BASIS DC shut down/abolished the school list serve

[Anonymous]

Posters keep saying you can just add slots. This doesn't make sense when 25 slots went unfilled in a year with 100+ on the waitlist. What happened? Also, if you look at the AZ schools you will see that the enrollment by fade is a pyramid. Their budget is based on large lower grades as students leave in the upper grades. How can that happen when they can't fill a lower grade? The problem doesn't go away by simply adding spots. Why did this happen? Can it be prevented next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Posters keep saying you can just add slots. This doesn't make sense when 25 slots went unfilled in a year with 100+ on the waitlist. What happened? Also, if you look at the AZ schools you will see that the enrollment by fade is a pyramid. Their budget is based on large lower grades as students leave in the upper grades. How can that happen when they can't fill a lower grade? The problem doesn't go away by simply adding spots. Why did this happen? Can it be prevented next year?

Blah blah blah and more blah....

[Anonymous]

The 100+ on the waitlist was for grades other than 6th - but it still demonstrates there is demand. Thinking back to what I initially saw on the school data site, I think there actually was briefly a waitlist for 6th as well, but for whatever reason, those students did not materialize and numbers changed several times. Don't forget, as another wrinkle, the unified lottery process was also a brand new thing this year, and it's entirely possible that this scrambled some things up in terms of timing and process, and may have confounded reliable registrant and waitlist counts.

Ultimately, I believe the waitlist this year was bigger than it was the prior year, and bigger than the year before that, and for that reason, and in following the historic trend, I think it will likely be even bigger next year. Based on that historic trend, I for one am pretty confident it won't be any significant problem and that the total can be reached via planning out 5th and 6th. And from what I've seen, the school admins don't seem to think it's a problem either. And furthermore, as the upper school continues to build out with kids that started out as full BASIS cohorts in 5th and 6th grades and who have had the benefit of years of more gradual preparation and acclimatizing in the lower school by the time they get to the upper school, as opposed to the culture shock of being thrown right into the mix into something that's more rigorous and accelerated than what they are used to, I think we will see more retention and more fully populated and more reliable upper school grades with each coming year through the next several years as well - and that will also help with the total and reduce potential gaps or any future need for adjusting slots.

Remember, they've been through this start-up process many times before, and no doubt have a far greater knowledge base about how to make schools work and succeed than either of us do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Take that back. It might happen. But it would be completely unfair to whatever poor person asks the question.

This.

Not "blah blah blah." Thank you for adding ever so much needed fuel to an already blazing fire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:As a parent who received a call about one of those 6th grade spots (at nearly 100 on wait list) and turned it down, four words: totally dodged a bullet.

Why do you say that?

Please review pages 1-9 on this thread. Thank you.

What did you learn in between the time you put your child on the wait list and pages 1 through 9 of this thread?

That we weren't the only ones to not take a spot.
That older kids left the school too.
That the head of school has issues (though I suspected this on our tour).
That giving up $250k caught a lot of families off guard.
That we made the right decision.

I am glad you feel good about your decision and I'm glad that people have choices, including BASIS which is a good fit for many kids.

Totally feel great, thank you. Dodging a bullet is an amazing feeling.

Again, if you're going by what's been posted here on DCUM, it's probably no better than making a decision based on a Yelp posting with an angry review about not finding tacos on the menu at a Tapas bar, not understanding it's Spanish, not Mexican - and that tacos aren't a Spanish thing.

But, to each his own. Aside from the two or three people here, there are hundreds of happy and satisfied BASIS DC families.

I am pretty surprised that you contine to post. After saying it is so great people have a choice you continue to put down their choice.

Really, it is great that you are at BASIS and great we aren't. We dodged a massive bullet. You and the previous crazy posters just reaffirm our decision for our child. Perhaps sending your child to BASIS everyday reaffirms yours. Unclench BASIS parent. There is no parent in their right mind who wouldn't be a bit put off by this thread. I only followed because I did wonder. Now I don't. Not at all.

