hard to get into Duke Ellington?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very. There's an audition, exam, and family interview.

So why, with the latest $200 million subsidy from D.C. Taxpayers, does Ellington take kids from Maryland while it turns away kids from Washington?!

Go to an open house and ask.

Why don't you tell us taxpayers. We'd love to know why we're subsidizing MoCo and PG kids when DC kids are being rejected. How is educating Maryland students part of Ellington's mission?

If no bass players from DC apply, and a talented bass player from Silver Spring wants to pay tuition and attend, why not?

How talented could they be if from Silver Spring

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very. There's an audition, exam, and family interview.

So why, with the latest $200 million subsidy from D.C. Taxpayers, does Ellington take kids from Maryland while it turns away kids from Washington?!

Go to an open house and ask.

Why don't you tell us taxpayers. We'd love to know why we're subsidizing MoCo and PG kids when DC kids are being rejected. How is educating Maryland students part of Ellington's mission?

If no bass players from DC apply, and a talented bass player from Silver Spring wants to pay tuition and attend, why not?

How talented could they be if from Silver Spring

Moreso than your crotch dropping, obviously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very. There's an audition, exam, and family interview.

So why, with the latest $200 million subsidy from D.C. Taxpayers, does Ellington take kids from Maryland while it turns away kids from Washington?!

Go to an open house and ask.

Why don't you tell us taxpayers. We'd love to know why we're subsidizing MoCo and PG kids when DC kids are being rejected. How is educating Maryland students part of Ellington's mission?

If no bass players from DC apply, and a talented bass player from Silver Spring wants to pay tuition and attend, why not?

So you're telling us that zero D.C. kids are turned away in favor of MD kids?

No, simply that it's not as simple as you make it out to be. A DC kid who has no talent, or an empty slot, will go to an out of state kid. They decide yes/no on all the DC kids before they consider any from out of state.

In addition, the percentage of tuition paying students is capped at 10%. The out of state enrollment is below that limit now (42 out of 575).

But instead of essentially having 10 percent of sears thst are officially for out of district students (ignoring the fraudsers), why doesn't Ellington do more outreach to recruit a greater number of talented D.C. Kids?

They are in every high school, they are at Ed Fest, they recruit at DCYO, and community based arts group.

Applications have been down while they were in swing space for 3 years. THey've also had interim heads of school for 3 years, which isn't ideal.

I would imagine the building will spur new interest now -- especially as SWW gets more competitive and Wilson gets more crowded. And there is now permanent leadership in place.

Perhaps, but then Ellington will have to enhance its academic quality. It may be good in arts, but no way is comparable academically to SWW or even Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very. There's an audition, exam, and family interview.

So why, with the latest $200 million subsidy from D.C. Taxpayers, does Ellington take kids from Maryland while it turns away kids from Washington?!

Go to an open house and ask.

Why don't you tell us taxpayers. We'd love to know why we're subsidizing MoCo and PG kids when DC kids are being rejected. How is educating Maryland students part of Ellington's mission?

If no bass players from DC apply, and a talented bass player from Silver Spring wants to pay tuition and attend, why not?

So you're telling us that zero D.C. kids are turned away in favor of MD kids?

No, simply that it's not as simple as you make it out to be. A DC kid who has no talent, or an empty slot, will go to an out of state kid. They decide yes/no on all the DC kids before they consider any from out of state.

In addition, the percentage of tuition paying students is capped at 10%. The out of state enrollment is below that limit now (42 out of 575).

The "legal" out of stare enrollment is below the cap. We all know there are students there that lie about residency.

That's not an Ellington-specific problem, it is endemic to DCPS.

Hence, your beef is with DCPS and OSSE. You are in the wrong forum.

Whenever a question comes up about Ellington's accountability to DCPS, Ellington defenders talk about the school's autonomy from DCPS. Yet residency fraud is someone else's problem. Sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very. There's an audition, exam, and family interview.

So why, with the latest $200 million subsidy from D.C. Taxpayers, does Ellington take kids from Maryland while it turns away kids from Washington?!

Go to an open house and ask.

Why don't you tell us taxpayers. We'd love to know why we're subsidizing MoCo and PG kids when DC kids are being rejected. How is educating Maryland students part of Ellington's mission?

If no bass players from DC apply, and a talented bass player from Silver Spring wants to pay tuition and attend, why not?

So you're telling us that zero D.C. kids are turned away in favor of MD kids?

Doesn't much of DC basically consider P.G. to be "Ward 9"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very. There's an audition, exam, and family interview.

So why, with the latest $200 million subsidy from D.C. Taxpayers, does Ellington take kids from Maryland while it turns away kids from Washington?!

Go to an open house and ask.

Why don't you tell us taxpayers. We'd love to know why we're subsidizing MoCo and PG kids when DC kids are being rejected. How is educating Maryland students part of Ellington's mission?

A corollary to this discussion is the question of why the out of state tuition is so low - I think on another Ellington thread someone mentioned the tuition is only $10,000 or so per year which has to be way below what it costs to educate someone at a school with so many specialized programs.

