Hill Middle Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, don't plan on getting into BASIS.

Giving up one's happy life on Cap Hill/community mainly so your kid can attend a high powered middle school in the burbs seems nuts. Same with forking out for a pricey private you can scarcely afford or commuting to DCI.

Not nuts when you have a secure path from middle school to 12th in the burbs at a much better school with high performing peer groups with better facilities, extracurriculars and sports.

What exactly is your plan for high school?

The truth is that lots of families on the Hill can afford 4 years of private or, at least, parochial HS if they need to. That is the plan of at least 50% of the UMC 2-3 kid families I know at our Hill IB ES (my oldest is rising 4th, so this is a frequent topic of convo). Nearly everyone plans to lottery for Latin x 2 and most for BASIS (though quite a few prefer BASIS, mostly the high achievers); for those who don’t get in, I’d say 3/4ths are planning to head to SH. The rest will move, head private or head to ITS if they can (I’ve also heard CHML, 2R and ST as back ups, but ITS seems to be the preferred charter backup). Then folks without a HS option (plus quite a few who have one) are hoping for Walls or, for a few, DE or Banneker or planning to go private/parochial. Some recent UMC families got some money from Gonzaga and SJC, so those are ones I’ve heard recently. 2 grads with younger sibs are headed to GDS and NCS. I think if people stick it out for middle, they don’t move for HS.

I disagree. Plenty of people "stick it out" for middle, but do move for HS. If not at the end of MS, then before. I know several families who went into MS on the Hill with spots at BASIS, or private, or giving SH a try, with every intention of sticking around for high school, but then left. I know families who got spots at BASIS and realized it was not a good cultural fit and did not want to stick it out for high school despite being happy with the academics. I also know a family who got into ITDS for elementary thinking they'd go through MS, but realized the very small school environment wasn't right for their kid and needed other options. All of these families wound up moving.

I mean, they could have stayed and gone to SH or Jefferson, that's an option. This was a few years ago and I do wonder if they'd make the same choice today given that more kids form feeder schools are going to these MSs. But I also think about those families and what they wanted for their kids, and I don't think so. If you go the charter route, you're not content with the DCPS options. If the charter doesn't work out, it doesn't necessarily make DCPS look better at this level. In some ways worse because even if you aren't happy at BASIS, at least there's a HS option.

As for private... people talk big about going to private schools when they have bright kids in elementary school. I remember those conversations about "oh we can use our 529" or "it's just 4 years." But if you have more than one kid, you will be looking at paying for private while also funding college for older kids. Also, admissions to private schools aren't just a given. It's competitive. It's not some low key option.

Lots of families get to MS and realize, you know what, we just want a decent-to-excellent MS and HS option that is by right with no worries about applications, lotteries, long commutes, etc. And suburban districts with larger schools start to look appealing too because the large school scan offer everything -- honors tracking, AP and/or IB, strong foreign language, strong arts programs, athletics, etc. That's the advantage of having large high schools with big catchment areas -- they have the money and space to be all things to all people, and if you can buy IB for a good one, it solves like 8 problems at once.

Yes, you give up your nice life on the Hill. Not everyone we know who moved bought, or have the intention of staying forever, and many kept their homes on the Hill with the intent to move back. Who knows, maybe they will. But it's easy to say in mid-elementary that you are in it for the long haul -- you're at an ES you like and most people around you are in the same situation. Things change a lot in MS.

[Anonymous]

Things don't change a lot in MS for those of us who are committed to staying. We find ways to make a DCPS, charter, parochial or private school work. A few families even homeschool for MS to stay. MS is just a few years of our lives. Many of us are so non-plussed by the idea of being empty nesters in some blah suburb for decades that we dig in to stay.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes by MS you can tell whether your kid might be an advanced learner. So some families may also be electing a local MS/HS that is more focused on teaching kindness, equity and doesn't create too much needless academic anxiety. I think that kind of self-awareness by such families is great, as there are many ways to success in life and in the end it's really about raising happy well-adjusted kids.

[Anonymous]

Give us a break. Few Hill parents stay because they’re picking DCPS or charter middle schools that cater to kids who are anxious and/or academically challenged. My advanced middle school learners don’t seem to want to leave the Hill any more than their parents do. We all dig in to stay.

[Anonymous]

+100.

[Anonymous]

Its just a few years but they are important/formative years where most kids are not all that especially self-motivated which are extremely hard for schools to do well. Do we know anything about the new DCPS grade 6 middle school academies pilot program which was just announced?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Things don't change a lot in MS for those of us who are committed to staying. We find ways to make a DCPS, charter, parochial or private school work. A few families even homeschool for MS to stay. MS is just a few years of our lives. Many of us are so non-plussed by the idea of being empty nesters in some blah suburb for decades that we dig in to stay.

