How was the meeting with the admin meeting last week at BASIS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If anything's going to drive families away from BASIS, it's surely going to be the whackadoo person who keeps posting these rants.

For every school there is a BOOSTER and a BASHER and yes, even sometimes, a Wackadoodle Doo. I think everyone accepts that. After all, we have a word salad lady here as well. I miss her. Maybe Wackadoo will become the second Word Salad. Time will tell..........

But seriously, sometimes the BOOSTERS are terrible as well,
and I am not worried that they will scare people away from Basis (at least most of the time)
the "why are you even reading this thread if you do not have a child at Basis?,
to which the poor poster responded that he was thinking about sending his child to Basis," was a particularly low point for the BOOSTERS in my opinion, but I wouldn't worry about this one.

The BOOSTERS, maybe, because there are more than one of them............
but there can only ever be one Word Salad Lady (where are you when we need a little levity?????????)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, I'm no attorney but even I know enough to know that what most people typically rely on is preponderance of evidence and corroborating testimonies and information, as opposed to relying on hearsay or just plucking one person's statement out of an entire roomful of witnesses and putting your all behind it. Neither you nor I have interviewed every child present, nor even a meaningful fraction of them, to know whether they all agree on what happened. Yet you've already made the specious leap to judgement and demands for apologies without actually having the full facts.

Regarding Cameron Louis, his age has indeed repeatedly been brought up. As for his "silence" - again I'd ask if you actually ever specifically discussed this with him, one-on-one, a rational, focused discussion on this specific concern - as opposed to lobbing a lengthy one-way public tirade jumbling together every single thing you think is wrong with the school as seems to keep happening on this board? I somehow doubt that you have.

I have not brought up his age in terms of the way he has handled himself in the past week. I may have brought up his experience.

I have no interest in discussing this issue with him - I see no point because his initial email on this matter was so off the wall:
"the Dean may have misspoken.... Have a wonderful week!"
and something along the lines of he is "messaging" our children......

I will, however, discuss it with Mr. Aiken when he returns. At length.

This email from Mr. Louis was fairly soon after the event, and his message still has not gotten through sufficiently so that all of our kids feel secure about their Chemistry grades, nor has he personally met with the section to reassure these children, who are ultimately his students, and his responsibility, that their grades are not at risk). Even though by now it must be obvious even to him that his initial "messaging" was insufficient, at least for some of the students.

He has gotten that feedback directly from at least one parent in the class, and that should be all he needs to act. The buck is supposed to stop with him. He is the Head of School. He, not the Dean, has the ultimate authority here. All he had to do was properly exercise it to avoid a week of anxiety, and the Dean's behavior and statements becoming the "hot topic" for most of the kids at Basis.

All of you, with your "hearsay," your "preponderance of the evidence" your legalese, are ignoring the fact that these are our kids. And they are upset. These 8th graders, who undoubtedly represent at least some of the "top" students he was so upset that he "lost" last year, are still frightened. That fact alone, for those of you who have some respect for how intelligent and sensible most 8th graders at Basis are, should tell you something about their encounter with the Dean that day.

You seem to want to focus on whether they should be frightened for their grades. It does not, and should not, matter one whit. They are. And Mr. Louis has been informed of that directly by at least one parent. How many parents directly informing him should it take before he decides to act? A preponderance of the parents? Why is the onus on them?

The point I have been trying to make is that a number of our kids are still scared about their Chemistry grade. These are 8th grade kids, 13 year old kids, who are frightened that they may end up in an academic hole so deep they cannot dig themselves out, since the Upper School does not have 5 grading periods. They are new to the Upper School, and new to the grading system. It no longer matters whether they were given good cause to be worried, or whether Mr. Louis's initial email should have been enough. (He should have known it would not be, and therefore my suspicion is that he did not have a conversation with the Dean or Ms. Pickett before he sent it out, which is hardly due diligence.)

