Hardy Middle School -- 5th grade in feeder school -- who's considering Hardy for 6th?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
Of course, since most of the kids are perfectly happy with the uniforms they might view this as a punishment... |
Anonymous
Not likely. It would be an honor not to have to wear a uniform, and a way to reward and distinguish the academically successful kids from everyone else. |
Anonymous
| Your bridge is lonely. |
Anonymous
Honors math starts at the beginning of the school year. Accelerated math starts in January. Honors follows the 6th grade curriculum. Accelerated math follows the 7th grade DC curriculum (for 6th grade students). What do you mean by advanced? |
Anonymous
No need for parents to push up for math at Hardy. The math team is very strong and they introduced differentiation more than four years ago. I actually know of two kids/families who declined the invitation to pre-algebra in 6th grade. So parents might need to push back (more than push up). At least for math. |
Anonymous
| Our family has been on the fence about Hardy. We have been following the school but weren't quite sure what to do with our child next year. My wife attended the Open House this morning. She listened to Principal Pride and saw the school in action including the students in a class. Being honest I was a public school kid so I have always thought Hardy would be fine. My wife was not as convinced and has been weighing all the options including Charter, private, and even moving if need be. She told me tonight that after going to the open house she has made her decision.......she was extremely impressed. You can add us to the committed Hardy families. Just wanted to share for what it is worth. |
Anonymous
|
I went to the Hardy open house today too and had a similar experience as the PP. I was very impressed. I'd been there before for Fillmore events, etc. but had never seen the school in action like this. Principal Pride is very impressive for starters, but then we went into 5 or 6 sixth grade classrooms with classes in session. The teachers seemed interested and engaged, as did the students. There was not a single peep of misbehavior in any of the classrooms or hallways the entire time -- hard to say that at our feeder school. Everything was clean and bright in the school. There were computers in the library and in classrooms. The class sizes were uniformly small -- like none more than 15 kids. We met two music teachers, both of whom were focused and interested and engaged. The science and math teachers were just finishing their classes so we were able to talk to them some more once the kids left -- they seemed fantastic and I got a sense that they not only like teaching but the kids like them too. Across the board, the students seemed entirely respectful of the teachers. Sure, you'll say --- of course everyone was on best behavior because the principal was standing there in the classroom with the parents. That probably did have an impact on the kids, but it does speak well of Principal Pride and the respect the kids have for her and their teachers.
There are advanced math, science, etc. classes that kids are sorted into in the first two weeks of school based on assessments. Other things -- there's gym 5 days a week. Four languages kids can choose from - Spanish, French, Italian, and (starting next year) Chinese. Tons of clubs -- chess, robotics, rocketry, cooking, etiquette, school garden market, yoga, etc. Regarding where kids go after Hardy -- [Insert joke about jail or reform school.] Principal Pride said most kids go to public high school as you'd expect. She mentioned Wilson, Ellington, and I don't recall the others -- perhaps she said Dematha and Banneker and some I hadn't heard of. For feeder school kids, Hardy feeds into Wilson. She said some kids go to private schools for high school too (she mentioned Maret). Downsides -- still of course the large % of kids who have low reading/math proficiency (which the school tries to deal with by having different advanced classes); the school's sports teams don't always fare well in games due to small size of student population (the school is 1/4 the size of Deal); soccer is not a fall sport but is a spring sport (as is baseball) -- I don't know if other DC middle schools do this also; fewer kids in the school are from our neighborhood than our current feeder school -- (though there are always going to be kids who go to private, no matter how good Hardy is and becomes -- private schools have kids from all over DC also, plus VA/MD too); going to Hardy would mean we'd miss the ability to bid thousands of dollars on private school annual fundraising auction items and donate thousands to the private school annual fund, competing with other families to get listed as being in the top donor donation "clubs." There's an intent to enroll form that we, as feeder school parents, are supposedly going to be getting next week. We're going to do it. |
Anonymous
| I'm still confused about math. The 6th graders who move to 7 th grade math in January are able to complete the entire Algebra course by the end of the year? IOr do they stay in Algebra during 7 th grade? |
Anonymous
Why don't you go to an open house and ask? The answers here have been confusing. |
Anonymous
Maybe the topic of the uniforms will come up, too. If the principal (Ms Pride) hears from enough new/prospective parents, she may get rid of them. |
Anonymous
I'm serious: your bridge misses you. It's worried about your safety. It wants you back. |
Anonymous
Sounds like a threat from the "legacy" Hardy? |
Anonymous
Nope. I'm a homeowner in-boundary for Mann. By the way, I've decided to vociferously support uniforms/dress code/prison suits simply because I find the repeated attempts to dislodge any serious discussion profoundly immature. So there you have it, I will be the founder of "In-Boundary Families for Uniforms at Hardy." Come join us! |
Anonymous
| I love you PP. Maybe people would get onboard with uniforms if they were more upscale - Vinyard Bines or Ralph Lauren polos and khakis? Harry Potter-style blazers and rep ties? |
Anonymous
|
I wonder what the motivation of the uniform poster is.
Is it reverse psychology - a legacy parent reminding g everyone of the u iforms and generally being a pill to perpetuate the negative view of Hardy? Or is it an IB parent who hates "ghetto" uniforms? |