Can anyone update me on Shaw Middle and parent involvement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seaton is a great school! Likely you will need to move or get into a charter for middle school though. But in the meantime enjoy a great neighborhood and a great school!!!

Seaton is fantastic. And there is a strong group of parents working very hard to help improve this already wonderful school. They are committing to staying at Seaton through elementary and are very hopeful the changes will spread to the middle school options.

Shaw MS is not going to materialize through wishful thinking. How exactly will the changes in middle school options happen? Please enlighten me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seaton is a great school! Likely you will need to move or get into a charter for middle school though. But in the meantime enjoy a great neighborhood and a great school!!!

Seaton is fantastic. And there is a strong group of parents working very hard to help improve this already wonderful school. They are committing to staying at Seaton through elementary and are very hopeful the changes will spread to the middle school options.

But is there an actual plan, working group, or any other organized endeavor?

There was, and then DCPS squashed it the way they normally do. There are plenty of children in the area, more every day, but DCPS is too incompetent to care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seaton is a great school! Likely you will need to move or get into a charter for middle school though. But in the meantime enjoy a great neighborhood and a great school!!!

Seaton is fantastic. And there is a strong group of parents working very hard to help improve this already wonderful school. They are committing to staying at Seaton through elementary and are very hopeful the changes will spread to the middle school options.

But is there an actual plan, working group, or any other organized endeavor?

There was, and then DCPS squashed it the way they normally do. There are plenty of children in the area, more every day, but DCPS is too incompetent to care.

But there are underenrolled schools that are also close by, and other parts of the city have fewer options (e.g. upper Ward 4).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seaton is a great school! Likely you will need to move or get into a charter for middle school though. But in the meantime enjoy a great neighborhood and a great school!!!

Seaton is fantastic. And there is a strong group of parents working very hard to help improve this already wonderful school. They are committing to staying at Seaton through elementary and are very hopeful the changes will spread to the middle school options.

Shaw MS is not going to materialize through wishful thinking. How exactly will the changes in middle school options happen? Please enlighten me.

It probably wont be in the form of Shaw MS. But there are other middle schools. With more parent/community involvement, with middle/upper class families committing to the public school system, with educators working toward the goal- it can get better.

No, its not an easy task. But all children deserve quality education. It is a goal worth working towards. And every little bit helps.

[Anonymous]

Look, I'll be honest - every few years or so an organized parent starts a push to get a working group going on middle schools (YAY!) and then they either get into a charter, where real education is happening, or move to MD/VA.

Seaton is a great school. Go for it, and keep trying to get into a charter program (like most of your ilk). Around 2nd grade you will either move to Ward 3/Ward 9 or go charter.

Welcome to the neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, I'll be honest - every few years or so an organized parent starts a push to get a working group going on middle schools (YAY!) and then they either get into a charter, where real education is happening, or move to MD/VA.

Seaton is a great school. Go for it, and keep trying to get into a charter program (like most of your ilk). Around 2nd grade you will either move to Ward 3/Ward 9 or go charter.

Welcome to the neighborhood.

Thanks. I really doubt that we'll physically move in 2nd grade-- we only just bought our house this fall so that would only give us 3 years. Charters are on our list but it seems awfully hard to get in to any that are close by.

If there were a group of people working on middle school issues, I would join. I believe you that it has failed in the past but I'm still willing to put in some time. Lots of things fail before they succeed, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, I'll be honest - every few years or so an organized parent starts a push to get a working group going on middle schools (YAY!) and then they either get into a charter, where real education is happening, or move to MD/VA.

Seaton is a great school. Go for it, and keep trying to get into a charter program (like most of your ilk). Around 2nd grade you will either move to Ward 3/Ward 9 or go charter.

Welcome to the neighborhood.

Thanks. I really doubt that we'll physically move in 2nd grade-- we only just bought our house this fall so that would only give us 3 years. Charters are on our list but it seems awfully hard to get in to any that are close by.

If there were a group of people working on middle school issues, I would join. I believe you that it has failed in the past but I'm still willing to put in some time. Lots of things fail before they succeed, right?

