Matched IB Ludlow Taylor :( What is the lowest WL position worth considering as an option?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The sad face in the subject line is obnoxious

whatever your take on emoticons, it looks like the poster is discouraged by a high lottery number for a school of genuine interest. How is that obnoxious?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not 9:37, but I wanted to add to that comment:

In my view, as an LT parent (albeit only in K so far, but we're staying for 1st), the difference in demographics doesn't necessarily make the ECE program *better* than the rest of the school. (From what I've seen, the upper grades are just as strong.)

However, the demographic difference does seem to reassure many white and/or high-SES parents and make them more comfortable with the ECE program.

I've had people (not LT parents, but other Hill parents when they find out my kid is at LT) pretty much say flat-out that their problem with the upper grades is that they're almost entirely black.

The number of OOB families in the higher grades makes me think that those parents are engaged enough that they sought better options for their children. Just like everyone on this forum.

Yes - the test scores would seem to indicate that LT has a solid core of kids doing quite well regardless of race.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about the ECE program makes it better than the upper grades?

Is it the teachers?

The students?

The parents?

The curriculum?

-Confused

Although I think this thread should really die, I'll take a stab at answering this. PP, the upper grades at LT are almost entirely African American kids who qualify for Free and Reduced Meals. I don't know the breakdown, but I'm sure some are coming from the neighborhood while a very healthy percentage of others are coming from other parts of the city, particularly Wards 7 and 8. And rumor has it quite a few come from PG County in MD. The ECE program is (again, I'm guesstimating) at least 2/3 kids from quite high SES families (all races, many not rich but very well educated) mostly mostly but not entirely from the neighborhood/greater Capitol Hill area.

OP, I've thought a lot about this. I don't think your family would necessarily be happy at LT long-term. But it's a good option for preschool when it sounds like you don't have a lot of other options. If you go, go with an open mind and helpful hands (they are very much needed!). And while asking questions is good and asking about the validity of things you have heard is also good, please try to avoid extreme negativity about the school until you can say for yourself that it is an awful place. (It isn't so I'm not worried about that.) Neighborhood dislike of the principal/school is a huge problem for the school, and much of that feeling seems to me to be unmerited.

Oh mercy, my apologies. This was me writing the response, and I wasn't paying attention to the fact that the questioner had asked what makes ECE "better". I was just characterizing differences. While I do think having sufficient income is a very nice thing, I don't think high SES families/kids are "better" than anyone!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please, please, please can LT parents agree to stop posting on this forum? OP is either a troll or in need of psychiatric intervention, and we do not want her at our school. Nothing we say will make any dent in her determination to hate our school. There are plenty of great parents who will happily take her child's place, so leave them to it

Psychiatric intervention doesn't mean what you think it means.

[Anonymous]

It seems obvious to me that the L-T parents who are posting on here, or at least a few of them, do need to learn to deal with the past in a more positive light. i don't have any issues with the questions asked in here. I think they are all relevant. Who wouldn't want to know this and more? And if the OP are older parents who knew people who had bad experiences, I think this would be the place to come to flush out the dirty truth, and find out if it was still going on....

Meanwhile the parents are sensitive to the point where they really overreact and dive into personal attacks, ("dillweed", psychiatric interventions) etc . i don't see how that helps the reputation of their school. They sound more like the trolls. It actually looks very foolish.

As other posters have noted, there isn't an active Facebook page, any easy way to see fundraisers or other events, or other good means of understanding what the school culture is like....

We all know, when you ask people in person, they are always going to give you a "clean" version of the school, even if they aren't happy. Especially if the area has gentrified quickly, house values are probably approaching what they would cost in the more desirable parts of NW, but the school is filled with ward 7 / 8/ pg county AND many in the neighborhood resort to private. That is a recipe for disaster. That ends up creating a set of people who can afford their mortgage, but not private school, and are stuck with the local school. A group of people who are staying or stuck, and who are extremely defensive about the fact they don't have the choice some of their neighbors do. If I lived here, I would be hard pressed to pay for private if the local school were as good as the parents say it is. The true question, however, is .... IS it? Is the school actually that good? At what point is it not? 1st Grade? 2nd Grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems obvious to me that the L-T parents who are posting on here, or at least a few of them, do need to learn to deal with the past in a more positive light. i don't have any issues with the questions asked in here. I think they are all relevant. Who wouldn't want to know this and more? And if the OP are older parents who knew people who had bad experiences, I think this would be the place to come to flush out the dirty truth, and find out if it was still going on....

