Brent rebuild details to know before you accept that lottery spot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bent was a fabulous school and with a fabulous reputation but the principal is ruining the culture and community by her upper grade model, focus on non-neighborhood factors (before this school was almost 100% neighborhood driven), and disconnect with the parents who typically have very strong buy-in. Now with the new school building and nearly 40% increase to student enrollment once it is opened, Brent has lost its unique ability to attract and retain those in the community. It was a small and special school with high-achieving students but now it will just be another typically subpar DCPS school -- which is what the principal wants.

Not at Brent or affiliated with the principal, and the upper school model sounds horrible, but curious why you think the principal wants it to be a subpar DCPS? What would be the incentive?

To get brownie points with DCPS Central Office, which is always pushing to create subpar DCPS schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t have younger kids, just not leaping to conclusions. Nothing you said changes my opinion.

Who would take a 4th or 5th grade spot in a swing space across town? Of course they will have to offer it to 30 people and honestly probably no one will ever take it. There’s not a lot of upside there.

Similar story for the 17 spots in each grade you’re citing - it’s probably at least a handful of spaces but I bet the same spot is going to have to be offered around more than once or twice to find a taker. I’m not saying no one is leaving but I don’t think it’s the mass exodus that’s being suggested. I actually also don’t really care either way - time will tell, but just trying to give a balanced perspective here. And if class sizes are smaller, won’t hurt my kid & their many friends who I do know are staying, which greatly outnumber the ones I know leaving (although of course there are some of those too).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The next two years are going to be awful. IB parents who got in elsewhere are leaving; those with younger kids are mostly planning to come back. Lots of 2nd and 3rd grade families are moving off the Hill. The Upper School set up is even worse than I could have imagined. It's the exact same non-differentiated class on the ELA side; they didn't even change the book (so my kid read the same book twice in a row). I have actually complained the the Chancellor about it, since I don't think it should be possible that your IB school adopts a model that appears to be designed to drive out 5th graders intentionally.

Dramatic much? Upper school is not great, nor was it ever. I wouldn’t transfer in for just those years. Some families are of course leaving but it’s not that many and honestly even less than I expected - lots of folks with kids young enough to see the upside of the new building are sticking it out, or those with older kids who have an established middle school path (sibling preference). The bus ride is what it is but I’d still take the school and community plus bus ride over switching just to avoid the bus.

It’s a different calculation of course if you’re considering transferring in! It may be harder to build community with a bus drop off/pickup versus milling around the school. Depends on what grades your kids would be joining.

You are very wrong. I wonder if you have younger kids and so don't realize just how many people are leaving? Check out the WL data and it's only June: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/aaron2...t/MSDCPublicDisplay.

Minimum of 17 offers made in every grade K-5th (where they had only posted 1-2 lottery seats for 1st-5th). For 4th grade, they listed 1 lottery seat, but have made 30 offers already to a WL that only had 33 on it. For 5th, they have offered 19 WL spots (despite having only 24 5th graders last year TOTAL!!)... so only 1 kid on that WL on match day remains. The school is hemorrhaging students. They will fully run through their waitlists in many grades.

People get a week to decide and these are only the offers made by the beginning of June (i.e., within a month) and they don’t even have the full count of who is leaving yet. I am speaking from personal experience when I say the 3rd grade is leaving en masse; I was just using these stats to offer proof that it’s true. If you want to think they’re offering 20 spots all at once to fill one opening and just hoping only 1 kid takes it, feel free. What’s really happening is that they’re down 10+ kids in these grades already. And WLs have only just started moving/some folks are still house hunting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t have younger kids, just not leaping to conclusions. Nothing you said changes my opinion.

Who would take a 4th or 5th grade spot in a swing space across town? Of course they will have to offer it to 30 people and honestly probably no one will ever take it. There’s not a lot of upside there.

Similar story for the 17 spots in each grade you’re citing - it’s probably at least a handful of spaces but I bet the same spot is going to have to be offered around more than once or twice to find a taker. I’m not saying no one is leaving but I don’t think it’s the mass exodus that’s being suggested. I actually also don’t really care either way - time will tell, but just trying to give a balanced perspective here. And if class sizes are smaller, won’t hurt my kid & their many friends who I do know are staying, which greatly outnumber the ones I know leaving (although of course there are some of those too).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The next two years are going to be awful. IB parents who got in elsewhere are leaving; those with younger kids are mostly planning to come back. Lots of 2nd and 3rd grade families are moving off the Hill. The Upper School set up is even worse than I could have imagined. It's the exact same non-differentiated class on the ELA side; they didn't even change the book (so my kid read the same book twice in a row). I have actually complained the the Chancellor about it, since I don't think it should be possible that your IB school adopts a model that appears to be designed to drive out 5th graders intentionally.

