BASIS DC to open in 2012-2013

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My suspicions were right about segregation at BASIS S DC. My wife and other parents brought this matter to the Paul Morrissey ( then head of school) months ago. There were a group of students being tracked. Mr. Morrissey was evasive with our questions. His vagueness seemed suspicious to many of us. Was he tracking these kids so he would later throw them out? Our sixth sense told us something was not right here. I can't believe it was true. My kids were not in the group but I can't have my child in this kind of this environment. I was a strong supporter of BASIS but it's dwindled. After these revelations, I'm forced to question the real motives of the school. I can't believe it was happening here in DC. I'm outraged!!!

This doesn't ring true with me -- I call BS. Why would BASIS open a public school in AA-majority DC if it didn't intend to educate AA students? There aren't that many white students in DC for it to be worth their while to try to have a school that segregates in order to throw out the AA students. The only environment BASIS is cultivating is one where it's cool to be smart. Now, if certain students don't want to get on board with that and do the work required, then they are choosing to throw themselves out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My suspicions were right about segregation at BASIS S DC. My wife and other parents brought this matter to the Paul Morrissey ( then head of school) months ago. There were a group of students being tracked. Mr. Morrissey was evasive with our questions. His vagueness seemed suspicious to many of us. Was he tracking these kids so he would later throw them out? Our sixth sense told us something was not right here. I can't believe it was true. My kids were not in the group but I can't have my child in this kind of this environment. I was a strong supporter of BASIS but it's dwindled. After these revelations, I'm forced to question the real motives of the school. I can't believe it was happening here in DC. I'm outraged!!!

Wrong. It had zero to do with race because there were plenty of AA kids in all of the other classes, there were also plenty of star AA kids on the honor roll and 90s club - to suggest it was about race is absolute nonsense. And anyone who actually has been to BASIS would know that, I don't know who you are but you don't seem to know what you are talking about and probably are not a BASIS parent, because a BASIS parent would know better and wouldn't be making such uninformed and clueless statements.

From wht I heard there was a small group of kids that was tracked because it was discovered that they could barely read and barely knew addition and subtraction let alone multiplication and division, and were flunking every class and needed a whole lot of extra help - so, seeing that these kids were several grade levels behind where they should have been, they broke them out into a group and focused on bringing them up to speed on the crucial skills they were missing. And here you are criticizing BASIS for actually caring and actually trying to help those unfortunate kids. Unbelievable. If anything, I wish more schools cared as much as BASIS does.

[Anonymous]

From wht I heard there was a small group of kids that was tracked because it was discovered that they could barely read and barely knew addition and subtraction let alone multiplication and division, and were flunking every class and needed a whole lot of extra help - so, seeing that these kids were several grade levels behind where they should have been, they broke them out into a group and focused on bringing them up to speed on the crucial skills they were missing. And here you are criticizing BASIS for actually caring and actually trying to help those unfortunate kids. Unbelievable. If anything, I wish more schools cared as much as BASIS does.

Dammed if you do dammed if you don't. Disgruntled parents will always find a way to blame everybody and everything else before they accept responsibility for them and their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My suspicions were right about segregation at BASIS S DC. My wife and other parents brought this matter to the Paul Morrissey ( then head of school) months ago. There were a group of students being tracked. Mr. Morrissey was evasive with our questions. His vagueness seemed suspicious to many of us. Was he tracking these kids so he would later throw them out? Our sixth sense told us something was not right here. I can't believe it was true. My kids were not in the group but I can't have my child in this kind of this environment. I was a strong supporter of BASIS but it's dwindled. After these revelations, I'm forced to question the real motives of the school. I can't believe it was happening here in DC. I'm outraged!!!

This doesn't ring true with me -- I call BS. Why would BASIS open a public school in AA-majority DC if it didn't intend to educate AA students? There aren't that many white students in DC for it to be worth their while to try to have a school that segregates in order to throw out the AA students. The only environment BASIS is cultivating is one where it's cool to be smart. Now, if certain students don't want to get on board with that and do the work required, then they are choosing to throw themselves out.

Who are the "certain students"? How does BASIS determine "certain students"? Please enlighten us! Let me guess BASIS has a ground breaking scientific theory or secret mathematical algorithm to ascertain "certain students".

Do your freaking job BASIS DC and educate. That's what the public pays you to do. And b/c the public pays you then freaking educate any child that comes to you.

Until you publish your groundbreaking theory for determining who are the "certain students" it's just an excuse for picking who you want to educate.

