Basis DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop feeding the trolls people.

do you think the silent lunch stuff is a troll? people seem to be pretty clear it happened

The trolls are the people who are claiming it doesn’t happen. Email the school and ask. After parents complained last year, the school sent a defensive email justifying silent lunch as a time of “reflection.”

No. The trolls are the people exaggerating the prevalence of silent lunch and/or equating it to galley slavery or child abuse. These are people who don’t have kids at Basis or have disruptive kids at the school.

Normal parents at Basis aren’t even thinking about it.

My kids have spent years at Basis and never had a silent lunch. And if they had, they would have just read a book and moved on.

LOL this is true. BASIS parent and I don't care about a few silent lunches. Seems kind of relaxing? And I VASTLY prefer it to the chaos of the Title 1 DCPS where he spent elementary.

+1 My kids are at basis and have had silent lunches. I don't like group consequences. I told the school this. They told me too bad. I got over it. My kids were annoyed and got over it within a day. There is a small but vocal group of parents who harp on this. By 8th grade kids leave the building for lunch and go wherever they want. I expect to see posts from these same people complaining how cruel it is to force Deal, Hardy and JR kids to breathe recycled air during lunch.

Wait, so they have weird Dickensian punishments, tell parents to eff off... but when the kids turn 13, they let them loose in the city? Huh?

Too funny. Get over your persecution complex. It's like 8 or 9 silent lunches over a school year. Your snowflake kid is going to have a hard time in life if they inherit their parents' persecution complex and sheltered worldview. If you really think this is Dickensian then WTH is your kid still there???!!! (Spoiler Alert: because you are a drama queen and know this isn't nearly as big a deal as you pretend.)

I would never send a kid there.

Great. The school is not for everyone. Enjoy your other options.

Uh, yeah, I pay for that school. And I don't want to pay for garbage like that.

Don't feed this troll.

Why am I a troll? I live in this city, I pay taxes... sorry you don't like my viewpoint but it's as valid as yours.

Ok I'll take you seriously. You are trolling because you clearly don't have firsthand experience with the school. When we entered the community, it seriously blew my mind how many truly happy families and kids there are, bc of people like you trashing it in this site. Happy kids who love to learn, parent who are too busy for DCUM.

I am so glad we didn't let people like you deter us from the school, which is such a good fit for our nerdy child.

I have secondhand experience—at least two good friends had their kids go there and had wretched experiences that really took a lot to recover from. It makes me genuinely sad to think that kids who went in so happy and enthused about education came out so frazzled, anxious and angry about school. I'm fine with the "it's not for everyone" ethos, but I do think it's very deceptively marketed.

I also know a lot about the for-profit model and find it horrifying—as a parent, as someone who has an interest in education and as a taxpayer.

I'm the PP -- i also know kids who left very unhappy. These are mostly kids who are zoned for terrible DCPS middles and ended up at BASIS even though they weren't a good fit.

The important thing to me was "is it possible to be happy at BASIS" and the answer to that is yes, but you have to be a very particular type of kid. And for that kid, it's an incredible option.

Define “good fit.” We are only a couple years into BASIS and the grade has already lost several smart, successful kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not just the silent lunch in a dark windowless lunch room. It is the high stakes testing, cramped building, ever smaller number of peers and the sometimes poor teaching. There are some excellent teachers. What sucks is when there are poor teachers who get fired or leave mid year the kids who are harmed by this do not get adequate support to catch up, and the high stakes tests don’t change. So it is a cumulative bummer.

Disagree. Huge advantage of all charters vs DCPS is ability to dump bad teachers mid-year. At DCPS they'd be dead weight for years and years.

+1. Plenty of good and bad teachers at DCPS schools like Walls and they can’t get rid of the bad ones.

They could get rid of them. But they don’t.

The problem is BASIS gets rid of the good ones who realize they can have stability and better pay working for Fairfax Public.

That makes no sense.

Teachers can make more money, have easier jobs and job security if they work virtually anywhere else. They obviously aren't going to leave BASIS to go work in some garbage DCPS school, but if there's a nice gig in some cushy high-achieving suburban district, they're going to go. And they do. My friends' kids lost all their best teachers from BASIS and had to go on wild goose hunts in the burbs to track them down and try to get college references.

This isn't even a complaint about BASIS, it's just what happens when you don't have union teachers. You can attract some good ones, but you'll never be able to keep them in the long-run. The good ones, at least.

OK, you don’t have any kids at BASIS.

