BASIS DC will seek to expand to include K to 4th grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What makes BASIS think their proposal will be approved when it was rejected last time?

Maybe because they are the highest performing charter in the city according to the agency that authorized them which is the same agency that will need to approve the expansion? That agency (public charter school board) looks mostly at performance and demand. Basis has both.

So why did BASIS withdraw their application last time?

Demand for 5th grade is not the same thing as demand for elementary school and you know it.

I'm answering the question above about why the school might think the proposal would be approved. I only know a little of the situation the last time -- mostly from seeing the PCSB's early deliberation. I don't think the issue was one of demand but was more about perceived equity and concerns with enrollment/retention patterns. I don't know if that still remains a persistent concern of the PCSB today as the board membership has changed quite a bit from the members who raised a lot of equity concerns.

https://parentshaveschoolchoicekidswin.com/2016/10/18/basis-pcs-seeks-to-expand/
https://parentshaveschoolchoicekidswin.com/2019/02/19/basis-dc-pcs-should-become-a-private-school/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just catching up — would the new elementary school definitely have feeder rights to the junior high/high school?

Yes. They said their initial plan is 80 feeder seats per grade.

It would be great for Hill MSs and upper elementary if BASIS MS started at 6th grade, and if the number of seats available at MS goes down. If Latin started at 6th it would be even better!

There is no talk of changing the entry year to 6th. BASIS believes they need to get kids earlier because nobody else can prepare kids for BASIS.

You are correct that this will make it very difficult for Hill families to lottery into BASIS if they want to stay at their elementary school through 4th.

It is almost as if BASIS isn't focused only on Capitol Hill. The nerve!!!!

CH has been BASIS DC's bread and butter from the get go. More 4th graders from our CH DCPS ES school leave for BASIS than 5th graders leave for DCPS middle schools. Posters aren't wrong in predicting that a K-4th expansion would most impact CH families, and that political support won't necessarily be there for BASIS to pull the expansion off. The DCPCSB is indeed buffeted by political headwinds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What makes BASIS think their proposal will be approved when it was rejected last time?

This is why they are campaigning so hard for parent support.

By reaching out to current parents stuck in an awful building and telling them that great things about a building their kids will likely never get to use??

[Anonymous]

What else are BASIS board members and admins going to do? Tell current parents nothing? Tell them that their views on the expansion don't matter? I don't get why they're bothering with community meetings. Without PTAs, BASIS parents have never had much input. The arrangement has been de rigueur since the 90s at the AZ campuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What makes BASIS think their proposal will be approved when it was rejected last time?

This is why they are campaigning so hard for parent support.

By reaching out to current parents stuck in an awful building and telling them that great things about a building their kids will likely never get to use??

Parents who chose to send their children to learn in said building when they could have enrolled them in a DC public MS, and HS, housed in a good building. I get that your alternatives to BASIS in the public system don't appeal to you, which isn't the franchise's problem. It's a political problem that won't be solved during your children's tenure in DC public schools. No current parents are stuck in the awful building. They could move their families to the burbs this very summer, go private or enroll in their IB DCPS schools to access good buildings.

[Anonymous]

True enough. If you want a voice in conversations about the quality of public school buildings you can’t stay at BASIS.

[Anonymous]

I'm a current parent of two BASIS students, both of whom will be in high school by the time the BASIS elementary opens.

I don't want a town hall on how wonderful this new school will be. I really don't care.

I really just want reassurance that this won't impact my kids, including by diverting human and financial resources away from attracting quality high school teachers and supporting my kids in high school.

Frankly, BASIS' overall prestige will depend more on how it supports MY kids in high school, as demonstrated by their test scores and college admissions, than on anything else BASIS does. And the success of the elementary school will also depend on that, since the main reason Capitol Hill and others families will enroll is to secure a spot in a school with a strong high school path.

In the meanwhile, BASIS admins, please don't waste my time by hosting some happy, cheery kindergarten teacher from Arizona on a town hall to talk about how wonderful her classroom is. Again, I don't care.

[Anonymous]

I so agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a current parent of two BASIS students, both of whom will be in high school by the time the BASIS elementary opens.

