Latin Cooper: Move to Kirov building

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:one general criticism of latin is that it is reasonably difficult for a lot of the city to get too (and intentional or not a lot of the families who choose the school have relatively more resources than the average student citywide - there is someone who can drive the student if they miss the latin bus etc.). replicating the school in a different location made a lot of sense and close-in eotr might have been especially great. simply expanding is okay but its a significant pivot (somewhat curious if they might feed the cooper students into the current high school or let some high school students take certain classes specially on the other campus or more generally what the thinking is). they had to buy not lease the kirov building?

The Latin bus from the hill is apprx 300 a month and requires the full year commitment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a (HUGE) Latin open house tonight at the original campus. The noted the new building, stumbled over the equal access (which is only for 5th at the original campus) and played a tone deaf video for the first seven minutes that they must have paid a lot of money to produce. It almost seemed like it was aimed at recruiting teachers/staff?

The youth ambassadors and tours were much better than the tone deaf general session. 5th graders want to know about friendship and how the day goes (no one talked about the alternating schedules) and not about pedagogy.

What was "tone deaf" about it?

To quote from the video "The students are secondary. We want them to love the content as much as we do. That love comes first"

I went to the open house tonight and it was disappointing. We don’t know much about Latin but was not impressed with the presentation at all.

They used a few buzzwords without really get into the detail of the curriculum. In fact, a parent specifically asked about the curriculum and the curriculum director gave some BS ambiguous response. Not helpful.

Someone asked about a book reading list and there is none. Teachers assign what they want.

Someone asked about advanced world languages for middle and instead of saying none, gave some ambiguous response that I don’t remember the specifics

No sports for 5th grade, very limited for 6th

Not much useful information obtained and the facilities are disappointing. I don’t really understand what the appeal is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all moot. The Kirov campus has been purchased.

What exactly is the issue, though? There are plenty of charter schools in EOTP. Why does Latin have to open their second campus there?

There is no issue. I'm a Latin parent. A very happy one. I don't care. At all.

Well of course you don't, you've got yours. It's the people EOTR who don't go to Latin who would care. And it's annoying that the PCSB let Latin expand despite its poor performance with at-risk kids, on the strength of a promise to try to locate EOTR and then surprise surprise, what a shocker that it doesn't work out.

How dare a school do a great job educating the vast majority of its students! This is DC, where we measure success solely by the performance of at-risk kids who come to school with a plethora of issues for which no school is equipped to adequately support. PP is part of the like hive mind that thinks that Honors for All is a good idea so that kids who are not performing well won't have to deal with reality and can be socially promoted up to graduation.

Go away.

NP. You're sarcastic rhetoric isn't really swaying anyone to your side. The PP makes legitimate points and you are coming off very much like a resource hoarder.

Just so I understand your position here, an in demand school (one of the best in the city) that excels at educating the vast majority kids attending but struggles with at-risk kids like every other school on earth should not be permitted to expand to meet pent up demand unless and until it solves a heretofore unsolvable societal problem? And you think calling BS on the woke-tastic view makes me a "resource hoarder"?

The PP you're responding to: Curious, what makes Latin students excel?

NP. Can' help but notice you didn't address the question.

Putting question marks at the end of those rhetorical statements didn't make them something to address.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a (HUGE) Latin open house tonight at the original campus. The noted the new building, stumbled over the equal access (which is only for 5th at the original campus) and played a tone deaf video for the first seven minutes that they must have paid a lot of money to produce. It almost seemed like it was aimed at recruiting teachers/staff?

The youth ambassadors and tours were much better than the tone deaf general session. 5th graders want to know about friendship and how the day goes (no one talked about the alternating schedules) and not about pedagogy.

What was "tone deaf" about it?

To quote from the video "The students are secondary. We want them to love the content as much as we do. That love comes first"

I went to the open house tonight and it was disappointing. We don’t know much about Latin but was not impressed with the presentation at all.

They used a few buzzwords without really get into the detail of the curriculum. In fact, a parent specifically asked about the curriculum and the curriculum director gave some BS ambiguous response. Not helpful.

Someone asked about a book reading list and there is none. Teachers assign what they want.

Someone asked about advanced world languages for middle and instead of saying none, gave some ambiguous response that I don’t remember the specifics

No sports for 5th grade, very limited for 6th

Not much useful information obtained and the facilities are disappointing. I don’t really understand what the appeal is.

The appeal of Latin is that Stuart Hobson, Eliot Hine and Jefferson Academy don't appeal to many in-boundary. Latin is loaded with Ward 6 families. The appeal is that BASIS has a long waiting list and weak permanent facilities, subjects kids to relentless test pressure and won't let them study languages before 8th grade. The appeal is that DCI takes over an hour to reach by public transportation from the Hill and really only teaches languages well (science, math, writing disappointing).

[Anonymous]

We went last evening and had a positive experience. Certain school environments work better for different kids. I suppose that those who place the emphasis on advanced languages didn’t find what they are seeking but that’s why you ask questions and do
Your research. It’s a personal decision (if you even get in to have a decision to make).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a (HUGE) Latin open house tonight at the original campus. The noted the new building, stumbled over the equal access (which is only for 5th at the original campus) and played a tone deaf video for the first seven minutes that they must have paid a lot of money to produce. It almost seemed like it was aimed at recruiting teachers/staff?

