Hardy IB Population

[Anonymous]

The problem, it seems, is that Hardy and Deal are very different. Kids who don't care for sports might like Hardy while those who want/need physical activity would orefer Deal. I'm fine with having a specialized school like Hardy that kids can opt into. It just is not yet a school that is broad enough to serve a diverse population.

[Anonymous]

Physical activity does not need to come through MS sports. It can come through biking, walking, or athletic activity seperate from middle school.

[Anonymous]

It can, but some kids really like organized sports and I think they should have the chance to do them in school. It is quite a burden on parents to pay for travel teams and drive to far away practices (I know from experience!). Plus, how do you even get good enough for a travel team if you don't have the opportunity to play sports in school??

I, personally, was a kid who preferred walking/hiking to sports, but I want my children to have options. Deal has more options than Hardy -- not just in athletics. Hardy is kind of a specialized school -- just perfect for some, but not ideal for many others.

After yesterday, I am convinced that Hardy should continue as a specialty school and the city should build another middle school to compete with Deal in Ward 3 or Ward 2.

[Anonymous]

It can, but some kids really like organized sports and I think they should have the chance to do them in school. It is quite a burden on parents to pay for travel teams and drive to far away practices (I know from experience!). Plus, how do you even get good enough for a travel team if you don't have the opportunity to play sports in school??

I, personally, was a kid who preferred walking/hiking to sports, but I want my children to have options. Deal has more options than Hardy -- not just in athletics. Hardy is kind of a specialized school -- just perfect for some, but not ideal for many others.

After yesterday, I am convinced that Hardy should continue as a specialty school and the city should build another middle school to compete with Deal in Ward 3 or Ward 2.

[Anonymous]

My middle school had large fields and no organized sports. I played on local teams that didn't travel.

[Anonymous]

I assume that was fine for you, and that's great. I just think Hardy will never be able to directly compete with Deal because Deal has more options to serve a broader population of kids. Wilson also has more options than Walls, even though many prefer Walls. The difference is that Walls is an opt-in school, while people are forced to go to Hardy. I think Hardy would be better off trying to be an opt-in school like Walls.

[Anonymous]

If Hardy was a test-in school I would agree completely!

[Anonymous]

This is always going to be a hard conversation. Some of the OOB kids at Hardy treasure the school because it is far, far better than their IB school. I totally get that. But for parents who had fed into a really good IB school (Deal), it is hard to be sent to a lesser-performing school (Hardy) with more limited academic and extracurricular options. That's the conflict here. I think Hardy will be somewhat better in a few years, but I doubt it will be as good as Deal.

[Anonymous]

Well, if bowser creates 4 middle schools than mire kids will have better options and Hardy can become test in.

[Anonymous]

On the flip side, enrollment at Deal is larger than many colleges, and many kids at middle school age are likely to get lost in those numbers. Deal will always have that problem (at least until the next DME boundary review in 20 years), while Hardy will always have smaller class sizes. So, Hardy is already better than Deal in that respect, and will be for decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people obsessed with the field just kill me. Hardy is a TINY school. It also has a tiny amount of land. Deal is a ginormas (and getting bigger by the year) school. It has more land. NEXT.

So then what do you do if your kid is I B for Hardy and is serious about outdoor sports?

You kindly explain to him the reasons why a tiny school within an historical district cannot have unlimited fields for him to play baseball. He will understand. If he does not, well , that's not an Hardy's failure.

And you also explain to him that even though Hardy does not have a full-size field on site, it still is able to field athletic teams that travel (in some cases only a few blocks) to practice and play, and that he will be none the worse for the experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It can, but some kids really like organized sports and I think they should have the chance to do them in school. It is quite a burden on parents to pay for travel teams and drive to far away practices (I know from experience!). Plus, how do you even get good enough for a travel team if you don't have the opportunity to play sports in school??

I, personally, was a kid who preferred walking/hiking to sports, but I want my children to have options. Deal has more options than Hardy -- not just in athletics. Hardy is kind of a specialized school -- just perfect for some, but not ideal for many others.

After yesterday, I am convinced that Hardy should continue as a specialty school and the city should build another middle school to compete with Deal in Ward 3 or Ward 2.

Those kids can play at Hardy.

Come on people, is it that hard to understand that even though Hardy does not have a full-size athletic field it still has athletic teams, and that those teams just have to travel a bit further to practice and play?

[Anonymous]

These people are trolls. Just ignore them.

First it was about IB and Feeder numbers. Then it was about uniforms. Now it's athletic facilities.

Dear readers, please realize that not everyone on this board, let alone in-bounds for Hardy, share these petty concerns. I expect very few do.

IB Mann

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I, personally, was a kid who preferred walking/hiking to sports, but I want my children to have options.

Thats great you want that, but I don't think DC is going to build a brand new neighborhood school in W3 to accommodate that, when there are more pressing needs across the city, and Hardy is rapidly turning into a neighborhood school.

Look, it's a CITY, and its going to have middle schools that don't have room for outdoor organized athletics. If you can afford to live in W3, you can probably afford to move either to a suburb, or inzone to one of projected new EOTP middle schools that likely will have the athletic facilities you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I, personally, was a kid who preferred walking/hiking to sports, but I want my children to have options.

Thats great you want that, but I don't think DC is going to build a brand new neighborhood school in W3 to accommodate that, when there are more pressing needs across the city, and Hardy is rapidly turning into a neighborhood school.

Look, it's a CITY, and its going to have middle schools that don't have room for outdoor organized athletics. If you can afford to live in W3, you can probably afford to move either to a suburb, or inzone to one of projected new EOTP middle schools that likely will have the athletic facilities you want.

I don't understand the importance of team athletics in middle school, or even high school. It's not like a kid has a good chance of going "pro" anyway, and the purpose of school is to learn. Play sports on your own friggin' time, after school, if it's that big of a deal, and your kid can do that other than homework if you'd rather develop muscles over brains. Or, if "teamwork" is the main concern, then do chess club or debate team or jazz band or any other number of collaborative activities. Go watch re-runs of "Friday Night Lights" if you doubt how sucktastic sports culture is in this country. Do your kid a favor and tap out.