Lee Montessori Location Announced

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That building looks lovely. Is there green space or a playground?

Listing says 9 acres. Seems like a lot of maintenance.

Any word on how they are financing it? Difficult to imarine how the schools would fill the buildings with enough kids in the first few years.

I"m sure the financing is sound. No one has ever insinuated that Lee doesn't know what its doing on that front. The other school, Washington Leadership Academy/Democracy Schools was founded by the same person that founded Democracy Prep in New York and is also partnered with the Walton Foundation and City Bridge. Say what you will about them, but they get things done. Their initial charter called for at least a partial boarding school model, so this site makes a lot of sense for them.

Democracy Prep sounds horrific. OMG. http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2013/09/on-democracy-prep-plantation-when-zero.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That building looks lovely. Is there green space or a playground?

Listing says 9 acres. Seems like a lot of maintenance.

Any word on how they are financing it? Difficult to imarine how the schools would fill the buildings with enough kids in the first few years.

I"m sure the financing is sound. No one has ever insinuated that Lee doesn't know what its doing on that front. The other school, Washington Leadership Academy/Democracy Schools was founded by the same person that founded Democracy Prep in New York and is also partnered with the Walton Foundation and City Bridge. Say what you will about them, but they get things done. Their initial charter called for at least a partial boarding school model, so this site makes a lot of sense for them.

Democracy Prep sounds horrific. OMG. http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2013/09/on-democracy-prep-plantation-when-zero.html

It's not a Democracy Prep. http://washingtonleadershipacademy.org/

I drove past the school, it looks like there are three very defined wings. Administration said in their email separate spaces, entrances, etc. The Lee portion at least is being financed through Building Hope, our development partner.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if Lee will do a bubble class or extra expansion to help finance, the way that Yu Ying and Mundo Verde did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That building looks lovely. Is there green space or a playground?

Listing says 9 acres. Seems like a lot of maintenance.

Any word on how they are financing it? Difficult to imarine how the schools would fill the buildings with enough kids in the first few years.

I"m sure the financing is sound. No one has ever insinuated that Lee doesn't know what its doing on that front. The other school, Washington Leadership Academy/Democracy Schools was founded by the same person that founded Democracy Prep in New York and is also partnered with the Walton Foundation and City Bridge. Say what you will about them, but they get things done. Their initial charter called for at least a partial boarding school model, so this site makes a lot of sense for them.

Democracy Prep sounds horrific. OMG. http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2013/09/on-democracy-prep-plantation-when-zero.html

It's not a Democracy Prep. http://washingtonleadershipacademy.org/

I drove past the school, it looks like there are three very defined wings. Administration said in their email separate spaces, entrances, etc. The Lee portion at least is being financed through Building Hope, our development partner.

Building Hope finances almost every charter. They are good.

WLA will be the feeder high school for students who graduate from Democracy Prep. From the Washingotn Post story on the WLA charter application

Founding group: The lead founder is Seth Andrews, who built a national reputation as the founder of Democracy Prep, a New York-based charter school chain known for its no-excuses approach to lifting achievement among children in poor neighborhoods. Democracy Prep won permission to operate its first D.C. school, an elementary-middle school, starting in the fall; the first 8th graders to graduate from that Democracy Prep campus would be able to enter Washington Leadership Academy in 9th grade, if WLA is approved.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/eight-groups-apply-to-open-new-dc-charter-schools/2014/03/11/62c37b08-a92c-11e3-8599-ce7295b6851c_story.html

[Anonymous]

Well, they just sent the annoucement to prospective families, so they must be confident.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

For those that wanted it kept to the Lee community- the school sent out an announcement to interested families. We are not a lee family but have it on our application list and we got an email this morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That building looks lovely. Is there green space or a playground?

Listing says 9 acres. Seems like a lot of maintenance.

Any word on how they are financing it? Difficult to imarine how the schools would fill the buildings with enough kids in the first few years.

I"m sure the financing is sound. No one has ever insinuated that Lee doesn't know what its doing on that front. The other school, Washington Leadership Academy/Democracy Schools was founded by the same person that founded Democracy Prep in New York and is also partnered with the Walton Foundation and City Bridge. Say what you will about them, but they get things done. Their initial charter called for at least a partial boarding school model, so this site makes a lot of sense for them.

Democracy Prep sounds horrific. OMG. http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2013/09/on-democracy-prep-plantation-when-zero.html

The writer of the blog post didn't do herself any rhetorical favors (makes herself look untrustworthy). But if you read down further, the school does sound pretty grim. Worse than kipp. The WLA plan, especially the last two years, sounds fantastic though. I just worry about what those first two years will look like. And kids who need a lot of teacher help shouldn't be doing the blended learning stuff at home but at school where help is available. Online learning is hard.

[Anonymous]

Looks like a college building. Very pretty.

[Anonymous]

It was the seminary for the Paulists (Catholic order).

Wow an amazing place for Lee!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those that wanted it kept to the Lee community- the school sent out an announcement to interested families. We are not a lee family but have it on our application list and we got an email this morning.

There is no such thing as keeping a secret among 100+ families and we were never asked to keep it quiet. Once the email went out it was public knowledge. Glad prospective families got the email too.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't be a fan of sharing long term with high school and other unknown entities but it's a beautiful building, closer to metro, and better than some of the other options that were floating around.

[Anonymous]

Most beautiful public charter school building in the city!

[Anonymous]

This is great news for Lee!

What is the typical cost of lunch and aftercare at Lee? I'm a prospective parent.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't be a fan of sharing long term with high school and other unknown entities but it's a beautiful building, closer to metro, and better than some of the other options that were floating around.

Come on DCUM, surely you can do better than this? You must have more petty ways to rain on our parade than this. I mean a beautiful, historic building that's near Metro, near the current location and has beautiful green space and plenty of room can't be perfect, there must be DCUM complaints to put those "mean" Lee moms in their place.