[Anonymous]

^^ PP here. Sorry you don't like my writing. Maybe I should have just wrote "students" instead of "certain students".

The groundbreaking science is the scores they receive on their tests and the fact that they can't read/write or know their basic math facts.

[Anonymous]

BASIS does not throw students out for academic reasons. The only grounds for expulsion would be a serious infraction of the rules which are similar for all schools. In fact, BASIS has multiple interventions to help struggling academic students. What BASIS does not do is social promotion so some students may need to repeat a grade in order to help them succeed. Some families may choose to move their students rather than the student repeat a grade.

[Anonymous]

ITA. Give it a rest already. I know AA kids who are perfectly capable of doing the work at Basis and do. They have the benefit of involved, educated parents and of having attended well-regarded elementary schools. It surprises me not at all that children who came to Basis from some of the more abysmal DCPS elementaries cannot do the work. It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with what opportunities those kids have had (or not had) up until now.

And it sounds like Basis is trying to educate those kids---by taking the kids who aren't scoring proficiently and breaking them out into remedial classes geared towards getting them up to speed as quickly as they can. I have a SN kid with severe dyslexia and I have never understood parents who rail about their kids being pulled out for special help. I want my kid pulled out as much as possible because it is only in the intensive small group environment that DC can get the help he needs.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote]From wht I heard there was a small group of kids that was tracked because it was discovered that they could barely read and barely knew addition and subtraction let alone multiplication and division, and were flunking every class and needed a whole lot of extra help - so, seeing that these kids were several grade levels behind where they should have been, they broke them out into a group and focused on bringing them up to speed on the crucial skills they were missing. And here you are criticizing BASIS for actually caring and actually trying to help those unfortunate kids. Unbelievable. If anything, I wish more schools cared as much as BASIS does.[/quote]

Dammed if you do dammed if you don't. Disgruntled parents will always find a way to blame everybody and everything else before they accept responsibility for them and their kids.[/quote]

The irony is that the disgruntled parents sought the school out, knowing that it would be demanding academically. When students need additional help -- often remedial help -- they need classes specially tailored to their needs. If they need to relearn -- or even learn for the first time -- the parts of speech, the parts of a sentence, how to diagram sentences, they need a special class. Such a class would by necessity have to be separate from the classes geared to students at grade level. DCPS favors "differentiating" in the classroom. In practice, this has never worked. That's why chart schools exist -- parents got sick of their children learning little or nothing. Often, five grade levels would function in a single classroom. Disgruntled parents at all schools know this. Their ability to accept the reality that their students don't know the basics varies widely. At some point, a school has to "track," as it were, students for readiness and ability. All parents -- disgruntled or otherwise -- were told this reality from the start.

[Anonymous]

Greetings,

Did Mary still involved with school? Just asking

[Anonymous]

She's still involved in BASIS DC, she hasn't gone anywhere, I still saw her regularly at the school throughout the year but I think her official role shifted to help more with BASIS corporate, they are opening a few more schools in other cities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of misinformation here:

Anonymous wrote:Let's stick to the facts, it'll make for better understanding. Here:
1. 3 Heads of School in one school year

Paul Morrissey is the only Head of School BASIS has had this year. Nicole Johnson, officially the School Director, serves in a dean of students.

Anonymous wrote:
2. About 60% the original staff are no longer with BASIS DC

Where is your 60% figure coming from, PP? Please list the staff who were there at the start of the year and those who are no longer there.

Anonymous wrote:
3. Numerous black families have removed their kids and will continue from BASIS DC

BASIS is majority black. When families leave, they are, surprise, more likely to be black.

Anonymous wrote:
4. Repeated student and parent complaints of racial discrimination

How many complaints, PP? What specifically did the complaints allege? Claims of racism or easy to make, but difficult to substantiate.

For example, it is not racist to embrace rigorous academic standards, even if leads to more black kids dropping out than non-black kids.

It is not racist to discipline disruptive kids, even if more black kids are disciplined than non-black kids. Moreover, since most of the kids are black, any policy which results in disciplinary action will result in more black discipline cases.

Anonymous wrote:
5. The PSCB and OSSE were investigating BASIS DC

As mentioned in response to 4, complaints are easy to make but hard to substantiate. The fact that these complaints have resulted in investigations does not substantiate them. Let's wait until the PCSB and OSSE complete their investigations and release their findings.

Anonymous wrote:
6. The Department of Education also currently investigating the school

See response to 5.

