I agree. I'm in bounds for Hardy, though still in elementary. I don't think there is a huge racial bias or bias about living OOB. There is, however, a concern about culture clash. There is a perception that many kids at Hardy are disruptive, crass, indifferent to academics, or lacking in stable home life. Out or in bounds, white or black, THOSE are the issues, not race or address. That perception, however, may be outdated or completely inaccurate! |
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Current Hardy Parent here, posting one more time to bring it all back home.
The facts - not speculation - from an actual Hardy parent's perspective. 1. Some of the best students at Hardy are OOB students. They come from wonderful homes; they care about learning, they care about their friends, and they are all-around great kids. 2. There are some not so great OOB kids. There are also some not-so-great IB kids. Believe me, there is not a good kid/bad kid boundary that exists at the IB boundary. 3. There is nothing - nothing - preventing good, smart kids with caring and involved parents from learning at Hardy today. Those kids do great, and compete with their peers from Deal and other middle schools when they move on to Wilson, Walls, Banneker, and competitive privates. 4. Hardy is getting even better, with strong leadership from Principal Pride and even more course offering and differentiation coming up next year. You can believe all the unfounded speculation, you can get sidetracked in accusations of rascism and arguments over Hyde vs. Eaton as a Hardy feeder, but I implore you all to please keep those facts in mind as you consider Hardy for your IB or OOB student. |
Great post. |
pre-Rhee, Eaton only fed into Deal. Rhee wanted to change the feeder pattern and have Eaton feed only into Hardy. Folks at Eaton protested and asked that they keep Deal as a feeder. The protest was so great, that Rhee decided to keep Hardy as a feeder for Eaton, and maintain Deal so that students have a choice. I have no dog in this fight, as I am at private looking to enter public and strongly considering Hearst, which feeds into Deal, and our neighborhood MS is Deal by right, but if we did go to Hearst and Hardy improves--even just a little--I would apply OOB to enter Hardy--and we live closer to Deal, because Hardy is so much smaller and Deal is a huge behemoth of an institution that seems to large given the student population. Otherwise I would do private independent if we received adequate financial aid or do parochial--but never Deal. |
| PP here, I should add that I am Af Am, as is my child, and so I am not scared of being around a lot of little Black kids, as I suspect some of the posters are. |
| Did you really need to put race right back into it? |
| Ha, Ha, right! If there's one thing this board loooooves to write about, it's race. Snowflake this, scared and fearful that. |
23:17, I am similar to the poster you critique. By comparisons of my hometown classmates, I've attended great colleges and am having a successful career. When I compare myself to my college classmates and immediate colleagues, I lack rigorous quantitative skills and believe that it does impinge on my abilities in my work. OTOH, I think I am far more worldly, emotionally intelligent, and am able to work in nearly any office environment. I would like for my kids to be pushed in an inclusive school setting, one where teachers and administrators had high expectations for all students. |
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post. |
| I just want to clarify something: according to Pride, IF YOU ARE AT A FEEDER SCHOOL YOU ARE IB FOR HARDY. Somehow this whole IB OOB discussion has run off the rails. The parents who physically live (IB) near Hardy are dying to have Stoddert/Hyde kids attend regardless of where they live!! |
Yes, thank you. As a current Hardy parent, I concur. My son is OOB, getting all As and Bs, has challenging classes, is involved in music and sports, hangs out with kids of all races and has two parents who will kick his butt if he gets out of line (as middle schoolers are prone to do.) I have met many parents of different races and have found them all to be very engaged in their child's education. I have no idea whether they were IB or OOB because I don't really care. |
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Hardy will turnout faster than many expect. Principal pride knows that and is committed to improve the academics. The city supports her. It won't be long before hardy turns into a school where ib kids will go just like they go to their local ib public school now.
Source: Conversations with the principal Conversations with other hardy parents Conversations with parents from hardy feeder schools |
| Meant turn around not turnout |
This is sort is where we are too. IB for Hearst and excited to enter next year but judging what we see in our kid at this young age, i fear her being lost in Deal. Obviously it is years out but if Hardy continued to improve we would apply OOB. It is as if OOb is a code word on here for negative things. All schools have good and bad IB and OOB kids, right? Seems like school choice should be a good thing but I feel overwhelmed and like there are too many choices. |
+1 Also IB for Hearst, though not entering for another year. It seems like Hearst will remain feeding Deal given location, but if Hardy improves it's advanced course offerings then I would definitely consider Hardy as well. |