The youth ambassadors and tours were much better than the tone deaf general session. 5th graders want to know about friendship and how the day goes (no one talked about the alternating schedules) and not about pedagogy.

What was "tone deaf" about it?

To quote from the video "The students are secondary. We want them to love the content as much as we do. That love comes first"

I went to the open house tonight and it was disappointing. We don’t know much about Latin but was not impressed with the presentation at all.

They used a few buzzwords without really get into the detail of the curriculum. In fact, a parent specifically asked about the curriculum and the curriculum director gave some BS ambiguous response. Not helpful.

Someone asked about a book reading list and there is none. Teachers assign what they want.

Someone asked about advanced world languages for middle and instead of saying none, gave some ambiguous response that I don’t remember the specifics

No sports for 5th grade, very limited for 6th

Not much useful information obtained and the facilities are disappointing. I don’t really understand what the appeal is.

It’s good you went and found out it’s not a good fit for your family. That’s what school choice is all about. What doesn’t impress you has unquestionably been the bedrock of (1) my children’s fine education, well-rounded character and success in post-secondary academic settings and (2) the entire reason we have been able to raise our family in DC

[Anonymous]

I would say the crowd seemed largely DCI feeder... why even bother with Latin if you have a sure thing?

[Anonymous]

Many reasons why families at DCI feeders would explore other options like Latin. Upper grades, and especially 5th grade, at DCI feeders are generally not great. Latin is located much closer to the DCI feeders than DCI. Some families may feel their kid is not that into the foreign language or no longer want to prioritize the foreign language learning in the same way. DCI is great at the foreign language component but lacking in rigor in most other areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many reasons why families at DCI feeders would explore other options like Latin. Upper grades, and especially 5th grade, at DCI feeders are generally not great. Latin is located much closer to the DCI feeders than DCI. Some families may feel their kid is not that into the foreign language or no longer want to prioritize the foreign language learning in the same way. DCI is great at the foreign language component but lacking in rigor in most other areas.

Above is incorrect. Many families may look at other options to compare but the principal specifically said last night that Latin doesn’t get many DCI feeders.

As to the rigor, DCI already has a few early decision Ivy admits and top school admits this year, Ivy admits last year who were white with no hooks, etc…

I’m not into Ivy but above is an indication that they are doing something right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would say the crowd seemed largely DCI feeder... why even bother with Latin if you have a sure thing?

What? I was there last night and no clue how you can make that statement. Absolutely none.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:one general criticism of latin is that it is reasonably difficult for a lot of the city to get too (and intentional or not a lot of the families who choose the school have relatively more resources than the average student citywide - there is someone who can drive the student if they miss the latin bus etc.). replicating the school in a different location made a lot of sense and close-in eotr might have been especially great. simply expanding is okay but its a significant pivot (somewhat curious if they might feed the cooper students into the current high school or let some high school students take certain classes specially on the other campus or more generally what the thinking is). they had to buy not lease the kirov building?

The Latin bus from the hill is apprx 300 a month and requires the full year commitment

To which Latin? The bus to Cooper leaves from Anacostia and then picks up Hill kids at Sherwood Rec Center. Kids who qualify receive financial assistance with transportation. You can sign up for rides in both directions, in one direction, or pay for one-time rides.

[Anonymous]

The bus fee is about 2200 for the year and has a couple stops. You can opt in for the whole year or pay by trimester.

Washington Latin Charter Bus Service
Chartered buses serving Hillcrest/Anacostia, Glover Park, Tenleytown, Logan School and Eastern Market are provided for the 2022-2023 school year. BUS ROUTES AND SCHEDULE Bus service is free for families who qualify for Free and Reduced Meals.

Families may pay by the season or for the full year. However you choose to pay, please complete the online registration form at right or send in the print version and return to Martita Fleming via mail or email ([e-mail]). We can take checks or credit card payments. Please make checks payable to Washington Latin PCS. To pay with credit card, send us your card information on the registration form, or use the PayPal buttons below.

FALL – August 25 through October 31 (46 days round trip x $12.75/day) $587
WINTER – November 1 through February 28 (69 days round trip x $12.75/day) $880
SPRING – March 1 through June 9 (66 days round trip x $12.75/day) $842
ALL YEAR – August 25 through June 9 – $2193 (5% discount for payment in full at start of year) – by 8/31/21. Families may elect to pay $230.90 monthly for 10 months (August to May), automatically billed to a credit or debit card.
PART-TIME – Please discuss the options with Ms. Fleming; she will give you a prorated fee.

[Anonymous]

the appeal is that its an alternative to dcps and other charters eotp and that it pitches itself as being relatively more like a small private school.

[Anonymous]

The Kirov building will be 2 years behind MacArthur DCPS in offering high school. Does anyone have an opinion on how they'll compare based on what little we know of both now?

[Anonymous]

Last night's event seemed strange to me. It was a LOT of adults talking about pedagogy/philosophy and a teacher recruitment video while 4th graders (and a lot of younger siblings) sat through it, a panel discussion where you barely heard from parents, and then really crowded tour groups where the student guides did their best but talking so a group of 30+ can hear you in loud hallways is really challenging. That said, I liked what I heard about their model because it reminded me of the best parts of my liberal education, and I did not have a restless younger kid to wrangle.