Looking for a slot at Watkins Elementary or Stuart Hobson MS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Watkins lost 20 5th graders to Basis, Latin, better DCPS that feed to Deal, parochials and private. Mainly BASIS, though. No faith in S-H. No real public HS option.

If we could be guarnteed space in Basis, Latin, or Deal, we wouldn't real care about our neighborhood MS feeder. The Hill families have no viable neighborhood MS option, and play the same game for MS spaces as the rest of the city. Basis is closest geographically and most conveniently located for many Hill families.

The charters have figured out how to skim students from DCPS by 5th grade intake a year ahead of 6th grade for DCPS MS. DCPS is a total dinosaur organizationally (big dumb extinct ones, not the cool ones with big teeth) in that they allow this to happen.

However much Hill families like their neighborhood ES options, relatively few stay to complete 5th grade and feed into a neighborhood MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few spots open at SH does not mean that an entire school ( say Brent ) could fit in as a feeder school. That's 40 or so kids.

Actually, it does because that now means that SH has gone through the entire waitlist and is that the very dead end of that. And that waitlist would have by now contained at least 40 OOB applicants, in whose place would have been 40 children from feeder schools.
And what actually bothers me more: Watkins must have gone through all its waitlists, which are notoriously stuffed with OOB, non Capitol Hill applicants, and funnel those kids to SH and then say, oh sorry we can't add other feeder schools.
That is a problem for the rest of us, who have kids at schools that have top notch programs with enrollments that are bursting at the seams but (as of now) no viable middle school option to feed towards. That is the problem with the Cluster.

That's not logical: Say they had 10 open seats for kids who didn't show up. They go through the waitlist calling maybe 40 families, but most are probably happily settled elsewhere. Maybe 5 take slots at Stuart Hobson. Now there are still 5 open slots to fill after calling the whole waitlist. It doesn't mean there were ever 40 slots available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few spots open at SH does not mean that an entire school ( say Brent ) could fit in as a feeder school. That's 40 or so kids.

Actually, it does because that now means that SH has gone through the entire waitlist and is that the very dead end of that. And that waitlist would have by now contained at least 40 OOB applicants, in whose place would have been 40 children from feeder schools.
And what actually bothers me more: Watkins must have gone through all its waitlists, which are notoriously stuffed with OOB, non Capitol Hill applicants, and funnel those kids to SH and then say, oh sorry we can't add other feeder schools.
That is a problem for the rest of us, who have kids at schools that have top notch programs with enrollments that are bursting at the seams but (as of now) no viable middle school option to feed towards. That is the problem with the Cluster.

That's not logical: Say they had 10 open seats for kids who didn't show up. They go through the waitlist calling maybe 40 families, but most are probably happily settled elsewhere. Maybe 5 take slots at Stuart Hobson. Now there are still 5 open slots to fill after calling the whole waitlist. It doesn't mean there were ever 40 slots available.

There were 15 seat available for OOB at SH in the Spring - they worked through a waitlist of over 100 names. The SH principal went to the Maury and Brent to try to sell the school to 5th grade familieis. Basis and Latin are going to be attractive to a lot of Brent families even if SH is the feeder. SH needs Brent to improve and Brent need SH to have a half-way OK middle school option. Brent needs to figure out whether this could be a consensus now and then maybe if some of the positive things happening at Brent (music, Chinese, some academic tracking) are happening at SH or maybe could happen in the future.

[Anonymous]

The easiest way to open SH slots for a Brent feeder would be to close Ludlow Taylor with the upcoming rightsizing of DCPS, and to substitute Brent as the SH feeder.

The only one unhappy would be the Ward 9 PG County kids who go to LT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The easiest way to open SH slots for a Brent feeder would be to close Ludlow Taylor with the upcoming rightsizing of DCPS, and to substitute Brent as the SH feeder.

The only one unhappy would be the Ward 9 PG County kids who go to LT

I almost wrote the same response! +100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few spots open at SH does not mean that an entire school ( say Brent ) could fit in as a feeder school. That's 40 or so kids.

Actually, it does because that now means that SH has gone through the entire waitlist and is that the very dead end of that. And that waitlist would have by now contained at least 40 OOB applicants, in whose place would have been 40 children from feeder schools.
And what actually bothers me more: Watkins must have gone through all its waitlists, which are notoriously stuffed with OOB, non Capitol Hill applicants, and funnel those kids to SH and then say, oh sorry we can't add other feeder schools.
That is a problem for the rest of us, who have kids at schools that have top notch programs with enrollments that are bursting at the seams but (as of now) no viable middle school option to feed towards. That is the problem with the Cluster.

That's not logical: Say they had 10 open seats for kids who didn't show up. They go through the waitlist calling maybe 40 families, but most are probably happily settled elsewhere. Maybe 5 take slots at Stuart Hobson. Now there are still 5 open slots to fill after calling the whole waitlist. It doesn't mean there were ever 40 slots available.

There were 15 seat available for OOB at SH in the Spring - they worked through a waitlist of over 100 names. The SH principal went to the Maury and Brent to try to sell the school to 5th grade familieis. Basis and Latin are going to be attractive to a lot of Brent families even if SH is the feeder. SH needs Brent to improve and Brent need SH to have a half-way OK middle school option. Brent needs to figure out whether this could be a consensus now and then maybe if some of the positive things happening at Brent (music, Chinese, some academic tracking) are happening at SH or maybe could happen in the future.

