Open house impressions thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can do what some parents did - and start a school of your own. Say like, Yu Ying, CMI or Two Rivers.

And LAMB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can do what some parents did - and start a school of your own. Say like, Yu Ying, CMI or Two Rivers.

And LAMB.

and CCPCS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this show just how profoundly unfair this whole process is. thousands of kids on waiting list of schools they have a 1% chance of getting into. The schools don't even have to pretend to give a shit about wooing you anymore. You kids educations is only as good as their luck at age 3.

Your kids education is only as good as the parent's foresight in living in IB to a school they were happy with. We all make choices. Many of the individuals on DCUM have financial options such that they can be IB for a good school - it might not be as large, recently renovated, hip - but there are choices that can be made.

True, sadly true.

We never wanted to live in Far NW. It's expensive suburbia. We got lucky getting into one of the best public schools in DC. We got lucky. We arrived at the right time.

The snottitude of families who overpaid for their ugly wee post-war brick dollhouses in Tenleytown just slay me. Nobody envies you as much as you envy yourselves. Your houses are ugly, your schools are over-crowded, you have no idea what it's like to live in a cosmopolitan environment, and you're all obviously terribly insecure. Oh, and you're angry. Jeepers! You're so good at angry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The presenters gave a cold feeling and didn't seem to have answers to most of the questions being asked. The tour was awful just allowing us to take a quick look in the classroom. I didn't get a sense that it was different from any non-immersion school due to the materials displayed. The parents in my session didn't seem to excited either. I really wanted to like the school but left feeling like it wouldn't be a good fit.

To be fair, as a current parent at another charter, I'm very pleased that the school does not let strangers traipse through the classrooms.

I agree with this. The charter I'm thinking of is Bridges, and they don't like tours interrupting the students, etc.

I can see why schools such as some of the very popular HRCs don't feel the need to put on a dog and pony show. If you don't know you're serious about an immersion education, why are you there? There are so many families with language and cultural ties, and they are just agonizing to get in to places like LAMB and Yu Ying, why try to persuade you if you don't even know that it's what you really want?

Maybe it's a pre-sorting mechanism.

Completely agree with you PP. These 2 schools in particular (LAMB and YY) have so many parents DYING to go there, people who know what the schools offer and are passionate and excited about either Spanish and Montessori or IB and Mandarin. And it's so hard to get into each, why bother putting on some dynamic show about how great it is when there are hardly any slots and as a school it's better to have the parents who are applying because it's what they want for their kids, vs. the parents who apply because the classrooms are pretty and the Admins were super friendly.

I'm at one of those 2 schools and I actually liked the open houses at a couple of other schools better than both of theirs, but once we got in we have never looked back, we are so happy there and are excited to see it through all the way through 5th and then DCI.

Two reasons the schools should still try 1) they get my tax dollars, please act like you give a shit about educating every potential kid in DC and 2) the trends change. There are some charters school that you used to be highly sought after that have slipped with the competition from the growing numbers of new charters as well as improved IB options (seeing this now EoTP). With this much demand there may be additional immersion, montessori, STEM whatever schools. Todays hot thing, could be a has been in five years.

Exactly, which would mean teachers at the old hot school wouldn't be wanting their own kids to stay at their school anyway. They'd want into the new hot thing. And the new hot thing would be drawing the best teachers because teachers want the new hot thing, so teacher/staff preference, once again, would be redundant, not a real game-changer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that all schools should try to put on a good effort at the open house. The immersion concept appeals to many on paper. However, schools do it differently and it is important for families to be able to understand how it is done at that particular school. I disagree that the schools with large waitlists shouldn't try. There are plenty of people who throw a school on the list just because there are 12 schools to choose from.

I have only been to a few open houses so far but I felt Creative Minds and Capital City did a great job discussing their school and answering questions while still providing a warm feeling, which is great for small kids. I don't understand why this is hard for all schools.

You're missing the point. I don't hear anyone saying the highest demand schools aren't answering questions (at least, they're answering the questions they can answer; they can't answer "How many PreK-2 slots will you have for '16-'17?"). But why SELL the school, why try to entrance people who don't know if they want it or not when they have more than enough people who already know they want it badlly? The whole point is they don't want the people who just throw it on the list. They want the people who know something about it and already know it's a priority, or at least based on the basic info presented at open house decide they prioritize it. Selling it to even more people makes no sense when there are so few slots available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The presenters gave a cold feeling and didn't seem to have answers to most of the questions being asked. The tour was awful just allowing us to take a quick look in the classroom. I didn't get a sense that it was different from any non-immersion school due to the materials displayed. The parents in my session didn't seem to excited either. I really wanted to like the school but left feeling like it wouldn't be a good fit.

