Deal Behavior

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The kid was taken to the hospital. Lots of blood. My kid came home with the story.

Yes the boy was in my DC’s class apparently he was in the hospital for a couple of days with a head injury. If I would be pressing criminal charges against that girl, if he were my son. I would also have an unending crusade to get her kicked out of school period.

DCPS would have an unending response that you can take a leap, as they should since you can't and shouldn't easily expel a student, particularly a 6th grader.

Especially if the kid has an IEP. There would be a manifestation meeting, and the child would be back in school the next day.

That’s horrible for the boy who was hospitalized. I hope they sue that girl’s parents for all the medical expenses. Sue them into permanent poverty. She’s a monster.

While being injured at school is bad, it's also terrible for an adult to judge a 12-year-old that she doesn't know on a public forum and call her a "monster." Kids make bad decisions. My dad lit a gas jet on fire in high school chemistry, broke a kid's nose by dumping him headfirst into a cafeteria garbage can, and had to get a paper route to pay for the lawyer his parents hired to deal with a separate situation. Now he is an adult with no criminal record, a DCUM-level income, and college-educated kids who've never been in trouble with the law. Children can mature. I hope your kid never makes a bad decision but if he does I bet you'll come around to the concept that kids aren't monsters--they are kids, who need to be responsible for their actions but who can repent and grow.

Also, if this student is reflective of the average DCPS middle schooler, "permanent poverty" where she's spent her whole life already. Suing is not going to change that.

Why doesn’t DCPS provide adequate support for kids with needs?! Why should other kids deal with serious injuries because DCPS can’t mainstream kids properly?

The "average DCPS middle-schooler =/= the average Deal middle student. FFS, PP. That's ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

It is tough being a teacher in DCPS. There is no student accountability. We are constantly told to excuse student behavior for a myriad of reasons but given no support for the fallout. There is a reason for the high teacher turnover rate in DCPS despite the high salaries and Deal is no exception.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is tough being a teacher in DCPS. There is no student accountability. We are constantly told to excuse student behavior for a myriad of reasons but given no support for the fallout. There is a reason for the high teacher turnover rate in DCPS despite the high salaries and Deal is no exception.

What needs to be done? What should parents do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The stories are all true.

It has been a rough year for a behavior for some [i]kids at Deal. The school is overcrowded and there is a lot of energy. If your kid can tune it out and do the work, they are fine, IMO.

There have been significant admin, teacher and staff departures and "leaves of absence" by key people who keep the school running, so others have had to pick up the slack, or not. There is little internal communication to teachers and staff or external communication to parents, which creates confusion. I'm still trying to figure out if this is strategic or simply a personality quirk.

Middle school drama seems to have escalated to new levels. There are more fights this year. The girl trying to kill herself during school was scary. Girl drama/violence/cruelty in 7th grade has reached new and concerning levels. A lot of bad language, N word, homophobic slurs. Some kids are bolder, the girl who taunted the teacher and he reacted which resulted in him getting arrested during school, the girl pushing the boy down the stairs.

As always there are edibles coming into the school. A major incident this year resulted in suspensions. Selling weed and smoking in Fort Reno park (although this has always been the case) And now pills (xanax, ritalin) are available. Also, there is drinking and sex (BJ's are a thing). This is a small subset of kids.

Yes, some kids roam the hallways (they know where to avoid the cameras). Some of them slide into other classrooms to disrupt class and get attention when there are subs. The hype beast kids go to the bathroom to place orders online when there is a big drop.

Social media is awful. Group chat drama seeps into school and admin has to deal with it -- it's toxic and exhausting.

There are good and great activities if your kid will participate. The track coach is great, theater program great, wrestling good, good clubs (scrabble, geo plunge), good dance squad. The choir is great. Baseball is off to a rough start. counselors are excellent, but they need more help and people esp for 7th grade. The assistant principals seem good and responsive. Some parents do a lot to support the school.

Like every school, there are good and bad teachers. Some teachers are really not bright but admin know the weak links and create teams with a balance so no team gets four bad teachers.

I don't like the constant police presence. There seems to be uniformed police presence outside and INSIDE the school a lot. I've gone to pick up for appts and there are really large, imposing officers checking in on students. This is alarming.

My kids are fine but hope it calms down next year.

For once a truthful post, you got it just about right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is tough being a teacher in DCPS. There is no student accountability. We are constantly told to excuse student behavior for a myriad of reasons but given no support for the fallout. There is a reason for the high teacher turnover rate in DCPS despite the high salaries and Deal is no exception.

What needs to be done? What should parents do?

In some ways Deal is worse, because they are less able to handle the more disruptive kids as they have less of them thus less experience with this population. More of a tendency to sweep under the rug and hope will disappear until the problems escalate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is tough being a teacher in DCPS. There is no student accountability. We are constantly told to excuse student behavior for a myriad of reasons but given no support for the fallout. There is a reason for the high teacher turnover rate in DCPS despite the high salaries and Deal is no exception.

What needs to be done? What should parents do?

Vote the Mayor out, or take your kid to a better school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is tough being a teacher in DCPS. There is no student accountability. We are constantly told to excuse student behavior for a myriad of reasons but given no support for the fallout. There is a reason for the high teacher turnover rate in DCPS despite the high salaries and Deal is no exception.

What needs to be done? What should parents do?

In some ways Deal is worse, because they are less able to handle the more disruptive kids as they have less of them thus less experience with this population. More of a tendency to sweep under the rug and hope will disappear until the problems escalate.

I disagree with this. Deal admin and teachers have plenty of experience dealing with all different backgrounds and personalities of kids, including difficult kids and parents. They do not "sweep issues under the rug". There is a process that has to be followed and if a kid is truly a risk to the community they will make sure that it is handled within the school.

