BASIS charter expansion is up for public comment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another interesting fact:

Depending on facilities, there is
some chance of moving the 5 th
grade to the new facility, which
would allow us to INCREASE
seat offerings for the “5 –12”
campus as a whole

translation: "It might not be the wise move for our students, but we can increase the student body and raise revenues. Shareholders will be pleased!"

[Anonymous]

It's so interesting to see the MySchoolDC reports. And it's so interesting that the offer capture rate dropped this year. Wonder if it's because of Cooper getting established?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am all for this, and if they do open I hope I can get my 3rd grader in from the lottery.

Genuine question to this group, especially those who oppose this. If I have an elementary-age kid who is very advanced, and is struggling with boredom at our DCPS school, where do you think I should send them?

I have asked around and don't get the sense that charter schools are any more advanced, so I haven't really bothered to go that route. It feels like maybe our only option is to move to a Wilson feeder, where it sounds like maybe the classes are a bit more advanced just due to the socio-economics of the students. But I'd love to not have to buy a $2 million house just to give my kid a little extra challenge in elementary school. A BASIS elementary feels like a great alternative, and it offers something new for EOTP families. Happy to be told I'm wrong though! Please do tell me what kind of options you'd recommend.

Honest response is to move to Fairfax. If you want to stay in DC and don't want to move to W3, then you need to supplement on your own.

Never happening. This is why I support a BASIS elementary school. I shouldn't have to move my entire family just to get a little extra challenge in upper elementary + middle schools. The city has great school options for early childhood through 2nd grade; and great high school options. There's a huge hole in the middle that needs to be filled. BASIS elementary would be just the start.

I agree you shouldn't have to pick up and move just to get an adequate education for your kids. Long-term, the best way to get that for the most kids possible in DC is for DCPS schools to attract higher performing kids (which is highly correlated with socioeconomic status). Basis ES will attract kids away from their neighborhood schools (lest they be out a potential MS option later), which will reverse the real progress that has been made at some schools.

MC and UMC people have sort of collectively thrown up their hands at the state of education in DCPS, but they can and should demand better. DCPS owes an adequate public education to on- and above-grade level students just as much as it owes an adequate education to below-grade level students. Additionally, more genuinely advanced programming being available in the schools is the best way to give those academic opportunities to lower income students whose families can't or don't supplement outside of school.

DCPS is 50% at-risk, but the data shows that just 20% of kids in DC are living in poverty. Maybe that doesn't match up one-to-one to what DCPS calls "at-risk," and maybe there are some uber-rich who are going to send their kids to Sidwell etc. no matter what (and certainly the near-complete socioeconomic segregation of large swaths of the city complicate this), but DCPS can and should do a lot more to attract its MC and UMC families to DCPS. One elementary charter where kids might get genuine academic rigor, which would set back DCPS elementaries trending toward the same, is a huge setback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am all for this, and if they do open I hope I can get my 3rd grader in from the lottery.

Genuine question to this group, especially those who oppose this. If I have an elementary-age kid who is very advanced, and is struggling with boredom at our DCPS school, where do you think I should send them?

I have asked around and don't get the sense that charter schools are any more advanced, so I haven't really bothered to go that route. It feels like maybe our only option is to move to a Wilson feeder, where it sounds like maybe the classes are a bit more advanced just due to the socio-economics of the students. But I'd love to not have to buy a $2 million house just to give my kid a little extra challenge in elementary school. A BASIS elementary feels like a great alternative, and it offers something new for EOTP families. Happy to be told I'm wrong though! Please do tell me what kind of options you'd recommend.

Honest response is to move to Fairfax. If you want to stay in DC and don't want to move to W3, then you need to supplement on your own.

Never happening. This is why I support a BASIS elementary school. I shouldn't have to move my entire family just to get a little extra challenge in upper elementary + middle schools. The city has great school options for early childhood through 2nd grade; and great high school options. There's a huge hole in the middle that needs to be filled. BASIS elementary would be just the start.

If your kid is legitimately advanced, it is not a trivial thing to provide them with an appropriate curriculum in a middle school where most kids are years behind grade level. And you could easily find yourself shut out of not just any middle school option with a significant group of at grade-level kids, but also shut out of the selective high schools because they're now a lottery among kids with good grades.

True child geniuses are going to be difficult to accommodate in any public school, in the same way that kids with very extensive learning difficulties can't really be accommodated, but there is absolutely no reason DC cannot provide the kind of rigor that on- and above-grade level kids get in, e.g., FCPS as a matter of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am all for this, and if they do open I hope I can get my 3rd grader in from the lottery.

