Is Brent the best school in Capitol hill?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: My point isn't to disparage the above ES programs. There's a lot of shared angst from Hill families about MS prospects. Charters, private schools and moving have been the prefered 5th grade options for Hill families. If you like your DCPS ES but not MS options on the Hill (or most anywhere in DCPS), you'd have to have your head in the sand to feel at least some angst. You can hear some of the same angst on this board about Deal, and my WoPP friends are still on the fence about Deal for their ES kids.

This is true. Deal isn't everybody's cup of tea, too crowded and crazy, not enough challenge for all. Neither is Latin or Basis.

What I see happening at Brent, although it isn't PC to mention it, is that a new generation of more affluent and less liberal parents is arriving with a somewhat different agenda than those who committed themselves to turning the school around 6 or 7 years ago.

The new group is less inclined to embrace socioeconomic diversity for its own sake (including AA parents who want their kids in mostly white schools). These parents are the types who might have headed to NW or the burbs until very recently, but are willing to give DCPS a try, at least for ES. They're less tolerant of the DCPS status quo and afraid of being accused of racism for insisting on challenge for their children than the first group. You're starting to see the generations clash on the PTA, albeit politely. And you're already hearing angst about the weak MS feeder and charters that invariably cater to low-SES families from the parents of toddlers. The new generation isn't going anywhere so, love 'em or hate 'em, the Hill needs to accomodate these guys.

[Anonymous]

@12:57, if you can remember when and you're find it perfectly ok, then considered yourself hoodwinked. That statement made above, is alright because, it is apparent that there are those who vote more with their feet. Which is alright with many of us...move-up and move-on. You substantiated my point, let the whites fight for all the in-testing schools they want as I stated before there are not enough whites to make a school substantial. Small schools don't survive and that is a proven fact. So, I tell you this, as you well may have heard before, be careful for what you ask for, because you just might get it. And I will be right there to use-it, abuse-it or whatever tickles my fancy.

I can't wait til we get a white mayor, council-chair and chancellor/superintendent because there's nothing like guilt-ridden people who think they are making it ALL better for us AAs.

I feel like Sammy Davis Jr., at this moment hugging Richard Nixon.

[Anonymous]

I am curious to see if a bunch of white folks can screw things up as badly as the AA leaders in the city have -- I give it 50/50 odds.

Back to the topic -- it's not only Brent with the 5th grade flight. There have been higher SES families on the Hill quietly working our way through DCPS for years, and we've been happy to keep our kids in diverse schools. The new feeder pattern for S-H has drastically changed the MS situation. (Brent parents shouldn't fight to hard too hard for it -- it isn't that great and will be going downhill for at least the next few years, regarless of the new facilities.) Makes us willing to try the charters, though some of us are holding our noses as we do it.

[Anonymous]

Most 4th and 5th grade AA kids at Brent in 2011-12 are not returning to Brent for 2012-13. None are enrolling in Jefferson or Eliot Hine. A handful got spots in SH and Hardy. Two families are going to Watkins for the SH feed. Most AAs from Brent are going to SH, Hardy or Basis.

[Anonymous]

Are the ward 6 principals going to look around on August 27 and wonder what happened? How about when they get back the first DCCAS scores from the 4th and 5th grades? THEN will someone light a fire under SH and EH or will they be content to be holding pens with uniforms and IEPs for all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The new group is less inclined to embrace socioeconomic diversity for its own sake (including AA parents who want their kids in mostly white schools). These parents are the types who might have headed to NW or the burbs until very recently, but are willing to give DCPS a try, at least for ES. They're less tolerant of the DCPS status quo and afraid of being accused of racism for insisting on challenge for their children than the first group. You're starting to see the generations clash on the PTA, albeit politely. And you're already hearing angst about the weak MS feeder and charters that invariably cater to low-SES families from the parents of toddlers. The new generation isn't going anywhere so, love 'em or hate 'em, the Hill needs to accomodate these guys.

I can't help but agree with this astute observation. You do see a new breed of "elite" Janney-type parent emerging at Brent, the sort of person who isn't necessarily saying "Brent for the Hill" as "Brent for our upscale corner, and if that helps some poor kids, fantastic.".

Ironically, these folks aren't necessarily going to be challenging the status quo on the MS front (whether DCPS or charter) because many can afford privates, and are OK with them philosophically. This is particularly true of parents of boys, since both St. Anselms and Gonzaga are close, v. good, and run families $10,000 less than most of the non-sectarian independents in NW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are the ward 6 principals going to look around on August 27 and wonder what happened? How about when they get back the first DCCAS scores from the 4th and 5th grades? THEN will someone light a fire under SH and EH or will they be content to be holding pens with uniforms and IEPs for all?

What do mean, DC-CAS scores for 4th at Brent shooting up because of the new middle-class, all-the-way-up-from-preschool cohort? Relevance?

As long as Gray and Henderson are on board, no SH feeder for Brent, and very few Brent families to EH or Jefferson. These guys/gals don't give a damn.

[Anonymous]

Correction -- FIFTH grade DCCAS scores only.