I do and can only think of a couple of teachers that went to any schools in the burbs.

Your friends “lost all their best teachers”?

Nope. That didn’t happen.

I mean, it did. It was their high school teachers. If your kids have been in the HS at any point in the last four years, you'd know EXACTLY who I'm talking about. If you haven't... you've got some surprises coming your way—if your kid has a favorite teacher that might be helpful for recs, get their personal contact ASAP!

You are the poster who has NO kids at BASIS, is passing along info regarding your "friends' kids" at BASIS, and pontificating about surprises awaiting me at BASIS high school?

I do have a kid in high school at BASIS. That kid has not had any favorite teacher leave.

Plus, as of last week, BASIS reported that only high school teacher is leaving before next year. My kid hasn't had that teacher and wasn't planning on taking that teacher. And the replacement teacher seems just as good.

Plus, you realize that teachers leave all the time and are replaced, right? And if you need a reference you can just ask the teacher at their new employer.

So, things seem pretty normal at BASIS and I am not expecting any surprises.

Maybe just sit this one out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop feeding the trolls people.

do you think the silent lunch stuff is a troll? people seem to be pretty clear it happened

The trolls are the people who are claiming it doesn’t happen. Email the school and ask. After parents complained last year, the school sent a defensive email justifying silent lunch as a time of “reflection.”

No. The trolls are the people exaggerating the prevalence of silent lunch and/or equating it to galley slavery or child abuse. These are people who don’t have kids at Basis or have disruptive kids at the school.

Normal parents at Basis aren’t even thinking about it.

My kids have spent years at Basis and never had a silent lunch. And if they had, they would have just read a book and moved on.

LOL this is true. BASIS parent and I don't care about a few silent lunches. Seems kind of relaxing? And I VASTLY prefer it to the chaos of the Title 1 DCPS where he spent elementary.

+1 My kids are at basis and have had silent lunches. I don't like group consequences. I told the school this. They told me too bad. I got over it. My kids were annoyed and got over it within a day. There is a small but vocal group of parents who harp on this. By 8th grade kids leave the building for lunch and go wherever they want. I expect to see posts from these same people complaining how cruel it is to force Deal, Hardy and JR kids to breathe recycled air during lunch.

Wait, so they have weird Dickensian punishments, tell parents to eff off... but when the kids turn 13, they let them loose in the city? Huh?

Too funny. Get over your persecution complex. It's like 8 or 9 silent lunches over a school year. Your snowflake kid is going to have a hard time in life if they inherit their parents' persecution complex and sheltered worldview. If you really think this is Dickensian then WTH is your kid still there???!!! (Spoiler Alert: because you are a drama queen and know this isn't nearly as big a deal as you pretend.)

I would never send a kid there.

Great. The school is not for everyone. Enjoy your other options.

Uh, yeah, I pay for that school. And I don't want to pay for garbage like that.

Don't feed this troll.

Why am I a troll? I live in this city, I pay taxes... sorry you don't like my viewpoint but it's as valid as yours.

Ok I'll take you seriously. You are trolling because you clearly don't have firsthand experience with the school. When we entered the community, it seriously blew my mind how many truly happy families and kids there are, bc of people like you trashing it in this site. Happy kids who love to learn, parent who are too busy for DCUM.

I am so glad we didn't let people like you deter us from the school, which is such a good fit for our nerdy child.

I have secondhand experience—at least two good friends had their kids go there and had wretched experiences that really took a lot to recover from. It makes me genuinely sad to think that kids who went in so happy and enthused about education came out so frazzled, anxious and angry about school. I'm fine with the "it's not for everyone" ethos, but I do think it's very deceptively marketed.

I also know a lot about the for-profit model and find it horrifying—as a parent, as someone who has an interest in education and as a taxpayer.

I'm the PP -- i also know kids who left very unhappy. These are mostly kids who are zoned for terrible DCPS middles and ended up at BASIS even though they weren't a good fit.

The important thing to me was "is it possible to be happy at BASIS" and the answer to that is yes, but you have to be a very particular type of kid. And for that kid, it's an incredible option.

Define “good fit.” We are only a couple years into BASIS and the grade has already lost several smart, successful kids.

So? Kids leave all the time for a variety of reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not just the silent lunch in a dark windowless lunch room. It is the high stakes testing, cramped building, ever smaller number of peers and the sometimes poor teaching. There are some excellent teachers. What sucks is when there are poor teachers who get fired or leave mid year the kids who are harmed by this do not get adequate support to catch up, and the high stakes tests don’t change. So it is a cumulative bummer.

