MacFarland MS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you very much for sharing this information. I remain very concerned about the lack of a real vision - let alone any concrete plans - for those of us who are are not in the dual-language feeders. I have friends in other cities who have shared with me their own experience of being zoned for a school that focused first - and it seemed foremost - on the dual language program and they had to fight tooth and nail to get equal resources and decent programming for the non-dual language program. They are/were understandably outraged. I really hope this is not the road we are on. I am already confused by the language being used: "dual language program" and "neighborhood school." This seems to imply that the dual language program is not part of the neighborhood school. I really think the language that DCPS uses to describe the school will have a big impact on family buy-in so such communications should not be considered unimportant. We are grandfathered into Deal for now but our family is wishing very much for a fantastic non-dual language program at MacFarland.

This is where the rubber meets the road; everything you say is exactly right.

+1 Based on what I've heard and read so far about how DCPS is pitching and marketing the school, I feel like it's going to end up getting the reputation as "the Latino school" before it even starts and diversity will be virtually non-existent. And if DCPS leaves schools like Truesdall and Raymond with only a fraction of the resources they'll be pouring into MacFarland that would be criminal. My IB school, Barnard for instance, which is not immersion and simply offers some Spanish classes (when my son attended he had a one hour Spanish each week). It is almost equally split between AA and Latino children. So while it's only a guess, I bet half the 5th grade will head to dual Lang MacFarland next year and the other half will go to Raymond, essentially segregating the schools. I realize it theoretically will only be a year or two while MacFarland gets its facility back, but each year of school for a child is critical and establishing MacFarland as a diverse neighborhood school from the start is super important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you very much for sharing this information. I remain very concerned about the lack of a real vision - let alone any concrete plans - for those of us who are are not in the dual-language feeders. I have friends in other cities who have shared with me their own experience of being zoned for a school that focused first - and it seemed foremost - on the dual language program and they had to fight tooth and nail to get equal resources and decent programming for the non-dual language program. They are/were understandably outraged. I really hope this is not the road we are on. I am already confused by the language being used: "dual language program" and "neighborhood school." This seems to imply that the dual language program is not part of the neighborhood school. I really think the language that DCPS uses to describe the school will have a big impact on family buy-in so such communications should not be considered unimportant. We are grandfathered into Deal for now but our family is wishing very much for a fantastic non-dual language program at MacFarland.

This is where the rubber meets the road; everything you say is exactly right.

+1 Based on what I've heard and read so far about how DCPS is pitching and marketing the school, I feel like it's going to end up getting the reputation as "the Latino school" before it even starts and diversity will be virtually non-existent. And if DCPS leaves schools like Truesdall and Raymond with only a fraction of the resources they'll be pouring into MacFarland that would be criminal. My IB school, Barnard for instance, which is not immersion and simply offers some Spanish classes (when my son attended he had a one hour Spanish each week). It is almost equally split between AA and Latino children. So while it's only a guess, I bet half the 5th grade will head to dual Lang MacFarland next year and the other half will go to Raymond, essentially segregating the schools. I realize it theoretically will only be a year or two while MacFarland gets its facility back, but each year of school for a child is critical and establishing MacFarland as a diverse neighborhood school from the start is super important.

Actually, very few, if any, of the students from Barnard will be eligible to attend MacFarland next year. According to what we know, only students in the Dual language elementary programs will have the right to attend plus a certain number that can test-in via written and spoken Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you very much for sharing this information. I remain very concerned about the lack of a real vision - let alone any concrete plans - for those of us who are are not in the dual-language feeders. I have friends in other cities who have shared with me their own experience of being zoned for a school that focused first - and it seemed foremost - on the dual language program and they had to fight tooth and nail to get equal resources and decent programming for the non-dual language program. They are/were understandably outraged. I really hope this is not the road we are on. I am already confused by the language being used: "dual language program" and "neighborhood school." This seems to imply that the dual language program is not part of the neighborhood school. I really think the language that DCPS uses to describe the school will have a big impact on family buy-in so such communications should not be considered unimportant. We are grandfathered into Deal for now but our family is wishing very much for a fantastic non-dual language program at MacFarland.

