BASIS DC to open in 2012-2013
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Anonymous
| It's bizarre that they haven't scheduled a meeting in ward 5, which has no middle school and desperate parents are pushing DCPS for one. |
Anonymous
There is a meeting in Shaw tonight - which is kinda near Ward Five except it's kinda not near Ward Five. |
Anonymous
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A few questions: truly looking for answers, not trying to pick a fight...
1) what about students who receive special education? how will the be served? 2) how is the school paying for all these extra tutoring services? 3) is their location a permanent one? if so, how did they pay for it already? 4) what will happen to those students who aren't successful? Will there be different levels of classes, or must everyone take the same? 5) Are teachers/staff already hired? How will they be in place by March? Will the school accept students early in order to take advantage of pretutoring/preremediation? How will they pay for this without the per pupil allottment? |
Anonymous
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I went to the meeting. From my notes
SAMPLE 5th Grade Schedule Period 1 – Schedule/Planning (20 minutes at 8am) Period 2 - Music / Art / PE (blocked A & B days) Period 3 – English Period 4 – Physical Geography Period 5 – Lunch / Counseling / Study Sessions Period 6 – Intro to Sciences Period 7 – Latin (foreign language) Period 8 – Classics (social science) Period 9 - Math (pre-algebra or algebra) It appears to be a typical liberal arts curriculum. Hours have not been set, but it was suggested school might run 8:00 to 3:30. I think classes are 45 minutes, except the 20 minute scheduling module that starts every day. Every subject has an advanced version(s). Many classes are accelerated. For example 5th grade English covers 1.5 years (includes a half year of 6th grade standards). Bridge classes will be offered spring/summer of ‘12. They are free. All students maintain a “CJ” or comprehensive journal – with planning for one’s long-term and short term assignments, notes, quiz and test results, etc. The journal organizes student life and allows staff/parents to monitor daily progress. Student self-organization seems to be a primary focus and students maintain and refer to their CJ constantly. Homework: 0.5 to 2.0 hours for 5th & 6th graders. 2.0 to 4.0 hours for 7th & 8th graders. Most homework can be completed in class or at homework club. For example, 5th grade math will have 30 homework problems every night. 5th grade music: Students learn singing, music theory and history, listening skills, and teamwork, with two concerts per year. It’s a baseline for future musical study. 5th grader art: Students learn drawing skills using pencils and charcoal, learn painting with watercolors and oil paints, and make pottery. Hot lunch will be served. After school programming is designed by the Basis parent organization, and parents pay fees for after school programming. Basis staff helps to administer programming. Sports, theater, music, interest clubs and homework sessions are some possibilities. Staff will be paid above market. Classes will have about 25 students. There will be special education program and counseling services. Basis will seed its DC staff with people from one of its Arizona schools. All teachers will keep regular office hours for students and parents. 400 kids are expected to enroll with disproportionately more students at the lower grades. It will likely be in Chinatown, they are currently performing due diligence on a specific building. Basis is purchasing a building and remodeling it to specs (not renting or using temporary space). Basis will set-up teleconference with current Basis parents describing their experience, and taking questions from prospective DC Basis parents (maybe January?). |
Anonymous
| Thanks! I'm still deeply concerned/interested to understand how they're financing all of this...It's not adding up.... |
Anonymous
| Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science gets financing above and beyond its DC gov't payment. KIPP gets financing outside of its DC gov't payment. Haynes charges for some of its extra schooling (summer program). I think Basis is the same, with grants and outside funding supplementing its program. Plus, they have six schools up and running, and they've been around for ten years. |
Anonymous
| So? Does this mean that Basis has enough money to pay for all these extras including a building that will likely be in the neighborhood of 20 million? I'm seriously not trying to be a nudge, but I have a deep understanding of charter school finances and I don't see where all the money is coming from. It will be important for the founders to be explicit about this, as the number one reason charters fail is finances. |
Anonymous
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Can you quantify the extras? What charter financing issues give you pause?
They said they have grant funding for spring and summer bridge classes. Parents pay for after school activities (I think scholarships are available). They sold bonds ($7 million) for the building. DC gov't pays ~$15K per student A prima facia review of the board looks like they have access to deep pockets. |
Anonymous
DC pays around $10K--even less if I recall correctly. If DC paid $15K, there would be even more successful charter schools. Agreed, though, that the board seems to have incredibly deep pockets. As an aside, I have a huge dislike for the founder's political philosophy--but I admire her for putting her energy (and presumably her money!) where her mouth is and opening up a school that will be accessible to all DC kids. For the kids' sake, I hope it's a roaring success. |
Anonymous
| No, funding is more than that. It's $10K without the facilities fee, which adds a few K. Can't remember the exact figures, but there's info on this on the PCSB website. |
Anonymous
There are all sorts of add-on expenses -- special ed, ESL, facilities fees, summer school and more, there are plenty ways to goose the per pupil up to ~$15K. |
Anonymous
Wow. you seriously don't know what you're talking about! Special Ed. NEVER adds money to the budget, nor does ESL. You're dreaming.... |
Anonymous
Dude, a little quick out of the gate, why so harsh? The DC government funds operating costs of DCPS and public charter school on the same per student basis each year. Formula funding does not include tuition for nonpublic special education students, special education transportation, or other “state-level” costs. Average per pupil local funding for general education and overhead (excludes funding for special education and ESL instruction): ** FY 2008 $9,036 per pupil Average per pupil additional local funding for ESL services, FY 2007: ** FY 2008 $3,329 per ESL pupil Average per pupil additional local funding for special education services: ** FY 2008 $10,917 per special education pupil http://www.21csf.org/csf-home/DocUploads/DataShop/DS_86.pdf From the 21st Century Web Site |
Anonymous
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I went to one of the meetings. I was very impressed by all speakers, except the bumbling Mary Riddall. Honestly why did they pick her?
BASIS is for the motivated kid from ALL WARDS who strives for more than minimum established standards. They were comparing themselves to TJ, people ! Of course, it will translate into lots of work for the kids. And the parents. There are two sets of comprehensive exams per year, one is required to pass one of them to move to the next grade. I was educated outside the US, and the BASIS setup with the exams, the long hours, homework, comprehensive journal reminded me very much of my homeland's school system. That said, it is not for everybody ! |
Anonymous
Well "Dude", considering the average outlay per student receiving special education services is close to 30K (each teacher costs approx. 100k with benefits, related service providers at 120$ per 45 minute session and special materials about 2k per kid) that doesn't cover much, does it?? Sped $ reimbursement just got cut this year. And you don't get the money up front--it's a reimbursement payment!! |