City Paper - Neighborhood Schooled by Jonetta Rose Barras

[Anonymous]

Middle school are the awkyard years, say no more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Diversity is only valued when it comes naturally, when it is manufactured through means of affluency it is not worth it.

Your diversity platitude sounds poetic - not. I believe in affirmative action, and I believe in giving more to those who need it more. I believe that a lot of public and private sources have worked together to lift people up, and let's keep it going. Strong students need strong options for middle school. DC has several controlled choice high schools, but no controlled choice middle school. Strong middle schools are better pipelines to advanced and rigorous programs that can benefit every strong student in DC regardless of ethnicity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting article, but Jonetta Rose Barras gets a lot of things wrong about Ward 5 schools. Race is the wrong thing to focus on. In Ward 5, it's middle class families of all races-- black, white, biracial, etc.-- that has opted out of public schools. Race isn't the driver, class is.

Not class. Not race. The schools in ward 5 have little to offer parents who want better for their children of all races and classes. The parents are choosing charter, catholic or private. Some get lucky with the lottery. Some have received vouchers. Some pay full tuition. And others pay for the full-ride. The bottom line is the schools in Ward 5 have very little to offer.

[Anonymous]

Not sure I understand what "controlled choice" mean, but I think I do.

I think it means disinfecting school buildings of "challenging" kids from the ghetto, in order to allow families to feel safe sending their kids there.

Thankfully, that's never been the model on Capitol Hill. Stuart-Hobson Middle School had good years and years when neighborhood families abandoned it, but through it all, it maintained a policy of offering good education to all comers. Stuart-Hobson maintained that commitment behind the leadership of a strong principal over many years. Now at S-H all benefit and the school performs well.

I don't understand those who look at S-H and say, "Let's close this successful middle school, in order to open a 'controlled choice' middle school for families like mine." That eliminates the benefit to families not in with the in crowd, and ultimately makes that "controlled choice" school a target for resentment, its budget constantly under assault on populist grounds, and the longterm mission of the school in jeopardy due to its narrow base of support.

Can't we just admire the accomplishments of Suzanne Wells and Capitol Hill Public School Parents Association, and try to follow their lead, rather than inventing "bi-modal," "controlled-choice" solutions that divide rather than conquer?

[Anonymous]

Hold on a second. Part of what is wrong with the whole DCPS thing is that people look at The Cluster and Stuart Hobson and actually think it is a success and something to emulate. Are you kidding me? Strong students do ok there. But it is not a quality educational experience by any measure except what Washington, dc ( bottom of the barrel nationwide) can offer. Don't let's play games. Parents who send their kids to the cluster are settling for sub standard in all respects. And guess what? It's not getting any better. The only thing that made it any better in years past is that it had a reasonable numbernof middle class families going there. It wasnt Suzanne wells magic pixie dust. Although the library is very nice.

Let's think bigger and better and how do we get even more of these middle class families ( black, white and purple ) to stick around? Magnet schools? Controlled choice? Schools within schools ( Cluster certainly wasnt opposed to that, were they...and that's pretty much the definition of a controlled choice situation ) language immersion programs? What happened on Capitol Hill was NOT Suzanne Wells running around annointing new schools for success. It was that all the middle class families couldn't fit in the Cluster and so they spilled out to the surrounding schools. Now imagine that system wide. Literally spread the wealth. But DCPS give those middle class parents something to attract them. Stern looks and guilt trips like this article embody won't do it.

[Anonymous]

You really like to go to extremes. No one is trying to "disinfect" school building of kids from poor neighborhoods. So don't get your panties in a knot. Very good research is showing that mainstream public schools with high concentrations of kids from disadvantaged homes are not good for ANYONE. So when families of all backgrounds try to find a school for their kid that doesn't have this scenarrio, they are following a very good instinct about what is a good environment for any kid. It is actually very reasonable for people to seek ways to break up concentrations of poverty and is good for EVERYONE. Seems this has been a tenent of public policy for years. And, by the way, it is exactly how the Cluster Schools came by their "success". What the h@@ do younthinkmthe Montessori and SWS Reggio programs were all about? What is the Spanish Immersion program at Tyler all about? People are now seeking thatbexact same model at the middle school level: A program that requires parents to opt in. So before you Cluster old timers get all high and mighty, let's just be clear on what what you all did with your kids after stuart Hobson. Ahem...private schools and application only academies. Time to get real.

Anonymous wrote:Not sure I understand what "controlled choice" mean, but I think I do.

I think it means disinfecting school buildings of "challenging" kids from the ghetto, in order to allow families to feel safe sending their kids there.

Thankfully, that's never been the model on Capitol Hill. Stuart-Hobson Middle School had good years and years when neighborhood families abandoned it, but through it all, it maintained a policy of offering good education to all comers. Stuart-Hobson maintained that commitment behind the leadership of a strong principal over many years. Now at S-H all benefit and the school performs well.

I don't understand those who look at S-H and say, "Let's close this successful middle school, in order to open a 'controlled choice' middle school for families like mine." That eliminates the benefit to families not in with the in crowd, and ultimately makes that "controlled choice" school a target for resentment, its budget constantly under assault on populist grounds, and the longterm mission of the school in jeopardy due to its narrow base of support.

Can't we just admire the accomplishments of Suzanne Wells and Capitol Hill Public School Parents Association, and try to follow their lead, rather than inventing "bi-modal," "controlled-choice" solutions that divide rather than conquer?