This is where the rubber meets the road; everything you say is exactly right.

+1 Based on what I've heard and read so far about how DCPS is pitching and marketing the school, I feel like it's going to end up getting the reputation as "the Latino school" before it even starts and diversity will be virtually non-existent. And if DCPS leaves schools like Truesdall and Raymond with only a fraction of the resources they'll be pouring into MacFarland that would be criminal. My IB school, Barnard for instance, which is not immersion and simply offers some Spanish classes (when my son attended he had a one hour Spanish each week). It is almost equally split between AA and Latino children. So while it's only a guess, I bet half the 5th grade will head to dual Lang MacFarland next year and the other half will go to Raymond, essentially segregating the schools. I realize it theoretically will only be a year or two while MacFarland gets its facility back, but each year of school for a child is critical and establishing MacFarland as a diverse neighborhood school from the start is super important.

Great point that didn't cross my mind. There are so many factors to consider in rebuilding this school. I hope everything plays out for the best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you very much for sharing this information. I remain very concerned about the lack of a real vision - let alone any concrete plans - for those of us who are are not in the dual-language feeders. I have friends in other cities who have shared with me their own experience of being zoned for a school that focused first - and it seemed foremost - on the dual language program and they had to fight tooth and nail to get equal resources and decent programming for the non-dual language program. They are/were understandably outraged. I really hope this is not the road we are on. I am already confused by the language being used: "dual language program" and "neighborhood school." This seems to imply that the dual language program is not part of the neighborhood school. I really think the language that DCPS uses to describe the school will have a big impact on family buy-in so such communications should not be considered unimportant. We are grandfathered into Deal for now but our family is wishing very much for a fantastic non-dual language program at MacFarland.

This is where the rubber meets the road; everything you say is exactly right.

+1 Based on what I've heard and read so far about how DCPS is pitching and marketing the school, I feel like it's going to end up getting the reputation as "the Latino school" before it even starts and diversity will be virtually non-existent. And if DCPS leaves schools like Truesdall and Raymond with only a fraction of the resources they'll be pouring into MacFarland that would be criminal. My IB school, Barnard for instance, which is not immersion and simply offers some Spanish classes (when my son attended he had a one hour Spanish each week). It is almost equally split between AA and Latino children. So while it's only a guess, I bet half the 5th grade will head to dual Lang MacFarland next year and the other half will go to Raymond, essentially segregating the schools. I realize it theoretically will only be a year or two while MacFarland gets its facility back, but each year of school for a child is critical and establishing MacFarland as a diverse neighborhood school from the start is super important.

Actually, very few, if any, of the students from Barnard will be eligible to attend MacFarland next year. According to what we know, only students in the Dual language elementary programs will have the right to attend plus a certain number that can test-in via written and spoken Spanish.

Interesting. So first generation American children who have grown up in a Spanish-speaking only household and who are fluent in Spanish and who live within the MacFarland boundary would not be eligible? I'll be anxious to see how DCPS would defend that.

[Anonymous]

At a minimum, they should give preference, if not a full on right. Although I doubt that will be a problem in the first years.

[Anonymous]

Not all kids who can speak Spanish are biliterate and/or fluent in academic Spanish (eg math). That's what the test is for.

[calexander]

This only seems random, but YouTube is streaming a new doc called, CODEGIRLS, for free Nov 1-5.

https://youtu.be/enZ82xleZfs

Join high school-aged girls from around the world as they try to better their community through technology and collaboration in this thrilling, heartfelt documentary.

And don't forget the MarFarland Dual Language meeting tonight at Powell.

[Anonymous]

What does "Academic advance without segregation" mean? That any kid of any ability will be allowed into the most advanced classes even if they are totally unprepared for the work? This is bad for both advanced kids and slower learners. True academic rigor has to acknowledge that some kids are truly advanced and need to be in their own cohort and classes at a certain. I feel like you just a lot of high SES family supoort as this sounds like any other non-deal middle school DCPS.