Genuine question to this group, especially those who oppose this. If I have an elementary-age kid who is very advanced, and is struggling with boredom at our DCPS school, where do you think I should send them?

I have asked around and don't get the sense that charter schools are any more advanced, so I haven't really bothered to go that route. It feels like maybe our only option is to move to a Wilson feeder, where it sounds like maybe the classes are a bit more advanced just due to the socio-economics of the students. But I'd love to not have to buy a $2 million house just to give my kid a little extra challenge in elementary school. A BASIS elementary feels like a great alternative, and it offers something new for EOTP families. Happy to be told I'm wrong though! Please do tell me what kind of options you'd recommend.

Honest response is to move to Fairfax. If you want to stay in DC and don't want to move to W3, then you need to supplement on your own.

Never happening. This is why I support a BASIS elementary school. I shouldn't have to move my entire family just to get a little extra challenge in upper elementary + middle schools. The city has great school options for early childhood through 2nd grade; and great high school options. There's a huge hole in the middle that needs to be filled. BASIS elementary would be just the start.

If your kid is legitimately advanced, it is not a trivial thing to provide them with an appropriate curriculum in a middle school where most kids are years behind grade level. And you could easily find yourself shut out of not just any middle school option with a significant group of at grade-level kids, but also shut out of the selective high schools because they're now a lottery among kids with good grades.

True child geniuses are going to be difficult to accommodate in any public school, in the same way that kids with very extensive learning difficulties can't really be accommodated, but there is absolutely no reason DC cannot provide the kind of rigor that on- and above-grade level kids get in, e.g., FCPS as a matter of course.

There are multiple, starting with that FCPS does not have middle schools that are both the size and composition of the ones in DCPS. The only way to provide advanced options would be to have test-in magnet programs, which isn't going to happen. But my point was that if you think your legitimately advanced kid just needs "a little extra challenge" in upper elementary and middle, and then things will be fine in high school, that is far removed from the reality of both the zoned middle school student populations and the selective high school admissions processes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am all for this, and if they do open I hope I can get my 3rd grader in from the lottery.

Genuine question to this group, especially those who oppose this. If I have an elementary-age kid who is very advanced, and is struggling with boredom at our DCPS school, where do you think I should send them?

I have asked around and don't get the sense that charter schools are any more advanced, so I haven't really bothered to go that route. It feels like maybe our only option is to move to a Wilson feeder, where it sounds like maybe the classes are a bit more advanced just due to the socio-economics of the students. But I'd love to not have to buy a $2 million house just to give my kid a little extra challenge in elementary school. A BASIS elementary feels like a great alternative, and it offers something new for EOTP families. Happy to be told I'm wrong though! Please do tell me what kind of options you'd recommend.

Honest response is to move to Fairfax. If you want to stay in DC and don't want to move to W3, then you need to supplement on your own.

Never happening. This is why I support a BASIS elementary school. I shouldn't have to move my entire family just to get a little extra challenge in upper elementary + middle schools. The city has great school options for early childhood through 2nd grade; and great high school options. There's a huge hole in the middle that needs to be filled. BASIS elementary would be just the start.

Do you hate your kid? If so, send them to BASIS elementary.

Signed,
Current BASIS parent

Say more. are you looking for an out? Do you think it's fine for middle, but bad for elementary?

BASIS hires extremely inexperienced teachers and doesn’t support them. There are a lot of classroom management problems, which leads to a lot of extreme forms of discipline and negativity. It’s absolutely developmentally inappropriate for the children they already have. I can’t imagine them in charge of younger children.

Are you pulling out your kids?

Yes. And for the poster with a “genius” child, my two kids are both at the top of their class. BASIS academics are on par with a normal middle/high school with a solid contingent of UMC families. It’s not an “advanced” program. So if your kid is truly gifted, they at be bored at BASIS.

[Anonymous]

Above is right. When I switched my kid from BASIS to an Arlington public ms for 8th grade last year (my ex lives in VA) I realized that I'd been drinking the BASIS Kool-Aid for years. Kid wasn't considered advanced in Arlington, other than for science, although he'd always made 90s Club. In fact, his "intensified" (honors) humanities classes were tougher than any he'd taken at BASIS and he's able to study the language we speak at home at an advanced level in ms. He's also able to play in an advance band at school, so no more running around in search of appropriate language or music inputs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am all for this, and if they do open I hope I can get my 3rd grader in from the lottery.

Genuine question to this group, especially those who oppose this. If I have an elementary-age kid who is very advanced, and is struggling with boredom at our DCPS school, where do you think I should send them?

