Truth about being three coughs above FARMS at a high performing Charter School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks for the feedback and additional opinions. I probably could have been a bit more concise with everything. I just don't think that there are honest conversations about the day to day experience that many middle income families have at high demand charter schools. And I wish someone would have written something like this when I was starting out.

As a new parent several years ago, I've seen the charter school movement in DC go from unique pockets of primarily small, independent schools to an industry of branding and replication that many schools are today. While the remnants and impression of a diverse landscape are there, it is fading fast when one truly unpacks what happens in the classroom.

The pressure to expand, grow, and replicate many times means that the public tuition paid for middle income and lower income (above FARMS) kids are used as leverage to fund the expansion programs. Parents are pressured to keep quiet and go with the flow, especially if you want your kid's residency verification paperwork to not magically disappear when it’s time to re-apply or renew admission for the next fall.

The public tuition that is paid for each student does not vary based on income; the access and delivery of an equal education should reflect this equality. Many performance ratings of "high demand" schools ride on the academic achievement of children that pay for supplementation outside of the school, while the school itself provides a low quality, lackluster education program to a specific segment of their students within the school. And they can afford to do better.

The operative word in this conversation is "Public". I agree that many of the same issues expressed in this post are experienced at private institutions. However, if the activity and support of wealthier families at public schools grossly benefits the children of wealthier families yet marginally helps poorer families, this creates a disparate impact on the middle income and lower income families that depend on the school's existence.

With the exception of KIPP, none of the highly regarded charters in DC are part of a network that has any interest in expansion. At least none of the ones that are highly regarded on this forum. All of the chain charters are focused on low-SES students (KIPP, CAPCS, Friendship). There is no expansion plan for Latin, Yu Ying, Mundo Verde, Creative Minds, etc.

[Anonymous]

I'm wondering if you are at YY. The before and aftercare is out of reach for us and the calendar is terrible. I used up all of my sick days for the year just to work out the calendar, leaving none for actual illness. Nothing like unpaid leave to compensate for 3 days of conferences here, 3 days there and a full two weeks of winter break. It's not easy to make it all work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look at the PTA representation of the sought after charters. I know one that was almost entirely white parents this past year. How does that fly?

At our great charter, it is like pulling teeth to get anyone to volunteer for representing parent group or to even attend meetings. Any parent can run for a position and any parent can vote for said representatives. Therefore, I suspect that the PTA at your school may be almost entirely white simply by chance due to those who chose to step up and volunteer and not due to anything nefarious.

+1! This happens at my DC1's charter and at my DC2's DCPS as well. Both schools (EOTP admittedly) practically beg for parental participation yet the same faces always show up. Thank god for them or the slots would remain vacant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Regardless of whatever reality you want to create for yourself, I hope you don't poison your kids heads with this before you send them off to school each morning. "Try not to let the fact that you're being treated unfairly effect your success DC!" There's one approach to parenting.

This is just silly and mean-spirited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Regardless of whatever reality you want to create for yourself, I hope you don't poison your kids heads with this before you send them off to school each morning. "Try not to let the fact that you're being treated unfairly effect your success DC!" There's one approach to parenting.

This is just silly and mean-spirited.

How so? Can you answer these questions OP?

[Anonymous]

I'm not at a charter, but at a Maryland public school. We have more money than many of the families at the school and make large donations to the PTA and school. I don't do it for my child though. We could easily send our child to private for an equivalent or maybe even better experience. We view it as our civic responsibility to financially support the school and pta because we can and because we want to support the programs that benefit all of the kids at the school. I don't expect nor do I think we receive extra attention for doing so; I do think that those who volunteer lots of their time might get some special attention for their kids, but that isn't why most of them do it, nor do I begrudge the attention because it is the volunteers that make the school such a great place. Makes me sad that the contributions of money or time to the school might be perceived so negatively.

[Anonymous]

And by making before and after care so expensive, and expensive extracurriculars, combined with a crazy school calendar, they are purposefully weeding out lower income families so that they can continue to maintain these false appearances. So in fact, what they are doing is successful, according to some pp's in this thread who have admitted that they haven't applied because of this very culture. And the school knows these lower income families, and know that these families don't contribute anything to their agenda, so they are treated differently.

And, to that end, I believe several of these sought after charters are completely aware of these facts - they are way ahead of the OP.

[dcmom]

The bad calendar is not just charters--DCPS has a lot of prof development days where parents end up having to find care (usually one each month). (Though of course that is only a small part of what OP is talking about.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks for the feedback and additional opinions. I probably could have been a bit more concise with everything. I just don't think that there are honest conversations about the day to day experience that many middle income families have at high demand charter schools. And I wish someone would have written something like this when I was starting out.

As a new parent several years ago, I've seen the charter school movement in DC go from unique pockets of primarily small, independent schools to an industry of branding and replication that many schools are today. While the remnants and impression of a diverse landscape are there, it is fading fast when one truly unpacks what happens in the classroom.

The pressure to expand, grow, and replicate many times means that the public tuition paid for middle income and lower income (above FARMS) kids are used as leverage to fund the expansion programs. Parents are pressured to keep quiet and go with the flow, especially if you want your kid's residency verification paperwork to not magically disappear when it’s time to re-apply or renew admission for the next fall.

