DCI or Deal

[Anonymous]

DCI is not perfect but I think it is a good size: small enough that the kids are known and don’t get lost in the crowd, yet large enough that it’s not socially stifling. I feel like my children are seen and heard for who they are by teachers and staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCI isn’t exactly small and cozy either.

About 270 kids in a each grade.
Deal has just under 500 in each grade.

True. And Deal at least tries by make it feel smaller by having several teams. DCI doesn't.

Yes, and they also installed smoke machines and mirrors throughout the school to trick the eye into thinking it’s a bigger space.

[Anonymous]

I do not understand this. DCI MIGHT end up being a great middle school. There simply is not enough of a history there to know. Let’s not act like we KNOW DCI is a good middle school simply because iof the demographics of so many of its feeders - DC Bilingual excluded.

[Anonymous]

I'd choose Deal.

DCI has promise and probably will be a good school in a few more years. They are working hard on getting it right.

But it has high teacher turnover and has had several changes in administration in the short times it's been open.

My kids attended a DCI feeder but didn't attend (went to private). Our friends with typical kids are generally happy; friends with kids with 504s and IEPs (I know 5) are less so. It isn't that the school fights the; the goals and plans are good. But many teachers are green or from other countries where they don't have a lot of experience in working with different learners. Telling a parent of a kid with ADHD that Larla could do much better if she would 'just focus.'

[Anonymous]

Deal. We were at DCI and left screaming. I have hopes for it in the future but middle school is tricky and hard to do right. Sure Deal has hiccups but they do middle school right.

[Anonymous]

Focus on the quality of high school, which I think makes Deal the better choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Focus on the quality of high school, which I think makes Deal the better choice.

DCI is new so doesn’t have a long history. So for now go with Deal if that is the case. But I think DCI has a lot of potential to be a decent school in a few short years. Also they have the IB curriculum.

Just go in with Deal knowing the severe overcrowding will affect every aspect of your child’s education - academics, behavior issues, space, lunch times. Also teachers have their hands full with the number of students they have so things easily fall thru the cracks.

Also realize long term in high school, you will not get back into DCI. In my opinion, Wilson is going in the wrong direction with this new honors for all 9th-11th.

[Anonymous]

I’ve taught at Deal for a long time under far too many admin. There’s going to be a lot of turnover this year. Staff members are at their wits end with the lack of consequences for kids’ behavior. Skipping class is rampant. The bathrooms are disgusting right now. Multiple teachers have been hit by kids this year. I don’t know DCI, but I’d choose them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve taught at Deal for a long time under far too many admin. There’s going to be a lot of turnover this year. Staff members are at their wits end with the lack of consequences for kids’ behavior. Skipping class is rampant. The bathrooms are disgusting right now. Multiple teachers have been hit by kids this year. I don’t know DCI, but I’d choose them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Deal. We were at DCI and left screaming. I have hopes for it in the future but middle school is tricky and hard to do right. Sure Deal has hiccups but they do middle school right.

+1.

Signed,

Trilingual family

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve taught at Deal for a long time under far too many admin. There’s going to be a lot of turnover this year. Staff members are at their wits end with the lack of consequences for kids’ behavior. Skipping class is rampant. The bathrooms are disgusting right now. Multiple teachers have been hit by kids this year. I don’t know DCI, but I’d choose them.

Was this year an anomaly though?

[Anonymous]

Pp here: This year was worse than any I’ve seen. However, it built on last school year’s dysfunction. I’m worried about next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve taught at Deal for a long time under far too many admin. There’s going to be a lot of turnover this year. Staff members are at their wits end with the lack of consequences for kids’ behavior. Skipping class is rampant. The bathrooms are disgusting right now. Multiple teachers have been hit by kids this year. I don’t know DCI, but I’d choose them.

Isn’t the current seventh grade a problem? I have heard parents of current seventh grade tell me they are a wild class with some pretty significant behavioral issues.

[Anonymous]

I have a 6th grader at Deal and can say that it's been a mixed experience. I think that by-in-large the teachers really care and there is a lot of learning going on.
However, it is by no means the utopia that some on here (DCUM) would have you believe. It's crazy overcrowded and sometimes chaotic and the kids witness a lot of stuff--in 6th grade this year there have been many fights, teachers getting hit, a suicide attempt at recess, teachers swearing at kids etc. etc.
Also, I think the biggest downside is that due to it's size, kids very easily get lost in the shuffle: papers get lost, grades get entered incorrectly, etc. A kid really has to be a self-starter and watch each and every grade in order to get As. The upside is that after a year of this, my child is a TREMENDOUS self-advocate. He has learned to solve his own problems by emailing and talking to teaching and following up on things. He had none of these skills coming into the year and now is an incredibly resilient and organized kid for only being 12 years old. I never functioned at this level when I was 12 and being driven by my mom to a suburban private school.

[Anonymous]

OP, we are in the same boat. We are at a DCI feeder but in boundary for Deal. We are choosing to try DCI this year, thankfully knowing we can switch to Deal next year if DCI doesn't meet our goals. I know it would be harder on my DD to move in 7th than to just start new in 6th with everyone else. But we are encouraged by the improvements we see in DCI every year and more and more of my DD high performing classmates are going to DCI each year. I have toured both Deal and DCI and both seem to have similar cultures (granted, it was a one hour tour). Except that Deal had less diversity in terms of ethnicity and probably socioeconomic too, and I was more uncomfortable with that than I expected, coming from a feeder with a great diversity of backgrounds (and we are a white family who wants our kids to grow up with much more diversity than we did). I feel thankful to have these 2 options but are not looking back from our decision to go with DCI.