Dramatic much? Upper school is not great, nor was it ever. I wouldn’t transfer in for just those years. Some families are of course leaving but it’s not that many and honestly even less than I expected - lots of folks with kids young enough to see the upside of the new building are sticking it out, or those with older kids who have an established middle school path (sibling preference). The bus ride is what it is but I’d still take the school and community plus bus ride over switching just to avoid the bus.

It’s a different calculation of course if you’re considering transferring in! It may be harder to build community with a bus drop off/pickup versus milling around the school. Depends on what grades your kids would be joining.

You are very wrong. I wonder if you have younger kids and so don't realize just how many people are leaving? Check out the WL data and it's only June: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/aaron2...t/MSDCPublicDisplay.

Minimum of 17 offers made in every grade K-5th (where they had only posted 1-2 lottery seats for 1st-5th). For 4th grade, they listed 1 lottery seat, but have made 30 offers already to a WL that only had 33 on it. For 5th, they have offered 19 WL spots (despite having only 24 5th graders last year TOTAL!!)... so only 1 kid on that WL on match day remains. The school is hemorrhaging students. They will fully run through their waitlists in many grades.

People get a week to decide and these are only the offers made by the beginning of June (i.e., within a month) and they don’t even have the full count of who is leaving yet. I am speaking from personal experience when I say the 3rd grade is leaving en masse; I was just using these stats to offer proof that it’s true. If you want to think they’re offering 20 spots all at once to fill one opening and just hoping only 1 kid takes it, feel free. What’s really happening is that they’re down 10+ kids in these grades already. And WLs have only just started moving/some folks are still house hunting.

What you have to worry about is losing money for teachers. They did *not* hold Thompson harmless last year and, woth 2 years in swing space, my guess is that Brent is forced to cut quite a few teachers next year. It will be very disruptive, and they will need those teachers back eventually, but DCPS is short sighted. But yes, this year you might get small classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t have younger kids, just not leaping to conclusions. Nothing you said changes my opinion.

Who would take a 4th or 5th grade spot in a swing space across town? Of course they will have to offer it to 30 people and honestly probably no one will ever take it. There’s not a lot of upside there.

Similar story for the 17 spots in each grade you’re citing - it’s probably at least a handful of spaces but I bet the same spot is going to have to be offered around more than once or twice to find a taker. I’m not saying no one is leaving but I don’t think it’s the mass exodus that’s being suggested. I actually also don’t really care either way - time will tell, but just trying to give a balanced perspective here. And if class sizes are smaller, won’t hurt my kid & their many friends who I do know are staying, which greatly outnumber the ones I know leaving (although of course there are some of those too).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The next two years are going to be awful. IB parents who got in elsewhere are leaving; those with younger kids are mostly planning to come back. Lots of 2nd and 3rd grade families are moving off the Hill. The Upper School set up is even worse than I could have imagined. It's the exact same non-differentiated class on the ELA side; they didn't even change the book (so my kid read the same book twice in a row). I have actually complained the the Chancellor about it, since I don't think it should be possible that your IB school adopts a model that appears to be designed to drive out 5th graders intentionally.

Dramatic much? Upper school is not great, nor was it ever. I wouldn’t transfer in for just those years. Some families are of course leaving but it’s not that many and honestly even less than I expected - lots of folks with kids young enough to see the upside of the new building are sticking it out, or those with older kids who have an established middle school path (sibling preference). The bus ride is what it is but I’d still take the school and community plus bus ride over switching just to avoid the bus.

It’s a different calculation of course if you’re considering transferring in! It may be harder to build community with a bus drop off/pickup versus milling around the school. Depends on what grades your kids would be joining.

You are very wrong. I wonder if you have younger kids and so don't realize just how many people are leaving? Check out the WL data and it's only June: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/aaron2...t/MSDCPublicDisplay.

