Time to Stop Counting on Charters

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bottom line is that you need to stop looking to charters as your only choice and get your neighborhoods to rally around your local school. Ross did it, Garrison and Tubman should be next. For the last several years the charters have killed the local schools but that has to change now that charters aren't a realistic option for most people.

This is hard to do in some neighborhoods, though. I tried and simply could not rally any parents. I'm in Ward 4, where there are several good charters, and everyone just assumed that would be their route and that rallying around our neighborhood school was a waste of time. So I gave up.

+1, except substitute Ward 5

[Anonymous]

There are several ways to cut our budgets, state and federal. So don't act as if universal PS and PK are out of the question. Let's look at the monumental waste that exists in govt spending, let's look at the fraud. The govt contracting processes. The programs that aren't working. Universal PS & PK isn't about a handout to Americans, it's about doing what we can to ensure that our nation can compete. Children are capable of learning so much more so much earlier than people used to think. So why act as if universal PS and PK are so beyond the pale? And why operate on thinking founded in the 1950s when both parents aren't working outside of the home as they are now. Why the intractable thinking that universal PS and PK is somehow bad, unachievable or not worth even discussing? What are you afraid of? Bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why? The point is not that there is something wrong with charters/school choice. The point is that there aren't enough charters to go around and we need more of them for true choice.

actually, the point is the failure of DCPS to be an adequate system to meet the needs of its constituents. Very rarely do you have so much public funding for charter schools--there is much greater 'choice' in DC than in many, many other areas. the problem is that the defaults are so uneven and inadequate. Unfortunately, with so many middle and high SES, educated proactive parents sending their kids to charters, the DCPS schools are drained of intangible resources of involved parents. This can be a good thing--either forcing DCPS to imrpove its game or close its schools (and both are happening, I think), but I think the idea that you are entitled to a huge choice of publicly funded schools is pretty bizarre. Most public education systems do not work that way.

This post bothers me because it assumes that help from parents and the community is just some extra bonus that DCPS needs to make itself deserving of, not something that is necessary for public education to function properly. DCPS takes a lot of heat for not being "an adequate system," but DCPCS rarely gets the same amount of heat for only providing a handful of schools that 100s of families try to squeeze into each year while constantly opening and closing schools (wasting a bunch of time and resources that could have gone into helping at least a few neighborhood schools).

False dichotomy. Charters - whether opening or closing - are not wasting time and resources that could have gone into helping a few neighborhood schools. Those are resources that were not taken from DCPS (in the form of families who left them) nor can they be given to DCPS (in the form of families being forced to attend them). The existence of charter schools and worthwhile educations are one reason middle class families have chose to stay in DC, instead of ignoring it as they have done for decades. Without those schools many, many families will not choose their local school. They will choose private or leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, somebody gets in, because there are tons of people with kids in charter schools, including me. I understand your frustration, and yes, the odds are low but just like the Powerball somebody's number is going to come up. It just sucks when it isn't yours. The fact that lots of people don't get in doesn't mean that charters are a waste of time. We all play the hand we're dealt. If I hadn't gotten a slot, we simply would have left our child in daycare until K and then enrolled him at a Catholic school.

Yeah! 2 extra years of daycare - because you know, everyone can just pay for that.

Again, JERK - it would have meant putting off having a second child. I can't "just pay for that" either. I'd have to make choices and stay on BC. But thanks for pretending you know everything about my situation when you don't. My point is that everyone has to make tough choices. No one is guaranteed a spot for free PS3/PK4 and no one should act as though they are entitled to it.

Meow honey.

In DC, everyone is entitled to it. Are you new to the city?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bottom line is that you need to stop looking to charters as your only choice and get your neighborhoods to rally around your local school. Ross did it, Garrison and Tubman should be next. For the last several years the charters have killed the local schools but that has to change now that charters aren't a realistic option for most people.

Does your child attend your neighborhood school?

