Are in boundary families leaving Hardy because if MacArthur?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Not sure how it helps you to deny the reality that, under Bowser and the last couple of chancellors, the NW attitude towards DCPS has shifted from optimism has shifted to pessimism.

This is the major point that's affecting all the school debates in NW. There's a feeling the schools aren't improving, and if anything are getting worse. Maybe they're already at an acceptable level and people had unrealistic expectations, but that's just how it is.

People like PP is why DCPS will never get better.

Unrealistic expectations to have challenging classes for kids who can handle it?
Unrealistic expectations to have class tracking of like abilities?
Unrealistic expectations not to be in classes where kids are as much as 4-5 grade levels apart?
Unrealistic expectation where kids are not held accountable for grades?
Unrealistic expectation that 3-4 days out of the week there are behavior issues in the classroom with little learning?
Unrealistic expectations that my kid should be able to use the bathroom when he needs it?
Unrealistic expectation not to have to deal with daily fights?

in neighborhood schools around the country with similar demographics to ward 3 schools, all of the above are not issues. Above is not the norm. If you can’t have enough insight to not realize this, then that is sad and to accept that this is how it is is not going to fly with the majority of families.

DCPS is losing more and more families in middle and high school and there is absolutely no reason to expect MacArthur is going to be any different. The system is toxic to higher performing kids. Get out while you can.

BTW, that PP is not a dissenter. There are many families who are looking at other options.

So where are these DCPS families going other than to private schools? MCPS?

[Anonymous]

You all do realize that DCPS primary goal in opening the new high school is not to help the overcrowding in ward 3. It’s really to expand and open more seats so more opportunities for OOB kids to go to both schools with more resources and be among a higher performing peer group.

Decreasing the overcrowding is just a by-product of the above goals. Every single change in ward 3 is because of the primary goal above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Not sure how it helps you to deny the reality that, under Bowser and the last couple of chancellors, the NW attitude towards DCPS has shifted from optimism has shifted to pessimism.

This is the major point that's affecting all the school debates in NW. There's a feeling the schools aren't improving, and if anything are getting worse. Maybe they're already at an acceptable level and people had unrealistic expectations, but that's just how it is.

People like PP is why DCPS will never get better.

Unrealistic expectations to have challenging classes for kids who can handle it?
Unrealistic expectations to have class tracking of like abilities?
Unrealistic expectations not to be in classes where kids are as much as 4-5 grade levels apart?
Unrealistic expectation where kids are not held accountable for grades?
Unrealistic expectation that 3-4 days out of the week there are behavior issues in the classroom with little learning?
Unrealistic expectations that my kid should be able to use the bathroom when he needs it?
Unrealistic expectation not to have to deal with daily fights?

in neighborhood schools around the country with similar demographics to ward 3 schools, all of the above are not issues. Above is not the norm. If you can’t have enough insight to not realize this, then that is sad and to accept that this is how it is is not going to fly with the majority of families.

DCPS is losing more and more families in middle and high school and there is absolutely no reason to expect MacArthur is going to be any different. The system is toxic to higher performing kids. Get out while you can.

BTW, that PP is not a dissenter. There are many families who are looking at other options.

So where are these DCPS families going other than to private schools? MCPS?

All sorts of private schools, charters in the city, and burbs of MCPS and FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You all do realize that DCPS primary goal in opening the new high school is not to help the overcrowding in ward 3. It’s really to expand and open more seats so more opportunities for OOB kids to go to both schools with more resources and be among a higher performing peer group.

Decreasing the overcrowding is just a by-product of the above goals. Every single change in ward 3 is because of the primary goal above.

BTW if you think DCPS is going to pour resources and money into the new school, you are mistaken. Just look at what they did to Hardy this year.

Ward 3 kids will be fine because they don’t need in school enrichment, extras, etc…. Families can supplement and kids can do the extra stuff outside of school. The kids will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be the lone dissenter and say I have no faith in DCPS creating a high school out of nothing and will not be offering my child at Hardy now as a Guinea pig. We have submitted applications far and wide to get our child in a different place.