Disagree. Huge advantage of all charters vs DCPS is ability to dump bad teachers mid-year. At DCPS they'd be dead weight for years and years.

+1. Plenty of good and bad teachers at DCPS schools like Walls and they can’t get rid of the bad ones.

They could get rid of them. But they don’t.

The problem is BASIS gets rid of the good ones who realize they can have stability and better pay working for Fairfax Public.

That makes no sense.

Teachers can make more money, have easier jobs and job security if they work virtually anywhere else. They obviously aren't going to leave BASIS to go work in some garbage DCPS school, but if there's a nice gig in some cushy high-achieving suburban district, they're going to go. And they do. My friends' kids lost all their best teachers from BASIS and had to go on wild goose hunts in the burbs to track them down and try to get college references.

This isn't even a complaint about BASIS, it's just what happens when you don't have union teachers. You can attract some good ones, but you'll never be able to keep them in the long-run. The good ones, at least.

OK, you don’t have any kids at BASIS.

I do and can only think of a couple of teachers that went to any schools in the burbs.

Your friends “lost all their best teachers”?

Nope. That didn’t happen.

I mean, it did. It was their high school teachers. If your kids have been in the HS at any point in the last four years, you'd know EXACTLY who I'm talking about. If you haven't... you've got some surprises coming your way—if your kid has a favorite teacher that might be helpful for recs, get their personal contact ASAP!

There was a pretty big exodus of teachers two years ago. I can think of four off the top of my head who went to DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not just the silent lunch in a dark windowless lunch room. It is the high stakes testing, cramped building, ever smaller number of peers and the sometimes poor teaching. There are some excellent teachers. What sucks is when there are poor teachers who get fired or leave mid year the kids who are harmed by this do not get adequate support to catch up, and the high stakes tests don’t change. So it is a cumulative bummer.

Disagree. Huge advantage of all charters vs DCPS is ability to dump bad teachers mid-year. At DCPS they'd be dead weight for years and years.

+1. Plenty of good and bad teachers at DCPS schools like Walls and they can’t get rid of the bad ones.

They could get rid of them. But they don’t.

The problem is BASIS gets rid of the good ones who realize they can have stability and better pay working for Fairfax Public.

That makes no sense.

Teachers can make more money, have easier jobs and job security if they work virtually anywhere else. They obviously aren't going to leave BASIS to go work in some garbage DCPS school, but if there's a nice gig in some cushy high-achieving suburban district, they're going to go. And they do. My friends' kids lost all their best teachers from BASIS and had to go on wild goose hunts in the burbs to track them down and try to get college references.

This isn't even a complaint about BASIS, it's just what happens when you don't have union teachers. You can attract some good ones, but you'll never be able to keep them in the long-run. The good ones, at least.

OK, you don’t have any kids at BASIS.

I do and can only think of a couple of teachers that went to any schools in the burbs.

Your friends “lost all their best teachers”?

Nope. That didn’t happen.

I mean, it did. It was their high school teachers. If your kids have been in the HS at any point in the last four years, you'd know EXACTLY who I'm talking about. If you haven't... you've got some surprises coming your way—if your kid has a favorite teacher that might be helpful for recs, get their personal contact ASAP!

There was a pretty big exodus of teachers two years ago. I can think of four off the top of my head who went to DCPS.

True. But this year seems to be better; they reported only 3 openings at the end of year meeting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not just the silent lunch in a dark windowless lunch room. It is the high stakes testing, cramped building, ever smaller number of peers and the sometimes poor teaching. There are some excellent teachers. What sucks is when there are poor teachers who get fired or leave mid year the kids who are harmed by this do not get adequate support to catch up, and the high stakes tests don’t change. So it is a cumulative bummer.

Disagree. Huge advantage of all charters vs DCPS is ability to dump bad teachers mid-year. At DCPS they'd be dead weight for years and years.

+1. Plenty of good and bad teachers at DCPS schools like Walls and they can’t get rid of the bad ones.

They could get rid of them. But they don’t.

The problem is BASIS gets rid of the good ones who realize they can have stability and better pay working for Fairfax Public.

That makes no sense.

Teachers can make more money, have easier jobs and job security if they work virtually anywhere else. They obviously aren't going to leave BASIS to go work in some garbage DCPS school, but if there's a nice gig in some cushy high-achieving suburban district, they're going to go. And they do. My friends' kids lost all their best teachers from BASIS and had to go on wild goose hunts in the burbs to track them down and try to get college references.

