So how many IB are going to really be at Hardy?

[Anonymous]

This thread is the ONLY place I've ever seen an accusation that Hardy's teachers are biased in some way. That's just a really hurtful accusation to make of a professional. Hurtful to reputation, career, everything. Whoever it is saying it should retract that statement unless they can come up with anything of substance to support it. Back it up, or just go away, that's terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is the ONLY place I've ever seen an accusation that Hardy's teachers are biased in some way. That's just a really hurtful accusation to make of a professional. Hurtful to reputation, career, everything. Whoever it is saying it should retract that statement unless they can come up with anything of substance to support it. Back it up, or just go away, that's terrible.

I'd say it's just a sign of that person's true desperation. Here's hoping the teachers just ignore it - or never hear about it. Better, in my opinion, to not directly engage

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It still hasn't been explained why some teachers apparently have a chip on their shoulder about in-boundary families. Is it just that they hold a years-old grudge about Rhee's plans for change? That's not healthy.

This thread is going to make me lose my mind. Stop spreading these false rumors if you know nothing about Hardy or its teachers.

I know about both, and I'll say it again: NOBODY AT HARDY - TEACHERS, ADMINISTRATORS, STUDENTS, CUSTODIANS, OR ANYBODY - TREATS IB STUDENTS ANY DIFFERENT THAN THEY TREAT OOB STUDENTS. TEACHERS DON'T CARE IF A STUDENT IS IB OR OOB. THEY DON'T HAVE A CHIP ON THEIR SHOULDER ABOUT IB STUDENTS. THEY HAVE NO WAY TO KNOW, AND THEY HAVE NO TIME OR INTEREST IN DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN IB OR OOB. THEY ARE TOO BUSY TEACHING ALL OF THEIR STUDENTS.

How do I know this? Because I am a Hardy IB parent.

I don't know who is spreading these nasty rumors - maybe they are charter boosters or parents who are trying to justify their decision to pay for a $30,000 a year private school. Maybe they are potential Hardy parents who get all the news just can't help themselves and get all the news from know-nothing parents on the playground. Whoever you are, please stop spreading this false and nasty rumor.

Having been in the same room and heard with my own ears people who are still Hardy teachers make quite categorical statements about in-boundary families, I have to respectfully disagree.

What exactly was said by those teachers? That may determine whether they are still relevant or irrelevant today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, I'm sure it would be very gratifying to you -- even four years later, to get this kind of revenge. Move the teachers -- not because they're doing a bad job, not because the principal has problems with them, not because their IMPACT scores are low, but because of a few parents holding a grudge from 4 years ago -- who will not send their children to Hardy no mater what -- but would still love to see the teachers go. Vindication

Thankfully, your numbers are few and diminishing rapidly. Now I ask just one thing -- please be quiet about this -- talk among yourselves. No need to poison the future.

Or is there? will you only be satisfied if Hardy is a total failure forever, because you couldn't get what you wanted?

It's not about vindication. I sincerely believe that anyone who said the things I have heard Hardy teachers say -- current Hardy teachers -- has no business working with children.

What statements have some current teachers made?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, I'm sure it would be very gratifying to you -- even four years later, to get this kind of revenge. Move the teachers -- not because they're doing a bad job, not because the principal has problems with them, not because their IMPACT scores are low, but because of a few parents holding a grudge from 4 years ago -- who will not send their children to Hardy no mater what -- but would still love to see the teachers go. Vindication

Thankfully, your numbers are few and diminishing rapidly. Now I ask just one thing -- please be quiet about this -- talk among yourselves. No need to poison the future.

Or is there? will you only be satisfied if Hardy is a total failure forever, because you couldn't get what you wanted?

It's not about vindication. I sincerely believe that anyone who said the things I have heard Hardy teachers say -- current Hardy teachers -- has no business working with children.

What statements have some current teachers made?

I hope pp ignores this question and just fades away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It still hasn't been explained why some teachers apparently have a chip on their shoulder about in-boundary families. Is it just that they hold a years-old grudge about Rhee's plans for change? That's not healthy.

This thread is going to make me lose my mind. Stop spreading these false rumors if you know nothing about Hardy or its teachers.

I know about both, and I'll say it again: NOBODY AT HARDY - TEACHERS, ADMINISTRATORS, STUDENTS, CUSTODIANS, OR ANYBODY - TREATS IB STUDENTS ANY DIFFERENT THAN THEY TREAT OOB STUDENTS. TEACHERS DON'T CARE IF A STUDENT IS IB OR OOB. THEY DON'T HAVE A CHIP ON THEIR SHOULDER ABOUT IB STUDENTS. THEY HAVE NO WAY TO KNOW, AND THEY HAVE NO TIME OR INTEREST IN DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN IB OR OOB. THEY ARE TOO BUSY TEACHING ALL OF THEIR STUDENTS.

