BASIS DC to open in 2012-2013

[Anonymous]

There is a lot of "palpable energy" in the repeated posts condemning Basis for whatever it is that they think Basis "won't offer" despite the fact that:

a.) Basis DC hasn't yet opened and as such, they are making statements not grounded in fact,

b.) for the schools that Basis has opened, they DO have a history of offering many of the extracurricular activities that other poster(s) keep claiming it won't offer, and

c.) for those who have actually been engaging with Basis, we are indeed hearing that they WILL have many things to offer outside of the core academics.

It's fine to ask, wonder about and discuss what activities they will be offering, but it's not fine to cross the line to go out of one's way to put misleading and outright false information in these threads. That behavior tends to put into question motivation, suggesting there may be posters who have a vested interest in attacking Basis and sowing fear, uncertainty and doubt for whatever reason, be it they are involved in other schools that are losing students to Basis or are otherwise feeling some other threat that would be leading them to said dishonesty.

[Anonymous]

Dude, I have been to the meetings. Basis officials have made it crystal clear that the school will be first and foremost about the academics ( ala a European model ). They said that they are OPEN to clubs and sports but that those activities will be organized by a parent booster club. However, it does appear that art and music are offered as subjects during the day.

There is no question that basis dc will be a new sort of model of middle/high school. It will not look anything like Deal or other city middle school in terms of how they orgaanize and offer extracurriculars.

It is critical for the health of the school and its students that parents understand this going in.

[Anonymous]

Here's what they can understand about what's going on:

YES, Art and Music are part of the curriculum.

YES, PE is part of the curriculum

YES, there are plenty of extracurricular activities

Curriculum: https://www.basisschools.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=87&Itemid=98

Fine Arts: https://www.basisschools.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=231&Itemid=418

Extracurricular: https://www.basisschools.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=101&Itemid=118

Again, those are the facts, "dude" and if you really went to the meetings then you would know this - so can we now please finally dispense with the continued innuendo and misinformation about lack of roundedness or anything outside of the core curriculum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dude, I have been to the meetings. Basis officials have made it crystal clear that the school will be first and foremost about the academics ( ala a European model ). They said that they are open to clubs and sports but that those activities will be organized by a parent booster club. However, it does appear that art and music are offered as subjects during the day.

There is no question that basis dc will be a new sort of model of middle/high school. It will not look anything like Deal or other city middle school in terms of how they organize and offer extracurriculars.

It is critical for the health of the school and its students that parents understand this going in.

Dude - The Boosters (PTA) are going to help select the afterschool activities that are offered. But the process will be driven by the school’s Head of Operations and afterschool staffing is provided (paid) by the school itself. My impression is they ask parents for direction to increase buy-in, but the school is managing afterschool activities. And my conversations with parents from other BASIS schools leads me to believe the school is very serious (like everything they do) about providing first-rate afterschool programming.

Physical education and art are separate classes and will happen every day for all fifth and sixth graders. In seventh and beyond students pick an elective - art, P.E., drama and chorus are options. It’s pretty much a classic liberal art curriculum that's a little heavier on science. See the middle of this page: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/15/214149.page#2124979

The school's location, in my opinion, will make afterschool activities ripe with potential. I am looking forward to our children playing soccer on the National Mall. I am excited for my children to participate in theater clubs at the Shakespeare theater (and other venues). I am looking forward to my kids jogging around the monumental core.

And I agree the school has a European bent to it (Asian as well). And that's what we want BASIS to do, nail down the academics and help us create a well-rounded child. Our children will continue to participate in competitive skating, DC Youth Orchestra, traveling baseball team, study for Bar/Bat Mitzvah, volunteer at DC Central Kitchen, sail/kayak on the river, golf at East Potomac Park, chill with friends, etc . . . There is absolutely no danger of our kids being deprived of extracurriculars. BASIS will anchor the academics, provide a great peer group, and offer some strong after school programming. We can take it from there.

[Anonymous]

Dudes!

The Basis boosters sound a lot like the "Jefferson Academy" boosters. Interesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Sadly, things have changed that much and well-rounded is not what Basis is after. They are only about the test scores. All the test scores.


What is your evidence for saying that there aren't going to be activities? The Basis schools in Arizona have sports and other activities - Basis has a top-down model that they are following, with each Basis school following the same plan, and other posters in this thread have named activities that Basis will have. So how and why exactly are you arriving at this conclusion that it will not be the same in DC and that there will be no activities in the face of all the information out there?

