Two Rivers elementary families -- what is your MS plan

[Anonymous]

What happened to Two Rivers? I've been out of DC for 8 years and now moving back so trying to get a handle on the school landscape, especially around the Hill. I swore TR was one of the most sought-after charter school back then. Was I completely wrong? Has something going majorly wrong since I moved away?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happened to Two Rivers? I've been out of DC for 8 years and now moving back so trying to get a handle on the school landscape, especially around the Hill. I swore TR was one of the most sought-after charter school back then. Was I completely wrong? Has something going majorly wrong since I moved away?

yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happened to Two Rivers? I've been out of DC for 8 years and now moving back so trying to get a handle on the school landscape, especially around the Hill. I swore TR was one of the most sought-after charter school back then. Was I completely wrong? Has something going majorly wrong since I moved away?

I'm not totally sure what went wrong. I think a lack of attention to core academics, and some really challenging behaviors that the school was not adequately coping with.

I will say, I don't think it was ever actually that great at the middle school level, it's just that parents in that part of town were hard-up for good schools and wanted to believe it would work out. Preschool parents are sheeplike and clueless and a school can have a long waitlist without actually being that great if it has the buzz.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to Two Rivers? I've been out of DC for 8 years and now moving back so trying to get a handle on the school landscape, especially around the Hill. I swore TR was one of the most sought-after charter school back then. Was I completely wrong? Has something going majorly wrong since I moved away?

I'm not totally sure what went wrong. I think a lack of attention to core academics, and some really challenging behaviors that the school was not adequately coping with.

I will say, I don't think it was ever actually that great at the middle school level, it's just that parents in that part of town were hard-up for good schools and wanted to believe it would work out. Preschool parents are sheeplike and clueless and a school can have a long waitlist without actually being that great if it has the buzz.

I think TR's descent from grace has been slowed by the fact that JO Wilson has been in a crap building for a while now and is not finally getting their much-needed renovation but this also means a swing space and some upheaval so that school has not gotten the IB buy in that you see at places like L-T or Payne over the last decade or so. People get scared off by the test scores and then they visit the school and it's just in rough shape. But it's really a hidden gem that is soon to be not-so-hidden I think (when the renovated school is done). Really great and experienced teaching staff with a strong focus on academics plus solid specials programs (the performing arts program is a standout).

I think TR continues to soak up people who are IB for JO and get put off by the condition of the school and the test scores and just feel more comfortable at TR where there are a lot more umc families. It helps TR maintain a solid base of families even if it's really not a destination for people who have other options (you don't see L-T families lottery to TR even though you do see them going to SWS or even CHmL) and people tend to leave TR well before 5th if their lottery results are any indication.

Now what happens when JO gets their renovation... I will be curious to see how this impacts TR for sure. I do think that a lot of TR families would be surprised to discover that JO likely has superior academics if they could compare the schools side by side. But most people don't -- the look at test scores online and they get "a vibe" as a prospective PK family who knows basically nothing about elementary education and they don't give JO a chance. If the new building makes more families give JO a chance I think TR could wind up folding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to Two Rivers? I've been out of DC for 8 years and now moving back so trying to get a handle on the school landscape, especially around the Hill. I swore TR was one of the most sought-after charter school back then. Was I completely wrong? Has something going majorly wrong since I moved away?

I'm not totally sure what went wrong. I think a lack of attention to core academics, and some really challenging behaviors that the school was not adequately coping with.

I will say, I don't think it was ever actually that great at the middle school level, it's just that parents in that part of town were hard-up for good schools and wanted to believe it would work out. Preschool parents are sheeplike and clueless and a school can have a long waitlist without actually being that great if it has the buzz.

I think TR's descent from grace has been slowed by the fact that JO Wilson has been in a crap building for a while now and is not finally getting their much-needed renovation but this also means a swing space and some upheaval so that school has not gotten the IB buy in that you see at places like L-T or Payne over the last decade or so. People get scared off by the test scores and then they visit the school and it's just in rough shape. But it's really a hidden gem that is soon to be not-so-hidden I think (when the renovated school is done). Really great and experienced teaching staff with a strong focus on academics plus solid specials programs (the performing arts program is a standout).

I think TR continues to soak up people who are IB for JO and get put off by the condition of the school and the test scores and just feel more comfortable at TR where there are a lot more umc families. It helps TR maintain a solid base of families even if it's really not a destination for people who have other options (you don't see L-T families lottery to TR even though you do see them going to SWS or even CHmL) and people tend to leave TR well before 5th if their lottery results are any indication.

Now what happens when JO gets their renovation... I will be curious to see how this impacts TR for sure. I do think that a lot of TR families would be surprised to discover that JO likely has superior academics if they could compare the schools side by side. But most people don't -- the look at test scores online and they get "a vibe" as a prospective PK family who knows basically nothing about elementary education and they don't give JO a chance. If the new building makes more families give JO a chance I think TR could wind up folding.