How do I know this? Because I am a Hardy IB parent.

I don't know who is spreading these nasty rumors - maybe they are charter boosters or parents who are trying to justify their decision to pay for a $30,000 a year private school. Maybe they are potential Hardy parents who get all the news just can't help themselves and get all the news from know-nothing parents on the playground. Whoever you are, please stop spreading this false and nasty rumor.

Having been in the same room and heard with my own ears people who are still Hardy teachers make quite categorical statements about in-boundary families, I have to respectfully disagree.

What exactly was said by those teachers? That may determine whether they are still relevant or irrelevant today.

Really, what are the changes someone would remember with any accuracy what was said, especially if it's been build up in his/her mind into a grudge big enough to want to see a school fail four years later?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most are concerned with academic proficiency, but is it so wrong to want your child to go to school with at least some kids -- whatever race -- who live in your neighborhood? For me, part of the reason for opting public school over private is the benefit of going to a neighborhood school. OOB kids can certainly fit into that picture, but if a school is largely OOB, then you completely lose the benefits of a neighborhood school. My DC LOVED walking to Eaton with neighborhood friends and also having playdates with IB and OOB friends, but without an IB cohort, it just would not have been the same. I don't think it makes me a racist to want to send my child to a school with some neighborhood connection.

Most of the city agrees, looking at the reaction to the DME proposal.

I completely agree. I am not denying that racism exists in this city/country. But it is ridiculous to suggest that people are racist because they want to see more truly IB kids in the school. People who want a neighborhood school, want a school where their neighbors' kids go. They don't want to attend a school that happens to be in their neighborhood but whose student body comes from all 8 wards. If they wanted that, then they would attend charters. I have nothing against charters - glad they are there as options. But for those of us who want neighborhood schools, this means not only that the school is in the neighborhood, but also that most of the neighborhood kids go there.

I don't know why this is so hard for some people to understand, or why some people impute the worst motives for this. It's almost as if the charter movement has made people forget the neighbrohood schools of our childhoods or something, I don't know. Again, nothing against charters, but I am a big believer in neighborhood schools.

You're mostly right, but I'll point out the inconvenient fact that more kids who are in-boundary for Hardy attend Basis and Latin than Hardy. School quality matters too.

Exactly, PP. I'll make the obvious point that those families are not attracted to Latin and BASIS because of the low OOB numbers or low AA population.

I'll add that Pride's plan for improving the quality of Hardy is to increase the IB percentage. It's a good plan. Once Hardy is 70% IB or higher, it will give Latin, BASIS and perhaps Deal a run for their money.

However, the plan poses chicken-or-egg dilemma. The grass-roots campaign to boost IB enrollment that is underway is admirable and will eventually succeed. However, its seems unnecessarily drawn-out.

I've been lambasted for making this point before, but here it is: The fastest way to turn Hardy back into a neighborhood school is to cut it's enrollment significantly, e.g., 100 kids.

You're going to be lambasted again, and deservingly so. The self-serving "take care of my snowflake and screw the city in the process" of your POV is breath-taking.

Apparently this is tough for people like you to understand, but when the majority of DCPS's students are below grade level, then shutting off an escape valve (such as Hardy) is educational malpractice. If your snowflake is too good to share a school with the refugees, then:

A) move
B) go private
C) apply to the charters which are already better than Hardy anyway

but in any case:

for the love of your child SHUT UP and don't ever talk in public like you do on DCUM. You racist, douchebag prick.

Putting aside the incendiary, uncouth race-baiting for a moment, perhaps you should look at what else you wrote to explain the reluctance of so many parents in Hardy’s surrounding neighborhoods to send their kids to the school. You said that Hardy is an escape valve for some of the majority of DCPS students who are below grade level. What concerns prospective parents then, is that because Hardy is pretty small and so many kids are below grade level, significant educational resources need to go to bring those students (“refugees” as you describe them) closer to the level where they need to be. This probably comes at the expense of curricular programs, activities and other offerings that really challenge and enable children performing at and above grade level to advance further, as the best middle schools in the area provide in abundance. This may sound insensitive, but few parents want their children held back in this manner.

The last refuge of someone in DC who has no valid argument to make is to hurl the “racist” accusation. But if there’s an undertone anywhere it is when some current parents begrudgingly appear willing to welcome more in-bounds (presumably whiter) students, so long as Hardy’s culture (presumably majority OB, African-American, distinctly urban in character) remains, new parents don’t demand too much change and they open their wallets. That sounds a lot like the strained atmosphere when Michelle Rhee tried to make changes at Hardy several years ago.

