How will Brookland Middle affect Burroughs, Bunker Hill, Noyes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We will absolutely consider Burroughs next year. We have a Kindergartener who started at Bethune today, but we're in-bound for Burroughs and we really want to stay hyper-local so we're considering either staying at Bethune if all goes well this year or switching her to Burroughs once the education campus has been disbanded!

Definitely switch away from Bethune. They have issues with bullying, they are at war with their neighbors over parking issues, they spend money on new playground supplies only to leave them out all summer and have someone set fire to them, and their idea of aftercare is putting all the kids in a room and turning a tv on. Their CAS scores went down this year and they just had the privilege of being the school with the most illegal (PG County) students in all of DC. Run, don't walk.

I'd love to know more about these issues (I'm the PP with the Kindergartener) - did you have a child there and what grade? Thanks!

I had a PreK4 kid there last year. They had severe bullying issues (covered in other threads on this forum here: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/155617.page#1415230). I have friends who were trying to enroll their kids in the school at the same time through the lottery and they simply would not return parents' phone calls. The one time they did get through they hung up on them! Others have had issues actually meeting with teachers before school starts - the teachers have been late or simply not shown up at all. Communication is very poor.

A few years ago they overhauled the playground on the lower level. Unfortunately, they used parent labor to cut corners however and the results showed. The path was uneven, lumps of concrete came up, the netting for the grass tripped kids up, they never watered the flowers, which promptly died etc. This past summer they spent yet more tax payer money to relay the path and put synthetic turf on the playground. Trouble was, they bought the synthetic turf early in the summer and left it out in the upper playground all year. Not only did the elements and rodents get to it, it got set on fire a few weeks before school was due to start, rendering most of it useless. It also burnt the surface of the upper playground and the corrugated iron building on the playground, making it look like a war zone. The older kids at the school can no longer use this playground.

The parking/pick up/drop off situation is hellish. They disregard all calls from the neighborhood to stop double parking and parking in access alleys for the neighbors who live around the school. It got so bad last year that a parent who repeatedly parked in an alley, blocking all the neighbors into their houses, verbally threatened a neighbor with kids of her own in the car and the police was called. A restraining order was taken out against the parent and a policeman was stationed outside the school for the neighbor's protection. I used to see one parent coming to the playground to pick up their kid, walking to the liquor store, and then coming back obviously drunk.

The aftercare involves putting kids of all ages in a room and turning a tv on. I gave up on the aftercare after a while and some other parents and I got together and paid someone to pick our kids up and entertain them after school. Not ideal, and an additional headache for parents.

The CAS scores are available at http://osse.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/osse/publication/attachments/CAS%20Classification%202014_FOR%20POSTING_FINAL.pdf
They went down 4.16 overall from 2013 to 2014, and down 5.6 in math (see the bottom of page 2)

The school had 18 cases of fraud last year. The article on this can be found at http://www.ward5heartbeat.org/news/local-public-schools-found-to-have-non-d-c-residents-enrolled/
The school principal didn't seem too concerned about the fraud in the article. She says "Asked to comment on the large number of cases at her school, principal Dr. Linda McKay told the Heartbeat that she was not aware of a problem. “It seems that you have more information than I do regarding MM Bethune’s residency fraud investigation. We have not received information from PCSB regarding any students.” Dr. McKay added, “I can assure you that there are many schools, and schools in Ward 5, who have a number that far exceeds the six, the eight, or the eighteen that you say exists at MM Bethune.” Dr. McKay did not provide details about the schools she was referring to."

I cannot speak about the other issues, but the bolded appears to be typical for other schools when the population is not in walking distance to the school. I know that when my child attended YY when it was located on Varnum, the neighbors complained and we had police show up many mornings. When the school located to its permanent home, neighbors were calling tow companies to have cars towed. DDOT eventually changed some traffic patterns, no standing and parking signs were added, MPD would periodically show up. the situation is much better now, but neighbors still arre not particullarly fond of us very much, especially around 810 am and 330pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We will absolutely consider Burroughs next year. We have a Kindergartener who started at Bethune today, but we're in-bound for Burroughs and we really want to stay hyper-local so we're considering either staying at Bethune if all goes well this year or switching her to Burroughs once the education campus has been disbanded!

Definitely switch away from Bethune. They have issues with bullying, they are at war with their neighbors over parking issues, they spend money on new playground supplies only to leave them out all summer and have someone set fire to them, and their idea of aftercare is putting all the kids in a room and turning a tv on. Their CAS scores went down this year and they just had the privilege of being the school with the most illegal (PG County) students in all of DC. Run, don't walk.

I'd love to know more about these issues (I'm the PP with the Kindergartener) - did you have a child there and what grade? Thanks!

I had a PreK4 kid there last year. They had severe bullying issues (covered in other threads on this forum here: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/155617.page#1415230). I have friends who were trying to enroll their kids in the school at the same time through the lottery and they simply would not return parents' phone calls. The one time they did get through they hung up on them! Others have had issues actually meeting with teachers before school starts - the teachers have been late or simply not shown up at all. Communication is very poor.

