Charter school parents: why are you okay with diverting resources from public schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish charter schools didn't exist. If they were outlawed tomorrow, my neighborhood school would basically immediately become great. However, because they exist, and because I got into a good one, I'm going to use it.

I've been in DC education 20 plus years. Be careful what you wish for. Many public schools started improving when charters came in the scene. If you took away the competition I wonder if DCPS would rest on its laurels...

[Anonymous]

I am happy to get return on my tax dollars for universal Pre-k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High income parents send their kids to private school, not charter schools or other public schools (unless it's TJ in Virginia).

Nope. Wrong again.

But I think this brings up an interesting question. I'm in Ward 5. If all our charters were "outlawed tomorrow" (not realistic but just imagine), would those high income parents move their kids to private, or "immediately" flip the local DCPS? Or would the just move away? As one of those parents...I'd probably test the waters, but my guess is a combination of the three. There would be no immediate flip. It might improve, but only if it happened to suddenly listen to a band of high income parents (not only white btw) about what to do with the school. Unlikely. Personally I might try it out but make other plans for upper grades, much like parents are doing now who I know.

+1. I live there too, and I think the lower grades in elementary schools would drastically improve. But having seen the struggles at Stuart-Hobson and Eliot-Hine, I simply have no faith in DCPS' competence in managing a middle school. The conditions are there, parents are trying, and it is still really hard. Why would I expect any different in Ward 5, which is so much less affluent?

This isn't about the kids being a problem. The more I work and learn, the more I realize that downtown is the heart of the matter. They are incompetent, they make terrible decisions, and I don't know how to change it. That is why people like me go to charters eventually. I can't un-know the things I know about how DCPS really works.

Have you heard of the principal you cant make chicken salad out of chicken shit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High income parents send their kids to private school, not charter schools or other public schools (unless it's TJ in Virginia).

Nope. Wrong again.

But I think this brings up an interesting question. I'm in Ward 5. If all our charters were "outlawed tomorrow" (not realistic but just imagine), would those high income parents move their kids to private, or "immediately" flip the local DCPS? Or would the just move away? As one of those parents...I'd probably test the waters, but my guess is a combination of the three. There would be no immediate flip. It might improve, but only if it happened to suddenly listen to a band of high income parents (not only white btw) about what to do with the school. Unlikely. Personally I might try it out but make other plans for upper grades, much like parents are doing now who I know.

+1. I live there too, and I think the lower grades in elementary schools would drastically improve. But having seen the struggles at Stuart-Hobson and Eliot-Hine, I simply have no faith in DCPS' competence in managing a middle school. The conditions are there, parents are trying, and it is still really hard. Why would I expect any different in Ward 5, which is so much less affluent?

This isn't about the kids being a problem. The more I work and learn, the more I realize that downtown is the heart of the matter. They are incompetent, they make terrible decisions, and I don't know how to change it. That is why people like me go to charters eventually. I can't un-know the things I know about how DCPS really works.

Thank you for this comedic gold. I havent been able to stop laughing for 10 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High income parents send their kids to private school, not charter schools or other public schools (unless it's TJ in Virginia).

Nope. Wrong again.

But I think this brings up an interesting question. I'm in Ward 5. If all our charters were "outlawed tomorrow" (not realistic but just imagine), would those high income parents move their kids to private, or "immediately" flip the local DCPS? Or would the just move away? As one of those parents...I'd probably test the waters, but my guess is a combination of the three. There would be no immediate flip. It might improve, but only if it happened to suddenly listen to a band of high income parents (not only white btw) about what to do with the school. Unlikely. Personally I might try it out but make other plans for upper grades, much like parents are doing now who I know.

+1. I live there too, and I think the lower grades in elementary schools would drastically improve. But having seen the struggles at Stuart-Hobson and Eliot-Hine, I simply have no faith in DCPS' competence in managing a middle school. The conditions are there, parents are trying, and it is still really hard. Why would I expect any different in Ward 5, which is so much less affluent?

This isn't about the kids being a problem. The more I work and learn, the more I realize that downtown is the heart of the matter. They are incompetent, they make terrible decisions, and I don't know how to change it. That is why people like me go to charters eventually. I can't un-know the things I know about how DCPS really works.

Thank you for this comedic gold. I havent been able to stop laughing for 10 minutes.

To be fair, you'd laugh just as hard at a cat gif. You are a simple, simple person. Like dear Betsy, your idol.

[Anonymous]

You DCPS defenders are insane if you think DCPS has done a good job with middle school. There arent enough charter seats to meet demand so it should be a golden opportunity for DCPS to show their best hand and develop some great programs. Everyone knows what is needed - true test in and specialty programming. But DCPS keeps offering the same failing shit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You DCPS defenders are insane if you think DCPS has done a good job with middle school. There arent enough charter seats to meet demand so it should be a golden opportunity for DCPS to show their best hand and develop some great programs. Everyone knows what is needed - true test in and specialty programming. But DCPS keeps offering the same failing shit.

For real. DCPS is ranked at the bottom of every academic score, literally. The Caption of the thread would make sense (as opposed no sense) if it read: "DCPS Parents: why aren't you OK with even more money going to charter schools?"

[Anonymous]

DCPS will never get together. If they can't make people satisfied with Hardy, FFS, a Wilson feeder in a high-income area, then what hope is there for any other middle school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS will never get together. If they can't make people satisfied with Hardy, FFS, a Wilson feeder in a high-income area, then what hope is there for any other middle school?