I also recall from an old Washington Post story that DCPS is really lax about collecting the out of state tuition.

[Anonymous]

I actually agree that MCPS needs its own audition-based performing arts high school, but in the meantime it is good for everyone that Duke Ellington takes a handful of talented kids from outside DC rather than just filling seats with kids who don't fit the school's mandate.

Everyone's experience in a performing arts school is going to be enhanced by having the very best peers against which to compete, and with which to perform.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very. There's an audition, exam, and family interview.

So why, with the latest $200 million subsidy from D.C. Taxpayers, does Ellington take kids from Maryland while it turns away kids from Washington?!

Go to an open house and ask.

Why don't you tell us taxpayers. We'd love to know why we're subsidizing MoCo and PG kids when DC kids are being rejected. How is educating Maryland students part of Ellington's mission?

A corollary to this discussion is the question of why the out of state tuition is so low - I think on another Ellington thread someone mentioned the tuition is only $10,000 or so per year which has to be way below what it costs to educate someone at a school with so many specialized programs.

I also recall from an old Washington Post story that DCPS is really lax about collecting the out of state tuition.

DCPS is no longer in charge of tuition collection. That is now on OSSE. And no one can enroll/attend classes until they have paid their tuition, or set up a payment plan, attached to a credit card, with OSSE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very. There's an audition, exam, and family interview.

So why, with the latest $200 million subsidy from D.C. Taxpayers, does Ellington take kids from Maryland while it turns away kids from Washington?!

Go to an open house and ask.

Why don't you tell us taxpayers. We'd love to know why we're subsidizing MoCo and PG kids when DC kids are being rejected. How is educating Maryland students part of Ellington's mission?

If no bass players from DC apply, and a talented bass player from Silver Spring wants to pay tuition and attend, why not?

So you're telling us that zero D.C. kids are turned away in favor of MD kids?

No, simply that it's not as simple as you make it out to be. A DC kid who has no talent, or an empty slot, will go to an out of state kid. They decide yes/no on all the DC kids before they consider any from out of state.

In addition, the percentage of tuition paying students is capped at 10%. The out of state enrollment is below that limit now (42 out of 575).

But instead of essentially having 10 percent of sears thst are officially for out of district students (ignoring the fraudsers), why doesn't Ellington do more outreach to recruit a greater number of talented D.C. Kids?

They are in every high school, they are at Ed Fest, they recruit at DCYO, and community based arts group.

Applications have been down while they were in swing space for 3 years. THey've also had interim heads of school for 3 years, which isn't ideal.

I would imagine the building will spur new interest now -- especially as SWW gets more competitive and Wilson gets more crowded. And there is now permanent leadership in place.

Perhaps, but then Ellington will have to enhance its academic quality. It may be good in arts, but no way is comparable academically to SWW or even Wilson.

If the student body at SWW or the "yale" contingent at Wilson enrolled at Ellington, it would be fine. The cohort dictates the quality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recall reading once that Ellington wasn't chartered for the students in DC. It was formed to provide an arts education principally to students of color. That's its mission and culture. So that would mean that kids from PG might have a stronger moral right to an Ellington education than snowflakes from Ward 3.

Can you please substantiate this. Sounds like reverse racism and classism (I'm assuming by snowflake you mean rich kids - who are also entitled to a free and public education).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recall reading once that Ellington wasn't chartered for the students in DC. It was formed to provide an arts education principally to students of color. That's its mission and culture. So that would mean that kids from PG might have a stronger moral right to an Ellington education than snowflakes from Ward 3.

Can you please substantiate this. Sounds like reverse racism and classism (I'm assuming by snowflake you mean rich kids - who are also entitled to a free and public education).

No need to waste anyone's time trying to substantiate this bs as it isn't true now (and not sure if it ever was).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recall reading once that Ellington wasn't chartered for the students in DC. It was formed to provide an arts education principally to students of color. That's its mission and culture. So that would mean that kids from PG might have a stronger moral right to an Ellington education than snowflakes from Ward 3.

Can you please substantiate this. Sounds like reverse racism and classism (I'm assuming by snowflake you mean rich kids - who are also entitled to a free and public education).

No need to waste anyone's time trying to substantiate this bs as it isn't true now (and not sure if it ever was).

Ellington parent here:

Ellington's mission and how it operates is governed by a detailed MOU with DCPS.

Regarding recruitment, Ellington has a full-time person who recruits year-round at all the DC middle and charter schools. They are at every high school fair, DCEdFest and many other places. This past year there were almost 700 applications for about 190 offers.

Regarding APs and academic challenge, I would say that it's mostly fine. There are honors courses in 9th grade and APs starting in 10th (with the occasional gifted kid starting earlier). The "rigor" varies from teacher to teacher, course to course. Personally I don't want my kid to have a ton of homework-- she's already in school from 8:30 to 5:00 pm. Many Ellington students stay much later for rehearsals. They each take 10 classes, six academic and four art courses. It's a lot and kids can become very stressed. If a particular student wanted to, he or she could load up on foreign languages, extra science, advanced math and APs and it would be as heavy a course-load as anywhere. And of course as a senior a student can also take classes at a local university through a couple of DCPS-wide programs for which the student would have to apply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recall reading once that Ellington wasn't chartered for the students in DC. It was formed to provide an arts education principally to students of color. That's its mission and culture. So that would mean that kids from PG might have a stronger moral right to an Ellington education than snowflakes from Ward 3.

