Joe Weedon wants permission to send his daughter to Walls

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought it was pretty hilarious when he lost his election last fall

he lost to a charter shill

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not Weedon that failed, it's DCPS. Article fails to mention that he worked for a non-profit focused on Eastern before running for school board. He told everyone his plan was to have his daughter attend Eastern. You could not find anyone more dedicated to the cause.

And yet ...

He is being dragged because he was so sure of what was right for everyone else, judged everyone else and now he realizes there isn’t a simple answer. It was arrogant then and he would be far more sympathetic if he said maybe I was wrong and there isn’t one answer that is right for all.

I like Joe a lot and was saddened when he lost his seat. But I think that a lot of the rah-rah spirit of that cohort from Maury going to Eliot-Hime wasn’t going to last. I just wish he and Amy hadn’t been so openly disappointed when older kids from the Hill chose Walls and Ellington, or god forbid, private.

I think it also matters that at the highschool age, kids have an opinion on where they go, regardless of their parents wanting to put them in the neighborhood school.

Except the article says the kid wanted Eastern. It also said she was concerned with whether it would be more challenging than EH, where the complaint was a loss of instructional time due to teacher absences.

So did kid decide she wanted to sit for the Walks exam or did parents suggest ?

the real kicker in the article is the reference to his daughter mastering card games during frequent down time with subs at EH. That would be a HUGE red flag if I was considering EH. Teacher absenteeism is a problem in many DC middle schools and the more time with subs the less gets accomplished in class. To my mind that's a pretty damning statement about EH if your child wants to be challenged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, the article came across to me as the ES was saved once it was mostly white.

Any school can be approved if enough resources and attention are invested. The attendees’ race is irrelevant, unless that is what is determining what resources and attention are available for improving that school.

Simply not true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Difficult decision, my ass. It's a lock she'll go to Walls and the performative hand-wringing is for cover.

+1000. There is no hypocrite like a liberal hypocrite. No way will he sacrifice his own kid on the altar of political correctness.

Well put. See also: Samantha Bee and her husband blocking diversity from their kids' neighborhood school.

Okay, so that one is patently false. Fake news. You can stop spreading that one, PP.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/samantha-bees-husband-school/

Snopes is partisan bullsh**. This is Bee's husband -- a leader of the parent faction that wanted to keep their kids' Upper West Side "public" school exclusively rich, non-integrated UWS gilded offspring. They were exposed for being the closeted classist and racist liberal hypocrites they truly are.

https://www.wnyc.org/story/advice-jason-jones-upper-west-side-parents-dont-talk-press/
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/nyregion/a-game-of-musical-chairs-played-with-schools-divides-the-upper-west-side.html
https://slate.com/human-interest/2016/06/the-upper-west-side-is-new-york-s-latest-school-integration-battleground.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, the article came across to me as the ES was saved once it was mostly white.

Any school can be approved if enough resources and attention are invested. The attendees’ race is irrelevant, unless that is what is determining what resources and attention are available for improving that school.

Simply not true.

White and Asian* and Indian* would be more accurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, the article came across to me as the ES was saved once it was mostly white.

Any school can be approved if enough resources and attention are invested. The attendees’ race is irrelevant, unless that is what is determining what resources and attention are available for improving that school.

Simply not true.

White and Asian* and Indian* would be more accurate.

That would make the first paragraph more accurate.

The second one is still not true -- it is the caliber of the students and the families, and not the $ spent, that makes a school good or bad.

[Anonymous]

Gotta' love white liberal guilt.

[Anonymous]

I was surprised wheeden seemed fine with his kid playing cards all the time with substitute teachers. I would never sacrifice my kids education just to make a larger point about public schools. That’s just bad parenting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised wheeden seemed fine with his kid playing cards all the time with substitute teachers. I would never sacrifice my kids education just to make a larger point about public schools. That’s just bad parenting.

I would have hit the roof if that was my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised wheeden seemed fine with his kid playing cards all the time with substitute teachers. I would never sacrifice my kids education just to make a larger point about public schools. That’s just bad parenting.

that's a bit much. you can fairly criticize the school without rejecting it outright. MS teacher absenteeism is a real issue throughout the system -- that's why neither DCPS or DCPCS reports on it.

[Anonymous]

If his daughter spent most of her time in middle school playing cards, being unchallenged and having a frequent rotation of subs or teachers coming/going, why does he need a WashPo article to tell us what we all know? DCPS is not prepared for middle school and certainly, there are only a few slots at the magnet high schools. I'm assuming that Weedon probably had to get a tutor for his DD in order for her to do well on PARCC and entrance exams to Walls given the lack of proper rigor.

While DCPS struggles with proper middle/high school neighborhood options, the schools in the suburbs struggle with how not to be pressure cookers. Those in the private Big 10 also struggle with the pressure cooker environments.

Its a sad state of affairs when our only option in this region and across the country is a pressure cooker school which comes with lots of learning, room for challenge/growth and opportunities vs disengaged low scoring schools rife with little challenge.

DC is in a unique position because the city council allowed charters here to directly compete with city public schools, thereby almost forcing DCPS to begin looking at how to retain residents for funding schools. New residents are trying to hold DCPS accountable with little success. DCPS is only good through elementary and they don't seem to care about proper neighborhood middle/high school options because its economic city tax base is strong. Many residents in the District are childfree and therefore don't use the city's schools so they really don't care to be involved. Many are also transient and not here for the long term. Still, others will leave after the free pre-k for the suburbs or private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If his daughter spent most of her time in middle school playing cards, being unchallenged and having a frequent rotation of subs or teachers coming/going, why does he need a WashPo article to tell us what we all know? DCPS is not prepared for middle school and certainly, there are only a few slots at the magnet high schools. I'm assuming that Weedon probably had to get a tutor for his DD in order for her to do well on PARCC and entrance exams to Walls given the lack of proper rigor.

