October waitlist data is up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can see how this thread about ultimate waitlist results for this year shifted to BASIS. It is one of the few (maybe the only?) school which became much harder to get into. This is really significant and is perhaps the reason nobody else is actually chiming in on this thread with other notable waitlist observations. Indeed, many “HRCS” which used to have long waitlists and few people taken off the waitlist now have much shorter waitlists or no waitlists at all. So many reasons for this, including, of course, the way the schools handled the pandemic. What’s interesting though is that post-pandemic people are not as thrilled about these schools because of the lack of rigor and/or classroom management that has perhaps been that way all along but is now more pronounced. BASIS offers the organization and rigor often missing elsewhere around the city and thus the school should have no trouble continuing to attract more students and keeping an ever-growing waitlist.

I think this thread has illuminated some of the important reasons why BASIS attracts students/families initially and why it has trouble keeping them, which has seemingly always been an issue at BASIS. The school, including the HOS (which I personally find extremely responsive and informative, especially compared to our prior school experiences) wants to work with parents to fix retention and improve school morale in whatever ways are feasible. This will take time and effort from both the admins and the parents. To me, it seems that people who might otherwise move or go private might not do so at the same rates in the near future due to the rising costs of both of those options and that may have the consequence of families feeling more invested in the BASIS high school program and hopefully creating the change that they feel would improve the school.

This line could easily have been posted a year ago, or five, or ten. Fact is, 9th grade enrollment continues to fluctuate widely. One year, four dozen 8th graders will re-enroll, the next year 80 will. The state of admissions to Walls seems more relevant than "families feeling more invested in the BASIS HS" in determining how many 8th graders return for 9th grade than what goes on at BASIS.

From what I gather, almost all of my kid's friends will leave for Walls if they get a spot. Pre Covid, these kids would've had a better chance of cracking Walls, with testing dropped from the application during the pandemic, a permanent seeming change.

There's only so much that can be done to convince somewhere between a third and half of the BASIS 8th graders to return to a program with weak facilities, a cramped building jammed with MS students, a v. limited choice of serious extra-curriculars, and an increasingly unstable faculty. BASIS isn't just competing with Walls, it's competing with GW Univ, where Walls students can take college classes. At BASIS, other than for math, no subjects are taught past the AP level. We will leave BASIS for another reason: we don't like how the program crams almost all HS classes into just three years, with senior year devoted to independent research and applying to colleges.

We don't think that this HoS is capable of improving morale. He might retain more 8th graders, given the tough Walls admissions situation, but we doubt that he'll retain more of his best HS teachers going forward.

He won't succeed, as measured by 9th grade enrollments. But if enrollments do increase it won't have anything to do with him. Hmmm.

I find it strange that people like PP who were at BASIS for 4 years in MS, whose kids excelled and are able to test into and gain admission to HS so easily complain about BASIS without any acknowledgement of what came before.

I agree with this sentiment. As the parent of an 8th grader, I feel that my kid has gotten an excellent middle school education at BASIS. I find it hard to believe that the quality somehow becomes subpar in high school. If my kid gets in to Walls, we will have the discussion then about where kid wants to go (and I think a lot of it will depend on whether there will be a "reunion" with elementary school friends at Walls since they all scattered to different middle schools). WRT chances of Walls admission . . . I think there are currently approx 85 8th graders at BASIS. I would guess roughly 30% have the requisite 3.7-3.8 GPA required to get an interview at Walls (last year's GPA cutoff). Applying last year's 64% admit rate to those who got an interview, somewhere around 17 or 18 kids will have the option to go to Walls . . . .others will head to private, leaving (my guess) a 9th grade cohort of 65 or so.

Does BASIS fill the seats of those who leave for ninth grade?

