Tell me about Latin Cooper

[Anonymous]

To stay informed about a system, in which I have multiple kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but, come on, it's all pretty much make-do even with the best of our DC public charter schools and, frankly, DCPS. No facility as crappy at BASIS' or Latin Cooper's is a good fit for any kid. No middle school as crowded and chaotic as Deal, without academic tracking outside math, is all that wonderful either. The ECs at these charters, and in DCPS frankly, aren't too hot for any student as compared to what's on offer in any half-way decent suburban DMV school, particularly where instrumental music instruction and sports go. A gaggle of charter teachers that aren't paid or trained well, and aren't very experienced, is only so wonderful. I get it, living in the city is what you want, really want. But let's not pretend or claim that anything much is the "best" in DC public schools lest we come off as vaguely delusional.

OK, then why are you even in this forum?

Not PP but maybe because PP lives in DC.

Post above is true and the reality of living in the city. Schools are suboptimal and not good unless you can afford private.

Parents like myself have to make compromises and supplement if we want to stay in the city.

Reality is the cooper current building is terrible and so is the EC and sports offerings.

BTW, we have been in the Kirov building many times for music lessons in the past and there is no way that building is big enough to accommodate 2 schools. They would need to triple that size with an addition and even if they did that which I doubt is in the plans, not enough land to do it. So I wouldn’t expect any amazing facilities and it’s going to be tight.

[Anonymous]

The Kirov is being built for the Cooper campus and includes an addition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but, come on, it's all pretty much make-do even with the best of our DC public charter schools and, frankly, DCPS. No facility as crappy at BASIS' or Latin Cooper's is a good fit for any kid. No middle school as crowded and chaotic as Deal, without academic tracking outside math, is all that wonderful either. The ECs at these charters, and in DCPS frankly, aren't too hot for any student as compared to what's on offer in any half-way decent suburban DMV school, particularly where instrumental music instruction and sports go. A gaggle of charter teachers that aren't paid or trained well, and aren't very experienced, is only so wonderful. I get it, living in the city is what you want, really want. But let's not pretend or claim that anything much is the "best" in DC public schools lest we come off as vaguely delusional.

OK, then why are you even in this forum?

Not PP but maybe because PP lives in DC.

Post above is true and the reality of living in the city. Schools are suboptimal and not good unless you can afford private.

Parents like myself have to make compromises and supplement if we want to stay in the city.

Reality is the cooper current building is terrible and so is the EC and sports offerings.

BTW, we have been in the Kirov building many times for music lessons in the past and there is no way that building is big enough to accommodate 2 schools. They would need to triple that size with an addition and even if they did that which I doubt is in the plans, not enough land to do it. So I wouldn’t expect any amazing facilities and it’s going to be tight.

The bolded is an uniformed statement. Kirov will not be housing two full schools. Yu Ying is building a new building behind Kirov building for PK3-K and the rest of that school is staying in their existing building. Latin is building a new building beside the Kirov building which will be its middle school. The Kirov building itself will house Latin Cooper HS and school offices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but, come on, it's all pretty much make-do even with the best of our DC public charter schools and, frankly, DCPS. No facility as crappy at BASIS' or Latin Cooper's is a good fit for any kid. No middle school as crowded and chaotic as Deal, without academic tracking outside math, is all that wonderful either. The ECs at these charters, and in DCPS frankly, aren't too hot for any student as compared to what's on offer in any half-way decent suburban DMV school, particularly where instrumental music instruction and sports go. A gaggle of charter teachers that aren't paid or trained well, and aren't very experienced, is only so wonderful. I get it, living in the city is what you want, really want. But let's not pretend or claim that anything much is the "best" in DC public schools lest we come off as vaguely delusional.

OK, then why are you even in this forum?

Not PP but maybe because PP lives in DC.

Post above is true and the reality of living in the city. Schools are suboptimal and not good unless you can afford private.

Parents like myself have to make compromises and supplement if we want to stay in the city.

Reality is the cooper current building is terrible and so is the EC and sports offerings.

BTW, we have been in the Kirov building many times for music lessons in the past and there is no way that building is big enough to accommodate 2 schools. They would need to triple that size with an addition and even if they did that which I doubt is in the plans, not enough land to do it. So I wouldn’t expect any amazing facilities and it’s going to be tight.

The bolded is an uniformed statement. Kirov will not be housing two full schools. Yu Ying is building a new building behind Kirov building for PK3-K and the rest of that school is staying in their existing building. Latin is building a new building beside the Kirov building which will be its middle school. The Kirov building itself will house Latin Cooper HS and school offices.

