PARCC Scores for Grades 3-8

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will repeat my prior statement. Only someone who earns a paycheck from DCPS or WTU or has some equivalent vested interest could argue that the school system isn't better off now than it was before Rhee. In all honesty, I expected you WTU lackeys to try and argue that demographic shifts and gentrification would have happened anyway with the economic growth of DC and that, although things are better now, they'd have even better than they are now without Rhee. I mean, that'd be a BS argument, but it would at least play the cards as they lay. What you two are doing is just laughable and sad. You should get outside the teacher breakroom and WTU meetings and get some much needed perspective.[b]

The more of your BS and whining and "me, me, me" crap I read on DCUM the less sympathy I have for teachers. People like you have taken lefty liberals like me who grew up in houses with teachers and completely turned me the other way. The fewer of you teaching my kid, the better.

I posted the two posts you are referring to, one after the other, the first about Rhee's education campuses, destruction of MS, and her decision to vest feeder rights for OOB kids in 2009 that has caused tremendous overcrowding at Ward 3 schools from Janney to Deal to Wilson. I also posted about the cheating scandal, the snobbery towards SWW, and how the recession had more of an impact than Rhee (at least in Ward 3). In other places families may just be delaying moves to Moco.

I am not and have never been a teacher. I am white and live in Ward 3. I have several children who have been at one DCPS and two charter schools where for the most part they got excellent educations but still have had some bad teachers at our JKLM and the charters, but at least at the charters it is not all up to one teacher. I am not a fan of Rhee or Henderson and NEVER will be. I think Rhee was an unethical opportunist who has made money off her "success" in DC when actually she created more problems than she solved, and Kaya Henderson is not only following in her footsteps but is stupid to boot, and I am not alone in my opinions on these matters. I am, however, exceedingly grateful that their failures have increased the number, variety, and caliber of charter schools in this city.

Wow. You and your kind need to get your story straight. Was it her failure that led to charter schools, or was that her master plan and she succeeded in propping up charters?

People in Ward 3 JKLM-land have no concept of the improvement in the schools over the last 15 years because your schools haven't seen the dramatic improvement (they had less distance to close). But I get your objection to OOB kids in your schools. And your objections to spending money on any schools not in Ward 3. Things should have stayed as they were; and DCPS should only spend money on the schools in your neighborhood. I feel you, girl.

You do not feel me, chica, and you do not know me. Things in Ward 3 are not as they were pre 2008, when most upper SES families did not attend even their public elementary schools (unless it was Mann). The parents spend the money in Ward 3, not the school system. Mann fundraising puts an assistant teacher in every classroom, not DCPS.

Blame Kaya for your empty high schools and Duke Ellington bleeding money while its students commit residency fraud. We went to Mann because 40 years ago it was the only school kids attending my private school came from. Had no intention of staying in the public school system for the long haul. Were not victims of the recession, but rather attracted by a particular charter school that catered to our kids' strengths. And Mann until its recent renovation was an absolute dump physically so it had nothing to do with the building. My girl spent her first year at Latin in a trailer that confined the entire fifth grade so ditto. And my other kids had the experience of trailers during the Mann renovation.

My objection to OOB kids in overcrowded schools anywhere is that until Michelle Rhee came in on her broom there were no feeder rights. Pre 2009 kids had to lottery in to every new school up the chain. Instead of reducing the boundaries and diversity of Wilson, the DME should have had the guts to cut this off given that the 2008 recession had created a critical mass and there is a serious overcrowding problem. No skin in the game - none of my kids going to Wilson, sad about the budget cuts for Wilson's sake, same way sad about the no principal for Walls.........

Michelle Rhee was tasked with cleaning up DCPS. Had she done so, there would not have been the massive flight to charter schools for those who would not or could not move. Rhee's utter failure to do that is reflected by the rise in number, popularity, and diversity of charter schools - from KIPP and DC Prep to Yu Ying, LAMB and Mundo Verde, to Washington Latin and BASIS DC. She had no control over charter schools and their popularity and the fact that they now serve half of the DC population absolutely reflect her failures.

Feel me all you want, girl, but you getting on my last nerve because you don't have the least idea where I'm coming from, who my family is, or what school my kids are at now. We can't afford to discriminate because except for me ain't no one white in my family or anyone who comes close. We already started having talks with my boys about what you do if the cops ever stop you because it is life or death out there and my husband grew up on those mean streets in New York. Shit I never imagined or thought about that now scares me to death.

