New to DC. If your child is zoned for Deal....

[Anonymous]

Did you pursue charter schools or different bounds schools? My daughter is going into 6th grade and I'm not sure if I'll homeschool or send her to Deal. Any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Homeschool for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Homeschool for sure.

Please explain why?

[Anonymous]

What kind of student is your child? We have decided to go to private school, so my knowledge is from touring the school and talking to friends. My sense is that it's a fabulous school for strong students who are self starters; I've also heard good things about the school from kids who high levels of special education needs. Kids in the middle, especially if they struggle with executive function or anxiety (both of which describe my child) don't do as well there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What kind of student is your child? We have decided to go to private school, so my knowledge is from touring the school and talking to friends. My sense is that it's a fabulous school for strong students who are self starters; I've also heard good things about the school from kids who high levels of special education needs. Kids in the middle, especially if they struggle with executive function or anxiety (both of which describe my child) don't do as well there.

My child has executive functioning problems. She's a good student and gets all As and Bs, but we're coming from a small school where her teachers are all invested in her. She came off of an IEP last year, but still struggles. We're working on those skills, but afraid she'll fall through the cracks in such a large school. I don't mind homeschooling and would love to do it if it weren't for lack of social opportunities. It's the main reason I'm considering trying out Deal.

[Anonymous]

Have you spoken with anyone at Deal yet? I’d reach out to them about your daughter’s situation for some feedback.

[Anonymous]

If she is coming off an IEP, would you consider getting a 504 as a transition instrument for making the switch to Deal? It could ease her way at the beginning and you would have a chance to evaluate how good a fit the school is for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of student is your child? We have decided to go to private school, so my knowledge is from touring the school and talking to friends. My sense is that it's a fabulous school for strong students who are self starters; I've also heard good things about the school from kids who high levels of special education needs. Kids in the middle, especially if they struggle with executive function or anxiety (both of which describe my child) don't do as well there.

My child has executive functioning problems. She's a good student and gets all As and Bs, but we're coming from a small school where her teachers are all invested in her. She came off of an IEP last year, but still struggles. We're working on those skills, but afraid she'll fall through the cracks in such a large school. I don't mind homeschooling and would love to do it if it weren't for lack of social opportunities. It's the main reason I'm considering trying out Deal.

I'm the pp you quoted. Your daughter sounds like mine, and I think the chances of both of them falling through the cracks are high. I'm sure someone will post here with a kid with an IEP who had a good deal experience, but I haven't met anyone in real life (and I've talked to a lot of people with negative experiences fighting for IEP services and individual attention).

The charter that I thought would be great for this profile is Latin, but we got a lousy waitlist number two years in a row and I didn't research it thoroughly.

[Anonymous]

I think you ought to go in and talk to the Deal admin. I think you will find, as being new to DC, that you will not always get the most sane, objective responses from DCUM. Take everything with a grain of salt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you ought to go in and talk to the Deal admin. I think you will find, as being new to DC, that you will not always get the most sane, objective responses from DCUM. Take everything with a grain of salt.

+1
The people I know who actually have or recently had kids at Deal are all quite happy with it. It's a big school, which might create some challenges, but you really need to talk to some admin about your daughter's specific issues and how Deal would accommodate them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of student is your child? We have decided to go to private school, so my knowledge is from touring the school and talking to friends. My sense is that it's a fabulous school for strong students who are self starters; I've also heard good things about the school from kids who high levels of special education needs. Kids in the middle, especially if they struggle with executive function or anxiety (both of which describe my child) don't do as well there.

My child has executive functioning problems. She's a good student and gets all As and Bs, but we're coming from a small school where her teachers are all invested in her. She came off of an IEP last year, but still struggles. We're working on those skills, but afraid she'll fall through the cracks in such a large school. I don't mind homeschooling and would love to do it if it weren't for lack of social opportunities. It's the main reason I'm considering trying out Deal.

Try it out. if you find it's not working for your child, then leave. But it's worth a try.

[Anonymous]

My dc is leaving a private school for Deal. Deal is a great MS. Not sure how big of a delay in executive functioning your child has but I wouldn’t rule it out. The way Deal is set up it feels like a small school.

[Anonymous]

My child is in 9th grade now, but went to Deal all three years and loved it (who loves middle school?!). It's a big school, but they do a good job of breaking down the grades into more manageable, smaller teams.

[Anonymous]

I've never had a middle schooler (I will next year) but I think Deal does expect kids to be independent. Kids I know who are struggling are ones who have trouble self-managing their assignments, homework, tests, etc. Parents really don't interact with the teachers at all and I few parents I know have a hard time
figuring out what their role (as a parent) is even when their kid has issues with completing things/remembering things, etc. My friends who have kids in small private schools (here and elsewhere) have more contact with the teachers in middle school. We looked into a few privates here in DC and at some, kids are even assigned a faculty advisor in middle school and meet with that advisor weekly to "check-in" about their academic and organizational struggles/successes.

At Deal, the kids are responsible themselves. The vest majority of kids will do okay with this, some will struggle. The upper NW elementary schools (we're at one) start prepping kids for this in 4th grade---they kids rotate classes, they carry all work with them throughout the day in a binder, parents (especially in 5th) are really never in the classroom during the year (even as a room parent--I am one) and have very, very little contact with the teachers at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of student is your child? We have decided to go to private school, so my knowledge is from touring the school and talking to friends. My sense is that it's a fabulous school for strong students who are self starters; I've also heard good things about the school from kids who high levels of special education needs. Kids in the middle, especially if they struggle with executive function or anxiety (both of which describe my child) don't do as well there.

My child has executive functioning problems. She's a good student and gets all As and Bs, but we're coming from a small school where her teachers are all invested in her. She came off of an IEP last year, but still struggles. We're working on those skills, but afraid she'll fall through the cracks in such a large school. I don't mind homeschooling and would love to do it if it weren't for lack of social opportunities. It's the main reason I'm considering trying out Deal.

My daughter has ADHD inattentive and very very poor executive functioning skills. I was also very nervous about Deal. I want to type in all caps: DEAL IS FABULOUS. Each grade is divided into teams, and each team has <100 kids on it. Kids take classes with other team members and more importantly, every teacher in the team teaches every kid on the team. So it's a lot like a school with 100 kids. The team works closely together and we have found our team to be responsive, timely, proactive, understanding, and DEDICATED to our child. It has been a really good growth year for her, and I am SO GLAD she is there.