DCPS can't handle 'Middle Schools'? This is why Kaya Henderson needs to go

[Anonymous]

If KH can't handle MS, why even bother to have public high schools? You can't just jump from ECE to APs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to continue a charter vs. neighborhood fight but I do really object to pp in any way suggesting that parents "who are willing to send kids across town for MS" are in any way at fault for failing neighborhood middle schools. Nor are the charter schools who work incredibly hard to offer a decent public alternative at fault. Please keep the blame exactly where it belongs: with a dysfunctional DCPS system and bad administration. Every parent I know in a charter school would rather use a neighborhood school if it actually offered a decent education

As a DCPS parent who has a kid in a private middle school I'll add that what you said goes for many parents in privates as well. There are a ton of DCPS refugees at my DC's school. I was very active in the PTA in elementary, and through that met PTA parents in other DCPS schools. I'm now meeting those parents again at my private school.

I'll just add, as a former DCPS parent who now has kids in Arlington County schools, what you said goes for many of us in the suburbs as well. I too meet many DCPS refugees out here. I too was very active in the PTA in our DCPS elementary. We left several years ago because we thought all our middle school options were less than desirable, including the charters that were available at that time. (I'm deeply ambivalent about the charter school movement in any case.) My eldest has finished high school now and my youngest will be starting middle school next year in APS. There was a time when I felt bad for not sticking it out longer, when I thought that maybe by the time my youngest was ready for middle school things would have improved. Now I find that I have zero regrets and am thankful we moved when we did. DCPS: the more things change, the more things stay the same. Kaya Henderson's comment is nothing short of scandalous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to continue a charter vs. neighborhood fight but I do really object to pp in any way suggesting that parents "who are willing to send kids across town for MS" are in any way at fault for failing neighborhood middle schools. Nor are the charter schools who work incredibly hard to offer a decent public alternative at fault. Please keep the blame exactly where it belongs: with a dysfunctional DCPS system and bad administration. Every parent I know in a charter school would rather use a neighborhood school if it actually offered a decent education

As a DCPS parent who has a kid in a private middle school I'll add that what you said goes for many parents in privates as well. There are a ton of DCPS refugees at my DC's school. I was very active in the PTA in elementary, and through that met PTA parents in other DCPS schools. I'm now meeting those parents again at my private school.

I'll just add, as a former DCPS parent who now has kids in Arlington County schools, what you said goes for many of us in the suburbs as well. I too meet many DCPS refugees out here. I too was very active in the PTA in our DCPS elementary. We left several years ago because we thought all our middle school options were less than desirable, including the charters that were available at that time. (I'm deeply ambivalent about the charter school movement in any case.) My eldest has finished high school now and my youngest will be starting middle school next year in APS. There was a time when I felt bad for not sticking it out longer, when I thought that maybe by the time my youngest was ready for middle school things would have improved. Now I find that I have zero regrets and am thankful we moved when we did. DCPS: the more things change, the more things stay the same. Kaya Henderson's comment is nothing short of scandalous.

the City doesn't care about the family who sends kids to private schools, but stays in DC, because their tax money stays here with them. By the city cares deeply about the family who takes their tax revenue and kids to Arlington. These are the kind of people the city is trying to keep here, and that the new-improved DCPS was supposed to attract. But hey -- charter schools will do the trick too -- they are frequently inconvenient for the parents and the kids, but most signs are that people are willing to put up with it to stay in the city.

Now the head of DCPS is pushing people into charter middle schools. If that goes down without much fuss, neighborhood public schools will be on the way out for good -- except in upper NW, of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to continue a charter vs. neighborhood fight but I do really object to pp in any way suggesting that parents "who are willing to send kids across town for MS" are in any way at fault for failing neighborhood middle schools. Nor are the charter schools who work incredibly hard to offer a decent public alternative at fault. Please keep the blame exactly where it belongs: with a dysfunctional DCPS system and bad administration. Every parent I know in a charter school would rather use a neighborhood school if it actually offered a decent education

As a DCPS parent who has a kid in a private middle school I'll add that what you said goes for many parents in privates as well. There are a ton of DCPS refugees at my DC's school. I was very active in the PTA in elementary, and through that met PTA parents in other DCPS schools. I'm now meeting those parents again at my private school.