So our kids are most comfortable around other kids who are not white, and we at a charter that is not majority white, where they see kids of color like my husband making it every day. Very different and much better than being the token x unidentifiable mixed race kid in a Ward 3 school classroom. Far from Ward 3 in a school where kids of color are succeeding every day, but many speak the same way my MIL's family do and still get good grades. Interesting mixture of deliberate bad grammar and high academic achievement. They can be as ghetto as they want as long as they keep bringing home those A's. And they know the difference between joking around and the real thing, which is also inside the school sometimes, and stay far away from it. Proud of my kids, proud they succeeding in that environment, wasn't good for them to be tokens, and not have any high achieving friends but white kids.

We doing well, girl !!!!!!!!! And we not in Ward 3 anymore. You feel me????????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will repeat my prior statement. Only someone who earns a paycheck from DCPS or WTU or has some equivalent vested interest could argue that the school system isn't better off now than it was before Rhee. In all honesty, I expected you WTU lackeys to try and argue that demographic shifts and gentrification would have happened anyway with the economic growth of DC and that, although things are better now, they'd have even better than they are now without Rhee. I mean, that'd be a BS argument, but it would at least play the cards as they lay. What you two are doing is just laughable and sad. You should get outside the teacher breakroom and WTU meetings and get some much needed perspective.[b]

The more of your BS and whining and "me, me, me" crap I read on DCUM the less sympathy I have for teachers. People like you have taken lefty liberals like me who grew up in houses with teachers and completely turned me the other way. The fewer of you teaching my kid, the better.

I posted the two posts you are referring to, one after the other, the first about Rhee's education campuses, destruction of MS, and her decision to vest feeder rights for OOB kids in 2009 that has caused tremendous overcrowding at Ward 3 schools from Janney to Deal to Wilson. I also posted about the cheating scandal, the snobbery towards SWW, and how the recession had more of an impact than Rhee (at least in Ward 3). In other places families may just be delaying moves to Moco.

I am not and have never been a teacher. I am white and live in Ward 3. I have several children who have been at one DCPS and two charter schools where for the most part they got excellent educations but still have had some bad teachers at our JKLM and the charters, but at least at the charters it is not all up to one teacher. I am not a fan of Rhee or Henderson and NEVER will be. I think Rhee was an unethical opportunist who has made money off her "success" in DC when actually she created more problems than she solved, and Kaya Henderson is not only following in her footsteps but is stupid to boot, and I am not alone in my opinions on these matters. I am, however, exceedingly grateful that their failures have increased the number, variety, and caliber of charter schools in this city.

Wow. You and your kind need to get your story straight. Was it her failure that led to charter schools, or was that her master plan and she succeeded in propping up charters?

People in Ward 3 JKLM-land have no concept of the improvement in the schools over the last 15 years because your schools haven't seen the dramatic improvement (they had less distance to close). But I get your objection to OOB kids in your schools. And your objections to spending money on any schools not in Ward 3. Things should have stayed as they were; and DCPS should only spend money on the schools in your neighborhood. I feel you, girl.

You do not feel me, chica, and you do not know me. Things in Ward 3 are not as they were pre 2008, when most upper SES families did not attend even their public elementary schools (unless it was Mann). The parents spend the money in Ward 3, not the school system. Mann fundraising puts an assistant teacher in every classroom, not DCPS.

Blame Kaya for your empty high schools and Duke Ellington bleeding money while its students commit residency fraud. We went to Mann because 40 years ago it was the only school kids attending my private school came from. Had no intention of staying in the public school system for the long haul. Were not victims of the recession, but rather attracted by a particular charter school that catered to our kids' strengths. And Mann until its recent renovation was an absolute dump physically so it had nothing to do with the building. My girl spent her first year at Latin in a trailer that confined the entire fifth grade so ditto. And my other kids had the experience of trailers during the Mann renovation.

My objection to OOB kids in overcrowded schools anywhere is that until Michelle Rhee came in on her broom there were no feeder rights. Pre 2009 kids had to lottery in to every new school up the chain. Instead of reducing the boundaries and diversity of Wilson, the DME should have had the guts to cut this off given that the 2008 recession had created a critical mass and there is a serious overcrowding problem. No skin in the game - none of my kids going to Wilson, sad about the budget cuts for Wilson's sake, same way sad about the no principal for Walls.........

