion kids?

Deal does. The difference, at least in MS, is that DCI students will take at least 1 academic subject (e.g. social studies) in the target language, not just a language class. It's certainly not immersion but not the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the same position and sending my kid to DCI. She is a great student and will likely do well anywhere and I don't want her to lose her Spanish or her friends if she doesn't have to. Plus since we are in-bounds for Deal, if DCI turns out to be disaster we can just enroll in Deal. We feel lucky to have the choice.

Doesn’t Deal have advanced Spanish for fluent or immersion kids?

They have a Spanish humanities track. Some kids in the regular Spanish classes seem more conversant than some of the kids in the humanities track, but there is such a huge variety of kids at the school that it can happen that a kid who is good with languages but isn't in the humanities track can excel and the teachers will absolutely encourage that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the same position and sending my kid to DCI. She is a great student and will likely do well anywhere and I don't want her to lose her Spanish or her friends if she doesn't have to. Plus since we are in-bounds for Deal, if DCI turns out to be disaster we can just enroll in Deal. We feel lucky to have the choice.

I’m the OP and we made the same decision. The middle school years are tough no matter what school you attend, so we opted for DCI since there was some built in enthusiasm and familiarity there. We can always transfer if it doesn’t work out, but in the meantime we’re one less family contributing to Deal overcrowding!

DCI is a newer school so I’m sure have to iron out some problems but the school is going in the right trajectory. I predict every year more families who have the choice of DCI over DEAL will go with DCI. Worst case scenario, they can switch their child back to DEAL or if EOTP, move to the DEAL boundary.

The severe overcrowding at DEAL is having huge ramifications on academics, teacher retention, behavioral issues to name a few. And these issues are why some are not choosing DEAL. These issues are well known whether some DEAL parents want to acknowledge it or not.

Lastly, since DEAL is part of DCPS and a boundary by right school, they cannot turn in boundary students away. There is no “cap” on in boundary students. In contrast, since DCI is a charter school, they have no neighborhood boundary and turn many students away because they have a cap by the charter board on the number of students they can have.

[Anonymous]

DCI is wrapping up year 6. Not so new anymore.

And still dealing with problems that should have been ironed out by now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCI is wrapping up year 6. Not so new anymore.

And still dealing with problems that should have been ironed out by now.

6 years for a completely new middle in addition to high school is not a long time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the same position and sending my kid to DCI. She is a great student and will likely do well anywhere and I don't want her to lose her Spanish or her friends if she doesn't have to. Plus since we are in-bounds for Deal, if DCI turns out to be disaster we can just enroll in Deal. We feel lucky to have the choice.

I’m the OP and we made the same decision. The middle school years are tough no matter what school you attend, so we opted for DCI since there was some built in enthusiasm and familiarity there. We can always transfer if it doesn’t work out, but in the meantime we’re one less family contributing to Deal overcrowding!

DCI is a newer school so I’m sure have to iron out some problems but the school is going in the right trajectory. I predict every year more families who have the choice of DCI over DEAL will go with DCI. Worst case scenario, they can switch their child back to DEAL or if EOTP, move to the DEAL boundary.

The severe overcrowding at DEAL is having huge ramifications on academics, teacher retention, behavioral issues to name a few. And these issues are why some are not choosing DEAL. These issues are well known whether some DEAL parents want to acknowledge it or not.

Lastly, since DEAL is part of DCPS and a boundary by right school, they cannot turn in boundary students away. There is no “cap” on in boundary students. In contrast, since DCI is a charter school, they have no neighborhood boundary and turn many students away because they have a cap by the charter board on the number of students they can have.

Agree. Our child is in a feeder and we have a few years before middle school yet. We think DCI will continue to improve and anticipate most likely going that route over DEAL.

[Anonymous]

Why is "DEAL" being capitalized?

It named after a person (Alice Deal). DCI is an acronym and thus appropriately put in all-caps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is "DEAL" being capitalized?

It named after a person (Alice Deal). DCI is an acronym and thus appropriately put in all-caps.

I think it's just one poster doing that. I don't know what her DEAL is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the same position and sending my kid to DCI. She is a great student and will likely do well anywhere and I don't want her to lose her Spanish or her friends if she doesn't have to. Plus since we are in-bounds for Deal, if DCI turns out to be disaster we can just enroll in Deal. We feel lucky to have the choice.

I’m the OP and we made the same decision. The middle school years are tough no matter what school you attend, so we opted for DCI since there was some built in enthusiasm and familiarity there. We can always transfer if it doesn’t work out, but in the meantime we’re one less family contributing to Deal overcrowding!

DCI is a newer school so I’m sure have to iron out some problems but the school is going in the right trajectory. I predict every year more families who have the choice of DCI over DEAL will go with DCI. Worst case scenario, they can switch their child back to DEAL or if EOTP, move to the DEAL boundary.

The severe overcrowding at DEAL is having huge ramifications on academics, teacher retention, behavioral issues to name a few. And these issues are why some are not choosing DEAL. These issues are well known whether some DEAL parents want to acknowledge it or not.

Lastly, since DEAL is part of DCPS and a boundary by right school, they cannot turn in boundary students away. There is no “cap” on in boundary students. In contrast, since DCI is a charter school, they have no neighborhood boundary and turn many students away because they have a cap by the charter board on the number of students they can have.

Agree. Our child is in a feeder and we have a few years before middle school yet. We think DCI will continue to improve and anticipate most likely going that route over DEAL.

+2 Yu Ying's bubble class is in 6th at DCI now, and for the most part they want to keep their kids together and plan to send their younger siblings, too. With some exceptions, we're having a good experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the same position and sending my kid to DCI. She is a great student and will likely do well anywhere and I don't want her to lose her Spanish or her friends if she doesn't have to. Plus since we are in-bounds for Deal, if DCI turns out to be disaster we can just enroll in Deal. We feel lucky to have the choice.

I’m the OP and we made the same decision. The middle school years are tough no matter what school you attend, so we opted for DCI since there was some built in enthusiasm and familiarity there. We can always transfer if it doesn’t work out, but in the meantime we’re one less family contributing to Deal overcrowding!

I posted earlier indicating we are making the same decision, so that’s 3 families!

[Anonymous]

DCI is wrapping up its 5th year, not 6th. It is a fantastic school and our family is so pleased to have our kids there.