And This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Posters keep saying you can just add slots. This doesn't make sense when 25 slots went unfilled in a year with 100+ on the waitlist. What happened? Also, if you look at the AZ schools you will see that the enrollment by fade is a pyramid. Their budget is based on large lower grades as students leave in the upper grades. How can that happen when they can't fill a lower grade? The problem doesn't go away by simply adding spots. Why did this happen? Can it be prevented next year?

And This

[Anonymous]

^ "This" = trolling

Basically just "NP here and despite the fact that I know virtually nothing about BASIS whatsoever, you should all listen to my poorly informed opinion, wherein I chime in and deem it to be the worst school ever!"

[Anonymous]

^ "And, I'm just going to ignore everything anyone else has to say and just keep reiterating and re-quoting my previously demonstrated half-baked and poorly informed opinions..."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ "And, I'm just going to ignore everything anyone else has to say and just keep reiterating and re-quoting my previously demonstrated half-baked and poorly informed opinions..."

....and more and more blah blah blah

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The 100+ on the waitlist was for grades other than 6th - but it still demonstrates there is demand. Thinking back to what I initially saw on the school data site, I think there actually was briefly a waitlist for 6th as well, but for whatever reason, those students did not materialize and numbers changed several times. Don't forget, as another wrinkle, the unified lottery process was also a brand new thing this year, and it's entirely possible that this scrambled some things up in terms of timing and process, and may have confounded reliable registrant and waitlist counts.

Ultimately, I believe the waitlist this year was bigger than it was the prior year, and bigger than the year before that, and for that reason, and in following the historic trend, I think it will likely be even bigger next year. Based on that historic trend, I for one am pretty confident it won't be any significant problem and that the total can be reached via planning out 5th and 6th. And from what I've seen, the school admins don't seem to think it's a problem either. And furthermore, as the upper school continues to build out with kids that started out as full BASIS cohorts in 5th and 6th grades and who have had the benefit of years of more gradual preparation and acclimatizing in the lower school by the time they get to the upper school, as opposed to the culture shock of being thrown right into the mix into something that's more rigorous and accelerated than what they are used to, I think we will see more retention and more fully populated and more reliable upper school grades with each coming year through the next several years as well - and that will also help with the total and reduce potential gaps or any future need for adjusting slots.

Remember, they've been through this start-up process many times before, and no doubt have a far greater knowledge base about how to make schools work and succeed than either of us do.

My child was high 90s on the 6th grade waitlist and turned the spot down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not "a million" nor etched into stone. They can add students, they can make it up next year, et cetera, et cetera.

And, just to point out....

They know what their numbers are, they know what their financials are, they know what their model is. They've been doing this for 20 years, they've successfully started and run at least a half dozen schools, I believe that's far more than anyone here on this thread ever has or ever will, [/b]I tend to think they know a thing or two more about how all of this works than any of us here does. This is what they do. And accordingly, if they aren't concerned, then neither am I.

But of course, if anyone here is so brilliant and has such deeper insights into how schools can and should be run, then I wonder why that person isn't out there starting and running an even better school than BASIS. Submit a charter document to the PCSB.

Please see below: it appears that BASIS is no longer intending to run a BASIS school in DC.
AND please correct me if I am wrong, ASAP

"Volunteers Needed: BASIS DC Information Sessions for 2015 – 2016 School Year
Please help get the word out to prospective families interested in learning more about BASIS DC. Consider posting the following information to your neighborhood list serves, newspapers or sharing via emails.

The next of many BASIS DC information sessions for prospective families [b]with rising students in 5th – 9th grades are scheduled for November 24th and December 17th. Information sessions are held at the school from 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. For more information or questions, please contact....."

Please, unless this is a terrible misunderstanding, tell me how accepting students in 5th-9th grades is following their tried and true model of only accepting students in 5th and 6th grades.