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are several ways to cut our budgets, state and federal. So don't act as if universal PS and PK are out of the question. Let's look at the monumental waste that exists in govt spending, let's look at the fraud. The govt contracting processes. The programs that aren't working. Universal PS & PK isn't about a handout to Americans, it's about doing what we can to ensure that our nation can compete. Children are capable of learning so much more so much earlier than people used to think. So why act as if universal PS and PK are so beyond the pale? And why operate on thinking founded in the 1950s when both parents aren't working outside of the home as they are now. Why the intractable thinking that universal PS and PK is somehow bad, unachievable or not worth even discussing? What are you afraid of? Bizarre.

No-one is suggesting that universal PS/PK is beyond the pale. In fact, we have it and a lot of us use it and like it. You absolutely can have free PS/PK. There are already, and will continue to be - long past count day - free spots available in both DCPS and charters. Take one, it's yours. Problem solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bottom line is that you need to stop looking to charters as your only choice and get your neighborhoods to rally around your local school. Ross did it, Garrison and Tubman should be next. For the last several years the charters have killed the local schools but that has to change now that charters aren't a realistic option for most people.

This is hard to do in some neighborhoods, though. I tried and simply could not rally any parents. I'm in Ward 4, where there are several good charters, and everyone just assumed that would be their route and that rallying around our neighborhood school was a waste of time. So I gave up.

Right, it didn't work in the past because there were charter spots so rallying didn't seem worth it. NOW people in Ward 4 should realize that charters aren't going to be an option for most people anymore. with siblings better most of the open spots. This is the time to make the decision to send your kid to the local school, when lots of other people are in the same boat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bottom line is that you need to stop looking to charters as your only choice and get your neighborhoods to rally around your local school. Ross did it, Garrison and Tubman should be next. For the last several years the charters have killed the local schools but that has to change now that charters aren't a realistic option for most people.

This is hard to do in some neighborhoods, though. I tried and simply could not rally any parents. I'm in Ward 4, where there are several good charters, and everyone just assumed that would be their route and that rallying around our neighborhood school was a waste of time. So I gave up.

+1, except substitute Ward 5

+2 another Ward 5. We live within walking distance to 3 soon to be 4 charters, two which are impossible to get into. On our block full of kids, no one attends the inbound DCPS. We drive to our sought after charter, 10 minutes door to door. The charter schools beats our IB DCPS by a mile and we would move before sending our kid there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, somebody gets in, because there are tons of people with kids in charter schools, including me. I understand your frustration, and yes, the odds are low but just like the Powerball somebody's number is going to come up. It just sucks when it isn't yours. The fact that lots of people don't get in doesn't mean that charters are a waste of time. We all play the hand we're dealt. If I hadn't gotten a slot, we simply would have left our child in daycare until K and then enrolled him at a Catholic school.

Yeah! 2 extra years of daycare - because you know, everyone can just pay for that.

Again, JERK - it would have meant putting off having a second child. I can't "just pay for that" either. I'd have to make choices and stay on BC. But thanks for pretending you know everything about my situation when you don't. My point is that everyone has to make tough choices. No one is guaranteed a spot for free PS3/PK4 and no one should act as though they are entitled to it.

Meow honey.

In DC, everyone is entitled to it. Are you new to the city?

Actually, the only guarantee so far is for PK, not PS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are several ways to cut our budgets, state and federal. So don't act as if universal PS and PK are out of the question. Let's look at the monumental waste that exists in govt spending, let's look at the fraud. The govt contracting processes. The programs that aren't working. Universal PS & PK isn't about a handout to Americans, it's about doing what we can to ensure that our nation can compete. Children are capable of learning so much more so much earlier than people used to think. So why act as if universal PS and PK are so beyond the pale? And why operate on thinking founded in the 1950s when both parents aren't working outside of the home as they are now. Why the intractable thinking that universal PS and PK is somehow bad, unachievable or not worth even discussing? What are you afraid of? Bizarre.