A few years ago they overhauled the playground on the lower level. Unfortunately, they used parent labor to cut corners however and the results showed. The path was uneven, lumps of concrete came up, the netting for the grass tripped kids up, they never watered the flowers, which promptly died etc. This past summer they spent yet more tax payer money to relay the path and put synthetic turf on the playground. Trouble was, they bought the synthetic turf early in the summer and left it out in the upper playground all year. Not only did the elements and rodents get to it, it got set on fire a few weeks before school was due to start, rendering most of it useless. It also burnt the surface of the upper playground and the corrugated iron building on the playground, making it look like a war zone. The older kids at the school can no longer use this playground.

The parking/pick up/drop off situation is hellish. They disregard all calls from the neighborhood to stop double parking and parking in access alleys for the neighbors who live around the school. It got so bad last year that a parent who repeatedly parked in an alley, blocking all the neighbors into their houses, verbally threatened a neighbor with kids of her own in the car and the police was called. A restraining order was taken out against the parent and a policeman was stationed outside the school for the neighbor's protection. I used to see one parent coming to the playground to pick up their kid, walking to the liquor store, and then coming back obviously drunk.

The aftercare involves putting kids of all ages in a room and turning a tv on. I gave up on the aftercare after a while and some other parents and I got together and paid someone to pick our kids up and entertain them after school. Not ideal, and an additional headache for parents.

The CAS scores are available at http://osse.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/osse/publication/attachments/CAS%20Classification%202014_FOR%20POSTING_FINAL.pdf
They went down 4.16 overall from 2013 to 2014, and down 5.6 in math (see the bottom of page 2)

The school had 18 cases of fraud last year. The article on this can be found at http://www.ward5heartbeat.org/news/local-public-schools-found-to-have-non-d-c-residents-enrolled/
The school principal didn't seem too concerned about the fraud in the article. She says "Asked to comment on the large number of cases at her school, principal Dr. Linda McKay told the Heartbeat that she was not aware of a problem. “It seems that you have more information than I do regarding MM Bethune’s residency fraud investigation. We have not received information from PCSB regarding any students.” Dr. McKay added, “I can assure you that there are many schools, and schools in Ward 5, who have a number that far exceeds the six, the eight, or the eighteen that you say exists at MM Bethune.” Dr. McKay did not provide details about the schools she was referring to."

What a terrible and aggregious smear campaign on your part! The article you quote referring to bullying was three years old and is seemingly mentioned by one poster (probably you). The rest of the posts talk about how demand for the school is increasing and about their language model. My DS has been at the school for 2 years and we have never heard about any issues with bullying. Next, you talk about the playground saying that the administration used parent labor to cut corners, but that is a gross misrepresentation. They got a new Kaboom playground and enlisted volunteers to help with the assembly. That is how the program works and it was a moral builder for the school and the students who participated. The playground is still standing, still operable and still beautiful. The parking situation is improving almost daily. Yes, there was an incident where police were called regarding the parking. To me, that shows that one parent behaved poorly. Prior to and following that situation, parents received multiple notices informing them that they were not allowed to park in certain areas around the school and stating that their vehicle would be ticketed and towed, so I hardly think that you can say that the school ignored their neighbors, perhaps some of the parents did. And while it is not completely better, it has vastly improved.

I cannot comment much about the aftercare. I've only used the service a handful of times, but every time I did, the children were playing on the playground or reading in the library. I never saw them in front of tvs, but again, I only used the service a few times. Parents choose to use the service or not to use the service for a variety of reasons. Mine was because I did not want to leave my young child at school for such a long day.

I hope that other parents will use their own judgement and actually try to learn about the school instead of taking posters like this at their word. Is the school perfect? Of course not! But my child is happy and thriving, I am happy with the school and I know lots of happy families at the school. If the previous poster had a terrible experience, I am glad s/he made the choice to go elsewhere. No need to try to tear the school down in the process.

I'm sorry to the OP that this has hijacked your thread.

[Anonymous]

Bethune neighbor here. I'd back up what has been said here about the parking situation. It really is horrible and is not getting any better. Just two mornings ago there was a guy in a green SUV parked in the alley so people couldn't get out of their houses. Whatever the school is doing, it isn't enough.

You are right in saying that the lower playground is still standing and operable, but the original poster is also right in that it was a mess before further fixes were made later this summer. Kids used to frequently trip on loose bricks on the path. If they had done it right the first time there would not have been this issue in the first place. The upper playground is exactly as described however - there was a fire there over the summer and the iron building is burnt out, as well as the playground surface being damaged.

I can't help thinking about how other schools handle this problem. Two Rivers has people directly traffic outside the school. They have met directly with neighbors to hear their concerns. Bethune has never reached out to neighbors as a group, and I have never received a call back from them when I have called with a concern.

[Anonymous]

Facts are facts, I'm afraid. Bethune's CAS scores have gone down, they have had major issues with residency fraud, bullying was an issue as of just last year, and the playground has issues. There is a police report which goes into great detail about the playground fire and the police canvassed the neighborhood afterwards, asking whether anyone had seen anything. It's hardly a smear campaign to repeat these facts, nor an attempt to tear down the school.