[Anonymous]

15:25, hence that's my point. Let the guilt begin, we can acknowledge that we screwed up and therefore come all ye white folks and do your damage control. Rally, the troops motivate, the Birkenstock brigade and let's get the ball rolling. See when it is all black it becomes historically educational but when it is all white it becomes exclusive. Also, when whites let blacks in all of sudden it is diverse but when blacks let whites in, it is all about the money. I got it. Go head, wit your white selves... I feel ya. Shake your groove thang, baaaaaaabay!!!

[Anonymous]

1700, I've never met Cherita Whiting, but I always imagine this is the way she would talk. Are you Cherita by any chance?

[Anonymous]

Some of the most affluent parents in the Brent community are now AA.

I don't get the relevance of the 5th grade DC-CAS scores. Almost all OOB kids tested for one last year and everybody knows that they're phasing out. Within two or three years, OOB kids will be few and far between and the school will likely have just one 5th grade class. Every IB family won't flee 5th forever. Some won't be able to lottery in to Latin or Basis, or will stay for 5th for other reasons (moving on to middle schools in the burbs, privates, OOB DCPS, whatever).

[Anonymous]

OP, to answer your original question - and let's all be honest here -- YES!

I would venture to say that more high SES kids are staying at Brent longer than at any other school on the Hill. Whether that means that high SES kids will actually stay through fifth over the next few years, who knows. The difficulty, of course, is that though Brent is excellent, the high SES parents worry about MS (not to say that low SES parents do not, they simply do not have $$ for other options). And, there is no good MS public option available on the Hill. Period. No high SES parent that I know (and that is my cohort) would ever consider SH, much less Eliot Hine or Jefferson. So, you need to start jockeying for position in whatever charter/private school you want, earlier than fifth (to avoid being shut out).

I am already worried about entry years at CHDS for my PS kid. I'd love to stay at Brent as long as possible, but know how long I can risk being shut out of CHDS.

Not in this lifetime would I EVER send my child to any of the public MS options on the Hill.

[Anonymous]

^^^This is an interesting demonstration of the divide in attitude mentioned by a previous poster between many of the parents who have been active at Brent for the last 6-7 years and many of those who are entering pre school now.

Parents who started out years ago were absolutely ready to jump into a neighborhood middle school. In fact, they were eager and fired up about the possibility. There were numerous discussions with Rhee et al about how that might look and what would need to be in place to make that happen.

DCPS had a moment to capture the enthusiasm and dropped the ball with the pathetic Ward 6 Middle School Plan. Now we are all headed charter and the next wave of parents will not be nearly as easy to woo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^This is an interesting demonstration of the divide in attitude mentioned by a previous poster between many of the parents who have been active at Brent for the last 6-7 years and many of those who are entering pre school now.

Parents who started out years ago were absolutely ready to jump into a neighborhood middle school. In fact, they were eager and fired up about the possibility. There were numerous discussions with Rhee et al about how that might look and what would need to be in place to make that happen.

DCPS had a moment to capture the enthusiasm and dropped the ball with the pathetic Ward 6 Middle School Plan. Now we are all headed charter and the next wave of parents will not be nearly as easy to woo.

This is a good point, once bitten, twice shy. The preS parents know that the "older generation" knocked itself out to work with DCPS on a temporary Brent MS plan in 2009-2010 and not only got nowhere after a lot of hard work, but opened itself up to ugly accusations of racism and elitism. And yes, few high SES Brent parents like what they see at S-H, even if they keep this to themselves at PTA meetings. Simply not nearly enough challenge, good teaching, or orderliness there. See the long, recent S-H thread to learn more.

Although the enthusiasm for neighborhood middle schools has all but vanished, you're probably going to get high-SES families into 5th within two or three years. Unless DCPS forces Brent to let weak students lottery into 5th, families who came up from preschool will be more like to stay, perhaps for just one 5th grade class, for a variety of reasons.

For example, we might be interested in the new DC International School (DCI) MS opening up at Walter Reed in 2014, if the Yu Ying administrators and parents get their way, and that school won't start until 6th. Most of the DCI spots will be lottery. We might also be interested in the Two Rivers MS, which hasn't been all that difficult to lottery into for 6th. And there will almost certainly be new charters opening, and some many not start until 6th either. We may even get a new Hill charter MS with proximity preference.

[Anonymous]

The Maury PTA parents of rising 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders I talk to sound more interested in getting involved at E-H than the Brent parents. But then the high SES kids at Maury are, on average, younger, than at Brent, and that group of parents hasn't been burned yet.

I expect that the "open-minded" Maury parents will get turned off, too, eventually. With E-H 85% FARMS kids, and resistdance to test-in programs remaining strong at DCPS, Tommy Wells' office, and presumably among E-H parents, Brent and Maury are simply a bad fit for E-H.

The E-H facilities and grounds are nice enough, but the demographics and location don't bode well for the parents at either school. High SES Maury parents tend to say "Oh, sure, I'm open to E-H" to go along to get along, not wanting to offend anybody, when, privately, they aren't planning to enroll their kids, not in two years, or five years. Hell, no.