Meanwhile the parents are sensitive to the point where they really overreact and dive into personal attacks, ("dillweed", psychiatric interventions) etc . i don't see how that helps the reputation of their school. They sound more like the trolls. It actually looks very foolish.

As other posters have noted, there isn't an active Facebook page, any easy way to see fundraisers or other events, or other good means of understanding what the school culture is like....

We all know, when you ask people in person, they are always going to give you a "clean" version of the school, even if they aren't happy. Especially if the area has gentrified quickly, house values are probably approaching what they would cost in the more desirable parts of NW, but the school is filled with ward 7 / 8/ pg county AND many in the neighborhood resort to private. That is a recipe for disaster. That ends up creating a set of people who can afford their mortgage, but not private school, and are stuck with the local school. A group of people who are staying or stuck, and who are extremely defensive about the fact they don't have the choice some of their neighbors do. If I lived here, I would be hard pressed to pay for private if the local school were as good as the parents say it is. The true question, however, is .... IS it? Is the school actually that good? At what point is it not? 1st Grade? 2nd Grade?

It's good enough for me based on the conversations and interactions I've had with teachers and students, the test scores, and the
engaged parents. My kids are non-AA and it doesn't bother me that they will be the minority once they reach those grades. We can afford private school if needed if our kids develop challenges the school can not address. We are OOB but close.
We had choices and we picked LT. Don't assume people who stay are stuck and had no choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems obvious to me that the L-T parents who are posting on here, or at least a few of them, do need to learn to deal with the past in a more positive light. i don't have any issues with the questions asked in here. I think they are all relevant. Who wouldn't want to know this and more? And if the OP are older parents who knew people who had bad experiences, I think this would be the place to come to flush out the dirty truth, and find out if it was still going on....

Meanwhile the parents are sensitive to the point where they really overreact and dive into personal attacks, ("dillweed", psychiatric interventions) etc . i don't see how that helps the reputation of their school. They sound more like the trolls. It actually looks very foolish.

As other posters have noted, there isn't an active Facebook page, any easy way to see fundraisers or other events, or other good means of understanding what the school culture is like....

We all know, when you ask people in person, they are always going to give you a "clean" version of the school, even if they aren't happy. Especially if the area has gentrified quickly, house values are probably approaching what they would cost in the more desirable parts of NW, but the school is filled with ward 7 / 8/ pg county AND many in the neighborhood resort to private. That is a recipe for disaster. That ends up creating a set of people who can afford their mortgage, but not private school, and are stuck with the local school. A group of people who are staying or stuck, and who are extremely defensive about the fact they don't have the choice some of their neighbors do. If I lived here, I would be hard pressed to pay for private if the local school were as good as the parents say it is. The true question, however, is .... IS it? Is the school actually that good? At what point is it not? 1st Grade? 2nd Grade?

I am the "dillweed" poster, and I am not an L-T parent. I am tired of the complaining by in-boundary families that they are "stuck" with a school where they KNOWINGLY purchased a house. They are extremely foolish for paying NW prices where they are not getting a NW school, and they have nobody to blame but themselves. They are hampering L-T's growth by insisting on poisoning the well. The L-T parents I know are very frank about their experiences, but they do feel defensive about the barrage of criticism by non-parents - being called hippies, being told that their kids are "experiments," etc. There is an active contingent of parents who are lobbying for proximity preference for Logan and SWS, and they know that any success stories coming out of L-T are going to hurt their chances of arguing their case.

[Anonymous]

I am the "dillweed" poster, and I am not an L-T parent. I am tired of the complaining by in-boundary families that they are "stuck" with a school where they KNOWINGLY purchased a house. They are extremely foolish for paying NW prices where they are not getting a NW school, and they have nobody to blame but themselves. They are hampering L-T's growth by insisting on poisoning the well. The L-T parents I know are very frank about their experiences, but they do feel defensive about the barrage of criticism by non-parents - being called hippies, being told that their kids are "experiments," etc. There is an active contingent of parents who are lobbying for proximity preference for Logan and SWS, and they know that any success stories coming out of L-T are going to hurt their chances of arguing their case.