I don't want a town hall on how wonderful this new school will be. I really don't care.

I really just want reassurance that this won't impact my kids, including by diverting human and financial resources away from attracting quality high school teachers and supporting my kids in high school.

Frankly, BASIS' overall prestige will depend more on how it supports MY kids in high school, as demonstrated by their test scores and college admissions, than on anything else BASIS does. And the success of the elementary school will also depend on that, since the main reason Capitol Hill and others families will enroll is to secure a spot in a school with a strong high school path.

In the meanwhile, BASIS admins, please don't waste my time by hosting some happy, cheery kindergarten teacher from Arizona on a town hall to talk about how wonderful her classroom is. Again, I don't care.

BASIS clearly doesn't care that you don't care. Don't attend any more of their town hall meetings then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a current parent of two BASIS students, both of whom will be in high school by the time the BASIS elementary opens.

I don't want a town hall on how wonderful this new school will be. I really don't care.

I really just want reassurance that this won't impact my kids, including by diverting human and financial resources away from attracting quality high school teachers and supporting my kids in high school.

Frankly, BASIS' overall prestige will depend more on how it supports MY kids in high school, as demonstrated by their test scores and college admissions, than on anything else BASIS does. And the success of the elementary school will also depend on that, since the main reason Capitol Hill and others families will enroll is to secure a spot in a school with a strong high school path.

In the meanwhile, BASIS admins, please don't waste my time by hosting some happy, cheery kindergarten teacher from Arizona on a town hall to talk about how wonderful her classroom is. Again, I don't care.

You can’t figure out that you should just skip it? I promise you my Basis kids would know not to waste their time like you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a current parent of two BASIS students, both of whom will be in high school by the time the BASIS elementary opens.

I don't want a town hall on how wonderful this new school will be. I really don't care.

I really just want reassurance that this won't impact my kids, including by diverting human and financial resources away from attracting quality high school teachers and supporting my kids in high school.

Frankly, BASIS' overall prestige will depend more on how it supports MY kids in high school, as demonstrated by their test scores and college admissions, than on anything else BASIS does. And the success of the elementary school will also depend on that, since the main reason Capitol Hill and others families will enroll is to secure a spot in a school with a strong high school path.

In the meanwhile, BASIS admins, please don't waste my time by hosting some happy, cheery kindergarten teacher from Arizona on a town hall to talk about how wonderful her classroom is. Again, I don't care.

I agree with you totally. They didn't take the time to think of what audience they were inviting and speaking to. Most families at BASIS would want to know the impact and opportunities for their own kids but few if any BASIS families have kids in 5-12 AND kids who will be rising Kers in 2 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a current parent of two BASIS students, both of whom will be in high school by the time the BASIS elementary opens.

I don't want a town hall on how wonderful this new school will be. I really don't care.

I really just want reassurance that this won't impact my kids, including by diverting human and financial resources away from attracting quality high school teachers and supporting my kids in high school.

Frankly, BASIS' overall prestige will depend more on how it supports MY kids in high school, as demonstrated by their test scores and college admissions, than on anything else BASIS does. And the success of the elementary school will also depend on that, since the main reason Capitol Hill and others families will enroll is to secure a spot in a school with a strong high school path.

In the meanwhile, BASIS admins, please don't waste my time by hosting some happy, cheery kindergarten teacher from Arizona on a town hall to talk about how wonderful her classroom is. Again, I don't care.

You can’t figure out that you should just skip it? I promise you my Basis kids would know not to waste their time like you are.

No. PP doesn't spend as much time with Mr. R**e as your kids do and isn't as jaded about his ability to realize that if you invite all parents of a middle and hogh school, those parents will expect you to give them information pertaining to their interests, not yours.

[Anonymous]

Great news!

We need more options on the Hill.

[Anonymous]

Many parents tend to spend more energy In strategizing and commuting to proof that they are so wise and on top of their game, instead of keeping kids in local school and actually spending times and resources on making kid's personal and educational experience improve.

[Anonymous]

Elementary school kids need more time to relax and play and more parental involvement for personal and academic growth rather than commuting to charter schools.