I have asked around and don't get the sense that charter schools are any more advanced, so I haven't really bothered to go that route. It feels like maybe our only option is to move to a Wilson feeder, where it sounds like maybe the classes are a bit more advanced just due to the socio-economics of the students. But I'd love to not have to buy a $2 million house just to give my kid a little extra challenge in elementary school. A BASIS elementary feels like a great alternative, and it offers something new for EOTP families. Happy to be told I'm wrong though! Please do tell me what kind of options you'd recommend.

Honest response is to move to Fairfax. If you want to stay in DC and don't want to move to W3, then you need to supplement on your own.

Never happening. This is why I support a BASIS elementary school. I shouldn't have to move my entire family just to get a little extra challenge in upper elementary + middle schools. The city has great school options for early childhood through 2nd grade; and great high school options. There's a huge hole in the middle that needs to be filled. BASIS elementary would be just the start.

Do you hate your kid? If so, send them to BASIS elementary.

Signed,
Current BASIS parent

Say more. are you looking for an out? Do you think it's fine for middle, but bad for elementary?

BASIS hires extremely inexperienced teachers and doesn’t support them. There are a lot of classroom management problems, which leads to a lot of extreme forms of discipline and negativity. It’s absolutely developmentally inappropriate for the children they already have. I can’t imagine them in charge of younger children.

That isn't reflected in the proposal--are you just making stuff up?

For example, they noted that they had over 2000 applicants for about 50 teaching positions in recent years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some other takeaways:

• 43% of people listing Basis in the lottery ranked it first

• At full capacity, Basis will admit 100 for K, 112 for 1st-4th, and 135 for 5th. That means that they will add kids for 1st and 5th but not in 2nd through 4th. Assuming some attrition (which would presumably be lower for families for young kids as opposed to families with older kids), figure maybe 15-25 available slots for 1st and and 30-40 available slots for 5th grade. That means it will be a lot harder for families to get into Basis if they wait until after K. In fact, many of the slots will go to families with sibling or high-risk preference.

• Mandarin will be mandatory for all kids from K to 3.

• Basis’ preferred new location for the school would be Dupont Circle (which would be convenient for north-central DC) and Penn Quarter (convenient for Capitol Hill). However, they haven’t identified specific sites yet. Note that many Basis schools in urban areas have 2 campuses--one for lower school and one for middle/upper school.

What page is that number on?

Which number?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am all for this, and if they do open I hope I can get my 3rd grader in from the lottery.

Genuine question to this group, especially those who oppose this. If I have an elementary-age kid who is very advanced, and is struggling with boredom at our DCPS school, where do you think I should send them?

I have asked around and don't get the sense that charter schools are any more advanced, so I haven't really bothered to go that route. It feels like maybe our only option is to move to a Wilson feeder, where it sounds like maybe the classes are a bit more advanced just due to the socio-economics of the students. But I'd love to not have to buy a $2 million house just to give my kid a little extra challenge in elementary school. A BASIS elementary feels like a great alternative, and it offers something new for EOTP families. Happy to be told I'm wrong though! Please do tell me what kind of options you'd recommend.

Honest response is to move to Fairfax. If you want to stay in DC and don't want to move to W3, then you need to supplement on your own.

Never happening. This is why I support a BASIS elementary school. I shouldn't have to move my entire family just to get a little extra challenge in upper elementary + middle schools. The city has great school options for early childhood through 2nd grade; and great high school options. There's a huge hole in the middle that needs to be filled. BASIS elementary would be just the start.

Do you hate your kid? If so, send them to BASIS elementary.

Signed,
Current BASIS parent

Sounds like you didn't do your research first.

Feel free to drop out and go to your in-bounds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's always shocking to me that we allow for-profit education.

BASIS DC is nonprofit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Above is right. When I switched my kid from BASIS to an Arlington public ms for 8th grade last year (my ex lives in VA) I realized that I'd been drinking the BASIS Kool-Aid for years. Kid wasn't considered advanced in Arlington, other than for science, although he'd always made 90s Club. In fact, his "intensified" (honors) humanities classes were tougher than any he'd taken at BASIS and he's able to study the language we speak at home at an advanced level in ms. He's also able to play in an advance band at school, so no more running around in search of appropriate language or music inputs.

I guess your kid wasn't advanced.

Next.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Above is right. When I switched my kid from BASIS to an Arlington public ms for 8th grade last year (my ex lives in VA) I realized that I'd been drinking the BASIS Kool-Aid for years. Kid wasn't considered advanced in Arlington, other than for science, although he'd always made 90s Club. In fact, his "intensified" (honors) humanities classes were tougher than any he'd taken at BASIS and he's able to study the language we speak at home at an advanced level in ms. He's also able to play in an advance band at school, so no more running around in search of appropriate language or music inputs.