WTF you talkin about Willis. DCPS simply hasn't done ENOUGH with those schools, quickly enough. Parents have been quite open about what they want, for some time, have yet to get enough of it. As the immediate prior poster pointed out: more test in and/or advanced offerings, more specialty courses. Quite simple really, but simple is apparently difficult to achieve.

[Anonymous]

DCPS is bad. But the notion that it is responsible for the miserable student performance and that the students and parents have nothing to do with it is a joke. DCPS cant print $ to pay for the services people are demanding. And will we ever acknowledge that in fact students and parents must accept responsibility for their own actions. It's not DCPS's job to be your kid's parents, to teach them things like don't throw chairs at teachers or students. If you don't teach your kids to respec edicational authority and severally punish them when they don't, how can DCPS do its job, even if money was no object?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is bad. But the notion that it is responsible for the miserable student performance and that the students and parents have nothing to do with it is a joke. DCPS cant print $ to pay for the services people are demanding. And will we ever acknowledge that in fact students and parents must accept responsibility for their own actions. It's not DCPS's job to be your kid's parents, to teach them things like don't throw chairs at teachers or students. If you don't teach your kids to respec edicational authority and severally punish them when they don't, how can DCPS do its job, even if money was no object?

As for the "services parents are demanding" and how DCPS supposedly can't afford to deliver them, I beg to differ because funding per student at charters is LESS than what DCPS gets per student, yet the charters are better able to deliver those "impossible" services.

As for kids throwing chairs at teachers and other students, sorry but THAT'S ASSAULT and is a felony under the criminal code. Far too much coddling, "oh, they are just kids" and "oh, boys will be boys" and "oh but he comes from a tough situation and therefore we should give the horrible behavior a pass." "It's not the teacher's job" isn't an answer - if the teacher has that stuff going on in the classroom there need to be consequences, even if that means suspension or calling in police. Bad and disruptive behavior needs to be eliminated from the classroom because it keeps everyone else from learning. No, teachers aren't supposed to be babysitters. Pull those kids out, put them in in-school suspension and have someone other than the teacher deal with them until the issue is resolved. I call bullshit on the notion that DC does not have the funds for that.

Rather than whining, DCPS and its defenders need to up their game and actually make DCPS a competitive and attractive offering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is bad. But the notion that it is responsible for the miserable student performance and that the students and parents have nothing to do with it is a joke. DCPS cant print $ to pay for the services people are demanding. And will we ever acknowledge that in fact students and parents must accept responsibility for their own actions. It's not DCPS's job to be your kid's parents, to teach them things like don't throw chairs at teachers or students. If you don't teach your kids to respec edicational authority and severally punish them when they don't, how can DCPS do its job, even if money was no object?

As for the "services parents are demanding" and how DCPS supposedly can't afford to deliver them, I beg to differ because funding per student at charters is LESS than what DCPS gets per student, yet the charters are better able to deliver those "impossible" services.

As for kids throwing chairs at teachers and other students, sorry but THAT'S ASSAULT and is a felony under the criminal code. Far too much coddling, "oh, they are just kids" and "oh, boys will be boys" and "oh but he comes from a tough situation and therefore we should give the horrible behavior a pass." "It's not the teacher's job" isn't an answer - if the teacher has that stuff going on in the classroom there need to be consequences, even if that means suspension or calling in police. Bad and disruptive behavior needs to be eliminated from the classroom because it keeps everyone else from learning. No, teachers aren't supposed to be babysitters. Pull those kids out, put them in in-school suspension and have someone other than the teacher deal with them until the issue is resolved. I call bullshit on the notion that DC does not have the funds for that.

Rather than whining, DCPS and its defenders need to up their game and actually make DCPS a competitive and attractive offering.

Kids who throw chairs and have IEPs fall under special education inclusion laws. Unfortunately, this isn't a DC thing it's a national issue. These kids need their own school do they are not messing it up for their teachers and classmates. That's a specialty program DC should be looking into.

[Anonymous]

That's an interesting idea - move all the students with IEPs moved to their own school. Oh wait, that would be discrimination and we have decided as a society to mainstream everyone. We could test and pull out all the top students to go to a different school. Oh wait, that would discriminate against the students so don't get to go to that school.

This keeps going on and on and will not change until we rationally look at what works. The least DCPS could do is not socially promote so that all students on a grade are at grade level, regardless if that means that some students have to repeat a grade. Reepetition is not failure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's an interesting idea - move all the students with IEPs moved to their own school. Oh wait, that would be discrimination and we have decided as a society to mainstream everyone. We could test and pull out all the top students to go to a different school. Oh wait, that would discriminate against the students so don't get to go to that school.

This keeps going on and on and will not change until we rationally look at what works. The least DCPS could do is not socially promote so that all students on a grade are at grade level, regardless if that means that some students have to repeat a grade. Reepetition is not failure.

Do some research on why and to what extent social promotion exists, then get back to us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's an interesting idea - move all the students with IEPs moved to their own school. Oh wait, that would be discrimination and we have decided as a society to mainstream everyone. We could test and pull out all the top students to go to a different school. Oh wait, that would discriminate against the students so don't get to go to that school.

This keeps going on and on and will not change until we rationally look at what works. The least DCPS could do is not socially promote so that all students on a grade are at grade level, regardless if that means that some students have to repeat a grade. Reepetition is not failure.

Do some research on why and to what extent social promotion exists, then get back to us.

I know, I know - we would rather have a class of 14 year olds with reading abilities ranging from 2nd grade to 12th grade level and expect the teacher to handle it rather than thinking that we COULD end up with 10 tear olds in 1st grade. SMH.