Hardy Middle School -- 5th grade in feeder school -- who's considering Hardy for 6th?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd assume it's not just the "Tiffany"s who are freaking out at the prospect of Hardy slowly losing its "unique culture" (translation = mostly OOB), but also private school administrators who are scared of losing a substantial number of full-paying students from NW. So you're gonna get a bunch of troll-ish behaviour on this board: uniforms, "mean" teachers, foul-mouthed and violent (trans = "inner city") kids, wacky teachers union, cell phone tower cancer emitter, etc....

Not only private school administrators. Also a certain charter school, I think.

I'm sure that Hardy scares the admission offices at Sidwell and St. Albans just sh&@less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd assume it's not just the "Tiffany"s who are freaking out at the prospect of Hardy slowly losing its "unique culture" (translation = mostly OOB), but also private school administrators who are scared of losing a substantial number of full-paying students from NW. So you're gonna get a bunch of troll-ish behaviour on this board: uniforms, "mean" teachers, foul-mouthed and violent (trans = "inner city") kids, wacky teachers union, cell phone tower cancer emitter, etc....

Not only private school administrators. Also a certain charter school, I think.

I'm sure that Hardy scares the admission offices at Sidwell and St. Albans just sh&@less.

Probably not -- though I would expect most DCUMers know there are more than only two private schools in the area who need students to thrive -- or are you simply adding more troll prints?

[Anonymous]

I guess the private schools in DC really want Hardy's current situation to remain -- there'd be a huge block of parents who would be sending their kids to Hardy rather than paying $35-40k per year at private school. Not saying any would fail but at least admission application numbers would start to fall. I'd be interested to see data on the % of kids who attend Sidwell/Cathedral/Maret/GDS etc. who are from the Deal area versus the % who are from the Hardy area. I expect the % of DC resident kids in middle school at these schools is much lower for those who live in the Deal zone, perhaps much lower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess the private schools in DC really want Hardy's current situation to remain -- there'd be a huge block of parents who would be sending their kids to Hardy rather than paying $35-40k per year at private school. Not saying any would fail but at least admission application numbers would start to fall. I'd be interested to see data on the % of kids who attend Sidwell/Cathedral/Maret/GDS etc. who are from the Deal area versus the % who are from the Hardy area. I expect the % of DC resident kids in middle school at these schools is much lower for those who live in the Deal zone, perhaps much lower.

Sidwell, Cathedral and Maret don't admit new students for sixth grade except to fill vacancies, to have a decent shot of getting in you have to apply at fourth grade or earlier for middle school. So not a lot of Hardy IB kids there, or not from families that weren't thinking private from early on. GDS admits a fair number of IB Hardy kids for sixth, as do schools like Field, Lowell, Sheridan, WIS, WES, Burke and Landon. I'm an IB Hardy parent who went private, those schools plus the Catholics are where the kids who entered kindergarten thinking they'd go DCPS all the way ended up. Plus of course Basis and Latin.

At my kids private there are a fair number of IB Hardy kids, but lots more who are IB Deal. So it's hard to say how much of an impact Hardy improving would have.

[Anonymous]

Sidwell, Cathedral and Maret don't admit new students for sixth grade except to fill vacancies,

bzzzzt. totally wrong.

GDS admits a fair number of IB Hardy kids for sixth, as do schools like Field, Lowell, Sheridan, WIS, WES, Burke and Landon.

still no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess the private schools in DC really want Hardy's current situation to remain -- there'd be a huge block of parents who would be sending their kids to Hardy rather than paying $35-40k per year at private school. Not saying any would fail but at least admission application numbers would start to fall. I'd be interested to see data on the % of kids who attend Sidwell/Cathedral/Maret/GDS etc. who are from the Deal area versus the % who are from the Hardy area. I expect the % of DC resident kids in middle school at these schools is much lower for those who live in the Deal zone, perhaps much lower.

Sidwell, Cathedral and Maret don't admit new students for sixth grade except to fill vacancies, to have a decent shot of getting in you have to apply at fourth grade or earlier for middle school. So not a lot of Hardy IB kids there, or not from families that weren't thinking private from early on. GDS admits a fair number of IB Hardy kids for sixth, as do schools like Field, Lowell, Sheridan, WIS, WES, Burke and Landon. I'm an IB Hardy parent who went private, those schools plus the Catholics are where the kids who entered kindergarten thinking they'd go DCPS all the way ended up. Plus of course Basis and Latin.

At my kids private there are a fair number of IB Hardy kids, but lots more who are IB Deal. So it's hard to say how much of an impact Hardy improving would have.

Duh. That application cycle at privates is exactly why 5th grade classes at Hardy feeders, until recently, were lowly attended.

[Anonymous]

We left key at 4th because of Hardy. As did a dozen of my kids friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We left key at 4th because of Hardy. As did a dozen of my kids friends.

And that's the point. Who cares if an improved Hardy impacts prove school applications? In fact, that may generally be a good thing. But Hardy has to become a better school that is significantly more attractive to IB students and parents, first.

[Anonymous]

Pp: private, not prove above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We left key at 4th because of Hardy. As did a dozen of my kids friends.

And that's the point. Who cares if an improved Hardy impacts prove school applications? In fact, that may generally be a good thing. But Hardy has to become a better school that is significantly more attractive to IB students and parents, first.

Already happened. Look at 5th grade enrollment in IBs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We left key at 4th because of Hardy. As did a dozen of my kids friends.

And that's the point. Who cares if an improved Hardy impacts prove school applications? In fact, that may generally be a good thing. But Hardy has to become a better school that is significantly more attractive to IB students and parents, first.