To be fair, as a current parent at another charter, I'm very pleased that the school does not let strangers traipse through the classrooms.

I agree with this. The charter I'm thinking of is Bridges, and they don't like tours interrupting the students, etc.

I can see why schools such as some of the very popular HRCs don't feel the need to put on a dog and pony show. If you don't know you're serious about an immersion education, why are you there? There are so many families with language and cultural ties, and they are just agonizing to get in to places like LAMB and Yu Ying, why try to persuade you if you don't even know that it's what you really want?

Maybe it's a pre-sorting mechanism.

Completely agree with you PP. These 2 schools in particular (LAMB and YY) have so many parents DYING to go there, people who know what the schools offer and are passionate and excited about either Spanish and Montessori or IB and Mandarin. And it's so hard to get into each, why bother putting on some dynamic show about how great it is when there are hardly any slots and as a school it's better to have the parents who are applying because it's what they want for their kids, vs. the parents who apply because the classrooms are pretty and the Admins were super friendly.

I'm at one of those 2 schools and I actually liked the open houses at a couple of other schools better than both of theirs, but once we got in we have never looked back, we are so happy there and are excited to see it through all the way through 5th and then DCI.

I actually think comprehensive tours may help narrow the waitlists down to families who truly care and want to be there. I know many people who list a school they know very little about simply because they hear it's good or it sounds interesting. They have no idea what they're signing up for - probably the same disgruntled parents who post here because the school didn't match their expectations.

I disagree. Have you been to either LAMB campus or Yu Ying? A classroom tour would just make more parents want to apply. Both schools have beautiful campuses and when you actually see kids of fall races speaking Spanish or Mandarin, you will probably be very impressed. That is if the tour is done daytime, I know YY only does it with empty classrooms but if you've been in many DC classrooms, you'll still be impressed. Not sure when/how LAMB does tours these days, but I do know their classrooms are impressive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this show just how profoundly unfair this whole process is. thousands of kids on waiting list of schools they have a 1% chance of getting into. The schools don't even have to pretend to give a shit about wooing you anymore. You kids educations is only as good as their luck at age 3.

It would be more fair, if there were more good choices. That's not the fault of the charter schools, it's the fault of the poor DCPS that won't either change or close and give up facilities to charters. There are currently a couple MILLION empty square feet of school space, which Kaya won't give up. Why is that? It's not because DCPS has an excellent record, it's because of pride and the $$ in her contract.

Make her give up the real estate to charters that will provide the schools. This isn't a mystery. The solution is right in front of everyone's faces, but the entrenched powers don't want to give up what they have - even though it's been proven that others can do it better.

Sorry, there are far too many shitty charters in DC to support your argument that ALL DCPS school buildings should be given up. There are maybe 15 charter schools that are spoken about adoringly on DCUM all the time; other than that, there are some other good charters that aren't sexy to DCUM, and still a lot of others that most DCUM families would never even consider.

Until you show that the vast majority of DC charters are outperforming DCPS, your argument is ridiculous. That day has not come. Only a handful of the charters in DC are actually much better than average, and average is still pretty dismal.

[Anonymous]

Good point PP, if it's a good charter, and successful- but only poor black kids go there, we shouldn't care about it.

It's only if the rich, white folk of DCUM think its a good charter it has value.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can do what some parents did - and start a school of your own. Say like, Yu Ying, CMI or Two Rivers.

If more did, the difficult access would decrease.

MV modeled itself after YY, and became an HRCS almost overnight - even in that crazy space down in Dupont Circle. Those are both independently-started charters, as is Cap City, 2 Rivers, Bridges, and ELHaynes, probably LAMB too, along with DC Prep. The really best ideas are home grown. I'd like to see more of that, and I'd like it if the pro-charter movement would reckon with that. It's easy for a network of charters to come into DC and deal with the facilities crisis - they have money. I'd like to see more support for the great ideas. I know Kipp is supposed to be super, but it's one kind of solution with an outsized influence. If Bridges and IT and Lee could command such influence, we really would all be better off.

What do you mean if IT and Bridges could command such influence?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good point PP, if it's a good charter, and successful- but only poor black kids go there, we shouldn't care about it.

It's only if the rich, white folk of DCUM think its a good charter it has value.

Your post makes zero sense.

If someone's going to make the argument that all DCPS buildings should go to charters, that point only makes even a tiny bit of sense if all charters are better than all DCPS schools.

If in fact many DCPS schools outperform a significant number of charters, what in the world is the justification for closing those DCPS schools and turning DCPS buildings over to those charters?

