Please don't just take a spot at a charter school because you want free care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - Here is an example that people may understand. SELA will be a Hebrew language charter school. We won't be attending SELA (already at a different charter), but I think its charter is great! There will be hundreds of applicants - many of which REALLY want their children to learn Hebrew. Then there will be applicants who could care absolutely less about the charter of the school, but are looking for free care. So, I don't think it's fair that a family, who doesn't care about the school/charter, takes a spot away from a family who not only loves the idea of their child learning Hebrew, but who would really support the school. That's why I am asking people to not just take a spot if they really don't care about a charter school.

Do I really think there is anything I can do about parents taking (in my opinion) spots away from families who would really care for, nuture and support a school and the school's mission as written in its charter? No, of course not. Can I voice my opinion on DCUM? Yes, of course I can. As another poster wrote, charter schools can only be great if the PARENTS of the school stand behind it and support it to the best of their abilities.

Haha. I applied to Yu Ying, EL Haynes, Lamb, DC Bilingual, Stokes, and Tyler Spanish Immersion for my DC. DC got off YYs wait list, and no other. so he is a student at YY. It was our last choice, but only option to avoid an atrocious IB school. Nope, there was no love for acquiring the Mandarin language, but DC speaks Mandarin beautifully. Well at least according to my girlfriend born in China and raised in NY.

Oh, and it's not free daycare. I pay between $450-$510 a month for aftercare. The families who so desperately want Hebrew for their child does not get special points in their lottery quest.

[Anonymous]

You are missing a fundamental point, OP. Many (perhaps most) of those parents who don't really care about the specific charter of a school are not, as you so inelegantly put it, loking for free care. They may not give a fig for Hebrew immersion, but they care a great deal about providing their kids a quality elementary school education. In large swaths of the city, DCPS is not an option, so families who want a public education are compelled to go the charter route. And that means applying to any of the schools that are (or that they think may be) "good schools," regardless of whether they think it is the perfect charter of not. A family who doesn't go to sleep at nights dreaming of Hebrew immersion may very well apply to SELA because there is no limit on the number of charters to which they can apply, and because, at the end of the day, it's vastly preferable to an atrocious DCPS. If they really love the misson of another charter to which they are admitted, great - they'll go there. But if not, well, Hebrew immersion (or Chinese, or Spanish, or Expeditionary Learning, or year-round schedule, or whatever - this isn't specific to SELA) is certainly better than nothing.

In short, you've set up a false dichotomy to "prove" your point. If there were enough quality K slots in DCPS and DCPCS to satisfy everyone, you might have a point. But there aren't, so you're really just talking nonsense.

You are missing the point if you assume that Hebrew immersion is, definition, a "quality elementary school education."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - Here is an example that people may understand. SELA will be a Hebrew language charter school. We won't be attending SELA (already at a different charter), but I think its charter is great! There will be hundreds of applicants - many of which REALLY want their children to learn Hebrew. Then there will be applicants who could care absolutely less about the charter of the school, but are looking for free care. So, I don't think it's fair that a family, who doesn't care about the school/charter, takes a spot away from a family who not only loves the idea of their child learning Hebrew, but who would really support the school. That's why I am asking people to not just take a spot if they really don't care about a charter school.

Do I really think there is anything I can do about parents taking (in my opinion) spots away from families who would really care for, nuture and support a school and the school's mission as written in its charter? No, of course not. Can I voice my opinion on DCUM? Yes, of course I can. As another poster wrote, charter schools can only be great if the PARENTS of the school stand behind it and support it to the best of their abilities.

Haha. I applied to Yu Ying, EL Haynes, Lamb, DC Bilingual, Stokes, and Tyler Spanish Immersion for my DC. DC got off YYs wait list, and no other. so he is a student at YY. It was our last choice, but only option to avoid an atrocious IB school. Nope, there was no love for acquiring the Mandarin language, but DC speaks Mandarin beautifully. Well at least according to my girlfriend born in China and raised in NY.

Oh, and it's not free daycare. I pay between $450-$510 a month for aftercare. The families who so desperately want Hebrew for their child does not get special points in their lottery quest.

OP Here - You sound like a parent who - although YY was not your first choice- embraced YY and have supported it. Correct? If so, then you helped make my point exactly. Of course you have to pay for the aftercare - I am referring to the free daily school. Plus aftercare would have been free if you could not afford.

My point is for people to not just take any charter school that they get and then NOT support the school. Don't take your children to a school that you are not going to care about.

[Anonymous]

OP, quit looking for alliances and support where none exists. Your simplified, and judgmental views are small minded.

