New to looking at Capitol Hill DCPS. Any majority high SES schools?

[Anonymous]

Let's put the cards on the table. Third, fourth and fifth grade parents are increasingly unhappy with the lack of intellectual and academic rigor at Brent. Many feel that students are not being sufficiently challenged by staff. While great strides have been made at Brent, things seem to have stalled. The loss of Abby Maslin has further exacerbated the situation.

[Anonymous]

100% agree with the above. To wit: it has nothing whatsoever to do with the demographics of the students currently there and everything to do with the curriculum, pedagogy, management, expectations and yes, middle school feeder patterns currently in place

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, look at the "Is Brent the Best School on Capitol Hill" thread from earlier this year to learn all about Brent.

When we were house hunting 5 years ago, we went as far as attending PTA meetings at Watkin, Maury and Brent. Maury is keeping more high-SES families every year, but they still lose more than Brent after 2nd. Brent and Maury both have such a problem with their middle school feeders (Eliot-Hine) that their 5th grades are entirely AA.

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/246031.page#2567031

The 5th grade this year at Brent is not all AA.

[Anonymous]

And it wasn't last year or the year before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, BASIS seems to have become a de-facto "feeder" for the better Capitol Hill schools like Brent and St. Peters - though it needs to be at 5th grade. I believe BASIS won't be accepting many if any at the higher grades.

Excellent BASIS shilling. Nicely done and way to build the fear. "If you don't leave now, your little darling will be stuck at Jefferson."

BASIS is 3 month old experiment. Just because you feel comfortable taking that chance on your child, not everyone does. Please stop feeding the frenzy that creams 5th graders off to an untested middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, BASIS seems to have become a de-facto "feeder" for the better Capitol Hill schools like Brent and St. Peters - though it needs to be at 5th grade. I believe BASIS won't be accepting many if any at the higher grades.

Excellent BASIS shilling. Nicely done and way to build the fear. "If you don't leave now, your little darling will be stuck at Jefferson."

BASIS is 3 month old experiment. Just because you feel comfortable taking that chance on your child, not everyone does. Please stop feeding the frenzy that creams 5th graders off to an untested middle school.

Versus the tried and tested Jefferson and Eliot Hine? What is one to do?

[Anonymous]

11:53 Which of the "tested" middle schools are you backing? EH? SH? Jefferson? Right now, unless parents are willing to move to Montgomery or Fairfax Counties or go independent, BASIS and Latin are the only viable options. I would rather take a chance on BASIS than send my child to the "tested" schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:here is the inside scoop for Brent.

the boundry actually includes a lot of low income housing, but the housing does not look like traditional "public housing." There is a soup kitchen just around the block from Brent and and two others within three blocks, that I know of. There is a homeless shelter and a home for battered women-- but again, they are not obvious from the outside. The neighborhood is generally appalled that it is becoming so difficult for working class people to afford to live in the neighborhood and is working very hard to ensure more low to moderate income housing stock is added to the area.

Off topic, but how do you propose adding more housing stock to the neighborhood? Are you advocating developing the Congressional parking lots?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, BASIS seems to have become a de-facto "feeder" for the better Capitol Hill schools like Brent and St. Peters - though it needs to be at 5th grade. I believe BASIS won't be accepting many if any at the higher grades.

Excellent BASIS shilling. Nicely done and way to build the fear. "If you don't leave now, your little darling will be stuck at Jefferson."

BASIS is 3 month old experiment. Just because you feel comfortable taking that chance on your child, not everyone does. Please stop feeding the frenzy that creams 5th graders off to an untested middle school.

There is no fear in this decision. It is rational decision making based on facts and research. If you would like to send your little darling to Jefferson for Middle School, be my guest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:here is the inside scoop for Brent.

the boundry actually includes a lot of low income housing, but the housing does not look like traditional "public housing." There is a soup kitchen just around the block from Brent and and two others within three blocks, that I know of. There is a homeless shelter and a home for battered women-- but again, they are not obvious from the outside. The neighborhood is generally appalled that it is becoming so difficult for working class people to afford to live in the neighborhood and is working very hard to ensure more low to moderate income housing stock is added to the area.

Off topic, but how do you propose adding more housing stock to the neighborhood? Are you advocating developing the Congressional parking lots?

Yeah, I was wondering this as well. How in the world is the "neighborhood" working to ensure that low income housing is added to the area? Where would this be, and how would one propose to do it? Because if the recent threads on MoTH were any indication, they would put a bulldozer to Potomac Gardens if they had their way. So I'm pretty much calling BS on this big neighborhood push to add more low income housing to the Hill.

[Anonymous]

Bottom line: if you stay at Brent for 5th grade, you severely limit your choices for middle school: private, EH, Jefferson or else a very uncertain slot at SH, Hardy, Deal, or a charter middle school that starts at 6th like 2Rivers, Cap City, Howard math and science, or EL Janes. The uncertainty of those lotteries in the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:here is the inside scoop for Brent.

the boundry actually includes a lot of low income housing, but the housing does not look like traditional "public housing." There is a soup kitchen just around the block from Brent and and two others within three blocks, that I know of. There is a homeless shelter and a home for battered women-- but again, they are not obvious from the outside. The neighborhood is generally appalled that it is becoming so difficult for working class people to afford to live in the neighborhood and is working very hard to ensure more low to moderate income housing stock is added to the area.

Off topic, but how do you propose adding more housing stock to the neighborhood? Are you advocating developing the Congressional parking lots?

Yeah, I was wondering this as well. How in the world is the "neighborhood" working to ensure that low income housing is added to the area? Where would this be, and how would one propose to do it? Because if the recent threads on MoTH were any indication, they would put a bulldozer to Potomac Gardens if they had their way. So I'm pretty much calling BS on this big neighborhood push to add more low income housing to the Hill.

Isn't a lot of new development like Capitol Quarter by law mixed income? There is a difference between high density low income housing like Potomac Gardens and mixed income housing that should allow for diversity without some of the pathology. So you can keep your BS.

[Anonymous]

There were plenty of spots at Latin and Basis this year for 6th grade. Again, way to build the panic.

It's all uncertain when it comes to public schools in DC. Take a deep breath and deal with it and stop sharing your fear everywhere.

I really wish Brent parents would STFU about Basis and do something constructive, like back off the standardized testing mania courtesy of DCPS.

[Anonymous]

^^ What is your agenda, pp? What more to you wish? Lots of substandard education for all of our students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There were plenty of spots at Latin and Basis this year for 6th grade. Again, way to build the panic.

It's all uncertain when it comes to public schools in DC. Take a deep breath and deal with it and stop sharing your fear everywhere.

I really wish Brent parents would STFU about Basis and do something constructive, like back off the standardized testing mania courtesy of DCPS.

This shows that you really don't know what is going on. "Plenty of spots' is an overstatement and you must acknowledge the growing demand that will be put on those slots in the coming years. 5th grade at Basis and Latin will offer a total of something like 230 slots citywide. 6th grade at those schools maybe will offer 20 slots citywide. Not rocket science. Plus the 5th grade experience at those schools is far and away a better experience than any DCPS. So families could waste another year. So not fear. Rational thought.