I think you are just spreading FUD and I question your motives for making these kinds of statements.

Wow. You just got a little crazy with the assumptions, PP. I never said there weren't going to be activities. And your accusation about my spreading FUD is paranoid.

What I said, and in case you failed to hear it, is this.

Well-rounded is not what Basis is after. They are only about the test scores. All the test scores.

I get it. You are a Basis booster. No problem. Just try, next time, to actually read what I'm saying before channeling your inner rage monster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Wow. You just got a little crazy with the assumptions, PP. I never said there weren't going to be activities. And your accusation about my spreading FUD is paranoid.

What I said, and in case you failed to hear it, is this.

Well-rounded is not what Basis is after. They are only about the test scores. All the test scores.

I get it. You are a Basis booster. No problem. Just try, next time, to actually read what I'm saying before channeling your inner rage monster.

Assumption? No. There has been a string of misinformation trashing Basis, suggesting there is only core academics and drudge work, that it's not well-rounded, virtually no extracurricular activities, music, art, and no fun, students have no life - when the website and everything else suggests otherwise.

So we get it, you aren't sending your kid to Basis. Fine. But it raises the question of why one would keep coming back to these posts about Basis when you aren't sending your kid to Basis and evidently aren't interested in it?

It's one thing to think your child is not a good fit for Basis, and if that's the case, fine, good for you, find a school you like and move on. But repetetively posting misinformation and carrying on as though Basis has somehow wronged you and will wrong others (the REAL "rage monster" in these threads) makes little sense if that's all that's going on here.

So what other conclusion is one to draw from the repetitive trashing? Occam's razor would have it that you have a stake in another school.

[Anonymous]

Yup. Like Basis says it will "offer" three languages, but turns out they will require Latin but then if you want French, Spanish Chinese you have to show up an hour before school starts and pay extra for it. Betting it will be similar with the extracurricular clubs.

[Anonymous]

Quoting from an email:
I am pleased to announce that BASIS DC will offer two unprecedented second language learning opportunities next year. Our Heritage and Hermes programs will draw on Washington, DC's cosmopolitan character to give BASIS DC students a greater breadth and depth of language training than what is typically available.

For native speakers and other students fluent in Spanish, French or Mandarin Chinese, our Heritage program will resemble a conventional English writing and literature course. Students will explore great works of literature in their original language, and work towards developing college-level composition skills in their second language. To participate in the Heritage program, students must take an oral and written exam in order to demonstrate that they will be able to participate in class discussions and complete required assignments. The Heritage program will take place during our "0" period (starting at 7:35 and ending before 1st Period at 8:25) and will cost $600 per student for the year.

For students who are not yet fluent but want to learn or continue study of Spanish, French or Mandarin Chinese outside of normal class hours, our Hermes program will offer more basic second language instruction. This program aims to broaden students’ horizons for second language learning. Fifth and sixth graders in the Hermes program will be able to study Spanish, French or Mandarin, in addition to their regularly scheduled Latin classes, thus enabling them to get a head start on developing fluency in one of these languages later at BASIS. Seventh and eighth graders will be able to explore a second language option in addition to their core foreign language content. The Hermes program will meet two afternoons per week, from 3:50 until 5:20 PM and will cost $450 per student for the year.

Students will have to maintain adequate grades in their regular coursework as a condition of

[Anonymous]

Anonymous



Anonymous wrote:


Wow. You just got a little crazy with the assumptions, PP. I never said there weren't going to be activities. And your accusation about my spreading FUD is paranoid.

What I said, and in case you failed to hear it, is this.

Well-rounded is not what Basis is after. They are only about the test scores. All the test scores.

I get it. You are a Basis booster. No problem. Just try, next time, to actually read what I'm saying before channeling your inner rage monster.


Assumption? No. There has been a string of misinformation trashing Basis, suggesting there is only core academics and drudge work, that it's not well-rounded, virtually no extracurricular activities, music, art, and no fun, students have no life - when the website and everything else suggests otherwise.

So we get it, you aren't sending your kid to Basis. Fine. But it raises the question of why one would keep coming back to these posts about Basis when you aren't sending your kid to Basis and evidently aren't interested in it?

It's one thing to think your child is not a good fit for Basis, and if that's the case, fine, good for you, find a school you like and move on. But repetetively posting misinformation and carrying on as though Basis has somehow wronged you and will wrong others (the REAL "rage monster" in these threads) makes little sense if that's all that's going on here.