You did not understand what the PP said. She said that Hardy is an escape valve for at grade level students who escape from schools where kids are not at grade level.
Please re -read her message.

No, the PP said "when the majority of DCPS's students are below grade level, then shutting off an escape valve (such as Hardy) is educational malpractice". The implication is that below grade level students will avail themselves of the escape valve just as readily as kids who are at grade level.

How could it be otherwise? Being at grade level is not a requirement for entering the OOB lottery. Do you think that the parents of kids who are below grade level are just not savvy enough to visit My School DC?

This is a very valid point. If Hardy is an escape valve from schools where a majority of students are learning below grade level, all things being equal in lottery admissions, then it's likely that a significant portion of Such students going to Hardy are below grade level.

[Anonymous]

^This is true. When we visited Hardy around 2010 it was clear that 6th grade students were at 4th or 5th grade feeder school levels. If there had been a track for on grade level students we would have considered it, but tracking is a no no around here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^This is true. When we visited Hardy around 2010 it was clear that 6th grade students were at 4th or 5th grade feeder school levels. If there had been a track for on grade level students we would have considered it, but tracking is a no no around here.

I am assuming the discussions of 2010 mean there is no new info on Hardy in 2014-2015 yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^This is true. When we visited Hardy around 2010 it was clear that 6th grade students were at 4th or 5th grade feeder school levels. If there had been a track for on grade level students we would have considered it, but tracking is a no no around here.

I am assuming the discussions of 2010 mean there is no new info on Hardy in 2014-2015 yet.

Of course, there is plenty of information. You can check the DCAS scores, which show that while the scores are not as high as at Deal, the majority of students are performing at grade level, and a significant cohort is performing above grade level.

Also, tracking is not a "no-no" at Hardy. It is happening (and has been happening for a while). Students are tracked in math, with some eighth graders taking geometry. And Hardy now has what are effectively honors courses in English and Social Studies, plus the SEM program which provides extra opportunities for the brightest kids.

See previous post in this thread about smart, prepared students doing very well at Hardy and going on to acceptance and success at DCPS magnets and prestigious privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^This is true. When we visited Hardy around 2010 it was clear that 6th grade students were at 4th or 5th grade feeder school levels. If there had been a track for on grade level students we would have considered it, but tracking is a no no around here.

I am assuming the discussions of 2010 mean there is no new info on Hardy in 2014-2015 yet.

Of course, there is plenty of information. You can check the DCAS scores, which show that while the scores are not as high as at Deal, the majority of students are performing at grade level, and a significant cohort is performing above grade level.

Also, tracking is not a "no-no" at Hardy. It is happening (and has been happening for a while). Students are tracked in math, with some eighth graders taking geometry. And Hardy now has what are effectively honors courses in English and Social Studies, plus the SEM program which provides extra opportunities for the brightest kids.

See previous post in this thread about smart, prepared students doing very well at Hardy and going on to acceptance and success at DCPS magnets and prestigious privates.

What are 'effectively honors courses'?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^This is true. When we visited Hardy around 2010 it was clear that 6th grade students were at 4th or 5th grade feeder school levels. If there had been a track for on grade level students we would have considered it, but tracking is a no no around here.

Yes, I'm sure that when you walked through the school during that 30 minute visit you were able to take a reading level for every 6th grade student and assess their math levels because you and your spouse are long-time educators and only need a few minutes to determine the levels of 100+ students. You were able to take a quick look at the activity the teacher was doing with students in the class and were able to match it up with all the activities you saw in the feeder schools to make your judgement. Thanks so much for this very helpful comment. It really adds depth and dimension to this conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^This is true. When we visited Hardy around 2010 it was clear that 6th grade students were at 4th or 5th grade feeder school levels. If there had been a track for on grade level students we would have considered it, but tracking is a no no around here.

Yes, I'm sure that when you walked through the school during that 30 minute visit you were able to take a reading level for every 6th grade student and assess their math levels because you and your spouse are long-time educators and only need a few minutes to determine the levels of 100+ students. You were able to take a quick look at the activity the teacher was doing with students in the class and were able to match it up with all the activities you saw in the feeder schools to make your judgement. Thanks so much for this very helpful comment. It really adds depth and dimension to this conversation.

You forgot to add that it was four years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^This is true. When we visited Hardy around 2010 it was clear that 6th grade students were at 4th or 5th grade feeder school levels. If there had been a track for on grade level students we would have considered it, but tracking is a no no around here.

Really, how was it "clear" to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^This is true. When we visited Hardy around 2010 it was clear that 6th grade students were at 4th or 5th grade feeder school levels. If there had been a track for on grade level students we would have considered it, but tracking is a no no around here.

Really, how was it "clear" to you?

^^ never mind, explained to my satisfaction by another poster -- that is -- it wasn't clear at all