While DCPS struggles with proper middle/high school neighborhood options, the schools in the suburbs struggle with how not to be pressure cookers. Those in the private Big 10 also struggle with the pressure cooker environments.

Its a sad state of affairs when our only option in this region and across the country is a pressure cooker school which comes with lots of learning, room for challenge/growth and opportunities vs disengaged low scoring schools rife with little challenge.

DC is in a unique position because the city council allowed charters here to directly compete with city public schools, thereby almost forcing DCPS to begin looking at how to retain residents for funding schools. New residents are trying to hold DCPS accountable with little success. DCPS is only good through elementary and they don't seem to care about proper neighborhood middle/high school options because its economic city tax base is strong. Many residents in the District are childfree and therefore don't use the city's schools so they really don't care to be involved. Many are also transient and not here for the long term. Still, others will leave after the free pre-k for the suburbs or private schools.

Don't remember the quote of him saying "most of her time in middle school playing cards", just perhaps more frequently than he liked. She still got into SWW so you'd have a hard time convincing me that she got nothing out of her EH education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If his daughter spent most of her time in middle school playing cards, being unchallenged and having a frequent rotation of subs or teachers coming/going, why does he need a WashPo article to tell us what we all know? DCPS is not prepared for middle school and certainly, there are only a few slots at the magnet high schools. I'm assuming that Weedon probably had to get a tutor for his DD in order for her to do well on PARCC and entrance exams to Walls given the lack of proper rigor.

While DCPS struggles with proper middle/high school neighborhood options, the schools in the suburbs struggle with how not to be pressure cookers. Those in the private Big 10 also struggle with the pressure cooker environments.

Its a sad state of affairs when our only option in this region and across the country is a pressure cooker school which comes with lots of learning, room for challenge/growth and opportunities vs disengaged low scoring schools rife with little challenge.

DC is in a unique position because the city council allowed charters here to directly compete with city public schools, thereby almost forcing DCPS to begin looking at how to retain residents for funding schools. New residents are trying to hold DCPS accountable with little success. DCPS is only good through elementary and they don't seem to care about proper neighborhood middle/high school options because its economic city tax base is strong. Many residents in the District are childfree and therefore don't use the city's schools so they really don't care to be involved. Many are also transient and not here for the long term. Still, others will leave after the free pre-k for the suburbs or private schools.

There are a lot of DC type A types who think tutoring is necessary, but for smart motivated kids its
unnecessary. The broad brush applied to EH and by extension its students and community is unfair when you can't even acknowledge the kids who happen succeed, however much they're an exception.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised wheeden seemed fine with his kid playing cards all the time with substitute teachers. I would never sacrifice my kids education just to make a larger point about public schools. That’s just bad parenting.

Well, the whole and much more important point there is this: She still was accepted to Walls, with a record number of applicants. Not because she is gifted but SHE nevertheless learned. Research shows time and again, that the parents' situation (their levels of education, their involvement in school, their outlook on life) is a crucial predictor of educational success. Voile, there you have it. No sacrifice.

(Says this mom with a kid at another Title I middle school aiming for test-in high schools.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If his daughter spent most of her time in middle school playing cards, being unchallenged and having a frequent rotation of subs or teachers coming/going, why does he need a WashPo article to tell us what we all know? DCPS is not prepared for middle school and certainly, there are only a few slots at the magnet high schools. I'm assuming that Weedon probably had to get a tutor for his DD in order for her to do well on PARCC and entrance exams to Walls given the lack of proper rigor.

While DCPS struggles with proper middle/high school neighborhood options, the schools in the suburbs struggle with how not to be pressure cookers. Those in the private Big 10 also struggle with the pressure cooker environments.

Its a sad state of affairs when our only option in this region and across the country is a pressure cooker school which comes with lots of learning, room for challenge/growth and opportunities vs disengaged low scoring schools rife with little challenge.

DC is in a unique position because the city council allowed charters here to directly compete with city public schools, thereby almost forcing DCPS to begin looking at how to retain residents for funding schools. New residents are trying to hold DCPS accountable with little success. DCPS is only good through elementary and they don't seem to care about proper neighborhood middle/high school options because its economic city tax base is strong. Many residents in the District are childfree and therefore don't use the city's schools so they really don't care to be involved. Many are also transient and not here for the long term. Still, others will leave after the free pre-k for the suburbs or private schools.

There are a lot of DC type A types who think tutoring is necessary, but for smart motivated kids its
unnecessary. The broad brush applied to EH and by extension its students and community is unfair when you can't even acknowledge the kids who happen succeed, however much they're an exception.

While the Weedons have seen the social and community benefits that come with attending their neighborhood middle school, they have also encountered the challenges. Most prominently: high turnover among teachers and administrators, which leads to an unstable academic environment. His daughter says she has become an expert card player because of all the free time she has had with substitute teachers.

Are you ignoring this portion of the article or just lacking proper comprehension? There was an unstable academic environment, his daughter became an expert card player and you tell me that the possibility of Malia having a tutor is a type A behavior? I am sure her parents had to fill in the large academic DCPS gaps in some form--- tutors, enrichment, etc. There are many posters on here who attend DCPS in upper elementary/middle school who provide out-of-school experiences--- which are a form of enrichment. There are others who have a tutor but probably wouldn't admit it --- the horror of do as I say, but not as I do exist in many DC liberal circles.

PP, you need to get off the offensive train, I did not paint the EH community with a broad brush nor did I state that there aren't smart kids at EH. I simply came to a conclusion based on what I read on WashPo.