Michelle Rhee was tasked with cleaning up DCPS. Had she done so, there would not have been the massive flight to charter schools for those who would not or could not move. Rhee's utter failure to do that is reflected by the rise in number, popularity, and diversity of charter schools - from KIPP and DC Prep to Yu Ying, LAMB and Mundo Verde, to Washington Latin and BASIS DC. She had no control over charter schools and their popularity and the fact that they now serve half of the DC population absolutely reflect her failures.

Feel me all you want, girl, but you getting on my last nerve because you don't have the least idea where I'm coming from, who my family is, or what school my kids are at now. We can't afford to discriminate because except for me ain't no one white in my family or anyone who comes close. We already started having talks with my boys about what you do if the cops ever stop you because it is life or death out there and my husband grew up on those mean streets in New York. Shit I never imagined or thought about that now scares me to death.

So our kids are most comfortable around other kids who are not white, and we at a charter that is not majority white, where they see kids of color like my husband making it every day. Very different and much better than being the token x unidentifiable mixed race kid in a Ward 3 school classroom. Far from Ward 3 in a school where kids of color are succeeding every day, but many speak the same way my MIL's family do and still get good grades. Interesting mixture of deliberate bad grammar and high academic achievement. They can be as ghetto as they want as long as they keep bringing home those A's. And they know the difference between joking around and the real thing, which is also inside the school sometimes, and stay far away from it. Proud of my kids, proud they succeeding in that environment, wasn't good for them to be tokens, and not have any high achieving friends but white kids.

We doing well, girl !!!!!!!!! And we not in Ward 3 anymore. You feel me????????

Slow clap! This could have come straight from a Rosa Guy novel!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's also important to note that from this data we can't actually tell whether or not the achievement gap has narrowed.

PARCC has different standards than CAS did, as evidenced by the fact that scores at schools like Janney (scores for white students) fell from say 95% to 75%. It's a harder test and kids overall score lower.

So it could be (and we have no way of knowing this from this data because it's a different test) that the schools have narrowed the achievement gap by some measures (e.g., raised the kids in the middle somewhat), but that they have not yet brought African American and economically disadvantaged kids up to the higher standard of PARCC.

Note that I am not trying to argue that it's not a problem and that we shouldn't continue to work to improve scores across the board; merely pointing out that there are some statistical issues in just taking results from a year ago and comparing them to the current results and saying "the gap hasn't been narrowed."

Hogwash!!! The WTU posters on DCUM have spent minutes digging through the data and concluded that reform, Kaya, Rhee and everyone who ever suggested that schools and teachers could be improved and held to account are wrong. Let's get to work rehiring all the fired teachers and get back to the good old days of the days.

What a moronic response to such a serious issue

People who are not smart enough to identify irony and sarcasm that agrees with the prior post might want to be careful about calling others "moronic". Just say'in.

P.S. A serious issue being addressed on an anonymous forum predominated by trolls and WTU lackeys. Yes, we're like Brookings and all serious academic journals rolled into one. Get over yourself.

So anyone who doesn't think reform is working is a WTU lackey? Is anyone, then who supports the administration a Henderson lackey?

Too close to home, dear?

No one can rationally argue the school system isn't better off now than it was before Rhee. No one who doesn't earn a paycheck from DCPS, that is.

BS. Rhee created the Education Campuses and abolished the middle schools that are now being created again. Rhee created vested feeder rights all the way through that led to the inevitable overcrowding of Deal and Wilson which will eventually with budget cuts destroy Wilson. Prior to 2009 OOB kids had to lottery in to ES, MS, and HS - and only if there was space. And the boundary review people did not have the guts to undo that huge huge mistake. Rhee created the animosity that is still festering at Hardy and has delayed its progress by at least 7 years. Finally, Rhee's hostility to SWW has been continued and deepened by her protege Kaya Henderson who seems to be on an all out mission to destroy it. She came in long enough to screw us up royally and left for greener pastures - not a better education system - but lots and lots and lots of money. Which was her goal all along. Leaving DC in a worse shithole than it already was.

