DME Kicks Off DCPS Boundary Review; Changes Expected for 2015-16 School Year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lottery for all school is just silly. So will they do away with rights to your IB school? I don't get the idea.

I love this idea. This idea has been pushed by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates too, I think. If you really want true diversity and to make good schools, all public schools in DC should be lottery. It would truly revolutionize DCPS and every child in DC would have a chance at a good education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lottery for all school is just silly. So will they do away with rights to your IB school? I don't get the idea.

Lottery for all might be generally ok in theory, so long as you give preference for proximity and siblings. But it seems to add complexity and more paperwork than necessary. And problems will occurs when people move in and out of DC throughout the school year and don't participate in the lottery. Shouldn't those families be able expect that their children can attend their nearby DCPS (or charter)?

Whatever they do, I hope DC leaders take a page from the healthcare.gov debacle and take their time to get it right before taking it live. You think people are touchy about their health care? It's nothing compared to their children's education.

[Anonymous]

That's the whole issue: families, especially at the ES level, should be given RIGHTS to the neighborhood school. So any lottery system should preserve these rights. Any system that preserves these rights does nothing to solve the inherent problem because the desirable schools will remain fully stuffed with IB kids. This is window dressing. And removing these rights is tantamount to criminality in my mind (Ward 3 homeowner).

[Anonymous]

Which inner city school did Bill Gates send his kids to?

[Anonymous]

Lottery for all will only destroy what gains have been made in DC schools.

JKLM school, Brent and similar schools improve based on parent effort in the PTA and at home with their kids. Making every school in DC look like the average school in DC will drive people out. People invest in their neighborhood school in large part because they are vested in the neighborhood. Without a strong connection why bother.

I am OOB at a JKLM and I would not want to see IB preference eliminated. I would rather a few OOB slots held while the other schools in the city improve slowly as they are (i.e. Brent, Shepard Park etc etc.)

I suppose its silly to even respond to the idea since it is such a non starter.

[Anonymous]

Yup, on all accounts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lottery for all will only destroy what gains have been made in DC schools.

JKLM school, Brent and similar schools improve based on parent effort in the PTA and at home with their kids. Making every school in DC look like the average school in DC will drive people out. People invest in their neighborhood school in large part because they are vested in the neighborhood. Without a strong connection why bother.

I am OOB at a JKLM and I would not want to see IB preference eliminated. I would rather a few OOB slots held while the other schools in the city improve slowly as they are (i.e. Brent, Shepard Park etc etc.)

I suppose its silly to even respond to the idea since it is such a non starter.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The press release implies that they are going to look at options for charters, such as creating a neighborhood preference. Would they be able to do this given that the charter law is a federal law? Wouldn't that require action by congress?

I think it would be great if language immersion charters could reserve a certain portion of the seats to true native household speakers (as opposed to, say, a child who goes to a bilingual daycare but speaks English at home), verified by a written and/or oral test. (My child would not benefit from this directly, as we are an English-speaking family, but I think it would make the language immersion schools much better for everyone.)

I agree that language preference would be better for the school, but seems unfair from the point of view of students applying. Under your scenario, a child from a Spanish speaking household would have preference at Mundo Verde, Oyster-Adams, LAMB, Tyler SI, (others I'm likely missing), and still have the option of their in-boundary school, along with the same lottery access to all the other DCPS and charter schools, while a mono-lingual child would have the latter but not the former. That sort of unequal access seems against the spirit of public education and school choice. Of course at the secondary level, SWW, Banneker, Ellington all have selective admissions. Clearly, I have mixed feelings about the subject.

Come off it, such BS and myopia. Other US cities and our near neighbors in Fairfax and MoCo have given preference to bilingual kids (at least to replace drop outs) for a long time because well-run dual immersion programs do a much better job imparting target language skills than comparable one-way immersion programs.

Of course bilingual kids should get preference, mainly to be fair to the non-native speakers who enroll. They're the ones who suffer when there are very few native-speaking kids, and bilingual families who know the cultural well, involved at a school. If you doubt this, visit first-rate immersion language schools in the burbs and compare standards at their DC counterparts. No comparison. Many clueless DC parents at the immersion charters hear the kids speak the target language and assume that they speak beautifully. Often not the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the 2010 democratic primary, 80% of Ward 3 Ds voted for Adrian Fenty. You think a lot of these folks would tolerate any attempt to water down their rights to Deal/Wilson with some sort of open boundary scheme?

They don't have to tolerate it. They don't make the decisions. Yuppies here still don't have the numbers to affect political outcomes. It's still Chocolate City with the numbers at the poll booth. Unhappy families can leave if they're unhappy. Others will take their place. Or families can go private. They still pay taxes, which funds education. Win-win for the city either way.

