Basis DC just withdrew its request to amend their charter and add elementary school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Not even a parent yet already an expert in schools.

Hint: google IDEA.

Done. Not terrible helpful. I'm trying to keep an open mind, wish you would do the same. There's more nuance and gray area here than you seem to be willing to acknowledge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Not even a parent yet already an expert in schools.

Hint: google IDEA.

Done. Not terrible helpful. I'm trying to keep an open mind, wish you would do the same. There's more nuance and gray area here than you seem to be willing to acknowledge.

No, sorry. You made a completely ignorant and unfounded post about special needs students. There's nothing much for me to keep an open mind about and you should know something about the subect before you start to pontificate about it. While your child is still in utero!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:\
No, sorry. You made a completely ignorant and unfounded post about special needs students. There's nothing much for me to keep an open mind about and you should know something about the subect before you start to pontificate about it. While your child is still in utero!

I'm not sure which statement in particular you are referring to, but I'm not going to respond to your tone in kind, there's really no need for it. I did actually take the time to follow your suggestion, despite the snark, and briefly google and read about IDEA. I think your intent was mostly to be insulting, given the lack of detail, but I used it as an opportunity to learn. As I said, I think there is much more nuance than you seem to acknowledge, as I don't think IDEA alone can explain the hostility to BASIS, nor does it preclude a charter school like BASIS in DC, but if you think so, or you think the past actions of BASIS remain uncorrected and disqualify it from consideration for an elementary school, you are entitled to your opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:\
No, sorry. You made a completely ignorant and unfounded post about special needs students. There's nothing much for me to keep an open mind about and you should know something about the subect before you start to pontificate about it. While your child is still in utero!

I'm not sure which statement in particular you are referring to, but I'm not going to respond to your tone in kind, there's really no need for it. I did actually take the time to follow your suggestion, despite the snark, and briefly google and read about IDEA. I think your intent was mostly to be insulting, given the lack of detail, but I used it as an opportunity to learn. As I said, I think there is much more nuance than you seem to acknowledge, as I don't think IDEA alone can explain the hostility to BASIS, nor does it preclude a charter school like BASIS in DC, but if you think so, or you think the past actions of BASIS remain uncorrected and disqualify it from consideration for an elementary school, you are entitled to your opinion.

Dude you JUST NOW googled IDEA and still feel qualified to hold forth on the subject? Please just stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Dude you JUST NOW googled IDEA and still feel qualified to hold forth on the subject? Please just stop.

Yes, just now, at your suggestion, remember? And yes, I think parents and parents to be who are not familiar with the details of IDEA are entitled to an opinion about schools, although I am perfectly willing to learn about the legal requirements as well. I can see you don't feel the same way. So far you haven't actually made a substantive point, just thrown insults. Feel free to jump in with something useful, I'm listening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Dude you JUST NOW googled IDEA and still feel qualified to hold forth on the subject? Please just stop.

Yes, just now, at your suggestion, remember? And yes, I think parents and parents to be who are not familiar with the details of IDEA are entitled to an opinion about schools, although I am perfectly willing to learn about the legal requirements as well. I can see you don't feel the same way. So far you haven't actually made a substantive point, just thrown insults. Feel free to jump in with something useful, I'm listening.

OK. IDEA means that schools including charter schools have the obligation to provide disabled students with an appropriate education and the supports needed to access the curriculum. BASIS repeatedly violated these requirements in its middle school. Not because the kids were too dumb to keep up (your extremely ignorant and insulting suggestion) but because BASIS outright ignored their IEPs (the legally binding plans stating the supports they needed due to their disabilities). Hence, the charter board was exactly right to questiom whether BASIS had a plan for special needs for their elementary schools. Special needs are identified in elementary and preschool and kids benefit greatly from early intervention. Those kids have rights and BASIS was not prepared to meet them.

[Anonymous]

To the parent whose child isn't born yet -- no one "plans for" a child with special needs. But about 10-12% of children have them.

[Anonymous]

The real problem is the near non-existence of good middle schools.

nail on the head here. I've got a kid of average intelligence who is being beaten down by BASIS. There isn't really any substantive supports for kids who aren't successful independent of interventions. It's a sink or swim environment that is pretty cold for those who could catch up with just a little bit of support. The smugness of some of the regular posters on this board who insinuate that it's because these kids aren't smart enough and belong elsewhere is pretty damned awful. Where is our elsewhere?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree.

For the charter sector, what it means is that a school has to make the effort to help all students succeed. There are no guarantees and stating that students have a right to "free apprpriate public education' is not hte same as saying that all students must graduate with 3.0 average, or pass at all.

But refusing to hire learning specialists, not dedicating a room for students to work with said specialists, and telling parents that they didn't 'believe' that students had a disability -- things BASIS did in its first two years -- is not allowed in a public school, charter or traditional.

The DCPCSB has not said BASIS needs to change their 'no social promotion' policy, their accelerated curriculum or the requirements of taking AP exams. Parents who have students with intellectual disabilities will figure out it's not going to be a great fit. But BASIS can't openly discriminate against students who need some additional supports - such as speech language therapy or a scribe for a student with dyslexia.

DCPS has much more ability to do what you say you are seeking but they don't do it at the middle school level. Magnet schools with test-in admissions or applications can exist within an LEA, so long as there are also schools that meet the needs of anyone who enrolls.