+1 Had the kids who were SUPPOSED to be the ones benefitting from an improved school system actually benefitted since the Rhee era we MIGHT be able to have a conversation about what worked and what didn't. YET here we are years down the road, thousands of dollars tossed into the pot, and DC STILL has schools with illiterate students. Something smells funky!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will repeat my prior statement. Only someone who earns a paycheck from DCPS or WTU or has some equivalent vested interest could argue that the school system isn't better off now than it was before Rhee. In all honesty, I expected you WTU lackeys to try and argue that demographic shifts and gentrification would have happened anyway with the economic growth of DC and that, although things are better now, they'd have even better than they are now without Rhee. I mean, that'd be a BS argument, but it would at least play the cards as they lay. What you two are doing is just laughable and sad. You should get outside the teacher breakroom and WTU meetings and get some much needed perspective.

The more of your BS and whining and "me, me, me" crap I read on DCUM the less sympathy I have for teachers. People like you have taken lefty liberals like me who grew up in houses with teachers and completely turned me the other way. The fewer of you teaching my kid, the better.

Prove it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will repeat my prior statement. Only someone who earns a paycheck from DCPS or WTU or has some equivalent vested interest could argue that the school system isn't better off now than it was before Rhee. In all honesty, I expected you WTU lackeys to try and argue that demographic shifts and gentrification would have happened anyway with the economic growth of DC and that, although things are better now, they'd have even better than they are now without Rhee. I mean, that'd be a BS argument, but it would at least play the cards as they lay. What you two are doing is just laughable and sad. You should get outside the teacher breakroom and WTU meetings and get some much needed perspective.

The more of your BS and whining and "me, me, me" crap I read on DCUM the less sympathy I have for teachers. People like you have taken lefty liberals like me who grew up in houses with teachers and completely turned me the other way. The fewer of you teaching my kid, the better.

This is your opinion - mine is that with different leadership things would be better in DCPS. Teachers would be more effective if they were supported instead of being hounded as if all of them were guilty until proven innocent. And the huge amounts of money that went to staff salaries, consultants, lawyers and failed programs could have gone to helping the kids who needed it most.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will repeat my prior statement. Only someone who earns a paycheck from DCPS or WTU or has some equivalent vested interest could argue that the school system isn't better off now than it was before Rhee. In all honesty, I expected you WTU lackeys to try and argue that demographic shifts and gentrification would have happened anyway with the economic growth of DC and that, although things are better now, they'd have even better than they are now without Rhee. I mean, that'd be a BS argument, but it would at least play the cards as they lay. What you two are doing is just laughable and sad. You should get outside the teacher breakroom and WTU meetings and get some much needed perspective.[b]

The more of your BS and whining and "me, me, me" crap I read on DCUM the less sympathy I have for teachers. People like you have taken lefty liberals like me who grew up in houses with teachers and completely turned me the other way. The fewer of you teaching my kid, the better.

I posted the two posts you are referring to, one after the other, the first about Rhee's education campuses, destruction of MS, and her decision to vest feeder rights for OOB kids in 2009 that has caused tremendous overcrowding at Ward 3 schools from Janney to Deal to Wilson. I also posted about the cheating scandal, the snobbery towards SWW, and how the recession had more of an impact than Rhee (at least in Ward 3). In other places families may just be delaying moves to Moco.

I am not and have never been a teacher. I am white and live in Ward 3. I have several children who have been at one DCPS and two charter schools where for the most part they got excellent educations but still have had some bad teachers at our JKLM and the charters, but at least at the charters it is not all up to one teacher. I am not a fan of Rhee or Henderson and NEVER will be. I think Rhee was an unethical opportunist who has made money off her "success" in DC when actually she created more problems than she solved, and Kaya Henderson is not only following in her footsteps but is stupid to boot, and I am not alone in my opinions on these matters. I am, however, exceedingly grateful that their failures have increased the number, variety, and caliber of charter schools in this city.

+1 about Rhee but disagree about Henderson. Rhee trained her well is all. She gets down with the okey doke and understands DC politics. She and the new mayor are of the same ilk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will repeat my prior statement. Only someone who earns a paycheck from DCPS or WTU or has some equivalent vested interest could argue that the school system isn't better off now than it was before Rhee. In all honesty, I expected you WTU lackeys to try and argue that demographic shifts and gentrification would have happened anyway with the economic growth of DC and that, although things are better now, they'd have even better than they are now without Rhee. I mean, that'd be a BS argument, but it would at least play the cards as they lay. What you two are doing is just laughable and sad. You should get outside the teacher breakroom and WTU meetings and get some much needed perspective.[b]

The more of your BS and whining and "me, me, me" crap I read on DCUM the less sympathy I have for teachers. People like you have taken lefty liberals like me who grew up in houses with teachers and completely turned me the other way. The fewer of you teaching my kid, the better.

