Brent to Watkins to Hobson

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is Clemens selling in the Cluster? Is she promoting her teachers (high turn over rate at WES and SH)? Is she selling Stuart Hobson as a dynamic place with more stability (some of her superstars are planning to bail at the end of the year)? Is she singing the praises of her administration team (she and other administrators are still under investigation from last year's uproar)? Maybe she is trying to sell herself as a permanent fixture with wonderful ideas and programming (the Cluster may be broken into smaller parts next year - one principal per campus)? She is also selling a bridge in Brooklyn, any takers?

Unfortunately, as you look around the city that are not many viable options. If you must choose SH, make the decision because it is closer to home and you are willing to go the long haul. The Cluster has MANY kinks that need to be worked out and will be exposed at the end of this year. The PTA needs to get a firm handle on matters if the big shake up happens. If you get in, make yourself heard on what it is that you were seeking via this recruitment process.

1000
I can hardly wait for a ray of sunshine on Clemens and her 'team' it is the stuff of reality TV.

[Anonymous]

Let's hear the kinks and see the sunlight shine. If you're not going to put up, then . . .

[Anonymous]

We were inbounds for Brent but moved out IB for Lafayette in large part because the middle school situation on the Hill is hopeless for the foreseeable future. Frankly, neither SH nor Jefferson are acceptable middle school options. Arguing which one is better makes little sense.

I don't see either one improving acceptably any time soon either. It is very hard for a school with a high FARMs population to do well, and the FARMs percentages are not getting diluted any time soon for all the reasons PP mentioned.

[Anonymous]

I don't think the schools need to cut down on FARMS percentages, but they definitely need to up the number of kids proficient in ela and math BEFORE they arrive at the middle school. Or else manufacture some kind of academy or magnet school that has the same effect. Not saying students who are behind for whatever reasons don't need and deserve and are entitled to the highest quality education available. Am just pointing out the undeniable truth that a DCPS MIDDLE school that has a larger number of academically challenged students than those entering on grade level will never be able to attract academically ambitious families--black, white, rich, poor whatever. Not a demographic thing. It's a reality thing caused by a school system that has a really hard time doing quality middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were inbounds for Brent but moved out IB for Lafayette in large part because the middle school situation on the Hill is hopeless for the foreseeable future. Frankly, neither SH nor Jefferson are acceptable middle school options. Arguing which one is better makes little sense.

I don't see either one improving acceptably any time soon either. It is very hard for a school with a high FARMs population to do well, and the FARMs percentages are not getting diluted any time soon for all the reasons PP mentioned.

Not something everybody likes but the ability kids (and their parents) now have to select advanced course options, both core and elective, provides opportunities at SH for kids to grow that other schools, charters included, don't offer. The children I know, including my own, feel challenged, inspired, part of a community, as well as all around safe at SH.

On a separate note: I'm loathe of the principal dissing, whether it be this school or another. Sandwiched between kids, teachers, parents, school districts, and often politicians and the public, they have among the most difficult tasks of all. Acting as the principal of the Cluster School (ranging from PS3 to 8th grade) is a particularly challenging. With DCPS' management demands on principals escalating in recent years, you won't find person as competent as the current principal to even remotely accomplish this. I personally would prefer those schools to have their own principal for sure, and that may well happen, but to insinuate that there are dealings that need "light shed on them" or that somehow the PTA should "have a handle" demonstrates a mean spirit and incompetence. This is a good old "how to best manage" question. No more and no less.

[Anonymous]

Have you heard that Jefferson was relaunched as an Academy to attract Brent families only a few years ago. Been there done that. Brent parents need to come to terms with the fact that BASIS is the only real option for most. Does anyone really believe that SH to Eastern is the pathway to future academic success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you heard that Jefferson was relaunched as an Academy to attract Brent families only a few years ago. Been there done that. Brent parents need to come to terms with the fact that BASIS is the only real option for most. Does anyone really believe that SH to Eastern is the pathway to future academic success.

Ask the Cluster PTA president what he thinks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jefferson would be a viable option for Brent families if it had more white kids and the IB program continues to improve there.

I apologize for your racially charged statement, on behalf of white people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you heard that Jefferson was relaunched as an Academy to attract Brent families only a few years ago. Been there done that. Brent parents need to come to terms with the fact that BASIS is the only real option for most. Does anyone really believe that SH to Eastern is the pathway to future academic success.

In truth, what matters to most who opt for Stuart-Hobson as their path to success is that it's the best proven pathway to School Without Walls, Banneker, McKinley Tech, Duke Ellington, and many private high schools. And, yes, I don't doubt it will also prove to be best way to get into Eastern's selective IB Diploma track. (IB = International Baccalaureate)

[Anonymous]

I'll take some what what she's been smoking, please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you heard that Jefferson was relaunched as an Academy to attract Brent families only a few years ago. Been there done that. Brent parents need to come to terms with the fact that BASIS is the only real option for most. Does anyone really believe that SH to Eastern is the pathway to future academic success.

Ask the Cluster PTA president what he thinks.

So far, he's walking the walk with his own kids, for better or worse. Can't wait to see what he does in a couple years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you heard that Jefferson was relaunched as an Academy to attract Brent families only a few years ago. Been there done that. Brent parents need to come to terms with the fact that BASIS is the only real option for most. Does anyone really believe that SH to Eastern is the pathway to future academic success.

In truth, what matters to most who opt for Stuart-Hobson as their path to success is that it's the best proven pathway IN WARD 6, 7, or 8 to School Without Walls, Banneker, McKinley Tech, Duke Ellington, and many private high schools. And, yes, I don't doubt it will also prove to be best way to get into Eastern's selective IB Diploma track. (IB = International Baccalaureate)

Fixed that for you, PP

[Anonymous]

The phrase damning with faint praise somehow comes to mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you heard that Jefferson was relaunched as an Academy to attract Brent families only a few years ago. Been there done that. Brent parents need to come to terms with the fact that BASIS is the only real option for most. Does anyone really believe that SH to Eastern is the pathway to future academic success.

In truth, what matters to most who opt for Stuart-Hobson as their path to success is that it's the best proven pathway IN WARD 6, 7, or 8 to School Without Walls, Banneker, McKinley Tech, Duke Ellington, and many private high schools. And, yes, I don't doubt it will also prove to be best way to get into Eastern's selective IB Diploma track. (IB = International Baccalaureate)

Fixed that for you, PP

Nice try but your "correction" makes my sentence not true. If you look at proportions of students attending application high schools, Stuart-Hobson comes out atop Deal, if that's what you had in mind. Now, of course, you'll surely tell me that Deal has a better alternative in Wilson, hence fewer (in %) look to those schools. Doesn't matter to me though if I want my child in, say, School Without Walls or McKinley Tech not at Wilson. So my claim stands:

"In truth, what matters to most who opt for Stuart-Hobson as their path to success is that it's the best proven pathway to School Without Walls, Banneker, McKinley Tech, Duke Ellington, and many private high schools. And, yes, I don't doubt it will also prove to be best way to get into Eastern's selective IB Diploma track. (IB = International Baccalaureate)"

[Anonymous]

You clearly have issues with logic. Just because elephants are large doesn't mean that the large PODS container in front of my neighbor's home was put there to house an elephant.

Fewer kids from Deal attend application high schools -- that is, Banneker, McKinley, SWW and CHEC -- because these schools are perceived as less desirable than Wilson or other options, including a private school. By the same token, more kids from SH go onto these application high schools because they are perceived as preferable to Eastern (or, in many cases, their IB high school in Ward 7 or 8).