Are you sure that magnet schools with test-in admissions or applications can exist within a LEA? I hope you're right, but where are you getting this from? If this is true, why has DCPCSB been adamantly opposed to lotteries for target language dominant students at their language immersion schools, although dual lotteries would obviously support best educational practices. Why has no charter set up a test-in MS, although demand would be sky high? I don't get it.

[Anonymous]

Each charter - LAMB, Basis, KIPP - is its own LEA, same as DCPS. Each must serve all first and foremost - DCPS does t through in boundary schools and charters by taking anyone who gets in through the lottery.

A big enough charter chain could probably try to push the legal envelope and get approved to offer a magnet option but none are big enough to do it.

[Anonymous]

Adding to 8:52 -- a charter would have to be large enough and wealthy enough that it could demonstrably serve anyone who decided showed up at their doorstep and wanted to attend at any time during the year (like DCPS) before they could even think about starting a school for advanced students. Just not practical given the funding and facilities situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The Board asked hard questions about whether they are truly committed and capable of serving any and all students in the city who would get in through the lottery. The proposal didn't suggest that they were and they were told to shore up their application in the month between the hearing and the vote.

From a political and optics perspective BASIS didn't do itself any favors by saying in the application that they were only interested in locating in Wards 1-6 or by having only 1 of the BASIS DC Board members in attendance for the p public hearing (there were 5 or 6 BASIS.ed staff from Arizona there). The local Board member who went was unfortunately unable to answer many questions about the plans (solely because she was pretty new to the Board and wasn't privy to the discussion about deciding to pursue an elementary school).

I watched the entire hearing. The board seems to place an unreasonable emphasis on issues like school location and the ability to serve special needs students. If Basis wants to open a charter in ward 2, near their current school, let them. If someone else wants to open a charter in ward 8, let them. If Basis wants to open a charter emphasizing rigorous academic achievement or have a grading system that is final exam heavy, great. If someone else wants to open a charter focused on remedial education, also great. Does the charter board criticize Yu Ying because it only caters to students and parents who want Mandarin immersion? I have no issue with the charter board ensuring schools adhere to fair and open access through the lottery, meet reasonable educational benchmarks, provide an acceptable physical environment and otherwise ensure students aren't being mistreated, but it was clear from the hearing that they go well above and beyond this to impose their own preconceptions and are limiting the ability for parents to decide which school is best for their child.

agreed. people talking about serving "all kids" but what about high achieving kids who really don't have options in DCPS outside of upper NW schools? The achievement gap is enormous at schools EoTP and Cap Hill that have a large number of gentrifiers. is it fair for kids to be in classrooms with kids two or three grades behind? all because DC cares more about being politically correct than serving all students?

[Anonymous]

DC students may currently be 74% FARMS but I would argue that if DC extrapolated for kids 8 and under that number drops significantly. DCPS and the charters need to plan for changes in DC and the student body. The future of DCPS is more affluence. These families will demand a lot more rigor and less bullshit (poor communication from schools/teachers, behavioral issues in the class and too much time getting kids years behind up to speed while high achieving kids waste time). Thats one of DCs problems, there are too many people invested professionally and financially on the continued failure of DC kids. They fear the changes the most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The Board asked hard questions about whether they are truly committed and capable of serving any and all students in the city who would get in through the lottery. The proposal didn't suggest that they were and they were told to shore up their application in the month between the hearing and the vote.

From a political and optics perspective BASIS didn't do itself any favors by saying in the application that they were only interested in locating in Wards 1-6 or by having only 1 of the BASIS DC Board members in attendance for the p public hearing (there were 5 or 6 BASIS.ed staff from Arizona there). The local Board member who went was unfortunately unable to answer many questions about the plans (solely because she was pretty new to the Board and wasn't privy to the discussion about deciding to pursue an elementary school).

I watched the entire hearing. The board seems to place an unreasonable emphasis on issues like school location and the ability to serve special needs students. If Basis wants to open a charter in ward 2, near their current school, let them. If someone else wants to open a charter in ward 8, let them. If Basis wants to open a charter emphasizing rigorous academic achievement or have a grading system that is final exam heavy, great. If someone else wants to open a charter focused on remedial education, also great. Does the charter board criticize Yu Ying because it only caters to students and parents who want Mandarin immersion? I have no issue with the charter board ensuring schools adhere to fair and open access through the lottery, meet reasonable educational benchmarks, provide an acceptable physical environment and otherwise ensure students aren't being mistreated, but it was clear from the hearing that they go well above and beyond this to impose their own preconceptions and are limiting the ability for parents to decide which school is best for their child.

agreed. people talking about serving "all kids" but what about high achieving kids who really don't have options in DCPS outside of upper NW schools? The achievement gap is enormous at schools EoTP and Cap Hill that have a large number of gentrifiers. is it fair for kids to be in classrooms with kids two or three grades behind? all because DC cares more about being politically correct than serving all students?

It's politically correct for the charter board to try to make sure that charters locate equally in all wards and have plans to serve the DC student body in general? Get back to me when Basis makes a proposal for a second middle school in Ward 7 and gets turned down. Your kids have PLENTY of options; DC needs to serve all students.

[Anonymous]

Charter advocate and BASIS critic just blogged about the BASIS decision to withdraw its application to expand.

https://parentshaveschoolchoicekidswin.com/2016/11/21/basis-pcs-withdraws-application-to-expand/