I'll just add, as a former DCPS parent who now has kids in Arlington County schools, what you said goes for many of us in the suburbs as well. I too meet many DCPS refugees out here. I too was very active in the PTA in our DCPS elementary. We left several years ago because we thought all our middle school options were less than desirable, including the charters that were available at that time. (I'm deeply ambivalent about the charter school movement in any case.) My eldest has finished high school now and my youngest will be starting middle school next year in APS. There was a time when I felt bad for not sticking it out longer, when I thought that maybe by the time my youngest was ready for middle school things would have improved. Now I find that I have zero regrets and am thankful we moved when we did. DCPS: the more things change, the more things stay the same. Kaya Henderson's comment is nothing short of scandalous.[/quote

I hate it when people use terms like "refugees" to describe moving out of their DC homes in pursuit of the bland white suburbia that is Arlington. It is so incredibly tone-deaf and self-indulgent.

You were probably never cut out for urban living to begin with. Glad you've found your natural habitat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to continue a charter vs. neighborhood fight but I do really object to pp in any way suggesting that parents "who are willing to send kids across town for MS" are in any way at fault for failing neighborhood middle schools. Nor are the charter schools who work incredibly hard to offer a decent public alternative at fault. Please keep the blame exactly where it belongs: with a dysfunctional DCPS system and bad administration. Every parent I know in a charter school would rather use a neighborhood school if it actually offered a decent education

As a DCPS parent who has a kid in a private middle school I'll add that what you said goes for many parents in privates as well. There are a ton of DCPS refugees at my DC's school. I was very active in the PTA in elementary, and through that met PTA parents in other DCPS schools. I'm now meeting those parents again at my private school.

I'll just add, as a former DCPS parent who now has kids in Arlington County schools, what you said goes for many of us in the suburbs as well. I too meet many DCPS refugees out here. I too was very active in the PTA in our DCPS elementary. We left several years ago because we thought all our middle school options were less than desirable, including the charters that were available at that time. (I'm deeply ambivalent about the charter school movement in any case.) My eldest has finished high school now and my youngest will be starting middle school next year in APS. There was a time when I felt bad for not sticking it out longer, when I thought that maybe by the time my youngest was ready for middle school things would have improved. Now I find that I have zero regrets and am thankful we moved when we did. DCPS: the more things change, the more things stay the same. Kaya Henderson's comment is nothing short of scandalous.[/quote

I hate it when people use terms like "refugees" to describe moving out of their DC homes in pursuit of the bland white suburbia that is Arlington. It is so incredibly tone-deaf and self-indulgent.

You were probably never cut out for urban living to begin with. Glad you've found your natural habitat. Enjoy your lily white suburbia.

[Anonymous]

I am so disappointed by Henderson's remark about middle schools. If this is truly her attitude and position, she needs to go. Every child in DC should have the option of going to their assigned middle school or a charter school in order to get an excellent public education. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I hate it when people use terms like "refugees" to describe moving out of their DC homes in pursuit of the bland white suburbia that is Arlington. It is so incredibly tone-deaf and self-indulgent.

You were probably never cut out for urban living to begin with. Glad you've found your natural habitat. Enjoy your lily white suburbia.

Get over yourself.

Wikipedia wrote:

According to the US Census, the racial makeup of the county in 2012 was:
63.8% non-Hispanic White
8.9% Non-Hispanic Black or African American
0.8% Non-Hispanic Native American
9.9% Non-Hispanic Asian (2.0% Indian, 1.7% Chinese, 1.1% Filipino, 0.9% Korean, 0.7% Vietnamese, 2.7% Other Asian)
0.1% Pacific Islander
0.29% Non-Hispanic other races
3.0% Non-Hispanics reporting two or more race
15.4% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race (3.4% Salvadoran, 2.0% Bolivian, 1.7% Mexican, 1.5% Guatemalan, 0.8% Puerto Rican, 0.7% Peruvian, 0.6% Colombian)
28% of Arlington residents were foreign-born as of 2000.
Demographics courtesy of U.S. Census Quickfacts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I hate it when people use terms like "refugees" to describe moving out of their DC homes in pursuit of the bland white suburbia that is Arlington. It is so incredibly tone-deaf and self-indulgent.

You were probably never cut out for urban living to begin with. Glad you've found your natural habitat. Enjoy your lily white suburbia.

Get over yourself.

Wikipedia wrote:

According to the US Census, the racial makeup of the county in 2012 was:
63.8% non-Hispanic White
8.9% Non-Hispanic Black or African American
0.8% Non-Hispanic Native American
9.9% Non-Hispanic Asian (2.0% Indian, 1.7% Chinese, 1.1% Filipino, 0.9% Korean, 0.7% Vietnamese, 2.7% Other Asian)
0.1% Pacific Islander
0.29% Non-Hispanic other races
3.0% Non-Hispanics reporting two or more race
15.4% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race (3.4% Salvadoran, 2.0% Bolivian, 1.7% Mexican, 1.5% Guatemalan, 0.8% Puerto Rican, 0.7% Peruvian, 0.6% Colombian)
28% of Arlington residents were foreign-born as of 2000.
Demographics courtesy of U.S. Census Quickfacts

