Parent to parent school choice forum 2/16

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

Two years ago, the founders of the DC Twins group hosted a school
choice forum at All Souls Church in Washington, DC to share our
experiences with other parents who were considering their options for
the following fall. Last year, we hosted another forum, attended by
many school principals, school officials, and about 75 parents.

Based on the success of the forum in the past two years, I'm writing
to invite you to the third annual school choice forum, sponsored by DC
Twins but open to all parents. This forum consists of twin parents
presenting what process they went through to pick the schools their
children are currently attending, and will include frank conversation
about how things are working out.

The forum will be held in the dining room at All Souls Church at 1500
Harvard Street, NW on February at 7:15 PM. To cover the cost of the
church rental, we are asking folks to pay what they can towards an
entry fee. The suggested amount per participant is $5. No one will
be turned away, and excess funds will be divided amongst the parent
presenters to go to the schools' PTAs, PTSOs, etc.

The event's format will be as follows:

1. 7:15-8:00: DC Twins parents will talk about where their kids are
enrolled and what they like and don't like about the schools. The
conversation will span from public (West, Cooke, Oyster, Hearst,
Eaton) to charter (Appletree, Bridges, LAMB). All principals whose
schools will be discussed will be invited to come.
2. 8:00-8:15 Q & A
3. 8:15-8:45 Introduction of administration folks (chancellor's
office, DC school board person, school principals, etc), followed by
information tabling.
4. 8:45-9:00: drinks and socializing

Last year, some of the principals had an opportunity to address the parents
themselves. Hopefully there will be time this year as well; if not,
schools may staff a table with information brochures and
friendly staff.

Sincerely,

Libbie A Buchele
Co-founder DC Twins
202 997 0090

Questions:

1. Can my child come?
A: no one child will be turned away, but we don't have a loudspeaker
this year, and acoustics may be a problem. If you have someone who
can watch your child, that is better; otherwise, your child is welcome.

2. What can I bring?
A. Please bring $5 towards the cost of the rental, and food or drink to share.

3. Will this forum be in other languages?
A: sadly, we do not have translator services available. Many of the
brochures available are bilingual.

4. Where is the forum?
A. Corner of 15th and Harvard Streets, NW in the dining room in the
BASEMENT. www.all-souls.org for directions.

5. What will happen after the forum?
A. Some of us may go out for further conversation to a local pub.

[Anonymous]

Does this group have any particular expertise or qualifications? I know parents with a lot more experience in parenting than two years in public schools. I also don't see any of the schools I'm most interested in.

I guess I'm missing something here.

[Anonymous]

I guess you are missing something here. We all have a lot to learn from each other, when we aren't being quite so snarky (as I intentionally was in my first sentence). This is a group of parents putting on a forum talking about their experiences. I went last year, and it was helpful. Honestly, kicking this off - the school experience for your first child - is overwhelming. You have to start somewhere, and learning from people who were where you are most recently was extremely helpful. Some of my neighbors have older kids, so more years in the system and more advice to offer - but they've forgotten what that first exposure is like and how you need very basic info. If you live in Ward 1, or areas close by, this is a very helpful forum to attend. It's slightly geared toward parents of twins, so lots of questions about keeping your twins together or splitting them up, how the lottery works for twins, etc, which weren't that helpful to me, but the exporsure to a lot of information was invaluable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess you are missing something here. We all have a lot to learn from each other, when we aren't being quite so snarky (as I intentionally was in my first sentence). This is a group of parents putting on a forum talking about their experiences. I went last year, and it was helpful. Honestly, kicking this off - the school experience for your first child - is overwhelming. You have to start somewhere, and learning from people who were where you are most recently was extremely helpful. Some of my neighbors have older kids, so more years in the system and more advice to offer - but they've forgotten what that first exposure is like and how you need very basic info. If you live in Ward 1, or areas close by, this is a very helpful forum to attend. It's slightly geared toward parents of twins, so lots of questions about keeping your twins together or splitting them up, how the lottery works for twins, etc, which weren't that helpful to me, but the exporsure to a lot of information was invaluable.

agree with this poster. i went 2 years ago and learned a lot about dcps and charter schools in and about Ward 1.