Very insightful thinking. That is, assuming you want DC to become Detroit.

+1000

[Anonymous]

The top two honor students out of a great percentage at a high-school on Capitol Hill are noted with one being an Asian and the other is an AA, both are from backgrounds that are totally different culturally, racially and financially but they are well-liked by the predominantly AA (farm) populated school. Both sets of parents took a chance with the high-school and their children are doing extremely well in all things that are academic and extra-curricular offered. Yet, to let others tell-it, this school can't survive or produce until whites attend the school in mass numbers. By the way the top honors went to the students who are in the International Baccalaureate program and the comprehensive side. You'll be surprisied at which child is in what program. The high-school on th Hill has begun to make great strides. The campus feels mighty prideful as they embark on their third year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lottery for all will only destroy what gains have been made in DC schools.

JKLM school, Brent and similar schools improve based on parent effort in the PTA and at home with their kids. Making every school in DC look like the average school in DC will drive people out. People invest in their neighborhood school in large part because they are vested in the neighborhood. Without a strong connection why bother.

I am OOB at a JKLM and I would not want to see IB preference eliminated. I would rather a few OOB slots held while the other schools in the city improve slowly as they are (i.e. Brent, Shepard Park etc etc.)

I suppose its silly to even respond to the idea since it is such a non starter.

In DC only the poor suffer with bad schools. The poor are also predominantly AA/black. Why should they get stuck with the craptastic aspects of DCPS? And by "they" I mean the kids who didn't have a say in who their parents are.

I think they should go for it. Force everyone into the same boat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lottery for all will only destroy what gains have been made in DC schools.

JKLM school, Brent and similar schools improve based on parent effort in the PTA and at home with their kids. Making every school in DC look like the average school in DC will drive people out. People invest in their neighborhood school in large part because they are vested in the neighborhood. Without a strong connection why bother.

I am OOB at a JKLM and I would not want to see IB preference eliminated. I would rather a few OOB slots held while the other schools in the city improve slowly as they are (i.e. Brent, Shepard Park etc etc.)

I suppose its silly to even respond to the idea since it is such a non starter.

In DC only the poor suffer with bad schools. The poor are also predominantly AA/black. Why should they get stuck with the craptastic aspects of DCPS? And by "they" I mean the kids who didn't have a say in who their parents are.
I think they should go for it. Force everyone into the same boat.

I would love to meet the kids who *did* have a say in who their parents are--I'm sure they are remarkable!

[Anonymous]

Yes 16:02, but unfortunately, this:

"Past valedictorians of low-performing District high schools say their own transitions to college were eye-opening and at times ego-shattering, filled with revelations that — despite taking their public schools’ most difficult classes and acing them — they were not equipped to excel at the nation’s top colleges."

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-06-16/local/40012919_1_professors-best-schools-d-c

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lottery for all will only destroy what gains have been made in DC schools.

JKLM school, Brent and similar schools improve based on parent effort in the PTA and at home with their kids. Making every school in DC look like the average school in DC will drive people out. People invest in their neighborhood school in large part because they are vested in the neighborhood. Without a strong connection why bother.

I am OOB at a JKLM and I would not want to see IB preference eliminated. I would rather a few OOB slots held while the other schools in the city improve slowly as they are (i.e. Brent, Shepard Park etc etc.)

I suppose its silly to even respond to the idea since it is such a non starter.

In DC only the poor suffer with bad schools. The poor are also predominantly AA/black. Why should they get stuck with the craptastic aspects of DCPS? And by "they" I mean the kids who didn't have a say in who their parents are.
I think they should go for it. Force everyone into the same boat.

I would love to meet the kids who *did* have a say in who their parents are--I'm sure they are remarkable!

you are so witty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lottery for all will only destroy what gains have been made in DC schools.

JKLM school, Brent and similar schools improve based on parent effort in the PTA and at home with their kids. Making every school in DC look like the average school in DC will drive people out. People invest in their neighborhood school in large part because they are vested in the neighborhood. Without a strong connection why bother.

I am OOB at a JKLM and I would not want to see IB preference eliminated. I would rather a few OOB slots held while the other schools in the city improve slowly as they are (i.e. Brent, Shepard Park etc etc.)

I suppose its silly to even respond to the idea since it is such a non starter.

In DC only the poor suffer with bad schools. The poor are also predominantly AA/black. Why should they get stuck with the craptastic aspects of DCPS? And by "they" I mean the kids who didn't have a say in who their parents are.
I think they should go for it. Force everyone into the same boat.

I would love to meet the kids who *did* have a say in who their parents are--I'm sure they are remarkable!

you are so witty.

Thank you!