I posted the two posts you are referring to, one after the other, the first about Rhee's education campuses, destruction of MS, and her decision to vest feeder rights for OOB kids in 2009 that has caused tremendous overcrowding at Ward 3 schools from Janney to Deal to Wilson. I also posted about the cheating scandal, the snobbery towards SWW, and how the recession had more of an impact than Rhee (at least in Ward 3). In other places families may just be delaying moves to Moco.

I am not and have never been a teacher. I am white and live in Ward 3. I have several children who have been at one DCPS and two charter schools where for the most part they got excellent educations but still have had some bad teachers at our JKLM and the charters, but at least at the charters it is not all up to one teacher. I am not a fan of Rhee or Henderson and NEVER will be. I think Rhee was an unethical opportunist who has made money off her "success" in DC when actually she created more problems than she solved, and Kaya Henderson is not only following in her footsteps but is stupid to boot, and I am not alone in my opinions on these matters. I am, however, exceedingly grateful that their failures have increased the number, variety, and caliber of charter schools in this city.

Wow. You and your kind need to get your story straight. Was it her failure that led to charter schools, or was that her master plan and she succeeded in propping up charters?

People in Ward 3 JKLM-land have no concept of the improvement in the schools over the last 15 years because your schools haven't seen the dramatic improvement (they had less distance to close). But I get your objection to OOB kids in your schools. And your objections to spending money on any schools not in Ward 3. Things should have stayed as they were; and DCPS should only spend money on the schools in your neighborhood. I feel you, girl.

Wait, how long have you been in D.C?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will repeat my prior statement. Only someone who earns a paycheck from DCPS or WTU or has some equivalent vested interest could argue that the school system isn't better off now than it was before Rhee. In all honesty, I expected you WTU lackeys to try and argue that demographic shifts and gentrification would have happened anyway with the economic growth of DC and that, although things are better now, they'd have even better than they are now without Rhee. I mean, that'd be a BS argument, but it would at least play the cards as they lay. What you two are doing is just laughable and sad. You should get outside the teacher breakroom and WTU meetings and get some much needed perspective.

The more of your BS and whining and "me, me, me" crap I read on DCUM the less sympathy I have for teachers. People like you have taken lefty liberals like me who grew up in houses with teachers and completely turned me the other way. The fewer of you teaching my kid, the better.

You need help, you're too ignorant and blinded by bigotry to understand that the issue is no so simple as blaming the WTU!!!

+1

+2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the person here obsessed with the WTU - I've been teaching for 10 years and I could count on one hand the number of times I've heard teachers bring up the union. Most teachers I know (who mostly work in Title 1 schools) are just as upset as the rest of DC about the PARCC scores.

Seriously! No one bothers with the union because they are as entrenched in the is political mess as everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When are they releasing individual scores?

They are mailing the scores home this month.

We had our W3EdNet meeting with DCPS and the DME's office last night. DCPS person said that they *hoped* that individual results would be sent to schools before the break. Then schools would send out individual results. The implication was that individual results would likely not get home until *after* the winter break. Folks should be attentive to how scores are sent home (i.e. mailed or placed in backpacks). The DCPS rep said that was up to the school as to how to do it.

Brian Doyle
W3EdNet

Do the schools have the individual results, and if so what are they doing with it? Will teachers see the data, or is it all for naught?

[Anonymous]

Is DCUM all teachers? Jeez.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will repeat my prior statement. Only someone who earns a paycheck from DCPS or WTU or has some equivalent vested interest could argue that the school system isn't better off now than it was before Rhee. In all honesty, I expected you WTU lackeys to try and argue that demographic shifts and gentrification would have happened anyway with the economic growth of DC and that, although things are better now, they'd have even better than they are now without Rhee. I mean, that'd be a BS argument, but it would at least play the cards as they lay. What you two are doing is just laughable and sad. You should get outside the teacher breakroom and WTU meetings and get some much needed perspective.