[arowe]

Just to add on to what Christopher is saying, you should know that DCPS planners have a website where they post meeting notes from meetings with the MacFarland community cabinet (as well as the Roosevelt HS community cabinet, etc.).

They just put up [url https://dcpsplanning.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/102715-macfarland-community-cabinet-meeting-notes.pdf]the notes[/url] from the latest community cabinet meeting, which was October 27, as well as the reminder for tonight's MacFarland dual language middle school program meeting at Powell (5:30-7:30, 1350 Upshur NW).

Here are some highlights I think worth mentioning:

DCPS intends to open a dual language program next fall with 65 students modeled on Oyster-Adams at middle grades, using (separated) space at Roosevelt HS for now. They're also looking at models in Fairfax and Montgomery Counties.

The program is expected to start with two dual language courses based on national models of how to do dual language at middle school.

Course-level programming seems to be pretty much ready to go, just not officially/publicly announced. (There is some concern about trying to market a school that parents are going to have to lottery for this year/next year without a fully fleshed out program, so hopefully that will be taken care of soon.)

They are considering what kind of school leader to put in place and what decisions to leave up to that school leader. It seems like they are leaning toward having it be a promotion for an eager internal DCPS leader-in-waiting.

And can I just repeat that - if you are at all curious - the meeting at Powell tonight is a great opportunity to find out what they are trying to do, as the DCPS planning team is going to be there along with the folks who do language programming development. In short the people who have the best available answers to your questions will actually all be in one place with one major goal, which is to talk to you about the dual language program starting next year at MacFarland.

[Anonymous]

Why didn't they answer these questions:

If the DL program were not here, what would make the program attractive to people in this community?

Some of us have options to go to Deal what’s the in pitch to us and those families?

Well when you talk about marketing, what kind of advanced programming are you marketing to non dual language parents?

... So they may have advanced math and we should do their marketing for them? They could really work on this.

[arowe]

So on the basic question of why some questions were asked but not answered, is that occasionally several questions were asked at the same time and not all were answered. This was discussion format, not a deposition.

On a more factual basis, these "show us the non-dual language program is awesome" requests don't have answers yet. First, the non-dual language school will open after the MacFarland building is renovated and this won't be until school year 2018-19. The programming of the non-dual language school is still taking shape years in advance, without a leader in place, and the community cabinet is supposed to be a way for the community to direct its views TO the DCPS planners, not just RECEIVE the school system's work and pronounce it good or bad.

The way I believe that the DCPS people want this to work is that they take community views through the cabinet and directly (see the contact for Andrew Katz-Moses above), draw up a mockup of the program based on everyone's input, see if the cabinet will buy in, and if/when we do, they expect we will try to talk it up in the Community.

There is plenty of room for people to share that they want advanced math or science options, language programs that start in 6th grade, social studies that are relevant to DC students, options for differentiation for students to be spelled out. Or what you want in a school leader, or in a marketing plan for the school, etc. So share those views.

On a sort of related point, the discussion in the last cabinet meeting seemed to reflect that DCPS has soured on expansion of IB, so (being kind of glib here) if that's your shorthand for "make the school more attractive to me" you will have to find another more direct way to express it.

Andy Rowe

[jsteele]

arowe wrote:On a sort of related point, the discussion in the last cabinet meeting seemed to reflect that DCPS has soured on expansion of IB, so (being kind of glib here) if that's your shorthand for "make the school more attractive to me" you will have to find another more direct way to express it.

Andy Rowe

Andy,

Implementing an IB program at MacFarland has been one of the most common suggestions I've heard. Yet, every time it comes up, DCPS pushes back. The reasons I've heard is that certification is time-consuming and that similar programs can be offered without as much difficulty. Yet, the IB stamp of approval would provide parents an outside evaluation of the school's quality. Can you give more insight into the reluctance of DCPS to pursue this?

[Anonymous]

Initial IB certification takes several years and usually a staff member dedicated to the process.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Initial IB certification takes several years and usually a staff member dedicated to the process.

Yes, this what they always say. But, is that their reason for not pursuing it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Initial IB certification takes several years and usually a staff member dedicated to the process.

So from that are we to take that our kids and our city isn't worth the effort?