Hardy

[Anonymous]

17:42 That's the point. It's not an arts school. It's got arts and academics. So to call it an arts school because it has a strong arts program, as strong as the best privates, misses the point. This is not a Duke Ellington School for the Arts, the Middle School version.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:17:42 That's the point. It's not an arts school. It's got arts and academics. So to call it an arts school because it has a strong arts program, as strong as the best privates, misses the point. This is not a Duke Ellington School for the Arts, the Middle School version.

That sounds good, but then I guess I don't understand why the application is arts-based instead of academic?

[Anonymous]

I can only surmise: To weed out students who don't like the arts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can only surmise: To weed out students who don't like the arts.

But that just doesn't quite make sense. Doesn't a negative sort seem a little cryptic and under-handed for a middle-school? Why not sort for what you want? It seems so much more likely that a program sorts for its desired specialists.

After all, they don't give the MCATs to see who "doesn't like" organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, calculus, and biology - they give the MCATs to see who is the best at chem, calc, bio, etc - on the theory that (given the scores are being evaluated by medical schools) they want to find the students who are best in the subjects that would make them the best doctors. It's so much more logical.

[Anonymous]

23:36 You are overthinking this. Let me refrain: To weed out students who won't find the arts program engaging.

Does anyone know a Key applicant who was rejected? I believe Hardy is required to take all Key applicants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:12:41 Denied for what reason? I'm not the PP but I don't follow your question.

12:41 here. I'm responding to an earlier PP who said that she wasn't aware of any neighborhood children who had been denied by the Hardy application process. Apparently there's some sort of arts-oriented application.

I wonder why, with DC's overall dismal performance (granted there are pockets of quality), there should be an arts magnet instead of something more academic.

because one size fits few

Agreed! But how is that an argument for arts over a richer academic program? Engineer, lawyer, doctor, or linguist -- they all share a need for an academically challenging background.

A rich academic program should be offered at every middle school. Every DC student deserves that opportunity. The arts focus at Hardy is added value. IMHO, instrumental music should be part of every middle school program as well, so that even prospective engineers, lawyers, doctors, etc. have that experience. But this arts focus thing was part of a movement to create "niche schools" to attract more DC students to DCPS. In the case of Hardy, it seems to be a tremendous success. Kudos to Patrick Pope and the Hardy Community. Instead of interfering with Hardy, we should take a look at the elementary and middle school curriculum in general.

[Anonymous]

Hardy does have an academic component to their application. They require DC-CAS scores, report cards, and a recommendation from the homeroom teacher. Actually they require more academic information than art information.

I'm quite interested in Hardy for my 5th grader, and would like to know more about it. Can someone tell me how much arts they have -- how often and long are the classes? And how much P.E.? Also, what's the drama program like? I know it's afterschool, and not required.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Amen, 7:66.

Also, why doesn't Rhee approach this positively and see what Pope is doing right?

10:16 Call the school and ask for a schedule. That's what we did. We applied OOB, child was accepted but we did not attend because we were concerned that they would not be back in the original building and the temporary location was too inconvenient for us. We know many happy, bright students there. And the new building is beautiful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From an outsider's perspective (we're still in elementary school) two things about Hardy jump out at me as negatives.

#1 I would prefer a more traditional academic curriculum for my DD. Deal and Washington Latin seem focused on educating scholars whereas Hardy's approach is to artists. (For the same reason, I am interested in School Without Walls and perhaps the Wilson Academies, but Ellington not so much.)

#2 I think principals should be responsive to parents and parental concerns. If Pope is off-putting to hyper-engaged neighborhood parents that's a real, big problem and it doesn't speak well for him.

The thing is that it is a traditional academic curriculum! My kid took math, science, English, social studies, the whole deal. The "arts" thing is not very deep.

[Anonymous]

Here's some information that might clear things up (or not) for some people. As one of the former Hardy parents I believe that the arts magnet application was developed in response to the lottery. (DH insists that it was common knowledge at the time. I don't have direct knowledge of this so I'll qualify my statement.)

Before the lottery was instituted (which was apparently in response to the intense competition to get into Oyster), principals had control over which out-of-boundaries students could attend their school. After the lottery, principals had to take whomever got the low number. So just about that time Hardy developed a 6th grade arts program which required an application (also Hyde seemed to have developed a lower-grade reading magnet program at the same time) and voila, the principal can once again control which out-of-boundaries students attend. It was never intended to keep neighborhood kids out.

While Patrick Pope has annoyed some parents (my dh included), he has been a strong leader and he has improved that school and kept it together during the years when there was less interest among in-boundary families in the school. Now that he's gotten it to the point where there is some neighborhood interest, it would be just wrong for Rhee to remove him and bring in someone untested to try to build on all that Pope has accomplished.

If you're interested in the school, go visit it for yourself. As I noted (in 12:03), it's a traditional education with some arts stuff added in. It is not arts-centric the way Ellington is and it is not a feeder for Ellington. There's a lot of misinformation out there. Go see for yourself.

BTW we're white middle class and started out in-boundary in elementary school and then moved out of boundary but continued on through Hardy. I spent a lot of time worrying about whether dd could continue on through Hardy so I've thought about this a lot.

[Anonymous]

12:20 I heard the same thing from a DCPS teacher, that the arts program was a mechanism for the administration to control OOB acceptance. If this is accurate, perhaps Rhee should stop and reflect on that for a moment. There is a rebellion among highly functioning DCPS schools to gain autonomy, Wilson threatend to go charter, for instance, why doesn't Rhee ask Pope to work with her instead of giving the impression she may fire him? (That's a concept, firing someone for a job well done.) Why can't she collaborate and reward current principals instead of jumping to action and installing her own people? I cannot emphasize how incensed people are over this development!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:12:20 I heard the same thing from a DCPS teacher, that the arts program was a mechanism for the administration to control OOB acceptance. If this is accurate, perhaps Rhee should stop and reflect on that for a moment. There is a rebellion among highly functioning DCPS schools to gain autonomy, Wilson threatend to go charter, for instance, why doesn't Rhee ask Pope to work with her instead of giving the impression she may fire him? (That's a concept, firing someone for a job well done.) Why can't she collaborate and reward current principals instead of jumping to action and installing her own people? I cannot emphasize how incensed people are over this development!

12:20 here -- Thanks for confirming that. DH was certain but I wasn't.

[Anonymous]

12:38 Well I didn't hear it straight from the horse's mouth but the teacher seemed very au courant about all things DCPS, she had many former students go to Hardy. She was not at Key, by the way.

[Anonymous]

Hardy is trying to make a close tie with Ellington. Not as a feeder school because you have to apply, but there is a direct connection with Ellington students who work at Hardy.

[Anonymous]

who were at Hardy?
Does anyone happen to know what percentage of Hardy students go to Ellington versus Walls, Wilson, Banneker and Latin?