New Ward 3 Middle School ???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The true problem here is that alot of in boundary elementary schools have alot of out of boundary slots due to maybe kids going private or the neighborhood doesn't have alot of kids in it. That being said DEAL is at capacity with all there feeder schools. Why is Hardy such a big deal there are specialized schools all around the city and becasue Hardy was renovated the neighborhood feel its too good for OOB students?

You got it wrong. The academics at Hardy are too weak for IB families. Hardy lags far behind Deal and suburban MS. And is light years behind private MS. So the IB kids go to private for MS, move, or pretend they live IB for Deal.

No, you got it wrong -- before Pope was ousted and IB families were angling to get in to Hardy, the academics were comparable to Deal (check the DC-CaS #s at the osse site) minus the asian factor -- lots of asians bringing up the total scores at Deal vs no asians to speak of at Hardy.

Here are some facts:

According to the DC-CAS results on the OSSCE website:

Fewer white students at Hardy are advanced than at Deal
Fewer white students at Hardy are provicient or advanced than at Deal
Fewer black students at Hardy are provicient or advanced than at Deal
Fewer (any race) students at Hardy are provicient or advanced than at Deal
Fewer FARMS students at Hardy are provicient or advanced than at Deal

By no metric is the academic performance of students at Hardy on par with those at Deal.

"Facts" with nothing to back them up. No mention of what year(s) you're talking about, the total populations of the schools, no actual numbers at all and no mention of asians.

[Anonymous]

Here are the Hardy stats from DCPS:

Hardy Middle School
STUDENT DEMOGRAPHICS (2010-11)
Enrollment: 521

Black: 70% 70%
Hispanic/Latino: 12% 12%
White: 10% 10%
Asian: 4% 4%
Pacific/Hawaiian: 1% 1%
Native/Alaskan: 1% 1%
Multiple races: 3% 3%

English language learners 12%
Free and reduced-price lunch 45%
Special education 8%
In-boundary 13%

The in-boundary percentage (13%) is simply shocking to me, a parent at Key. Barely 1 in 10 kids are likely to be neighbors or kids we'll see at Little League or soccer or on the playground? That's what is so great about Key -- we have Key kids all around us here in the Palisades. I'll be keeping an eye on that in-boundary number. It at least needs to get up so the in-boundary kids are a majority before IB parents will feel better about sending their kids there. I see even Deal has just 61 percent IB.

[Anonymous]

Although Deal's numbers are 61% IB, the majority of the OB kids have been OB in feeders schools so they are not "new" to the community.

Also, Deal's IB numbers used to be 20-25% 7 years ago so the jump to 61% is quite significant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here are the Hardy stats from DCPS:

Hardy Middle School
STUDENT DEMOGRAPHICS (2010-11)
Enrollment: 521

Black: 70% 70%
Hispanic/Latino: 12% 12%
White: 10% 10%
Asian: 4% 4%
Pacific/Hawaiian: 1% 1%
Native/Alaskan: 1% 1%
Multiple races: 3% 3%

English language learners 12%
Free and reduced-price lunch 45%
Special education 8%
In-boundary 13%

The in-boundary percentage (13%) is simply shocking to me, a parent at Key. Barely 1 in 10 kids are likely to be neighbors or kids we'll see at Little League or soccer or on the playground? That's what is so great about Key -- we have Key kids all around us here in the Palisades. I'll be keeping an eye on that in-boundary number. It at least needs to get up so the in-boundary kids are a majority before IB parents will feel better about sending their kids there. I see even Deal has just 61 percent IB.

That in-boundary # at Hardy will only go up if more IB parents send their kids there. Keeping an eye on it won't help. Action will.

of course it's hard to be the first and sometimes plans for a group to enter together don't work, as people peel off to send their kids to privates, but people left hardy on their own, so it's likely that returning on their own will work too - if enough people do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The in-boundary percentage (13%) is simply shocking to me, a parent at Key. Barely 1 in 10 kids are likely to be neighbors or kids we'll see at Little League or soccer or on the playground? That's what is so great about Key -- we have Key kids all around us here in the Palisades. I'll be keeping an eye on that in-boundary number. It at least needs to get up so the in-boundary kids are a majority before IB parents will feel better about sending their kids there. I see even Deal has just 61 percent IB.

I'm a Key parent too and I have to level with you: you're coming off like Thurston Howell on Gilligan's Island, which is not helping your cause.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The in-boundary percentage (13%) is simply shocking to me, a parent at Key. Barely 1 in 10 kids are likely to be neighbors or kids we'll see at Little League or soccer or on the playground? That's what is so great about Key -- we have Key kids all around us here in the Palisades. I'll be keeping an eye on that in-boundary number. It at least needs to get up so the in-boundary kids are a majority before IB parents will feel better about sending their kids there. I see even Deal has just 61 percent IB.