This isn't even a complaint about BASIS, it's just what happens when you don't have union teachers. You can attract some good ones, but you'll never be able to keep them in the long-run. The good ones, at least.

OK, you don’t have any kids at BASIS.

I do and can only think of a couple of teachers that went to any schools in the burbs.

Your friends “lost all their best teachers”?

Nope. That didn’t happen.

I mean, it did. It was their high school teachers. If your kids have been in the HS at any point in the last four years, you'd know EXACTLY who I'm talking about. If you haven't... you've got some surprises coming your way—if your kid has a favorite teacher that might be helpful for recs, get their personal contact ASAP!

There was a pretty big exodus of teachers two years ago. I can think of four off the top of my head who went to DCPS.

I can think of around 4 from then but some went to private schools and one or two have returned to Basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not just the silent lunch in a dark windowless lunch room. It is the high stakes testing, cramped building, ever smaller number of peers and the sometimes poor teaching. There are some excellent teachers. What sucks is when there are poor teachers who get fired or leave mid year the kids who are harmed by this do not get adequate support to catch up, and the high stakes tests don’t change. So it is a cumulative bummer.

Disagree. Huge advantage of all charters vs DCPS is ability to dump bad teachers mid-year. At DCPS they'd be dead weight for years and years.

+1. Plenty of good and bad teachers at DCPS schools like Walls and they can’t get rid of the bad ones.

They could get rid of them. But they don’t.

The problem is BASIS gets rid of the good ones who realize they can have stability and better pay working for Fairfax Public.

That makes no sense.

Teachers can make more money, have easier jobs and job security if they work virtually anywhere else. They obviously aren't going to leave BASIS to go work in some garbage DCPS school, but if there's a nice gig in some cushy high-achieving suburban district, they're going to go. And they do. My friends' kids lost all their best teachers from BASIS and had to go on wild goose hunts in the burbs to track them down and try to get college references.

This isn't even a complaint about BASIS, it's just what happens when you don't have union teachers. You can attract some good ones, but you'll never be able to keep them in the long-run. The good ones, at least.

OK, you don’t have any kids at BASIS.

I do and can only think of a couple of teachers that went to any schools in the burbs.

Your friends “lost all their best teachers”?

Nope. That didn’t happen.

I mean, it did. It was their high school teachers. If your kids have been in the HS at any point in the last four years, you'd know EXACTLY who I'm talking about. If you haven't... you've got some surprises coming your way—if your kid has a favorite teacher that might be helpful for recs, get their personal contact ASAP!

There was a pretty big exodus of teachers two years ago. I can think of four off the top of my head who went to DCPS.

I can think of around 4 from then but some went to private schools and one or two have returned to Basis.

So then a bunch did leave because I can think of four who were in DCPS this year and last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not just the silent lunch in a dark windowless lunch room. It is the high stakes testing, cramped building, ever smaller number of peers and the sometimes poor teaching. There are some excellent teachers. What sucks is when there are poor teachers who get fired or leave mid year the kids who are harmed by this do not get adequate support to catch up, and the high stakes tests don’t change. So it is a cumulative bummer.

Disagree. Huge advantage of all charters vs DCPS is ability to dump bad teachers mid-year. At DCPS they'd be dead weight for years and years.

+1. Plenty of good and bad teachers at DCPS schools like Walls and they can’t get rid of the bad ones.

They could get rid of them. But they don’t.

The problem is BASIS gets rid of the good ones who realize they can have stability and better pay working for Fairfax Public.

That makes no sense.

Teachers can make more money, have easier jobs and job security if they work virtually anywhere else. They obviously aren't going to leave BASIS to go work in some garbage DCPS school, but if there's a nice gig in some cushy high-achieving suburban district, they're going to go. And they do. My friends' kids lost all their best teachers from BASIS and had to go on wild goose hunts in the burbs to track them down and try to get college references.

This isn't even a complaint about BASIS, it's just what happens when you don't have union teachers. You can attract some good ones, but you'll never be able to keep them in the long-run. The good ones, at least.

OK, you don’t have any kids at BASIS.

I do and can only think of a couple of teachers that went to any schools in the burbs.

Your friends “lost all their best teachers”?

Nope. That didn’t happen.

I mean, it did. It was their high school teachers. If your kids have been in the HS at any point in the last four years, you'd know EXACTLY who I'm talking about. If you haven't... you've got some surprises coming your way—if your kid has a favorite teacher that might be helpful for recs, get their personal contact ASAP!

