So, what is wrong with Hardy?

[Anonymous]

I think more students will now stay for 5th grade but I am not sure this means that they will go to Hardy in larger numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think more students will now stay for 5th grade but I am not sure this means that they will go to Hardy in larger numbers.

Parent from 5th grade Hardy feeder here (not from Mann). PP is most certainly a parent of younger kids.

Only parents who have been through 4th and 5th grade (in a Hardy feeder ES) know the kind of peer pressure and anxiety cross-contamination that happens during 4th and then again 5th grade.

In 4th grade you get the vibes and anxiety from parents applying to independent schools and to Basis/Latin. In 5th grade, in addition to the same vibes from the application/lottery process, you get the vibes from the parents who are positive about Hardy. I can ensure you that their vibe can be very contagious...

Social peer pressure (at both kids and parents level) significantly affect school choice in Ward 2 and Ward 3. More parents postponing MS decisions to 5th grade will most certainly mean more parents will be in contact with peers heading to Hardy .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:25% of last year's Mann's 5th grade are at Hardy this year.

So Mann is already on board.

There you go!

6 kids?

A) Yes, 6 kids. But this is still 25% of last year's 5th grade cohort. What would you expect? From 0% to 100% ? I think that a jump from 0% to 25% after just one year of Ms Pride's era is a great success.

B) True that several students left the school after 4th grade. But when you talk to them (siblings are still at M.), you just realize that a good share of the families (which on average have $$ millions in wealth, just see the median price of houses in Wesley Heights and Spring Valley) left in 4th grade because parents we uncomfortable with the idea of one entire 5th grade year in a 20 x 20 feet trailer, with no toilet (toilet is actually inside the trailers, but kids do not use it because due to poor insulation and being nested inside such a small space, they say you hear and smell everything).

Everybody knows (and it's already been included in next year's programming) that just with the new building, the 5th grade retention will increase by more than 50%.

This is to say that exodus from Mann in 4th grade (cutting in half the school population) is only partially a brain drain for what were considered as "better" private/charter schools. It is also due to a significant "trailer drain" of families who do not see their kids spending one year in a claustrophobic trailer, where you get wet if you need to reach the main building to pee when it rains.

With two 5th grade classes, academic year 2016-2017 will see a larger than ever wave of Mann students to Hardy.

So your point is that Mann numbers are bound to go up because students who would not have been interested in Hardy are leaving Mann early because they are trailer-averse?

Almost . See also 16:19 (not me). Mann 5th grade numbers are bound to go up because trailer-averse families will stay. Among these families, some will end up considering Hardy, which they would have not had they left at the end of 4th grade.

[Anonymous]

Let me get this straight...

Some families have the money for private and leave because of trailers in 5th but will decide to stay and go to Hardy instead of private in 6th?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let me get this straight...

Some families have the money for private and leave because of trailers in 5th but will decide to stay and go to Hardy instead of private in 6th?

Let me get this straight....

Are you questioning the fact current and prospective Hardy families might have money to afford private schools?

Do you think that all families sending their kids, now and in the near future, to Hardy do not have the means to pay for private schools?

Have you ever talked to Hardy parents?

Let me suggest that you have a talk with the Hardy PTO President (contacts in the website) to get a better picture of the the who/why families are attending Hardy. It will help you understand the complexity and diversity of the school setting and its community. Much more than spending time in front of DCUM.

[Anonymous]

I'm questioning the suggestion that removing trailers at Mann will increase Hardy enrollment.

[Anonymous]

This is the problem... Most of the IB community think that if your kid goes to Hardy = you do not have money for private. And they do not want to be identified with that concept.

I am not at Hardy (yet) but I have first hand personal knowledge of several current Hardy families who could have afforded private school tuition, and chose Hardy as they were confident it is the best fit for their kids.

[Anonymous]

What is this thing of the trailers? Txs!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm questioning the suggestion that removing trailers at Mann will increase Hardy enrollment.

Not the PP. But I think it will, via the increased size of the 5th grade cohort.

I am at Stoddert and we are also projecting an increased flow into Hardy, following a newly added 5th grade class.

And yes, I also know several high SES families at Hardy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is this thing of the trailers? Txs!

PP thinks that only poor families can end up sending their kids there, and does not want to be associated with this poor community, and to make sure she is not, she's bashing the school, and confronting good sense arguments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is this thing of the trailers? Txs!

PP thinks that only poor families can end up sending their kids there, and does not want to be associated with this poor community, and to make sure she is not, she's bashing the school, and confronting good sense arguments.

By "good sense argument" you mean that fewer trailers at Mann means more kids at Hardy?

The private school crowd will leave after 5th rather than 4 th, so while the size of the Mann 5 th grade will increase, the % attending hardy will decrease.

[Anonymous]

There are two factors at play with demographics, and both are good for Hardy.

First, it is getting more and more difficult to get into Latin or Basis than it used to be because there are more applicants citywide. Ther cohort of 4th and 5th graders at the feeders is allso growing. For example, at Stoddert, there was one fifth grade this year. There will be two next year. And based on lower grades, soon there will be three fifth grades.

So there is a growing cohort of 4th and 5th graders - few of whom will get into Latin and Basis. Some of these people will obviously move or go private - but others will stay and go to Hardy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is this thing of the trailers? Txs!

PP thinks that only poor families can end up sending their kids there, and does not want to be associated with this poor community, and to make sure she is not, she's bashing the school, and confronting good sense arguments.

So trailers=poor people? (I.e.FARMs?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is this thing of the trailers? Txs!

PP thinks that only poor families can end up sending their kids there, and does not want to be associated with this poor community, and to make sure she is not, she's bashing the school, and confronting good sense arguments.

So trailers=poor people? (I.e.FARMs?)

Yes, at Mann they put the farm kid in the trailer.

[Anonymous]

That was a joke, by the way.

There aren't any farms kids at Mann.