ludlow-taylor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10:15, are you always such a bitch or is it just reserved for an anonymous message board? Do toddlers too young to attend Brent frequent the park? Certainly. Do OOB parents bring their children to the park? Yup. Are there discussions amongst parents about schools/issues other than Brent? Indeed. Does this make PP's opinion invalid? No. Personally I would opt for staying in the bubble if I get to avoid interacting with the likes of you.

My - how territorial sweetie! -- Didn't know that being IB for Brent was a requirement to use the public Marion Park, especially one that's 1/4 mi. away. maybe their kids should go play closer to Tyler.

[Anonymous]

I am having trouble following this argument. Not sure what it is even about. Perhaps it can stop?

[Anonymous]

You and me both! We need a Cliffs Notes summary.

[Anonymous]

I don't need Cliff Notes to follow any of this. Simply put, it would be great if the Stanton Park neighborhood had a viable neighborhood school for K to 5. Maury and Brent parents do benefit from having such a school, in myriad ways (including those smart boards). LT parents don't. If thinking this makes any of us bitches, fine.

[Anonymous]

I don't think that is what the argument is about. Something with toddlers and public parks? It strayed from the LT topic.

At any rate every LT classroom has a Smartboard now. And the teachers in K-5 are fabulous. If you can't see that or don't want to take the time to see that (more likely the case) or simply want to incessantly bring up that you have seen MD tags that's too bad for you. But it is a LIE to say that parents don't have a viable neighborhood school. Go observe a class in an upper grade. It is better to make comments based on fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
At any rate every LT classroom has a Smartboard now. And the teachers in K-5 are fabulous. If you can't see that or don't want to take the time to see that (more likely the case) or simply want to incessantly bring up that you have seen MD tags that's too bad for you. But it is a LIE to say that parents don't have a viable neighborhood school. Go observe a class in an upper grade. It is better to make comments based on fact.

Yes. This.

[Anonymous]

Will the white people build their own clusters of schools please. That will settle all of the arguments out there in la-la land.

[Anonymous]

+1
PP 14:31. I honestly believe that is what most of these loonies want. They are delusional to think they are not being overtly racist. We will never convince them that LT is a great place because their bigoted minds have been made.

[Anonymous]

Not disagreeing with any PPs, because I am a long time LT-area resident and understand where the frustrations are coming from (although I wish they could be conveyed with more sensitivity and kindness).

I have visited upper classes at LT. I thought the teachers were top-rate and students were eager.

However, I was wondering something.... I was struck by how much time and attention was given to modeling good behavior ("Class, we are about to do x. Let me show you exactly how we will do it. You will take this x and gently place it here. No throwing, no horseplaying, etc.) The instruction seemed to last longer than the activity. The class was very attentive but communication was primarily one way (teacher to students). Note, my visit was mid-year (enough time to review behavior modeling many times).

When I visited some other schools (mainly charters), I didn't see the same amount of behavior modeling and there was more debate/discussion in the upper grade classes I saw (teachers sparking discussion b/ students).

For those of you who have visited LT, am I correct in my observation? It was a short visit so I may be off base. Just want another take on it. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Holy cow - was this actually an informative post specifying a point of concern without being insulting in this string?? Bravo. Eagerly awaiting a response!

[Anonymous]

LT leadership is committed to educating poor (and because we are DC) thus largely AA kids. Admirable and much needed. This generates tension with local gentrifiers who would like to send their kids to a more affluent, racially diverse neighborhood school. Also understandable. The problem for these two groups is that there is no middle ground. If more affluent, white kids start coming to the school, others will follow, and pretty soon your classroom demographics look like Brent: two thirds white and 10% FARMS. Once a tipping point is reached the change comes very fast. The result being that 200+ good quality ES seats are lost to poor black families. LT leadership has good reason to resist this, except that LT is a neighborhood school and thus meant to serve a local community. I wonder if some middle ground could be found if schools were prevented from gentrifying quite as much and as quickly as Brent has. Perhaps by reserving seats for FARMS kids at all schools. For a city with a demographic profile like DC setting a floor of 35% low SES kids in any school might be healthy. Might entice us gentrifiers to invest in neighborhood schools with the test scores and classroom diversity we are looking for, while mitigating resistance from educators who are passionate about meeting the needs of under privileged kids.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like LT is a great school for a demographic that commutes in. As stated, there will be a tipping point, and it seems as thought DCPS would benefit if they held on to this principal and her team but relocated them to a neighborhood where there skills would be best utilized before they become exasperated with the feeling of being overrun by a population thatay not appreciate their specific skill set.

Has anyone had a candid conversation with Kaya about helping the team find a better home where the kids won't have to commute?

[Anonymous]

Their! (sorry)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: LT leadership is committed to educating poor (and because we are DC) thus largely AA kids. Admirable and much needed. This generates tension with local gentrifiers who would like to send their kids to a more affluent, racially diverse neighborhood school. Also understandable. The problem for these two groups is that there is no middle ground. If more affluent, white kids start coming to the school, others will follow, and pretty soon your classroom demographics look like Brent: two thirds white and 10% FARMS. Once a tipping point is reached the change comes very fast. The result being that 200+ good quality ES seats are lost to poor black families. LT leadership has good reason to resist this, except that LT is a neighborhood school and thus meant to serve a local community. I wonder if some middle ground could be found if schools were prevented from gentrifying quite as much and as quickly as Brent has. Perhaps by reserving seats for FARMS kids at all schools. For a city with a demographic profile like DC setting a floor of 35% low SES kids in any school might be healthy. Might entice us gentrifiers to invest in neighborhood schools with the test scores and classroom diversity we are looking for, while mitigating resistance from educators who are passionate about meeting the needs of under privileged kids.

If you do this, though, wouldn't that be the same as the old system of "bussing"? I though the school choice movement was a reaction to that failed experiment. Now, if you took away choice and made all students stay IB, LT would be lilywhite overnight, but that's not ideal either. There really is a huge divide in our city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like LT is a great school for a demographic that commutes in. As stated, there will be a tipping point, and it seems as thought DCPS would benefit if they held on to this principal and her team but relocated them to a neighborhood where there skills would be best utilized before they become exasperated with the feeling of being overrun by a population thatay not appreciate their specific skill set.

Has anyone had a candid conversation with Kaya about helping the team find a better home where the kids won't have to commute?

This is a great idea -- I'm not against Cobbs, but feel like she is against me/the immediate neighbors. Why not find a better fit (though she deserves an updated building after having to wait for LT's refresh!)?