BASIS launching private school in McLean

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:11:12, sounds like they are trying to get rid of you.

Looks like it.

BS school officially opens again on the 13th. Have a sit down with Kathleen Reynolds who ought to have access to the detailed grading reports of the teachers so you can figure out what your child is doing wrong - it is important to figure out whether it is the child or the teacher who made the mistake. We got an unexpectedly low grade on one comp and are planning to go look at it once school starts again.............. But you need to understand how the grading system works in each class and BASIS wide. The Comps are worth half of your grade period. Always. AP scores affect your grade as well, so some of us are still waiting on final grades in some classes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But how is it in the child's best interest to stay in the same grade for four years at the same school? Isn't that a huge downside for the other kids?

I've wondered this myself, PP. I always assumed that most parents would withdraw rather than have their child retained once, and all parents would withdraw if there child was retained a second time. I was wrong, though. Some parent will allow their child to repeat the same grade multiple times.

Perhaps these parents recognize that their child is not destined to graduate from high school. Perhaps they've concluded that a solid education followed by dropping out in "eighth" grade is better than a mediocre education followed by dropping out in 10th or 11th.

+1

[Anonymous]

Yes, some parents don't have better options.

[Anonymous]

One poster said that if you can afford $25k, you can afford private school tuition at a traditional private school or else get financial aid. The "top" private schools in the area are now charging $40,000, sometimes more when you include bus and lunch and other fees. You cannot easily get financial aid. Saving 10,000 a year is significant, esp for more than one kid.

Also, there are many kids in traditional private schools who are more into sports and arts. So if you have a STEM/academic kid and do not want to go to a large public school because of the size/politics, this might be a good choice. Public schools are not pushing 500+ per grade. They are getting as big as colleges.

Also, there are complaints about BASIS teachers. Public schools do have teacher issues as well. Some have serious problems and cannot be fired. What is worse, teacher turnover at BASIS or keeping teachers who are under performing in FCPS? I'm sure it will take a bit of time to have stability in teachers, and of course they can move on if they find a better job with a higher salary, esp. if they are young. This will happen. I have also seen under performing teachers at private schools who are hard to fire for other reasons. BASIS is looking at how the kids perform on the final exams and APs. They compare it to their other schools, so if a teacher is well liked, but not producing results, they will be moved out. In private schools, it is very hard to assess teacher performance. And who wants to fire a well liked teacher who is a coach, even if the kids in his class are only kind of learning the material.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:11:12, sounds like they are trying to get rid of you.

Looks like it.

BS school officially opens again on the 13th. Have a sit down with Kathleen Reynolds who ought to have access to the detailed grading reports of the teachers so you can figure out what your child is doing wrong - it is important to figure out whether it is the child or the teacher who made the mistake. We got an unexpectedly low grade on one comp and are planning to go look at it once school starts again.............. But you need to understand how the grading system works in each class and BASIS wide. The Comps are worth half of your grade period. Always. AP scores affect your grade as well, so some of us are still waiting on final grades in some classes

In our case, it was not the teacher. In fact the teacher's grade was 93, but because of "a strange glitch" as we were told, the grade had transformed into a 71 in the second column. We were promised that it will be taken care of. Months later, it still has not. BASIS (actually the person in charge of the grades) is playing GOD with the students' grades.