Minimum of 17 offers made in every grade K-5th (where they had only posted 1-2 lottery seats for 1st-5th). For 4th grade, they listed 1 lottery seat, but have made 30 offers already to a WL that only had 33 on it. For 5th, they have offered 19 WL spots (despite having only 24 5th graders last year TOTAL!!)... so only 1 kid on that WL on match day remains. The school is hemorrhaging students. They will fully run through their waitlists in many grades.

People get a week to decide and these are only the offers made by the beginning of June (i.e., within a month) and they don’t even have the full count of who is leaving yet. I am speaking from personal experience when I say the 3rd grade is leaving en masse; I was just using these stats to offer proof that it’s true. If you want to think they’re offering 20 spots all at once to fill one opening and just hoping only 1 kid takes it, feel free. What’s really happening is that they’re down 10+ kids in these grades already. And WLs have only just started moving/some folks are still house hunting.

What you have to worry about is losing money for teachers. They did *not* hold Thompson harmless last year and, woth 2 years in swing space, my guess is that Brent is forced to cut quite a few teachers next year. It will be very disruptive, and they will need those teachers back eventually, but DCPS is short sighted. But yes, this year you might get small classes.

It was Tubman not Thomson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bent was a fabulous school and with a fabulous reputation but the principal is ruining the culture and community by her upper grade model, focus on non-neighborhood factors (before this school was almost 100% neighborhood driven), and disconnect with the parents who typically have very strong buy-in. Now with the new school building and nearly 40% increase to student enrollment once it is opened, Brent has lost its unique ability to attract and retain those in the community. It was a small and special school with high-achieving students but now it will just be another typically subpar DCPS school -- which is what the principal wants.

Not at Brent or affiliated with the principal, and the upper school model sounds horrible, but curious why you think the principal wants it to be a subpar DCPS? What would be the incentive?

To get brownie points with DCPS Central Office, which is always pushing to create subpar DCPS schools.

First, it's rather bizarre to claim DCPS, while very problematic, only wants subpar schools. There's zero evidence they're actively trying to tank schools for that purpose. Incompetence sure. But two I don't understand why scoring brownie points with DCPS would be a positive. Seems like if you want to keep your job you make the parents happy while toeing the central office line. Not make a bunch of wealthy connected white parents unhappy and want to push you.

So she may well not be a good principal, no idea, but I still don't get why you think she's trying to actively make it a subpar school.

[Anonymous]

In my POV, she is holding high-achieving and at grade level students back to focus on low achieving students (not likely from the neighboring community). Is this bad concept, maybe not, but it hurts the majority of the students/families who are invested not only in Brent, but also the Capitol Hill community at large. Hence the 5th grade class combined with the 4th grade class, which forces 5th graders to repeat 4th grade instead of preparing them from 6th grade. Our family knows this from experience. She wants to be Robin Hood. .

[Anonymous]

Brent was the first Mayor of Washington DC serving from 1802-1811.

Brent led the city when DC Council passed legislation restricting the movement of non-white citizens in public space, including a requirement to carry identification as well as a curfew.

Not sure why Brent is being blamed for the City Council legislation, and the city is dumping the name Brent from the school.

George Washington was a slave owner. When are we going to change the name of Washington, DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brent was the first Mayor of Washington DC serving from 1802-1811.

Brent led the city when DC Council passed legislation restricting the movement of non-white citizens in public space, including a requirement to carry identification as well as a curfew.

Not sure why Brent is being blamed for the City Council legislation, and the city is dumping the name Brent from the school.

George Washington was a slave owner. When are we going to change the name of Washington, DC?

+1. This is what happens when political correctness trumps real understanding of history.

[Anonymous]

My kid is currently at Meyer as it’s the swing space during the oyster Adams middle school renovation. There are definitely serious crime issues around the school. Just a week ago kids couldn’t be outside the building due to shootings close by.
It’s definitely in need of repairs. Also they don’t have a regulation gym but this has more impact on middle schoolers. But that is a hell of a commute for Brent kids. I thought Meyer was slated to be the swing space for Alison?