No. Wish they would, we would happily apply for 9th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can see how this thread about ultimate waitlist results for this year shifted to BASIS. It is one of the few (maybe the only?) school which became much harder to get into. This is really significant and is perhaps the reason nobody else is actually chiming in on this thread with other notable waitlist observations. Indeed, many “HRCS” which used to have long waitlists and few people taken off the waitlist now have much shorter waitlists or no waitlists at all. So many reasons for this, including, of course, the way the schools handled the pandemic. What’s interesting though is that post-pandemic people are not as thrilled about these schools because of the lack of rigor and/or classroom management that has perhaps been that way all along but is now more pronounced. BASIS offers the organization and rigor often missing elsewhere around the city and thus the school should have no trouble continuing to attract more students and keeping an ever-growing waitlist.

I think this thread has illuminated some of the important reasons why BASIS attracts students/families initially and why it has trouble keeping them, which has seemingly always been an issue at BASIS. The school, including the HOS (which I personally find extremely responsive and informative, especially compared to our prior school experiences) wants to work with parents to fix retention and improve school morale in whatever ways are feasible. This will take time and effort from both the admins and the parents. To me, it seems that people who might otherwise move or go private might not do so at the same rates in the near future due to the rising costs of both of those options and that may have the consequence of families feeling more invested in the BASIS high school program and hopefully creating the change that they feel would improve the school.

This line could easily have been posted a year ago, or five, or ten. Fact is, 9th grade enrollment continues to fluctuate widely. One year, four dozen 8th graders will re-enroll, the next year 80 will. The state of admissions to Walls seems more relevant than "families feeling more invested in the BASIS HS" in determining how many 8th graders return for 9th grade than what goes on at BASIS.

From what I gather, almost all of my kid's friends will leave for Walls if they get a spot. Pre Covid, these kids would've had a better chance of cracking Walls, with testing dropped from the application during the pandemic, a permanent seeming change.

There's only so much that can be done to convince somewhere between a third and half of the BASIS 8th graders to return to a program with weak facilities, a cramped building jammed with MS students, a v. limited choice of serious extra-curriculars, and an increasingly unstable faculty. BASIS isn't just competing with Walls, it's competing with GW Univ, where Walls students can take college classes. At BASIS, other than for math, no subjects are taught past the AP level. We will leave BASIS for another reason: we don't like how the program crams almost all HS classes into just three years, with senior year devoted to independent research and applying to colleges.

We don't think that this HoS is capable of improving morale. He might retain more 8th graders, given the tough Walls admissions situation, but we doubt that he'll retain more of his best HS teachers going forward.

He won't succeed, as measured by 9th grade enrollments. But if enrollments do increase it won't have anything to do with him. Hmmm.

I find it strange that people like PP who were at BASIS for 4 years in MS, whose kids excelled and are able to test into and gain admission to HS so easily complain about BASIS without any acknowledgement of what came before.

Is lack of acknowledgement what's strangest, or the fact that most of the families still leave after middle school most years?

BASIS obviously does a great job of turning 4th grade families EotP onto the program. Just look at the length of that 5th grade wait list here in the late fall! But the fact remains that the BASIS romance has soured for more than half the families as recently as SY 2021-2022.

Blame parents if you want, and cheer for the HoS, but your arguments aren't as convincing as the numbers.

Some day someone is going to explain to me what causes people like you to just make up facts. They have never lost half of the 8th grade class. The published data tell us that with respect to rising 9th graders, BASIS lost 15% last year (92 to 78), 25% in 21-22 (71 to 53) and 10% the year prior (79 to 71). They also lose very few students from 9th grade through 12th. DC has choice. The application HS offerings in DC are much better than at any other level. It does no surprise that kids apply to and enroll in application HS. For many families the only reason they are still here to apply for HS is that BASIS gave them a viable option for MS.

You remind me of MAGA uncles who say things with great conviction and think that because they and their friends repeat them they become facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can see how this thread about ultimate waitlist results for this year shifted to BASIS. It is one of the few (maybe the only?) school which became much harder to get into. This is really significant and is perhaps the reason nobody else is actually chiming in on this thread with other notable waitlist observations. Indeed, many “HRCS” which used to have long waitlists and few people taken off the waitlist now have much shorter waitlists or no waitlists at all. So many reasons for this, including, of course, the way the schools handled the pandemic. What’s interesting though is that post-pandemic people are not as thrilled about these schools because of the lack of rigor and/or classroom management that has perhaps been that way all along but is now more pronounced. BASIS offers the organization and rigor often missing elsewhere around the city and thus the school should have no trouble continuing to attract more students and keeping an ever-growing waitlist.

