BASIS head of school steps down

[Anonymous]

Basis has only been open 7 years. Where is the 11 coming from?

[Anonymous]

PP, even still, six Head of Schools in 7 years is concerning and the retention of teacher rates does not signal rigor and a good program. In fact, it signals, mismanagement, lack of vision and cohesion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Basis has only been open 7 years. Where is the 11 coming from?

This is year 8. Kinda feels like dog years though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis has only been open 7 years. Where is the 11 coming from?

This is year 8. Kinda feels like dog years though.

Yes, so open 7 years, 2 months

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, even still, six Head of Schools in 7 years is concerning and the retention of teacher rates does not signal rigor and a good program. In fact, it signals, mismanagement, lack of vision and cohesion.

They do not seem to hire people with experience in being a head of school, which is the problem. They just “promote” good teachers, thus losing a good teacher and creating an inexperienced administrator. Lose-lose. The second layer of BASIS admin right now has NO business being HOS (much less administrators, imho) and I hope they bring in someone with actual experience from outside DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Basis has only been open 7 years. Where is the 11 coming from?

Maybe because it's year 8 and BASIS spent several years of applying for a charter, planning, renovating etc. Many different leaders have cycled through in the 10 or 11 years they've been on the scene in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, even still, six Head of Schools in 7 years is concerning and the retention of teacher rates does not signal rigor and a good program. In fact, it signals, mismanagement, lack of vision and cohesion.

They do not seem to hire people with experience in being a head of school, which is the problem. They just “promote” good teachers, thus losing a good teacher and creating an inexperienced administrator. Lose-lose. The second layer of BASIS admin right now has NO business being HOS (much less administrators, imho) and I hope they bring in someone with actual experience from outside DC.

THanks for sharing. I never know what to believe about BASIS from the many parents with older sibs who left our DCPS ES for BASIS. They seem to feel an obligation to rave about the program. I visited and saw a cramped building with darkened hallways that obviously wasn't built or renovated to offer a well-rounded education. I'm sure BASIS is better than a failing DCPS and, for some, a classics education designed for a previous century (Wash Latin) but that's about it.

Half a dozen heads in 8 years is insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, but half a dozen heads in 11 years. They all couldn't have had family issues. The BASIS franchise seems to have a great deal of trouble keeping a HOS for more than a few years.

Relatives with kids at a BASIS AZ campus for many years report that their program is the same.

PP you responded to wasn’t defending the track record. This HOS was qualitatively different than the others. Planned to stick around - so this is a shock and. Once ring in a different way.

As for AZ, I think they view HOS as cogs in their wheel that are easily replaced. The DC school is slightly different than the others - ie its Board has negotiated lower fees to Basis.ed. I think they wish they’d never come here frankly.

It just sucks to start over.

Serving as BASIS DC HOS sounds something like being an urban McDonald's franchiser. You can't alter the menu/product. You can merely tweak management to support high staff caliber and retention to boost efficiency and output. They got lucky with the current head at this McDonalds. They may not get lucky again anytime soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, even still, six Head of Schools in 7 years is concerning and the retention of teacher rates does not signal rigor and a good program. In fact, it signals, mismanagement, lack of vision and cohesion.

They do not seem to hire people with experience in being a head of school, which is the problem. They just “promote” good teachers, thus losing a good teacher and creating an inexperienced administrator. Lose-lose. The second layer of BASIS admin right now has NO business being HOS (much less administrators, imho) and I hope they bring in someone with actual experience from outside DC.

THanks for sharing. I never know what to believe about BASIS from the many parents with older sibs who left our DCPS ES for BASIS. They seem to feel an obligation to rave about the program. I visited and saw a cramped building with darkened hallways that obviously wasn't built or renovated to offer a well-rounded education. I'm sure BASIS is better than a failing DCPS and, for some, a classics education designed for a previous century (Wash Latin) but that's about it.

Half a dozen heads in 8 years is insane.

The weird thing is that BASiS has a pretty good history and Latin department, it’s the English teachers who are lacking. I have a high school DC at BASIS and know that Latin would have been a bad fit sine we have seen how it has been for her peers who aren’t here.. Latin parents also drink a lot of koolaid, btw.

[Anonymous]

The art department is pretty good too

There are teachers who overcome the physical environment and crazyA AZ edicts management, and like many teachers stay for the kids. Also, aside from math they get total freedom to design their classes — so long as the comps material is covered. Is that good or bad? Depends on the teacher.

A BASIS admin this year, not the HOS, said she reviewed 100+ different syllabi in August.

[Anonymous]

Looks like Basis is making changes across the board. Basis will no longer incorporate the AP grades into the final grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looks like Basis is making changes across the board. Basis will no longer incorporate the AP grades into the final grades.

Where do you hear this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looks like Basis is making changes across the board. Basis will no longer incorporate the AP grades into the final grades.

That would definitely be a network decision. When my DC was there - class of 2019 - colleges were asking the school to compute and submit GPAs with and without the AP exam scores included.

[Anonymous]

a classics education designed for a previous century (Wash Latin)

Haha. Are you the frequent BASIS and Latin basher who doesn’t even have kids in middle school yet?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, even still, six Head of Schools in 7 years is concerning and the retention of teacher rates does not signal rigor and a good program. In fact, it signals, mismanagement, lack of vision and cohesion.

They do not seem to hire people with experience in being a head of school, which is the problem. They just “promote” good teachers, thus losing a good teacher and creating an inexperienced administrator. Lose-lose. The second layer of BASIS admin right now has NO business being HOS (much less administrators, imho) and I hope they bring in someone with actual experience from outside DC.

She was never a good teacher.
In fact she harassed the excellent chemistry teacher who felt she had to leave the school.