Middle Schools - Ward 6 Centric
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Anonymous
| Definitely won't be at Eliot-Hine. Wish you lots of luck, but no how, no way. |
Anonymous
The school that you don't want, just might not want you. |
Anonymous
| Middle school is so tricky. I had dinner with a friend on Monday with a child who just started high school. He went to one of the best-regarded and wealthiest middle schools in Fairfax County. He was routinely physically bullied - the parents think he was targeted because he has learning disabilities and does not read well. He grew a lot over the summer and high school is going a lot better. In a way, that middle school would seem like a no-brainer - a great school with high-test scores, free for children lucky enough to be in-boundary. And it was atrocious for that child. I had a pretty miserable middle school experience socially at the best private school in the town we lived in. I am watching Elliot Hine and haven't ruled it out for my kids. My oldest is in 2nd. We will also look at privates, Inspired Teaching, 2Rs, EL Haynes, Latin, etc. I think social development is so important in the middle school years and I want my child to be in an environment that supports that. |
Anonymous
I've got a fourth grader and I would consider Eliot Hine. A successful EH is, by far, the best option for most Ward Six students. I need DCPS and city leaders to make a convincing case - and they have yet to do so. Things seem adrift. Test scores went down at EH and its feeders. A principal was surreptitiously hired without including the Eliot Hine collaboration team. The EH collaboration team, despite its heroic parent participants, is less than robust. The wonderful DCPS Ward Six middle school point person went on leave and DCPS did not hand the baton off. The Ward Six Middle School reform pages on the DCPS web site are static. The once promising Ward 6 plan is cited as kowtowing to gentrifiers, and it is spoken of in grand terms as if Ward 6 got a ton of resources and its bubbly wine drinking set got all it wanted – when parents in Ward 6 have yet to realize significant results. Chancellor Henderson has my support, but for whatever reasons she hasn't gotten out front and told us how she is committed to making EH work. Mayor Gray has my gratitude for his funding and support of DCPS in the last budget cycle, and I approve of his choice in DCPS leadership, but he hasn't taken a clear and firm stance on the issues that will make Eliot Hine a strong school. Chairman Brown, thankfully, is working the issue, but thus far he's talking from 30,000 feet. Even at the middle school hearings that Chairman Brown conducted, the Chancellor, who gave a great presentation, had a chance to tip her hat about what direction she is headed, but gave no indication. The amazing Abigail Smith is leaving and DCPS hasn't announced a vision for the Office of Transformation – her duties will be spread out across other offices. The Hopes and Dreams campaign concluded parents want things to be equal – as if the primary goal of the DCPS constituency is to make sure we are all the same – even if that means we are all at crappy schools. I would have preferred the campaign conclude the system should be “fair” instead of equal. The mayor is studying the school system writ large with an apparent pro-charter perspective. There’s a study looking at funding fairness waiting to be completed and keeping things in limbo. Ostensibly these big picture studies and decisions will be delivered in the spring of 2012. I eagerly await their arrival. But until then there’s just nothing that gives direction. There are huge tectonic plates moving here, and perhaps my family is just too early to benefit when things settle down. The most confidence inspiring indicators are the demographic shifts. This is powerful and perhaps it can incrementally overcome the obstacles and create a viable school at Eliot Hine over time. But that isn’t leadership and it doesn’t work for those of us with kids in the testing grades. Yes, we have willing parents and bright kids ready to jump in, but no one wants to leap without it being a rational decision. Confidence is tricky to build, and there have not been enough concrete accomplishments - other than the success of a handful of elementary schools (Maury, Watkins, Brent) that operate in their own bubbles and feed into their own fiefdoms. Creating confidence takes more than pioneering parents making statements about their commitment years before they drop off their child on the first day of sixth grade. I don’t doubt the strength of neighborhood parents in the least; I just doubt that their scattershot efforts alone are enough to build the bridge. Creating a great school at Eliot Hine is kind of like solving hunger. We have enough food, but we don’t have the political will to make it happen. Our country is filled with successful middle schools examples that DC can emulate if we just had the political will to make it happen. Chairman Brown and Tommy Wells are spot on when they say we don’t need more resources, we just need to use existing resources better. Eliot Hine and Eastern can be the kind of success story that warrants an above the fold story in the New York Times. Capitol Hill schools could be a “shining city upon a hill,” and we need strong leadership real soon if my oldest child and her friends are going to be a part of it. |
Anonymous
|
"country full of successful middle school examples"
Well, maybe. Middle school is the hardest level for many school systems. There are some good middle schools, and a lot a lot of lousy ones. |
Anonymous
Being big is not the secret to a successful school. If it were, then Dunbar should be great and Banneker or SWW should not. Also, just a few years ago, Deal was not desirable (it was the least worst of the DCPS options) but it was about the same size. Size is not the quality variable in any of these instances. I understand why DCPS is selling this line, and it certainly makes sense to close and consolidate some DCPS schools. That doesn't mean you should buy it hook, line, and sinker. |
Anonymous
|
Banneker or SWW are selective admissions schools. SH is not.