There was a pretty big exodus of teachers two years ago. I can think of four off the top of my head who went to DCPS.

I can think of around 4 from then but some went to private schools and one or two have returned to Basis.

So then a bunch did leave because I can think of four who were in DCPS this year and last year.

Sounds like turnover can happen. I mean, this isn't rocket science. Non-union jobs pay less and mean teachers can leave. Also means you can maybe get some better quality teachers, but it's tougher to hang onto. Why are we fighting about this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop feeding the trolls people.

do you think the silent lunch stuff is a troll? people seem to be pretty clear it happened

The trolls are the people who are claiming it doesn’t happen. Email the school and ask. After parents complained last year, the school sent a defensive email justifying silent lunch as a time of “reflection.”

No. The trolls are the people exaggerating the prevalence of silent lunch and/or equating it to galley slavery or child abuse. These are people who don’t have kids at Basis or have disruptive kids at the school.

Normal parents at Basis aren’t even thinking about it.

My kids have spent years at Basis and never had a silent lunch. And if they had, they would have just read a book and moved on.

LOL this is true. BASIS parent and I don't care about a few silent lunches. Seems kind of relaxing? And I VASTLY prefer it to the chaos of the Title 1 DCPS where he spent elementary.

+1 My kids are at basis and have had silent lunches. I don't like group consequences. I told the school this. They told me too bad. I got over it. My kids were annoyed and got over it within a day. There is a small but vocal group of parents who harp on this. By 8th grade kids leave the building for lunch and go wherever they want. I expect to see posts from these same people complaining how cruel it is to force Deal, Hardy and JR kids to breathe recycled air during lunch.

Wait, so they have weird Dickensian punishments, tell parents to eff off... but when the kids turn 13, they let them loose in the city? Huh?

Too funny. Get over your persecution complex. It's like 8 or 9 silent lunches over a school year. Your snowflake kid is going to have a hard time in life if they inherit their parents' persecution complex and sheltered worldview. If you really think this is Dickensian then WTH is your kid still there???!!! (Spoiler Alert: because you are a drama queen and know this isn't nearly as big a deal as you pretend.)

I would never send a kid there.

Great. The school is not for everyone. Enjoy your other options.

Uh, yeah, I pay for that school. And I don't want to pay for garbage like that.

Don't feed this troll.

Why am I a troll? I live in this city, I pay taxes... sorry you don't like my viewpoint but it's as valid as yours.

Ok I'll take you seriously. You are trolling because you clearly don't have firsthand experience with the school. When we entered the community, it seriously blew my mind how many truly happy families and kids there are, bc of people like you trashing it in this site. Happy kids who love to learn, parent who are too busy for DCUM.

I am so glad we didn't let people like you deter us from the school, which is such a good fit for our nerdy child.

I have secondhand experience—at least two good friends had their kids go there and had wretched experiences that really took a lot to recover from. It makes me genuinely sad to think that kids who went in so happy and enthused about education came out so frazzled, anxious and angry about school. I'm fine with the "it's not for everyone" ethos, but I do think it's very deceptively marketed.

I also know a lot about the for-profit model and find it horrifying—as a parent, as someone who has an interest in education and as a taxpayer.

I'm the PP -- i also know kids who left very unhappy. These are mostly kids who are zoned for terrible DCPS middles and ended up at BASIS even though they weren't a good fit.

The important thing to me was "is it possible to be happy at BASIS" and the answer to that is yes, but you have to be a very particular type of kid. And for that kid, it's an incredible option.

Define “good fit.” We are only a couple years into BASIS and the grade has already lost several smart, successful kids.

So? Kids leave all the time for a variety of reasons.

They left because of BASIS. One girl was top of the class. If you don’t think brain drain is something you should care about as a BASIS parent you are really drinking the koolaid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop feeding the trolls people.

do you think the silent lunch stuff is a troll? people seem to be pretty clear it happened

The trolls are the people who are claiming it doesn’t happen. Email the school and ask. After parents complained last year, the school sent a defensive email justifying silent lunch as a time of “reflection.”

No. The trolls are the people exaggerating the prevalence of silent lunch and/or equating it to galley slavery or child abuse. These are people who don’t have kids at Basis or have disruptive kids at the school.

Normal parents at Basis aren’t even thinking about it.

My kids have spent years at Basis and never had a silent lunch. And if they had, they would have just read a book and moved on.