The more of your BS and whining and "me, me, me" crap I read on DCUM the less sympathy I have for teachers. People like you have taken lefty liberals like me who grew up in houses with teachers and completely turned me the other way. The fewer of you teaching my kid, the better.

You need help, you're too ignorant and blinded by bigotry to understand that the issue is no so simple as blaming the WTU!!!

Pot. Kettle. DCPS Teacher. Black.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will repeat my prior statement. Only someone who earns a paycheck from DCPS or WTU or has some equivalent vested interest could argue that the school system isn't better off now than it was before Rhee. In all honesty, I expected you WTU lackeys to try and argue that demographic shifts and gentrification would have happened anyway with the economic growth of DC and that, although things are better now, they'd have even better than they are now without Rhee. I mean, that'd be a BS argument, but it would at least play the cards as they lay. What you two are doing is just laughable and sad. You should get outside the teacher breakroom and WTU meetings and get some much needed perspective.[b]

The more of your BS and whining and "me, me, me" crap I read on DCUM the less sympathy I have for teachers. People like you have taken lefty liberals like me who grew up in houses with teachers and completely turned me the other way. The fewer of you teaching my kid, the better.

I posted the two posts you are referring to, one after the other, the first about Rhee's education campuses, destruction of MS, and her decision to vest feeder rights for OOB kids in 2009 that has caused tremendous overcrowding at Ward 3 schools from Janney to Deal to Wilson. I also posted about the cheating scandal, the snobbery towards SWW, and how the recession had more of an impact than Rhee (at least in Ward 3). In other places families may just be delaying moves to Moco.

I am not and have never been a teacher. I am white and live in Ward 3. I have several children who have been at one DCPS and two charter schools where for the most part they got excellent educations but still have had some bad teachers at our JKLM and the charters, but at least at the charters it is not all up to one teacher. I am not a fan of Rhee or Henderson and NEVER will be. I think Rhee was an unethical opportunist who has made money off her "success" in DC when actually she created more problems than she solved, and Kaya Henderson is not only following in her footsteps but is stupid to boot, and I am not alone in my opinions on these matters. I am, however, exceedingly grateful that their failures have increased the number, variety, and caliber of charter schools in this city.

Wow. You and your kind need to get your story straight. Was it her failure that led to charter schools, or was that her master plan and she succeeded in propping up charters?

People in Ward 3 JKLM-land have no concept of the improvement in the schools over the last 15 years because your schools haven't seen the dramatic improvement (they had less distance to close). But I get your objection to OOB kids in your schools. And your objections to spending money on any schools not in Ward 3. Things should have stayed as they were; and DCPS should only spend money on the schools in your neighborhood. I feel you, girl.

You do not feel me, chica, and you do not know me. Things in Ward 3 are not as they were pre 2008, when most upper SES families did not attend even their public elementary schools (unless it was Mann). The parents spend the money in Ward 3, not the school system. Mann fundraising puts an assistant teacher in every classroom, not DCPS.

Blame Kaya for your empty high schools and Duke Ellington bleeding money while its students commit residency fraud. We went to Mann because 40 years ago it was the only school kids attending my private school came from. Had no intention of staying in the public school system for the long haul. Were not victims of the recession, but rather attracted by a particular charter school that catered to our kids' strengths. And Mann until its recent renovation was an absolute dump physically so it had nothing to do with the building. My girl spent her first year at Latin in a trailer that confined the entire fifth grade so ditto. And my other kids had the experience of trailers during the Mann renovation.

My objection to OOB kids in overcrowded schools anywhere is that until Michelle Rhee came in on her broom there were no feeder rights. Pre 2009 kids had to lottery in to every new school up the chain. Instead of reducing the boundaries and diversity of Wilson, the DME should have had the guts to cut this off given that the 2008 recession had created a critical mass and there is a serious overcrowding problem. No skin in the game - none of my kids going to Wilson, sad about the budget cuts for Wilson's sake, same way sad about the no principal for Walls.........

Michelle Rhee was tasked with cleaning up DCPS. Had she done so, there would not have been the massive flight to charter schools for those who would not or could not move. Rhee's utter failure to do that is reflected by the rise in number, popularity, and diversity of charter schools - from KIPP and DC Prep to Yu Ying, LAMB and Mundo Verde, to Washington Latin and BASIS DC. She had no control over charter schools and their popularity and the fact that they now serve half of the DC population absolutely reflect her failures.

