BASIS high school versus middle school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The happy BASIS 8th graders we know have stayed for HS.

This. DC charter doesn't collect data on why families leave BASIS. Apparently, they don't care why they leave.

They collect data on retention. If you're happy, you stay. If you're neutral or unhappy, you go, who knows why.

That is way too simplistic an analysis.

For example, some people leave because their are foreign or US diplomats for an overseas postings, some people leave because of job transfers, some people get divorced and one person moves to another area, etc. That has nothing to do with whether they are "happy" with the school, whatever that means.

Plus, and this is the part that entitled DCUM parents don't seem to grasp, you are not required to be happy and no school is required to make you happy. If you send your kid to Duke Ellington and then complain that there's too much focus on arts then TFB. Similarly, if you send your kid to BASIS and complain that it doesn't focus on your kid's chosen immersion language and/or it is too test heavy, TFB. You are not required to like it or stay. That is ok. The problem with DCUM (and DC in general) is that entitled parents grew up thinking they were god's gift to [insert thing here]. They were told their entire lives that everyone was lucky to have them and wanted them. It messes with their whole world view when schools say, "nah, I'm good. If you don't like the way we do things feel free to leave."

If you want proof of what that approach does to the fragile psyches of DCUM parents just take a look at the posters who long ago left but still carry around so very much anger that they feel a need to express it at every turn on DCUM.

What do you get out of this sort of sanctimonious crap? You must know how desperate many parents EotP are for a decent public middle school. Their desperation shouldn't be an excuse for BASIS to push them around (several years of beginning Spanish for kids who arrive with advance Spanish, put up or shut up. etc.). As long as taxpayer dollars fund DC charters, parents have a right to push back when they're unhappy. That's not entitlement, that's the a basic right of citizens. We're never going to get higher performing schools in this city when stakeholder families essentially have no say in how schools work. Things aren't much better at Deal, Hobson, Latin, DCI and so forth.

It is called school choice.

Feel free to run for the school board. I don’t think yelling on DCUM will make much difference.

So why are you here, yelling?

How old are you? 10?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are v. few international jet setting types at BASIS, staying or moving on to new assignments. I'd wager that around 5% of the cohort falls into the leaving due to family changes category. You know this about BASIS by 8th grade.

Based on your intimate personal knowledge of the family circumstances of the 1000 or so parents of BASIS students?

Give us a break, the school isn't huge. Not even 100 students in a 7th or 8th grade cohort. This just isn't a program packed with jet setters and families who have significantly better options for HS without moving house. Presumably those people send their kids to schools with...grass.

A whole bunch go to Walls which has no grass at all.

This is one of favorite hobbies! Watching people scream that they left BASIS for Walls because there were no grass or fields at BASIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are v. few international jet setting types at BASIS, staying or moving on to new assignments. I'd wager that around 5% of the cohort falls into the leaving due to family changes category. You know this about BASIS by 8th grade.

Based on your intimate personal knowledge of the family circumstances of the 1000 or so parents of BASIS students?

Give us a break, the school isn't huge. Not even 100 students in a 7th or 8th grade cohort. This just isn't a program packed with jet setters and families who have significantly better options for HS without moving house. Presumably those people send their kids to schools with...grass.

These comments about grass always make me lol. If you cared about grass so much, you would have moved to the suburbs years ago?? Why are you in the city?

I can afford to move and to send to private. I send my kid to BASIS because it’s a good fit. That’s the only thing any parent should be focused on. Get your kid into the school that is the best fit.

[Anonymous]

No urban school building should be built or extensively renovated w/out outdoor space, a quiet area to study and little natural light.

No school should lose 2/3 of its middle school students without pushback from municipal ed leaders.

No high-powered school focused on admissions to the v. most selective colleges in the country should fail to provide any music instruction or any real learning beyond AP prep.

No public charter school should hire 8 heads in 14 years.

Good fit is what parents who don't want to move or pay for privates talk about. Meanwhile, the BASIS HS has deeply in-grained problems that need fixing, OP.

Signed,
Former BASIS parent of Ivy Leaguer (aka a troll) who seldom posts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No urban school building should be built or extensively renovated w/out outdoor space, a quiet area to study and little natural light.

