Opinions about Bancroft

[Anonymous]

16:10 what do you mean "nightmarish" drop off? Is there confusion of where students go in the mornings?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP we had Bancroft on our list, didn't get into LAMB, considered Marie Reed for PS-3, ended up elsewhere at a school with a terrific principal but not a language immersion school like Stokes or Oyster. We got the same feeling, vibe, whatever you want to call it, from visiting Bancroft that other parents had. Bad grammar & confusion from the admin staff, an overwhelming number of low-income Hispanics, terrible test scores. Also nightmarish drop-off traffic. Powell Elementary has many similar issues. It's got some very gung-ho parents and Michelle Obama has taken an interest in the school for the White House kitchen garden project. I think people are confused about why Mount Pleasant is such an expensive/desirable place to live but Bancroft is not a better school.

Nightmarish drop off? The children do not have a drop off location?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal's boundaries are likely to change. Analysis for all Ward 3 schools begins in 2013.
It seems very likely that Bancroft will only feed Lincoln and not Deal. Right now it feeds both.

I hope parents and council members will lobby to prevent this from happening. Shepherd feeds Deal and is further away (4 mi, vs. 3 mi for Bancroft). Here's the current Deal boundary map

http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/Files/downloads/SCHOOLS/Boundary%20Maps%20-%202009/DCPS-Attendance-Zones-Middle-Schools-September-2009.pdf

I've also heard mention of having Bancroft feed into Oyster Adams.

I don't see any boundary for Oyster-Adams middle school. Do families in Woodley Park with kids in elementary at Oyster have a choice between continuing at Oyster Adams for middle school, or going to Deal? If so, how many pick Deal, and would it help to make their only choice Oyster-Adams?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't see any boundary for Oyster-Adams middle school. Do families in Woodley Park with kids in elementary at Oyster have a choice between continuing at Oyster Adams for middle school, or going to Deal? If so, how many pick Deal, and would it help to make their only choice Oyster-Adams?

There has to be an English-only middle school option for IB Oyster-Adams families since O-A does not have an English only track. Students can't be forced to be in a bilingual program.

However the O-A boundary is awkward. Wards 1 and 3, Woodley, Kalorama and Adams Morgan. Plus it is about 60% OOB who currently can have Deal as an alternative. Fewer take advantage of it.

The mass exodus to Deal by O-A families after the messy merger seems to have abated somewhat. But some middle school kids now also leave for monolingual charters or privates. There are a few bilingual kids from charters and elementary DCPS who go to O-A for middle grades OOB.

On balance, there probably isn't a flood of O-A students crowding Deal these days as there were 3-5 years ago.

Bancroft and Sheperd will have to fight it out to avoid Lincoln at CHEC. They likely contribute more EOP students to Deal than Oyster.

[Anonymous]

"There has to be an English-only middle school option for IB Oyster-Adams families since O-A does not have an English only track. Students can't be forced to be in a bilingual program. "

Agreed that there should be an English only option for all Oyster Adams in boundary students but it should be at Oyster Adams. Remember, O-A is a PUBLIC school which by law must provide a "free and appropriate education" (FAPE), if that means English only, then they need to provide it. O-A also needs to serve IEP's for special needs students.

O-A has it's own middle school, that is their feeder pattern.

Why this special status has gone on for so many years is a mystery.

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

Parent here with student in 5th grade. I have been in the building on several instances. I've noticed a pattern of chidren running in the hallways, children having "tantrums" (yelling, screaming, defiance) in the hallways. It just appears that the behaviors are a bit extreme than in previous years. I am not sure if administration has a handle on these issues. If the behaviors aren't under control, how are children learning?

[Anonymous]

My question to all of you Bancroft parents posting is this- Have you voiced your concerns to admin? I have heard these stories before. Your child is now in fifth grade have you ever said anything? I was in the school a few weeks back and watched a very young teacher who seemed to have no control over her class. The kids looked like 1st or 2nd graders. My plan is to get my DC out. I just get angrier and angrier anytime I get any sort of communication from that place. I got an email on Monday about a PTA meeting on Wednesday. Of course it was only in Spanish. I replied to the email and asked them to send it in English. I have yet to receive a reply. I see on the calender that was sent home, there was a "visioning retreat". What is this? I would think they would want to invite and include parents who are highly educated with plenty of experience to a thing like this. The principal has these "coffees" but they only happen at 9:30 and 2:00. Clearly, they don't want us there. Why not have one at 7? I will tell you the answer. They only want low-income folks there. They don't ask questions or make demands. Maybe, if the middle class community at Bancroft demanded change and went over admins heads there would be change. I just don't get it. Why do you all just accept it? I am assuming the poster who defended the school is one of these parents. I am a tax payer and I demand more for my child. Stop fooling yourselves, the school is mediocre. Instead of focusing your time on selling xmas trees, ask the admin why they had such a high staff turnover. Ask them why kids are out of control in fifth grade. Ask them why teachers are permitted to put up sub par work. The list goes on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
"There has to be an English-only middle school option for IB Oyster-Adams families since O-A does not have an English only track. Students can't be forced to be in a bilingual program. "

Agreed that there should be an English only option for all Oyster Adams in boundary students but it should be at Oyster Adams. Remember, O-A is a PUBLIC school which by law must provide a "free and appropriate education" (FAPE), if that means English only, then they need to provide it. O-A also needs to serve IEP's for special needs students.