Also, Hardy sucks this year. The lack of anything other than academic classes and the daily fights among students plus locked bathrooms and locker rooms, we are done if at all possible.

Sure, but why do you think JR will be any better?

PP said nothing about JR. They said they are “submitting applications far and wide,” which makes clear that that they are considering many options. Can we not make this thread about JR?

PP calls themself a “lone dissenter.” What are they dissenting from? Was there a large group of people saying MacArthur would be competitive with Maret? No. The only consensus from which PP could possibly be dissenting is the consensus that MacArthur will be competitive with JR, for some students currently in 7th and 8th grade at Hardy, Deal, and Adams.

Come on. “Lone dissenter” from the large majority of posters saying they aren’t hearing about people leaving the feeder pattern because of/are excited about MacArthur. This poster is planning to leave and is submitting applications.

People have always gone private (and to Walls) from Hardy. Continuing that pattern isn’t “leaving because of MacArthur.”

I am the lone dissenter OP. I always intended to send my children to public school. We’ve been all in since PK4. But our oldest is in the first grade required to go to the new school and given the “experience” at Hardy this year and the idea of a not at all developed new high school that we’d be committing to with no actual knowledge, we are done. I can’t squander the opportunity to get my child somewhere else and I hope it works for next year. I’ve got 3 years (7th, 8th, and 9th) to secure an option other than the new high school, so we applied out for 7th for next year. Hope that works. If not, we’ll try again for 8th. Not JR, that’s not even a viable option given no spots at Deal or JR for new OOB students.

FWIW, my child again had no PE today because the locker rooms were locked off limits for whatever reason. That’s absurd. Also, I never said anything about sexual assault. But there are routine fights in the halls and lunch room and they are violent and have involved the AP pulling students apart. Not to even mention the unavailable restrooms. We also won’t talk about the lack of any non-academic classes resulting in extremely long academic blocks every day with no art, music, etc. This is not what we were expecting based off the previous few years of our friends and neighbors having children attend Hardy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be the lone dissenter and say I have no faith in DCPS creating a high school out of nothing and will not be offering my child at Hardy now as a Guinea pig. We have submitted applications far and wide to get our child in a different place.

Also, Hardy sucks this year. The lack of anything other than academic classes and the daily fights among students plus locked bathrooms and locker rooms, we are done if at all possible.

Sure, but why do you think JR will be any better?

PP said nothing about JR. They said they are “submitting applications far and wide,” which makes clear that that they are considering many options. Can we not make this thread about JR?

PP calls themself a “lone dissenter.” What are they dissenting from? Was there a large group of people saying MacArthur would be competitive with Maret? No. The only consensus from which PP could possibly be dissenting is the consensus that MacArthur will be competitive with JR, for some students currently in 7th and 8th grade at Hardy, Deal, and Adams.

Come on. “Lone dissenter” from the large majority of posters saying they aren’t hearing about people leaving the feeder pattern because of/are excited about MacArthur. This poster is planning to leave and is submitting applications.

People have always gone private (and to Walls) from Hardy. Continuing that pattern isn’t “leaving because of MacArthur.”

I am the lone dissenter OP. I always intended to send my children to public school. We’ve been all in since PK4. But our oldest is in the first grade required to go to the new school and given the “experience” at Hardy this year and the idea of a not at all developed new high school that we’d be committing to with no actual knowledge, we are done. I can’t squander the opportunity to get my child somewhere else and I hope it works for next year. I’ve got 3 years (7th, 8th, and 9th) to secure an option other than the new high school, so we applied out for 7th for next year. Hope that works. If not, we’ll try again for 8th. Not JR, that’s not even a viable option given no spots at Deal or JR for new OOB students.

FWIW, my child again had no PE today because the locker rooms were locked off limits for whatever reason. That’s absurd. Also, I never said anything about sexual assault. But there are routine fights in the halls and lunch room and they are violent and have involved the AP pulling students apart. Not to even mention the unavailable restrooms. We also won’t talk about the lack of any non-academic classes resulting in extremely long academic blocks every day with no art, music, etc. This is not what we were expecting based off the previous few years of our friends and neighbors having children attend Hardy.