No school should lose 2/3 of its middle school students without pushback from municipal ed leaders.

No high-powered school focused on admissions to the v. most selective colleges in the country should fail to provide any music instruction or any real learning beyond AP prep.

No public charter school should hire 8 heads in 14 years.

Good fit is what parents who don't want to move or pay for privates talk about. Meanwhile, the BASIS HS has deeply in-grained problems that need fixing, OP.

Signed,
Former BASIS parent of Ivy Leaguer (aka a troll) who seldom posts

You sound troubled.

[Anonymous]

Had to take the bait/respond:

Anonymous wrote:No urban school building should be built or extensively renovated w/out outdoor space, a quiet area to study and little natural light.

While I agree that in a perfect world, BASIS would have a lovely (suburban-like) campus, I have come to appreciate the location near the mall, MLK library, and Portrait Gallery. My kid raves about all three of these, and daily off-campus lunch in the Portrait Gallery atrium. Pretty cool thing that you don't get in the suburbs.

No school should lose 2/3 of its middle school students without pushback from municipal ed leaders.

[/b] Why exaggerate to make your point? My kid's current 9th grade class has 78; started at 135. I don't mind that many disruptive kids have left, leaving a more focused group of kids that want to be there. If BASIS could be more selective at the outset, there wouldn't be this attrition rate, but it is what it is in DC

No high-powered school focused on admissions to the v. most selective colleges in the country should fail to provide any music instruction or any real learning beyond AP prep.

[b] WRT music comment, not sure what you are after here. Band? Choir? I agree that would be nice to have. There is some generalized music/instruction/classes at BASIS - but my kid's focus is art (and the teacher at BASIS is excellent). Kid also takes piano lessons outside of school, so I haven't lamented any perceived lack of music instruction at BASIS.

The "no real learning" comment is asinine IMO. Stuff my kid is learning at BASIS is so far beyond my middle/high school experience I find it hard to believe it is really so much better elsewhere (and my education was good enough to get in to top colleges/achieve an excellent career).

No public charter school should hire 8 heads in 14 years.

There have been two heads in my kid's year (5th-current 9th). Big deal.

Good fit is what parents who don't want to move or pay for privates talk about. Meanwhile, the BASIS HS has deeply in-grained problems that need fixing, OP.

It is true I would prefer not to move. I love living on Capitol Hill. I could afford private, but the commute to a private is a deterrence, along with preferring to avoid the rarified atmosphere (and rich kid issues). I haven't yet experienced these "in-grained" problems you reference

Signed,
Former BASIS parent of Ivy Leaguer (aka a troll) who seldom posts

[Anonymous]

Glad you took the bait, PP. I think these comments are spot on. We are personally so grateful to be receiving a world class education at a public school full of many hard working students. We hope the school continues to improve its attrition and also continues to explore potential alternative building options down the road which would solve most of the criticism of BASIS that actually has merit.

[Anonymous]

There are a bunch of BASIS kids in DCYOP, so that scratches the serious music itch better than any individual school’s orchestra ever could, really.

[Anonymous]

I'm not buying that parents who can afford private schools stay at BASIS through HS. All DC privates aren't packed with "rich kids." My son loves down to earth St. Anselm's. Their Brookland campus is an easy commute from home on Capitol Hill. We're not Catholic and get financial aid. He didn't get enough fresh air, exercise or quiet time to study at BASIS (w/out a library or other quiet study space), which wasn't good for him.

I'm also not buying that zero music at BASIS is fine, especially for the youngest students. My children were taught to play the recorder at their DCPS elementary school. They also participated in free before and after school music ensembles there (supported by the PTA). DCYOP isn't too serious. The music foundation my kids built in DCPS set them up to play with MCYO (MD Classic Youth Orchestras up at Strathmore) with the MoCo crowd. MoCo students can take free instrumental music lessons at school in training bands and orchestras daily from 4th grade. Enrichment matters.

[Anonymous]

There are no generalized music/instruction/classes at BASIS. Nonsense.

