SELA! Hebrew immersion charter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If teaching Hebrew makes Sela a "Jewish" school, then apparently the exact same logic would make any school that teaches Spanish a "Catholic" school, since most people who speak Spanish are Catholic.

Faulty logic.

Oh wow, the real faulty logic here is clearly yours. Spanish has not been kept alive by Catholicsm--you might have had a point if you had said Latin. Might.

The Hebrew language only exists today because of Judaism, and spoken Hebrew was 'reborn' in the 20th century.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know, why Hebrew? As languages go, it's definitely among the less useful choices out there. It's not as if DC is chock-a-block with immersion schools and they're running out of language options.

There is a demand from many families for Hebrew immersions for their children. Many families, enough to start a charter school, believe Hebrew is a valuable language for their children to learn.

That statement sounds anecdotal, not fact based.

So "Many families, enough to start a charter school" is not proven by the fact that they have, in fact, started a charter school?

What further proof do you need?

HELLO!

Hello.

The "if you build it, they will come" school of thought? The fact that DCPS suck, so any charter school is better than the local option? It doesn't mean (as demonstrated by some of the PPs) that they would have selected or requested Hebrew. Why not French? Japanese? German? Russian? Arabic? All of them are more widely spoken.

[Anonymous]

I'm neither a cheerleader or hater here; in fact, I'm on the fence about whether I'd send my child (and we are Jewish and do value Hebrew learning since DC will have to learn it eventually). My hang-up has more to do with the location, which is geographically undesirable for us, and the lack of a track record being a brand new school.

Two things I learned at the forum: (1) They estimate only ~10% of the student body will be Jewish. (I don't know how they arrived at that number); and, (2) they are planning for class sizes of 25 children, which struck me as large for a charter school, particularly for pre-k. (I'd expect that at a popular DCPS with lots of IB kids, but a new charter?)

And an observation - the free before and after-care may be a draw for some families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm neither a cheerleader or hater here; in fact, I'm on the fence about whether I'd send my child (and we are Jewish and do value Hebrew learning since DC will have to learn it eventually). My hang-up has more to do with the location, which is geographically undesirable for us, and the lack of a track record being a brand new school.

Two things I learned at the forum: (1) They estimate only ~10% of the student body will be Jewish. (I don't know how they arrived at that number); and, (2) they are planning for class sizes of 25 children, which struck me as large for a charter school, particularly for pre-k. (I'd expect that at a popular DCPS with lots of IB kids, but a new charter?)

And an observation - the free before and after-care may be a draw for some families.

It will be really interesting to see if they fill their classes to that level and 90% of the students are not Jewish. And yes, the free before/after care will be a HUGE draw, but how long will they sustain that? What happens when they don't continue it, or it's just for PS-3 or PK-4? Will non-Jewish parents stay? Remains to be seen....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm neither a cheerleader or hater here; in fact, I'm on the fence about whether I'd send my child (and we are Jewish and do value Hebrew learning since DC will have to learn it eventually). My hang-up has more to do with the location, which is geographically undesirable for us, and the lack of a track record being a brand new school.

Two things I learned at the forum: (1) They estimate only ~10% of the student body will be Jewish. (I don't know how they arrived at that number); and, (2) they are planning for class sizes of 25 children, which struck me as large for a charter school, particularly for pre-k. (I'd expect that at a popular DCPS with lots of IB kids, but a new charter?)

And an observation - the free before and after-care may be a draw for some families.

Really 25 kid class size for an immersion school? Too big even for only English.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody would send their kid there unless they are jewish or the other school option is bad academically. hebrew is almost useless unless you are jewish. I've never met a non-jewish child who studied hebrew. Maybe some theologians do, but that would be in their college years I am guessing or even later.

Actually, I am not jewish and if my child was in the correct age bracktr (he is much older) I would definitely consider Sela due to the benefits of immersion. Before we relocated, jewish day schools were on my list of considerations as schooling options for ds. Many Jewish students attended the catholic school I attended so why not the other way around? I think if a school offers a good curricula and a good environment, then why not consider it.

