Middle school after Brent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In the context of Jefferson's jumping the modernization queue once white, Brent families became interested and the talk about bus lines being shifted, I think this NY Time article is instructive - https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/04/nyregion/a-principal-is-accused-of-being-a-communist-rattling-a-brooklyn-school.html

Particularly, these passages - FYI - Millenium was opened apparently at the request of white families -

She had been begging, for years for money to fix up her school. “You mean there is money? They’ve been sitting on money or they can find money if it’s for white students?” Ms. Bloomberg recalled thinking. “This was too much. It was right in our faces. It became clear to the students: ‘You’re not good enough.’”

AND

Then in January, Ms. Bloomberg sent an email to department officials accusing them of discriminating against the predominantly black and Latino schools at John Jay by allotting Millennium twice as many sports teams as the other schools.

Jumped the queue? Actually what happened is DCPS finally looked at the demographics and realized that having the VN students show up in the middle of the construction was a bad idea.

However frankly when several Ward 6 schools were bumped down the list year after year, it is amazing that any school is on the list. EH and JA are basically the only middle schools haven't been touched in the city.

In general, I have heard a lot of grumbling in SE about how Charles doesn't care about anything south of East Capitol. However he will win again because those are basically lifetime appointments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure, it all works out...15 or 20 years from now.

New to these issues and don't get why Brent's Jefferson boosters don't seem to play hardball with DCPS.

Why not say, we're not supporting the renovation, and we're not coming, without appropriate classes in place. We want at and above grade-level math courses, like the ones Wash Latin and BASIS offer. Most of our families enroll at those schools.

Since they've got tens of millions to throw at a building, why not a few million pinned down for appropriate classes?

You don't understand the difference between capital and operating budgets. You also assume dcps cares whether brent families come to ja. They may be happy to have a school with steadily increasing test results, above-average mgps, and some oob spots for motivated families whose ib options are less desirable. Jefferson has a solid reputation that precedes most brent families' residence in dc; one of Charles Allen's employees went there.

As an FYI: This older reputation of Jefferson comes from when it functioned as a de-facto selective magnet school for math. It recruited and separately taught some of the best students from all over the city and then fed into Wilson HS. It was not only an open enrollment neighborhood school like it is meant to be now. Ask Allen's employee about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What the Hill "old timers" understand that the Brent Jefferson boosters don't seem to is how slowly DCPS moves. This is the problem that torpedoed a nascent Brent-Jefferson nexus back in 2009. I attended some of the parent meetings.

DCPS remains very attached to 10-year school turnaround plans where a 3-5 year plan would do. Brent parents charge to Latin, BASIS, and get on the path to DCI early, because the better charters have proven much more nimble organizations than DCPS. As long as City Council members don't get voted in out because the traditional school system drags its feet, the system continues to march in the right direction at a snail's pace.

It will be very interesting to see if Charles Allen, good on many issues but a foot dragger on MS, gets through this year's election.

Proven? Maybe at being far more self-selective in students they attract (especially uber white Latin and 'we don't do SPED' BASIS). DCI - a little presumptuous, no? You also picked three MS serving 4 grades which combined don't even have the enrollment of Deal. The reality is that the charter options are not inherently better for MS. They may be more specialized.

And Charles Allen is a given for reelection

LOL!!!! Charter options are indeed inherently better for middle school in most cases--and not just the small portion of schools you mentioned. Have you not heard Kaya Henderson herself admit that DCPS "doesn't do middle school well". Are you not following the DCPS graduation scandal unfolding right now? You think that that lack of integrity and focus on actually teaching academics begins in high school?

[Anonymous]

PP, you are whitewashing this story in a big way.

Your post begs the question, what's the point of running a system of by-right middle schools EotP that neighborhood communities reject almost to a family?

There just aren't a lot Brent families at JA these days. Moreover, there are hardly any in-boundary families. The feeder school has been sending no more than half a dozen students to JA annually for the past several years, from 4th grade cohorts of around 60.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, you are whitewashing this story in a big way.

Your post begs the question, what's the point of running a system of by-right middle schools EotP that neighborhood communities reject almost to a family?

There just aren't a lot Brent families at JA these days. Moreover, there are hardly any in-boundary families. The feeder school has been sending no more than half a dozen students to JA annually for the past several years, from 4th grade cohorts of around 60.

Assuming you're referring to the post on the previous page about JA's attractiveness in its drawing families from all over the cities, let me answer your question here in no uncertain terms: What is the point...? There isn't.

When our kids were in about 2nd or 3rd grade, I found the idea of by right middle school soothing. Having seen our two children go through that juncture (one now at Jefferson, not by right but by choice, the other at another DCPS MS, also not by right but by choice, with with charter options in the mix), I no longer believe in feeder patterns. "Believe" is a big word in need of a finer point: (1) I do not believe its a realistic construct. We - including diehard public school proponents - hold it up as a model, as something to strive for, but it is just not working that way. I'd much rather we owned up to that reality and made the new reality of choice work properly (aligning start dates and all). (2) I no longer believe it's desirable. My kids have similar needs - both are advanced learners and have no special needs - but they are very different in the way they learn and in their social interactions. Our priorities and choices reflect that.