This year at Hardy has been disappointing. The fights (at least according to our 8th grader) are more a distraction/entertainment rather than anything serious. But the lack of any art, music and other classes has been a drag. Given the District's burgeoning coffers, I am surprised that schools did not get a bigger chunk. Hardy did lose a lot of funding this year and unlike Janney et al. does not have PTA financial strength to make up for the shortfall.

[Anonymous]

Why are there no art or music classes?

[Anonymous]

Are there any electives?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be the lone dissenter and say I have no faith in DCPS creating a high school out of nothing and will not be offering my child at Hardy now as a Guinea pig. We have submitted applications far and wide to get our child in a different place.

Also, Hardy sucks this year. The lack of anything other than academic classes and the daily fights among students plus locked bathrooms and locker rooms, we are done if at all possible.

NP. I was planning on sending my child to Hardy because I figured that I could supplement what the school was lacking in extracurriculars for less than the $50k it would cost for private school. However, what you’ve said is alarming. I refuse to send my child to a school where bathrooms are locked so kids don’t get assaulted (or sexually assaulted!). Is this really happening??? I thought I would have heard about it.

I have a 6th grader and neither she nor any of her friends are worried about any of that bathroom stuff. She hasn't mentioned witnessing fights in a few months, so it might be an older grade phenomenon that will age out if the current enrollment trends continue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are there no art or music classes?

DCPS decided that Hardy could get by with the budget of a school half it's size. One can only speculate why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be the lone dissenter and say I have no faith in DCPS creating a high school out of nothing and will not be offering my child at Hardy now as a Guinea pig. We have submitted applications far and wide to get our child in a different place.

Also, Hardy sucks this year. The lack of anything other than academic classes and the daily fights among students plus locked bathrooms and locker rooms, we are done if at all possible.

NP. I was planning on sending my child to Hardy because I figured that I could supplement what the school was lacking in extracurriculars for less than the $50k it would cost for private school. However, what you’ve said is alarming. I refuse to send my child to a school where bathrooms are locked so kids don’t get assaulted (or sexually assaulted!). Is this really happening??? I thought I would have heard about it.

I have a 6th grader and neither she nor any of her friends are worried about any of that bathroom stuff. She hasn't mentioned witnessing fights in a few months, so it might be an older grade phenomenon that will age out if the current enrollment trends continue.

Unfortunately the 6th graders are managing it too. I think they'll have an assembly about it today?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are there no art or music classes?

DCPS decided that Hardy could get by with the budget of a school half it's size. One can only speculate why.

Isn’t it obvious? They are diverting all the funds and resources to EOTP title 1 poorly performing schools. These kids are way behind from the pandemic and won’t be doing well for a long time.

DCPS stance has always been the higher SES schools and kids are fine and don’t need resources or support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be the lone dissenter and say I have no faith in DCPS creating a high school out of nothing and will not be offering my child at Hardy now as a Guinea pig. We have submitted applications far and wide to get our child in a different place.

Also, Hardy sucks this year. The lack of anything other than academic classes and the daily fights among students plus locked bathrooms and locker rooms, we are done if at all possible.

NP. I was planning on sending my child to Hardy because I figured that I could supplement what the school was lacking in extracurriculars for less than the $50k it would cost for private school. However, what you’ve said is alarming. I refuse to send my child to a school where bathrooms are locked so kids don’t get assaulted (or sexually assaulted!). Is this really happening??? I thought I would have heard about it.

I have a 6th grader and neither she nor any of her friends are worried about any of that bathroom stuff. She hasn't mentioned witnessing fights in a few months, so it might be an older grade phenomenon that will age out if the current enrollment trends continue.

You are delusional. Then your 6th grader aren’t telling you what is really going on. Ignorance is not bliss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be the lone dissenter and say I have no faith in DCPS creating a high school out of nothing and will not be offering my child at Hardy now as a Guinea pig. We have submitted applications far and wide to get our child in a different place.

Also, Hardy sucks this year. The lack of anything other than academic classes and the daily fights among students plus locked bathrooms and locker rooms, we are done if at all possible.

Sure, but why do you think JR will be any better?

PP said nothing about JR. They said they are “submitting applications far and wide,” which makes clear that that they are considering many options. Can we not make this thread about JR?