It was not enough. A more than de minimus number of our kids are still afraid for their grades, and Mr. Louis has been made aware of that, through direct communication. It should no longer matter what the Dean said or did. At this juncture, an inquisition is the last thing we need. The Dean, after having given the kids the opportunity to toss the room for 5 minutes while he and the teacher stepped out, returned to discover that they had been unsuccessful in finding the candy. He then said something along the lines of "I will mess with your grades."

And yes, this comes from more than one child who was in the room at the time, but you doubt whether they can be trusted, or you want all the children to repeat the Dean's statement verbatim with a degree of accuracy that is not even necessary for a conviction when numerous victims testify after having been inside a bank while it was robbed at gunpoint. The Dean is not on trial here. The issue is how the kids feel about what he did and said, it is no longer about what he actually did and said. How can so many posters, whom I must presume are also Basis parents, be so willfully blind or deliberately obtuse? What is wrong with you people? Are you not parents? Have you no sympathy? Have you no empathy? Have you no shame?

Some of these kids are still scared[b] about their grades and their future, [b]when they should not have been put in fear in the first place. To me, that is all that matters. I wonder why it does not matter at all to you. No, I was not there. And it is clear I cannot possibly convince you or many others of how very wrong it was, or how the email Mr. Louis sent trivialized and dismissed the feelings of many of the children who had, quite frankly, had the living daylights scared out of them. And how his "message" did nothing to comfort them or calm them down.

So the saga continues, 8 days later. Who knows what day 9 will bring.

Certainly not a groundswell of support from fellow Basis parents for the students in 8La.

Clearly, the way they are feeling is their fault, and their problem, and not Mr. Louis's responsibility.

[Anonymous]

Have the 8th graders discussed their concerns with the teacher directly? Surely you want to instill a degree of active problem solving with your child.

[Anonymous]

If they are truly "so terrified", then why is it the perpetrator who stole the materials didn't try to make amends? Apparently he/she doesn't have much respect for classmates or other things that don't belong to him/her, and that needs to be dealt with.

And, who can presume to speak for an entire classroom of students anyways? I don't think you can. I can accept that your own kid is worried, and maybe has a friend or two who also is, but beyond that I can't accept much else.

And again, just sitting around being worried is no way to solve anything, and blasting it to a public message board and carrying on and on in a venue where most of the rest of the audience doesn't share your level of concern or have zero stake DEFINITELY is not a solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have the 8th graders discussed their concerns with the teacher directly? Surely you want to instill a degree of active problem solving with your child.

I am not sure you understand the situation. The teacher is not the one who threatened to mess with their grades. That was the Dean. The Dean said you mess with her [the teacher's] stuff, I'll mess with your grades, which clearly implies he has the power to do so. Given that statement, any reassurance from the teacher, and I understand there may have been some, would not be sufficient to reassure.

I do not think that this is the appropriate time or situation in which to [b]"instill a degree of active problem solving"[b] with any child. They already went through the experience, their parents already got the email from the Head of School invalidating their experience rather than apologizing for it, and none of them to the best of my knowledge, quite understandably, have any desire to confront the Dean, and I for one would not encourage my child to do it, now or ever. I am not sure you are at the school. The Dean is quite scary. I admit perhaps he is supposed to be, but not only does he have an imposing physical presence, he has a very loud voice. He is the one primarily who stands outside of the school in the morning directing traffic and raising his voice to the children "BASIS kids, 4 minutes."

The problem was created by the Dean (I do not believe for a minute that the teacher had any idea what he was going to do, and her subsequent behavior supports that), and dismissed by Cameron Louis, the Head of School.

[Anonymous]

Please get a job!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:these basis threads just confuse the hell out of me. It feels like a schizophrenic woman arguing with herself?

ITA. However, I am beginning to feel like I should get a bag of popcorn everytime a BASIS thread is started because the loonyness is entertaining.

I don't understand enough of it for it to be entertaining. It really is like listening to a crazy homeless woman arguing with herself outside of CVS.

