How are things going at Walls this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 10th grader is having a great year. Finally making connections and this makes a huge difference. Walls is the right place for him.

However - I agree with the comments on the administration. Over the last year, they lost their Principal and an AP.

The replacements do not come close.

Can you provide examples of how they do not compare? I've seen a number of comments about how admin is subpar.

In a meeting and AP was there, introduced himself, and turned off screen / put self on mute claiming background noise.
The AP actually stepped away and when was asked a direct question - was not available.
AP was supposed to follow up on an action from the meeting and never did.

[Anonymous]

When do you think DCPS/Walls will announce whether they are re-establishing the admissions test?

Last year’s decision was motivated by Covid and kids are back in school, but the change also did nothing to diversify the school except admit some less qualified students.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/school-without-walls-admissions-test-diversity/2021/08/27/6959cec2-0293-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Terrible. No french department. Uninspired teachers. Lots of busy work. Administration is unresponsive. There is nothing impressive about this school.

What grade is your student in?

What do you mean, no French department? The French teachers all quit and haven't been replaced? What happens during French classes?

One quit and one retired in August- not much time to hire in these times. The second French teacher will start in January after Winter break. They prioritized the existing teacher to French 1 and AP French. The students in French 2/3 have been given some assignments but it took awhile to get going. My DC does Duolingo and we will supplement with an immersion camp this summer. Honestly, I'm rather glad it was French without a teacher rather than math or science etc.

Interesting comment about school spirit- I thought Homecoming was very well attended and it was nice to see kids from all over the city attend.

Ok, this was my question. I know it's not the same as an actual language class but the PP complaining about access to online options for French given the situation confused me because Duolingo is free and easily available and would be an easy way to supplement in the meantime. Depending on level, Duolingo plus a little extra effort (say, reading a novel in French or committing to reading one article a day in Le Monde) would be fine.

Not saying it's good that Walls is scrambling for French teachers but many schools have been struggling to locate math and science teachers, and elementary schools have gone weeks and months without permanent Kindergarten teachers. In comparison to what the rest of the district is dealing with, this just doesn't seem like that big of a deal. A bummer, but a manageable one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Terrible. No french department. Uninspired teachers. Lots of busy work. Administration is unresponsive. There is nothing impressive about this school.

What grade is your student in?

What do you mean, no French department? The French teachers all quit and haven't been replaced? What happens during French classes?

One quit and one retired in August- not much time to hire in these times. The second French teacher will start in January after Winter break. They prioritized the existing teacher to French 1 and AP French. The students in French 2/3 have been given some assignments but it took awhile to get going. My DC does Duolingo and we will supplement with an immersion camp this summer. Honestly, I'm rather glad it was French without a teacher rather than math or science etc.

Interesting comment about school spirit- I thought Homecoming was very well attended and it was nice to see kids from all over the city attend.

Ok, this was my question. I know it's not the same as an actual language class but the PP complaining about access to online options for French given the situation confused me because Duolingo is free and easily available and would be an easy way to supplement in the meantime. Depending on level, Duolingo plus a little extra effort (say, reading a novel in French or committing to reading one article a day in Le Monde) would be fine.

Not saying it's good that Walls is scrambling for French teachers but many schools have been struggling to locate math and science teachers, and elementary schools have gone weeks and months without permanent Kindergarten teachers. In comparison to what the rest of the district is dealing with, this just doesn't seem like that big of a deal. A bummer, but a manageable one.

Duolingo is not free except for the basics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Terrible. No french department. Uninspired teachers. Lots of busy work. Administration is unresponsive. There is nothing impressive about this school.

What grade is your student in?

What do you mean, no French department? The French teachers all quit and haven't been replaced? What happens during French classes?

One quit and one retired in August- not much time to hire in these times. The second French teacher will start in January after Winter break. They prioritized the existing teacher to French 1 and AP French. The students in French 2/3 have been given some assignments but it took awhile to get going. My DC does Duolingo and we will supplement with an immersion camp this summer. Honestly, I'm rather glad it was French without a teacher rather than math or science etc.

Interesting comment about school spirit- I thought Homecoming was very well attended and it was nice to see kids from all over the city attend.

Ok, this was my question. I know it's not the same as an actual language class but the PP complaining about access to online options for French given the situation confused me because Duolingo is free and easily available and would be an easy way to supplement in the meantime. Depending on level, Duolingo plus a little extra effort (say, reading a novel in French or committing to reading one article a day in Le Monde) would be fine.

Not saying it's good that Walls is scrambling for French teachers but many schools have been struggling to locate math and science teachers, and elementary schools have gone weeks and months without permanent Kindergarten teachers. In comparison to what the rest of the district is dealing with, this just doesn't seem like that big of a deal. A bummer, but a manageable one.

Duolingo is not free except for the basics.

The free and the paid versions are almost identical except you have to watch ads with the free version.