More power to the Jewish day schools (and to the Catholic schools). Religious-affiliated private schools are a great option for believers (and those of other belief) who value the education and faith-based grounding. However, SELA is not supposed to be a Jewish school. It is a publicly fiunded DC charter school that will teach Hebrew. If it teaches the cultural context of the language, it will have to observe very carefully the religiion/state separation. When Washington Latin was founded and initially headed by a Congregational minister who didn't understand the separation, Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a complaint against the school. (Rev. Ahlstrom was forced out several years ago for various reasons, and under its current leadership WL has had no 'establishment' issues.) I trust that Americans United and similar groups will be vigilant in the case of SELA as well.

Great point. Also, many people seem a bit misinformed about "the benefits of immersion." There are measurable cognitive benefits derived from speaking more than one language, but the key driver is not "immersion" per se, but sustained practice over time. Meaning, immersing our kids in a language they are not likely to use is pretty much a waste of time and attention, compared to devoting same effort to other languages or educational priorities.

My experience has been once you know a language, you use it. You seek it out either in cultural activities or work opportunities. So there's no reason to think that if a kid learns Mandarin or Hebrew or Swedish or whatever that they won't keep up with it later in life. A nice thing about being a parent, is that you never know what your kid will bond with or gravitate to as they grow up.

My DD is being immersed in Spanish, which I guess will soon put her in the majority as non-Spanish speakers will soon be the minority in this country. Hebrew or Mandarin speakers? Maybe 1% of the country speak either fluently? I just find hebrew a complete waste of time/resources unless someone is jewish or moving to Israel or something like that.

+100. Good news is, if some crazies out there (note: excluding Jewish/ Israel links) prefer Hebrew over Spanish or Mandarin, that's their god-given right...and it makes it easier for the rest of us to provide for our kids' future. Go Sela!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm neither a cheerleader or hater here; in fact, I'm on the fence about whether I'd send my child (and we are Jewish and do value Hebrew learning since DC will have to learn it eventually). My hang-up has more to do with the location, which is geographically undesirable for us, and the lack of a track record being a brand new school.

Two things I learned at the forum: (1) They estimate only ~10% of the student body will be Jewish. (I don't know how they arrived at that number); and, (2) they are planning for class sizes of 25 children, which struck me as large for a charter school, particularly for pre-k. (I'd expect that at a popular DCPS with lots of IB kids, but a new charter?)

And an observation - the free before and after-care may be a draw for some families.

Really 25 kid class size for an immersion school? Too big even for only English.

I don't think that is accurate. I asked at the MOTH event and was told that the school would begin with about 120 students, with two sections of each grade. Although, it may be that they are going to over-enroll because of the September shuffle (been there with my current charter, we all know there is some movement before Count). They also said several times that the school would be entirely secular and that they had a very diverse applicant pool thus far. It makes sense, there aren't that many Jewish families in DC proper, though there are a lot in Ward 4, so maybe the location is genius for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Great point. Also, many people seem a bit misinformed about "the benefits of immersion." There are measurable cognitive benefits derived from speaking more than one language, but the key driver is not "immersion" per se, but sustained practice over time. Meaning, immersing our kids in a language they are not likely to use is pretty much a waste of time and attention, compared to devoting same effort to other languages or educational priorities.

IMO I think immersing a child in a language, even a lesser spoke language, is not a waste of time since such activity is likely to increase a child's brain power. My family member learned German via immersion as a child and is hence fluent in English and German and his brain power is quite good too!

Did you notice the "compared to..." part?

