Brookland Middle School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brookland is off to a bumpy start.

Enrollment is far below projected, and went down in year 2 vs year 1.

Huh. OK. Not an easy task... I could NEVER handle that environment from the things I've read. Takes a better person than I!

Can you explain what you mean by "that environment"?

Maybe THIS environment.... http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jan/18/deborah-simmons-any-given-school-day-signs-point-t/

Thanks. I'm the PP who asked the question. Contrary to the response above accusing me of being inflammatory, I was asking a sincere question. My IB MS is Brookland Middle and I've seen a lot of hand-wringing about it on these boards, but I have not seen much concrete evidence about *why* people are so angry. My perception is that it was a new school and it would take several years to iron out the kinks. Reading this article about violence in the school provides a lot more context.

That was a nutso article. Some of the evidence it included is troubling though.

[Anonymous]

I guessing Lycknell is thrilled to get away from Brookland. Being principal at a school like that is akin to being a prison warden. If children have reached middle school age without sufficient parenting there is very little that can be done with the limitations placed on the teacher. So sick of expecting teachers and administrators to undue years of parental neglect.

[Anonymous]

This was not a nutso article. Seriously. This corroborates the first hand accounts I've heard. If parents want someone else to discipline their kids, then fine. Put them a military program and scare them straight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS really really needs to stop building and renovating middle schools and high schools to the tune of tens of millions of dollars without setting aside the programming monies for teachers for advanced classes, supported by a policy decision in favor of a return to academic tracking at the MS level. They waste hundreds of millions of dollars on this idiocy,and it's criminal and deeply short-sighted. In swathes of the city, they're running short of kids who need the remedial MS education provided in fancy buildings. Brookland is teeming with high SES kids whose families won't touch Brookland MS, and for very good reason. These parents asked for honors classes years ago, and got none. Enough already. Vote out city council members who won't address the madness, the waste, the grim myopia.

This. And the money that's going to be flushed down Coolidge is absolutely criminal.

[Anonymous]

+1000. Tough situation, mainly because those who care about the astronomical waste on renovations of mostly empty school buildings that aren't on track to fill up still aren't a big enough slice of the electoral pie to elect, or boot, city council members in most of the city.

DC is essentially a one-party state, an arrangement which breeds endemic corruption, inefficiency and lack of accountability. Without a rep in Congress decade after decade, oversight of the education budget is lacking (and that's putting it mildly).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS really really needs to stop building and renovating middle schools and high schools to the tune of tens of millions of dollars without setting aside the programming monies for teachers for advanced classes, supported by a policy decision in favor of a return to academic tracking at the MS level. They waste hundreds of millions of dollars on this idiocy,and it's criminal and deeply short-sighted. In swathes of the city, they're running short of kids who need the remedial MS education provided in fancy buildings. Brookland is teeming with high SES kids whose families won't touch Brookland MS, and for very good reason. These parents asked for honors classes years ago, and got none. Enough already. Vote out city council members who won't address the madness, the waste, the grim myopia.

.

Most neighborhood families, of all SES levels, are rejecting Brookland MS. Not just the wealthier families. They just tend to pursue different alternatives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1000. Tough situation, mainly because those who care about the astronomical waste on renovations of mostly empty school buildings that aren't on track to fill up still aren't a big enough slice of the electoral pie to elect, or boot, city council members in most of the city.

DC is essentially a one-party state, an arrangement which breeds endemic corruption, inefficiency and lack of accountability. Without a rep in Congress decade after decade, oversight of the education budget is lacking (and that's putting it mildly).

A voting rep in Congress wouldn't do anything to end the one-party state, endemic corruption, inefficiency or lack of accountability. If anything, statehood and a voting rep in Congress would endorse the current state of affairs. It would imply the corruption of DC somehow merits full statehood.

Frankly, as long as we're incapable of governing ourselves (and this is one piece of evidence among countless others), we need the threat of Congressional oversight.

[Anonymous]

Even more reason that the city should stop pouring tens of millions of dollars into creating gleaming neighborhood MS facilities that are mostly empty, and very likely to remain that way for years and years to come.

If Norah Lycknell, one of DCPS' strongest principals couldn't get BMS school off on the right foot as constituted, it's not happening.

Give it up, DCPS, and turn the building over to a program that could succeed. Obvious solutions present themselves: 1) a test-in MS program with a city-wide draw but neighborhood preference (like the several test-in MS programs a little north, in eastern MoCo), or, 2) a hybrid DCPS-charter program, or, 3) a slate of bona fide honors classes taught at and above grade-level.

