so if rhee is sending her older kid to deal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a current O-A middle school parent, I would say that yes, Rhee is sending a clear signal. Unless Chancellor Rhee's daughter has an overriding interest in extra curriculars, she's not getting something substantially different coursewise at Deal.

I respond to many of the prior posts of containing anecdotal "the middle school failed" prattle, with facts from a post in a different thread, that actually contains facts. The success of the middle school can be seen simply in the fact of high school admissions: 12 to Walls, 1 to Maret, 1 to Banneker, 2 to Phelps, 3 to Burke and 2 to WIS out of 42. That gives this parent with a rising 8th grader hope, and makes me wonder what people in this thread would actually consider a "successful" program.

impressive!
I don't believe in kids choosing their educational environment at this level; that's a parental choice and responsibility; I really wonder if the freestanding middle school is not more developmentally appropriate, tho like many parents, I prefer to keep my kids out of excessively mature company...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go Gray! (by the way...)

Ugh. And just what, pray tell, do you suppose Gray would do to our schools? I'm not particularly a Rhee fan, but I'd take her (and, more important, Fenty's view that schools are for kids, not jobs) over Door Number Two (with Vince Gray's hand on the knob) in a heartbeat.

[Anonymous]

Gray supports Charter schools, Fenty does not. So let's start there. BTW--It was only upon Fenty's election for mayor that he stated that he was for schools. The entire time he was on the city council he fought Mayor Anthony Williams on every step of the schools. Upon becoming mayor, Fenty took all of Williams great ideas about schools and incorporated them as if it was his vision. Then he sent his Deputy Mayor of Schools Renoisa to North Carolina and they plagiarized Charlotte-Meckenburg (sic) plans. Ah, do the Fenty administration have any ideas of their own.

[Anonymous]

9:01 My child was adamant about which middle school we should choose. Of course we would not allow DC to call the shots, we decided together.

By the way, many students who've been at the same school for a stretch want a change by Sixth or Seventh Grade. This is true for students at privates, like Lowell and Sheridan, as well as publics. Historically, before the middle school expansions, Oyster's Sixth Grade class was smaller than the Fifth Grade as students started switching to private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gray supports Charter schools, Fenty does not. So let's start there. BTW--It was only upon Fenty's election for mayor that he stated that he was for schools. The entire time he was on the city council he fought Mayor Anthony Williams on every step of the schools. Upon becoming mayor, Fenty took all of Williams great ideas about schools and incorporated them as if it was his vision. Then he sent his Deputy Mayor of Schools Renoisa to North Carolina and they plagiarized Charlotte-Meckenburg (sic) plans. Ah, do the Fenty administration have any ideas of their own.

Fenty's budgets have protected schools above all else. Money talks; the rest (especially Gray's) is just blather. And while I wish he were friendlier to charters, I also wish the Charter Board had the stones to shut down failing schools. Those two sides of the same coin have to come together to get what we all want -- more resources going to schools that can actually make good use of them.

As for stealing the good ideas of others, bravo! Much better than a mayor who insists that the wheel be reinvented just to stroke his own ego, don't you think?

[Anonymous]

It wasn't just using others' ideas though, it was plagarism -- inserting the writing in DC documents without citing the other school district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It wasn't just using others' ideas though, it was plagarism -- inserting the writing in DC documents without citing the other school district.

Bad form, to be sure, but how does it matter?

[Anonymous]

Fenty's about-face on mayoral control of the public schools is worse than described above. The day after he won the Democratic primary, which effectively made him mayor, he announced he was FOR taking control of the schools. This after campaigning that he was against that. Talk about slippery, calculated moves! Also, he did not follow the letter of the law when he hired Rhee. He did not run her resume by the city council. They learned of the hire in the papers. I tell you Fenty is one arrogant son of a gun. I'm undecided, don't know enough about Gray, but between Fenty and Rhee I have wanted to vomit on multiple occasions over the past several years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It wasn't just using others' ideas though, it was plagarism -- inserting the writing in DC documents without citing the other school district.