[Anonymous]

We started this forum because we got so many questions individually about where we had applied and why. Between all of us, we have visited many interesting schools, so we can talk about what that was like. We have NO qualifications except for being parents who recently went through the process. This forum may be most useful for new parents or parents who are applying for 3 & 4 year old slots this year, tho' I think some of the conversation will be around the "should I stay for Kindergarten or go?" question that crops up here.

Sometimes it's helpful to hear from other parents who have gone through the process of choosing schools. Also, since many of the schools represented are "second tier" schools, sometimes it helps parents to hear that our kids have survived and thrived. If that doesn't work for you, no problem.

Full list is Parents from:
Appletree
Cooke
Eaton
Oyster
West y
Murch (invited)
Cooke
LAMB
Capitol City (invited)
Barnard (written statement only)
Hearst
Francis

[Anonymous]

OH, and in case the e-mail wasn't clear, this forum is on 2/16 at 7:15 PM

[Anonymous]

I (and many others) would actually argue that a few of the schools on the list are actually "third tier"--namely, West, Cooke, Francis. Typically, people refer to schools like Eaton, Stoddert, Ross, Barnard, Oyster as "2nd tier"--they're the ones that rate 4 out of 5 stars in the School Chooser document. I don't mean to be rude, but let's be honest about how schools have done with their academics historically!

[Anonymous]

The posting says "many of the schools are second tier." It makes no claim that all of the schools are second tier.

[Anonymous]

with this "tier" vocabulary, I don't think there is a uniform definition at all. If one considers West, Cooke, Francis, to be third tier, then how many tiers are on your scale? four or five?

I think of there as being three tiers. The first tier the highly competitive, need to be in bounds/ lucky in lottery, the second tier a broader bunch of schools that I'd consider, the third tier schools I'd never consider. If there are only 3 tiers, then West is definitely 2nd tier on my list, Oyster definitely 1st (b/c by my definition, 1st tier are school you are unlikely to get in to, and Oyster definitely qualifies there. .. .)

[Anonymous]

Agreed, PP

[Anonymous]

This is what makes me hate DCUM. Someone is trying to organize something helpful for other parents (many of us are considering schools like Cooke and West, regardless of what "Tier" they get assigned to). And posters, who clearly have no intention of attending, come to add remarkably unhelpful comments like "that is third tier, not second tier".

WTF people?

The forum is a place to learn about the schools from actual parents with kids at the school. You can learn the good and the bad. If you are deciding between Cooke and Eaton it helps to know real information about each, not just the test scores and the views of a bunch of snobs on DCUM who have no real information. I might learn that Eaton is great but parents think the PK teachers are just so-so (hypothetical, I have no idea), while Cooke has low test scores at higher grades but everyone LOVES the PK teacher -- combine that with the ability to walk to Cooke and I might make the choice to go to Cooke. Or, I might learn the opposite and decide that driving across the park is worth it for the better teachers, or the Chinese or whatever.

I might learn that I HATE a given principal despite rave reviews. I might learn that I LOVE that PTA president despite the low test scores. Lots of things can make you chose a school and they are not the things one can learn here.

So, I really wish all of you with your "rankings" of schools in to arbitrary tiers would just disappear until you have something useful to add to the conversation. Tell us about where your child goes to school or went to school and tell us what you like and don't like. And, just quit the attacks on people trying to make choices for their kids.

[Anonymous]

I also think existing parents is the only way to learn about the aftercare program. You are not going to hear the truth at open houses if the truth ain't pretty.

[Anonymous]

As a member of the DC Twins group, I'd like to chime in that these forums (fora?) have been extremely helpful in the past. As a couple of other PPs have suggested, why not check out the forum and talk to real parents instead of bickering over which schools are great, which ones are so-so, and which ones suck? - Melissa

[Anonymous]

p.s. Thanks for organizing this yet again, Libbie.

[Anonymous]

This sounds wonderful. Thank you for opening it up beyond your twins group!