Test-in and/or honors classes could only help fill the building if they were reserved for kids who'd met rigorous admissions standards. DCPS could, for example, require students to have scored 4s and 5s on the PARCC to gain entry to honors classes, or to have passed a tough placement test to demonstrate that they work at or above grade level.

If you want change at BMS, let your DC city councilmember know. If s/he does't push hard for change, consider organizing to get her/him voted out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1000. Tough situation, mainly because those who care about the astronomical waste on renovations of mostly empty school buildings that aren't on track to fill up still aren't a big enough slice of the electoral pie to elect, or boot, city council members in most of the city.

DC is essentially a one-party state, an arrangement which breeds endemic corruption, inefficiency and lack of accountability. Without a rep in Congress decade after decade, oversight of the education budget is lacking (and that's putting it mildly).

A voting rep in Congress wouldn't do anything to end the one-party state, endemic corruption, inefficiency or lack of accountability. If anything, statehood and a voting rep in Congress would endorse the current state of affairs. It would imply the corruption of DC somehow merits full statehood.

Frankly, as long as we're incapable of governing ourselves (and this is one piece of evidence among countless others), we need the threat of Congressional oversight.

But the threat of Congressional oversight isn't working very well, not where ed reform goes. Definitely not. How about real oversight for a change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1000. Tough situation, mainly because those who care about the astronomical waste on renovations of mostly empty school buildings that aren't on track to fill up still aren't a big enough slice of the electoral pie to elect, or boot, city council members in most of the city.

DC is essentially a one-party state, an arrangement which breeds endemic corruption, inefficiency and lack of accountability. Without a rep in Congress decade after decade, oversight of the education budget is lacking (and that's putting it mildly).

A voting rep in Congress wouldn't do anything to end the one-party state, endemic corruption, inefficiency or lack of accountability. If anything, statehood and a voting rep in Congress would endorse the current state of affairs. It would imply the corruption of DC somehow merits full statehood.

Frankly, as long as we're incapable of governing ourselves (and this is one piece of evidence among countless others), we need the threat of Congressional oversight.

But the threat of Congressional oversight isn't working very well, not where ed reform goes. Definitely not. How about real oversight for a change.

Congressional oversight is better than nothing at all. The more control our local officials have, the more they can get away with. Power corrupts. I want them to have as little as possible.

[Anonymous]

Because there is no corruption in Congress. Ha!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because there is no corruption in Congress. Ha!

None that involves wasting DC taxpayer resources to the benefit of crappy schools no-one wants to attend, at the expense of good schools that everyone wants and produce excellent results.

Congress wouldn't take money that could be spent on our best schools and divert it over to Coolidge which is a waste of $200 million and will always be awful.

[Anonymous]

+100, or mega bucks for Eastern and Dunbar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because there is no corruption in Congress. Ha!

None that involves wasting DC taxpayer resources to the benefit of crappy schools no-one wants to attend, at the expense of good schools that everyone wants and produce excellent results.

Congress wouldn't take money that could be spent on our best schools and divert it over to Coolidge which is a waste of $200 million and will always be awful.

Actually, congressional mandated (but not paid for) voucher programs can be exactly what you describe. But carry on.

DC corruption is bad. This city needs to decide to educate all its children well or we will vote the scoundrels out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS really really needs to stop building and renovating middle schools and high schools to the tune of tens of millions of dollars without setting aside the programming monies for teachers for advanced classes, supported by a policy decision in favor of a return to academic tracking at the MS level. They waste hundreds of millions of dollars on this idiocy,and it's criminal and deeply short-sighted. In swathes of the city, they're running short of kids who need the remedial MS education provided in fancy buildings. Brookland is teeming with high SES kids whose families won't touch Brookland MS, and for very good reason. These parents asked for honors classes years ago, and got none. Enough already. Vote out city council members who won't address the madness, the waste, the grim myopia.

This. And the money that's going to be flushed down Coolidge is absolutely criminal.

I teach at one of the education campuses that's going to be feeding into Coolidge, and it's criminal that's it's taken so long to address overpopulation in the Brightwood/Takoma/Manor Park area. We have classes meeting in the library, floating specials teachers, two P.E. classes to the gym at once, four lunch periods, and eight trailer classrooms. Interventionists and specials teachers meet at tables set up in the hallway. The parking lots are overflowing, meaning teachers have to use street parking and get ticketed or towed on a regular basis. It's amazing to me what high-income white parents think overcrowding should be addressed at their child's school, but ignored when it affects low-income black and brown kids.