WTF is happening at HARDY??????????

[Anonymous]

Smily faces and ice cream cones. Exactly what you'd employ at an elementary school.

[Anonymous]

I have thought about this, and they can't really believe that the smiley faces and behaviour contracts will motivate middle school students. I believe that this is a uniform way to document incidents/behavior to make it easier to pursue expulsion/transfer of problematic students.

Their ability to screen on the way in has been taken away, but this new plan may just be a way to get trouble makers out faster.

[Anonymous]

With regard to the selective admissions criteria, you're right again -- that's not magic, that's management. And that's one reason Pope was successful after the OOB lottery was instituted. Prior to the lottery, principals did this all the time and the lottery changed that. Whether you like what he did or not, he figured out how to manage the situation -- unlike the current principal and assistant principals. Being a good manager is not magic -- so why are we removing the good managers and replacing them with people who are having difficulty coping?

This quote is soo unintentionally revealing. In other words, Pope was unfairly gaming the system to keep perceived "problem students" out under the guise of "music-related criteria". It's a total subversion of the OOB lottery process, and undermines the strength of the system as a whole. I'm sure there are some Hardy parents who wish you could keep screening out the riff-raff. I'm sure there are lots of other schools in DCPS who wish they could do the same.

No wonder he was fired. I'm glad.

[Anonymous]

Pope sucked.

[Anonymous]

13:10, Ah, how well-spoken. Using one of the favorite words of the dear departed Chancellor. Lovely. Simply lovely.

[Anonymous]

How is what Pope did with Hardy different from Banneker or Walls? Who besides in-boundary families did not like the admissions process under Pope?

[Anonymous]

Not all in-boundary families disliked the admissions process under Pope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is what Pope did with Hardy different from Banneker or Walls? Who besides in-boundary families did not like the admissions process under Pope?

Banneker and Walls are only magnet schools so there are no in-boundaries families at all. As a pp noted, Hardy is more like Wilson. OOB students have to apply to the academies to attend Wilson but in-boundary students do not.

[Anonymous]

15:46 again. The reality is that when dd attended Hardy a few years ago, the majority of OOB students came to Hardy through the feeder schools they already were attending OOB. So in essence they were already "vetted" so to speak because they would have been thrown out of their feeder schools if they had had major behavioral problems.

Don't know how it's working now though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

With regard to the selective admissions criteria, you're right again -- that's not magic, that's management. And that's one reason Pope was successful after the OOB lottery was instituted. Prior to the lottery, principals did this all the time and the lottery changed that. Whether you like what he did or not, he figured out how to manage the situation -- unlike the current principal and assistant principals. Being a good manager is not magic -- so why are we removing the good managers and replacing them with people who are having difficulty coping?

This quote is soo unintentionally revealing. In other words, Pope was unfairly gaming the system to keep perceived "problem students" out under the guise of "music-related criteria". It's a total subversion of the OOB lottery process, and undermines the strength of the system as a whole. I'm sure there are some Hardy parents who wish you could keep screening out the riff-raff. I'm sure there are lots of other schools in DCPS who wish they could do the same.

No wonder he was fired. I'm glad.

Not unintentional at all. It was completely apparent that that was how Hardy handled the transition to the lottery. And I doubt anyone was kept out because of "music-related criteria." I'm sure that even great instrumentalists weren't allowed to attend if they were getting into fights at their in-boundaries school.

But you've got it backwards, pp. He wasn't moved (not fired) because the application process allowed him to control who attended Hardy OOB. And I'm certain the vast majority of in-boundaries parents would be delighted to keep the application process in place. But Pope was moved (apparently) because he didn't suck up enough to certain groups of in-boundaries parents, who couldn't leave well enough alone.

[Anonymous]

I hope and think that plenty of in-boundary parents objected to the blatant discrimination of a system that subjected the poorer, minority kids to a fake "admissions" test all the while admitting the richer, non-minority kids without such admissions criteria. I think plenty of in-boundary parents are people-of-conscience who prefer not to be a party to that type of discrimination (regardless of how some on this board think such a system was just fine b/c it kept out the "riff-raff"). Bravo to all those in boundary parents who refuse to support discrimination in that form.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope and think that plenty of in-boundary parents objected to the blatant discrimination of a system that subjected the poorer, minority kids to a fake "admissions" test all the while admitting the richer, non-minority kids without such admissions criteria. I think plenty of in-boundary parents are people-of-conscience who prefer not to be a party to that type of discrimination (regardless of how some on this board think such a system was just fine b/c it kept out the "riff-raff"). Bravo to all those in boundary parents who refuse to support discrimination in that form.

I think you could count those folks on the fingers of one hand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope and think that plenty of in-boundary parents objected to the blatant discrimination of a system that subjected the poorer, minority kids to a fake "admissions" test all the while admitting the richer, non-minority kids without such admissions criteria. I think plenty of in-boundary parents are people-of-conscience who prefer not to be a party to that type of discrimination (regardless of how some on this board think such a system was just fine b/c it kept out the "riff-raff"). Bravo to all those in boundary parents who refuse to support discrimination in that form.

<choking on laughter>

What are you smoking?! My god, that's the most ridiculous thing I've read here in a month! Look back over the threads of Ward 3 parents INCENSED at the idea of kids from Columbia Heights - or anyone OOB - attending their schools and you'll get an eyeful. The only activism among west of the park parents, is in wanting to report as many OOB families to the principal as possible!

I know you're trying to get up on your high horse, but standing atop a pile of horse sh*t doesn't quite have the same effect. Absolutely NOBODY is fooled by your delusional suggestion.

[Anonymous]

Believe me, in-boundary parents that wanted Pope out had other reasons. It had NOTHING to do do with refusing to support discrimination. What a laughable statement!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope and think that plenty of in-boundary parents objected to the blatant discrimination of a system that subjected the poorer, minority kids to a fake "admissions" test all the while admitting the richer, non-minority kids without such admissions criteria. I think plenty of in-boundary parents are people-of-conscience who prefer not to be a party to that type of discrimination (regardless of how some on this board think such a system was just fine b/c it kept out the "riff-raff"). Bravo to all those in boundary parents who refuse to support discrimination in that form.

<choking on laughter>

What are you smoking?! My god, that's the most ridiculous thing I've read here in a month! Look back over the threads of Ward 3 parents INCENSED at the idea of kids from Columbia Heights - or anyone OOB - attending their schools and you'll get an eyeful. The only activism among west of the park parents, is in wanting to report as many OOB families to the principal as possible!

I know you're trying to get up on your high horse, but standing atop a pile of horse sh*t doesn't quite have the same effect. Absolutely NOBODY is fooled by your delusional suggestion.


Really?!? It is laughable in DC to say no to discrimination? It's "delusional" and about getting up on a high horse to say that DC public schools shouldn't be allowed to discriminate against minority kids? What are you smoking (to borrow your phrase). These issues were supposedly decided by the US Supreme Ct. over 50 years ago!
It's one thing for a private school to establish any admissions criteria it chooses, but it hasn't been acceptable for public schools to do so in over a generation. Sorry you haven't gotten the memo yet and sad that you don't think your neighbors have higher standards than you apparently do.