Ward/neighborhood preferences for Charter School admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:yes, I am ok with the exception outlined above. But otherwise, horrible idea. People who can afford to buy near a good neighborhood school can already buy their way into a decent school. The charter school lottery as it exists provides a more level playing field. And these schools are moving around like crazy, which would make it a nightmare.

On Capitol Hill many with tiny tots buy cramped homes near the two or three decent elementary schools but buy larger home near crappy ones, hoping for improvement that never comes. Then they move to the burbs or go private. Like a lot of Hill'ite, I'd like to see DCPS close a couple elementary schools and one middle school. If these schools went charter, and the new schools were as good as Two Rivers, or better, and Hill folk had neighborhood preference, voila, many more middle-class familie would stay. Not such a horrible idea around here.

What are the YY parents afraid of, more AA kids from the neighborhood? Well, then move the school to Chinatown if the law is proposed and passes why don't you and draw in actual bilingual families, horrors.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the gratuitous slam on YY previous poster. But as others have stated, I really can't see a good reason for neighborhood admissions for charters. With charters at least you are on the level playing field regardless of income of at least getting a shot at decent schools.

[Anonymous]

In case 14:15 hadn't noticed, there are very few, if any, Chinese residents in DC's chain store version of Chinatown, and even if there were---there's no space for a charter school given the exhorbitant rents. Gotta love the "let them eat cake" mentality.

Besides, Capitol Hill poster---what makes you think that a neighborhood preference charter school is going to be comprised of the middle class demographic you so obviously desire. Rather, a charter school preference would recreate the same situation that middle class parents in EOP neighborhoods face already. That is, school boundaries that do not contain enough educated middle class families to positively affect a school's culture given the reality that if the majority of the students are from less-educated families, the school is going to teach to that common denominator.

[Anonymous]

Now on the third page, and nobody has given a single reason why this is a good idea (except if a charter takes over a neighborhood school). Rather than let this degenerate into another YY thread, can we drop it until someone decides to argue that this is a good thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:yes, I am ok with the exception outlined above. But otherwise, horrible idea. People who can afford to buy near a good neighborhood school can already buy their way into a decent school. The charter school lottery as it exists provides a more level playing field. And these schools are moving around like crazy, which would make it a nightmare.

On Capitol Hill many with tiny tots buy cramped homes near the two or three decent elementary schools but buy larger home near crappy ones, hoping for improvement that never comes. Then they move to the burbs or go private. Like a lot of Hill'ite, I'd like to see DCPS close a couple elementary schools and one middle school. If these schools went charter, and the new schools were as good as Two Rivers, or better, and Hill folk had neighborhood preference, voila, many more middle-class familie would stay. Not such a horrible idea around here.

What are the YY parents afraid of, more AA kids from the neighborhood? Well, then move the school to Chinatown if the law is proposed and passes why don't you and draw in actual bilingual families, horrors.

I think you need to study up on the school situation on the Hill. Large numbers send their 5th graders and above out of the neighborhood for charters. That would not be possible with the proximity preferences and these families will evaporate from the city once their kids are through elementary school.

[Anonymous]

So now they want us to be either IB or OOB for charters? This is getting ridiculous. Just fix the neighborhood schools!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is largely a bad idea for the following reasons: Those who need choice most because their neighborhood schools aren't cutting it will lose out once again because few to no charter schools locate in those areas. Likewise on the other end of the spectrum: those who live in expensive neighborhoods will have no charter options (not that I care but to the extent that they're interested in such special offers as language or need access to alternative learning models it's not fair). By the same token, it would be horribly unfair to tell those who live near a specialty charter school that's now where they feed into (oh, btw, your children now all speak Mandarin Chinese). The moving around of charters is a problem, too.

I could see an exception to this conclusion in the following situation: If a charter moves into a former public school building/boundary and commits to DC educational standards, then I'd be in favor. This would be a convincing move to unhinge a neighborhood school from the DCPS shackles and give it the autonomy to serve its students well. (Not to mention that this would be a welcome opportunity to test whether charters can truly deliver on that promise.)

I agree with your overall point, but that is still wrong. There are more charter schools per capita in Ward 8 than anywhere else. Neighborhood preference still sounds stupid, but not because no-one will move east of the river to fill that need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:yes, I am ok with the exception outlined above. But otherwise, horrible idea. People who can afford to buy near a good neighborhood school can already buy their way into a decent school. The charter school lottery as it exists provides a more level playing field. And these schools are moving around like crazy, which would make it a nightmare.

