Can anyone update me on Shaw Middle and parent involvement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone. Can anyone tell me about Cardozo for middle school?

You do not send your kid there if you care about academics and behavior. I am a cynic on middle schools in DC. I lived on the Hill back in the 90s and the "committed" parents were fighting to improve middle schools there. Cap Hil actually has good feeders (Brent especially) and their middle school options, 20 years later are mediocre at best. There is a reason the brain drain happens after 4 grade and they all head to latin, basis or private. So if the connected folks on the Hill cant turn it around, the folks in your neigbhorhood aren't either. Certainly not by the time your kid enters 6th grade. I feel the same way about McFarland Middle. A school is only as good as its feeder (ie the success of students) and the feeders to McFarland all currently have the same high SES flight by first grade. so there are no high SES families in 4th, 5th grade to feed to McFarland there won't be even from the current crop of PKers in the feeders. Sorry to be a cynic but I have been wathcing this for well over a decade. New buildings don't make a difference in academnics either (see Dunbar). Brookland Middle which is beautiful and brand new has exactly one white kid in the school, so they clearly failed to attract any diversity.

This is not true. Whether DCPS can convince the parents to buy into the yet to be articulated vision is a different question. But from West, Powell, Barnard, BMPV, etc., there are enough "high SES" families to make a go of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone. Can anyone tell me about Cardozo for middle school?

You do not send your kid there if you care about academics and behavior. I am a cynic on middle schools in DC. I lived on the Hill back in the 90s and the "committed" parents were fighting to improve middle schools there. Cap Hil actually has good feeders (Brent especially) and their middle school options, 20 years later are mediocre at best. There is a reason the brain drain happens after 4 grade and they all head to latin, basis or private. So if the connected folks on the Hill cant turn it around, the folks in your neigbhorhood aren't either. Certainly not by the time your kid enters 6th grade. I feel the same way about McFarland Middle. A school is only as good as its feeder (ie the success of students) and the feeders to McFarland all currently have the same high SES flight by first grade. so there are no high SES families in 4th, 5th grade to feed to McFarland there won't be even from the current crop of PKers in the feeders. Sorry to be a cynic but I have been wathcing this for well over a decade. New buildings don't make a difference in academnics either (see Dunbar). Brookland Middle which is beautiful and brand new has exactly one white kid in the school, so they clearly failed to attract any diversity.

This is not true. Whether DCPS can convince the parents to buy into the yet to be articulated vision is a different question. But from West, Powell, Barnard, BMPV, etc., there are enough "high SES" families to make a go of it.

every feeder is 99% FARMS. not that it means they are actually 99% FARMS but it indicates that the majority are FARMS. It will be 10-15 years for a critical mass of high SES kids in the feeders to emerge. See Cap Hill-and even those kids are bailing for Latin and Basis and in theory they do have a critical mass. Brookland Middle was the real test on attracting gentrifiers and as long as DCPS continues to ignore what parents want and then act confused as to why the parents are bailing, what is the point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone. Can anyone tell me about Cardozo for middle school?

You do not send your kid there if you care about academics and behavior. I am a cynic on middle schools in DC. I lived on the Hill back in the 90s and the "committed" parents were fighting to improve middle schools there. Cap Hil actually has good feeders (Brent especially) and their middle school options, 20 years later are mediocre at best. There is a reason the brain drain happens after 4 grade and they all head to latin, basis or private. So if the connected folks on the Hill cant turn it around, the folks in your neigbhorhood aren't either. Certainly not by the time your kid enters 6th grade. I feel the same way about McFarland Middle. A school is only as good as its feeder (ie the success of students) and the feeders to McFarland all currently have the same high SES flight by first grade. so there are no high SES families in 4th, 5th grade to feed to McFarland there won't be even from the current crop of PKers in the feeders. Sorry to be a cynic but I have been wathcing this for well over a decade. New buildings don't make a difference in academnics either (see Dunbar). Brookland Middle which is beautiful and brand new has exactly one white kid in the school, so they clearly failed to attract any diversity.

This is not true. Whether DCPS can convince the parents to buy into the yet to be articulated vision is a different question. But from West, Powell, Barnard, BMPV, etc., there are enough "high SES" families to make a go of it.

every feeder is 99% FARMS. not that it means they are actually 99% FARMS but it indicates that the majority are FARMS. It will be 10-15 years for a critical mass of high SES kids in the feeders to emerge. See Cap Hill-and even those kids are bailing for Latin and Basis and in theory they do have a critical mass. Brookland Middle was the real test on attracting gentrifiers and as long as DCPS continues to ignore what parents want and then act confused as to why the parents are bailing, what is the point?

You're assuming that everyone cares about having a class with less than 30% FARMS, and that's just not the case for some of us.

[Anonymous]

every feeder is 99% FARMS. not that it means they are actually 99% FARMS but it indicates that the majority are FARMS. It will be 10-15 years for a critical mass of high SES kids in the feeders to emerge. See Cap Hill-and even those kids are bailing for Latin and Basis and in theory they do have a critical mass. Brookland Middle was the real test on attracting gentrifiers and as long as DCPS continues to ignore what parents want and then act confused as to why the parents are bailing, what is the point?

the point? of sending your child to a Title I school if you don't qualify for FARMs yourself? How about educating all children in DC, rather than only the wealthy ones?

