Middle Schools for Cap Hill

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:one of the issues with equity here is whether any of these black kids you talk about actually live in Wards 7 or 8. Somebody cites black kids getting 4s and 5s - but are they Ward 2 and 6 kids? Should these schools only be for west of the River families?

I cannot speak to where the students live, but I learned from the JA principal that he was expecting about 100 kids from the 4 feeder schools for the upcoming 6th grade class. He was then anticipating taking about 20 OOB kids.

[Anonymous]

Wow those 2 woke comments. Yall are nuts seriously. Whites are the only race that does stuff like this I feel sorry for your kids.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, but sensitive topic though it is, my kid doesn't want to be the only white student in her middle school classes. She's made this clear.

We know that she wouldn't be the only white kid in her classes at charters where we may get off WLs. We don't know if this would be the case at JA.

She does well on ELA (easily scores 5s) but is average, or a little below, in math (tries hard but isn't good at math).

My kids being the only white kid in a classroom is one of the reasons why l would want to send him to a MS. I think it’s a very important experience to have, to understand what being a “visible minority” is like. That goes in my plus column tbh.

Bully for you, paragon of tolerance, bravery and fortitude that you are. We should all strive to live up to your shining example day by day.

[Anonymous]

hobson and JA are both at this point vast majority students from the designated feeder schools - it does appear that slowly and surely more and more students from those schools are attending each year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, but sensitive topic though it is, my kid doesn't want to be the only white student in her middle school classes. She's made this clear.

We know that she wouldn't be the only white kid in her classes at charters where we may get off WLs. We don't know if this would be the case at JA.

She does well on ELA (easily scores 5s) but is average, or a little below, in math (tries hard but isn't good at math).

My kids being the only white kid in a classroom is one of the reasons why l would want to send him to a MS. I think it’s a very important experience to have, to understand what being a “visible minority” is like. That goes in my plus column tbh.

Bully for you, paragon of tolerance, bravery and fortitude that you are. We should all strive to live up to your shining example day by day.

You can do as you wish. I am doing it for selfish reasons--- I think it is a skill it will benefit my child in the future. I may be wrong, but that's my assessment at this time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


My kids being the only white kid in a classroom is one of the reasons why l would want to send him to a MS. I think it’s a very important experience to have, to understand what being a “visible minority” is like. That goes in my plus column tbh.
Bully for you, paragon of tolerance, bravery and fortitude that you are. We should all strive to live up to your shining example day by day.

Oh BS. There are many other ways to create the experience of being a "visible minority" without forcing it upon your child during middle school, which is probably the time kids are at their most dysregulated and cruelest. I have a close friend who lived this experience in DCPS in the 80s. Though she values classroom diversity, she would freely tell you that being a "lonely only" is not something she would ever do to her child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:one of the issues with equity here is whether any of these black kids you talk about actually live in Wards 7 or 8. Somebody cites black kids getting 4s and 5s - but are they Ward 2 and 6 kids? Should these schools only be for west of the River families?

I cannot speak to where the students live, but I learned from the JA principal that he was expecting about 100 kids from the 4 feeder schools for the upcoming 6th grade class. He was then anticipating taking about 20 OOB kids.

100 kids … 96 of whom are OOB?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:hobson and JA are both at this point vast majority students from the designated feeder schools - it does appear that slowly and surely more and more students from those schools are attending each year

Uh … this is because those feeder schools empty out after 4th grade and are back-filled with OOB students. The # of kids from feeder schools is a meaningless number because people leave after 4th for charters. But I’m sure you know that and are just being an intentionally obtuse booster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hobson and JA are both at this point vast majority students from the designated feeder schools - it does appear that slowly and surely more and more students from those schools are attending each year

Uh … this is because those feeder schools empty out after 4th grade and are back-filled with OOB students. The # of kids from feeder schools is a meaningless number because people leave after 4th for charters. But I’m sure you know that and are just being an intentionally obtuse booster.

