Question for Supporters of New WotP High School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The more I look at this, the more I realize that DCPS already has a lot of the pieces necessary to make "grow the pie" work, they just need someone to put it together.

I agree. I was searching online and found this doc -- http://www.centerii.org/WhatAreDistrictsDoing/resources/DCPublicSchools.pdf -- which lists several plans DCPS (and likely Abigail Smith as Chief of Transformation Management) put together to improve struggling schools. Surely there many ideas in these plans which could be used to grow the pie of quality seats, and thus educate more students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I added some IB stuff to the document here: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/Roosevelt

Through this process, I learned that B-CC and Einstein in Kensington are IB schools.

Rockville, Richard Montgomery, Annandale, George Mason, Carroll, Washington International School, Banneker, the British School and Good Counsel are among other local Hs that offer IB.

Thanks so much PP for adding the IB information! The current principal of Deal, Mr. Albright was wooed away from Fairfax County specifically to establish the IB program at Deal - so we have an exceptional resource in him. I think he also graduated from an IB program. One other thing to note is that the IB schools spend a good amount of time learning from each other and sharing portfolios of student work. I think it is a bit of a process to get IB established but it seems like good timing to explore it further.

One other piece that should be incorporated is part of what I call the "secret sauce" of Deal's success. My understanding is that teachers are required to coordinate some type of afterschool activity based on a hobby or topic that they are passionate about. As a parent one thing that I have noticed about Deal - and it will sound sappy - but the teachers are not only smart and qualified in their subject areas, but they care about our kids and are ecstatic about sharing their passions and knowledge. (I know there may be outliers to this) But I am always blown away by this element of the school. We need to add that "secret sauce" to the Roosevelt idea.

This is also something that I think the alums of Roosevelt would recall about their own experiences. Back in the day, the teachers at Dunbar, Roosevelt and some of the other DC high schools were considered ROCK STARS. I'm a native DC'er and I can remember neighbors talking about their teachers, the same way people talk about RGIII. If we want to get buy-in from the old-timers we need then to recall those things that made Roosevelt special and a big part of it were the teachers. Those schools back in the day literally transformed lives and I think there is a yearning to get back to those basics. BTW, I think Banneker too, in terms of its "secret sauce" is a bit of a throw back of those old time schools in terms of the connection that students have with their teachers - I don't have a kid there but that was my impression from the presentations I participated in.

So maybe we want to incorporate pieces that speak to the culture of the school and the expectations.

Native Washingtonians say "I"m a 2nd/3rd/4th/etc. generation Washingtonian." What is a DCer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I added some IB stuff to the document here: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/Roosevelt

Through this process, I learned that B-CC and Einstein in Kensington are IB schools.

Rockville, Richard Montgomery, Annandale, George Mason, Carroll, Washington International School, Banneker, the British School and Good Counsel are among other local Hs that offer IB.

Thanks so much PP for adding the IB information! The current principal of Deal, Mr. Albright was wooed away from Fairfax County specifically to establish the IB program at Deal - so we have an exceptional resource in him. I think he also graduated from an IB program. One other thing to note is that the IB schools spend a good amount of time learning from each other and sharing portfolios of student work. I think it is a bit of a process to get IB established but it seems like good timing to explore it further.

One other piece that should be incorporated is part of what I call the "secret sauce" of Deal's success. My understanding is that teachers are required to coordinate some type of afterschool activity based on a hobby or topic that they are passionate about. As a parent one thing that I have noticed about Deal - and it will sound sappy - but the teachers are not only smart and qualified in their subject areas, but they care about our kids and are ecstatic about sharing their passions and knowledge. (I know there may be outliers to this) But I am always blown away by this element of the school. We need to add that "secret sauce" to the Roosevelt idea.

This is also something that I think the alums of Roosevelt would recall about their own experiences. Back in the day, the teachers at Dunbar, Roosevelt and some of the other DC high schools were considered ROCK STARS. I'm a native DC'er and I can remember neighbors talking about their teachers, the same way people talk about RGIII. If we want to get buy-in from the old-timers we need then to recall those things that made Roosevelt special and a big part of it were the teachers. Those schools back in the day literally transformed lives and I think there is a yearning to get back to those basics. BTW, I think Banneker too, in terms of its "secret sauce" is a bit of a throw back of those old time schools in terms of the connection that students have with their teachers - I don't have a kid there but that was my impression from the presentations I participated in.

So maybe we want to incorporate pieces that speak to the culture of the school and the expectations.

Native Washingtonians say "I"m a 2nd/3rd/4th/etc. generation Washingtonian." What is a DCer?