+1

Seriously, does urban living equate to inadequate schools? Should any of us be satisfied with your urban living?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to continue a charter vs. neighborhood fight but I do really object to pp in any way suggesting that parents "who are willing to send kids across town for MS" are in any way at fault for failing neighborhood middle schools. Nor are the charter schools who work incredibly hard to offer a decent public alternative at fault. Please keep the blame exactly where it belongs: with a dysfunctional DCPS system and bad administration. Every parent I know in a charter school would rather use a neighborhood school if it actually offered a decent education

As a DCPS parent who has a kid in a private middle school I'll add that what you said goes for many parents in privates as well. There are a ton of DCPS refugees at my DC's school. I was very active in the PTA in elementary, and through that met PTA parents in other DCPS schools. I'm now meeting those parents again at my private school.

I'll just add, as a former DCPS parent who now has kids in Arlington County schools, what you said goes for many of us in the suburbs as well. I too meet many DCPS refugees out here. I too was very active in the PTA in our DCPS elementary. We left several years ago because we thought all our middle school options were less than desirable, including the charters that were available at that time. (I'm deeply ambivalent about the charter school movement in any case.) My eldest has finished high school now and my youngest will be starting middle school next year in APS. There was a time when I felt bad for not sticking it out longer, when I thought that maybe by the time my youngest was ready for middle school things would have improved. Now I find that I have zero regrets and am thankful we moved when we did. DCPS: the more things change, the more things stay the same. Kaya Henderson's comment is nothing short of scandalous.[/quote

I hate it when people use terms like "refugees" to describe moving out of their DC homes in pursuit of the bland white suburbia that is Arlington. It is so incredibly tone-deaf and self-indulgent.

You were probably never cut out for urban living to begin with. Glad you've found your natural habitat.

Oh, sweetie. I bought a house on the Hill at 14th and Independence in the early 90s and lived there for 16 years. You don't know from urban living, LOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to continue a charter vs. neighborhood fight but I do really object to pp in any way suggesting that parents "who are willing to send kids across town for MS" are in any way at fault for failing neighborhood middle schools. Nor are the charter schools who work incredibly hard to offer a decent public alternative at fault. Please keep the blame exactly where it belongs: with a dysfunctional DCPS system and bad administration. Every parent I know in a charter school would rather use a neighborhood school if it actually offered a decent education

As a DCPS parent who has a kid in a private middle school I'll add that what you said goes for many parents in privates as well. There are a ton of DCPS refugees at my DC's school. I was very active in the PTA in elementary, and through that met PTA parents in other DCPS schools. I'm now meeting those parents again at my private school.

I'll just add, as a former DCPS parent who now has kids in Arlington County schools, what you said goes for many of us in the suburbs as well. I too meet many DCPS refugees out here. I too was very active in the PTA in our DCPS elementary. We left several years ago because we thought all our middle school options were less than desirable, including the charters that were available at that time. (I'm deeply ambivalent about the charter school movement in any case.) My eldest has finished high school now and my youngest will be starting middle school next year in APS. There was a time when I felt bad for not sticking it out longer, when I thought that maybe by the time my youngest was ready for middle school things would have improved. Now I find that I have zero regrets and am thankful we moved when we did. DCPS: the more things change, the more things stay the same. Kaya Henderson's comment is nothing short of scandalous.[/quote

I hate it when people use terms like "refugees" to describe moving out of their DC homes in pursuit of the bland white suburbia that is Arlington. It is so incredibly tone-deaf and self-indulgent.

You were probably never cut out for urban living to begin with. Glad you've found your natural habitat.

Also, I didn't use the term "refugees" to describe moving out my DC home in pursuit of Arlington. The private school poster described herself as a refugee. I would certainly never apply that word to my own circumstance since, as I noted, it turns out I am relieved and happy to be here and no longer struggling with the question of where to send my 5th grader to middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing I did find interesting about kaya's testimony- AP academy. She mentioned that she was looking into establishing an AP academy for students of all HS to attend. Since she could not justify full AP classes at some of the under enrolled HS, it would be beneficial to have a stand alone academy with different subject matters. I hope this materializes.

Exactly how is it a good idea to take AP classes away from underenrolled high schools?

She said that should could not fiscally justify having all the requisite AP classes in a HS with low enrollment. The only HS in the city with an enrollment for which she could justify more than a handful of AP courses was Wilson. PP, do you think that only the students at Wilson should be afforded the opportunity of a smorgasbord of AP courses, while students at other schools are offered only three or four?