Lots of people are working on MacFarland now (search archives here to get connected with them). Cardozo is a bit different since it already exists but maybe start by calling the school and seeing if there is a PTA, or, alternatively, finding out what the Seaton PTA may or may not be doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, I'll be honest - every few years or so an organized parent starts a push to get a working group going on middle schools (YAY!) and then they either get into a charter, where real education is happening, or move to MD/VA.

Seaton is a great school. Go for it, and keep trying to get into a charter program (like most of your ilk). Around 2nd grade you will either move to Ward 3/Ward 9 or go charter.

Welcome to the neighborhood.

I know it doesn't fit your narrative but there is actually "real education" happening outside of a few HRCSs discussed on DCUM. And nobody is leaving DCPS for PG County Schools in "Ward 9" unless they already live in PG County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, I'll be honest - every few years or so an organized parent starts a push to get a working group going on middle schools (YAY!) and then they either get into a charter, where real education is happening, or move to MD/VA.

Seaton is a great school. Go for it, and keep trying to get into a charter program (like most of your ilk). Around 2nd grade you will either move to Ward 3/Ward 9 or go charter.

Welcome to the neighborhood.

Thanks. I really doubt that we'll physically move in 2nd grade-- we only just bought our house this fall so that would only give us 3 years. Charters are on our list but it seems awfully hard to get in to any that are close by.

If there were a group of people working on middle school issues, I would join. I believe you that it has failed in the past but I'm still willing to put in some time. Lots of things fail before they succeed, right?

Get off DCUM and join Ward2Ednetwork or Kids in the triangle

Lots of younger parents whose hopes and dreams of good education in DC haven't been crushed under years of DCPS lies.

Best of luck.

[Anonymous]

Aw, I love seeing the babies jump into this game again. I did years, and I'm out. Good luck. They will squash you at every chance that they can. Go ahead though and form your group and have them act like they will support you. You will see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone. Can anyone tell me about Cardozo for middle school?

You do not send your kid there if you care about academics and behavior. I am a cynic on middle schools in DC. I lived on the Hill back in the 90s and the "committed" parents were fighting to improve middle schools there. Cap Hil actually has good feeders (Brent especially) and their middle school options, 20 years later are mediocre at best. There is a reason the brain drain happens after 4 grade and they all head to latin, basis or private. So if the connected folks on the Hill cant turn it around, the folks in your neigbhorhood aren't either. Certainly not by the time your kid enters 6th grade. I feel the same way about McFarland Middle. A school is only as good as its feeder (ie the success of students) and the feeders to McFarland all currently have the same high SES flight by first grade. so there are no high SES families in 4th, 5th grade to feed to McFarland there won't be even from the current crop of PKers in the feeders. Sorry to be a cynic but I have been wathcing this for well over a decade. New buildings don't make a difference in academnics either (see Dunbar). Brookland Middle which is beautiful and brand new has exactly one white kid in the school, so they clearly failed to attract any diversity.

Says who?

I think 5 years ago says that.

If you tour the feeders, as I have extensively, you will see a handful of white kids in PS3-first grade (although only at one or two school do you see any beyond first grade). Good schools don't correlate with white kids but in this area white kids correlate with high SES. And its clear that the the feeders still haven't managed to retain a significant, if any, number of high SES families to feed into McFarland in the next year or even next five years. You need a critical mass. The best schools typically have a FARMS rate of 30% or less. McFarland will likley be way over that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seaton is a great school! Likely you will need to move or get into a charter for middle school though. But in the meantime enjoy a great neighborhood and a great school!!!

Seaton is fantastic. And there is a strong group of parents working very hard to help improve this already wonderful school. They are committing to staying at Seaton through elementary and are very hopeful the changes will spread to the middle school options.

But is there an actual plan, working group, or any other organized endeavor?

There was, and then DCPS squashed it the way they normally do. There are plenty of children in the area, more every day, but DCPS is too incompetent to care.

DCPS refuses to give the parents in the "working groups" what they keep asking for-see Brookland Middle. For years, parents said two things -immersion and/or academic rigor (test in, tracking, etc) and now the new beautufil and expensive middle school opened and none of those things have happened. Its not politically viable.

[Anonymous]

Yes, there are parents working on pushing the city to reopen Shaw. We had a meeting with Council members Allen and Grosso 6 months ago and had a parent only follow up literally yesterday.