Feel me all you want, girl, but you getting on my last nerve because you don't have the least idea where I'm coming from, who my family is, or what school my kids are at now. We can't afford to discriminate because except for me ain't no one white in my family or anyone who comes close. We already started having talks with my boys about what you do if the cops ever stop you because it is life or death out there and my husband grew up on those mean streets in New York. Shit I never imagined or thought about that now scares me to death.

So our kids are most comfortable around other kids who are not white, and we at a charter that is not majority white, where they see kids of color like my husband making it every day. Very different and much better than being the token x unidentifiable mixed race kid in a Ward 3 school classroom. Far from Ward 3 in a school where kids of color are succeeding every day, but many speak the same way my MIL's family do and still get good grades. Interesting mixture of deliberate bad grammar and high academic achievement. They can be as ghetto as they want as long as they keep bringing home those A's. And they know the difference between joking around and the real thing, which is also inside the school sometimes, and stay far away from it. Proud of my kids, proud they succeeding in that environment, wasn't good for them to be tokens, and not have any high achieving friends but white kids.

We doing well, girl !!!!!!!!! And we not in Ward 3 anymore. You feel me????????

Where do you live now, by the way? (" your empty high schools") Sounds like it isn't even DC. Especially love that you have all these opinions about the DC schools and what wasn't done and how mismanaged they were but you admit that you were never going to stay in the DC schools long term. I invested in the schools and I am for the long haul. So we're to take seriously the opinions of someone who sees this as an intellectual construct or is invested in the anti-Rhee crusade.

Given how removed you are from the DC schools it isn't surprising, but your post makes no sense. I mean, you used lots of words, but they aren't logical or correct. Your assertion that only Mann had high SES is just an inaccurate statement. JK&L were also there in 2008. You said, "She had no control over charter schools and their popularity" The law doesn't grant her authority over charters. And how could she impact popularity? And the schools you named didn't exist in the mid 2000's. So...very...ignorant.

OOB kids at upper NW schools with snowflakes is something many people think is the right thing. Not you and your recession proof high SES cohort, but many who believe that kids in poor areas deserve a shot at a good education as well. And many people believe that those kids should be able to stay with their classmates beyond ES. Disagree if you want, but this isn't black or white to thinking people who live in reality.

What confuses me about your post (and rest of "your kind" that predominate DCUM) is that you cannot see that there might be more than one side to how things work or for certain policies. Very little in public education or government is black and white. And I will say it again. Your inability to see grey and your vitriol for Rhee and Kaya destroy your credibility.

P.S. I don't know whether to be amused or offended by your dalliance into your cliched version of "black speak". It's kind of funny. Sad, but funny. Did someone tell you that makes you "blacker" or that you can hang with your husband of color if you "speak black"? They were messing with you. And did you really just end your post with a dimwitted cliched threat on an anonymous board? I'd invite to meet you in person, but you'd have to come back to DC to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the person here obsessed with the WTU - I've been teaching for 10 years and I could count on one hand the number of times I've heard teachers bring up the union. Most teachers I know (who mostly work in Title 1 schools) are just as upset as the rest of DC about the PARCC scores.

Seriously! No one bothers with the union because they are as entrenched in the is political mess as everyone else.

Serious question. Would you sharing (since it is anonymous) if you opted out of tenure for the higher pay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will repeat my prior statement. Only someone who earns a paycheck from DCPS or WTU or has some equivalent vested interest could argue that the school system isn't better off now than it was before Rhee. In all honesty, I expected you WTU lackeys to try and argue that demographic shifts and gentrification would have happened anyway with the economic growth of DC and that, although things are better now, they'd have even better than they are now without Rhee. I mean, that'd be a BS argument, but it would at least play the cards as they lay. What you two are doing is just laughable and sad. You should get outside the teacher breakroom and WTU meetings and get some much needed perspective.[b]

The more of your BS and whining and "me, me, me" crap I read on DCUM the less sympathy I have for teachers. People like you have taken lefty liberals like me who grew up in houses with teachers and completely turned me the other way. The fewer of you teaching my kid, the better.

I posted the two posts you are referring to, one after the other, the first about Rhee's education campuses, destruction of MS, and her decision to vest feeder rights for OOB kids in 2009 that has caused tremendous overcrowding at Ward 3 schools from Janney to Deal to Wilson. I also posted about the cheating scandal, the snobbery towards SWW, and how the recession had more of an impact than Rhee (at least in Ward 3). In other places families may just be delaying moves to Moco.