Dillweed, the chances of you not being a part of the LT community are slim if not impossible. If you were not an LT parent, Why would you even care?

Secondly, you must have a magic ball that the rest of us could borrow, or at least rent. When we bought our house, we were in bounds for LOVEJOY, at least according to our real estate agent. We then assumed we were in bounds for Maury after it was announced Lovejoy was going to become condos. Looking back, I laugh at the fact we didn't research it more, bc to be hnest i am not sure lovejoy was even a functioning school at that point, but in any case, children were so far from our minds we didn't
really think about it twice. We assumed we would stay on the hill for the first child and move by the time school or the next baby hit. It was also pre-recession and i was personally making almost three times what i am now. But then the recession hit, i lost my job, and we did consider moving. but our house would have been undervalued and we knew it. we held on, and then the housing market overheated to the point where we would have to spend 1.5 m to get a house even the slightest bit roomier than our current one. As a couple we have opted to have flexible schedules to be able to spend time with our children, neither of us is killing it salary wise and thus we are not in the 2m upper NW market. So I don't know where you get off lecturing people, as it would have been impossible for us to anticipate the changes that have happened in the school scene, the real estate market, and both of our industries as well as our evolution as a couple.

This forum is full of people making impossible choices and sacrifices regarding education. How about you just live with it the way the rest of us are, and reach out to others in your community with compassion even if their point of view is different. Is that what makes a community?

[Anonymous]

* isn't that what makes a community ?

[Anonymous]

SWS 's upper grades are untested and brand new. LT has excellent proven teachers. Try us out. We are awesome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I am the "dillweed" poster, and I am not an L-T parent. I am tired of the complaining by in-boundary families that they are "stuck" with a school where they KNOWINGLY purchased a house. They are extremely foolish for paying NW prices where they are not getting a NW school, and they have nobody to blame but themselves. They are hampering L-T's growth by insisting on poisoning the well. The L-T parents I know are very frank about their experiences, but they do feel defensive about the barrage of criticism by non-parents - being called hippies, being told that their kids are "experiments," etc. There is an active contingent of parents who are lobbying for proximity preference for Logan and SWS, and they know that any success stories coming out of L-T are going to hurt their chances of arguing their case.

Dillweed, the chances of you not being a part of the LT community are slim if not impossible. If you were not an LT parent, Why would you even care?

Secondly, you must have a magic ball that the rest of us could borrow, or at least rent. When we bought our house, we were in bounds for LOVEJOY, at least according to our real estate agent. We then assumed we were in bounds for Maury after it was announced Lovejoy was going to become condos. Looking back, I laugh at the fact we didn't research it more, bc to be hnest i am not sure lovejoy was even a functioning school at that point, but in any case, children were so far from our minds we didn't
really think about it twice. We assumed we would stay on the hill for the first child and move by the time school or the next baby hit. It was also pre-recession and i was personally making almost three times what i am now. But then the recession hit, i lost my job, and we did consider moving. but our house would have been undervalued and we knew it. we held on, and then the housing market overheated to the point where we would have to spend 1.5 m to get a house even the slightest bit roomier than our current one. As a couple we have opted to have flexible schedules to be able to spend time with our children, neither of us is killing it salary wise and thus we are not in the 2m upper NW market. So I don't know where you get off lecturing people, as it would have been impossible for us to anticipate the changes that have happened in the school scene, the real estate market, and both of our industries as well as our evolution as a couple.

This forum is full of people making impossible choices and sacrifices regarding education. How about you just live with it the way the rest of us are, and reach out to others in your community with compassion even if their point of view is different. Is that what makes a community?

This is right on.

So sick of the why don't you just move/make better choices BS.

[Anonymous]

I actually think the dillweed poster that just got attacked is pro-LT and was trying to defend LT parents on this thread.

[Anonymous]

As an IB family for L-T, your options are to move, go private, work to make the school good, or bitch on DCUM. I can see we have a few who want to do nothing more than bitch. I'm happy to see there are also more than a few who have taken a chance on the school and are happy with their choice.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone figure out what your proposed "choice sets" would be if you live near Stanton Park but are IB for LT?

[Anonymous]

Choice Set K

LT
Miner
JO Wilson
SWS

http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1102971/policy-example-a.pdf