I think this thread has illuminated some of the important reasons why BASIS attracts students/families initially and why it has trouble keeping them, which has seemingly always been an issue at BASIS. The school, including the HOS (which I personally find extremely responsive and informative, especially compared to our prior school experiences) wants to work with parents to fix retention and improve school morale in whatever ways are feasible. This will take time and effort from both the admins and the parents. To me, it seems that people who might otherwise move or go private might not do so at the same rates in the near future due to the rising costs of both of those options and that may have the consequence of families feeling more invested in the BASIS high school program and hopefully creating the change that they feel would improve the school.

This line could easily have been posted a year ago, or five, or ten. Fact is, 9th grade enrollment continues to fluctuate widely. One year, four dozen 8th graders will re-enroll, the next year 80 will. The state of admissions to Walls seems more relevant than "families feeling more invested in the BASIS HS" in determining how many 8th graders return for 9th grade than what goes on at BASIS.

From what I gather, almost all of my kid's friends will leave for Walls if they get a spot. Pre Covid, these kids would've had a better chance of cracking Walls, with testing dropped from the application during the pandemic, a permanent seeming change.

There's only so much that can be done to convince somewhere between a third and half of the BASIS 8th graders to return to a program with weak facilities, a cramped building jammed with MS students, a v. limited choice of serious extra-curriculars, and an increasingly unstable faculty. BASIS isn't just competing with Walls, it's competing with GW Univ, where Walls students can take college classes. At BASIS, other than for math, no subjects are taught past the AP level. We will leave BASIS for another reason: we don't like how the program crams almost all HS classes into just three years, with senior year devoted to independent research and applying to colleges.

We don't think that this HoS is capable of improving morale. He might retain more 8th graders, given the tough Walls admissions situation, but we doubt that he'll retain more of his best HS teachers going forward.

He won't succeed, as measured by 9th grade enrollments. But if enrollments do increase it won't have anything to do with him. Hmmm.

I find it strange that people like PP who were at BASIS for 4 years in MS, whose kids excelled and are able to test into and gain admission to HS so easily complain about BASIS without any acknowledgement of what came before.

I agree with this sentiment. As the parent of an 8th grader, I feel that my kid has gotten an excellent middle school education at BASIS. I find it hard to believe that the quality somehow becomes subpar in high school. If my kid gets in to Walls, we will have the discussion then about where kid wants to go (and I think a lot of it will depend on whether there will be a "reunion" with elementary school friends at Walls since they all scattered to different middle schools). WRT chances of Walls admission . . . I think there are currently approx 85 8th graders at BASIS. I would guess roughly 30% have the requisite 3.7-3.8 GPA required to get an interview at Walls (last year's GPA cutoff). Applying last year's 64% admit rate to those who got an interview, somewhere around 17 or 18 kids will have the option to go to Walls . . . .others will head to private, leaving (my guess) a 9th grade cohort of 65 or so.

Does BASIS fill the seats of those who leave for ninth grade?

They do not because DC won't let them do a placement test to place kids in the year appropriate to their grade level. DC insists on social promotion. BASIS doesn't socially promote at any of their schools. Hence, no backfilling.

[Anonymous]

Like droves of parents EotP, we felt a little desperate for an acceptable public MS. The reality is that we (collective we) have somewhat better HS options in the public system. We can swing parochial HS for 4 years if necessary (but couldn't have paid tuition from 5th or 6th on up). Our kid might crack Walls and will probably be admitted to Banneker. We might even rent IB for JR in a pinch.

For the e-record, grateful as I am to have had BASIS for MS, given a choice, I'll take a better-rounded, healthier and happier option. I want less rushing around as a family to seek out serious sports and music. I want nothing more to do with the intransigent HoS.