LOL this is true. BASIS parent and I don't care about a few silent lunches. Seems kind of relaxing? And I VASTLY prefer it to the chaos of the Title 1 DCPS where he spent elementary.

+1 My kids are at basis and have had silent lunches. I don't like group consequences. I told the school this. They told me too bad. I got over it. My kids were annoyed and got over it within a day. There is a small but vocal group of parents who harp on this. By 8th grade kids leave the building for lunch and go wherever they want. I expect to see posts from these same people complaining how cruel it is to force Deal, Hardy and JR kids to breathe recycled air during lunch.

Wait, so they have weird Dickensian punishments, tell parents to eff off... but when the kids turn 13, they let them loose in the city? Huh?

Too funny. Get over your persecution complex. It's like 8 or 9 silent lunches over a school year. Your snowflake kid is going to have a hard time in life if they inherit their parents' persecution complex and sheltered worldview. If you really think this is Dickensian then WTH is your kid still there???!!! (Spoiler Alert: because you are a drama queen and know this isn't nearly as big a deal as you pretend.)

I would never send a kid there.

Great. The school is not for everyone. Enjoy your other options.

Uh, yeah, I pay for that school. And I don't want to pay for garbage like that.

Don't feed this troll.

Why am I a troll? I live in this city, I pay taxes... sorry you don't like my viewpoint but it's as valid as yours.

Ok I'll take you seriously. You are trolling because you clearly don't have firsthand experience with the school. When we entered the community, it seriously blew my mind how many truly happy families and kids there are, bc of people like you trashing it in this site. Happy kids who love to learn, parent who are too busy for DCUM.

I am so glad we didn't let people like you deter us from the school, which is such a good fit for our nerdy child.

I have secondhand experience—at least two good friends had their kids go there and had wretched experiences that really took a lot to recover from. It makes me genuinely sad to think that kids who went in so happy and enthused about education came out so frazzled, anxious and angry about school. I'm fine with the "it's not for everyone" ethos, but I do think it's very deceptively marketed.

I also know a lot about the for-profit model and find it horrifying—as a parent, as someone who has an interest in education and as a taxpayer.

I'm the PP -- i also know kids who left very unhappy. These are mostly kids who are zoned for terrible DCPS middles and ended up at BASIS even though they weren't a good fit.

The important thing to me was "is it possible to be happy at BASIS" and the answer to that is yes, but you have to be a very particular type of kid. And for that kid, it's an incredible option.

Define “good fit.” We are only a couple years into BASIS and the grade has already lost several smart, successful kids.

So? Kids leave all the time for a variety of reasons.

They left because of BASIS. One girl was top of the class. If you don’t think brain drain is something you should care about as a BASIS parent you are really drinking the koolaid.

Since you seem so well informed, what schools are these students attending now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not just the silent lunch in a dark windowless lunch room. It is the high stakes testing, cramped building, ever smaller number of peers and the sometimes poor teaching. There are some excellent teachers. What sucks is when there are poor teachers who get fired or leave mid year the kids who are harmed by this do not get adequate support to catch up, and the high stakes tests don’t change. So it is a cumulative bummer.

Disagree. Huge advantage of all charters vs DCPS is ability to dump bad teachers mid-year. At DCPS they'd be dead weight for years and years.

+1. Plenty of good and bad teachers at DCPS schools like Walls and they can’t get rid of the bad ones.

They could get rid of them. But they don’t.

The problem is BASIS gets rid of the good ones who realize they can have stability and better pay working for Fairfax Public.

That makes no sense.

Teachers can make more money, have easier jobs and job security if they work virtually anywhere else. They obviously aren't going to leave BASIS to go work in some garbage DCPS school, but if there's a nice gig in some cushy high-achieving suburban district, they're going to go. And they do. My friends' kids lost all their best teachers from BASIS and had to go on wild goose hunts in the burbs to track them down and try to get college references.

This isn't even a complaint about BASIS, it's just what happens when you don't have union teachers. You can attract some good ones, but you'll never be able to keep them in the long-run. The good ones, at least.

OK, you don’t have any kids at BASIS.

I do and can only think of a couple of teachers that went to any schools in the burbs.

Your friends “lost all their best teachers”?

Nope. That didn’t happen.

I mean, it did. It was their high school teachers. If your kids have been in the HS at any point in the last four years, you'd know EXACTLY who I'm talking about. If you haven't... you've got some surprises coming your way—if your kid has a favorite teacher that might be helpful for recs, get their personal contact ASAP!