On Capitol Hill many with tiny tots buy cramped homes near the two or three decent elementary schools but buy larger home near crappy ones, hoping for improvement that never comes. Then they move to the burbs or go private. Like a lot of Hill'ite, I'd like to see DCPS close a couple elementary schools and one middle school. If these schools went charter, and the new schools were as good as Two Rivers, or better, and Hill folk had neighborhood preference, voila, many more middle-class familie would stay. Not such a horrible idea around here.

What are the YY parents afraid of, more AA kids from the neighborhood? Well, then move the school to Chinatown if the law is proposed and passes why don't you and draw in actual bilingual families, horrors.

I was with you until you revealed yourself to be an idiot in the second paragraph.

This isn't about YY families; you're fruitlessly complaining about one of the most diverse public schools in the entire city. Furthermore, even if pigs flew and you were correct, who in Chinatown do you suppose is going to give up a gorgeous 40,000 sq. ft. facility + 3 acre lot for an outdoor nature center and classrooms?

Neighborhood preference sounds good only if it's an opt-in situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[

I was with you until you revealed yourself to be an idiot in the second paragraph.

This isn't about YY families; you're fruitlessly complaining about one of the most diverse public schools in the entire city. Furthermore, even if pigs flew and you were correct, who in Chinatown do you suppose is going to give up a gorgeous 40,000 sq. ft. facility + 3 acre lot for an outdoor nature center and classrooms?

Neighborhood preference sounds good only if it's an opt-in situation.

Not idiotic to think in terms of neighborhood charter preferences benefitting Hill families in particular -just talk to parents IB for Ludlow-Taylor, Payne and Miner but landed waaay down the waiting lists for YY, SWS, Logan Montesorri, 2 Rivers etc.

An opt-in situation meaning what? Charter school boards decide if they want the neighorhood preference? Surely that's how Wells will frame the law. He's among the pols who doen't want to fix neighborhood schools the only way you can outside a few high-SES enclaves (Brent District, north Lincoln Park area zoned for Maury). That is to stay stop busing in Ward 8 kids in droves, stop letting in PG County kids and add GT test-in programs. Schools could also be allowed to decide admissions policies, e.g. preferential admissions for native speakers of target languages like DCPS uses. But no, all that would work too well.

[Anonymous]

This is great (not really, but I can imagine it semi-useful in some elementary catchment areas) until you get to the middle and high schools. Some of the worst schools in the city are the DCPS high schools because they are dumping grounds and the options are slim for those kids. Opening up neighborhood preference will kill any hope of HS charters rising out of that morass. Unless, of course, I can get my application in first to be a Ward 3 charter HS that offers a program that would give Deal and Wilson a run for their money.
Maybe I'm onto something here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:why not just fix DCPS and allow them to have their own curriculum? allowing a for-profit school system to creep over and take over schools is not very smart. Charter is not the answer.

Very few charters are for profit. Other than KIPP, I don't believe there are any in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So now they want us to be either IB or OOB for charters? This is getting ridiculous. Just fix the neighborhood schools!

If it were that simple, it would have been done already.

[Anonymous]

The easiest way to harm DC charter schools and make it more difficult for charters to improve on the DCPS school experience is to require that they take 50% children from immediate neighborhoods.

Specialized schools will be destroyed first and the rest will follow in two or three years. DC's tax base will stay flat or erode. Some politicians and union representatives will feel better about the "equity" they have achieved. Children in DC, again, will lose out.

[Anonymous]

Disagree about politicians and unions being the push behind this for sake of "equity". It is more so parents that actually live next to desirable charters that want in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Disagree about politicians and unions being the push behind this for sake of "equity". It is more so parents that actually live next to desirable charters that want in.

The DC Council understands charters but wants to scratch the constituent itch of "why can't I have a high-quality school I can walk to?" Multiply any well-meaning attempt to make this mostly neighborhood school option happen NOW in every reasonably well-connected neighborhood and nothing much good can happen anywhere.

Specialized charters are destroyed first and the others follow. The children of DC are worse off and the tax base growth goes down or flattens.