Tell me more about School Without Walls

[Anonymous]

PP. You are misinformed about Trogisch. He was involved in the merger. He supports it 100%. He chooses to ignore his HS staff, students and parents who do not support what the merger has done to the HS. Trogish is also the or behind the crazy idea to split the junior class in 2 sections and send them to FS on alternating days. Push back at the HS has put this on hold but Trogisch has made it clear he wants this proposal to go through. Don't be fooled by his claims that he is only doing what the chancellor asks him to do. He is up to his ears in his involvement and support of the merger. He needs to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Trogich is in the same boat of the high-school principals that handle McKinley, Cardozo and Bell and by all means you don't hear the "sky is falling" attitude at those schools. Trogich serves at the will of the Chancellor, thus if his boss says he must run a campus of that caliber then so be it. Stop trying to blame Trogich for something that came with the job, if he was not up to the challenge he could have regrettably declined to continue his employment with DCPS.

Cardozo and CHEC are on a single campus, which I think makes them different and easier to run. And although CHEC is technically test in, it's not competitive in the way that Walls is. It seems like there are some good reasons to have separate principals of Walls and F-S. I wasn't always convinced of that as a prospective F-S parent, who believes Trogich has done a LOT for F-S, but I think dividing his time between two campuses means that he can't meet either campus's needs well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP. You are misinformed about Trogisch. He was involved in the merger. He supports it 100%. He chooses to ignore his HS staff, students and parents who do not support what the merger has done to the HS. Trogish is also the or behind the crazy idea to split the junior class in 2 sections and send them to FS on alternating days. Push back at the HS has put this on hold but Trogisch has made it clear he wants this proposal to go through. Don't be fooled by his claims that he is only doing what the chancellor asks him to do. He is up to his ears in his involvement and support of the merger. He needs to go.

I think it would be a great outcome for both schools if Trogisch got to keep SWW@F-S and a new principal came into SWWHS. Let Francis-Stevens keep the name, maybe even have some voluntary partnerships with the high school (like after-school tutoring of F-S students for SWWHS student community service). We are on the waitlist for F-S and our concern is that Trogisch does not have enough time to focus on the elementary/middle school campus, which needs a lot of attention in order to turn into a sought-after school. (I do think he has already done a lot for the school.)

[Anonymous]

Agree with PP. Both schools need their own principal. They can share a name but they are totally different programs and they each need and deserve full time attention. Moreover, the ridiculous idea to send HS juniors over to FS on alternating days needs to stop. The HS needs to know its students will stay on one campus. No one objects to tutoring FS kids but no one at the HS, except Trogisch, wants HS students at the FS campus. The HS needs new leadership dedicated to the high school and one campus.

[Anonymous]

+1 That is why you shoud sign the petition. Already 1366 have signed. http://www.change.org/petitions/vincent-gray-save-school-without-walls-high-school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with PP on the push towards AP exams. Every year they push kids to take more APs so the school can have a higher ranking. All 10th graders are required to take AP World History and the school used to discourage taking any more but now they push 2-3 AP's sophomore year.

Besides World History, which APs do they push on sophomores?

AP Government, AP English lit are the main ones.

[Anonymous]

Sophomores do not take AP Gov or Lit. Those are typically junior year classes. Depending on Spanish level coming in, some students can take AP Spanish and some take AP Art History. Then again, it could have changed since my kids graduated. Anything to get a higher ranking!

[Anonymous]

sounds like we are back to the drawing board and going to head to Wilson next year- this sounds too crazy - Wilson is more of a sure thing!

[Anonymous]

PP Does that mean that your DC was admitted to Walls and now you are changing your minds? Have you let Walls know? Does anyone know what ever happened to the admissions at SWW this year? They went through their waitlist and then had to go back to those whom they had already rejected to see if they would take the test again. I am not sure how that ever came out and whether Walls is now scheduled for its full allotment this Fall.

[Anonymous]

This is all so sad...I hope it can turn around -- we were counting on Walls too because Wilson is too large for my next kid and I also don't like the bullying & drug scene. My one kid is graduating this year from Wilson and is doing great in many ways but there were a lot of distractions that came over the years. He is a smart kid and challenged academically will be fine but if we didn't do major interventions there were too many opportunities to stray. I was hoping Walls would be a good option for our 2nd child. Now not sure - we may do private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is all so sad...I hope it can turn around -- we were counting on Walls too because Wilson is too large for my next kid and I also don't like the bullying & drug scene. My one kid is graduating this year from Wilson and is doing great in many ways but there were a lot of distractions that came over the years. He is a smart kid and challenged academically will be fine but if we didn't do major interventions there were too many opportunities to stray. I was hoping Walls would be a good option for our 2nd child. Now not sure - we may do private.

If you can do private, do private. Make room for a kid for whom Walls could be a life-changing experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all so sad...I hope it can turn around -- we were counting on Walls too because Wilson is too large for my next kid and I also don't like the bullying & drug scene. My one kid is graduating this year from Wilson and is doing great in many ways but there were a lot of distractions that came over the years. He is a smart kid and challenged academically will be fine but if we didn't do major interventions there were too many opportunities to stray. I was hoping Walls would be a good option for our 2nd child. Now not sure - we may do private.

If you can do private, do private. Make room for a kid for whom Walls could be a life-changing experience.

You post this on every single thread about SWW. Who are you, exactly? I'm fascinated by your mantra.

Is making more room in excellent public schools really part of noblesse oblige in the District? Seriously?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all so sad...I hope it can turn around -- we were counting on Walls too because Wilson is too large for my next kid and I also don't like the bullying & drug scene. My one kid is graduating this year from Wilson and is doing great in many ways but there were a lot of distractions that came over the years. He is a smart kid and challenged academically will be fine but if we didn't do major interventions there were too many opportunities to stray. I was hoping Walls would be a good option for our 2nd child. Now not sure - we may do private.

If you can do private, do private. Make room for a kid for whom Walls could be a life-changing experience.

You post this on every single thread about SWW. Who are you, exactly? I'm fascinated by your mantra.

Is making more room in excellent public schools really part of noblesse oblige in the District? Seriously?

That's the message that in-boundary Hardy families have been getting from DCPS for years.

[Anonymous]

Many sophomores take an AP foreign language in addition to AP World.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1 That is why you shoud sign the petition. Already 1366 have signed. http://www.change.org/petitions/vincent-gray-save-school-without-walls-high-school

I did sign it but no one in dcps seems to care about the petition.