Despite your ridiculous attempt to make it sound like I don't care about the schools the poor Black kids go to, your suggestion (or the one you're agreeing with) actually does MORE of a disservice to those kids.

No proposal to turn all DCPS schools over to charters - which is the quote I was responding to above - makes any sense until you show the majority of charters out-perform the majority of DCPS schools. And you can't show that right now, so that proposal would make things worse.

[Anonymous]

No one wants to 'turn over' any buildings to charters. The buildings are LEASED. But why should DCPS sit on vacant buildings they can't begin to fill for another 10 or 20 years (eg Shaw middle). It makes no sense from a legal, financial or educational perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good point PP, if it's a good charter, and successful- but only poor black kids go there, we shouldn't care about it.

It's only if the rich, white folk of DCUM think its a good charter it has value.

Your post makes zero sense.

If someone's going to make the argument that all DCPS buildings should go to charters, that point only makes even a tiny bit of sense if all charters are better than all DCPS schools.

If in fact many DCPS schools outperform a significant number of charters, what in the world is the justification for closing those DCPS schools and turning DCPS buildings over to those charters?

Despite your ridiculous attempt to make it sound like I don't care about the schools the poor Black kids go to, your suggestion (or the one you're agreeing with) actually does MORE of a disservice to those kids.

No proposal to turn all DCPS schools over to charters - which is the quote I was responding to above - makes any sense until you show the majority of charters out-perform the majority of DCPS schools. And you can't show that right now, so that proposal would make things worse.

This is why so many people get frustrated with DCPS advocates. Does it always have to be all or nothing? How about one building? Or two? When you spend so much time waiting for looking at all the building - or a majority of the buildings, you just have empty buildings sitting.

You realize most people don't give a shit about DCPS or DCPCS. They just want a good school. You sound like the kid who wants to take his kickball home because no one wants to play by your rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can do what some parents did - and start a school of your own. Say like, Yu Ying, CMI or Two Rivers.

If more did, the difficult access would decrease.

MV modeled itself after YY, and became an HRCS almost overnight - even in that crazy space down in Dupont Circle. Those are both independently-started charters, as is Cap City, 2 Rivers, Bridges, and ELHaynes, probably LAMB too, along with DC Prep. The really best ideas are home grown. I'd like to see more of that, and I'd like it if the pro-charter movement would reckon with that. It's easy for a network of charters to come into DC and deal with the facilities crisis - they have money. I'd like to see more support for the great ideas. I know Kipp is supposed to be super, but it's one kind of solution with an outsized influence. If Bridges and IT and Lee could command such influence, we really would all be better off.

What do you mean if IT and Bridges could command such influence?

NP. This group is supposed to grapple with a specific set of policy issues and make recommendations. They are not discussing educational models to replicate or not.

It makes perfect sense that the charters that educate the most children who would be affected by those changes are at the table. Also the ones with a national network do have ideas / lessons learned from other cities that may or may not be instructive for DC.

[Anonymous]

Successful charters with huge waitlists should expand. The city should give them the resources to do so. A lottery system is "fair" in the sense that it doesn't favor anyone for getting in... But it is not "fair" to only give a small number of students an opportunity to attend. And the illusionof "choice" is the worst. You don't have a choice to send your kid to the best hrcs for their needs--you have a "choice" of possibly getting into one of them.

I admit being very frustrated with the system right now. We are lucky, because we're zoned for a good middle school, but I don't think it will be the best fit for our xhild. Our child is happy at the school we started at this fall... But I think Latin would be the best fit for middle school, and to get into Latin... We need to apply for next year. I don't know whether to hope for a placement or not, to be honest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that all schools should try to put on a good effort at the open house. The immersion concept appeals to many on paper. However, schools do it differently and it is important for families to be able to understand how it is done at that particular school. I disagree that the schools with large waitlists shouldn't try. There are plenty of people who throw a school on the list just because there are 12 schools to choose from.

I have only been to a few open houses so far but I felt Creative Minds and Capital City did a great job discussing their school and answering questions while still providing a warm feeling, which is great for small kids. I don't understand why this is hard for all schools.

You're missing the point. I don't hear anyone saying the highest demand schools aren't answering questions (at least, they're answering the questions they can answer; they can't answer "How many PreK-2 slots will you have for '16-'17?"). But why SELL the school, why try to entrance people who don't know if they want it or not when they have more than enough people who already know they want it badlly? The whole point is they don't want the people who just throw it on the list. They want the people who know something about it and already know it's a priority, or at least based on the basic info presented at open house decide they prioritize it. Selling it to even more people makes no sense when there are so few slots available.

Precisely. Don't want to give anybody the wrong impression, like they're welcome or anything. Only 'in the know' families. And no poors.