BASIS charter expansion is up for public comment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Walls does more to arrange for kids to pursue after-school internships around town.

Based on what I've seen, this is true. BASIS did pretty much nothing to help our kid pursue an internship. If you're at BASIS, keep that in mind and start trying to make arrangements yourself. Even if it's for a bulls**t "internship", it will be something for college apps (an aside - I've never seen so many teenagers that can't change a tire doing "research" at some random lab)

One thing I'll say about BASIS sports - with such a small school, your non-talented son or daughter is much more likely to be able to play a varsity sport if that's important to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have personal experience with Both Basis and Walls...here is the lowdown:

Neither school is great......better option if you can pay or move, if not live with the choice

Basis is run on a shoestring due to Az. parent company siphoning off $$$$, and thus winds up with young, inexperienced, underpaid teachers who are prone to leave for higher paying jobs, Walls has less of this problem and does get some benefit of DCPS bloated budgets

Basis curriculum, while average in terms of area high schools, is more advanced than Walls, esp. in 9th and 10th grades. Walls kids can take some classes in 11th and 12th at GW to partially make up....

Both schools have a lack of facilities.....

Both school have atrocious staff, i.e. do not care about doing their job well or are incapable of doing it well

Walls will have a better 12th grade cohort (but that gap varies by year) as Basis kids left by 12th grade will be the lifers from 5th grade......Walls admissions quality watered down over the years but still get a sampling of higher performing middle school kids

Less time intensive academics at Walls allows kids to spend more time on ECs & Walls has more selective school legacies...and better rep among AOs........leading to better college admission outcomes than Basis (but not stellar in general admissions outcomes)......

Basis has an odd 12th grade schedule.....not clear if that hurts Basis kids in admissions

You have "experience" at both schools? What does that mean? You know someone who knows someone? Doesn't like you had a kid at both.

Anyone who makes such exaggerated statements lacks credibility and doesn't really understand the schools.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think the reason BASIS parents get so defensive when posters present data showing that BASIS isn’t “advanced” when compared to other schools, e.g. Walls and MD and VA suburban schools, is that BASIS’s reputation for being oh-so-advanced is literally the only thing it has going for it. The building sucks, the extracurricular are a joke and the administration is awful. People put up with all of that because they think their kid is getting an amazingly advanced education.

Are you getting a better education than say, Elliot Hine? Of course you are. But don’t try to pretend that BASIS DC is better than Walls or top suburban high schools. It’s clearly and measurably not.

No one is pretending that the high school is better than Walls or a suburban (?) high school. But the middle school is such an excellent option for those who aren't zoned for Deal and Hardy. And the high school is a very very decent backup to Walls.

Well, plenty of kids turn down Walls to stay at BASIS so I guess they don't think that Walls is better.

Plus, the test scores are about the same, even given the fact that Walls selects their student body and BASIS is stuck with 100% lottery. And parents that left BASIS for Walls freely concede that Walls doesn't have the same rigor as BASIS and is weaker academically.

Yes - I am one of those parents! Walls has other positive attributes, but so far strong academics is not one of them.

There are also Basis kids who have struggled academically at Walls. It goes both ways!

Are you kidding? We aren’t aware of any.

I'm a different poster and also know of BASIS kids who have struggled at Walls.

BASIS kids are not all at the very top of their respective years. Let's not try to pretend that Walls is a cakewalk.

Both BASIS and Walls can be good enough options for high school.

But (leaving aside whether some former BASIS kids struggle) Walls IS a cakewalk - at least in 9th and 10th grades. I have yet to see one post asserting otherwise (that in their view, Walls has challenging academics in 9th and 10th grade . . . . someone above noted Walls is challenging in 11th . . . . because you can take dual enrollment classes at GW. Hmmm).

Few kids do dual enrollment and the kids who do one-off classes often do obscure ones (e.g., 17th century Mongolian literature) that regular GW students avoid.