[Anonymous]

None of you will get in to YY, MV, LAMB, Stokes, etc. and don't want your kids mingling with kids at D.C. Bilingual...so hate on Sela or form your own charter, and then when you end up in some cramped church basement - you will remember all of the criticism waged at Sela (or YY, or Basis, or Latin, or whomever your bashing for kicks these days) and wish you'd been a little bit kinder...Witness the bashing of MV for getting itself a new space...not green enough, whine whine. Get over yourselves!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If teaching Hebrew makes Sela a "Jewish" school, then apparently the exact same logic would make any school that teaches Spanish a "Catholic" school, since most people who speak Spanish are Catholic.

Faulty logic.

Wow, the logic of Sela boosters is getting scary. Can you please tell us...
- How many languages are spoken in predominantly Catholic countries? (I can think of at least 10)
- How many languages are spoken in predominantly Jewish countries? (thinking thinking thinking...)

I thought so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of you will get in to YY, MV, LAMB, Stokes, etc. and don't want your kids mingling with kids at D.C. Bilingual...so hate on Sela or form your own charter, and then when you end up in some cramped church basement - you will remember all of the criticism waged at Sela (or YY, or Basis, or Latin, or whomever your bashing for kicks these days) and wish you'd been a little bit kinder...Witness the bashing of MV for getting itself a new space...not green enough, whine whine. Get over yourselves!

Soooo true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of you will get in to YY, MV, LAMB, Stokes, etc. and don't want your kids mingling with kids at D.C. Bilingual...so hate on Sela or form your own charter, and then when you end up in some cramped church basement - you will remember all of the criticism waged at Sela (or YY, or Basis, or Latin, or whomever your bashing for kicks these days) and wish you'd been a little bit kinder...Witness the bashing of MV for getting itself a new space...not green enough, whine whine. Get over yourselves!

Soooo true.

Paranoid, perhaps?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If teaching Hebrew makes Sela a "Jewish" school, then apparently the exact same logic would make any school that teaches Spanish a "Catholic" school, since most people who speak Spanish are Catholic.

Faulty logic.

Wow, the logic of Sela boosters is getting scary. Can you please tell us...
- How many languages are spoken in predominantly Catholic countries? (I can think of at least 10)
- How many languages are spoken in predominantly Jewish countries? (thinking thinking thinking...)

I thought so.

16:02 beat you to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of you will get in to YY, MV, LAMB, Stokes, etc. and don't want your kids mingling with kids at D.C. Bilingual...so hate on Sela or form your own charter, and then when you end up in some cramped church basement - you will remember all of the criticism waged at Sela (or YY, or Basis, or Latin, or whomever your bashing for kicks these days) and wish you'd been a little bit kinder...Witness the bashing of MV for getting itself a new space...not green enough, whine whine. Get over yourselves!

What's wrong with DC Bilingual. I am honestly interested in your logic. BTW, I understand this school is really in actual talks with a possible alliance with DCI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of you will get in to YY, MV, LAMB, Stokes, etc. and don't want your kids mingling with kids at D.C. Bilingual...so hate on Sela or form your own charter, and then when you end up in some cramped church basement - you will remember all of the criticism waged at Sela (or YY, or Basis, or Latin, or whomever your bashing for kicks these days) and wish you'd been a little bit kinder...Witness the bashing of MV for getting itself a new space...not green enough, whine whine. Get over yourselves!

Soooo true.

The reference to church basements or social halls is not far off the mark. There's a church at Mass & Idaho that has been the crowded incubator for several charters, all of which moved on because of space challenges. It is very, very difficult even for established, successful charters to find suitable long-term facilities. Once the hunt is over, they have to raise the funds for renovation or build out. Unlike in the regular DCPS system, there is no capital budget for charters. Others have asked why more charters don't locate for very long west of Rock Creek Park. First, much of the demand for charters comes from parents in tradtionally underserved school areas, and many "WOTP" DCPS schools are pretty good. Second, I don't believe that there are any surplus DCPS buildings west of Rock Creek (not that DC makes the process very easy for charters to secure surplus schools anywhere in the city). And the costs of finding long-term space on the open market are prohibitive, especially WOTP. Hence, the short-term basement solution in a church that needs cash and locating long term in areas with more space options.