Ask yourself why everyone here in the exact same position as you still thinks you are a cheater. If DC is so awful just move. |
I both wouldn't do it and I don't care if other people do. |
This. If you think DCPS is garbage and that the city could be doing way more to create better schools all over the city, then the answer is that you need to leave DCPS. Go private, go to a charter, or move out of the city. I have a million problems with DCPS and I don't know that we are going to make it through MS and HS in the city, but I accept that it is what it is and if I choose to use the public school system, I have to comply with the policies of the public school system. Especially given that multiple alternatives are available to me. Imagine if everyone in the district just lied about their residence to go to the school of their choosing. |
This kind of thinking is why when people at the Central office are laid off or there are other threats to DCPS, no one cares. https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/195/1284724.page You think people who care about good schools should go private, charter or leave the city? They are doing all of the above. Make city schools good schools. |
I think PP is saying that no, that you “care about good schools” does not justify you cheating. Is that truly confusing to you? |
It not cheating, it’s taking matters into my own hands when the people I literally elect and pay to do their jobs simply—don’t. |
Oh don’t worry, we are looking. |
The rules don’t prevent me from actually having two places of residence. |
This. I'm not a boundary cheat and don't endorse cheating, but I'm not going to judge fellow DC parents in tough circumstances related to access to acceptable schools, not when we have a mayor and city council member who don't care if we have acceptable neighborhood schools here EotP. Fenty and Rhee cared, Gray cared, Bowser and Allen clearly don't. It's much too easy to point the finger at individual families whose public school choices have fallen apart on the turn of a dime. I mention the situation of neighbors and friends of ours of 20 years, Federal workers with several kids who went to a DCPS ES, then to BASIS. Two of the kids could tolerate BASIS but one was miserable, although her grades were good. But she didn't get into Walls, Banneker, Latin or Duke Ellington and they didn't get enough fi aid to make a private HS work. The girl developed such serious mental health problems in the BASIS HS that her grades plummeted and she began skipping school. They couldn't get her into MacArthur in the middle of a school year and couldn't swing homeschooling. Desperate, they rented a small apt in Upper NW so the girl could switch to J-R. They had a relative live there to pay the rent, with the girl staying some weeknights. Her situation quickly stabilized and she's going great. You guys are saying that the whole family should have uprooted in this situation. I'm saying that these parents, having done their level best to follow the rules for many years, deserved a viable public high school for all of their children, vs. failing Eastern, their best option after BASIS didn't work for one child. |
Hmm. In much of the country that's what you get -- one high school, take it or leave it. If you don't like it, move or go private. I'm not saying that's ideal, but people already have more options here than most places and certainly than when we were young. The dysfunction of DC is not responsible for this family's plight. |
hard to say. when a school stops working mid-year, thats always a real predicament. she could have tried the in-bound for the duration of the school year. but you are getting into why the city does not really enforce this stuff. |
One high school like dreary BASIS, with a set STEM curriculum, few electives and extra curriculars, poorly trained and paid, mostly young and inexperienced, teachers, no gym, stage/auditorium, music program, real art program, library, or outdoor space? You may not be aware that BASIS has a curriculum that it crams 4 years of high school classes into 3 along with a senior class that's one-half to one-third the size of the intake class. Most of the entering cohort invariably drops out along the way. What, exactly, are the struggling family's other public high school options EotP? Fact is, BASIS as your only viable high school option, for those with lottery luck, is a uniquely DC thing. A uniquely crappy DC thing. The dysfunction of DC couldn't be more responsible for the family's plight. |
Most of DC's by-right high schools are much worse than average, so it sure is in that sense. There's nowhere in the country where college graduates in any significant number are sending their kids to schools like Eastern. |
yes, they should have done what the rest of us on the Hill do, even with kids facing serious issues: follow the rules. I have literally zero empathy for this family (whose personal information you are so kindly blasting here). If they want to play by the rules they can actually establish their daughter’s new residence with her family member in NW by giving that relative custody (formally or otherwise) and having the daughter live there at least half time. |
Send kid to Eastern. Believe or not several Hill families do this when other options fall through. Or move. Or cheaper Catholic school. Or one of many less known charters (like Soujourner Truth). Stop pretending that mental health/SN issues justify cheating. That’s a real insult to the many, many of us DCPS families who manage to navigate the system without cheating. |