Can you please substantiate this. Sounds like reverse racism and classism (I'm assuming by snowflake you mean rich kids - who are also entitled to a free and public education).

No need to waste anyone's time trying to substantiate this bs as it isn't true now (and not sure if it ever was).

Ellington parent here:

Ellington's mission and how it operates is governed by a detailed MOU with DCPS.

Regarding recruitment, Ellington has a full-time person who recruits year-round at all the DC middle and charter schools. They are at every high school fair, DCEdFest and many other places. This past year there were almost 700 applications for about 190 offers.

Regarding APs and academic challenge, I would say that it's mostly fine. There are honors courses in 9th grade and APs starting in 10th (with the occasional gifted kid starting earlier). The "rigor" varies from teacher to teacher, course to course. Personally I don't want my kid to have a ton of homework-- she's already in school from 8:30 to 5:00 pm. Many Ellington students stay much later for rehearsals. They each take 10 classes, six academic and four art courses. It's a lot and kids can become very stressed. If a particular student wanted to, he or she could load up on foreign languages, extra science, advanced math and APs and it would be as heavy a course-load as anywhere. And of course as a senior a student can also take classes at a local university through a couple of DCPS-wide programs for which the student would have to apply.

So as an Ellington parent, where do you, and where do you think most Ellington parents come down on the issue of tuition-paying students from out of state?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recall reading once that Ellington wasn't chartered for the students in DC. It was formed to provide an arts education principally to students of color. That's its mission and culture. So that would mean that kids from PG might have a stronger moral right to an Ellington education than snowflakes from Ward 3.

Can you please substantiate this. Sounds like reverse racism and classism (I'm assuming by snowflake you mean rich kids - who are also entitled to a free and public education).

No need to waste anyone's time trying to substantiate this bs as it isn't true now (and not sure if it ever was).

Ellington parent here:

Ellington's mission and how it operates is governed by a detailed MOU with DCPS.

Regarding recruitment, Ellington has a full-time person who recruits year-round at all the DC middle and charter schools. They are at every high school fair, DCEdFest and many other places. This past year there were almost 700 applications for about 190 offers.

Regarding APs and academic challenge, I would say that it's mostly fine. There are honors courses in 9th grade and APs starting in 10th (with the occasional gifted kid starting earlier). The "rigor" varies from teacher to teacher, course to course. Personally I don't want my kid to have a ton of homework-- she's already in school from 8:30 to 5:00 pm. Many Ellington students stay much later for rehearsals. They each take 10 classes, six academic and four art courses. It's a lot and kids can become very stressed. If a particular student wanted to, he or she could load up on foreign languages, extra science, advanced math and APs and it would be as heavy a course-load as anywhere. And of course as a senior a student can also take classes at a local university through a couple of DCPS-wide programs for which the student would have to apply.

Who is the idiot in the D.C. government who agreed to an MOU that gives DCPS no governance rights and Ellington's Board no accountability to the taxpayers? It privatizes governance and socializes cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recall reading once that Ellington wasn't chartered for the students in DC. It was formed to provide an arts education principally to students of color. That's its mission and culture. So that would mean that kids from PG might have a stronger moral right to an Ellington education than snowflakes from Ward 3.

Can you please substantiate this. Sounds like reverse racism and classism (I'm assuming by snowflake you mean rich kids - who are also entitled to a free and public education).

No need to waste anyone's time trying to substantiate this bs as it isn't true now (and not sure if it ever was).

Ellington parent here:

Ellington's mission and how it operates is governed by a detailed MOU with DCPS.

Regarding recruitment, Ellington has a full-time person who recruits year-round at all the DC middle and charter schools. They are at every high school fair, DCEdFest and many other places. This past year there were almost 700 applications for about 190 offers.

Regarding APs and academic challenge, I would say that it's mostly fine. There are honors courses in 9th grade and APs starting in 10th (with the occasional gifted kid starting earlier). The "rigor" varies from teacher to teacher, course to course. Personally I don't want my kid to have a ton of homework-- she's already in school from 8:30 to 5:00 pm. Many Ellington students stay much later for rehearsals. They each take 10 classes, six academic and four art courses. It's a lot and kids can become very stressed. If a particular student wanted to, he or she could load up on foreign languages, extra science, advanced math and APs and it would be as heavy a course-load as anywhere. And of course as a senior a student can also take classes at a local university through a couple of DCPS-wide programs for which the student would have to apply.

Who is the idiot in the D.C. government who agreed to an MOU that gives DCPS no governance rights and Ellington's Board no accountability to the taxpayers? It privatizes governance and socializes cost.

I think it was signed in 2000 by Mayor Williams.