So what other conclusion is one to draw from the repetitive trashing? Occam's razor would have it that you have a stake in another school.

Well, the first conclusion to draw that on an anonymous message board, there are many people posting with various issues with BASIS. That isn't what you did. You quoted my single two line post about BASIS being focussed on test scores (hardly a controversial statement if you read their own promotional material) and you unleashed a lot of angry assumptions about what I never said. If you just wanted to rage at everybody who isn't on the BASIS bandwagon, have at it. But if you are going to quote me and accuse me of things I never said AND come back for a round two of accusations that do not relate at all to what I said, I'm going to have to set you right.

It's also a pretty good idea to avoid assuming you know where someone is sending their child and why they are reading any thread here.

[Anonymous]

PP, it's pretty easy to hide behind anonymity. Maybe it's one person or one post, but maybe it's many. One can't know for sure, but I've also noted that there certainly seems to be a concerted theme and tone to the anti-Basis postings, as the "accusatory" poster noted. Perhaps the accusations were over the top, but it does make one wonder.

The "accusatory" poster raised a valid point - if you aren't interested in Basis and aren't sending your child there then why such strong interest in trashing Basis or Basis parents and boosters? Like she or he said, it simply doesn't make sense.

Normal folks just make their informed decision and move on with it. Is it really necessary to insult parents for choosing to send their children to Basis (or any other school for that matter)? I think not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, it's pretty easy to hide behind anonymity. Maybe it's one person or one post, but maybe it's many. One can't know for sure, but I've also noted that there certainly seems to be a concerted theme and tone to the anti-Basis postings, as the "accusatory" poster noted. Perhaps the accusations were over the top, but it does make one wonder.

The "accusatory" poster raised a valid point - if you aren't interested in Basis and aren't sending your child there then why such strong interest in trashing Basis or Basis parents and boosters? Like she or he said, it simply doesn't make sense.

Normal folks just make their informed decision and move on with it. Is it really necessary to insult parents for choosing to send their children to Basis (or any other school for that matter)? I think not.

+1

BASIS has been running their informational sessions, they have a lot of material online about curriculum and activities, and for their Arizona schools there are reviews online as well as lots of other information available, no need for these alarmist "this is critical information that parents need to know" or the other innuendos and misinformation about activities and curriculum. As for "they only care about test scores" and so on, I've never heard anyone from BASIS say that test scores are any kind of major objective, nor have I seen any BASIS materials that say that. Do they tout their rankings? Sure. Any school that got their rankings would do the same. But does that automatically mean they only care about test scores? No, and making that leap is over the top and without merit.

Some parents have their reasons for wanting to send their student to BASIS, some parents have their reasons for sending their children elsewhere. No need to insult parents' intelligence on whether or not they are informed on BASIS vs. other schools, or why they would be motivated to send their student to BASIS vs. elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

PP, it's pretty easy to hide behind anonymity. Maybe it's one person or one post, but maybe it's many. One can't know for sure, but I've also noted that there certainly seems to be a concerted theme and tone to the anti-Basis postings, as the "accusatory" poster noted. Perhaps the accusations were over the top, but it does make one wonder.

The "accusatory" poster raised a valid point - if you aren't interested in Basis and aren't sending your child there then why such strong interest in trashing Basis or Basis parents and boosters? Like she or he said, it simply doesn't make sense.

Normal folks just make their informed decision and move on with it. Is it really necessary to insult parents for choosing to send their children to Basis (or any other school for that matter)? I think not.

You really don't get it.

There are a lot of people who are interested in Basis and care about Basis. Several posters, as evident on this very thread, have valid concerns that Basis is not considering what makes the school system in DC different than in Tucson. Several people want to discuss those concerns. Several other people want Basis threads that ignore those concerns and extoll the excellence that they think Basis is...before it even opens.

No, the accusatory poster doesn't have a valid point. Further, I can't find any posts that insults parents for choosing Basis, although I see many that question whether Basis is promising these parents something it cannot deliver.

The accusatory poster wants to shut down anyone who doesn't agree with her.


Sorry, she doesn't get to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
You really don't get it.

There are a lot of people who are interested in Basis and care about Basis. Several posters, as evident on this very thread, have valid concerns that Basis is not considering what makes the school system in DC different than in Tucson. Several people want to discuss those concerns. Several other people want Basis threads that ignore those concerns and extoll the excellence that they think Basis is...before it even opens.