Bad form, to be sure, but how does it matter?

Off the top of my head:

* if Reionoso wasn't careful enough to at least rewrite things in his own words, why should I trust that he actually familiarized himself with the ideas & their appropriateness for DC?
* the plan he plagarized presumably had some sort of track record from its implementation in NC. Was that track record analyzed? (If so, it certainly wasn't addressed in the copy-and-paste report.) This seems like a big deal--either the program works, in which case its success can prove its appropriateness for DC, or there were problems, in which case the program can be improved.

[Anonymous]

So why then do so many parents transfer out before 8th?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gray supports Charter schools, Fenty does not. So let's start there. BTW--It was only upon Fenty's election for mayor that he stated that he was for schools. The entire time he was on the city council he fought Mayor Anthony Williams on every step of the schools. Upon becoming mayor, Fenty took all of Williams great ideas about schools and incorporated them as if it was his vision. Then he sent his Deputy Mayor of Schools Renoisa to North Carolina and they plagiarized Charlotte-Meckenburg (sic) plans. Ah, do the Fenty administration have any ideas of their own.

Fenty's budgets have protected schools above all else. Money talks; the rest (especially Gray's) is just blather. And while I wish he were friendlier to charters, I also wish the Charter Board had the stones to shut down failing schools. Those two sides of the same coin have to come together to get what we all want -- more resources going to schools that can actually make good use of them.

As for stealing the good ideas of others, bravo! Much better than a mayor who insists that the wheel be reinvented just to stroke his own ego, don't you think?

The Charter Board has closed several schools deemed underperforming by charter standards. I actually hope they sue the DC Government for equal parity. It will be a great legal case. At that point the charters would not have to worry about what Fenty and those that follow think. If the city will not do the right thing by the students at charters then let the courts decide. Of course, the outcome will be far more costly to the city in the long run.

[Anonymous]

13:15 Uncertainty and students/parents wanting Deal or private were the main ones I heard. Also some people were upset that Rhee fired the previous principal and left for that very reason. (I hate to bring up that unfortunate episode, but someone asked and it was a reason for some.)

[Anonymous]

I was happy to see the back of the old principal, she was creating misery for the staff, I am told
The current principal needs to fix up, however...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gray supports Charter schools, Fenty does not. So let's start there. BTW--It was only upon Fenty's election for mayor that he stated that he was for schools. The entire time he was on the city council he fought Mayor Anthony Williams on every step of the schools. Upon becoming mayor, Fenty took all of Williams great ideas about schools and incorporated them as if it was his vision. Then he sent his Deputy Mayor of Schools Renoisa to North Carolina and they plagiarized Charlotte-Meckenburg (sic) plans. Ah, do the Fenty administration have any ideas of their own.

Fenty's budgets have protected schools above all else. Money talks; the rest (especially Gray's) is just blather. And while I wish he were friendlier to charters, I also wish the Charter Board had the stones to shut down failing schools. Those two sides of the same coin have to come together to get what we all want -- more resources going to schools that can actually make good use of them.

As for stealing the good ideas of others, bravo! Much better than a mayor who insists that the wheel be reinvented just to stroke his own ego, don't you think?

He does more than steal good ideas. He seem to think that every block of land in DC that isn't already private or federal property is part of his personal demesne with which to reward his vassals, er... fraternity brothers and developer friends. Fenty isn't as economically and administratively incompetent as Marion Barry was, but he is every bit as corrupt. Gray at least is aboveboard. God I miss Tony Williams.

[Anonymous]

14:16 I was there and she had support among some faculty members. My sense is it was not a majority who did not like her. Ditto the parents. The way it was handled was atrocious. But that's Rhee. I cannot believe she did a similar thing to Patrick Pope at Hardy, for different reasons.