One World Charter School

[Anonymous]

(Sorry about the horrible grammatical errors in 09:18. Proofreading important is.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one in their right mind would start a charter at middle school. Even if the school attracts 50% high-involvement families, most of the kids come in with MANY deficits from every conceivable source. Some of the kids will have bounced around to different schools, some because they did horribly at current school, and others will be attracted because they are at an inferior IB school (and will have the academic gaps to prove it). Many of the "poor" kids who come from IB schools will have had no exposure to foreign language. "Here, take Spanish and Mandarin!"
I wish them luck as I do with all new charter ventures, but none of these will serve to create a cohesive, successful cohort of students. They advertise extended school day, but it will need to go until 5:30 or 6:00 to compensate for the 90 minutes/day of art combined with the huge academic deficits that will be streaming through the door.
I hope that the charter board has a clear collective head about this and doesn't get dazzled into thinking this is a magic partnership.

Tell that to my son who started at Basis for middle school. They need to stop allowing people to post anonymously on here. A lot lets dummies would come on here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the most backward town ever. People are mad that a top private wants to open a charter school in a world where chapter applicants are numbering in to the 100s. Really?

1. No one's angry.

2. It's not Sidwell that wants to open a charter school. It's former Sidwell associates--a former student, teacher...

I think the founders are optimistically naive. While the arts and foreign languages are great assets to any child's education, it is not the only thing separating the DCPS student from that at Sidwell. Sidwell students walk in the door ready for the strong curriculum and with a few years of music and the arts already under their belts. They're reading on grade-level (if not above) and are ready to be challenged. Don't even get me started on the support and examples they have at home.

Our DCPS student will walk into the door with SEVERE deficits. They'll need to be brought up to grade level. They'll have to teach the kids how to read before they can ask them to question what the hell it is that was read.

If they could cherry-pick their students, they might have a chance. But they won't have the luxury. How will those Chinese classes go over for the kid who's absent more than present?

I love the idea of the school, but believe these founders either a) didn't think this completely through or b)haven't visited DCPS schools to take a look at the students they'll be getting.

Flubbing--or simply lying about?--the letters of support was a HUGE NO NO! That terrible move, along with being completely clueless about the population they serve would make me give this charter application a huge NO! Like, what else will they lie about after being in operation?

And where's all the money supposed to come from? Most DC schools (which operate with a much larger budget) struggle to afford librarians and teachers for core subjects. Yet these neophytes expect to have a full state of the art library, Chinese AND Spanish teacher? I'm sure they'll quickly find those 90 minutes will be needed to help kids learn to read and do basic math.

Holy shit! Why the book?... Just don't go to the charter- all of your wacky hatred issues solved!

[Anonymous]

For the One World haters. Get a life! You people complain while sitting on your asses gorging on potato chips. Why don't you try contributing and running your big fat mouth doesn't count.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the One World haters. Get a life! You people complain while sitting on your asses gorging on potato chips. Why don't you try contributing and running your big fat mouth doesn't count.

Oh, please Why so defensive? No one here is "hating" on the school.

The school's founders seem to have an idealistic and paternalistic idea about poor people and how to "help" them that I don't think matches up with reality. But only time will tell!

[Anonymous]

No one is defensive. You're just mad at a group wanting to start a charter school. Seems silly to me. People are knocking down the doors of charters, so why would anyone be against a program to educate more of the city's kids. Stop eating chips and start a program that suits your warped views. Never mind, I'm sure the chips are a lot better than actually doing something to help!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one in their right mind would start a charter at middle school. Even if the school attracts 50% high-involvement families, most of the kids come in with MANY deficits from every conceivable source. Some of the kids will have bounced around to different schools, some because they did horribly at current school, and others will be attracted because they are at an inferior IB school (and will have the academic gaps to prove it). Many of the "poor" kids who come from IB schools will have had no exposure to foreign language. "Here, take Spanish and Mandarin!"
I wish them luck as I do with all new charter ventures, but none of these will serve to create a cohesive, successful cohort of students. They advertise extended school day, but it will need to go until 5:30 or 6:00 to compensate for the 90 minutes/day of art combined with the huge academic deficits that will be streaming through the door.
I hope that the charter board has a clear collective head about this and doesn't get dazzled into thinking this is a magic partnership.

Going to play devil's advocate here but what about basis and latin? Or is it different since basis was part of a franchise? Did latin start as a high school or middle school? Or is it because Latin and Basis started out as rigorous academic charters while One World is promising to close the achievement gap with extra art block?

[Anonymous]

People in ward 3 that don't want to send their kids to hardy are going to jump all over this.

[Anonymous]

Keep the bitterness to yourself. I went to an exclusive private university. Coming from mostly public schools, my academic pedigree didn't sparkle like the St. A (more prestigious) and Sidwell students, yet I was more than competitive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep the bitterness to yourself. I went to an exclusive private university. Coming from mostly public schools, my academic pedigree didn't sparkle like the St. A (more prestigious) and Sidwell students, yet I was more than competitive.

Yeah but that may have been because you came from a different part of the country. Exclusive private universities take a certain number of kids from each geographic area (if you really want to get in to an Ivy, move to Alaska and get a decent education), they don't compare private schools with public ones, and even if Sidwell were to have a class full of geniuses talented in multiple different areas, Harvard, for instance, could not have a year where they accepted only kids from Sidwell in DC and cut out the other big 3, big 5, or whatever.....

I am not saying there is an absolute cut off or quota for each Ivy that corresponds to each private school in DC and NYC, but it ends up looking pretty close. They also need geographic diversity - at least one kid from Alabama etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the One World haters. Get a life! You people complain while sitting on your asses gorging on potato chips. Why don't you try contributing and running your big fat mouth doesn't count.

Yes, and your view of people is obviously so refreshing.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if this charter has been approved?

[Anonymous]

No, it's application was rejected.

[Anonymous]

One World, who's running the school Bob Marley and his disciples.