October waitlist data is up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fair point that there is no “BASIS way,” at least not one that’s set in stone. I got disillusioned with this head when he wouldn’t let parents of Spanish immersion grads organize low cost after-school language maintenance lessons on campus, or offer these kids remotely challenging 8th grade Spanish. That wasn’t about education or college admissions on the part of the HoS, it was about control. Parents come to DCUM to raise issues for the simple reason that the BASIS DC will not tolerate a PTA.

BASIS parents don’t have a private listserv or fb page or anything? No place where you can discuss issues in a less public setting and without the anonymity?

No.

Huh? Yes, there is a BASIS parent email/site. BASIS-DC-Listserv on io groups. Parents who weren't aware should join!

The list serve isn't an open forum. Any challenging post stands a good chance of being deleted.

Look, the best way to deal with BASIS administrators is to pretend they don't exist. I recommend this 7 years in. If your kid is a high performer and you have the means, you can ignore the semi competent people in charge and bare bones facilities. We hire tutors where AP teachers aren't too hot. Sometimes we do this in league with other parents. We register our teens to take AP tests that BASIS DC doesn't sign off at at other schools in the area. We pay for summer language immersion camps abroad. We don't participate in extra curriculars on campus. We seek out more serious activities and enrichment at venues with good facilities for sports and music.

We pay around 10K/yr per child for additional inputs. Much cheaper than Sidwell, GDS, NCS or St. Albans.

Since the forum is moderated by fellow BASIS parents, if your post is deleted, pretty good chance it is because you were being a jerk . . .

Every BASIS parent on the listserve knows the identity of the person whose posts were banned. He kept spamming the listerve with his antivaxx views. Including talking like an expert but linking to "studies" and youtube videos from total crackpots (people who make My Pillow Guy look sane). They let it go for a while and then locked the thread once the guy had spoken his peace 6 or 7 times. They didn't want the listerve to turn into what DCUM as for a few years; all vaxx, all the time. The guy must be really lonely because he tried to start a new thread that was a mile long with the same stuff. They removed it and now subject all of his posts to preapproval.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, it's quite a conformist school community, not a bad one, just w/a narrow-minded bent. You can still do you own thing as a family.

My older boy isn't planning to apply to college this fall or winter. He's decided to apply from a gap year abroad. Admins aren't happy about his decision, since he's got a decent shot of getting into programs admitting in the single digits. BASIS wants the bragging rights to his acceptances. We're ignoring admins as per usual.

. Bravo!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fair point that there is no “BASIS way,” at least not one that’s set in stone. I got disillusioned with this head when he wouldn’t let parents of Spanish immersion grads organize low cost after-school language maintenance lessons on campus, or offer these kids remotely challenging 8th grade Spanish. That wasn’t about education or college admissions on the part of the HoS, it was about control. Parents come to DCUM to raise issues for the simple reason that the BASIS DC will not tolerate a PTA.

You post the same thing in every BASIS thread and it’s a very weird and pretty stupid criticism. Stick with the immersion track if you’re so obsessed with language.

+1 Another bilingual genius who sent their kid to a science and math heavy school with limited foreign language focus and now gets all hot and bothered because the school won't change its curriculum for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoken by a parent who's unfamiliar with how the BASIS AZ programs operate. Fact is, the "BASIS way" is very much what a particular group of founders, HoS and local charter school board make it.

My sibling has kids at BASIS Scottsdale. The campus has a strong arts program, including a competitive orchestra, good athletic facilities and a nice media center. I'm told that their HoS supports advanced language study from 5th grade.

The current HoS has his good points, but he's a control freak. Too bad you missed the previous head, equally hard-working but not a micro manager and much sharper.

Feels very much like the bolded is what drives a lot of the animosity. You are comparing something you loved to something you don't like as much. She's gone. Leaders change. Spouses change. Get over it!

Get over your slavish praise of a weak leader. He'll leave, too. Hope that happens soon, even if the middle school sycophants benefit.

You need to work on your reading comprehension. I said NOTHING about the current head. Merely that you are stuck in the past and so enamored with the former HoS that you've lost all perspective. Your reply (wherein you imagine "slavish praise" in a post that said nothing about the current HoS) proves my point. Thanks for that.

And, yes, he will leave at some point. That's some serious insight you are bringing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fair point that there is no “BASIS way,” at least not one that’s set in stone. I got disillusioned with this head when he wouldn’t let parents of Spanish immersion grads organize low cost after-school language maintenance lessons on campus, or offer these kids remotely challenging 8th grade Spanish. That wasn’t about education or college admissions on the part of the HoS, it was about control. Parents come to DCUM to raise issues for the simple reason that the BASIS DC will not tolerate a PTA.