Ugh. I obviously meant "uninformed," not "uniformed"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but, come on, it's all pretty much make-do even with the best of our DC public charter schools and, frankly, DCPS. No facility as crappy at BASIS' or Latin Cooper's is a good fit for any kid. No middle school as crowded and chaotic as Deal, without academic tracking outside math, is all that wonderful either. The ECs at these charters, and in DCPS frankly, aren't too hot for any student as compared to what's on offer in any half-way decent suburban DMV school, particularly where instrumental music instruction and sports go. A gaggle of charter teachers that aren't paid or trained well, and aren't very experienced, is only so wonderful. I get it, living in the city is what you want, really want. But let's not pretend or claim that anything much is the "best" in DC public schools lest we come off as vaguely delusional.

OK, then why are you even in this forum?

Not PP but maybe because PP lives in DC.

Post above is true and the reality of living in the city. Schools are suboptimal and not good unless you can afford private.

Parents like myself have to make compromises and supplement if we want to stay in the city.

Reality is the cooper current building is terrible and so is the EC and sports offerings.

BTW, we have been in the Kirov building many times for music lessons in the past and there is no way that building is big enough to accommodate 2 schools. They would need to triple that size with an addition and even if they did that which I doubt is in the plans, not enough land to do it. So I wouldn’t expect any amazing facilities and it’s going to be tight.

Have you even seen the massive construction going on there??

[Anonymous]

OK, massive construction, but Latin Cooper only has so much dough. The original campus doesn't have fantastic facilities, after 20 years in the business of teaching 5th-12th graders. The Kirov building lot isn't big enough to accommodate much in the way of outdoor space. We can only expect so much at the permanent site from a homegrown charter model that can't afford to pay or train teachers as well as DCPS.

[Anonymous]

I went to a suburban school. But back then we weren't insane about kids sports or ECs. And I came out just fine. I might be in the minority but I'm not looking for my kid to have in school orchestra in 6th grade or train for division I baseball.

It's really weird I guess but again I come back to different people want different things. (My suburban school had no diversity. My kids have already had a much more interesting experience in school than I did.)

[Anonymous]

There's a happy medium that we don't seem to have in DC public schools. My small-town middle and high school in a working-class community had decent electives, playing fields/sports, music, performing arts, academics (including extensive ability grouping in classes from 7th grade), diversity, etc. My spouse attended a NYC magnet middle/high school (Hunter). We left DC public schools for middle school because we weren't impressed with the next steps. We got into Latin Cooper last year and didn't take the spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's a happy medium that we don't seem to have in DC public schools. My small-town middle and high school in a working-class community had decent electives, playing fields/sports, music, performing arts, academics (including extensive ability grouping in classes from 7th grade), diversity, etc. My spouse attended a NYC magnet middle/high school (Hunter). We left DC public schools for middle school because we weren't impressed with the next steps. We got into Latin Cooper last year and didn't take the spot.

It is very weird how many people who went to Hunter post on this forum. (I did too, so not criticizing at all. Just noticing.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's a happy medium that we don't seem to have in DC public schools. My small-town middle and high school in a working-class community had decent electives, playing fields/sports, music, performing arts, academics (including extensive ability grouping in classes from 7th grade), diversity, etc. My spouse attended a NYC magnet middle/high school (Hunter). We left DC public schools for middle school because we weren't impressed with the next steps. We got into Latin Cooper last year and didn't take the spot.

It is very weird how many people who went to Hunter post on this forum. (I did too, so not criticizing at all. Just noticing.)

Maybe that explains why so many people on this site think in the same weird way?

[Anonymous]

Weird way? Come on, when you attended a NYC magnet on your merits, it can be challenging to think in terms of DC charter schools like Latin Cooper offering a world-class middle or high school education. These schools are OK, often better than by-right DCPS alternatives, not more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's a happy medium that we don't seem to have in DC public schools. My small-town middle and high school in a working-class community had decent electives, playing fields/sports, music, performing arts, academics (including extensive ability grouping in classes from 7th grade), diversity, etc. My spouse attended a NYC magnet middle/high school (Hunter). We left DC public schools for middle school because we weren't impressed with the next steps. We got into Latin Cooper last year and didn't take the spot.

It is very weird how many people who went to Hunter post on this forum. (I did too, so not criticizing at all. Just noticing.)

Actually, it is just one person.

[Anonymous]

And just person doesn't think that the Latin Cooper is a fantastic choice. Precisely one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Weird way? Come on, when you attended a NYC magnet on your merits, it can be challenging to think in terms of DC charter schools like Latin Cooper offering a world-class middle or high school education. These schools are OK, often better than by-right DCPS alternatives, not more.

I went to Hunter. My half-sister went to Sidwell. My DS is at Latin in HS. Is he as academically-inclined as we were in high school? No. Is he happier and having an overall more joyful MS and HS experience compared to either of our experiences. Absolutely.