No, the accusatory poster doesn't have a valid point. Further, I can't find any posts that insults parents for choosing Basis, although I see many that question whether Basis is promising these parents something it cannot deliver.

The accusatory poster wants to shut down anyone who doesn't agree with her.


Sorry, she doesn't get to do that.

Well, rather than wrongly being accused of ignoring it, let's talk about it, shall we?

Tucson has been repeatedly portrayed as though it were some wealthy dream demographic.

The fact is, the demographic in Tucson and the other Basis locations are far from perfect.

Tucson and DC make an interesting case study for comparison, since they are nearly the same population, though Tucson is a bit more spread-out, lower population density. DC has 598,391, Tucson has 545,166.

DC does not even remotely have anywhere near the hispanic and non-native English speaking population that Tucson does - Tucson is nearly half hispanic, with a great many for whom Spanish is their primary language. Tucson has more divorcees and single parents than DC does. Tucson has a greater percentage of school-age children, and larger households, but a smaller percentage of working-age adults, and a greater percentage of elderly than DC does. As such, Tucson has more mouths to feed and less to go around coming from the working populace. Median household income for Tucson: $35,565, Median household income for DC is $58,526.

In terms of costs, about the only big thing that stands out is that housing costs are about twice as much in DC as Tucson (but then again, DC salaries are typically double what Tucson salaries are). All other cost-of-living aspects are generally equal, groceries and utilities are slightly higher in DC, but healthcare and other goods and services are slightly higher in Tucson.

More violent crime in DC, commensurate with their respective population densities, but Tucson is by no means not without a significant amount of violent crime and in fact has more burglaries and other types of crimes than DC does. Poverty rates are similar between both cities, 18-20%, but unemployment rates are higher in Tucson.

So no, DC is not Tucson, but in many ways DC actually has more going for it than Tucson does, and so much for that fantasy demographic that the other poster seems to have stuck in his or her head.

So now it's been discussed (and, I believe it's been discussed in the past in other threads as well), so now you can't keep accusing others of ignoring it.

As for the insults, for one, it was an insult of parents' intelligence to assume we don't know or can't understand what the difference between Tucson and DC are. It could just be that some of us parents may in fact have lived in the southwest and know Tucson and know what kinds of problems and issues they contend with in the schools there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yup. Like Basis says it will "offer" three languages, but turns out they will require Latin but then if you want French, Spanish Chinese you have to show up an hour before school starts and pay extra for it. Betting it will be similar with the extracurricular clubs.

Quoting from an email:
I am pleased to announce that BASIS DC will offer two unprecedented second language learning opportunities next year. Our Heritage and Hermes programs will draw on Washington, DC's cosmopolitan character to give BASIS DC students a greater breadth and depth of language training than what is typically available.

For native speakers and other students fluent in Spanish, French or Mandarin Chinese, our Heritage program will resemble a conventional English writing and literature course. Students will explore great works of literature in their original language, and work towards developing college-level composition skills in their second language. To participate in the Heritage program, students must take an oral and written exam in order to demonstrate that they will be able to participate in class discussions and complete required assignments. The Heritage program will take place during our "0" period (starting at 7:35 and ending before 1st Period at 8:25) and will cost $600 per student for the year.

For students who are not yet fluent but want to learn or continue study of Spanish, French or Mandarin Chinese outside of normal class hours, our Hermes program will offer more basic second language instruction. This program aims to broaden students’ horizons for second language learning. Fifth and sixth graders in the Hermes program will be able to study Spanish, French or Mandarin, in addition to their regularly scheduled Latin classes, thus enabling them to get a head start on developing fluency in one of these languages later at BASIS. Seventh and eighth graders will be able to explore a second language option in addition to their core foreign language content. The Hermes program will meet two afternoons per week, from 3:50 until 5:20 PM and will cost $450 per student for the year.

Students will have to maintain adequate grades in their regular coursework as a condition of


To clarify, the school will have Latin for 5 and 6 grade. Then you can stay in Latin til 12 or pick a different Language (i.e. French, Spanish) in 7th grade to stay with until 12th grade. Some parents were not happy adn wanted to do non Latin languages in 5th and 6th. others are native speakers at home and wanted to have the option for more than one language. That is what the quoted email refers to.

To the original "Yup. Like Basis says it will "offer" three languages..." post, its not a bait and switch its Basis responding to parent interest and concern and trying to meet their needs by adding options. The original Language curriculum available at eh Basisdc website still stands and is of course free.