PP calls themself a “lone dissenter.” What are they dissenting from? Was there a large group of people saying MacArthur would be competitive with Maret? No. The only consensus from which PP could possibly be dissenting is the consensus that MacArthur will be competitive with JR, for some students currently in 7th and 8th grade at Hardy, Deal, and Adams.

Come on. “Lone dissenter” from the large majority of posters saying they aren’t hearing about people leaving the feeder pattern because of/are excited about MacArthur. This poster is planning to leave and is submitting applications.

People have always gone private (and to Walls) from Hardy. Continuing that pattern isn’t “leaving because of MacArthur.”

I am the lone dissenter OP. I always intended to send my children to public school. We’ve been all in since PK4. But our oldest is in the first grade required to go to the new school and given the “experience” at Hardy this year and the idea of a not at all developed new high school that we’d be committing to with no actual knowledge, we are done. I can’t squander the opportunity to get my child somewhere else and I hope it works for next year. I’ve got 3 years (7th, 8th, and 9th) to secure an option other than the new high school, so we applied out for 7th for next year. Hope that works. If not, we’ll try again for 8th. Not JR, that’s not even a viable option given no spots at Deal or JR for new OOB students.

FWIW, my child again had no PE today because the locker rooms were locked off limits for whatever reason. That’s absurd. Also, I never said anything about sexual assault. But there are routine fights in the halls and lunch room and they are violent and have involved the AP pulling students apart. Not to even mention the unavailable restrooms. We also won’t talk about the lack of any non-academic classes resulting in extremely long academic blocks every day with no art, music, etc. This is not what we were expecting based off the previous few years of our friends and neighbors having children attend Hardy.

Why do they need the lockers to do PE? There’s lots of exercise stuff you can do without needing to change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be the lone dissenter and say I have no faith in DCPS creating a high school out of nothing and will not be offering my child at Hardy now as a Guinea pig. We have submitted applications far and wide to get our child in a different place.

Also, Hardy sucks this year. The lack of anything other than academic classes and the daily fights among students plus locked bathrooms and locker rooms, we are done if at all possible.

Sure, but why do you think JR will be any better?

PP said nothing about JR. They said they are “submitting applications far and wide,” which makes clear that that they are considering many options. Can we not make this thread about JR?

PP calls themself a “lone dissenter.” What are they dissenting from? Was there a large group of people saying MacArthur would be competitive with Maret? No. The only consensus from which PP could possibly be dissenting is the consensus that MacArthur will be competitive with JR, for some students currently in 7th and 8th grade at Hardy, Deal, and Adams.

Come on. “Lone dissenter” from the large majority of posters saying they aren’t hearing about people leaving the feeder pattern because of/are excited about MacArthur. This poster is planning to leave and is submitting applications.

People have always gone private (and to Walls) from Hardy. Continuing that pattern isn’t “leaving because of MacArthur.”

I am the lone dissenter OP. I always intended to send my children to public school. We’ve been all in since PK4. But our oldest is in the first grade required to go to the new school and given the “experience” at Hardy this year and the idea of a not at all developed new high school that we’d be committing to with no actual knowledge, we are done. I can’t squander the opportunity to get my child somewhere else and I hope it works for next year. I’ve got 3 years (7th, 8th, and 9th) to secure an option other than the new high school, so we applied out for 7th for next year. Hope that works. If not, we’ll try again for 8th. Not JR, that’s not even a viable option given no spots at Deal or JR for new OOB students.

FWIW, my child again had no PE today because the locker rooms were locked off limits for whatever reason. That’s absurd. Also, I never said anything about sexual assault. But there are routine fights in the halls and lunch room and they are violent and have involved the AP pulling students apart. Not to even mention the unavailable restrooms. We also won’t talk about the lack of any non-academic classes resulting in extremely long academic blocks every day with no art, music, etc. This is not what we were expecting based off the previous few years of our friends and neighbors having children attend Hardy.

Why do they need the lockers to do PE? There’s lots of exercise stuff you can do without needing to change.

Yeah, this is weird. My kids don't change for PE at their middle school.