[Anonymous]

We’re a BASIS family with high-achieving kids who could easily afford private but continue to stay at BASIS. We would definitely not choose Saint Anselms over BASIS. We are applying to Walls this year, but suspect we will stay at BASIS. We like the education and the peer group. And my kids, when repeatedly asked, express a strong desire to stay.

With respect to music, I get that BASIS doesn’t have a strong instrumental program. But its music teacher is amazing and one of the best things about the school.

[Anonymous]

The music teacher is amazing but doesn't begin to have the facilities or resources to teach much in the way of music. Great art teacher, hopeless art room and very limited supplies and equipment. Decent drama teacher, no stage or other performance space, no orchestra, weak performing arts. Decent PE teacher, no gym or no playing fields and hardly any sports equipment. You can come on DCUM calling BASIS enrichment adequate, or even world class, without making it so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not buying that parents who can afford private schools stay at BASIS through HS. All DC privates aren't packed with "rich kids." My son loves down to earth St. Anselm's. Their Brookland campus is an easy commute from home on Capitol Hill. We're not Catholic and get financial aid. He didn't get enough fresh air, exercise or quiet time to study at BASIS (w/out a library or other quiet study space), which wasn't good for him.

I'm also not buying that zero music at BASIS is fine, especially for the youngest students. My children were taught to play the recorder at their DCPS elementary school. They also participated in free before and after school music ensembles there (supported by the PTA). DCYOP isn't too serious. The music foundation my kids built in DCPS set them up to play with MCYO (MD Classic Youth Orchestras up at Strathmore) with the MoCo crowd. MoCo students can take free instrumental music lessons at school in training bands and orchestras daily from 4th grade. Enrichment matters.

It may be hard for you to believe, but it is absolutely true. My kid is a girl BTW - so fewer private school options. Sidwell and STA are far away (from Capitol Hill) and full of rich kids (I am uncomfortable with that environment for my kid). Not aware of any other privates (for girls) that have the rigor of BASIS wrt math and science (my kid excels in both math and the sciences). Kid plays travel sports and private music lessons so don't need a school to provide that (sure, would be nice, but don't miss it given how busy kid already is both in and outside of school).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’re a BASIS family with high-achieving kids who could easily afford private but continue to stay at BASIS. We would definitely not choose Saint Anselms over BASIS. We are applying to Walls this year, but suspect we will stay at BASIS. We like the education and the peer group. And my kids, when repeatedly asked, express a strong desire to stay.

With respect to music, I get that BASIS doesn’t have a strong instrumental program. But its music teacher is amazing and one of the best things about the school.

New poster. BASIS family with a sixth grader who is happy at the school but also says he does not want to stay for high school. When carpooling friends, his friends have all commented (loudly) at some point about how they don't want to stay for high school. I'm wondering if your kids changed their minds sometime between sixth and eighth grade, or if they always said they wanted to stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not buying that parents who can afford private schools stay at BASIS through HS. All DC privates aren't packed with "rich kids." My son loves down to earth St. Anselm's. Their Brookland campus is an easy commute from home on Capitol Hill. We're not Catholic and get financial aid. He didn't get enough fresh air, exercise or quiet time to study at BASIS (w/out a library or other quiet study space), which wasn't good for him.

I'm also not buying that zero music at BASIS is fine, especially for the youngest students. My children were taught to play the recorder at their DCPS elementary school. They also participated in free before and after school music ensembles there (supported by the PTA). DCYOP isn't too serious. The music foundation my kids built in DCPS set them up to play with MCYO (MD Classic Youth Orchestras up at Strathmore) with the MoCo crowd. MoCo students can take free instrumental music lessons at school in training bands and orchestras daily from 4th grade. Enrichment matters.

It may be hard for you to believe, but it is absolutely true. My kid is a girl BTW - so fewer private school options. Sidwell and STA are far away (from Capitol Hill) and full of rich kids (I am uncomfortable with that environment for my kid). Not aware of any other privates (for girls) that have the rigor of BASIS wrt math and science (my kid excels in both math and the sciences). Kid plays travel sports and private music lessons so don't need a school to provide that (sure, would be nice, but don't miss it given how busy kid already is both in and outside of school).

Oops - meantto type NCS . . .