And hearing the middle of it, all sound and fury. WTF!!!

[Anonymous]

Does anyone think it's strange that 13 yr olds are in a situation in which an adult threatening to mess with their grades would be cause for major anxiety? If it is, there's something wrong with this picture. Other, more reasonable, adults need to reassure them that the world won't come to an end even if he DID fail them all. Honestly, that's just too much pressure for young ones!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone think it's strange that 13 yr olds are in a situation in which an adult threatening to mess with their grades would be cause for major anxiety? If it is, there's something wrong with this picture. Other, more reasonable, adults need to reassure them that the world won't come to an end even if he DID fail them all. Honestly, that's just too much pressure for young ones!!

I hope you get that we are witnessing the rants of of a crazy lady. Just enjoy it and don't look for deeper meaning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they are truly "so terrified", then why is it the perpetrator who stole the materials didn't try to make amends? Apparently he/she doesn't have much respect for classmates or other things that don't belong to him/her, and that needs to be dealt with.

First of all, we have no guarantee that it was one of those children in that section that ate the candy.

Second of all, that child will NEVER come forward now. IF they did, I think they would be in serious physical danger from their fellow students, some of whom, in the words of one concerned individual, are "out for blood." Since Mr. Louis just told us that self defense is always an option, I do not even want to THINK about the way that would go down.

To the parent whose kid probably accidentally ate the candy, do NOT let your kid come forward. That ship has sailed, and there is no point in it, and your child will be mistreated by many of his or her classmates in 8La because of all they have been through now, which is not your child's fault, it is the Dean's fault, and the Head of School's fault, and word will spread, and further divisions in the Basis student body and community are not good for us. We understand that it was the way the Dean came at all of the children in the first place that scared your child so badly they did not admit it at that moment. We get it. We forgive you. Please do NOT come forward now.

[/b]And, who can presume to speak for an entire classroom of students anyways? I don't think you can. I can accept that your own kid is worried, and maybe has a friend or two who also is, but beyond that I can't accept much else.

Ok you just admitted possibly 3 kids are worried. How many does it take? I remind you, these kids may not be "academically struggling," in fact some of them are definitely not, but the way this has been and is being handled, some of them will definitely not be at Basis next year, including the ones

[b]who are zoned for Wilson and/or can undoubtedly, thanks to all the resources Basis has spent on them, get into Walls, and will go off to colleges and universities whose name everyone will recognize, but will not be a part of the third graduating class from Basis DC. Since we already lost some "top students" in the first and second graduating classes, this is definitely the way to do it. Support the already fairly decent matriculation stats at Walls, and boost those of Latin by letting theirs be way ahead of us. Bragging about DC CAS scores won't mean much then, will it.....


[/b]And again, just sitting around being worried is no way to solve anything, and blasting it to a public message board and carrying on and on in a venue where most of the rest of the audience doesn't share your level of concern or have zero stake DEFINITELY is not a solution.

Except again[b], I am learning a lot about my fellow Basis parents. These rationalizations, dismissals, etc sound a lot like the person on the other thread who said if your kid is failing it is your fault and your kids fault because you are lazy and they are stupid.

And I am not the only one learning about Basis parents. Potential Basis parents are also reading this thread, as they did the last one, for entertainment value and for education as they decide whether they want to send a child to this a school where these kinds of things happen, and then no one in the administration apologizes (except of course the poor Chemistry teacher who did not want it to happen).

Methinks thou doth protest too much. Many thees and thous.

If no one cares, and you have "zero stake" here (which you shouldn't, but that would be too complicated for me to explain to you) why not just shut up and then I will be quiet as well, probably.......... The number and length of posts here about why this is not a problem indicate that you know it is...