The principal tried to sell Stuart Hobson to parents of all the upper grades at Brent. one or two 5th graders ( out of 20) went. But parents of 4th graders needed to settle their kids into Basis or Latin or a feeder for Deal for 5th grade and because there is no official feed, the SH principal could not promise that those particular 4th graders would actually have a spot at SH for 6th if they stayed at Brent for 5th ( and missed a chance at a charter MS slot ). Would you take that gamble for Stuart Hobson?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Would you take that gamble for Stuart Hobson?

I wouldn't take the gamble for Stuat Hobson, but I might for the combined possibility of SH, Hardy, Latin, Basis, IT, 2Rs or Haynes for 6th.

[Anonymous]

International Baccalaureate Programme
World-class curriculum and programming for Capitol Hill students

Atlas Theatre
1333 H Street, NE
Tuesday, October 23, 6:00pm

Eastern Senior HS, Eliot-Hine MS, Jefferson MS and DCPS invite you to an informational session on the implementation of the rigorous International Baccalaureate Programme.

The IB Middle Years Programme, for students aged 11 to 16 (grades 6-10), provides a framework of academic challenge that encourages students to embrace and understand the connections between traditional subjects and the real world, and become critical and reflective thinkers.

The programme consists of eight subject groups integrated through global understanding that provide a framework for learning within and across the subjects. Students are required to study their mother tongue, a second language, humanities, sciences, mathematics, arts, physical education and technology. In the final year of the programme, students also engage in a personal project, which allows them to demonstrate the understandings and skills they have developed throughout the programme.

IB Diploma Programme students study six courses at higher level or standard level. In addition the programme has three core requirements that are included to broaden the educational experience and challenge students to apply their knowledge and understanding.

The extended essay is a requirement for students to engage in independent research through an in-depth study of a question relating to one of the subjects they are studying.

Theory of knowledge is a course designed to encourage each student to reflect on the nature of knowledge by critically examining different ways of knowing (perception, emotion, language and reason) and different kinds of knowledge (scientific, artistic, mathematical and historical).

Creativity, action, service requires that students actively learn from the experience of doing real tasks beyond the classroom. Students can combine all three components or do activities related to each one of them separately.

[Anonymous]

For clarification: Grade 6-10 IB Middle Years Program is for the entire school body. It is the organizing framework of the whole school. right? Just curious how that will work in 9th and 10th grades at Eastern. Are they on board?

IB diploma Program is only for the very few, very motivated, very dedicated students who can handle the program in 11th and 12th grades. There are exams and advanced classes. right?

Guess I should go to the meeting

[Anonymous]

BTW, there are 16 5th graders left at Brent this year (all but 14 left out of 2 full classes of about 23 each in 4th grade and 2 came in OOB, I believe). 2 of the 16 (at least) are IB for Stuart Hobson (1 of them is mine). I think there's a reasonable chance for Brent kids to get into S-H since so many leave for BASIS, Latin, Deal feeders.

We are thrilled with the nice, small 5th grade, I must say!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:International Baccalaureate Programme
World-class curriculum and programming for Capitol Hill students
Atlas Theatre
1333 H Street, NE
Tuesday, October 23, 6:00pm
Eastern Senior HS, Eliot-Hine MS, Jefferson MS and DCPS invite you to an informational session on the implementation of the rigorous International Baccalaureate Programme.

Good point!! Why suffer headaches over the Cluster if the rest of Capitol Hill could actually mount something meaningful and mold it to fit our needs, such as languages (Tyler, Brent), world cultures (Payne, Miner), and inquiry-based learning (Maury, Brent), which aligns very well with IB.
To the poster asking about selection, I've heard the IB coordinator explain this really well. There is indeed selective placement. What I'd like to know more about is how seamless it's working between Eliot-Hine and Eastern. Should be interesting.

[Anonymous]

The Eastern component is on board and you're right it is only for the few INTERESTED students who would enter into the program. But I can say that Eastern has did all the necessary research and development regarding implementing IB at Eastern and it will be a resounding success. Kudos to the Ms. Skerritt, Principal who took all the data and produce an IB programme.

Molding it to fit our needs type talk, scares me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BTW, there are 16 5th graders left at Brent this year (all but 14 left out of 2 full classes of about 23 each in 4th grade and 2 came in OOB, I believe). 2 of the 16 (at least) are IB for Stuart Hobson (1 of them is mine). I think there's a reasonable chance for Brent kids to get into S-H since so many leave for BASIS, Latin, Deal feeders.
We are thrilled with the nice, small 5th grade, I must say!

Just so people get a clear picture here: Maury's 4th grade moved into 5th - classroom as big as ever but in a great grove - with only one departure (not to Basis) and one addition. I don't think Tyler is any different. Don't know about Miner or Payne but haven't heard of parents leaving there either.

[Anonymous]

Also this world-class curriculum and programming for Capitol Hill students is so coming across "selfish." Merely because Eastern serves Ward 5 and school boundaries that embrace Kenilworth, Benning Heights, Potomac Gardens, Trinidad and so on. Hmmmm, programming? Could someone say brainwashing!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could someone say brainwashing!!!

No more brainwashing than a charter school promising unsuspecting parents to offer Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, French, German, and oh Russian, too.