Arlington is among the 10th wealthiest counties in the United States. So, yeah, you're going to get an atypical student population, even relative to other schools that UMC kids go to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am all for this, and if they do open I hope I can get my 3rd grader in from the lottery.

Genuine question to this group, especially those who oppose this. If I have an elementary-age kid who is very advanced, and is struggling with boredom at our DCPS school, where do you think I should send them?

I have asked around and don't get the sense that charter schools are any more advanced, so I haven't really bothered to go that route. It feels like maybe our only option is to move to a Wilson feeder, where it sounds like maybe the classes are a bit more advanced just due to the socio-economics of the students. But I'd love to not have to buy a $2 million house just to give my kid a little extra challenge in elementary school. A BASIS elementary feels like a great alternative, and it offers something new for EOTP families. Happy to be told I'm wrong though! Please do tell me what kind of options you'd recommend.

Honest response is to move to Fairfax. If you want to stay in DC and don't want to move to W3, then you need to supplement on your own.

Never happening. This is why I support a BASIS elementary school. I shouldn't have to move my entire family just to get a little extra challenge in upper elementary + middle schools. The city has great school options for early childhood through 2nd grade; and great high school options. There's a huge hole in the middle that needs to be filled. BASIS elementary would be just the start.

Do you hate your kid? If so, send them to BASIS elementary.

Signed,
Current BASIS parent

Say more. are you looking for an out? Do you think it's fine for middle, but bad for elementary?

BASIS hires extremely inexperienced teachers and doesn’t support them. There are a lot of classroom management problems, which leads to a lot of extreme forms of discipline and negativity. It’s absolutely developmentally inappropriate for the children they already have. I can’t imagine them in charge of younger children.

Are you pulling out your kids?

Yes. And for the poster with a “genius” child, my two kids are both at the top of their class. BASIS academics are on par with a normal middle/high school with a solid contingent of UMC families. It’s not an “advanced” program. So if your kid is truly gifted, they at be bored at BASIS.

That is simply not true. The Basis curriculum is objectively more advanced than any other public school in DC. Sure, if your kid is at a selective DC public high school or a big school such as J-R, they can opt for advanced classes but no other public DC middle/high school (and certainly no other 100% lottery school) teaches all kids at the level that Basis does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am all for this, and if they do open I hope I can get my 3rd grader in from the lottery.

Genuine question to this group, especially those who oppose this. If I have an elementary-age kid who is very advanced, and is struggling with boredom at our DCPS school, where do you think I should send them?

I have asked around and don't get the sense that charter schools are any more advanced, so I haven't really bothered to go that route. It feels like maybe our only option is to move to a Wilson feeder, where it sounds like maybe the classes are a bit more advanced just due to the socio-economics of the students. But I'd love to not have to buy a $2 million house just to give my kid a little extra challenge in elementary school. A BASIS elementary feels like a great alternative, and it offers something new for EOTP families. Happy to be told I'm wrong though! Please do tell me what kind of options you'd recommend.

Honest response is to move to Fairfax. If you want to stay in DC and don't want to move to W3, then you need to supplement on your own.

Never happening. This is why I support a BASIS elementary school. I shouldn't have to move my entire family just to get a little extra challenge in upper elementary + middle schools. The city has great school options for early childhood through 2nd grade; and great high school options. There's a huge hole in the middle that needs to be filled. BASIS elementary would be just the start.

Do you hate your kid? If so, send them to BASIS elementary.

Signed,
Current BASIS parent

Say more. are you looking for an out? Do you think it's fine for middle, but bad for elementary?

BASIS hires extremely inexperienced teachers and doesn’t support them. There are a lot of classroom management problems, which leads to a lot of extreme forms of discipline and negativity. It’s absolutely developmentally inappropriate for the children they already have. I can’t imagine them in charge of younger children.

Are you pulling out your kids?

Yes. And for the poster with a “genius” child, my two kids are both at the top of their class. BASIS academics are on par with a normal middle/high school with a solid contingent of UMC families. It’s not an “advanced” program. So if your kid is truly gifted, they at be bored at BASIS.

That is simply not true. The Basis curriculum is objectively more advanced than any other public school in DC. Sure, if your kid is at a selective DC public high school or a big school such as J-R, they can opt for advanced classes but no other public DC middle/high school (and certainly no other 100% lottery school) teaches all kids at the level that Basis does.

Yes. I think it helps to be very specific about this -- middle schoolers learn Algebra, Geometry and Algebra 2 by the end of 8th grade, and start precalculus in 9th. This is one level beyond the highest level at the DCPS middle schools.