[Anonymous]

yes genius have had kids at both and know many parents at both, current and parents of graduates dating back almost a decade.....in other words, a lot of experience at Walls and Basis

what about you?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have personal experience with Both Basis and Walls...here is the lowdown:

Neither school is great......better option if you can pay or move, if not live with the choice

Basis is run on a shoestring due to Az. parent company siphoning off $$$$, and thus winds up with young, inexperienced, underpaid teachers who are prone to leave for higher paying jobs, Walls has less of this problem and does get some benefit of DCPS bloated budgets

Basis curriculum, while average in terms of area high schools, is more advanced than Walls, esp. in 9th and 10th grades. Walls kids can take some classes in 11th and 12th at GW to partially make up....

Both schools have a lack of facilities.....

Both school have atrocious staff, i.e. do not care about doing their job well or are incapable of doing it well

Walls will have a better 12th grade cohort (but that gap varies by year) as Basis kids left by 12th grade will be the lifers from 5th grade......Walls admissions quality watered down over the years but still get a sampling of higher performing middle school kids

Less time intensive academics at Walls allows kids to spend more time on ECs & Walls has more selective school legacies...and better rep among AOs........leading to better college admission outcomes than Basis (but not stellar in general admissions outcomes)......

Basis has an odd 12th grade schedule.....not clear if that hurts Basis kids in admissions

You have "experience" at both schools? What does that mean? You know someone who knows someone? Doesn't like you had a kid at both.

Anyone who makes such exaggerated statements lacks credibility and doesn't really understand the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have personal experience with Both Basis and Walls...here is the lowdown:

Neither school is great......better option if you can pay or move, if not live with the choice

Basis is run on a shoestring due to Az. parent company siphoning off $$$$, and thus winds up with young, inexperienced, underpaid teachers who are prone to leave for higher paying jobs, Walls has less of this problem and does get some benefit of DCPS bloated budgets

Basis curriculum, while average in terms of area high schools, is more advanced than Walls, esp. in 9th and 10th grades. Walls kids can take some classes in 11th and 12th at GW to partially make up....

Both schools have a lack of facilities.....

Both school have atrocious staff, i.e. do not care about doing their job well or are incapable of doing it well

Walls will have a better 12th grade cohort (but that gap varies by year) as Basis kids left by 12th grade will be the lifers from 5th grade......Walls admissions quality watered down over the years but still get a sampling of higher performing middle school kids

Less time intensive academics at Walls allows kids to spend more time on ECs & Walls has more selective school legacies...and better rep among AOs........leading to better college admission outcomes than Basis (but not stellar in general admissions outcomes)......

Basis has an odd 12th grade schedule.....not clear if that hurts Basis kids in admissions

You have "experience" at both schools? What does that mean? You know someone who knows someone? Doesn't like you had a kid at both.

Anyone who makes such exaggerated statements lacks credibility and doesn't really understand the schools.

+1000

You seem to really have an axe to grind. You lost me at both schools have atrocious staff. That is quite the assertion and I’ve never seen a school where all staff were horrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the reason BASIS parents get so defensive when posters present data showing that BASIS isn’t “advanced” when compared to other schools, e.g. Walls and MD and VA suburban schools, is that BASIS’s reputation for being oh-so-advanced is literally the only thing it has going for it. The building sucks, the extracurricular are a joke and the administration is awful. People put up with all of that because they think their kid is getting an amazingly advanced education.

Are you getting a better education than say, Elliot Hine? Of course you are. But don’t try to pretend that BASIS DC is better than Walls or top suburban high schools. It’s clearly and measurably not.

No one is pretending that the high school is better than Walls or a suburban (?) high school. But the middle school is such an excellent option for those who aren't zoned for Deal and Hardy. And the high school is a very very decent backup to Walls.

Well, plenty of kids turn down Walls to stay at BASIS so I guess they don't think that Walls is better.