I am not and have never been a teacher. I am white and live in Ward 3. I have several children who have been at one DCPS and two charter schools where for the most part they got excellent educations but still have had some bad teachers at our JKLM and the charters, but at least at the charters it is not all up to one teacher. I am not a fan of Rhee or Henderson and NEVER will be. I think Rhee was an unethical opportunist who has made money off her "success" in DC when actually she created more problems than she solved, and Kaya Henderson is not only following in her footsteps but is stupid to boot, and I am not alone in my opinions on these matters. I am, however, exceedingly grateful that their failures have increased the number, variety, and caliber of charter schools in this city.

Wow. You and your kind need to get your story straight. Was it her failure that led to charter schools, or was that her master plan and she succeeded in propping up charters?

People in Ward 3 JKLM-land have no concept of the improvement in the schools over the last 15 years because your schools haven't seen the dramatic improvement (they had less distance to close). But I get your objection to OOB kids in your schools. And your objections to spending money on any schools not in Ward 3. Things should have stayed as they were; and DCPS should only spend money on the schools in your neighborhood. I feel you, girl.

You do not feel me, chica, and you do not know me. Things in Ward 3 are not as they were pre 2008, when most upper SES families did not attend even their public elementary schools (unless it was Mann). The parents spend the money in Ward 3, not the school system. Mann fundraising puts an assistant teacher in every classroom, not DCPS.

Blame Kaya for your empty high schools and Duke Ellington bleeding money while its students commit residency fraud. We went to Mann because 40 years ago it was the only school kids attending my private school came from. Had no intention of staying in the public school system for the long haul. Were not victims of the recession, but rather attracted by a particular charter school that catered to our kids' strengths. And Mann until its recent renovation was an absolute dump physically so it had nothing to do with the building. My girl spent her first year at Latin in a trailer that confined the entire fifth grade so ditto. And my other kids had the experience of trailers during the Mann renovation.

My objection to OOB kids in overcrowded schools anywhere is that until Michelle Rhee came in on her broom there were no feeder rights. Pre 2009 kids had to lottery in to every new school up the chain. Instead of reducing the boundaries and diversity of Wilson, the DME should have had the guts to cut this off given that the 2008 recession had created a critical mass and there is a serious overcrowding problem. No skin in the game - none of my kids going to Wilson, sad about the budget cuts for Wilson's sake, same way sad about the no principal for Walls.........

Michelle Rhee was tasked with cleaning up DCPS. Had she done so, there would not have been the massive flight to charter schools for those who would not or could not move. Rhee's utter failure to do that is reflected by the rise in number, popularity, and diversity of charter schools - from KIPP and DC Prep to Yu Ying, LAMB and Mundo Verde, to Washington Latin and BASIS DC. She had no control over charter schools and their popularity and the fact that they now serve half of the DC population absolutely reflect her failures.

Feel me all you want, girl, but you getting on my last nerve because you don't have the least idea where I'm coming from, who my family is, or what school my kids are at now. We can't afford to discriminate because except for me ain't no one white in my family or anyone who comes close. We already started having talks with my boys about what you do if the cops ever stop you because it is life or death out there and my husband grew up on those mean streets in New York. Shit I never imagined or thought about that now scares me to death.

So our kids are most comfortable around other kids who are not white, and we at a charter that is not majority white, where they see kids of color like my husband making it every day. Very different and much better than being the token x unidentifiable mixed race kid in a Ward 3 school classroom. Far from Ward 3 in a school where kids of color are succeeding every day, but many speak the same way my MIL's family do and still get good grades. Interesting mixture of deliberate bad grammar and high academic achievement. They can be as ghetto as they want as long as they keep bringing home those A's. And they know the difference between joking around and the real thing, which is also inside the school sometimes, and stay far away from it. Proud of my kids, proud they succeeding in that environment, wasn't good for them to be tokens, and not have any high achieving friends but white kids.

We doing well, girl !!!!!!!!! And we not in Ward 3 anymore. You feel me????????

Slow clap! This could have come straight from a Rosa Guy novel!

You think Rosa Guy would have tried to keep minority kids out of Deal and Wilson???!!! Ignorance knows no bounds, apparently.