Sad that Walls can’t teach French and kids have to use Duolingo. DCPS gets over $830 million a year, right? Where is the money going?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Walls turned down my 9th grader who just hit a qualifying PSAT for national merit so your mileage may vary

What an absolutely mortifying post. Seems like Walls dodged a bullet in this case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walls turned down my 9th grader who just hit a qualifying PSAT for national merit so your mileage may vary

What an absolutely mortifying post. Seems like Walls dodged a bullet in this case.

np: Huh? Assuming that student does a decent job on school work, that is exactly the kind of student that should be at Walls!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Terrible. No french department. Uninspired teachers. Lots of busy work. Administration is unresponsive. There is nothing impressive about this school.

What grade is your student in?

What do you mean, no French department? The French teachers all quit and haven't been replaced? What happens during French classes?

One quit and one retired in August- not much time to hire in these times. The second French teacher will start in January after Winter break. They prioritized the existing teacher to French 1 and AP French. The students in French 2/3 have been given some assignments but it took awhile to get going. My DC does Duolingo and we will supplement with an immersion camp this summer. Honestly, I'm rather glad it was French without a teacher rather than math or science etc.

Interesting comment about school spirit- I thought Homecoming was very well attended and it was nice to see kids from all over the city attend.

Ok, this was my question. I know it's not the same as an actual language class but the PP complaining about access to online options for French given the situation confused me because Duolingo is free and easily available and would be an easy way to supplement in the meantime. Depending on level, Duolingo plus a little extra effort (say, reading a novel in French or committing to reading one article a day in Le Monde) would be fine.

Not saying it's good that Walls is scrambling for French teachers but many schools have been struggling to locate math and science teachers, and elementary schools have gone weeks and months without permanent Kindergarten teachers. In comparison to what the rest of the district is dealing with, this just doesn't seem like that big of a deal. A bummer, but a manageable one.

Duolingo is not free except for the basics.

Not true. I use Duolingo for French and the only things I can't access with the free version are a couple test features. You could easily keep up your skills with it for a couple months, especially if supplemented with some reading (or watching a French-language television show or movies). If Walls isn't suggesting this already, that's kind of pathetic, but if you are with it enough to post on DCUM (i.e. have internet access and know how the internet works) this is something you could figure out for yourself.

[Anonymous]

According to the EdFest meeting on Saturday, there will be no admissions test this year (2022-23 school year) and it sounded like there is no urgency to bring it back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walls turned down my 9th grader who just hit a qualifying PSAT for national merit so your mileage may vary

What an absolutely mortifying post. Seems like Walls dodged a bullet in this case.

Nonsense, spare us your woke BS. Walls TURNED DOWN a 9th grader who hit the qualifying mark for PSAT National Merit for the District?! You know that this is a jurisdiction where the number of public school National Merit Scholarship semifinalists is in the single digits annually grand total, vs. as many as 15 or 16 from Sidwell alone.

What a travesty. This grim outcome should be an embarrassment for DCPS. Very sorry to hear this, PP, above. Your 9th grader should be extremely proud and will surely go far. In NYC, Boston, Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Houston a bona fide magnet HS would surely have snatched him or her up.

Sounds like Walls' admissions standards have become a real joke in the last couple of years, a great shame for the best and brightest HS students in our public schools and their acceptable-public-high-school-seeking families.

[Anonymous]

Is this a practice PSAT? Don’t tenth graders take the PSAT?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to the EdFest meeting on Saturday, there will be no admissions test this year (2022-23 school year) and it sounded like there is no urgency to bring it back.

Covid was a convenient pretext for eliminating the test because equity.

FAIL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to the EdFest meeting on Saturday, there will be no admissions test this year (2022-23 school year) and it sounded like there is no urgency to bring it back.

I somewhat understand getting rid of the test. A lot of schools have waived tests like the HSPT and SSAT. However, there are really no standards now. At least have an essay and recommendations plus the interview. The other DCPS application schools have kept their standards.

Is a placement test given after students are admitted?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Walls turned down my 9th grader who just hit a qualifying PSAT for national merit so your mileage may vary

So your kid took a practice test? Isn't junior year the official testing year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walls turned down my 9th grader who just hit a qualifying PSAT for national merit so your mileage may vary

What an absolutely mortifying post. Seems like Walls dodged a bullet in this case.

Nonsense, spare us your woke BS. Walls TURNED DOWN a 9th grader who hit the qualifying mark for PSAT National Merit for the District?! You know that this is a jurisdiction where the number of public school National Merit Scholarship semifinalists is in the single digits annually grand total, vs. as many as 15 or 16 from Sidwell alone.

What a travesty. This grim outcome should be an embarrassment for DCPS. Very sorry to hear this, PP, above. Your 9th grader should be extremely proud and will surely go far. In NYC, Boston, Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Houston a bona fide magnet HS would surely have snatched him or her up.

Sounds like Walls' admissions standards have become a real joke in the last couple of years, a great shame for the best and brightest HS students in our public schools and their acceptable-public-high-school-seeking families.

Don’t believe everything you read on DCUM,

Posts are anonymous and unverified and many are by trolls.