There was a pretty big exodus of teachers two years ago. I can think of four off the top of my head who went to DCPS.

I can think of around 4 from then but some went to private schools and one or two have returned to Basis.

So then a bunch did leave because I can think of four who were in DCPS this year and last year.

Sounds like turnover can happen. I mean, this isn't rocket science. Non-union jobs pay less and mean teachers can leave. Also means you can maybe get some better quality teachers, but it's tougher to hang onto. Why are we fighting about this?

No one is fighting but people keep making false claims like basis teachers don’t go to DCPS only the suburbs and not many teachers leave. These teachers did not just leave for better pay. The ones I personally know left because they were unhappy with the school and leadership.

[Anonymous]

FYI that the high school teacher who’s leaving is actually moving to a different state (where he’ll be working for another BASIS school).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not just the silent lunch in a dark windowless lunch room. It is the high stakes testing, cramped building, ever smaller number of peers and the sometimes poor teaching. There are some excellent teachers. What sucks is when there are poor teachers who get fired or leave mid year the kids who are harmed by this do not get adequate support to catch up, and the high stakes tests don’t change. So it is a cumulative bummer.

Disagree. Huge advantage of all charters vs DCPS is ability to dump bad teachers mid-year. At DCPS they'd be dead weight for years and years.

+1. Plenty of good and bad teachers at DCPS schools like Walls and they can’t get rid of the bad ones.

They could get rid of them. But they don’t.

The problem is BASIS gets rid of the good ones who realize they can have stability and better pay working for Fairfax Public.

That makes no sense.

Teachers can make more money, have easier jobs and job security if they work virtually anywhere else. They obviously aren't going to leave BASIS to go work in some garbage DCPS school, but if there's a nice gig in some cushy high-achieving suburban district, they're going to go. And they do. My friends' kids lost all their best teachers from BASIS and had to go on wild goose hunts in the burbs to track them down and try to get college references.

This isn't even a complaint about BASIS, it's just what happens when you don't have union teachers. You can attract some good ones, but you'll never be able to keep them in the long-run. The good ones, at least.

OK, you don’t have any kids at BASIS.

I do and can only think of a couple of teachers that went to any schools in the burbs.

Your friends “lost all their best teachers”?

Nope. That didn’t happen.

I mean, it did. It was their high school teachers. If your kids have been in the HS at any point in the last four years, you'd know EXACTLY who I'm talking about. If you haven't... you've got some surprises coming your way—if your kid has a favorite teacher that might be helpful for recs, get their personal contact ASAP!

There was a pretty big exodus of teachers two years ago. I can think of four off the top of my head who went to DCPS.

I can think of around 4 from then but some went to private schools and one or two have returned to Basis.

So then a bunch did leave because I can think of four who were in DCPS this year and last year.

Sounds like turnover can happen. I mean, this isn't rocket science. Non-union jobs pay less and mean teachers can leave. Also means you can maybe get some better quality teachers, but it's tougher to hang onto. Why are we fighting about this?

No one is fighting but people keep making false claims like basis teachers don’t go to DCPS only the suburbs and not many teachers leave. These teachers did not just leave for better pay. The ones I personally know left because they were unhappy with the school and leadership.

I think we can all agree that BASIS has a lot of turnover, wherever they're going.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not just the silent lunch in a dark windowless lunch room. It is the high stakes testing, cramped building, ever smaller number of peers and the sometimes poor teaching. There are some excellent teachers. What sucks is when there are poor teachers who get fired or leave mid year the kids who are harmed by this do not get adequate support to catch up, and the high stakes tests don’t change. So it is a cumulative bummer.

Disagree. Huge advantage of all charters vs DCPS is ability to dump bad teachers mid-year. At DCPS they'd be dead weight for years and years.

+1. Plenty of good and bad teachers at DCPS schools like Walls and they can’t get rid of the bad ones.

They could get rid of them. But they don’t.

The problem is BASIS gets rid of the good ones who realize they can have stability and better pay working for Fairfax Public.

That makes no sense.

Teachers can make more money, have easier jobs and job security if they work virtually anywhere else. They obviously aren't going to leave BASIS to go work in some garbage DCPS school, but if there's a nice gig in some cushy high-achieving suburban district, they're going to go. And they do. My friends' kids lost all their best teachers from BASIS and had to go on wild goose hunts in the burbs to track them down and try to get college references.

This isn't even a complaint about BASIS, it's just what happens when you don't have union teachers. You can attract some good ones, but you'll never be able to keep them in the long-run. The good ones, at least.