It won't fold, there are still plenty of lower performing zones to draw from. But I think its troubles are far from over, and the JO renovation is one of the reasons.

[Anonymous]

The real reason is because new “discoverers” of a certain complexion see children of a darker skin tone in the building. Anytime they see too many darker skin tone children, they automatically assume that the school is bad.

[Anonymous]

The school had some pandemic issues and unhappy families during that time period. Add in a chaotic administration and experienced teachers leaving. People stopped choosing it over middle of the road Hill area DCPS options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh and H. Try to lottery into Sojourner Truth, which starts in 6th grade.

So you can see, there are many options, it's just a question of whether you like the options for your family.

Where are they moving to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The real reason is because new “discoverers” of a certain complexion see children of a darker skin tone in the building. Anytime they see too many darker skin tone children, they automatically assume that the school is bad.

This makes no sense because TR has always had black kids. It's a public school in DC. The nearby DCPS has many more black students. CHML also has a higher percentage of black students. Also I don't get what you mean by "discoverers." It's a well known charter option. I don't think anyone thinks it's some hidden gem that never gets mentioned. This just doesn't make sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school had some pandemic issues and unhappy families during that time period. Add in a chaotic administration and experienced teachers leaving. People stopped choosing it over middle of the road Hill area DCPS options.

All schools had "pandemic issues." TR has continued to have unhappy families well after the Covid closures. I think what has happened is that families have realized the "middle of the road DCPS options" are superior to TR on almost every metric (academics, enrichment, physical plant, teacher quality and experience level, administration stability, etc.). I think to the extent that people continue to "choose" TR, it is largely ignorant PK parents with poor lottery numbers who are surprised to get a wait-list offer. Later they understand why the school makes so many offers-- savvier parents get spots thetr and turn them down in favor of better options.

[Anonymous]

You can read the board meeting minutes here. To its credit, Two Rivers' minutes are a lot more substantive than what you get from many schools. If you skim the minutes for the past few years you can kind of piece things together.

https://www.tworiverspcs.org/who-we-are/team/board-partners/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can read the board meeting minutes here. To its credit, Two Rivers' minutes are a lot more substantive than what you get from many schools. If you skim the minutes for the past few years you can kind of piece things together.

https://www.tworiverspcs.org/who-we-are/team/board-partners/

Disagree. The Board was absent when needed most. They sat and watched it happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can read the board meeting minutes here. To its credit, Two Rivers' minutes are a lot more substantive than what you get from many schools. If you skim the minutes for the past few years you can kind of piece things together.

https://www.tworiverspcs.org/who-we-are/team/board-partners/

Disagree. The Board was absent when needed most. They sat and watched it happen.

Oh I agree the board was asleep at the wheel as to the actual problems. They failed to intervene for a long time. I'm just saying their minutes are somewhat informative. If you compare to what various other schools' minutes look like, some are revealing basically nothing, and some haven't made any minutes public for several years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can read the board meeting minutes here. To its credit, Two Rivers' minutes are a lot more substantive than what you get from many schools. If you skim the minutes for the past few years you can kind of piece things together.

https://www.tworiverspcs.org/who-we-are/team/board-partners/

Disagree. The Board was absent when needed most. They sat and watched it happen.

Oh I agree the board was asleep at the wheel as to the actual problems. They failed to intervene for a long time. I'm just saying their minutes are somewhat informative. If you compare to what various other schools' minutes look like, some are revealing basically nothing, and some haven't made any minutes public for several years.

Transparency is great but the truth is at most schools you don't need to comb through years of meeting minutes to "figure out what went wrong." Either nothing went wrong or a school's challenges are obvious. TR is unique in that it should be doing at least as well as other similarly situated charters in terms of retention, behavior, and test scores. And it's not-- it's in a downward spiral.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can read the board meeting minutes here. To its credit, Two Rivers' minutes are a lot more substantive than what you get from many schools. If you skim the minutes for the past few years you can kind of piece things together.

https://www.tworiverspcs.org/who-we-are/team/board-partners/

Disagree. The Board was absent when needed most. They sat and watched it happen.

Oh I agree the board was asleep at the wheel as to the actual problems. They failed to intervene for a long time. I'm just saying their minutes are somewhat informative. If you compare to what various other schools' minutes look like, some are revealing basically nothing, and some haven't made any minutes public for several years.

Transparency is great but the truth is at most schools you don't need to comb through years of meeting minutes to "figure out what went wrong." Either nothing went wrong or a school's challenges are obvious. TR is unique in that it should be doing at least as well as other similarly situated charters in terms of retention, behavior, and test scores. And it's not-- it's in a downward spiral.

Can you give us the play by play of exactly what happened at Two Rivers over the past 5 years? Because it's obvious that a downward spiral occured, but I'm not sure of anything more specific than that.