Are in boundary families leaving Hardy because if MacArthur?

[Anonymous]

I may also be an outlier but I am coming from a Big5 and have talked to a number of Hardy parents and future MacArthur parents and am heavily leaning to pulling my two kids and putting them in Hardy/new HS. I have real faith in the new principal (though less DCPS) and in the ability of the community in NW to shape the school. The parent community seems very optimistic and ready to be involved. Please don’t @ me. We were at a feeder previously and loved it but JR wasn’t a fit for our family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I may also be an outlier but I am coming from a Big5 and have talked to a number of Hardy parents and future MacArthur parents and am heavily leaning to pulling my two kids and putting them in Hardy/new HS. I have real faith in the new principal (though less DCPS) and in the ability of the community in NW to shape the school. The parent community seems very optimistic and ready to be involved. Please don’t @ me. We were at a feeder previously and loved it but JR wasn’t a fit for our family.

Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I may also be an outlier but I am coming from a Big5 and have talked to a number of Hardy parents and future MacArthur parents and am heavily leaning to pulling my two kids and putting them in Hardy/new HS. I have real faith in the new principal (though less DCPS) and in the ability of the community in NW to shape the school. The parent community seems very optimistic and ready to be involved. Please don’t @ me. We were at a feeder previously and loved it but JR wasn’t a fit for our family.

Oh boy. How can you be this naive and already have gone through DCPS? Maybe it's because I'm in W6 and have experienced all the permutations of the "it's just not a fit for our family!" families. Hint: the "it's not a fit" families are NEVER happy with DCPS or charters no matter how many times they switch to the next shiny thing. And big lol to the power of the "parent community" and the "new principal" to "shape the school."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hardy has a good music program until this year. Pre-Covid, a jazz orchestra and some other combo would play at the open houses, abd they were excellent.

But Hardy used to have more OOB. It still has OOB, but they all come from the feeder schools. Maybe this is why DCPS decided to screw over the school budget-wise.

Hardy had a good music program because it was an unofficial magnet (and Duke feeder). In boundary families hated it, I can only assume because it attracted Black students. Michelle Rhee shut it down with a lot of support from the neighborhood, probably around 2010 ish when they were moving to a centralized DCPS lottery. Sounds like COVID finished off the last remnants. Kind of ironic that the neighborhood is sad about it now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy has a good music program until this year. Pre-Covid, a jazz orchestra and some other combo would play at the open houses, abd they were excellent.

But Hardy used to have more OOB. It still has OOB, but they all come from the feeder schools. Maybe this is why DCPS decided to screw over the school budget-wise.

Hardy had a good music program because it was an unofficial magnet (and Duke feeder). In boundary families hated it, I can only assume because it attracted Black students. Michelle Rhee shut it down with a lot of support from the neighborhood, probably around 2010 ish when they were moving to a centralized DCPS lottery. Sounds like COVID finished off the last remnants. Kind of ironic that the neighborhood is sad about it now.

I can't really tell if your story is true at all. But I don't understand why band/orchestra/choir are not just standard course offerings at all DCPS MS.

[Anonymous]

JR wasn’t a fit bc of the size.

And I am not looking for the next shiny thing. I served on several DC-wide committees; I know there is no perfect. I am looking for a neighborhood school without overcrowding. MacArthur seems to fit that (at least for a few years).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can speak to several of the points here. Hardy does not equal Macarthur. I have limited confidence in the Hardy administration's ability to get on top of existing issues in the school. I have no hesitancy believing that another administration could suitably handle the situation. Thus, the same kids and the same behaviors could produce two completely different environments depending on the ability of the administration to deal with it. I don't presume the same behaviors will continue at Macarthur simply because they're present currently at Hardy, but even if they did, I see no reason to expect the inadequate and lackluster response.

As to PE, the boys often don't change from their school colors while the girls generally do change out of the school attire. The PE teacher permits the boys to perform PE in their school attire but he does not permit the girls to do so. In general, girls are treated differently than boys in PE and there is absolutely, positively no defensible reason for it.

You don’t seem to realize that with the restorative justice BS implemented in DCPS that there is absolutely no consequences for the kids who act up, fight, or have behavior issues in the classroom. Teachers can’t do a damn thing

So yes, no matter what the administration, it will be the same BS response at MacArthur.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy has a good music program until this year. Pre-Covid, a jazz orchestra and some other combo would play at the open houses, abd they were excellent.

But Hardy used to have more OOB. It still has OOB, but they all come from the feeder schools. Maybe this is why DCPS decided to screw over the school budget-wise.

Hardy had a good music program because it was an unofficial magnet (and Duke feeder). In boundary families hated it, I can only assume because it attracted Black students. Michelle Rhee shut it down with a lot of support from the neighborhood, probably around 2010 ish when they were moving to a centralized DCPS lottery. Sounds like COVID finished off the last remnants. Kind of ironic that the neighborhood is sad about it now.