We are thinking of starting a "friends of Cardozo" feeder group. The plan is to strengthen Cadozo HS and get Cardozo MS moved to a stand alone MS at Shaw eventually. We have parents from Garrison, Cleveland, and Seaton involved.

(I cannot believe I'm doing this, but that's how much I care about this...) email me personally at [e-mail] to become involved.

As an aside, don't assume MacFarland MS will fail. DCPS will be starting it's MS language immersion there next fall (at Roosevelt HS for 2 years during MacFarland's renovation), which should pull from all over the city (not just the neighborhood ESs) and be a boost to the larger MacFarland program when it opens in 3 years.

Becky Reina,
Cleveland ES parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone. Can anyone tell me about Cardozo for middle school?

You do not send your kid there if you care about academics and behavior. I am a cynic on middle schools in DC. I lived on the Hill back in the 90s and the "committed" parents were fighting to improve middle schools there. Cap Hil actually has good feeders (Brent especially) and their middle school options, 20 years later are mediocre at best. There is a reason the brain drain happens after 4 grade and they all head to latin, basis or private. So if the connected folks on the Hill cant turn it around, the folks in your neigbhorhood aren't either. Certainly not by the time your kid enters 6th grade. I feel the same way about McFarland Middle. A school is only as good as its feeder (ie the success of students) and the feeders to McFarland all currently have the same high SES flight by first grade. so there are no high SES families in 4th, 5th grade to feed to McFarland there won't be even from the current crop of PKers in the feeders. Sorry to be a cynic but I have been wathcing this for well over a decade. New buildings don't make a difference in academnics either (see Dunbar). Brookland Middle which is beautiful and brand new has exactly one white kid in the school, so they clearly failed to attract any diversity.

Says who?

I think 5 years ago says that.

If you tour the feeders, as I have extensively, you will see a handful of white kids in PS3-first grade (although only at one or two school do you see any beyond first grade). Good schools don't correlate with white kids but in this area white kids correlate with high SES. And its clear that the the feeders still haven't managed to retain a significant, if any, number of high SES families to feed into McFarland in the next year or even next five years. You need a critical mass. The best schools typically have a FARMS rate of 30% or less. McFarland will likley be way over that.

Because it's impossible to think that brown people can be middle or upper SES. If you are like me and live in the neighborhood, you'd know that there are hundreds of middle and upper SES families that have brown skin. Many of whom are planning to give Macfarland a shot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone. Can anyone tell me about Cardozo for middle school?

You do not send your kid there if you care about academics and behavior. I am a cynic on middle schools in DC. I lived on the Hill back in the 90s and the "committed" parents were fighting to improve middle schools there. Cap Hil actually has good feeders (Brent especially) and their middle school options, 20 years later are mediocre at best. There is a reason the brain drain happens after 4 grade and they all head to latin, basis or private. So if the connected folks on the Hill cant turn it around, the folks in your neigbhorhood aren't either. Certainly not by the time your kid enters 6th grade. I feel the same way about McFarland Middle. A school is only as good as its feeder (ie the success of students) and the feeders to McFarland all currently have the same high SES flight by first grade. so there are no high SES families in 4th, 5th grade to feed to McFarland there won't be even from the current crop of PKers in the feeders. Sorry to be a cynic but I have been wathcing this for well over a decade. New buildings don't make a difference in academnics either (see Dunbar). Brookland Middle which is beautiful and brand new has exactly one white kid in the school, so they clearly failed to attract any diversity.

Says who?

I think 5 years ago says that.

If you tour the feeders, as I have extensively, you will see a handful of white kids in PS3-first grade (although only at one or two school do you see any beyond first grade). Good schools don't correlate with white kids but in this area white kids correlate with high SES. And its clear that the the feeders still haven't managed to retain a significant, if any, number of high SES families to feed into McFarland in the next year or even next five years. You need a critical mass. The best schools typically have a FARMS rate of 30% or less. McFarland will likley be way over that.

Because it's impossible to think that brown people can be middle or upper SES. If you are like me and live in the neighborhood, you'd know that there are hundreds of middle and upper SES families that have brown skin. Many of whom are planning to give Macfarland a shot.

There are also students from middle class families (what you'd call low SES) that are very bright and learning just as well as the few white kids in the class (sometimes better).