Maybe go back to DCI?

You language folks are insufferable and I’m with the HOS every time.

You monolingual parents have tunnel vision in an increasingly globalized world.

I don’t know—I think the best thing going for BASIS is its curriculum….

+100000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try again. My kids do not study Spanish and I was not involved in setting up the after-school lessons. My point is that one key difference between a good test prep program and a good school is a forum for parents and teachers to provide constructive input for the consumption of admins. BASIS DC was a better school (vs. a better AP prep program) under the previous open-minded head. You middle school parents don't get it.

Who says your curriculum proposals or ideas for the use of school space constitute constructive input?

That's part of what drives the animosity. It's universe of UMC parents who grew up being special and at every turn everyone wanted to hear what they had to say. They are experts in everything because of their degrees and big important jobs; ask them and they'll tell you this. The current HoS is very bad at making people feel heard. It is, I think, a legitimate area of development for him. He would be well served to learn how to make these people feel heard. He doesn't do that. He dismisses out of hand ideas he doesn't like and/or that are well beyond the resourcing to successfully implement. He doesn't tell the parents how smart and wonderful they before he does it and it hurts their fragile egos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fair point that there is no “BASIS way,” at least not one that’s set in stone. I got disillusioned with this head when he wouldn’t let parents of Spanish immersion grads organize low cost after-school language maintenance lessons on campus, or offer these kids remotely challenging 8th grade Spanish. That wasn’t about education or college admissions on the part of the HoS, it was about control. Parents come to DCUM to raise issues for the simple reason that the BASIS DC will not tolerate a PTA.

BASIS parents don’t have a private listserv or fb page or anything? No place where you can discuss issues in a less public setting and without the anonymity?

No.

Huh? Yes, there is a BASIS parent email/site. BASIS-DC-Listserv on io groups. Parents who weren't aware should join!

The list serve isn't an open forum. Any challenging post stands a good chance of being deleted.

Look, the best way to deal with BASIS administrators is to pretend they don't exist. I recommend this 7 years in. If your kid is a high performer and you have the means, you can ignore the semi competent people in charge and bare bones facilities. We hire tutors where AP teachers aren't too hot. Sometimes we do this in league with other parents. We register our teens to take AP tests that BASIS DC doesn't sign off at at other schools in the area. We pay for summer language immersion camps abroad. We don't participate in extra curriculars on campus. We seek out more serious activities and enrichment at venues with good facilities for sports and music.

We pay around 10K/yr per child for additional inputs. Much cheaper than Sidwell, GDS, NCS or St. Albans.

Then those who post challenging posts can start their own forum, yes? Seems some BASIS parents prefer the anonymity of this forum so they can hijack threads about more general topics and make it all about BASIS and themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fair point that there is no “BASIS way,” at least not one that’s set in stone. I got disillusioned with this head when he wouldn’t let parents of Spanish immersion grads organize low cost after-school language maintenance lessons on campus, or offer these kids remotely challenging 8th grade Spanish. That wasn’t about education or college admissions on the part of the HoS, it was about control. Parents come to DCUM to raise issues for the simple reason that the BASIS DC will not tolerate a PTA.

BASIS parents don’t have a private listserv or fb page or anything? No place where you can discuss issues in a less public setting and without the anonymity?

No.

Huh? Yes, there is a BASIS parent email/site. BASIS-DC-Listserv on io groups. Parents who weren't aware should join!

The list serve isn't an open forum. Any challenging post stands a good chance of being deleted.

Look, the best way to deal with BASIS administrators is to pretend they don't exist. I recommend this 7 years in. If your kid is a high performer and you have the means, you can ignore the semi competent people in charge and bare bones facilities. We hire tutors where AP teachers aren't too hot. Sometimes we do this in league with other parents. We register our teens to take AP tests that BASIS DC doesn't sign off at at other schools in the area. We pay for summer language immersion camps abroad. We don't participate in extra curriculars on campus. We seek out more serious activities and enrichment at venues with good facilities for sports and music.

We pay around 10K/yr per child for additional inputs. Much cheaper than Sidwell, GDS, NCS or St. Albans.

Then those who post challenging posts can start their own forum, yes? Seems some BASIS parents prefer the anonymity of this forum so they can hijack threads about more general topics and make it all about BASIS and themselves.