Plus, the test scores are about the same, even given the fact that Walls selects their student body and BASIS is stuck with 100% lottery. And parents that left BASIS for Walls freely concede that Walls doesn't have the same rigor as BASIS and is weaker academically.

Yes - I am one of those parents! Walls has other positive attributes, but so far strong academics is not one of them.

There are also Basis kids who have struggled academically at Walls. It goes both ways!

Are you kidding? We aren’t aware of any.

I'm a different poster and also know of BASIS kids who have struggled at Walls.

BASIS kids are not all at the very top of their respective years. Let's not try to pretend that Walls is a cakewalk.

Both BASIS and Walls can be good enough options for high school.

But (leaving aside whether some former BASIS kids struggle) Walls IS a cakewalk - at least in 9th and 10th grades. I have yet to see one post asserting otherwise (that in their view, Walls has challenging academics in 9th and 10th grade . . . . someone above noted Walls is challenging in 11th . . . . because you can take dual enrollment classes at GW. Hmmm).

Sorry but there are Basis kids who struggle at walls. Particularly in math and science. And yes they are in advanced classes freshmen and sophomore years. Some don’t pass AP exams, some get 3s and struggle. Not a cake walk for them!

[Anonymous]

no axe to grind just telling it like it is......dont expect admins or staff at Walls or Basis to go out of their waz to be helpful....if you know otherwise, please tell

funny how parents are so defensive when their school is critiqued....yet enjoy it when their rival gets the same

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have personal experience with Both Basis and Walls...here is the lowdown:

Neither school is great......better option if you can pay or move, if not live with the choice

Basis is run on a shoestring due to Az. parent company siphoning off $$$$, and thus winds up with young, inexperienced, underpaid teachers who are prone to leave for higher paying jobs, Walls has less of this problem and does get some benefit of DCPS bloated budgets

Basis curriculum, while average in terms of area high schools, is more advanced than Walls, esp. in 9th and 10th grades. Walls kids can take some classes in 11th and 12th at GW to partially make up....

Both schools have a lack of facilities.....

Both school have atrocious staff, i.e. do not care about doing their job well or are incapable of doing it well

Walls will have a better 12th grade cohort (but that gap varies by year) as Basis kids left by 12th grade will be the lifers from 5th grade......Walls admissions quality watered down over the years but still get a sampling of higher performing middle school kids

Less time intensive academics at Walls allows kids to spend more time on ECs & Walls has more selective school legacies...and better rep among AOs........leading to better college admission outcomes than Basis (but not stellar in general admissions outcomes)......

Basis has an odd 12th grade schedule.....not clear if that hurts Basis kids in admissions

You have "experience" at both schools? What does that mean? You know someone who knows someone? Doesn't like you had a kid at both.

Anyone who makes such exaggerated statements lacks credibility and doesn't really understand the schools.

+1000

You seem to really have an axe to grind. You lost me at both schools have atrocious staff. That is quite the assertion and I’ve never seen a school where all staff were horrible.

[Anonymous]

People on here are so quick to discredit everyone and everything. Why can’t a BASIS family have had one child get into Walls and their other child either not get in or choose not to go? Walls has no sibling preference and also different children in the same family may want different experiences and/or have different priorities. It’s great to have families that actually can weigh in on both schools with firsthand experience.

Also, nobody said “all” admin are bad at both schools. The poster just mentioned that both schools have had admin problems. Again, totally plausible.

Both admin and college admissions can change from year to year and it sounds like BASIS and Walls both have lots to be proud of, along with room for improvement. Securing internships seems like it should be a bigger priority at BASIS if the idea is for that experience to maximize top college admissions.

[Anonymous]

It all boils downs to this. kids will can do well going to either school but it will be due to their own abilities, do not expect either school to give your kids much of a lift

many parents know this and bail out of DCPS and charters before 9th grade....I learned this after the fact

Focus on your own kids and their abilities and less on Walls versus Basis......

