SELA PICKS WARD 4 - Takoma, DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello, I'm new to this discussion. Just wondering, are the founders and principal of this school Jewish, or gentiles? Will SELA use the HaYesod curriculum, or another curriculum? Lastly, what is the oldest age that a student can be admitted --- for example, could a 3rd or 4th grader who has learned Herbrew at a day school transfer in?

NO, this is a public school. They are not allowed to do anything relating to religion. Thus it will not be a "true" Hebrew schol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The serial "legitimate questioner" seeks any opportunity to undermine anything out there that isn't 100% aligned with her agenda. This time it's Hebrew language.


"THE serial legitimate questioner"?? Yeah, keep fooling yourself that it's only one person.

+1000

Yeah, keep fooling yourself that nobody sees through your constant sock puppetry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But up until what grade does their charter allow? And through what grade will they admit new students?

If SELA is successful, undoubtedly families with Hebrew speaking kids in the upper elementary grades will move to DC in the coming years and want to attend. Will they be able to?

It looks like the school received a charter for pre-K-5, which means if they want to expand after 5th grade, they need to get permission from the city, like many schools - MV, LAMB, etc. From their website, it sounds like they will be adding a year every year, so in year two they will have 2nd grade, etc.
The issue with later grades has come up before with YY, and I believe that the city has a rule that you can't treat fluent speakers different than non fluent speakers, and thus YY doesn't admit kids to upper grades, or they would have to admit non-fluent speakers, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But up until what grade does their charter allow? And through what grade will they admit new students?

If SELA is successful, undoubtedly families with Hebrew speaking kids in the upper elementary grades will move to DC in the coming years and want to attend. Will they be able to?

It looks like the school received a charter for pre-K-5, which means if they want to expand after 5th grade, they need to get permission from the city, like many schools - MV, LAMB, etc. From their website, it sounds like they will be adding a year every year, so in year two they will have 2nd grade, etc.
The issue with later grades has come up before with YY, and I believe that the city has a rule that you can't treat fluent speakers different than non fluent speakers, and thus YY doesn't admit kids to upper grades, or they would have to admit non-fluent speakers, too.

The issue of 3rd, 4th and 5th graders who speak fluent Hebrew and want to transfer in is one which SELA would be wise to address now. Washington is a town with lots of transfers, in and out. I know several secular families presently on assignment in Israel who have kids fluent in Hebrew who would be a great fit a school like SELA. Only accepting new students in the youngest grades leads to bottom-heavy student distributions (lots and lots of students admitted in the lower levels to make up for moves out in the upper grades).

[Anonymous]

As I understand this is the rule for ALL the charters in the city (except one Spanish immersion school) -- This is the reason why YY and MV are joining forces in the upper grades and "merging".
I agree that the rule is nonsense (why not admitting students fluent in Hebrew or Chinese in the upper grades of the school??) and would hope that it will change at one point.

If not, I hope Sela could join the "language immersion" cluster HS school.

[Anonymous]

I don't think there is any rule directly to this. And as you mentioned, one Spanish immersion has a seperate admission track for those already fluent in Spanish. So things are possible.

It just makes no sense to me to have a great school yet not allow anyone in the 3rd, 4th or 5th grade to transfer in. Not with all the moves that happen to and from this city.

Or perhaps they could allow new student in the upper grades even without prior knowledge of Hebrew. Isreali schools readily absorb such students, why not here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The serial "legitimate questioner" seeks any opportunity to undermine anything out there that isn't 100% aligned with her agenda. This time it's Hebrew language.


"THE serial legitimate questioner"?? Yeah, keep fooling yourself that it's only one person.

+1000

Yeah, keep fooling yourself that nobody sees through your constant sock puppetry.

To whoever wrote "+1000", hope you got as much a giggle out of that as I did!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As I understand this is the rule for ALL the charters in the city (except one Spanish immersion school) -- This is the reason why YY and MV are joining forces in the upper grades and "merging".
I agree that the rule is nonsense (why not admitting students fluent in Hebrew or Chinese in the upper grades of the school??) and would hope that it will change at one point.

If not, I hope Sela could join the "language immersion" cluster HS school.

The rule in DC is that all children must be treated the same, and no admissions tests are allowed. So if a non-Hebrew speaking child wants to join Sela in later grade and if a Hebrew speaking child wants to join Sela in a later grade - they have to be admitted, if Sela permits students coming in at a later grade. YY handles this by having a non-immersion track where kids get Chinese instruction, and not Chinese immersion unless and until they can be brought up to speed and enter the regular immersion program. I asked one of the Sela volunteers whether students would be admitted at a later grade, and she said that their policy is not to admit students after 2nd grade, but that if the city changes its policy on language admissions tests for later grades, it would consider changing its policy and apparently some of the other language schools in the DCI are pushing for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The serial "legitimate questioner" seeks any opportunity to undermine anything out there that isn't 100% aligned with her agenda. This time it's Hebrew language.