I'm hoping that my kid can take classes at Walls with excellent former BASIS teachers who bailed to DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like droves of parents EotP, we felt a little desperate for an acceptable public MS. The reality is that we (collective we) have somewhat better HS options in the public system. We can swing parochial HS for 4 years if necessary (but couldn't have paid tuition from 5th or 6th on up). Our kid might crack Walls and will probably be admitted to Banneker. We might even rent IB for JR in a pinch.

For the e-record, grateful as I am to have had BASIS for MS, given a choice, I'll take a better-rounded, healthier and happier option. I want less rushing around as a family to seek out serious sports and music. I want nothing more to do with the intransigent HoS.

I'm hoping that my kid can take classes at Walls with excellent former BASIS teachers who bailed to DCPS.

What does that mean? If you had unlimited money and/or didn't live in DC you'd choose something else? That's the part about the BASIS animosity I cannot comprehend. The question for parents in DC is not whether Sidwell is a better than public options (it is!) or whether there are better schools outside of DC (there are!), the question is what is the best available option at any grade. For many families that is BASIS. Does not mean that BASIS is perfect or that there are not things people would change given additional resources. (e.g. obviously the building)

Something else just occurred to me. If there are SOOOOO many BASIS teachers who bailed for Walls (unconfirmed as those reports may be), why were those jobs open in the first place? Wouldn't that mean that teachers left Walls in order to open up those slots? What's wrong at Walls that caused all those teachers to leave!!!! (Kidding, it's a bogus argument in both cases.)

[Anonymous]

Feeling defensive today? Our tax dollars support BASIS and we haven’t been bowled over by the quality of the program. There’s no guilting this mother into sounding grateful. As has been pointed out, too many good teachers run off for for better pay etc., particularly to Walls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Feeling defensive today? Our tax dollars support BASIS and we haven’t been bowled over by the quality of the program. There’s no guilting this mother into sounding grateful. As has been pointed out, too many good teachers run off for for better pay etc., particularly to Walls.

Huh? Your tax dollars support all public schools. "I pay taxes" is the weakest of weak-minded defenses to anything. Did someone suggest you don't pay taxes? Or that BASIS does not receive funding as a charter school? I must have missed those posts.

If you are feeling guilt that's odd, and on you. Why do BASIS families all seem to have such a martyr complex? Teachers are leaving all over academia. It is possible that more teachers are leaving BASIS than at other area schools, but people like you with persecution complexes are imperfect messengers who spout rumors as fact. Maybe the teachers are leaving because they are sick of entitled BASIS parents complaining? I know I find you all somewhat tiresome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like droves of parents EotP, we felt a little desperate for an acceptable public MS. The reality is that we (collective we) have somewhat better HS options in the public system. We can swing parochial HS for 4 years if necessary (but couldn't have paid tuition from 5th or 6th on up). Our kid might crack Walls and will probably be admitted to Banneker. We might even rent IB for JR in a pinch.

For the e-record, grateful as I am to have had BASIS for MS, given a choice, I'll take a better-rounded, healthier and happier option. I want less rushing around as a family to seek out serious sports and music. I want nothing more to do with the intransigent HoS.

I'm hoping that my kid can take classes at Walls with excellent former BASIS teachers who bailed to DCPS.

What does that mean? If you had unlimited money and/or didn't live in DC you'd choose something else? That's the part about the BASIS animosity I cannot comprehend. The question for parents in DC is not whether Sidwell is a better than public options (it is!) or whether there are better schools outside of DC (there are!), the question is what is the best available option at any grade. For many families that is BASIS. Does not mean that BASIS is perfect or that there are not things people would change given additional resources. (e.g. obviously the building)

Something else just occurred to me. If there are SOOOOO many BASIS teachers who bailed for Walls (unconfirmed as those reports may be), why were those jobs open in the first place? Wouldn't that mean that teachers left Walls in order to open up those slots? What's wrong at Walls that caused all those teachers to leave!!!! (Kidding, it's a bogus argument in both cases.)