[Anonymous]

OP, when are you going to admit that you are conflating some offhand comment you heard into some kind of problem where none exists? You really think there are huge numbers of parents saying, "Hey, eff you and your parent involvement. This is our last choice charter, and we frankly don't give a fark about this school. Quit asking for our support!"

Mmmhmmm.

[Anonymous]

I don't think that there are a lot of charter administrators saying stay away of you can't bake cookies and attend school assemblies. Even at private schools there are more active and less active parents. My (Indian) parents stayed completely out of school unless we misbehaved - no daylight between them at the principal/teachers - they just had no frame of reference for bake sales or pep rallies and only cared about report cards or negative letters sent home. It sounds like the PP is trying to guilt trip people into not applying to schools they want to go to so that they have a better chance. Lame!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, when are you going to admit that you are conflating some offhand comment you heard into some kind of problem where none exists? You really think there are huge numbers of parents saying, "Hey, eff you and your parent involvement. This is our last choice charter, and we frankly don't give a fark about this school. Quit asking for our support!"

Mmmhmmm.

While it is far from a critical mass of parents, I know from talking to teachers and administrators at charters that OP is NOT wrong. Especially with the recession and the growing good reputations of some DC charters, there ARE a lot of parents who are choosing DC charters more out of necessity (I.e. not because their IB school is atrocious, their IB schools are fine, but don't have the glowing reputations some charters have). If their kid doesn't get in they bite the bullet and opt for private. But if they do get in, they now have this huge focus on Montessori/expeditionary learning/Mandarin/environmental issues/Spanish that they weren't seeking and some of theses parents RESIST and are pains in the butt.

The better the reps and outcomes of some charters, the worse this will get. Obviously the rest of what was said above is also true - for every grumpy parent there will be many other parents who, while they didn't chose that school because of their mission (the school chose them via lottery), because they want their child to succeed they will support their child in that school however they can and ave a good attitude about it.

OP has already admitted she can't do much more than vent about this, but you are wrong to say the problem she describes doesn't exist. Teachers and Principals at the real popular charters say otherwise.

(An aside, but it's worth also saying that some charter school staff also have success stories of turning sour parents into supportive ones, but not every time.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You are missing a fundamental point, OP. Many (perhaps most) of those parents who don't really care about the specific charter of a school are not, as you so inelegantly put it, loking for free care. They may not give a fig for Hebrew immersion, but they care a great deal about providing their kids a quality elementary school education. In large swaths of the city, DCPS is not an option, so families who want a public education are compelled to go the charter route. And that means applying to any of the schools that are (or that they think may be) "good schools," regardless of whether they think it is the perfect charter of not. A family who doesn't go to sleep at nights dreaming of Hebrew immersion may very well apply to SELA because there is no limit on the number of charters to which they can apply, and because, at the end of the day, it's vastly preferable to an atrocious DCPS. If they really love the misson of another charter to which they are admitted, great - they'll go there. But if not, well, Hebrew immersion (or Chinese, or Spanish, or Expeditionary Learning, or year-round schedule, or whatever - this isn't specific to SELA) is certainly better than nothing.

In short, you've set up a false dichotomy to "prove" your point. If there were enough quality K slots in DCPS and DCPCS to satisfy everyone, you might have a point. But there aren't, so you're really just talking nonsense.

You are missing the point if you assume that Hebrew immersion is, definition, a "quality elementary school education."

Seriously, were you born a dumbass, or did you have to work at it? This is not a discussion specific to SELA - and lo and behold, I think I even said that explicitly in the post. Yep, there it is.

Please try and keep up.

[Anonymous]

I think this is only an issue if there is NO parental involvement by any of the parents. Every class needs a few mover and shaker parents who have the energy to make some changes.

I personally am very introverted and am not good at organizing things. I suppose some would consider me to not be very engaged. I support the fundraisers, chat with the teachers every morning, and greet all of my kid's classmates by name. And I work like crazy to make sure that my kid is an asset to the class - manners, behavior, keeping up with the weekly lessons etc. I'm sure that's not enough for some, but that is just too bad.

I read here on a thread once that some families view their kid's time out of school as time for family and church, period, so they just don't want to get involved with a bunch of stuff at school. That's okay with me, too.

[Anonymous]

Everyone is bashing the OP, but her point is valid.

In theory, we all want "school choice" but the reality is that there aren't enough high-performing DCPSs and charters, so that we all actually get to choose. Sometimes "you get what you get and you don't get upset."

There are families at Yu Ying who may have never even thought about Chinese, they speak two languages from two different continents already. There are families aching to get into LAMB or MV because they have generations of Spanish-speakers.