"THE serial legitimate questioner"?? Yeah, keep fooling yourself that it's only one person.

+1000

Yeah, keep fooling yourself that nobody sees through your constant sock puppetry.

Don't be too sure, maybe there's two of them. But no doubt they also call each other to coordinate on what to wear each day. LOL!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think there is any rule directly to this. And as you mentioned, one Spanish immersion has a seperate admission track for those already fluent in Spanish. So things are possible.

It just makes no sense to me to have a great school yet not allow anyone in the 3rd, 4th or 5th grade to transfer in. Not with all the moves that happen to and from this city.

Or perhaps they could allow new student in the upper grades even without prior knowledge of Hebrew. Isreali schools readily absorb such students, why not here?

It is my understanding that Lamb is no longer allowed to have two tracks for admission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As I understand this is the rule for ALL the charters in the city (except one Spanish immersion school) -- This is the reason why YY and MV are joining forces in the upper grades and "merging".
I agree that the rule is nonsense (why not admitting students fluent in Hebrew or Chinese in the upper grades of the school??) and would hope that it will change at one point.

If not, I hope Sela could join the "language immersion" cluster HS school.

The rule in DC is that all children must be treated the same, and no admissions tests are allowed. So if a non-Hebrew speaking child wants to join Sela in later grade and if a Hebrew speaking child wants to join Sela in a later grade - they have to be admitted, if Sela permits students coming in at a later grade. YY handles this by having a non-immersion track where kids get Chinese instruction, and not Chinese immersion unless and until they can be brought up to speed and enter the regular immersion program. I asked one of the Sela volunteers whether students would be admitted at a later grade, and she said that their policy is not to admit students after 2nd grade, but that if the city changes its policy on language admissions tests for later grades, it would consider changing its policy and apparently some of the other language schools in the DCI are pushing for this.

Wouldn't this make an opening for all different types of admission tests, such as academic testing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think there is any rule directly to this. And as you mentioned, one Spanish immersion has a seperate admission track for those already fluent in Spanish. So things are possible.

It just makes no sense to me to have a great school yet not allow anyone in the 3rd, 4th or 5th grade to transfer in. Not with all the moves that happen to and from this city.

Or perhaps they could allow new student in the upper grades even without prior knowledge of Hebrew. Isreali schools readily absorb such students, why not here?

It is my understanding that Lamb is no longer allowed to have two tracks for admission.

I am LAMB parent - and this is true. It's a real tightrope for immersion schools. Have native speaker children helps the school culture (though it should be noted that knowing how to speak is not the same thing as being fully fluent in a language), yet as public schools, schools can't show preference for native speakers, even as with later grades there is usually space due to attrition. Yet, if schools were to admit non-fluent students in later grades and had to have a separate track - tracking hurts the school culture (go look at the YY threads - people don't like it). The Charter Board needs to make an exception for language test admissions in later grades where this is space. Language fluency is not an intelligence test or an academic test - it's just language fluency.

[Anonymous]

There are public schools in Virginia and elsewhere that have test-based admissions and tracking - the precedent exists in many schools around the nation - why not in DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are public schools in Virginia and elsewhere that have test-based admissions and tracking - the precedent exists in many schools around the nation - why not in DC?

Magnate high schools have different rules than public elementary schools, charter or no charter. Tracking has historically been used in a racist and discriminatory fashion in the U.S. and in the DelMarVa area in particular. Good for Sela for not trying the non-immersion track approach. I went and looked at YY threads - and this is the one thing that people complained about the most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are public schools in Virginia and elsewhere that have test-based admissions and tracking - the precedent exists in many schools around the nation - why not in DC?

Magnate high schools have different rules than public elementary schools, charter or no charter. Tracking has historically been used in a racist and discriminatory fashion in the U.S. and in the DelMarVa area in particular. Good for Sela for not trying the non-immersion track approach. I went and looked at YY threads - and this is the one thing that people complained about the most.

The idea that tracking is "racist" or "discriminatory" is a half-baked idea formed in a vacuum. If you look at tracking in many other states, depending on the geography and demographic, you will find that the students in the lower track may well be whites, may well be latinos, may well be vietnamese, may well be native American, may well be middle class, or whatever. If it happens that a disproportionate percentage of any group ends up in a lower track, that is likely NOT going to be a causal relationship or circumstance forced on them by the test, it's more likely a reflection of the reality of the background those students are coming from. And, once that lower track group is identified, schools can and should be held accountable for making sure they get the right remedial aid to bring them up to speed and get them out of that track. Tracking is not supposed to be a destination, it's supposed to be a remedy.