You and the HoS, both. If BASIS DC wants more ethnic diversity, along with better retention of ms families and more robust college admissions (not clear), more attention needs to be paid to individual backgrounds and academic preferences of the families who stick around until 7th or 8th grade.

I switched my kid to a suburban system (where my ex lives) where students can freely test out of program requirements from 8th grade on up. What this means is that if your family is in a position to prep a kid independently for particular APs, say Japanese and Art-Drawing, the school doesn't require your student to take classes in language or art.

The lack of flexibility in the high school curriculum at BASIS, including for the most ambitious and capable students, invites hostility on the part of free spirits whose children can score high on a slew of AP exams.

You conformists adore BASIS, but non-conformists who aim high and put nose to the grindstone should be more welcome on campus for our hard-earned tax dollars. This business of, don't-like-what-we-offer-take-a-hike is a drag, particularly in cases where the BASIS curriculum presents few challenges for your kid. The issue isn't just resources; there's a provincial mindset under-girding the operation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like droves of parents EotP, we felt a little desperate for an acceptable public MS. The reality is that we (collective we) have somewhat better HS options in the public system. We can swing parochial HS for 4 years if necessary (but couldn't have paid tuition from 5th or 6th on up). Our kid might crack Walls and will probably be admitted to Banneker. We might even rent IB for JR in a pinch.

For the e-record, grateful as I am to have had BASIS for MS, given a choice, I'll take a better-rounded, healthier and happier option. I want less rushing around as a family to seek out serious sports and music. I want nothing more to do with the intransigent HoS.

I'm hoping that my kid can take classes at Walls with excellent former BASIS teachers who bailed to DCPS.

What does that mean? If you had unlimited money and/or didn't live in DC you'd choose something else? That's the part about the BASIS animosity I cannot comprehend. The question for parents in DC is not whether Sidwell is a better than public options (it is!) or whether there are better schools outside of DC (there are!), the question is what is the best available option at any grade. For many families that is BASIS. Does not mean that BASIS is perfect or that there are not things people would change given additional resources. (e.g. obviously the building)

Something else just occurred to me. If there are SOOOOO many BASIS teachers who bailed for Walls (unconfirmed as those reports may be), why were those jobs open in the first place? Wouldn't that mean that teachers left Walls in order to open up those slots? What's wrong at Walls that caused all those teachers to leave!!!! (Kidding, it's a bogus argument in both cases.)

You and the HoS, both. If BASIS DC wants more ethnic diversity, along with better retention of ms families and more robust college admissions (not clear), more attention needs to be paid to individual backgrounds and academic preferences of the families who stick around until 7th or 8th grade.

I switched my kid to a suburban system (where my ex lives) where students can freely test out of program requirements from 8th grade on up. What this means is that if your family is in a position to prep a kid independently for particular APs, say Japanese and Art-Drawing, the school doesn't require your student to take classes in language or art.

The lack of flexibility in the high school curriculum at BASIS, including for the most ambitious and capable students, invites hostility on the part of free spirits whose children can score high on a slew of AP exams.

You conformists adore BASIS, but non-conformists who aim high and put nose to the grindstone should be more welcome on campus for our hard-earned tax dollars. This business of, don't-like-what-we-offer-take-a-hike is a drag, particularly in cases where the BASIS curriculum presents few challenges for your kid. The issue isn't just resources; there's a provincial mindset under-girding the operation.

You lack perspective. Take a look at the complaints about BASIS on DCUM and you will see it is at once too rigorous (doesn't do enough to help kids who are behind) and also not rigorous enough (kids are bored). It has too great a focus on AP exams and also doesn't allow kids to sign up for AP exams in other subjects. You moved from (BASIS total enrollment in 5-12 650) to a suburban public school with way more kids per grade and a mandate to meet the needs of a broad based population; they take all comers. Yet you seem perplexed by why BASIS can't offer the same range of academics and flexibility as the suburban school. That's not how BASIS or DCI or Duke Ellington are designed. They are singular entities with specific focus and approaches. You used the word "provincial", I assume to suggest a limited focus or offering. That's accurate. No charter has scale or mandate to be all things to all people. They schools that try tend to fail pretty miserably.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Feeling defensive today? Our tax dollars support BASIS and we haven’t been bowled over by the quality of the program. There’s no guilting this mother into sounding grateful. As has been pointed out, too many good teachers run off for for better pay etc., particularly to Walls.