Do you have observations or comments you'd like to make about the waitlist that you are unable to make because of BASIS posts? By all means, please share.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try again. My kids do not study Spanish and I was not involved in setting up the after-school lessons. My point is that one key difference between a good test prep program and a good school is a forum for parents and teachers to provide constructive input for the consumption of admins. BASIS DC was a better school (vs. a better AP prep program) under the previous open-minded head. You middle school parents don't get it.

Who says your curriculum proposals or ideas for the use of school space constitute constructive input?

That's part of what drives the animosity. It's universe of UMC parents who grew up being special and at every turn everyone wanted to hear what they had to say. They are experts in everything because of their degrees and big important jobs; ask them and they'll tell you this. The current HoS is very bad at making people feel heard. It is, I think, a legitimate area of development for him. He would be well served to learn how to make these people feel heard. He doesn't do that. He dismisses out of hand ideas he doesn't like and/or that are well beyond the resourcing to successfully implement. He doesn't tell the parents how smart and wonderful they before he does it and it hurts their fragile egos.

It's the universe of middle school parents who grew up attending, and sending their children to schools with active PTAs/PTOs before arriving at BASIS. Not just UMC parents, low SES parents, too. It can be v. difficult for American parents to accept that BASIS leaders aren't incentivized to be interested in their input, even if it could improve the program. That's the reality of a charter franchise that won't permit parent organizations who do more than raise funds for admins to allocate as they wish (at BASIS DC, to top up teachers' salaries).

Back to Oct waiting list data, the trend toward the BASIS WL growing year on year for almost a decade now is abundantly clear.

In view of this trend, the BASIS HoS just doesn't need to listen to parents, or even to pretend that he does.

[Anonymous]

I will say that as a BASIS parent, we're not donating directly to the school. If they want our money (and we were huge donors in elementary), they can allow a PTO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will say that as a BASIS parent, we're not donating directly to the school. If they want our money (and we were huge donors in elementary), they can allow a PTO.

I don’t want a PTO.

And I’m MUCH happier giving to BASIS, where I know my funds will go directly to teachers, than I was at our prior elementary, where funding was wasted on an endless list of annoying parent-driven pet projects….

[Anonymous]

You won't be donating then. The franchise has never permitted PTOs at their public school campuses (19 currently, in Arizona, Louisiana, Texas and DC).

BASIS doesn't need to permit PTOs where parents beat down the door to attend for the...curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will say that as a BASIS parent, we're not donating directly to the school. If they want our money (and we were huge donors in elementary), they can allow a PTO.

I don’t want a PTO.

And I’m MUCH happier giving to BASIS, where I know my funds will go directly to teachers, than I was at our prior elementary, where funding was wasted on an endless list of annoying parent-driven pet projects….

The beauty of a benevolent dictatorship, one of the most effective political systems the world over.

That's how things worked in schools in my developing country. Parents were encouraged to tip teachers generously so they'd teach, and treat, our children well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fair point that there is no “BASIS way,” at least not one that’s set in stone. I got disillusioned with this head when he wouldn’t let parents of Spanish immersion grads organize low cost after-school language maintenance lessons on campus, or offer these kids remotely challenging 8th grade Spanish. That wasn’t about education or college admissions on the part of the HoS, it was about control. Parents come to DCUM to raise issues for the simple reason that the BASIS DC will not tolerate a PTA.

You post the same thing in every BASIS thread and it’s a very weird and pretty stupid criticism. Stick with the immersion track if you’re so obsessed with language.

+1 Another bilingual genius who sent their kid to a science and math heavy school with limited foreign language focus and now gets all hot and bothered because the school won't change its curriculum for him.

Honestly, shut up. We all know where the push comes from. It comes from the two or three dozen BASIS 5th grade families where the kids went to LAMB, Mundo Verde, Tyler Spanish or DC Bilingual where IB schools were crappy.

If BASIS were run by genius educators, instead of Olga and Michael Block--non-educators--they'd rush to help these DC families keep the Spanish rolling cheaply. They do it so these kids could easily score 5s on AP Spanish as early as 8th grade. This would be a v. low cost approach to bumping up the program's AP results (the point of BASIS).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will say that as a BASIS parent, we're not donating directly to the school. If they want our money (and we were huge donors in elementary), they can allow a PTO.

In my experience, PTOs are little fiefdoms run by parents with too much free time who spend money on frivolous things. Admins use them as shields and shiny objects to make parents feel "engaged". I don't blame them for doing it but it's smoke and mirrors. The only ones that seem to make a difference are JKLM that use them to give $ to teachers.