However when that kid walks out of the school, it's a whole other ballgame. So at chic-fil-a if there is a fight and someone gets their weave pulled out ....or ....let's say someone else starts a fire....or there is a fight....or someone tries to throw a chair through the window of Guapos....all things that have happened this year, well it's not the school's problem. Which is why they want the kids to get out of the school and go HOME.

[Anonymous]

The stuff above spills into the next day at school. It’s a never ending cycle. I would add that kids are vivacious on Instagram. Even the “good” kids. Learn how to check your kids phones and manage that at home. Edgy memes are shortening my life span on a daily basis.

[Anonymous]

Viscious. ?. I don’t doubt some are vivacious — just not the ones who come to mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is tough being a teacher in DCPS. There is no student accountability. We are constantly told to excuse student behavior for a myriad of reasons but given no support for the fallout. There is a reason for the high teacher turnover rate in DCPS despite the high salaries and Deal is no exception.

What needs to be done? What should parents do?

Vote the Mayor out, or take your kid to a better school.

One way to ease Deal overcrowding and remove some of the worse bahaving students at Deal is to end OOB feeder rights after fifth grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is tough being a teacher in DCPS. There is no student accountability. We are constantly told to excuse student behavior for a myriad of reasons but given no support for the fallout. There is a reason for the high teacher turnover rate in DCPS despite the high salaries and Deal is no exception.

What needs to be done? What should parents do?

Vote the Mayor out, or take your kid to a better school.

One way to ease Deal overcrowding and remove some of the worse bahaving students at Deal is to end OOB feeder rights after fifth grade.

Racist much? Two of the craziest stories I've heard about behavior at Deal were caused by kids who live within walking distance of the school.

[Anonymous]

We have a child IB at a feeder school, and have an 8th grader at Deal as well. The resentment expressed towards OOB kids as the cause of any problems is really offensive. The OOB kids I know (and both my children have friends that lotteried in) are great kids. Yes the school is crowded. The entitlement on here is amazing. The PP suggesting suing the school to exclude OOB kids doesn’t seem to realize that she did not purchase a right to a particular public school with her house. The city can and has changed boundaries and can and has changed rules that control who has a right to a school. All students that fall within the outlined rules have equal rights to a school, they met the criteria and they are in, just like my kids that live within the boundaries met the currently applicable rules and they are in.

The system needs to do something to address overcrowding but all the currently IB families should realize that if the district takes up changes they could negatively impact any group and we should all work together and not villanize those that have worked within the rules to obtain the right to attend.

11-14 is a tough age group, probably the hardest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is tough being a teacher in DCPS. There is no student accountability. We are constantly told to excuse student behavior for a myriad of reasons but given no support for the fallout. There is a reason for the high teacher turnover rate in DCPS despite the high salaries and Deal is no exception.

What needs to be done? What should parents do?

Vote the Mayor out, or take your kid to a better school.

One way to ease Deal overcrowding and remove some of the worse bahaving students at Deal is to end OOB feeder rights after fifth grade.

Racist much? Two of the craziest stories I've heard about behavior at Deal were caused by kids who live within walking distance of the school.

Sounds to me YOU are racist much?

PP above said nothing about race. S/he just shared an idea, based on either accurate or inaccurate data -- can you enlighten usbwith data?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a child IB at a feeder school, and have an 8th grader at Deal as well. The resentment expressed towards OOB kids as the cause of any problems is really offensive. The OOB kids I know (and both my children have friends that lotteried in) are great kids. Yes the school is crowded. The entitlement on here is amazing. The PP suggesting suing the school to exclude OOB kids doesn’t seem to realize that she did not purchase a right to a particular public school with her house. The city can and has changed boundaries and can and has changed rules that control who has a right to a school. All students that fall within the outlined rules have equal rights to a school, they met the criteria and they are in, just like my kids that live within the boundaries met the currently applicable rules and they are in.

The system needs to do something to address overcrowding but all the currently IB families should realize that if the district takes up changes they could negatively impact any group and we should all work together and not villanize those that have worked within the rules to obtain the right to attend.

11-14 is a tough age group, probably the hardest.

I agree the resentment against OOB kids is unfortunate and probably racist or classist in many cases and not necessarily the problem anyhow.

However the boundaries for Deal and Wilson do need to dramatically shrink and at some point more DC residents are going to need to attend schools that are in their own neighborhoods. Given how diverse Deal is and the gentrification that is going on EOTP replicating the SES mix at Deal really should not be that hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is tough being a teacher in DCPS. There is no student accountability. We are constantly told to excuse student behavior for a myriad of reasons but given no support for the fallout. There is a reason for the high teacher turnover rate in DCPS despite the high salaries and Deal is no exception.

What needs to be done? What should parents do?

Vote the Mayor out, or take your kid to a better school.

One way to ease Deal overcrowding and remove some of the worse bahaving students at Deal is to end OOB feeder rights after fifth grade.

Racist much? Two of the craziest stories I've heard about behavior at Deal were caused by kids who live within walking distance of the school.

Sounds to me YOU are racist much?

PP above said nothing about race. S/he just shared an idea, based on either accurate or inaccurate data -- can you enlighten usbwith data?

So the earlier poster was alleging that the misbehaving kids at Deal are upper middle class white kids from Capital Hill & Brookland? How would the earlier poster make assumptions about what kids are OOB or does she have some magic power to determine where everyone lives?

Sorry but the earlier poster was making assumptions that the rowdy kids are AA and are OOB and the group that should be removed. I have no idea if either of those things are true but do know a couple of the craziest things that have happened at the school were caused by kids who walk to school.

And I'm pretty confident the earlier poster would be happy with a whiter Deal which he/she assumes would mean a better behaving student body.