Ok Basis parents,
BLAST AWAY
HAVE AT ME AND MY KID

I do not believe that a single person who has responded to any part of this thread that has to do with what happened last week in 8La.......... has a child in 8La, or knows a parent who has a child in 8La well enough to get an honest answer about whether or not this is a big deal......... for them, for their child, and now, unfortunately, for the school....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone think it's strange that 13 yr olds are in a situation in which an adult threatening to mess with their grades would be cause for major anxiety? If it is, there's something wrong with this picture. Other, more reasonable, adults need to reassure them that the world won't come to an end even if he DID fail them all. Honestly, that's just too much pressure for young ones!!

The problem is that if they fail a class, they risk not being able to go into 9th grade next year. Usually, I agree with this system, and I have two kids there, and I support it.

But not under these circumstances.

Most of these kids, especially the ones in 8th grade who passed their comps and classes or comp retakes for 6th and 7th grade, are not usually anxious because they believe, correctly, that they have the power to determine whether or not they are promoted by working hard and passing their comps and/or AP exams.

The problem is that their belief in that has been shaken. And that would make any student under these circumstances anxious.

That is why, even though the teacher has told them they will not fail, since the Dean was the one who threatened them, they need to hear from the Dean and the Head of School together that there will be no academic repercussions from this incident. Basically, they need to undo the damage that they did. Shouldn't be that complicated, right?

Unfortunately it seems to be beyond the capacity of our Head of School to just go in and, with or without the Dean, tell them as a group that they will not fail, that their grades are not going to be affected in any way, and that the Dean does not have the power to affect their grades - because that is not how Basis does it. Basis is a meritocracy in terms of academics, not a dictatorship.

Sounds simple enough? So then why........ is this crazy lady going on and on?

Because the Head of School has not seen fit to meet with the students and reassure them

Do not ask me why. I have no clue how anyone could create such chaos.........

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If anything's going to drive families away from BASIS, it's surely going to be the whackadoo person who keeps posting these rants.

If anything is going to drive families away from BASIS,

it is the Dean who gave the kids 5 minutes to toss the room to try to find the "lab materials" aka candy, while he and the teacher stepped out, and then came back in and said he would "mess with their grades" when they could not find the candy (which a student may just have innocently eaten, for all we know),

the back of your pants unfair administration of the tardy policy by the Dean's fiancee, who is also the mother of his child, which means these kids still don't know whether their tardies to their subsequent class after this debacle were actually excused or will get them a Friday Reflection without notice that may put a single mother's job in danger,

the Head of School who has been messaging himself in the mirror instead of reassuring these kids about their academic standing - 8 days later some students still believe they are going to fail the class for the grading period............

and the enmity and witch hunting that has resulted in 8La from trying to figure out who got them all into trouble. The trust and cooperative atmosphere in that section may never revert to its previous level,

while the Head of School has his faculty throwing balls to each other in "team building" exercises.........

Meanwhile the parents of the "top students" (according to the Head of School) who left for Wilson, Walls, and elsewhere, despite the fact that they are getting no credit for many things (imagine how miserable you must be to want to take World History over again, or even repeat 9th grade) have piped up here in response to the question about why they left Basis ........ and why some of them who are still there, not "academically struggling," will leave after 8th

answer that it was and is the lack of respect shown to the students by teachers and administrators.

I am getting a clear message from all of this, and I am baffled by the fact that Basis is not receiving the same message.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have the 8th graders discussed their concerns with the teacher directly? Surely you want to instill a degree of active problem solving with your child.

I am not sure you understand the situation. The teacher is not the one who threatened to mess with their grades. That was the Dean. The Dean said you mess with her [the teacher's] stuff, I'll mess with your grades, which clearly implies he has the power to do so. Given that statement, any reassurance from the teacher, and I understand there may have been some, would not be sufficient to reassure.

I do not think that this is the appropriate time or situation in which to [b]"instill a degree of active problem solving"[b] with any child. They already went through the experience, their parents already got the email from the Head of School invalidating their experience rather than apologizing for it, and none of them to the best of my knowledge, quite understandably, have any desire to confront the Dean, and I for one would not encourage my child to do it, now or ever. I am not sure you are at the school. The Dean is quite scary. I admit perhaps he is supposed to be, but not only does he have an imposing physical presence, he has a very loud voice. He is the one primarily who stands outside of the school in the morning directing traffic and raising his voice to the children "BASIS kids, 4 minutes."