[Anonymous]

2,000 Capacity of Ward 6 Middle Schools
1,000 Enrollment at Ward 6 Middle Schools
50% of Capacity in Ward 6
50% of Enrollment is Outside Ward 6

Ward 6 should reduce capacity. If I am Joe parent in Ward 5 and see that Ward 6 has excess capacity, I'm not happy. When I hear Ward 6 benefits from favoritism I am not happy. Reduce capacity in Ward 6 and then you have a claim to increased support for rigorous programs. Money saved in Ward 6 can be used to fund additional programs in Ward 6 and gain from economies of scale. Closing Hine was right, and increasing enrollment at Payne and Tyler, plus re-opening Van Ness, will all help feed more Ward 6 students into Ward 6 middle schools.

[Anonymous]

If ward 6 reduced capacity and concentrated all it's middle schoolers there would be no need for "controlled choice". The middle school/s would be big enough well funded enough and maybe even economically mixed enough to create a second Deal MS. At least that is the theory.

[Anonymous]

If Ward 6 could put 700 students in Eliot Hine and 700 in Jefferson it would be a game changer

[Anonymous]

00:48, the notion that 1400 Ward 6 (If you mean highly educated Cap Hill Parents) would put there children in EH and Jefferson makes me giggle.

I agree with 23:58 that Stuart Hobson is pretty pathetic.

Right around the third grade is when you start to notice the relentless test prep destroys your child's love of learning and most parents in the popular Ward 6 schools are looking elsewhere.

There is a regular mantra at Watkins, Maury and Brent that parents invoke. One year at a time.

The elementary schools are still losing so many children in the lower grades that the idea that there is going to be some massive groundswell to continue to the Ward 6 middle schools gives me fits of giggles.

The Ward 6 elementary schools still have a long way to go and I think the fixation on Eliot Hine and Jefferson is diluting attention from more immediate problems. For starters, there is no damn curriculum and starting in third grade it turns into a test prep machine.

Let's not forget the test prep assemblies, the tshirts distributed with class graduation years and test prep raps that make me, a strong supporter of public schools, seriously start thinking that private is the way to go.

But yes, the libraries are really nice.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, their children. No coffee brewed yet.

[Anonymous]

you are truely heartless if you think their is too much focus on eliot hine and jefferson. there are REAL children attending these schools that deserve REAL education. Just compare the DC CAS scores of Brent to JEfferson and ask which school needs a turn around? My kids love Brent and have received excellent educations there thus far (eldest entering 3rd grade). But I am so happy that their older freinds from Brent who have moved up to middle school are going into schools like Jefferson Academy Middle School-- a newly created "School Within a School" at JEfferson. I really hope it works out for those kids because the city has certainly not done right by those middle schoolers that came before them at JEfferson. Schools like Brent do NOT "have a long way to go"-- they are right on track. It's middle school that is worrisome.

[Anonymous]

Ward 5 schools are going to be much harder to improve because the competition from charters is so much stronger.

In Ward 5 we have:
Two Rivers
LAMB-Brookland campus
Inspired Teaching
Yu Ying
EW Stokes
DC Prep

Even though they are lottery and anyone in city can take spots, tons of Ward 5 parents already in these schools--100 + kids/year out of the system. I think the timing is worse for WArd 5 than it was for Ward 6 because the charter movement is so much more geographically concentrated.

[Anonymous]

05:50: the notion that 1400 Ward 6 (If you mean highly educated Cap Hill Parents) would put their children in EH and Jefferson makes me giggle.

Response: I have a fourth grader at Brent and I’d like to think a neighborhood middle school would be cool. No giggling for me.

05:50: I agree with 23:58 that Stuart Hobson is pretty pathetic.

Response: SH is one of the top three middle schools in DC. SH’s grads go on to top schools. SH benefits a diverse and majority AA population.

05:50: Right around the third grade is when you start to notice the relentless test prep destroys your child's love of learning and most parents in the popular Ward 6 schools are looking elsewhere.

Response: have not started noticing aforementioned destruction of “love of learning”. Neither do I have the giggles.

05:50: There is a regular mantra at Watkins, Maury and Brent that parents invoke. One year at a time.

Response: I am a parent at Brent and I am unfamiliar with aforementioned mantra. Been in DCPS 6 years and I’m hoping for a lot more.

05:50: The elementary schools are still losing so many children in the lower grades that the idea that there is going to be some massive groundswell to continue to the Ward 6 middle schools gives me fits of giggles.

Response: Not at Brent. Adding upper grades and removing early grades. That kind of makes me giggle, although not so much.

05:50: The Ward 6 elementary schools still have a long way to go and I think the fixation on Eliot Hine and Jefferson is diluting attention from more immediate problems. For starters, there is no damn curriculum and starting in third grade it turns into a test prep machine.

Response: I am stuck on your use of damn, it sort of jumped out of the blue.

05:50: Let's not forget the test prep assemblies, the tshirts distributed with class graduation years and test prep raps that make me, a strong supporter of public schools, seriously start thinking that private is the way to go.
Response: The schwag and testing are not disruptive from my perspective. Lastly, if you are a strong supporter of public, why are your affections being won over by privates?

05:50 But yes, the libraries are really nice.

Response: Giggle.

[Anonymous]

9:07, super snappy response but it doesn't really address the issues at hand.

What constitues "good" in DCPS is very, very weak (Stuart-Hobson is the perfect example) and all three of the elementary schools mentioned above lose kids in the upper grades for the burbs and privates.

If it's good enough for you, congratulations. Great for you that you think Brent has reached self-actualization via making AYP through safe harbor this past year.

Just know it's going to be you and a very small handful of parents who make that leap to "Jefferson Academy."

Right now, I'd like to see Brent focus on ES issues instead of where your kid is going in 2 years.