O-A has it's own middle school, that is their feeder pattern.

Why this special status has gone on for so many years is a mystery.

Not to hijack this further from Bancroft, but Oyster-Adams itself is not responsible for FAPE. DCPS is responsible for FAPE under IDEA and they can use whatever schools are in the portfolio to provide it.

The special status of a dual-language model that produces bi-literate and bilingual children is not a mystery. Oyster has been doing it for 40 years. The demographics and real estate values have changed over that time. Why it expanded through 8th grade more than 5 years ago and took over an elementary are the subject many, many, many a DCUM post and intense melodrama across several communities with various interests, financial and otherwise.

Why Bancroft hasn't been the subject for more DCPS scrutiny and investment, given its density of local population and proximity to competing charters, is the more mysterious of the two situations.

In the past, proactive elementary parents IB for Bancroft could lobby to get OOB for Oyster for elementary and be assured an option at Deal if they didn't want bilingual past 5th. In theory, I'm fine with that since Bancroft is also Deal currently.

So why not give Bancroft kids priority at Oyster-Adams middle school grades? Why not feed dually to Oyster-Adams as a continued bilingual track and Deal as a legacy English track?

CHEC Lincoln is not a truly dual-immersion program. No matter what the principal is trying to pawn off on folks. It feeds from further east and, let's assume, further south when Francis-Stevens consolidates to Marie Reed. There are plenty of families there who want English-only past elementary. And since CHEC Bell high school is not bilingual, what's the point of having Lincoln bilingual when there's an established bilingual middle school a mile away at the Adams building on 19th?

Given the option of Oyster-Adams or Deal for middle school, which would Bancroft IB parents pick?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Given the option of Oyster-Adams or Deal for middle school, which would Bancroft IB parents pick?

I think most middle class families would pick Deal but would settle for Oyster-Adams. Parents are starting to talk about this. (By the way, many of the most involved, higher SES families at Bancroft are OOB--from Columbia Heights, Crestwood, etc.)

As for the previous post, which I believe is from OP, it's hard to know where to begin, you are so ignorant about the school. You obviously have not been to a single PTA meeting or talked to any parents with a few years in at Bancroft or done anything to try to learn about what's going on (or you would know what the "visioning" is, for example). I too wish the principal coffees were earlier, but in case you haven't noticed, the cafeteria and gym are full of students until 9 am and that's where such events are usually held.

Please do whatever you need to do to sit down with the principal or assistant principal and talk about your concerns. Arrange to get work at 10:30 so you can go to a coffee. Or ask for a one on one meeting. Go to a PTA meeting (the board meeting, which is 2nd Tuesday of every month at 6 pm in the library) or an LSAT meeting (monthly, 1st Tuesday at 5:30 pm--both are on the Google calendar on the web site).

Get a clue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:16:10 what do you mean "nightmarish" drop off? Is there confusion of where students go in the mornings?

We are not IB or walking proximity. Try driving up to the school in that neighborhood during usual drop off hours on a school morning and you will see what I mean. Now imagine having to find parking and walk your 4 year old into school. It's not a deal breaker, just a PITA.

[Anonymous]

Part of the problem is that commuters use Newton St. to cross from Piney Branch or 16th Street to get to Park Road. That in itself is a nightmare (we live along their route --normally our street is quiet, but on a weekday morning there's a car about every 10 seconds). Our local ANC rep tried to get signs put up so drivers couldn't turn onto Newton in the morning. He didn't get anywhere. (Not sure it would have worked, anyway--Bancroft parents would have to violate the signs to get their kids to school.)

[Anonymous]

Yes, I can imagine in the neighborhood it is chaotic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Given the option of Oyster-Adams or Deal for middle school, which would Bancroft IB parents pick?

I think most middle class families would pick Deal but would settle for Oyster-Adams. Parents are starting to talk about this. (By the way, many of the most involved, higher SES families at Bancroft are OOB--from Columbia Heights, Crestwood, etc.)

As for the previous post, which I believe is from OP, it's hard to know where to begin, you are so ignorant about the school. You obviously have not been to a single PTA meeting or talked to any parents with a few years in at Bancroft or done anything to try to learn about what's going on (or you would know what the "visioning" is, for example). I too wish the principal coffees were earlier, but in case you haven't noticed, the cafeteria and gym are full of students until 9 am and that's where such events are usually held.

Please do whatever you need to do to sit down with the principal or assistant principal and talk about your concerns. Arrange to get work at 10:30 so you can go to a coffee. Or ask for a one on one meeting. Go to a PTA meeting (the board meeting, which is 2nd Tuesday of every month at 6 pm in the library) or an LSAT meeting (monthly, 1st Tuesday at 5:30 pm--both are on the Google calendar on the web site).

Get a clue.

"Get a clue?" hey, the 80s called...they want their lame cliche back. If PTA meeting notices are sent out only in Spanish, why should English speaking parents go? I would expect the meeting to be run in Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Bancroft's general membership PTA meeting is in English and Spanish. The PTA board meetings are held in English because most participants are native English speakers, but occasionally someone will translate for an attendee who only speaks Spanish.