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have personal experience with Both Basis and Walls...here is the lowdown:

Neither school is great......better option if you can pay or move, if not live with the choice

Basis is run on a shoestring due to Az. parent company siphoning off $$$$, and thus winds up with young, inexperienced, underpaid teachers who are prone to leave for higher paying jobs, Walls has less of this problem and does get some benefit of DCPS bloated budgets

Basis curriculum, while average in terms of area high schools, is more advanced than Walls, esp. in 9th and 10th grades. Walls kids can take some classes in 11th and 12th at GW to partially make up....

Both schools have a lack of facilities.....

Both school have atrocious staff, i.e. do not care about doing their job well or are incapable of doing it well

Walls will have a better 12th grade cohort (but that gap varies by year) as Basis kids left by 12th grade will be the lifers from 5th grade......Walls admissions quality watered down over the years but still get a sampling of higher performing middle school kids

Less time intensive academics at Walls allows kids to spend more time on ECs & Walls has more selective school legacies...and better rep among AOs........leading to better college admission outcomes than Basis (but not stellar in general admissions outcomes)......

Basis has an odd 12th grade schedule.....not clear if that hurts Basis kids in admissions

You have "experience" at both schools? What does that mean? You know someone who knows someone? Doesn't like you had a kid at both.

Anyone who makes such exaggerated statements lacks credibility and doesn't really understand the schools.

+1000

You seem to really have an axe to grind. You lost me at both schools have atrocious staff. That is quite the assertion and I’ve never seen a school where all staff were horrible.

[Anonymous]

I sincerely hope it's just one completely insane BASIS parent who is responding over and over again so defensively. The BASIS parents I know IRL seem pretty stable and are able to discuss the schools strengths and weaknesses without spinning out into a rabid defense of the school.

Maybe it's an admin posting. That's completely plausible, given that they're largely a bunch of inflexible weirdos.

[Anonymous]

Insecure, immature, controlling young weirdos. BASIS could really use a grown-up HoS again for the first time in 6 or 7 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I sincerely hope it's just one completely insane BASIS parent who is responding over and over again so defensively. The BASIS parents I know IRL seem pretty stable and are able to discuss the schools strengths and weaknesses without spinning out into a rabid defense of the school.

Maybe it's an admin posting. That's completely plausible, given that they're largely a bunch of inflexible weirdos.

No dog in this fight but the people without kids at Basis who constantly go on this thread and bash the school seem to be the the insane, inflexible weirdos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sincerely hope it's just one completely insane BASIS parent who is responding over and over again so defensively. The BASIS parents I know IRL seem pretty stable and are able to discuss the schools strengths and weaknesses without spinning out into a rabid defense of the school.

Maybe it's an admin posting. That's completely plausible, given that they're largely a bunch of inflexible weirdos.

No dog in this fight but the people without kids at Basis who constantly go on this thread and bash the school seem to be the the insane, inflexible weirdos.

Same with the insane, inflexible weirdo who keeps ripping the admins at the school. It is probably one of the bad teachers who were fired and now haunts this forum trying to hate on the admins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sincerely hope it's just one completely insane BASIS parent who is responding over and over again so defensively. The BASIS parents I know IRL seem pretty stable and are able to discuss the schools strengths and weaknesses without spinning out into a rabid defense of the school.

Maybe it's an admin posting. That's completely plausible, given that they're largely a bunch of inflexible weirdos.

No dog in this fight but the people without kids at Basis who constantly go on this thread and bash the school seem to be the the insane, inflexible weirdos.

Same with the insane, inflexible weirdo who keeps ripping the admins at the school. It is probably one of the bad teachers who were fired and now haunts this forum trying to hate on the admins.

+1. No actual sane BASIS parent would spend all her free time trying to slime the HOS. Most parents never even interact with him.

[Anonymous]

Knock off the gaslighting. It’s clear to me that many BASIS parents aren’t very happy with current admins. But there’s nothing to be done.