BASIS DC precomps and comps
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Anonymous
Joyful learning at BASIS? Not nearly enough for us. We bailed for a private last year, two years in. There were far too many inexperienced teachers, too many bullying admins, too many classroom management issues, too little natural light and quiet places to study, and too many policies that were too far out of line with best practices in education. See previous threads on all that, there are quite a few. If you can afford better, you find it eventually. |
Anonymous
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Too many obnoxious parents insisting that BASIS is the best thing since sliced bread, advising you to shut and leave if you challenge clueless admins. No real school community. Not a welcoming school where well-founded parent concerns are taken seriously.
We'd have stuck with BASIS for HS if it were better run. |
Anonymous
No BASIS 2023 grads heading to Ivies, Stanford, MIT. Boosters, please don't blame the small class size, families' inability to afford Ivies and how colleges have gone test optional. We didn't buy any of it before and aren't buying it now, thanks. One to Johns Hopkins, one to Caltech, that's about it. The recipes need tweaking. The main problem was obvious to us. BASIS jams 4 years of HS work into 3 leaving insufficient time for serious extra-curriculars, almost all of which can only be found outside the school. That approach must work better in Arizona than in an East Coast city, one of the several toughest college applicant pools in the country. |
Anonymous
Previous threads are basically you and a few others copying and pasting on every BASIS thread. |
Anonymous
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Weird how someone resurrected a 1.5 year old thread and the BASIS bashers are now venting their spleen.
Who cares what a few disgruntled BASIS haters think when the data prove otherwise? For example, the Challenge Index ranks BASIS DC as the best high school in DC (among high schools that challenge average students) and #12 best high school in the entire United States: https://jaymathewschallengeindex.com/ 
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Anonymous
LOL. It is the same 5 or so parents whose kids couldn't hack BASIS and turn every BASIS thread into an orgy of hate mongering and rage posting. You left. Get over it. |
Anonymous
Exactly right. BASIS hater: "Larla attended BASIS. There was no library, computer lab, gym, or stage. There was no natural light. She was educated in complete darkness like a mushroom. The HOS was a bully and refused to agree with my ideas to change the curriculum. The teachers didn't respond to my daily complaints. We are now at an AWESOME Catholic school that I will refuse to divulge. Sure, the school costs $20k/year but it is so much better than BASIS. Of course, I won't explain why--just take my word for it. My decision to yank Larla out of BASIS was the best decision I ever made. Everyone should do exactly what I did because of course all parents are just like me and all kids are just like Larla. Oh, did I mention that the HOS didn't do what I told him to do? He is just a bully." BASIS parent: "Sigh. https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/middle-schools/district-of-columbia" |
Anonymous
Nailed it. |
Anonymous
New poster here. As someone with a kid at BASIS, I grow tired of the defensive responses like the one above to some very truthful criticism about the school. BASIS does some things well, but the school has some legitimate flaws (as do all schools). Here are some that are not often talked about: -Silent lunches as punishment for a few misbehaving kids -Inappropriate conduct by some staff members (there is one in particular that cried to the whole grade and told them they needed to behave or else he would lose his job) -HOS that threatens staff members’ jobs for misbehaving kids (see previous bullet) -Constant pressure to do well that is felt more by the kids who are doing well rather than those who aren’t. |
Anonymous
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I agree. Too often valid concerns that could be addressed internally are dismissed by BASIS admins. My main beef is that the more able educators in the program have a way of disappearing with within a few years of their arrival, sometimes mid-year. Teacher pay and working conditions seems to be a major problem that never gets addressed. Yes, cramming four years of high school academics into three is a problem for the high school students.
I've been disappointed by this year's college admissions. We're not returning in the fall six years in, seeing greener pastures for 11th and 12th elsewhere. |
Anonymous
Come on let's not lie to the forumites. The Mall is right there and a fifth grader will generally visit the Mall once a week for PE and have PE indoors at school the other days. Beyond that weekly 55mn outside, 5th graders have half a dozen field trips and no more than two or three lunches outside the whole year, and that's it for school day sunlight in 5th grade. They could do better and they should and they promise every year or even every few months that they'll do better and they don’t. They get away with that because families who choose BASIS already have diminished facilities expectations when enrolling and their other expectations of a rigorous and energetic education are being met. Most of the kids love school and none of them even realize that they're not getting enough fresh air or sunlight. The teachers are generally awesome, and I'll say again most kids love school. |
Anonymous
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Spoken like a true 5th or 6th grade parent. Most of my 8th grader's friends don't love BASIS. They're leaving for Walls.
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Anonymous
And a number of BASIS 8th graders, including mine, turned down Walls this year to stay at BASIS. BASIS is not a perfect school. But there are plenty of kids with good options who choose to stay. |
Anonymous
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No, there aren't. There are many kids without a better option who stay for HS and a small number with one or more equally good options who do, too.
Stop the BS, some of us know better. Most of the friends bail for Walls or privates if they can. |
Anonymous
| I think 4-5 8th graders are headed to Walls next year; but I also know several kids who turned down Walls to stay at BASIS. There are at least 6 I know of headed to private schools for 9th. Current 8th grade cohort is 87 - I bet it settles at about 70 for 9th grade. |