New to looking at Capitol Hill DCPS. Any majority high SES schools?

[Anonymous]

Tyler SI may not be the 'right' ratio of high income families, but it has the families you want. Parents who are making challenging choices for their kids and supporting their kids. I think it's an excellent option. They also have Polite Piggy's aftercare which is great.

If I were you I'd lottery everywhere and put Payne as yoir last DCPS choice for preschool. Chances are in preK you will get into Peabody, Maury or Two Rivers. Of those three I'd pick Maury over the others because families want to stay at airy through 5th.

My youngest child was in preschool at Payne and it is fabulous; everything was great, the other kids were adorable and nice. We didn't stay because we had the chance to have all our kids at the same school.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, PP. Good advice, much appreciated.

I'm down tonight - dear Hill friends who tried their IB school for preS, and then a charter for preK, just announcedthat their house will go on the market so they can move the burbs by the summer For them, ALREADY not enough challenge for an advanced learner, or enough high SES families staying in these schools. Their kid is starting to dislike school even before he hits K and they're worried about moving him again if they try to stay in the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, PP. Good advice, much appreciated.

I'm down tonight - dear Hill friends who tried their IB school for preS, and then a charter for preK, just announcedthat their house will go on the market so they can move the burbs by the summer For them, ALREADY not enough challenge for an advanced learner, or enough high SES families staying in these schools. Their kid is starting to dislike school even before he hits K and they're worried about moving him again if they try to stay in the city.

While this is sad, I hope you won't take offense when I point to the ludicrousness of someone moving to the 'burbs because their IB DCPS school didn't provide enough "challenge" for their "advanced learner" in fricking pre-school.

[Anonymous]

Agreed. Preschoolers learn in a million different modes and the whole physical, emotional and social world is there to be explored. Reading and Math readiness are just one small part of it. There is no such thing as an "advanced" learner in pre school. Unless ALL they are doing is letters and number ( god forbid ) there are a million new songs to be sung, games to be played, obstacle courses.to be run, friends to make and break and make again, art materials to explore, pretend games to play. Your friends, while I am sure lovely people, (a) have an extremely narrow definition of education or (b) want to move for another legit reason and use this as an excuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tyler SI may not be the 'right' ratio of high income families, but it has the families you want. Parents who are making challenging choices for their kids and supporting their kids. I think it's an excellent option. They also have Polite Piggy's aftercare which is great.

If I were you I'd lottery everywhere and put Payne as yoir last DCPS choice for preschool. Chances are in preK you will get into Peabody, Maury or Two Rivers. Of those three I'd pick Maury over the others because families want to stay at airy through 5th.

My youngest child was in preschool at Payne and it is fabulous; everything was great, the other kids were adorable and nice. We didn't stay because we had the chance to have all our kids at the same school.

Why does everyone always mention Tyler SI exclusively?? My kids are in the traditional Arts program at Tyler and they are doing very well.

I am surprised you found Payne to be fabulous but at the same time just point out one program at Tyler.

[Anonymous]

PP I have nothing against the regular Tyler program (as opposed to Tyler SI). I just know don't know much about the program.

Since my child was in preschool at Payne, I do know about this program. My bright, social, well-prepared for preschool child was challenged, excited about school, and happy at Payne. It was better for my child than our very expensive, long wait-list, daycare which has a preschool curriculum.

[Anonymous]

While this is sad, I hope you won't take offense when I point to the ludicrousness of someone moving to the 'burbs because their IB DCPS school didn't provide enough "challenge" for their "advanced learner" in fricking pre-school.

It's not as crazy as it sounds - this is a kid with a 140+ IQ who reads surprisingly well at age 4. The school has him tracing letters and numbers every day although he writes sentences. The parents are getting nowhere with the school and the kid has been pitching fits when they drop him off in the morning for a couple months now. A psychiatrist's report reads "he is normal but extremely bored half the day." He's a friendly, social kid. They're looking at private schools for gifted kids (one in Bethesda sounds promising) unsure that public suburban schools will work either. These are not helicopter parents, they're just not sure what to do.

[Anonymous]

Public schools in this country aren't set up to educate the most advanced kids. The outliers need parents earning six or more figures in a metro region to find what they need in the independent school domain. But most of us will be OK on the Hill with DCPS and DC Charter.

[Anonymous]

Yea, OK if you stick with the high-SES schools, SWS, Brent and Maury for little kids, bringing us full circle in this discussion. Make no mistake, the orientation at the other schools is bringing up the bottom. I'd watch out for 2 Rivers, they're too liberal for their own good. Many high-SES parents leave because their funky one-size-fits-all curriculum is a tool used to skirt the reality that upper-middle-class familie tend to produce advanced learners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^ . . .let me guess, you were at a meeting at Stuart Hobson!

New Poster. I was there, too, and sent a note to Wells' office afterwards, cc'd to the Chancellor, complaining that the school clearly doesn't cater to middle-class Hill families, and that Brent and Maury don't feed it.

As long as Wells is off the hook on these issues, nothing much will change. I find that parents around here continually look to local schools for change when it's our DC Councilmembers, the Chancellor and the Mayor who set the tone/call the shots that could effect real change above ES. We pay the property taxes and should get the services appropriate for our demographic but for that to happen, we need to demand them. If demaning means organizing to leave Wells running scared in 2014, that's what we need to do, or give up and head to Basis and Latin....

Looks like potential candidates are starting to queue up for Wells' seat on the Council. Francis Campbell, ANC Commissioner (SMD 06-10) has announced he will run for the Council. This effectively could be the death knell to any meaningful change to the status quo for high SES Hill families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^ . . .let me guess, you were at a meeting at Stuart Hobson!

New Poster. I was there, too, and sent a note to Wells' office afterwards, cc'd to the Chancellor, complaining that the school clearly doesn't cater to middle-class Hill families, and that Brent and Maury don't feed it.

As long as Wells is off the hook on these issues, nothing much will change. I find that parents around here continually look to local schools for change when it's our DC Councilmembers, the Chancellor and the Mayor who set the tone/call the shots that could effect real change above ES. We pay the property taxes and should get the services appropriate for our demographic but for that to happen, we need to demand them. If demaning means organizing to leave Wells running scared in 2014, that's what we need to do, or give up and head to Basis and Latin....

Looks like potential candidates are starting to queue up for Wells' seat on the Council. Francis Campbell, ANC Commissioner (SMD 06-10) has announced he will run for the Council. This effectively could be the death knell to any meaningful change to the status quo for high SES Hill families.

In a word, yes. Look, DCPS is NEVER going to cater to middle & upper-middle-class families outside of Ward 3. The numbers are simply not there. Pick a top charter, preferably one with a 2nd language focus or move to MoCo. JKLM-Deal is NEVER going to happen on the Hill. Period.

[Anonymous]

Why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not?

The demographics are not there. There is no critical mass of Hill families sufficient to fill an MS. Hence, the only path to a high-performing MS is a city-wide solution but G&T programs will not be implemented by DCPS, because the optics would be politically challenging (there would be too many white & asian kids). Ergo, the only way to do it is for charters to come in that are challenging enough, such that anyone who is not academically high-performing will drop out. Latin, Basis, DCI... but nothing from DCPS.

[Anonymous]

But there is a group actively working to attract middle class Hill families to Hill middle schools.

http://chpspo.org/current-initiatives/middle-school-initiative/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But there is a group actively working to attract middle class Hill families to Hill middle schools.

http://chpspo.org/current-initiatives/middle-school-initiative/

That link is from the summer of 2010. Considering it didn't meet with success then (before Basis & DCI) advocating to Michelle Rhee, why would anyone think it is relevant now?