Anonymous wrote:
7. The PSCB unanimously rejects school request for expansion

These are merely highlights. Let's add how the school deliberately deceived the community about the PSCB decision about school expansion request.
Here what PSCB says

---"There is, however, some troubling early data that leads staff to recommend not increasing the school’s (BASIS DC) enrollment ceiling at this time. This includes high levels of mid-year withdrawals and low levels of special education students. The school has also been non-compliant in responding to certain PCSB data requests, including a City Council request for salary information."

Here what the Head of School (Paul Morrissey) says:

----"Despite the known demand and the relatively small proposed increase, the PCSB opted to adhere to a new policy of denying first year schools’ enrollment ceiling increase requests."

Why Deceive?

You left out the first sentence, PP. Talk about deceiving:

"As the school has been open for less than a year, there is no performance data on the school. There is, however, troubling..."

I read the PCSB report the way Morrissey does. As a first-year charter school, BASIS did not have a sufficient record of success, as measured byu the PCSB's PMF, to offset the concerns that have been raised.

Anonymous wrote:
Just the facts. So BASIS stop victimizing yourself and stop claiming to be great. You got a bunch of incompetent and irresponsible people running the show. BTW your community meeting weeks ago was a disaster. Parents ripped Paul Morissey and the presentation was poor. At BASIS, students are not physically or educationally safe.

How are they not safe physically? What does it mean to be unsafe educationally? Become illiterate? Innumerate?

Anonymous wrote:
A great school does not have a laundry list of these problems. List one great DC school that's had these problems their first year or these problems since initiated.

Heck, list one great DC public charter school.

Anonymous wrote:
But in typical BASIS style they want to shut dissent. BASIS this is AMERICA. You know the stuff you should be teaching in history to kids like free speech and say no to discrimination. Well that's real. You should sit in one of the 5th grade classes your teacher's give and learn something about the values of the country you are teaching in.

Answer me this, PP: Why do you care about BASIS?

Well lets see as it pertainst to the list of faculty and teachers that will NOT be returning, starting with 1. The head of school 2. Chris tredwel 2. Chris Irvine (all 3 of which fall right under the head of school) and now lest get to the teachers 4. Ms Weber (8th grade English) 5. Ms Casidy (physics) 6. Mr Shen (Music) 7. Mr Scunion (PE) 8. Ms Yu (Chinese) 9. Ms Uptagrove (classics/French) 10. Ms Vinyard (art) and that's just from what I can remember as to who's not coming back. How many teachers does Basis have? Oh and let's not forget Mary Siddell who's not coming back and Kera T who quit during the mid to end of the school year because she couldn't stant to see the racial profiling and mistreatment. So what are we at now.... 11-12? Lol the only people on here strongly defending this school about the racial discrimination an what not, are those Booster/Paul ASS KISSERS! Lol! We shall see how THIS year goes now that Basis is being investigated.

[Anonymous]

BASIS DC to open in 2012-2013 Fake Oakley Eyepatch <a href="http://www.undp.org.ph/oak/eyepatch-2-sunglasses.php" title="Fake Oakley Eyepatch">Fake Oakley Eyepatch</a>

[Anonymous]

2:32, either you are underinformed or have some kind of axe to grind, as you are posting a bunch of half truths and misinformation, rather than a full or honest portrayal.

With regard to faculty that left, I know that several left for their own reasons, having nothing to do with the school. Like going back to grad school, outside opportunities or other things - one left to go to medical school, one is moving because of her husband's job, one left to become a school administrator, and so on.

With regard to "racial discrimination" - that is an astounding and not at all a credible thing to try and suggest. BASIS is 55% AA, and out of 104 charters in DC, BASIS is in the top 20 for having the most diverse racial and socioeconomic mix. Lots of AA students had a fantastic year at BASIS, made honor roll, 90s club, won awards and competitions. If you know of a kid who was having a problem at BASIS, my money is on it being because of academics or behavior, not race.

[Anonymous]

BASIS should have done everything to keep Mary.

She may not have experience as a school admin, but she has so many other qualitities which would have made her a strong head of school.

Being in education for almost two decades both in the US and overseas, my opinion is based on objectivity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BASIS should have done everything to keep Mary.

She may not have experience as a school admin, but she has so many other qualitities which would have made her a strong head of school.

Being in education for almost two decades both in the US and overseas, my opinion is based on objectivity.

As far as I know, Mary still works for BASIS - she's still around and is still part of the picture.