[Anonymous]

Please spare us the PC BS.

Half a dozen of my kids' 3rd grade classmates, children from his ECE cohort at Brent, will invariably land in Deal feeders for 4th or 5th, no matter what's happening at JA. Some of the families will move to NW, others will lottery in. More kids would go if there were more OOB spots in Deal feeders.

Most of us at Brent would love to have a Deal quality program waiting for us in Ward 6, along with a Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please spare us the PC BS.

Half a dozen of my kids' 3rd grade classmates, children from his ECE cohort at Brent, will invariably land in Deal feeders for 4th or 5th, no matter what's happening at JA. Some of the families will move to NW, others will lottery in. More kids would go if there were more OOB spots in Deal feeders.

Most of us at Brent would love to have a Deal quality program waiting for us in Ward 6, along with a Wilson.

Nobody is getting lottery entrance to Deal feeders anymore. You can't even lottery into Hardy feeders. Look at the numbers last year. That doesn't mean they'll go to JA but it does mean they're moving to get into a Wilson feed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please spare us the PC BS.

Half a dozen of my kids' 3rd grade classmates, children from his ECE cohort at Brent, will invariably land in Deal feeders for 4th or 5th, no matter what's happening at JA. Some of the families will move to NW, others will lottery in. More kids would go if there were more OOB spots in Deal feeders.

Most of us at Brent would love to have a Deal quality program waiting for us in Ward 6, along with a Wilson.

Um, okay. I would also like a pet unicorn. You live on Capitol Hill, my friend. You got your mostly-wealthy enclave at Brent. Now you need to move away for it. What special sauce does Deal have other than wealthy families?

[Anonymous]

There are still a few OOB spots in the upper grades some of the Deal feeders, but very few.

No brainer...at Deal, 7th grade algebra, four foreign languages, great extra-curriculars, boatloads of high-performing kids etc.

[Anonymous]

If you want Deal - move for it. Life is about choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are still a few OOB spots in the upper grades some of the Deal feeders, but very few.

No brainer...at Deal, 7th grade algebra, four foreign languages, great extra-curriculars, boatloads of high-performing kids etc.

How much would it cost JA to hire a 7th grade algebra teacher or someone to teach a different foreign language? Or to run extracurriculars? Price it out. Talk to the principal. Raise the funds, donate them to the PTA, and get it done. If you want WoTP level stuff, you're going to need a WoTP-level PTA. You're not going to get as much from parents since JA is smaller and poorer, but there is a TON of money with all the developers and businesses and BIDs. They want the schools to be good almost as much as you do. But you need to harness that. There are also grants both from community and national organizations.

First step is to join the PTA and talk to the principal. What are the top 10 changes he'd make if he just had the money? Then pick the one that appeals to you most and start dialing for dollars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are still a few OOB spots in the upper grades some of the Deal feeders, but very few.

No brainer...at Deal, 7th grade algebra, four foreign languages, great extra-curriculars, boatloads of high-performing kids etc.

How much would it cost JA to hire a 7th grade algebra teacher or someone to teach a different foreign language? Or to run extracurriculars? Price it out. Talk to the principal. Raise the funds, donate them to the PTA, and get it done. If you want WoTP level stuff, you're going to need a WoTP-level PTA. You're not going to get as much from parents since JA is smaller and poorer, but there is a TON of money with all the developers and businesses and BIDs. They want the schools to be good almost as much as you do. But you need to harness that. There are also grants both from community and national organizations.

First step is to join the PTA and talk to the principal. What are the top 10 changes he'd make if he just had the money? Then pick the one that appeals to you most and start dialing for dollars.

The math teachers at JA are already certified to teach Alg. They just need the students to enroll.

It is a classic chicken and egg conundrum.

[Anonymous]

NP in the lower grades already planning to go private for MS. Agree that JA will probably be a good school one day. One day will be too late for our family.

Good luck finding a decent sized cohort of Brent moms & dads prepared to do the sort of heavy lifting you describe to enhance a 3 yr. program.

Brent asks a lot of us for years, so we burn out on pta work.

[Anonymous]

+1. Burned out just reading these posts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1. Burned out just reading these posts.

Don't. Many feel a lot better paying for school, financially or in the form of long commutes, doesn't matter if they're getting anything better, just makes them feel better. Those who harbor doubts about it then have to go the extra mile of convincing others that it's the only way. Leave them be, it's their cross to bear.

For the wiser, Jefferson is a solid option, advanced math, extracurriculars (which are built into the regular schedule btw). No second foreign language, sure, but solid Spanish instruction and plenty of money left in your pocket and time on your agenda for something that ultimately may be more effective, such as travel, an exchange year, online learning, apps, evening classes. Same goes for sports if none of the half dozen options offered strikes your fancy. Really, it's not that difficult unless you make so.

As for the commute: Not sure a bus would help. I find the Eastern Market L'Enfant Metro connection very manageable. Our 6th grader does so alone and with friends, no problem. School chaperones monitor kids to and from Metro.