The public tuition that is paid for each student does not vary based on income; the access and delivery of an equal education should reflect this equality. Many performance ratings of "high demand" schools ride on the academic achievement of children that pay for supplementation outside of the school, while the school itself provides a low quality, lackluster education program to a specific segment of their students within the school. And they can afford to do better.

The operative word in this conversation is "Public". I agree that many of the same issues expressed in this post are experienced at private institutions. However, if the activity and support of wealthier families at public schools grossly benefits the children of wealthier families yet marginally helps poorer families, this creates a disparate impact on the middle income and lower income families that depend on the school's existence.

With the exception of KIPP, none of the highly regarded charters in DC are part of a network that has any interest in expansion. At least none of the ones that are highly regarded on this forum. All of the chain charters are focused on low-SES students (KIPP, CAPCS, Friendship). There is no expansion plan for Latin, Yu Ying, Mundo Verde, Creative Minds, etc.

I believe 2 Rivers is expanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And by making before and after care so expensive, and expensive extracurriculars, combined with a crazy school calendar, they are purposefully weeding out lower income families so that they can continue to maintain these false appearances. So in fact, what they are doing is successful, according to some pp's in this thread who have admitted that they haven't applied because of this very culture. And the school knows these lower income families, and know that these families don't contribute anything to their agenda, so they are treated differently.

And, to that end, I believe several of these sought after charters are completely aware of these facts - they are way ahead of the OP.

This is such a crock. I know exactly who OP is and what she fails to mention here is that even if she truly can't afford to pay for aftercare or extracurricular activities, she could ask the people at her "highly regarded charter," the very ones she is claiming are discriminating against her, and they would bend over backward to try and find a solution for her and her DC. But she doesn't ask, and I think it's partly because it's hard to ask for help from the driver's seat of $60K SUV!

She's got a chip on her shoulder because she doesn't feel "acknowledged" enough. And I'm willing to admit that hey, maybe she isn't. There are probably numerous reasons for that: maybe there's a cultural disconnect, maybe she's misunderstood, maybe she feels like an outsider, maybe she has complained about ridiculous things and been put on the defensive because of it, maybe she thinks she could do it all better. Regardless of what she is experiencing or how she feels about it, her kid is not being discriminated against. What she fails to realize is that by taking her own experience and spinning into some sort of yarn of discrimination - discrimination that is hurting her kids and equating to them not getting an equal education, she's actually hurting her kid(s)!

Please, take a deep look OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Wealthy parents are recognized as "pioneers", "friends of public education","school reformers", and "parent organization leaders". But many are really attention seekers using public education to save money and to generate their own personal relevance. Listservs are abundant at these schools coupled with a clear understanding that a large portion of the school's parents may not have regular internet or technology

A lot of what you said was interesting but for me it was almost negated by the above. Suggesting that people USE public education to SAVE money is very ugly to read. Do you think well off people should just always pay for private? Can you imagine the state of public schools if everyone who could afford private went private? This is a major problem of charter schools because more educated parents often invest more efforts in selecting a charter leaving the public schools struggling with lack of parental involvement, poverty, behavior issues, etc. it sounds like you charter school is not treating the entire student body equally. That is a big problem and I would be upset too. But you have to understand that charter schools are a breeding ground for a variety of corruption and dishonesty. Recall the recent Washington post story exposing the fact that the DC charters expel a tremendous amount of students forcing those kids back to the public schools. As soon as charters get their money they can start weeding out the undesirables.

No individual charter can approach the level of inefficiency and corruption that has led DCPS to be the worst school district in the country for several decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are wonderful. Sincerely, a working class DCPS teacher.

+ 1

It looks like DCPS teachers have decided to use DCUM as a lobbying forum for their jobs.

[Anonymous]

OP, to the extent that you are describing how you and your family have been made to feel -- marginalized, unheard, etc. -- your post is thought-provoking and definitely a valuable read. But in addition to that, you have raised some very serious allegations. It's no joke to claim that a certain school only gives the rich kids to the best teachers, that they give better grades to kids purely because they come from wealthy families, and that the school will manipulate residency paperwork to effectively kick you out if you complain about any of it. To me, those allegations diminish the credibility of your post. If they were real, you would name the school or at the very list notify the PCSB and give them all of the proof you have. If these things are acghakkj going on, it's pretty cowardly to throw around veiled anonymous accusations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And by making before and after care so expensive, and expensive extracurriculars, combined with a crazy school calendar, they are purposefully weeding out lower income families so that they can continue to maintain these false appearances. So in fact, what they are doing is successful, according to some pp's in this thread who have admitted that they haven't applied because of this very culture. And the school knows these lower income families, and know that these families don't contribute anything to their agenda, so they are treated differently.

And, to that end, I believe several of these sought after charters are completely aware of these facts - they are way ahead of the OP.

All public schools have PD days on the calendar, PP. All of them. Including the DCPS you work for, as you very well know. Try to knock the chip off your shoulder before it cripples you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Struggling middle/working class people problems. you want to make it clear you're not poor by not needing a govt hand out but want us to feel sorry for you because you can't compete with the upper class. Don't have a savings to donate for favor, huh? Child's not an academic or athletic stand out, huh?

OP, sit your regular ass down somewhere and continue to brew about all the things you are not. Don't waste our time with these long ass diary posts.

Pp takes the case for DCUM ugliness.