I can't really tell if your story is true at all. But I don't understand why band/orchestra/choir are not just standard course offerings at all DCPS MS.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/120/363908.page#4758230

[Anonymous]

It's a terrible idea to feed a whole swath of kids into a niche high school with limited offerings, Yes, a small school with few sports could be good for some kids, but it's not the equivalent of JR, which btw, has lots of challenges right now with teachers not showing up for months at a time, etc. They should let people apply to the new high school but not force people to enroll in a school with limited offerings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a terrible idea to feed a whole swath of kids into a niche high school with limited offerings, Yes, a small school with few sports could be good for some kids, but it's not the equivalent of JR, which btw, has lots of challenges right now with teachers not showing up for months at a time, etc. They should let people apply to the new high school but not force people to enroll in a school with limited offerings.

An 800-person high school is not "niche." Education experts actually recommend that size as better for students than the 2000-student behemoths. The issue is providing adequate budget, not that the size is inadequate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a terrible idea to feed a whole swath of kids into a niche high school with limited offerings, Yes, a small school with few sports could be good for some kids, but it's not the equivalent of JR, which btw, has lots of challenges right now with teachers not showing up for months at a time, etc. They should let people apply to the new high school but not force people to enroll in a school with limited offerings.

An 800-person high school is not "niche." Education experts actually recommend that size as better for students than the 2000-student behemoths. The issue is providing adequate budget, not that the size is inadequate.

The author of this essay,
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomvanderark/2021/06/04/whats-the-right-high-school-size-and-structure/?sh=4c199a85aa18
argues that the downsides of large high schools outweigh the benefits of a few extra language classes or whatever. Makes sense to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a terrible idea to feed a whole swath of kids into a niche high school with limited offerings, Yes, a small school with few sports could be good for some kids, but it's not the equivalent of JR, which btw, has lots of challenges right now with teachers not showing up for months at a time, etc. They should let people apply to the new high school but not force people to enroll in a school with limited offerings.

An 800-person high school is not "niche." Education experts actually recommend that size as better for students than the 2000-student behemoths. The issue is providing adequate budget, not that the size is inadequate.

Ok but let’s be real here for middle school families who are impacted by this. It’s 200 initially so very small, too small and will definitely not have all the offerings of courses, electives, sports of JR. This is obvious without needing anyone to blatantly say so.

As to resources and budget, I would be skeptical about DCPS providing enough for a ward 3 school. They don’t provide enough at any ward 3 schools and why PTA funds are used to fill in some holes. In fact, they are taking away resources as can be seen with Hardy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a terrible idea to feed a whole swath of kids into a niche high school with limited offerings, Yes, a small school with few sports could be good for some kids, but it's not the equivalent of JR, which btw, has lots of challenges right now with teachers not showing up for months at a time, etc. They should let people apply to the new high school but not force people to enroll in a school with limited offerings.

An 800-person high school is not "niche." Education experts actually recommend that size as better for students than the 2000-student behemoths. The issue is providing adequate budget, not that the size is inadequate.

Ok but let’s be real here for middle school families who are impacted by this. It’s 200 initially so very small, too small and will definitely not have all the offerings of courses, electives, sports of JR. This is obvious without needing anyone to blatantly say so.

As to resources and budget, I would be skeptical about DCPS providing enough for a ward 3 school. They don’t provide enough at any ward 3 schools and why PTA funds are used to fill in some holes. In fact, they are taking away resources as can be seen with Hardy.

From recent Ward 3 EdNet meeting, it sounds like Dr. McCray understands this issue. Whether DCPS will provide the necessary support remains to be seen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a terrible idea to feed a whole swath of kids into a niche high school with limited offerings, Yes, a small school with few sports could be good for some kids, but it's not the equivalent of JR, which btw, has lots of challenges right now with teachers not showing up for months at a time, etc. They should let people apply to the new high school but not force people to enroll in a school with limited offerings.

An 800-person high school is not "niche." Education experts actually recommend that size as better for students than the 2000-student behemoths. The issue is providing adequate budget, not that the size is inadequate.

It may not be niche in size but it certainly will be in its offerings. It was inadequate for sports when it was an elementary/middle school for GDS. Read the fact sheet -- basketbal and track/cross country are the only sports. There will be a green club, a chess club, and one or two more, but hardly what JR offers. There's no good transportation to the site -- even in bounds students will be challenged to get there without driving. A terrible site.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a terrible idea to feed a whole swath of kids into a niche high school with limited offerings, Yes, a small school with few sports could be good for some kids, but it's not the equivalent of JR, which btw, has lots of challenges right now with teachers not showing up for months at a time, etc. They should let people apply to the new high school but not force people to enroll in a school with limited offerings.

An 800-person high school is not "niche." Education experts actually recommend that size as better for students than the 2000-student behemoths. The issue is providing adequate budget, not that the size is inadequate.

It may not be niche in size but it certainly will be in its offerings. It was inadequate for sports when it was an elementary/middle school for GDS. Read the fact sheet -- basketbal and track/cross country are the only sports. There will be a green club, a chess club, and one or two more, but hardly what JR offers. There's no good transportation to the site -- even in bounds students will be challenged to get there without driving. A terrible site.

These are falsehoods. Further evidence that readers should identify trusted and informed community members and rely solely upon them for information. Too many anonymous actors fueled either by ignorance of mal-intent.

Soccer will also be a varsity sport. The school’s field is loathe enough for practices but it doesn’t meet DCIAA regulations for games, so games will be elsewhere. Those involved are pushing for games across the street at GW Mt Vernon.

There are probably/possibly other sports too, but I don’t know the list off-hand. But I do recognize lies without resort to my records.