Okay, you sound really snobby. Tell us, what generation are you, 5th? I think this PP identifies as someone "from DC" and that should be sufficient.

[Anonymous]

DCPS does not give a darn about alumni...only if they are DC residents. Case in point...Dunbar alumni are movers and shakers because of their residency and the prominent alumni who are city leaders. One of Roosevelt prominent alumni at the moment is the owner of the Nationals...but he is not a DC resident. Eastern alumni showed-up at the urgency of DCPS who wanted to thwart the stroller-brigade from Capitol Hill. Let's be honest it was DCPS who sold Eastern alumni on everything that is currently working at Eastern at the moment. FOIA-request the attendance records of every meeting that was held on behalf of Eastern, it will clearly show that the alum from DC came out in record numbers and it was not by coincidence it was a calculating effort. Gentrifying is a projected outlook but if you look backwards Eastern's community has been gentrifying since the 2000's. The gentrifiers fourteen year olds who are eligible to attend Eastern in 2014 are still avoiding it like the plague. So again was it planned or predicted to keep it one group an not give a dare about the other. Crap, Eliot-Hine does not have alumni base and has DCPS made any attempt to attract the gentrifiers to that middle-school? The squeakiest wheel doesn't always get the oil.

[Anonymous]

Word salad to the rescue!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS does not give a darn about alumni...only if they are DC residents. Case in point...Dunbar alumni are movers and shakers because of their residency and the prominent alumni who are city leaders. One of Roosevelt prominent alumni at the moment is the owner of the Nationals...but he is not a DC resident. Eastern alumni showed-up at the urgency of DCPS who wanted to thwart the stroller-brigade from Capitol Hill. Let's be honest it was DCPS who sold Eastern alumni on everything that is currently working at Eastern at the moment. FOIA-request the attendance records of every meeting that was held on behalf of Eastern, it will clearly show that the alum from DC came out in record numbers and it was not by coincidence it was a calculating effort. Gentrifying is a projected outlook but if you look backwards Eastern's community has been gentrifying since the 2000's. The gentrifiers fourteen year olds who are eligible to attend Eastern in 2014 are still avoiding it like the plague. So again was it planned or predicted to keep it one group an not give a dare about the other. Crap, Eliot-Hine does not have alumni base and has DCPS made any attempt to attract the gentrifiers to that middle-school? The squeakiest wheel doesn't always get the oil.

Huh?

[Anonymous]

I emailed Abby Smith with my personal version of the Roosevelt / Cardozo plan since the collective document is still in progress.

She responded with the following message:

#####

Thank you very much for your email. I appreciate your approach to finding creative solutions that can address multiple challenges. I will share these ideas with the advisory committee, which is exploring exactly these kinds of hybrid solutions.

#####

Who knows what they'll recommend in the next iteration of the proposal, but they are doing a decent job of at least hearing what the public has to say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I emailed Abby Smith with my personal version of the Roosevelt / Cardozo plan since the collective document is still in progress.

She responded with the following message:

#####

Thank you very much for your email. I appreciate your approach to finding creative solutions that can address multiple challenges. I will share these ideas with the advisory committee, which is exploring exactly these kinds of hybrid solutions.

#####

Who knows what they'll recommend in the next iteration of the proposal, but they are doing a decent job of at least hearing what the public has to say.

and doing a decent job in crafting a formula reply!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I emailed Abby Smith with my personal version of the Roosevelt / Cardozo plan since the collective document is still in progress.

She responded with the following message:

#####

Thank you very much for your email. I appreciate your approach to finding creative solutions that can address multiple challenges. I will share these ideas with the advisory committee, which is exploring exactly these kinds of hybrid solutions.

#####

Who knows what they'll recommend in the next iteration of the proposal, but they are doing a decent job of at least hearing what the public has to say.

and doing a decent job in crafting a formula reply!

Maybe and probably, but she didn't have to reply at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I emailed Abby Smith with my personal version of the Roosevelt / Cardozo plan since the collective document is still in progress.

She responded with the following message:

#####

Thank you very much for your email. I appreciate your approach to finding creative solutions that can address multiple challenges. I will share these ideas with the advisory committee, which is exploring exactly these kinds of hybrid solutions.

#####

Who knows what they'll recommend in the next iteration of the proposal, but they are doing a decent job of at least hearing what the public has to say.

and doing a decent job in crafting a formula reply!

Maybe and probably, but she didn't have to reply at all.

But cutting and pasting is not much better and maybe worse if it leads people to erroneously believe they are paying attention when they are actually brushing you off.