People in this forum like to compare Walls to BASIS HS as if they are the same. Walls is an application HS admitting kids with high GPAs from a variety of MS and neighborhoods (including W2 and W3). Walls kids have proven academic successes and survived an application process. BASIS has kids who were admitted by pure lottery in 5th grade. Some of them are academic rock stars and some are working hard but are not exceptionally academically inclined.

[Anonymous]

BASIS leaders lack perspective. One size fits all only works so well in college admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can see how this thread about ultimate waitlist results for this year shifted to BASIS. It is one of the few (maybe the only?) school which became much harder to get into. This is really significant and is perhaps the reason nobody else is actually chiming in on this thread with other notable waitlist observations. Indeed, many “HRCS” which used to have long waitlists and few people taken off the waitlist now have much shorter waitlists or no waitlists at all. So many reasons for this, including, of course, the way the schools handled the pandemic. What’s interesting though is that post-pandemic people are not as thrilled about these schools because of the lack of rigor and/or classroom management that has perhaps been that way all along but is now more pronounced. BASIS offers the organization and rigor often missing elsewhere around the city and thus the school should have no trouble continuing to attract more students and keeping an ever-growing waitlist.

I think this thread has illuminated some of the important reasons why BASIS attracts students/families initially and why it has trouble keeping them, which has seemingly always been an issue at BASIS. The school, including the HOS (which I personally find extremely responsive and informative, especially compared to our prior school experiences) wants to work with parents to fix retention and improve school morale in whatever ways are feasible. This will take time and effort from both the admins and the parents. To me, it seems that people who might otherwise move or go private might not do so at the same rates in the near future due to the rising costs of both of those options and that may have the consequence of families feeling more invested in the BASIS high school program and hopefully creating the change that they feel would improve the school.

This line could easily have been posted a year ago, or five, or ten. Fact is, 9th grade enrollment continues to fluctuate widely. One year, four dozen 8th graders will re-enroll, the next year 80 will. The state of admissions to Walls seems more relevant than "families feeling more invested in the BASIS HS" in determining how many 8th graders return for 9th grade than what goes on at BASIS.

From what I gather, almost all of my kid's friends will leave for Walls if they get a spot. Pre Covid, these kids would've had a better chance of cracking Walls, with testing dropped from the application during the pandemic, a permanent seeming change.

There's only so much that can be done to convince somewhere between a third and half of the BASIS 8th graders to return to a program with weak facilities, a cramped building jammed with MS students, a v. limited choice of serious extra-curriculars, and an increasingly unstable faculty. BASIS isn't just competing with Walls, it's competing with GW Univ, where Walls students can take college classes. At BASIS, other than for math, no subjects are taught past the AP level. We will leave BASIS for another reason: we don't like how the program crams almost all HS classes into just three years, with senior year devoted to independent research and applying to colleges.

We don't think that this HoS is capable of improving morale. He might retain more 8th graders, given the tough Walls admissions situation, but we doubt that he'll retain more of his best HS teachers going forward.

He won't succeed, as measured by 9th grade enrollments. But if enrollments do increase it won't have anything to do with him. Hmmm.

I find it strange that people like PP who were at BASIS for 4 years in MS, whose kids excelled and are able to test into and gain admission to HS so easily complain about BASIS without any acknowledgement of what came before.

