Things my 8th grader will not miss once leaving Deal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a lovely dinner conversation this evening and this is the short list that was talked about:
1 - Avoiding Nerf Gun Battles in the Hallways
2 - Locked Bathrooms
3 - Going to the Bathroom and watching others give stick and poke tattoos
4 - Fights
5- Classmates pulling fire alarms
6 - Bathrooms without soap
7 - Smell of pot while walking to / from school
8 - Going to class and there not being any adults there
9 - Going to class and there being a bunch of kids there who are not in the class
10 - Having an assembly to talk about school rules and knowing it is a joke and will never be enforced

So, middle school. Great attempt to slam deal tho

I went to a private middle school and encountered none of this

+1. My kids haven’t encountered these things at their private middle school either. They’re intrigued by our neighbor’s stories of fights at our zoned-middle school and couldn’t believe it when they heard condoms were found in the bathroom.

Your kids are growing up sheltered.

No, they are growing up as kids. In an age-appropriate forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid goes to Deal now. She's a tiny 6th grader and she can handle it. Not sure why your family can't.

Your 6th grader has not gone through 3 years of this.

+1. And, why should a 6th grade girl have to "handle" things like this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid goes to Deal now. She's a tiny 6th grader and she can handle it. Not sure why your family can't.

Your 6th grader has not gone through 3 years of this.

Agree with this. It's ok in 6th. By 8th it's exhausting for the kids and parents. The behavior at Deal is out of control. My youngest (of 3) is in 6th and I'm so done with it. leadership does nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like jail. I’m not even kidding.

+2. OP why would you leave your child in this school if this was occurring on a regular basis?

Because options are limited?

Of course you have options. You just choose not to prioritize your child’s education over other things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like jail. I’m not even kidding.

+2. OP why would you leave your child in this school if this was occurring on a regular basis?

Because options are limited?

Of course you have options. You just choose not to prioritize your child’s education over other things.

This is an extremely ignorant thing to say. -NP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid now attends an Arlington MS with a higher % of poor kids than Deal with none of the problems OP mentions. The school has strong, stable leadership and is under capacity (built for 1000 students, enrolls 150 fewer). The weak leadership at Deal coupled with the crowding can get toxic.

. In a nutshell, yes. Deal is just too big and crazy, with leadership that’s just OK. Plus, DCPS is fine with the status quo, along with most parents. There’s almost no momentum for change. Deal as is, a take it or leave it proposition. Frustrating.

[Anonymous]

My 8th grader doesn't complain about any of this stuff. As a parent, it has been frustrating that so many classes haven't been held due to lack of staff.

[Anonymous]

^Yet another problem attributable to subpar leadership, in the Mayor's Office, up the chain in DCPS and at Deal.

If DC voters won't vote in another mayor, and mayor control of schools remains, I don't see a way out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^Yet another problem attributable to subpar leadership, in the Mayor's Office, up the chain in DCPS and at Deal.

If DC voters won't vote in another mayor, and mayor control of schools remains, I don't see a way out.

I’m not sure a change in leadership, at either the school or mayors office is going to change a lack of personnel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL - I guess Deal has really gone downhill since my 2nd kid graduated 9 months ago!

Aside from the occasional fights I never heard any of these complaints from my boys one of whom was a bit of a snowflake.

I've never heard a kid complain about, care or even notice the smell of Pot.

But go ahead and shelter your snowflake by sending him to a private school - overcrowding is the real issue at Deal so glad if your hyperbole helps out with that problem in even a little way!

My boys never told me anything that happened at Deal until they graduated. They said they knew I'd freak out if I knew half of what was going on. I guess they figured I was the snowflake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid goes to Deal now. She's a tiny 6th grader and she can handle it. Not sure why your family can't.

That's what I thought, until the reality of it smacked us in the back of the head. We believe what we want to believe.

[Anonymous]

"Alice Deal for all!"
--Mayor Bowser

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a lovely dinner conversation this evening and this is the short list that was talked about:
1 - Avoiding Nerf Gun Battles in the Hallways
2 - Locked Bathrooms
3 - Going to the Bathroom and watching others give stick and poke tattoos
4 - Fights
5- Classmates pulling fire alarms
6 - Bathrooms without soap
7 - Smell of pot while walking to / from school
8 - Going to class and there not being any adults there
9 - Going to class and there being a bunch of kids there who are not in the class
10 - Having an assembly to talk about school rules and knowing it is a joke and will never be enforced

Fights, locked bathrooms, and unsupervised kids in the classroom are not things that should be tolerated at school. Period. I'm surprised some parents here are condoning these activities as something that's expected, as opposed to demanding that the school to do better. I wonder how many have already invested in Deal being their choice (they bought homes there assuming the public schools were good all the way through) and now will defend it no matter what happens there.

For the person who compared it to their ivy, I should probably remind you these are children we're talking about. Not adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid goes to Deal now. She's a tiny 6th grader and she can handle it. Not sure why your family can't.

Your 6th grader has not gone through 3 years of this.

Agree with this. It's ok in 6th. By 8th it's exhausting for the kids and parents. The behavior at Deal is out of control. My youngest (of 3) is in 6th and I'm so done with it. leadership does nothing.

So it was a similar experience for your older ones as well? I just have one there in 6th now and thought maybe it was just a pandemic thing (especially the many long- and short-term subs, or the periods when even the sub doesn't show up and they go to the auditorium to watch movies). Curious how much it was like this pre-pandemic as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a lovely dinner conversation this evening and this is the short list that was talked about:
1 - Avoiding Nerf Gun Battles in the Hallways
2 - Locked Bathrooms
3 - Going to the Bathroom and watching others give stick and poke tattoos
4 - Fights
5- Classmates pulling fire alarms
6 - Bathrooms without soap
7 - Smell of pot while walking to / from school
8 - Going to class and there not being any adults there
9 - Going to class and there being a bunch of kids there who are not in the class
10 - Having an assembly to talk about school rules and knowing it is a joke and will never be enforced

Fights, locked bathrooms, and unsupervised kids in the classroom are not things that should be tolerated at school. Period. I'm surprised some parents here are condoning these activities as something that's expected, as opposed to demanding that the school to do better. I wonder how many have already invested in Deal being their choice (they bought homes there assuming the public schools were good all the way through) and now will defend it no matter what happens there.

For the person who compared it to their ivy, I should probably remind you these are children we're talking about. Not adults.

Well, many parents demanded that school reopen last year, it doesn’t change anything. Parents have no collective or individual power to effect change.