[Anonymous]

A "baby" here from Garrison (PK4 parent) who is committed and looking forward to working with other parents on our middle school. Since there are people on this thread who say they have been in the fight for a while and gave up, I'd love to hear any lessons learned from past middle school reform efforts - other than that this is a hopeless cause.

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[Anonymous]

Becky, you are awesome and I'm thrilled to hear of your efforts.

Others, call me a "baby" if you must, but I am not going to give up without even trying. Everyone going to Deal and charters is just not a realistic long-term plan, and some of us actually want DCPS middle and high schools to work out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, there are parents working on pushing the city to reopen Shaw. We had a meeting with Council members Allen and Grosso 6 months ago and had a parent only follow up literally yesterday.

We are thinking of starting a "friends of Cardozo" feeder group. The plan is to strengthen Cadozo HS and get Cardozo MS moved to a stand alone MS at Shaw eventually. We have parents from Garrison, Cleveland, and Seaton involved.

(I cannot believe I'm doing this, but that's how much I care about this...) email me personally at [e-mail] to become involved.

As an aside, don't assume MacFarland MS will fail. DCPS will be starting it's MS language immersion there next fall (at Roosevelt HS for 2 years during MacFarland's renovation), which should pull from all over the city (not just the neighborhood ESs) and be a boost to the larger MacFarland program when it opens in 3 years.

Becky Reina,
Cleveland ES parent

Becky - I've asked this before (and will ask it again). How are you guys working with Ward2 and those groups. It seems like the mid city community has so many small groups working against each other. Where is the coordination?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A "baby" here from Garrison (PK4 parent) who is committed and looking forward to working with other parents on our middle school. Since there are people on this thread who say they have been in the fight for a while and gave up, I'd love to hear any lessons learned from past middle school reform efforts - other than that this is a hopeless cause.

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We say it's hopeless because we tired.

Because we stayed up night after night for years working on a dream. For some of us...it worked. Some of us built middle schools that we see you "baby" parents talk shit about on DCUM like they were nothing. You don't even realize the hard work to get some of these programs up and running that you people take for granted.

You want to start a school? You want to revamp a DCPS?

Stop posting on DCUM and bitching and join a work group, set up a meeting, write a proposal, write a grant, you should be working every second of your spare time for the next 2 years until you live and breath middle schools.

Then, 10 years from now when some PK parent comes and says "What's the deal with that place? Why couldn't they get that going?" Tell me how you feel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone. Can anyone tell me about Cardozo for middle school?

You do not send your kid there if you care about academics and behavior. I am a cynic on middle schools in DC. I lived on the Hill back in the 90s and the "committed" parents were fighting to improve middle schools there. Cap Hil actually has good feeders (Brent especially) and their middle school options, 20 years later are mediocre at best. There is a reason the brain drain happens after 4 grade and they all head to latin, basis or private. So if the connected folks on the Hill cant turn it around, the folks in your neigbhorhood aren't either. Certainly not by the time your kid enters 6th grade. I feel the same way about McFarland Middle. A school is only as good as its feeder (ie the success of students) and the feeders to McFarland all currently have the same high SES flight by first grade. so there are no high SES families in 4th, 5th grade to feed to McFarland there won't be even from the current crop of PKers in the feeders. Sorry to be a cynic but I have been wathcing this for well over a decade. New buildings don't make a difference in academnics either (see Dunbar). Brookland Middle which is beautiful and brand new has exactly one white kid in the school, so they clearly failed to attract any diversity.

This is not true. Whether DCPS can convince the parents to buy into the yet to be articulated vision is a different question. But from West, Powell, Barnard, BMPV, etc., there are enough "high SES" families to make a go of it.

every feeder is 99% FARMS. not that it means they are actually 99% FARMS but it indicates that the majority are FARMS. It will be 10-15 years for a critical mass of high SES kids in the feeders to emerge. See Cap Hill-and even those kids are bailing for Latin and Basis and in theory they do have a critical mass. Brookland Middle was the real test on attracting gentrifiers and as long as DCPS continues to ignore what parents want and then act confused as to why the parents are bailing, what is the point?

99% does not mean EVERY family is poor like PP said, it doesn't even mean the majority. It just means >40% are FARMS. PP said there are NO upper or middle class families in older grades at feeders and that is a flat out lie. Then again, truth comes out when PP said they were just looking at the door of the kids in older grades. Shepherd older kids are almost all brown, yet less than 35% FARM. Get it together people...there are plenty of brown middle class folk in there city, especially that area NW.

[Anonymous]

*just looking at color, not "door"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Becky - I've asked this before (and will ask it again). How are you guys working with Ward2 and those groups. It seems like the mid city community has so many small groups working against each other. Where is the coordination?