Size is one element for making a great school in Ward Six - not the only element. Dunbar needs more than size to make it strong. DCPS is not selling this line - the facts making the case on their own. WARD SIX ENROLLMENT/CAPACITY SH – 428 / 460 EH - 284 / 850 Jeff – 279 / 900 TOTAL IN-BOUNDS STUDENTS SH - 90 EH – 94 Jeff – 151 * Ward Six has capacity for 2,210 students in three middle schools. * Ward Six middle schools use 45% of their capacity. * Ward Six has 991 total middle school students enrolled. * Ward Six has 335 in-bounds middle school students. * Ward Six students fill 15% of the Ward Six middle school capacity. |
Anonymous
Yes, all of these point to the need for a larger MS in Ward Six in order to rationalize the costs. They do not prove that size = quality. |
Anonymous
“Middle school is the age where kids figure out what excites them,” said Councilmember Wells. “Are they motivated by languages? By sports? By art? The more options you can provide in a middle school, the better. That’s why Deal is the ideal.” |
Anonymous
Ok. But Maury parent of a fourth grader, you still didn't answer. You said what your son's peers chose. But will he goto Eliot Hine? Is it your first choice? Are you applying to Latin this year? Are you applying out of boundary for Cluster schools? Is your kid definitely going to Eliot Hine or are you waiting for more to become clear? |
Anonymous
Deal is the best DCPS has to offer, that doesn't mean it's ideal. Tommy Wells is DC Councilmember, not an expert on education. |
Anonymous
Do you have an affirmative point to make? Or are you just Johnny Negative? Can you lay out a vision where a small middle school works within the context of Ward Six? |
Anonymous
I am not PP - but SH is working fine as compared to EH or Jefferson. So I don't think dismantelling the closest thing Ward 6 to a functional middle school is a wise idea. |
Anonymous
That's me: Yes, I can totally see us do that because those are people I trust (other parents as well as teachers), the same I trusted when we chose Maury in the first place, never bothering with lotteries (and Maury wasn't exactly a school of choice back then). Our children are doing very well, academically and socially, with enough room left to grow and by far not bored or under challenged. While sometimes working against the odds and hitting a rough patch here and there (but is there a school were you won't?), we've benefited from some of the early bird effects. (If I get there before you, then that next foreign language, in addition to Spanish, is going to be French, not Chinese 
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Anonymous
These two posts are incongruous:
AND
The first poster says that Deal’s high regard is merely relative to the rest of DCPS. Objectively, the poster implies, Deal isn’t all that. But then the second poster, who aligns themselves with the first poster, says that SH is the closest thing to a functional MA school Ward 6 has. Which implies that SH should be saved because relative to the rest of DCPS, SH is a good school even if isn’t all that. Relatively, if SH is a good school, then Deal is better. Objectively, if Deal isn’t all that, then SH isn’t all that either. |