The problem was created by the Dean (I do not believe for a minute that the teacher had any idea what he was going to do, and her subsequent behavior supports that), and dismissed by Cameron Louis, the Head of School.

Whoah, back up a second there - the problem didn't start with the Dean, it was caused by the student who stole candy that was intended as a prop for a classroom exercise, with callous disregard of ruining the exercise for the whole class. The Dean didn't just randomly swoop in out of nowhere and for no reason whatsoever. That student demonstrated criminal behavior, demonstrated fundamental disrespect of fellow classmates, disrespect of the teacher and staff, and disrespect of the classroom and of the school. It's behavior totally unacceptable coming from an 8th grader. And yet you don't think that kind of awful behavior is an issue and instead all you have to complain about is the Dean, whose job it is to make sure that kind of behavior isn't repeated?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are truly "so terrified", then why is it the perpetrator who stole the materials didn't try to make amends? Apparently he/she doesn't have much respect for classmates or other things that don't belong to him/her, and that needs to be dealt with.

First of all, we have no guarantee that it was one of those children in that section that ate the candy.

Second of all, that child will NEVER come forward now. IF they did, I think they would be in serious physical danger from their fellow students, some of whom, in the words of one concerned individual, are "out for blood." Since Mr. Louis just told us that self defense is always an option, I do not even want to THINK about the way that would go down.

To the parent whose kid probably accidentally ate the candy, do NOT let your kid come forward. That ship has sailed, and there is no point in it, and your child will be mistreated by many of his or her classmates in 8La because of all they have been through now, which is not your child's fault, it is the Dean's fault, and the Head of School's fault, and word will spread, and further divisions in the Basis student body and community are not good for us. We understand that it was the way the Dean came at all of the children in the first place that scared your child so badly they did not admit it at that moment. We get it. We forgive you. Please do NOT come forward now.

[/b]And, who can presume to speak for an entire classroom of students anyways? I don't think you can. I can accept that your own kid is worried, and maybe has a friend or two who also is, but beyond that I can't accept much else.

Ok you just admitted possibly 3 kids are worried. How many does it take? I remind you, these kids may not be "academically struggling," in fact some of them are definitely not, but the way this has been and is being handled, some of them will definitely not be at Basis next year, including the ones

[b]who are zoned for Wilson and/or can undoubtedly, thanks to all the resources Basis has spent on them, get into Walls, and will go off to colleges and universities whose name everyone will recognize, but will not be a part of the third graduating class from Basis DC. Since we already lost some "top students" in the first and second graduating classes, this is definitely the way to do it. Support the already fairly decent matriculation stats at Walls, and boost those of Latin by letting theirs be way ahead of us. Bragging about DC CAS scores won't mean much then, will it.....


[/b]And again, just sitting around being worried is no way to solve anything, and blasting it to a public message board and carrying on and on in a venue where most of the rest of the audience doesn't share your level of concern or have zero stake DEFINITELY is not a solution.

Except again[b], I am learning a lot about my fellow Basis parents. These rationalizations, dismissals, etc sound a lot like the person on the other thread who said if your kid is failing it is your fault and your kids fault because you are lazy and they are stupid.

And I am not the only one learning about Basis parents. Potential Basis parents are also reading this thread, as they did the last one, for entertainment value and for education as they decide whether they want to send a child to this a school where these kinds of things happen, and then no one in the administration apologizes (except of course the poor Chemistry teacher who did not want it to happen).

Methinks thou doth protest too much. Many thees and thous.

If no one cares, and you have "zero stake" here (which you shouldn't, but that would be too complicated for me to explain to you) why not just shut up and then I will be quiet as well, probably.......... The number and length of posts here about why this is not a problem indicate that you know it is...