Please tell me again how losing the money for the 6th grade (probably more like $300k) was no big deal.

Please tell me again how losing some of our "top students" was no big deal because we only had to wait until BASIS DC was "fully enrolled" (according to our HOS) because the BASIS model takes into account constant attrition.

Please explain to me how this follows the BASIS "tried and true model" of 20 years.

This is NOT the way they run other BASIS schools.

Please tell me I am wrong, and give me examples of other BASIS charter schools where they accept 9th graders.

Please, please, find some way to reassure me, and please help me understand what is happening here.

Please help me figure out how and why and with what plausible explanation, [/b]if it was so easy to "replenish" our 5th and 6th grade population by just shifting a few things around they would possibly be considering enrolling new students [b]after 5th and 6th grade, the absolute cut off for every other BASIS charter school

Please tell me what this means for us, for our children, and for the future of BASIS DC.

I will rend or rent every garment I have if you can offer an explanation for this email that rocked me to my core.

They made a mistake coming in here accepting students past 6th, because they seemed to fail to realize that given mandatory social promotion, some of those students would not even be able to read. They recovered from it.

What are they doing now?

Someone, please explain this email to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The 100+ on the waitlist was for grades other than 6th - but it still demonstrates there is demand. Thinking back to what I initially saw on the school data site, I think there actually was briefly a waitlist for 6th as well, but for whatever reason, those students did not materialize and numbers changed several times. Don't forget, as another wrinkle, the unified lottery process was also a brand new thing this year, and it's entirely possible that this scrambled some things up in terms of timing and process, and may have confounded reliable registrant and waitlist counts.

Ultimately, I believe the waitlist this year was bigger than it was the prior year, and bigger than the year before that, and for that reason, and in following the historic trend, I think it will likely be even bigger next year. Based on that historic trend, I for one am pretty confident it won't be any significant problem and that the total can be reached via planning out 5th and 6th. And from what I've seen, the school admins don't seem to think it's a problem either. And furthermore, as the upper school continues to build out with kids that started out as full BASIS cohorts in 5th and 6th grades and who have had the benefit of years of more gradual preparation and acclimatizing in the lower school by the time they get to the upper school, as opposed to the culture shock of being thrown right into the mix into something that's more rigorous and accelerated than what they are used to, I think we will see more retention and more fully populated and more reliable upper school grades with each coming year through the next several years as well - and that will also help with the total and reduce potential gaps or any future need for adjusting slots.

Remember, they've been through this start-up process many times before, and no doubt have a far greater knowledge base about how to make schools work and succeed than either of us do.

Do you think that includes admitting new 7th, 8th, and 9th graders? Last year it was a typo. This year it may become a reality. What do you think about this?

[Anonymous]

*sigh*

Yet more speculation. Yet more wild extrapolation. Yet more unproductive, uninformed navelgazing.

This thread has been and continues to be unproductive, useless, nothing but fear and angst driven by overactive minds full of assumptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:*sigh*

Yet more speculation. Yet more wild extrapolation. Yet more unproductive, uninformed navelgazing.

This thread has been and continues to be unproductive, useless, nothing but fear and angst driven by overactive minds full of assumptions.

I'm sorry, that is a memo to BASIS DC parents about talking to rising 5th through 9th graders about coming to BASIS DC. The entire debate about what undisputably was a financial debacle assumed that BASIS would stick with their tried and true program of 20 years in DC - "backfill", "replenish", "readjust" whatever 5th and 6th acceptances only

We relied on this. When I asked Olga what they did with students in places where the charter did not permit them to keep students from applying in upper grades, she said that they said, "fine, apply, we administer placement tests" and then would "place" those high school kids in 7th grade so they would not come. What are we doing here?

[Anonymous]

You've already answered your own question. For upper grade admissions, if they are to be admitted at all, their schools use placement tests. If a student places appropriately to grade level, they are admitted into that grade. If not, they are placed in a lower grade.