I don't think it's beyond the pale. But good luck achieving your vision Pollyanna. You running for President in 2016 since you have all the answers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, somebody gets in, because there are tons of people with kids in charter schools, including me. I understand your frustration, and yes, the odds are low but just like the Powerball somebody's number is going to come up. It just sucks when it isn't yours. The fact that lots of people don't get in doesn't mean that charters are a waste of time. We all play the hand we're dealt. If I hadn't gotten a slot, we simply would have left our child in daycare until K and then enrolled him at a Catholic school.

Yeah! 2 extra years of daycare - because you know, everyone can just pay for that.

Again, JERK - it would have meant putting off having a second child. I can't "just pay for that" either. I'd have to make choices and stay on BC. But thanks for pretending you know everything about my situation when you don't. My point is that everyone has to make tough choices. No one is guaranteed a spot for free PS3/PK4 and no one should act as though they are entitled to it.

Meow honey.

In DC, everyone is entitled to it. Are you new to the city?

Actually, the only guarantee so far is for PK, not PS.

Ding ding. And no way the number of slots equals the number of children anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are several ways to cut our budgets, state and federal. So don't act as if universal PS and PK are out of the question. Let's look at the monumental waste that exists in govt spending, let's look at the fraud. The govt contracting processes. The programs that aren't working. Universal PS & PK isn't about a handout to Americans, it's about doing what we can to ensure that our nation can compete. Children are capable of learning so much more so much earlier than people used to think. So why act as if universal PS and PK are so beyond the pale? And why operate on thinking founded in the 1950s when both parents aren't working outside of the home as they are now. Why the intractable thinking that universal PS and PK is somehow bad, unachievable or not worth even discussing? What are you afraid of? Bizarre.

I don't think it's beyond the pale. But good luck achieving your vision Pollyanna. You running for President in 2016 since you have all the answers?

You were a known bully in school, weren't you? What adult argues like this? It's quite sad, actually. Begone now.

[Anonymous]

This is why I didn't even apply to EL Haynes. I gave up just looking at the odds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, somebody gets in, because there are tons of people with kids in charter schools, including me. I understand your frustration, and yes, the odds are low but just like the Powerball somebody's number is going to come up. It just sucks when it isn't yours. The fact that lots of people don't get in doesn't mean that charters are a waste of time. We all play the hand we're dealt. If I hadn't gotten a slot, we simply would have left our child in daycare until K and then enrolled him at a Catholic school.

Yeah! 2 extra years of daycare - because you know, everyone can just pay for that.

Again, JERK - it would have meant putting off having a second child. I can't "just pay for that" either. I'd have to make choices and stay on BC. But thanks for pretending you know everything about my situation when you don't. My point is that everyone has to make tough choices. No one is guaranteed a spot for free PS3/PK4 and no one should act as though they are entitled to it.

Meow honey.

In DC, everyone is entitled to it. Are you new to the city?

Actually, the only guarantee so far is for PK, not PS.

Ding ding. And no way the number of slots equals the number of children anyway.

That's true: there are definitely more slots than there are children. Every year. Until the children fill up the available slots, the argument to create more will be less compelling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are several ways to cut our budgets, state and federal. So don't act as if universal PS and PK are out of the question. Let's look at the monumental waste that exists in govt spending, let's look at the fraud. The govt contracting processes. The programs that aren't working. Universal PS & PK isn't about a handout to Americans, it's about doing what we can to ensure that our nation can compete. Children are capable of learning so much more so much earlier than people used to think. So why act as if universal PS and PK are so beyond the pale? And why operate on thinking founded in the 1950s when both parents aren't working outside of the home as they are now. Why the intractable thinking that universal PS and PK is somehow bad, unachievable or not worth even discussing? What are you afraid of? Bizarre.

I don't think it's beyond the pale. But good luck achieving your vision Pollyanna. You running for President in 2016 since you have all the answers?

You were a known bully in school, weren't you? What adult argues like this? It's quite sad, actually. Begone now.

Not the PP, but sarcasm on DCUM doesn't rise to the level of bullying.