We just got an email today from Watkins inviting us to enroll for 5th (apparently they get emails from MySchoolDC and spam parents) because they’re hemorrhaging students from 4th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, but sensitive topic though it is, my kid doesn't want to be the only white student in her middle school classes. She's made this clear.

We know that she wouldn't be the only white kid in her classes at charters where we may get off WLs. We don't know if this would be the case at JA.

She does well on ELA (easily scores 5s) but is average, or a little below, in math (tries hard but isn't good at math).

Ok - Wow - don't send your kid. Why are you even here engaging? PS: you know that black kids could be in the advanced track classes right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hobson and JA are both at this point vast majority students from the designated feeder schools - it does appear that slowly and surely more and more students from those schools are attending each year

Uh … this is because those feeder schools empty out after 4th grade and are back-filled with OOB students. The # of kids from feeder schools is a meaningless number because people leave after 4th for charters. But I’m sure you know that and are just being an intentionally obtuse booster.

My kid is in 5th grade at VN and they've been with the same kids since K. A handful are OOB but mostly got in very early when the school was new. The grade is all IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, but sensitive topic though it is, my kid doesn't want to be the only white student in her middle school classes. She's made this clear.

We know that she wouldn't be the only white kid in her classes at charters where we may get off WLs. We don't know if this would be the case at JA.

She does well on ELA (easily scores 5s) but is average, or a little below, in math (tries hard but isn't good at math).

My kids being the only white kid in a classroom is one of the reasons why l would want to send him to a MS. I think it’s a very important experience to have, to understand what being a “visible minority” is like. That goes in my plus column tbh.

Bully for you, paragon of tolerance, bravery and fortitude that you are. We should all strive to live up to your shining example day by day.

You can do as you wish. I am doing it for selfish reasons--- I think it is a skill it will benefit my child in the future. I may be wrong, but that's my assessment at this time.

This is crazy. There are lots of reasons to choose your inbound school - commute, etc. But to use all the Black kids as some kind of social experiment learning experience for your white kid is weird and gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hobson and JA are both at this point vast majority students from the designated feeder schools - it does appear that slowly and surely more and more students from those schools are attending each year

Uh … this is because those feeder schools empty out after 4th grade and are back-filled with OOB students. The # of kids from feeder schools is a meaningless number because people leave after 4th for charters. But I’m sure you know that and are just being an intentionally obtuse booster.

We just got an email today from Watkins inviting us to enroll for 5th (apparently they get emails from MySchoolDC and spam parents) because they’re hemorrhaging students from 4th grade.

I have no dog in this race but this is just a lazy take. You assume that that they are trying to fill seats "because they’re hemorrhaging students from 4th grade" but even a cursory look at the WL data tells you that you are jumping to conclusions. They opened up 8 seats in the lottery and as of lottery day they had only one person on the WL for 5th grade. As of June 1 there were zero kids on the WL. If even two of those 8 lottery seats offered was declined then there wouldn't have had to be a single additional unexpected student leaving after 4th for the school to still need to fill open seats.

Serious question for PP: What is it about your makeup that motivates you to post things like this? What urge or need are you satisfying by just imagining negativity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to close this thread? I think the two of you are basically agreeing. The anonymity of this forum makes things impossible. There WERE people on this thread earlier that were making judgmental and negative comments about schools with certain test scores, and assuming the intentions of parents who sent their kids there. There were negative comments made about the behavior of parents who send their kids to IB schools, calling them preachy and acting for political reasons. Doesn't sound like that was you, given your recent posts. Parents have the right and opportunity to send their kids wherever is best for them. We need to stop cutting each other down and bickering, and assuming or judging people for their choices, full stop.

I don't get why UMC CH parents bother with DCPS options after 5th grade. Yes, it's nice to send your kid to a walkable school with a few old friends, but beyond that, the appeal is lost on me, a CH resident since the 90s.

I made a point of visiting the 3 CH middle schools this school year, on weekdays days when students were in the buildings. I've talked to a number of high SES IB parents who send their children to each and still don't see the appeal.