Meh. My husband and I were of this mindset…but with schooling in the rear view (my youngest just graduated from Walls), Im not sure it was worth all the stress and $$ (tutors, private for 1 of my 2 kids) to remain on the Hill. We made it work given our privilege and lottery “luck”, but we have many many friends who moved to suburbs and they are very happy, many of whom are empty nesters. I’ve lived on the Hill since the early 90s and I do love it, but even I concede that we all would have probably adjusted and ended up happy in the burbs or far away from DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes by MS you can tell whether your kid might be an advanced learner. So some families may also be electing a local MS/HS that is more focused on teaching kindness, equity and doesn't create too much needless academic anxiety. I think that kind of self-awareness by such families is great, as there are many ways to success in life and in the end it's really about raising happy well-adjusted kids.

100%

[Anonymous]

If I had to raise kids on here, totally would go with local schools, get involved more, get kids involved in activities more, get tutoring where needed, find high school internships in the area, get good summer programs. They'll have low stress schooling and shine much brighter for college admissions, compared to high achieving applicants looking pale in their competitive stress filled suburban backdrop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I had to raise kids on here, totally would go with local schools, get involved more, get kids involved in activities more, get tutoring where needed, find high school internships in the area, get good summer programs. They'll have low stress schooling and shine much brighter for college admissions, compared to high achieving applicants looking pale in their competitive stress filled suburban backdrop.

All the things above you listed above is exhausting to do in and out of school.

And if your goal is to send your kid to poorly performing schools to get into a good college, then it’s obvious your priorities are not similar to ours. Also with this mindset, your kid can sink or swim, with many more sinking.

We want our high achieving kid to reach his full potential and get a good education 6-12th to be prepared for college. Our goal is a good education that can be provided by his school and not have to supplement extensively outside of school with academics or extracurriculars. We don’t need him to go to the Ivies either. I went to a state school and turned out more than fine.

Also DS, like the majority of kids, are not fully internally driven. He performs much, much better with a high performing peer group, and it is the high expectations of both the teachers and high achieving peer group that will motivate him to perform to his full potential. It is definitely not some easy curriculum that will let him just coast along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things don't change a lot in MS for those of us who are committed to staying. We find ways to make a DCPS, charter, parochial or private school work. A few families even homeschool for MS to stay. MS is just a few years of our lives. Many of us are so non-plussed by the idea of being empty nesters in some blah suburb for decades that we dig in to stay.

Meh. My husband and I were of this mindset…but with schooling in the rear view (my youngest just graduated from Walls), Im not sure it was worth all the stress and $$ (tutors, private for 1 of my 2 kids) to remain on the Hill. We made it work given our privilege and lottery “luck”, but we have many many friends who moved to suburbs and they are very happy, many of whom are empty nesters. I’ve lived on the Hill since the early 90s and I do love it, but even I concede that we all would have probably adjusted and ended up happy in the burbs or far away from DC.

Your sample is self-selecting though. People who move to the burbs usually do so for more than just schools. So of course those people are happy with their choice.

[Anonymous]

Exactly, if you're drawn to the burbs for whatever reasons, you leave. If you're drawn to the Hill and have the resources--financial, social, mental, and physical--to stay on good form, you stay and tough out the not-so-great Hill public middle school landscape.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I had to raise kids on here, totally would go with local schools, get involved more, get kids involved in activities more, get tutoring where needed, find high school internships in the area, get good summer programs. They'll have low stress schooling and shine much brighter for college admissions, compared to high achieving applicants looking pale in their competitive stress filled suburban backdrop.

Until your kid was complaining about violent classmates and daily disrespect of the teacher, disruptive kids, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I had to raise kids on here, totally would go with local schools, get involved more, get kids involved in activities more, get tutoring where needed, find high school internships in the area, get good summer programs. They'll have low stress schooling and shine much brighter for college admissions, compared to high achieving applicants looking pale in their competitive stress filled suburban backdrop.

Until your kid was complaining about violent classmates and daily disrespect of the teacher, disruptive kids, etc.

Or gets taught by a computer, or cries about being bored, etc. Its doable but it’s not easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I had to raise kids on here, totally would go with local schools, get involved more, get kids involved in activities more, get tutoring where needed, find high school internships in the area, get good summer programs. They'll have low stress schooling and shine much brighter for college admissions, compared to high achieving applicants looking pale in their competitive stress filled suburban backdrop.

This is a fairy tale