Becky here ([e-mail]) - One of the people involved in our effort is very involved in the Logan Circle Community Association which is one of the sponsors of the Ward 2 Ed group. The feeder schools actual span wards. For example, Cleveland which is a feeder school is actually in Ward 1. Shaw would be the closest middle school for many families in Wards 5 and 6 too. To motivate the city we will have to get multiple wards to cooperate. And for the record, I'm involved with the Ward 1 Ed Collective. We are trying to reach out to stakeholders to get on the same page.

To the poster who says it's "hopeless because we tried." I'm so sorry it has been so difficult. DC is a very dysfunctional place. I know current parents are standing on your shoulders. Our hopes for improvement wouldn't be possible without your past efforts. In this case, we aren't trying to start a school, or even really revamp an existing one. Cardozo Middle School exists inside the Cardozo Education Campus. And I know it's already much better than it used to be. We want to support its continued improvement, and eventually, essentially air lift it into a new stand-alone campus at Shaw Middle School. That's still a heavy lift, but different from starting from scratch. It's going to be a bitch and perhaps impossible, but we have to try.

[Anonymous]

I believe the Shaw Junior High building is actually IN (what is now) Ward 6.

But yeah, it's a huge added challenge that this neighborhood basically straddles 4 wards (1, 2, 6, 5) and that the political ward boundaries are completely misaligned with the school boundaries and feeder patterns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seaton is a great school! Likely you will need to move or get into a charter for middle school though. But in the meantime enjoy a great neighborhood and a great school!!!

Thanks! It's been a great couple of weeks in Bloomingdale, we are loving it so far. I have the same question about Langley and McKinley Middle School, but I guess I should start a new thread...

OP, if you're in Bloomingdale, you'll get more useful information on Scott Roberts's listserve & blog or from general gossip at the Big Bear (unfortunately, the farmer's market is done for the season, because that would be useful too). Bloomingdale is a family-friendly neighborhood. Talk to real people, because DCUM is Thunderdome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone. Can anyone tell me about Cardozo for middle school?

You do not send your kid there if you care about academics and behavior. I am a cynic on middle schools in DC. I lived on the Hill back in the 90s and the "committed" parents were fighting to improve middle schools there. Cap Hil actually has good feeders (Brent especially) and their middle school options, 20 years later are mediocre at best. There is a reason the brain drain happens after 4 grade and they all head to latin, basis or private. So if the connected folks on the Hill cant turn it around, the folks in your neigbhorhood aren't either. Certainly not by the time your kid enters 6th grade. I feel the same way about McFarland Middle. A school is only as good as its feeder (ie the success of students) and the feeders to McFarland all currently have the same high SES flight by first grade. so there are no high SES families in 4th, 5th grade to feed to McFarland there won't be even from the current crop of PKers in the feeders. Sorry to be a cynic but I have been wathcing this for well over a decade. New buildings don't make a difference in academnics either (see Dunbar). Brookland Middle which is beautiful and brand new has exactly one white kid in the school, so they clearly failed to attract any diversity.

This is not true. Whether DCPS can convince the parents to buy into the yet to be articulated vision is a different question. But from West, Powell, Barnard, BMPV, etc., there are enough "high SES" families to make a go of it.

every feeder is 99% FARMS. not that it means they are actually 99% FARMS but it indicates that the majority are FARMS. It will be 10-15 years for a critical mass of high SES kids in the feeders to emerge. See Cap Hill-and even those kids are bailing for Latin and Basis and in theory they do have a critical mass. Brookland Middle was the real test on attracting gentrifiers and as long as DCPS continues to ignore what parents want and then act confused as to why the parents are bailing, what is the point?

You're assuming that everyone cares about having a class with less than 30% FARMS, and that's just not the case for some of us.

What the what?! It's the case for most of us!

Brookland Middle already failed. It didn't offer any test-in tracks, and it didn't offer a language immersion program. Instead, it offered feeders from Noyes, etc. No thank you very much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A "baby" here from Garrison (PK4 parent) who is committed and looking forward to working with other parents on our middle school. Since there are people on this thread who say they have been in the fight for a while and gave up, I'd love to hear any lessons learned from past middle school reform efforts - other than that this is a hopeless cause.

javascript:void(0);

We say it's hopeless because we tired.

Because we stayed up night after night for years working on a dream. For some of us...it worked. Some of us built middle schools that we see you "baby" parents talk shit about on DCUM like they were nothing. You don't even realize the hard work to get some of these programs up and running that you people take for granted.

You want to start a school? You want to revamp a DCPS?

Stop posting on DCUM and bitching and join a work group, set up a meeting, write a proposal, write a grant, you should be working every second of your spare time for the next 2 years until you live and breath middle schools.

Then, 10 years from now when some PK parent comes and says "What's the deal with that place? Why couldn't they get that going?" Tell me how you feel.

Um... No. Improving a school is not my job. It's DCPS's job (which they obviously perform terribly) or a DCPCS's job. Either way, we pay our taxes and expect certain services as a result: fire, police, schools, pothole repair, garbage pick-up, etc. We don't expect to be involved in the performance of these services. We expect them to be up to high standards, or else why in the hell are you telling us that our house is worth $750K and you want us to pay property taxes to that effect?

STFU.