Ok Basis parents,
BLAST AWAY
HAVE AT ME AND MY KID

I do not believe that a single person who has responded to any part of this thread that has to do with what happened last week in 8La.......... has a child in 8La, or knows a parent who has a child in 8La well enough to get an honest answer about whether or not this is a big deal......... for them, for their child, and now, unfortunately, for the school....

Sorry, but I DO know parents of kids in 8La who DISAGREE with you and your perspectives and your version of things. You are not the All Knowing Lady Oz.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are truly "so terrified", then why is it the perpetrator who stole the materials didn't try to make amends? Apparently he/she doesn't have much respect for classmates or other things that don't belong to him/her, and that needs to be dealt with.

First of all, we have no guarantee that it was one of those children in that section that ate the candy.

Second of all, that child will NEVER come forward now. IF they did, I think they would be in serious physical danger from their fellow students, some of whom, in the words of one concerned individual, are "out for blood." Since Mr. Louis just told us that self defense is always an option, I do not even want to THINK about the way that would go down.

To the parent whose kid probably accidentally ate the candy, do NOT let your kid come forward. That ship has sailed, and there is no point in it, and your child will be mistreated by many of his or her classmates in 8La because of all they have been through now, which is not your child's fault, it is the Dean's fault, and the Head of School's fault, and word will spread, and further divisions in the Basis student body and community are not good for us. We understand that it was the way the Dean came at all of the children in the first place that scared your child so badly they did not admit it at that moment. We get it. We forgive you. Please do NOT come forward now.

[/b]And, who can presume to speak for an entire classroom of students anyways? I don't think you can. I can accept that your own kid is worried, and maybe has a friend or two who also is, but beyond that I can't accept much else.

Ok you just admitted possibly 3 kids are worried. How many does it take? I remind you, these kids may not be "academically struggling," in fact some of them are definitely not, but the way this has been and is being handled, some of them will definitely not be at Basis next year, including the ones

[b]who are zoned for Wilson and/or can undoubtedly, thanks to all the resources Basis has spent on them, get into Walls, and will go off to colleges and universities whose name everyone will recognize, but will not be a part of the third graduating class from Basis DC. Since we already lost some "top students" in the first and second graduating classes, this is definitely the way to do it. Support the already fairly decent matriculation stats at Walls, and boost those of Latin by letting theirs be way ahead of us. Bragging about DC CAS scores won't mean much then, will it.....


[/b]And again, just sitting around being worried is no way to solve anything, and blasting it to a public message board and carrying on and on in a venue where most of the rest of the audience doesn't share your level of concern or have zero stake DEFINITELY is not a solution.

Except again[b], I am learning a lot about my fellow Basis parents. These rationalizations, dismissals, etc sound a lot like the person on the other thread who said if your kid is failing it is your fault and your kids fault because you are lazy and they are stupid.

And I am not the only one learning about Basis parents. Potential Basis parents are also reading this thread, as they did the last one, for entertainment value and for education as they decide whether they want to send a child to this a school where these kinds of things happen, and then no one in the administration apologizes (except of course the poor Chemistry teacher who did not want it to happen).

Methinks thou doth protest too much. Many thees and thous.

If no one cares, and you have "zero stake" here (which you shouldn't, but that would be too complicated for me to explain to you) why not just shut up and then I will be quiet as well, probably.......... The number and length of posts here about why this is not a problem indicate that you know it is...


Ok Basis parents,
BLAST AWAY
HAVE AT ME AND MY KID

I do not believe that a single person who has responded to any part of this thread that has to do with what happened last week in 8La.......... has a child in 8La, or knows a parent who has a child in 8La well enough to get an honest answer about whether or not this is a big deal......... for them, for their child, and now, unfortunately, for the school....

Sorry, no - I don't know where you come from but 8th graders should damn sure be more than old enough to know better than to "accidentally" take things that aren't theirs to take.