[Anonymous]

This is a good point and makes sense re staffing. The funding is a valid issue and a few kids one way or the other does make a difference. I’m sure there will be some downward movement in enrollment numbers, I’m just having a hard time with the doomsday poster who keeps gleefully insisting that enrollment will be down like 50% +. Or actually 100% in 3rd grade allegedly because apparently masses of people are house hunting now to move in the next 8 weeks 😉

But also, the school has been anticipating lower numbers and has been planning as best they can especially given that some teachers also will not be making the move to the swing space (by choice). Just hoping it all works out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t have younger kids, just not leaping to conclusions. Nothing you said changes my opinion.

Who would take a 4th or 5th grade spot in a swing space across town? Of course they will have to offer it to 30 people and honestly probably no one will ever take it. There’s not a lot of upside there.

Similar story for the 17 spots in each grade you’re citing - it’s probably at least a handful of spaces but I bet the same spot is going to have to be offered around more than once or twice to find a taker. I’m not saying no one is leaving but I don’t think it’s the mass exodus that’s being suggested. I actually also don’t really care either way - time will tell, but just trying to give a balanced perspective here. And if class sizes are smaller, won’t hurt my kid & their many friends who I do know are staying, which greatly outnumber the ones I know leaving (although of course there are some of those too).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The next two years are going to be awful. IB parents who got in elsewhere are leaving; those with younger kids are mostly planning to come back. Lots of 2nd and 3rd grade families are moving off the Hill. The Upper School set up is even worse than I could have imagined. It's the exact same non-differentiated class on the ELA side; they didn't even change the book (so my kid read the same book twice in a row). I have actually complained the the Chancellor about it, since I don't think it should be possible that your IB school adopts a model that appears to be designed to drive out 5th graders intentionally.

Dramatic much? Upper school is not great, nor was it ever. I wouldn’t transfer in for just those years. Some families are of course leaving but it’s not that many and honestly even less than I expected - lots of folks with kids young enough to see the upside of the new building are sticking it out, or those with older kids who have an established middle school path (sibling preference). The bus ride is what it is but I’d still take the school and community plus bus ride over switching just to avoid the bus.

It’s a different calculation of course if you’re considering transferring in! It may be harder to build community with a bus drop off/pickup versus milling around the school. Depends on what grades your kids would be joining.

You are very wrong. I wonder if you have younger kids and so don't realize just how many people are leaving? Check out the WL data and it's only June: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/aaron2...t/MSDCPublicDisplay.

Minimum of 17 offers made in every grade K-5th (where they had only posted 1-2 lottery seats for 1st-5th). For 4th grade, they listed 1 lottery seat, but have made 30 offers already to a WL that only had 33 on it. For 5th, they have offered 19 WL spots (despite having only 24 5th graders last year TOTAL!!)... so only 1 kid on that WL on match day remains. The school is hemorrhaging students. They will fully run through their waitlists in many grades.

People get a week to decide and these are only the offers made by the beginning of June (i.e., within a month) and they don’t even have the full count of who is leaving yet. I am speaking from personal experience when I say the 3rd grade is leaving en masse; I was just using these stats to offer proof that it’s true. If you want to think they’re offering 20 spots all at once to fill one opening and just hoping only 1 kid takes it, feel free. What’s really happening is that they’re down 10+ kids in these grades already. And WLs have only just started moving/some folks are still house hunting.

What you have to worry about is losing money for teachers. They did *not* hold Thompson harmless last year and, woth 2 years in swing space, my guess is that Brent is forced to cut quite a few teachers next year. It will be very disruptive, and they will need those teachers back eventually, but DCPS is short sighted. But yes, this year you might get small classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my POV, she is holding high-achieving and at grade level students back to focus on low achieving students (not likely from the neighboring community). Is this bad concept, maybe not, but it hurts the majority of the students/families who are invested not only in Brent, but also the Capitol Hill community at large. Hence the 5th grade class combined with the 4th grade class, which forces 5th graders to repeat 4th grade instead of preparing them from 6th grade. Our family knows this from experience. She wants to be Robin Hood. .

She's always been like this - we were at Brent in the lower grades when she came. In a nutshell, she's a smiling bully and a bleeding heart both. Tin-eared but pretends to listen. If she, Brent and DCPS were doing a great job educating our easy-to-education UMC Brent students, fine, add more needy kids. But they aren't.

In 5th grade at Brent we wound up paying for math, English and foreign language tutoring for a kid who works above grade level in middle school now (As in 7th grade algebra), running us almost as much as St. Peter would have. Upper grades in-bounder buyer beware.