These programs don't offer designated test-in "honors" (grade level) classes, other than for math and ELA at SH. The hallways and playgrounds are rowdy (at least by my standards), the student bodies can be described as diverse, and pre-Covid scores were alarming overall in each case. Most worrying, senior admins seem to quit on a regular basis.

Granted, my comments are "negative," slam me for that, but I visited the schools looking for positives.

What were the reasons these parents gave you for why they are sending their kids to the schools?

*Admins gave impressive presentations at open houses/evidence of strong leadership.
*Neighborhood school better than long commute to charter from CH (especially DCI, hour-long commute by public transportation).
*Effective differentiation in the classroom with "appropriate" challenge provided in core subjects.
*School buildings/campus nicely renovated recently = good facilities.
*Multiple friends from DCPS elementary school going.
*School offered particularly good SpEd help for rising 6th grader with special needs.

Reasons unsaid by parents that I suspect (though probably not all these reasons in case of a particular family):

*Helping to desegregate overwhelmingly AA/Latino DCPS neighborhood school as white family a priority vis a vis parents' politics. Some IB parents I spoke to clearly anti-charter.
*Child didn't get into Latin or BASIS and possibly Inspired Teaching, Two Rivers, CHML via lottery; prospects of getting off WLs before Oct. Count Day poor.
*Parents involved in ES PTA efforts to make the middle school feed work for one or more years prior to enrolling. Liked group spirit of PTA parents advocating for IB enrollment at the school.
*Would have gone w/a private/parochial school if could have afforded for all children in family.
*Parents not interested and/or able to homeschool for MS.

What makes you discount all the actual reasons they gave you?? Those all sound like good, normal reasons to send your kid to a neighborhood school.

For the last time the test scores and overall student body are frankly abysmal. Look the only people sending their kids their are bleeding heart liberals with white guilt who have no idea what is actually best for their children. Asian, black, and hispanic folks of means know better.

My kid goes to one of these schools. I don’t profess to know the politics of every parent at the school, but those who I do know are, in general, no more liberal than your average DC resident. If I had to label my own politics, I’d call myself a moderate Democrat (think Joe Manchin).

I’m not sending my high-achieving kid to this school to make a political statement or anything like that. I’m sending him there because I think the program, the principal and and the teachers are great. If 2019 PARCC overall scores were the only thing that mattered, there would be no point in having these discussions, because we are all presumably capable of looking those up ourselves.

Here is your chance. Please explain what you find *great* about the middle school program. Faculty at DCPS schools are very often fantastic people. Why do you feel drawn to the program?

Let's try this again. What is great about your middle school program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hobson and JA are both at this point vast majority students from the designated feeder schools - it does appear that slowly and surely more and more students from those schools are attending each year

Uh … this is because those feeder schools empty out after 4th grade and are back-filled with OOB students. The # of kids from feeder schools is a meaningless number because people leave after 4th for charters. But I’m sure you know that and are just being an intentionally obtuse booster.

We just got an email today from Watkins inviting us to enroll for 5th (apparently they get emails from MySchoolDC and spam parents) because they’re hemorrhaging students from 4th grade.

I have no dog in this race but this is just a lazy take. You assume that that they are trying to fill seats "because they’re hemorrhaging students from 4th grade" but even a cursory look at the WL data tells you that you are jumping to conclusions. They opened up 8 seats in the lottery and as of lottery day they had only one person on the WL for 5th grade. As of June 1 there were zero kids on the WL. If even two of those 8 lottery seats offered was declined then there wouldn't have had to be a single additional unexpected student leaving after 4th for the school to still need to fill open seats.

Serious question for PP: What is it about your makeup that motivates you to post things like this? What urge or need are you satisfying by just imagining negativity?

And as kids are getting spots at BASIS, Latin and Latin II, they are leaving Watkins.

I feel like you think it’s normal to have to fill more than one or two spots in a school. It’s not normal. Northwest schools do not have this problem. Because they’re not hemorrhaging students.