OK, you don’t have any kids at BASIS.

I do and can only think of a couple of teachers that went to any schools in the burbs.

Your friends “lost all their best teachers”?

Nope. That didn’t happen.

I mean, it did. It was their high school teachers. If your kids have been in the HS at any point in the last four years, you'd know EXACTLY who I'm talking about. If you haven't... you've got some surprises coming your way—if your kid has a favorite teacher that might be helpful for recs, get their personal contact ASAP!

There was a pretty big exodus of teachers two years ago. I can think of four off the top of my head who went to DCPS.

I can think of around 4 from then but some went to private schools and one or two have returned to Basis.

So then a bunch did leave because I can think of four who were in DCPS this year and last year.

Sounds like turnover can happen. I mean, this isn't rocket science. Non-union jobs pay less and mean teachers can leave. Also means you can maybe get some better quality teachers, but it's tougher to hang onto. Why are we fighting about this?

No one is fighting but people keep making false claims like basis teachers don’t go to DCPS only the suburbs and not many teachers leave. These teachers did not just leave for better pay. The ones I personally know left because they were unhappy with the school and leadership.

I think we can all agree that BASIS has a lot of turnover, wherever they're going.

No. That is incorrect. You are just another DCUM poster just making stuff up. Maybe focus on fixing whatever school your child attends instead of spreading false information about BASIS.

Last year (SY 2023-24), teacher turnover in schools was 26% (as measured by teachers staying in the same school).

BASIS DC teacher retention is way higher than that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not just the silent lunch in a dark windowless lunch room. It is the high stakes testing, cramped building, ever smaller number of peers and the sometimes poor teaching. There are some excellent teachers. What sucks is when there are poor teachers who get fired or leave mid year the kids who are harmed by this do not get adequate support to catch up, and the high stakes tests don’t change. So it is a cumulative bummer.

Disagree. Huge advantage of all charters vs DCPS is ability to dump bad teachers mid-year. At DCPS they'd be dead weight for years and years.

+1. Plenty of good and bad teachers at DCPS schools like Walls and they can’t get rid of the bad ones.

They could get rid of them. But they don’t.

The problem is BASIS gets rid of the good ones who realize they can have stability and better pay working for Fairfax Public.

That makes no sense.

Teachers can make more money, have easier jobs and job security if they work virtually anywhere else. They obviously aren't going to leave BASIS to go work in some garbage DCPS school, but if there's a nice gig in some cushy high-achieving suburban district, they're going to go. And they do. My friends' kids lost all their best teachers from BASIS and had to go on wild goose hunts in the burbs to track them down and try to get college references.

This isn't even a complaint about BASIS, it's just what happens when you don't have union teachers. You can attract some good ones, but you'll never be able to keep them in the long-run. The good ones, at least.

OK, you don’t have any kids at BASIS.

I do and can only think of a couple of teachers that went to any schools in the burbs.

Your friends “lost all their best teachers”?

Nope. That didn’t happen.

I mean, it did. It was their high school teachers. If your kids have been in the HS at any point in the last four years, you'd know EXACTLY who I'm talking about. If you haven't... you've got some surprises coming your way—if your kid has a favorite teacher that might be helpful for recs, get their personal contact ASAP!

There was a pretty big exodus of teachers two years ago. I can think of four off the top of my head who went to DCPS.

I can think of around 4 from then but some went to private schools and one or two have returned to Basis.

So then a bunch did leave because I can think of four who were in DCPS this year and last year.

Sounds like turnover can happen. I mean, this isn't rocket science. Non-union jobs pay less and mean teachers can leave. Also means you can maybe get some better quality teachers, but it's tougher to hang onto. Why are we fighting about this?

No one is fighting but people keep making false claims like basis teachers don’t go to DCPS only the suburbs and not many teachers leave. These teachers did not just leave for better pay. The ones I personally know left because they were unhappy with the school and leadership.

I think we can all agree that BASIS has a lot of turnover, wherever they're going.

No. That is incorrect. You are just another DCUM poster just making stuff up. Maybe focus on fixing whatever school your child attends instead of spreading false information about BASIS.

Last year (SY 2023-24), teacher turnover in schools was 26% (as measured by teachers staying in the same school).

BASIS DC teacher retention is way higher than that.

Correct.

https://osse.dc.gov/page/district-columbia-educator-retention#:~:text=In%20the%202023%2D24%20school,previous%20school%20year's%2071%20percent.