I think it would be an awful idea to take away AP classes from Wilson to have just one central location in town where kids are supposed to go to take the classes. I understand from another thread that the idea would be to have AP classes somewhere downtown DC from 2pm to 8pm and on Saturday morning. I think the person who had this idea was on crack. this would make Impossible for kids to have after school activities, waste a lot of time commuting to and from the AP location and would make for a very long day. I have kids in elementary school zoned for Deal and Wilson. we want our kids to go to public school, if this kind of proposal is approved, we would move out of DC (unless we can get into a charter), and do not think we would be the only ones. Wilson works, I do not see the advantage of ruining it. hopefully, DCPS can come up with a proposal that would help the under-enrolled HS without damaging Wilson. I think kicking out Henderson would be a good start (like others, I found her comment about turning to charters for MS upsetting). I am happy to be taxed a little more to provide additional funds to other HS is more money is needed. combining other under-enrolled HS could also be an idea (the DC map shows that Wilson cover almost half of the town, while all other HS combined the other half. maybe some of them could be closed and their resources put together. taking away the AP classes from Wilson forcing Wilson's students to travel back and forth somewhere else seems very stupid to me

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing I did find interesting about kaya's testimony- AP academy. She mentioned that she was looking into establishing an AP academy for students of all HS to attend. Since she could not justify full AP classes at some of the under enrolled HS, it would be beneficial to have a stand alone academy with different subject matters. I hope this materializes.

Exactly how is it a good idea to take AP classes away from underenrolled high schools?

She said that should could not fiscally justify having all the requisite AP classes in a HS with low enrollment. The only HS in the city with an enrollment for which she could justify more than a handful of AP courses was Wilson. PP, do you think that only the students at Wilson should be afforded the opportunity of a smorgasbord of AP courses, while students at other schools are offered only three or four?

I think it would be an awful idea to take away AP classes from Wilson to have just one central location in town where kids are supposed to go to take the classes. I understand from another thread that the idea would be to have AP classes somewhere downtown DC from 2pm to 8pm and on Saturday morning. I think the person who had this idea was on crack. this would make Impossible for kids to have after school activities, waste a lot of time commuting to and from the AP location and would make for a very long day. I have kids in elementary school zoned for Deal and Wilson. we want our kids to go to public school, if this kind of proposal is approved, we would move out of DC (unless we can get into a charter), and do not think we would be the only ones. Wilson works, I do not see the advantage of ruining it. hopefully, DCPS can come up with a proposal that would help the under-enrolled HS without damaging Wilson. I think kicking out Henderson would be a good start (like others, I found her comment about turning to charters for MS upsetting). I am happy to be taxed a little more to provide additional funds to other HS is more money is needed. combining other under-enrolled HS could also be an idea (the DC map shows that Wilson cover almost half of the town, while all other HS combined the other half. maybe some of them could be closed and their resources put together. taking away the AP classes from Wilson forcing Wilson's students to travel back and forth somewhere else seems very stupid to me

I have a Deal 7th grader who is very interested in going on to Wilson. This AP proposal is an absolute deal breaker from my point of view.

[Anonymous]

Here is how I see the AP proposal is that it works if you create several options for schools that have certain critical numbers not taking AP. For example if you only have 30 kids between Ballou and Anacostia some other Eastern school then, yeah concentrate them in one place. I don't think it is great that handfuls a kids are totally screwed say at Ballou because it is hard to get to a decent school but I have to agree that concentrating them makes no sense. If a school can sustain a class of 30 for each of the classes, keep it at the school. Plus doesn't CHEC pretty much require most of their kids to take them ready or not? What do you do with that model if you change to an academy.

[Anonymous]

DeBlasio, the newly elected mayor of NYC, gets it. No more Bloomberg robots leading NYC public schools. Bloomberg and his clones are being ejected from NYC schools. DeBlasio is looking for a proven educational leader to head the school system.The Daily News reports that Starr of Montgomery County has been one of the leaders mentioned as a possible replacement for the current NYC Chancellor.

Montgomery and Fairfax County parents would never retain a superintendent who is clueless about educating middle school students. Not only does Henderson have no clue about middle school students, she has no clue about professional development, strategic planning, or curriculum design and implementation.

Remember, she assumed this lofty position with only a few years of teaching and a stint in a leadership position with her fellow Bloomberg clone, Michelle Rhee. It is unfair to expect her to know how to run a school system. But what is even more unfair is the fact that D.C.'s children are being impacted by her decisions.

[Anonymous]

DCPS pays consultants tons of money for other problems. Shouldn't they hire Melissa Kim to come consult on this issue? I bet she'd even do it for free! I have a 2nd grader. MS needs to be a priority for the chancellor!