I'm a Key parent too and I have to level with you: you're coming off like Thurston Howell on Gilligan's Island, which is not helping your cause.

Meh. The privates, parochials, and better charters deal with this every day, and manage to thrive.

The urgency of your emergency is only apparent to you.

[Anonymous]

00:38 here -- I have one child at a private school and one at Key. The one at private -- we don't have any of his classmates living near us and there's no baseball or soccer team. That was my point about "what's great about Key" -- with Key, there are literally a dozen of his classmates who play soccer and baseball together and we see them all over the place. At the Safeway, at restaurants, on the sidewalk, etc. It's very nice. It's much easier to get to know the parents too, and playdates are a snap. We simply don't get that with our other son who's at a private school that has kids from scattered all over DC/MD/VA. And by extension, I assume kids at Hardy don't get that easy community and togetherness either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:00:38 here -- I have one child at a private school and one at Key. The one at private -- we don't have any of his classmates living near us and there's no baseball or soccer team. That was my point about "what's great about Key" -- with Key, there are literally a dozen of his classmates who play soccer and baseball together and we see them all over the place. At the Safeway, at restaurants, on the sidewalk, etc. It's very nice. It's much easier to get to know the parents too, and playdates are a snap. We simply don't get that with our other son who's at a private school that has kids from scattered all over DC/MD/VA. And by extension, I assume kids at Hardy don't get that easy community and togetherness either.

11:44 here. Everything you say is true. However, here is why you come off as tone-deaf: in DC, attending an in-boundary school is not the norm. Roughly 40% of public school students attend charters, which are city-wide, and about half of the kids in DCPS attend out-of-boundary. At the same time, Hardy is widely regarded as the second-best DCPS middle school, and every year hundreds of kids from around the city apply to go there out of boundary and are turned away. Large swaths of the city have no middle schools at all. So while your plight may be unacceptable to you, you're going to get zero sympathy because many, many families would gladly trade places with you.

[Anonymous]

NP here, also, you can apparently afford private school. Most people in DC can't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:00:38 here -- I have one child at a private school and one at Key. The one at private -- we don't have any of his classmates living near us and there's no baseball or soccer team. That was my point about "what's great about Key" -- with Key, there are literally a dozen of his classmates who play soccer and baseball together and we see them all over the place. At the Safeway, at restaurants, on the sidewalk, etc. It's very nice. It's much easier to get to know the parents too, and playdates are a snap. We simply don't get that with our other son who's at a private school that has kids from scattered all over DC/MD/VA. And by extension, I assume kids at Hardy don't get that easy community and togetherness either.

11:44 here. Everything you say is true. However, here is why you come off as tone-deaf: in DC, attending an in-boundary school is not the norm. Roughly 40% of public school students attend charters, which are city-wide, and about half of the kids in DCPS attend out-of-boundary. At the same time, Hardy is widely regarded as the second-best DCPS middle school, and every year hundreds of kids from around the city apply to go there out of boundary and are turned away. Large swaths of the city have no middle schools at all. So while your plight may be unacceptable to you, you're going to get zero sympathy because many, many families would gladly trade places with you.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The true problem here is that alot of in boundary elementary schools have alot of out of boundary slots due to maybe kids going private or the neighborhood doesn't have alot of kids in it. That being said DEAL is at capacity with all there feeder schools. Why is Hardy such a big deal there are specialized schools all around the city and becasue Hardy was renovated the neighborhood feel its too good for OOB students?

You got it wrong. The academics at Hardy are too weak for IB families. Hardy lags far behind Deal and suburban MS. And is light years behind private MS. So the IB kids go to private for MS, move, or pretend they live IB for Deal.

Actually, the smartest and luckiest go to Latin. Unfortunately, there isn't enough room at Latin for everyone who has the capability for such a rigorous curriculum.

[Anonymous]

I truly don't get this. Latin went through its entire waitlist for 5th grade this year. That means they had a spot for everyone who wanted one who got their application in by the deadline. However, 6th grade spots were truly limited and there was a long waitlist that moved very little.

Are people feeling that the space at Latin is limited because they are waiting until 6th grade to apply. Latin admits circa 70 5th graders each year from all around the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I truly don't get this. Latin went through its entire waitlist for 5th grade this year. That means they had a spot for everyone who wanted one who got their application in by the deadline. However, 6th grade spots were truly limited and there was a long waitlist that moved very little.

Are people feeling that the space at Latin is limited because they are waiting until 6th grade to apply. Latin admits circa 70 5th graders each year from all around the city.

It's a pretty self-selecting kind of school. Not that many 5th graders are prepared for and interested in a full classical curriculum, including mastering Latin.

[Anonymous]

Key parents just need to accept that their IB is Hardy and work to make it the best in the city.

[Anonymous]

Agree hardly with the PP, maybe they can get rid of the application process if you are IB, this will eliminate the tons of students at Deal.