Why is the head of school at BASIS really leaving?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I have friends who have quit KIPP mid-year because it has become the third Reich. Here's a link for parents who are interested in what actually goes on in many charter schools across the country.

If BASIS was all that it is supposed to be, why don't the really wealthy send their children there? Most wealthy people send their children to public or private.

https://cloakinginequity.com/2013/04/19/what-basis-nepotism-and-aggrandizement-in-charters/

Agree with yo 100%, PP. Thanks for this clear-eyed post. The wealthy send their kids to school in buildings with gyms, libraries, and stages surrounded by greenery.

I'm a wealthy person who could afford private but intend to send my kids to BASIS if we can lottery in. If I couldn't afford private school, I would be even more grateful that BASIS existed as an option. I've looked at the alternatives, and I don't see clearly better options for my children, public or private. If you don't feel that way, that's fine, choose a different school, we probably have different criteria.

I taught at BASIS DC, lasted one year in that joyless building. Get back to us after several years with no library, gym, performance space, academic tracking outside math or outdoor space and several different heads, wealthy guy. Most of the strongest students are leaving before HS.

[Anonymous]

My hunch about churn in leadership is that Basis tells promising school heads to do a year or 2 in DC to prepare for. Agreed advancement elsewhere. DC gives them a 'baptism by fire', after which they can handle anything.

On the subject o the value of Basis despite the mentioned shortcomings GW is that these kids get a real feeling of mastery and accomplishment. They learn so much in such a short time that they earn the belief they are special/gifted and prepared with the basic knowledge that positions them to excel early in their chosen field. I say this as a parent of a kid who left at 9th grade for a fancy private, and now regret it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I have friends who have quit KIPP mid-year because it has become the third Reich. Here's a link for parents who are interested in what actually goes on in many charter schools across the country.


I taught at BASIS DC, lasted one year in that joyless building. Get back to us after several years with no library, gym, performance space, academic tracking outside math or outdoor space and several different heads, wealthy guy. Most of the strongest students are leaving before HS.

What public or charter middle schools do you think are clearly so much better? It's easy to criticize in a vacuum, much harder to point to actual options available to most parents that are superior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I have friends who have quit KIPP mid-year because it has become the third Reich. Here's a link for parents who are interested in what actually goes on in many charter schools across the country.


I taught at BASIS DC, lasted one year in that joyless building. Get back to us after several years with no library, gym, performance space, academic tracking outside math or outdoor space and several different heads, wealthy guy. Most of the strongest students are leaving before HS.

What public or charter middle schools do you think are clearly so much better? It's easy to criticize in a vacuum, much harder to point to actual options available to most parents that are superior.

Right, but wealthy guy isn't choosing in a vacuum. If I had a choice between a strong academic program with great facilities and one without, I'd choose the former.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My hunch about churn in leadership is that Basis tells promising school heads to do a year or 2 in DC to prepare for. Agreed advancement elsewhere. DC gives them a 'baptism by fire', after which they can handle anything.

On the subject o the value of Basis despite the mentioned shortcomings GW is that these kids get a real feeling of mastery and accomplishment. They learn so much in such a short time that they earn the belief they are special/gifted and prepared with the basic knowledge that positions them to excel early in their chosen field. I say this as a parent of a kid who left at 9th grade for a fancy private, and now regret it.

Sounds like entitlement to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My hunch about churn in leadership is that Basis tells promising school heads to do a year or 2 in DC to prepare for. Agreed advancement elsewhere. DC gives them a 'baptism by fire', after which they can handle anything.

On the subject o the value of Basis despite the mentioned shortcomings GW is that these kids get a real feeling of mastery and accomplishment. They learn so much in such a short time that they earn the belief they are special/gifted and prepared with the basic knowledge that positions them to excel early in their chosen field. I say this as a parent of a kid who left at 9th grade for a fancy private, and now regret it.

Sounds like entitlement to me.

I think passing World History AP in 8th grade with 3 or above makes a student feel like $1 million.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I have friends who have quit KIPP mid-year because it has become the third Reich. Here's a link for parents who are interested in what actually goes on in many charter schools across the country.

If BASIS was all that it is supposed to be, why don't the really wealthy send their children there? Most wealthy people send their children to public or private.

https://cloakinginequity.com/2013/04/19/what-basis-nepotism-and-aggrandizement-in-charters/

Agree with yo 100%, PP. Thanks for this clear-eyed post. The wealthy send their kids to school in buildings with gyms, libraries, and stages surrounded by greenery.

I'm a wealthy person who could afford private but intend to send my kids to BASIS if we can lottery in. If I couldn't afford private school, I would be even more grateful that BASIS existed as an option. I've looked at the alternatives, and I don't see clearly better options for my children, public or private. If you don't feel that way, that's fine, choose a different school, we probably have different criteria.

I taught at BASIS DC, lasted one year in that joyless building. Get back to us after several years with no library, gym, performance space, academic tracking outside math or outdoor space and several different heads, wealthy guy. Most of the strongest students are leaving before HS.

I envision this one year at BASIS teacher as Sadness from Inside Out

[Anonymous]

Please, the building invites the sadness. It stinks for preteen and teens. What a bad mistake BASIS Arizona made in setting up shop in DC in a building unsuitable for kids. A shame, the program deserves much better than its space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please, the building invites the sadness. It stinks for preteen and teens. What a bad mistake BASIS Arizona made in setting up shop in DC in a building unsuitable for kids. A shame, the program deserves much better than its space.