I would prefer that all the families at our particular school, chose it with the same passion that we did. I would love for there to be so many options out there that you could come here, or go elsewhere, easily. There just aren't enough good schools, not just in DC but everywhere.

Lottery season is scary.

More charters = more choices.

[Anonymous]

If your child is of age to enter the lottery or enroll why would you cnsider a person to take a spot just for free childcare?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your child is of age to enter the lottery or enroll why would you cnsider a person to take a spot just for free childcare?

The EotP DCPS schools start offering free childcare for 3 y.o. People who can afford private pre-school have been known to take these spots, only to move on at the earliest opportunity. This leads to bad feelings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your child is of age to enter the lottery or enroll why would you cnsider a person to take a spot just for free childcare?

The EotP DCPS schools start offering free childcare for 3 y.o. People who can afford private pre-school have been known to take these spots, only to move on at the earliest opportunity. This leads to bad feelings.

If you can afford taking a cab, is it an ethical obligation to avoid the metro during rush hour?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Haha. I applied to Yu Ying, EL Haynes, Lamb, DC Bilingual, Stokes, and Tyler Spanish Immersion for my DC. DC got off YYs wait list, and no other. so he is a student at YY. It was our last choice, but only option to avoid an atrocious IB school. Nope, there was no love for acquiring the Mandarin language, but DC speaks Mandarin beautifully. Oh, and it's not free daycare. I pay between $450-$510 a month for aftercare. The families who so desperately want Hebrew for their child does not get special points in their lottery quest.



Right on. YY would have been our first choice if it had been the first choice of most of the parents there, more for pull factors than push factors. We speak Chinese at home (as Chinese immigants), but like most other bilingual DC Chinese with tiny tots, we don't see the point of leaving our decent IB school for a charter mostly attracting random families with no connection to Chinese or China. So we aren't going to apply. YY parents rarely seem to want to admit that they arrive via the above process, but lots do. We talk to YY parents in our Capitol Hill neighborhood who don't seem to know that Mandarin is just one dialect of Chinese, and probably couldn't find any of China's major cities on a map. What a silly admissions process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP here - Here is an example that people may understand. SELA will be a Hebrew language charter school. We won't be attending SELA (already at a different charter), but I think its charter is great! There will be hundreds of applicants - many of which REALLY want their children to learn Hebrew. Then there will be applicants who could care absolutely less about the charter of the school, but are looking for free care. So, I don't think it's fair that a family, who doesn't care about the school/charter, takes a spot away from a family who not only loves the idea of their child learning Hebrew, but who would really support the school. That's why I am asking people to not just take a spot if they really don't care about a charter school.

Do I really think there is anything I can do about parents taking (in my opinion) spots away from families who would really care for, nuture and support a school and the school's mission as written in its charter? No, of course not. Can I voice my opinion on DCUM? Yes, of course I can. As another poster wrote, charter schools can only be great if the PARENTS of the school stand behind it and support it to the best of their abilities.


You are missing a fundamental point, OP. Many (perhaps most) of those parents who don't really care about the specific charter of a school are not, as you so inelegantly put it, loking for free care. They may not give a fig for Hebrew immersion, but they care a great deal about providing their kids a quality elementary school education. In large swaths of the city, DCPS is not an option, so families who want a public education are compelled to go the charter route. And that means applying to any of the schools that are (or that they think may be) "good schools," regardless of whether they think it is the perfect charter of not. A family who doesn't go to sleep at nights dreaming of Hebrew immersion may very well apply to SELA because there is no limit on the number of charters to which they can apply, and because, at the end of the day, it's vastly preferable to an atrocious DCPS. If they really love the misson of another charter to which they are admitted, great - they'll go there. But if not, well, Hebrew immersion (or Chinese, or Spanish, or Expeditionary Learning, or year-round schedule, or whatever - this isn't specific to SELA) is certainly better than nothing.

In short, you've set up a false dichotomy to "prove" your point. If there were enough quality K slots in DCPS and DCPCS to satisfy everyone, you might have a point. But there aren't, so you're really just talking nonsense.

NP here. I read your rude response to another PP, but, well, you do exactly suggest that people who would apply to SELA do so because they care about providing a quality elementary school education. Since SELA has not opened yet, why would anyone think it will automatically provide a quality education? We may hope it will, but saying that it is already vastly preferable to an atrocious DCPS is doesn't prove your point. So maybe dial back your rudeness and wait, along with the rest of us, for SELA to open before claiming its charter is good or that it will be a good school. Thanks.