Already happened. Look at 5th grade enrollment in IBs.

+ 1 also worth remembering that the total number of families with school-aged children who are living in the city is growing exponentially - even as Hardy attracts more IB kids - the numbers of the privates may also go up too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those of you that are interested in Hardy might enjoy this "Welcome to Hardy" video that Principal Pride and the school put together.

http://www.hardyms.org/apps/video/

Also, there is a feeders school open house that will be held at Hardy on October 8 at 9:15 AM.

The video is great! Thanks for sharing. It highlights many of the reasons my family has decided to choose Hardy for our IB kids. Hardy is a great school with strong leadership and will only continue to get better. We are excited about our children continuing there education at Hardy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those of you that are interested in Hardy might enjoy this "Welcome to Hardy" video that Principal Pride and the school put together.

http://www.hardyms.org/apps/video/

Also, there is a feeders school open house that will be held at Hardy on October 8 at 9:15 AM.

The video is great! Thanks for sharing. It highlights many of the reasons my family has decided to choose Hardy for our IB kids. Hardy is a great school with strong leadership and will only continue to get better. We are excited about our children continuing there education at Hardy.

Oops, sorry. Auto correct. There = their!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those of you that are interested in Hardy might enjoy this "Welcome to Hardy" video that Principal Pride and the school put together.

http://www.hardyms.org/apps/video/

Also, there is a feeders school open house that will be held at Hardy on October 8 at 9:15 AM.

The video is great! Thanks for sharing. It highlights many of the reasons my family has decided to choose Hardy for our IB kids. Hardy is a great school with strong leadership and will only continue to get better. We are excited about our children continuing there education at Hardy.

Oops, sorry. Auto correct. There = their!

what the video does not show and what I still really want to know what I really want to know

is about how "Hardy is a perfect match for kids who"

"have thick skins and can adjust ok from more nurturing and civil WOTP elementary school environments to the "tough love" disciplinary culture still practiced at Hardy"

does the person who posted this care to describe/define/offer examples of/explain "the 'tough love' discipinary culture still practiced at Hardy?"[b]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am OUTRAGED AND OFFENDED at the trash talk about Hardy. It is a DCPS jewel! If it isn't for you, then STFU. Don't try to gentrify Hardy. It will not happen.

Too late, at the rate the numbers are changing it will be flipped in five years if not in two.

PP who was asked to elaborate - I really cannot without identifying families. But the above poster makes the point quite well. It has not flipped. Not yet. And I guess what the Mann parents who feel disappointed and somewhat deceived heard convinced them that it had flipped sufficiently (at least for their kids - through SEM, through tracking)...

I think one of the most significant issues may be that at some other schools they test kids over the summer or the first day of school to decide whether they belong in "advanced/honors/SEM/whatever you call it classes" and that appears NOT to be the case at Hardy. The unhappy families we spoke to were still waiting to be tested - and the kind of impression a school makes on you and your child in the first couple of weeks counts more than at any other time except the end of the year (and that is assuming the families can still vote with their feet at the end of the year).

Unfortunately, those IB for Hardy not on the Latin or Basis wait list had closed off all other options before they entered the school. And it is the stuck parents who are, to put it bluntly, quite pissed.

IMO I think if Hardy tested and separated earlier you might have people with a completely different set of opinions - that is of course what Wilson is all about after all - Yale (or Jail) - from Deal (or dead in the water academically before you enter) the less and less hallowed halls............

I do not know, but would hazard a guess, that Wilson separates and segregates the two tracks early enough to prevent white flight.......................... Be it through testing at Deal that automatically guarantees you a place in Honors classes before you start......... I have no clue, no kids here or there or bound for Wilson, no skin in the game.

But I do feel sorry for these parents who honestly did not intend to be trailblazers or sacrifice their kids on the altar of some "Alice Deal for All" ideology. They believed (based undoubtedly on information they were given by someone they trusted, at some point in the process), that the school had already changed enough. for their kids to receive a certain quality of education in a certain type of environment they were comfortable with. They had no desire to risk their kids' education or expose them to an environment where they had the opportunity to be the change.

While I respect both perspectives, what I don't respect is friends who I know made every attempt to educate and reassure themselves that Hardy was already "there" enough for their kids to be comfortable in the environment and for them to be comfortable as well that their kids were getting the type of education they had been led to believe would be offered. I also respect parents who are comfortable sending their kids in order to help Hardy "get there," who are comfortable that their kids will do well anywhere, and think that being part of this process is a valuable education in and of itself.

But these are two completely different sets of parents. And the parents and principals and everyone rooting for Hardy do themselves no favors when they encourage people to enroll their children by glossing over not bad language, which is pervasive at every single middle school in the country and no doubt to a large degree internationally as well, but apparently a (what must be necessary) focus on discipline at the expense of education.

Hardy might be able to dig itself out of this hole by testing and separating kids out earlier by educational level before or immediately when school begins. That is the only advice I have. From my understanding that is how Wilson works. They do not throw all the kids together for a month of boot camp before deciding who is eligible for Algebra II or pre-calculus or Honors English.

Yesterday Ms Bentley, Hardy's SEM teacher, held the third session of her Book Club. A great chance for Hardy students to get together, with a great teacher, and discuss twice a month about a book. Her carefully selected book list includes all genres, fiction and non-fiction, and is available from the school website. My kid has enjoyed the Club since last year, and has significantly improved his reading and text analysis skills. I asked him about the attendance to the club, he told me that none of the Mann 6th graders showed up. So my recommendation to these pissed parents would be to stop wining, and get your kids to work and enjoy the many opportunities the school offers.