Please stop. It's a building, it has pros and cons, it's not Dante's fifth circle of hell. Real life involves complex decisions and tradeoffs. Try negotiating a lease for a school and see how much better you can do before making ridiculous statements like this. I went to school in a building way worse than the BASIS building, the teachers and parents were what made it a loving, joyful place, not the physical deficiencies or lack of amenities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please, the building invites the sadness. It stinks for preteen and teens. What a bad mistake BASIS Arizona made in setting up shop in DC in a building unsuitable for kids. A shame, the program deserves much better than its space.

Please stop. It's a building, it has pros and cons, it's not Dante's fifth circle of hell. Real life involves complex decisions and tradeoffs. Try negotiating a lease for a school and see how much better you can do before making ridiculous statements like this. I went to school in a building way worse than the BASIS building, the teachers and parents were what made it a loving, joyful place, not the physical deficiencies or lack of amenities.

Ridiculous statements about high-powered MS/HS without a library or stage? Fact is, many families of the strongest BASIS students bail for HS mainly because they can't take another year of the bad building. It's not a modern facility for this century. I went to a public school in Manhattan with no outdoor space, but time running around on the basketball court on the roof saved us from bouncing off the walls by the end of the day, particularly the MS-age boys. The conventional wisdom on the building is that BASIS could easily have stuck a basketball court on the roof after negotiating to BUY the building (no "lease" ever in force). They didn't bother.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please, the building invites the sadness. It stinks for preteen and teens. What a bad mistake BASIS Arizona made in setting up shop in DC in a building unsuitable for kids. A shame, the program deserves much better than its space.

Please stop. It's a building, it has pros and cons, it's not Dante's fifth circle of hell. Real life involves complex decisions and tradeoffs. Try negotiating a lease for a school and see how much better you can do before making ridiculous statements like this. I went to school in a building way worse than the BASIS building, the teachers and parents were what made it a loving, joyful place, not the physical deficiencies or lack of amenities.

Ridiculous statements about high-powered MS/HS without a library or stage? Fact is, many families of the strongest BASIS students bail for HS mainly because they can't take another year of the bad building. It's not a modern facility for this century. I went to a public school in Manhattan with no outdoor space, but time running around on the basketball court on the roof saved us from bouncing off the walls by the end of the day, particularly the MS-age boys. The conventional wisdom on the building is that BASIS could easily have stuck a basketball court on the roof after negotiating to BUY the building (no "lease" ever in force). They didn't bother.

I've been on the roof. All the HVAC stuff is up there and that won't work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please, the building invites the sadness. It stinks for preteen and teens. What a bad mistake BASIS Arizona made in setting up shop in DC in a building unsuitable for kids. A shame, the program deserves much better than its space.

Please stop. It's a building, it has pros and cons, it's not Dante's fifth circle of hell. Real life involves complex decisions and tradeoffs. Try negotiating a lease for a school and see how much better you can do before making ridiculous statements like this. I went to school in a building way worse than the BASIS building, the teachers and parents were what made it a loving, joyful place, not the physical deficiencies or lack of amenities.

Ridiculous statements about high-powered MS/HS without a library or stage? Fact is, many families of the strongest BASIS students bail for HS mainly because they can't take another year of the bad building. It's not a modern facility for this century. I went to a public school in Manhattan with no outdoor space, but time running around on the basketball court on the roof saved us from bouncing off the walls by the end of the day, particularly the MS-age boys. The conventional wisdom on the building is that BASIS could easily have stuck a basketball court on the roof after negotiating to BUY the building (no "lease" ever in force). They didn't bother.

I've been on the roof. All the HVAC stuff is up there and that won't work.

Yes, because they didn't plan ahead to make it work - the architect was not told to squeeze outdoor space onto school grounds. I know this because I once hired an HVAC contractor who worked on their roof as a vendor to work on my house. He tells me that the HVAC stuff could easily have been worked around a basketball court. Plenty of room.

[Anonymous]

He was never supposed to stay more than 2 years and was always returning to Arizona (where he's lived for 15 years and where he has family) so this makes sense to me. He's also up for a promotion to with with the school planning part so it sounds like a great move.

[Anonymous]

So why can't BASIS HQ recruit a strong DC school leader who plans to stay at least 5 years, like at other good schools in this area? Come on, you can whitewash the situation without changing the fact that there are a good many well-liked DCPS and DCPCS principals who've been on the job for a decade or more. The revolving door BASIS DC head arrangement is old, really old. Enough already. Stabilize the leadership please, Arizona.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So why can't BASIS HQ recruit a strong DC school leader who plans to stay at least 5 years, like at other good schools in this area? Come on, you can whitewash the situation without changing the fact that there are a good many well-liked DCPS and DCPCS principals who've been on the job for a decade or more. The revolving door BASIS DC head arrangement is old, really old. Enough already. Stabilize the leadership please, Arizona.

Why? Because NO Basis heads of school stay at one school for more than 2-3 years. As much as we may want it to be otherwise, the DC school is not going to be managed differently than all of their others.