I agree with this sentiment. As the parent of an 8th grader, I feel that my kid has gotten an excellent middle school education at BASIS. I find it hard to believe that the quality somehow becomes subpar in high school. If my kid gets in to Walls, we will have the discussion then about where kid wants to go (and I think a lot of it will depend on whether there will be a "reunion" with elementary school friends at Walls since they all scattered to different middle schools). WRT chances of Walls admission . . . I think there are currently approx 85 8th graders at BASIS. I would guess roughly 30% have the requisite 3.7-3.8 GPA required to get an interview at Walls (last year's GPA cutoff). Applying last year's 64% admit rate to those who got an interview, somewhere around 17 or 18 kids will have the option to go to Walls . . . .others will head to private, leaving (my guess) a 9th grade cohort of 65 or so.

Does BASIS fill the seats of those who leave for ninth grade?

They do not because DC won't let them do a placement test to place kids in the year appropriate to their grade level. DC insists on social promotion. BASIS doesn't socially promote at any of their schools. Hence, no backfilling.

Convenient.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, while I can’t speak to the glorification of the former HOS, as a current 8th grade parent, my experience of her was that she’s the one who quit with no notice during the middle of a school year, leaving a school in crisis and without leadership. Maybe her reasons were sound, but since they were never shared by her, all I know is that she’s the one who walked away from the job in the middle of the year without an explanation.

+1

And I would like to know what the bilingual parents expect of BASIS if their students could take the AP Spanish test in 8th grade. Then what? BASIS would have to give them college-level Spanish instruction? So weird. Just go to DCI already.

And good luck to all of the families who think they will get into Walls, especially if you aren't the right demographic. Walls isn't really application when you get right down to it. . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like droves of parents EotP, we felt a little desperate for an acceptable public MS. The reality is that we (collective we) have somewhat better HS options in the public system. We can swing parochial HS for 4 years if necessary (but couldn't have paid tuition from 5th or 6th on up). Our kid might crack Walls and will probably be admitted to Banneker. We might even rent IB for JR in a pinch.

For the e-record, grateful as I am to have had BASIS for MS, given a choice, I'll take a better-rounded, healthier and happier option. I want less rushing around as a family to seek out serious sports and music. I want nothing more to do with the intransigent HoS.

I'm hoping that my kid can take classes at Walls with excellent former BASIS teachers who bailed to DCPS.

What does that mean? If you had unlimited money and/or didn't live in DC you'd choose something else? That's the part about the BASIS animosity I cannot comprehend. The question for parents in DC is not whether Sidwell is a better than public options (it is!) or whether there are better schools outside of DC (there are!), the question is what is the best available option at any grade. For many families that is BASIS. Does not mean that BASIS is perfect or that there are not things people would change given additional resources. (e.g. obviously the building)

Something else just occurred to me. If there are SOOOOO many BASIS teachers who bailed for Walls (unconfirmed as those reports may be), why were those jobs open in the first place? Wouldn't that mean that teachers left Walls in order to open up those slots? What's wrong at Walls that caused all those teachers to leave!!!! (Kidding, it's a bogus argument in both cases.)

PP is pretty off base about teachers at Walls. One teacher left Walls last year, was replaced by the only former Basis teacher at Walls. As for the teacher being excellent I can’t speak to that. But Walls does not have much teacher turnover.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, while I can’t speak to the glorification of the former HOS, as a current 8th grade parent, my experience of her was that she’s the one who quit with no notice during the middle of a school year, leaving a school in crisis and without leadership. Maybe her reasons were sound, but since they were never shared by her, all I know is that she’s the one who walked away from the job in the middle of the year without an explanation.

+1

And I would like to know what the bilingual parents expect of BASIS if their students could take the AP Spanish test in 8th grade. Then what? BASIS would have to give them college-level Spanish instruction? So weird. Just go to DCI already.

And good luck to all of the families who think they will get into Walls, especially if you aren't the right demographic. Walls isn't really application when you get right down to it. . .

This one's a no brainer. Have them take other AP courses of their choosing. How about more history and government, more art, more lit, more whatever.

What's weird is how narrow-minded one poster and one high-octane charter can be. Just go get a great liberal arts education already. You might learn to think outside the box.