Why does Bethesda charge? Is it because they can and people pay?

BSC has been running what they call "Technique Masterclass." I don't know if they've done this in the past. But they did last fall and spring. Sessions runs about 5 weeks, 1 hr/week. It worked out to about .... $30 - $50 / hr. Can't quite remember. I signed up my son for one session. The few practices I watched were disappointing. A few of the head coaches were out there. Drills were set up. But I saw few direct instructions - going to each group, pointing out technique to indivudal players, or to groups. Etc.

My main thoughts were
1) this was a revenue generator, but then if so, why were head coaches there? Maybe those coaches that participate get a big pro-rata share of the revenues? and/or
2) Maybe a way for coaches to preview kids before official BSC tryouts?

Would be interested in thoughts and insights.

I also know OOB parents who are very linked into the Hearst parent community, on text chains for playdates, volunteering to coach rec soccer, etc. So it's up to each parent. Also, many of them have their own rich neighborhood community of friends.

I’m hesitant to take the bait, but what is SJW?

What is the club getting out of it? My guess is one upside is keeping parents less aware of nearby good clubs / teams / coaches, so then less likely to jump ship?

One of my children in elementary school travels about an hour to games in far flung parts of MD and VA, despite plenty of nearby teams (Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda) that would provide decent competition. My main guess is to keep parents less aware of those nearby teams (but of course parents talk, so they are somewhat aware). And since the teams they are more aware of through games are extremely far away, they would never join.

Thank. But they are all closed systems, are they not? MLS Next plays other MLS Next. EDP plays other EDP (within same "level".) ECNL plays other ECNL. ECNL Regional plays others within their own regional group only.

Do you mean, that it's a larger geographic area, for the same number of teams that you play against, so will have to travel further? That, yes, am sure we have all sorely experienced and understand.

As a Hearst parent appreciating a good conversation about schools, I find this reply snarky, unneccessary, and not helping with information exchange.

I'm not quite sure of the dividing line, but correct more of McL Gardens is zoned for Eaton than for Hearst.

Would quality of Arlington be impacted by recent departure of high level staff? I guess it would depend on who they find as replacements?

realdmv wrote:

TedLasso wrote:MLS Next isn't going to be replaced. This 'new' league has already been somewhat in practice already with a lot of NE boys teams. Essentially this league will house 2nd teams for clubs that exist in MLS Next.

It's ECRL for MLS next. Closed system that won't help anyone and is just a money maker. In case you're not aware, they tried this in EDP with club v club and it failed.

What does the above quoted post mean, particularly about it being a closed system, as tried in EDP? And in what ways does it result in being a money maker, at detriment to kids and parents (pocketbooks?)

Also, Bethesda's email for tryouts has this info:

"The tryouts are for all Bethesda Teams which include.

EDP
MLSNext
National Academy League"

Anonymous wrote:Regarding the principal at Hearst, part of the issue is that Hearst remained closed long after most DC schools managed to reopen during Covid. In correspondence she seemed to blame this on DCPS policies but other school managed to reopen in the Spring of 2021, whereas hearst only offered a few in person classes to a select group. Since then, it seems others schools have fully reopened and engaged parents inside the building whereas Hearst continues to have strange policies in place. Hearst families who were around before covid seem to have warmer feelings toward the school, but for those of us who joined in covid years have a hard time understanding this small school culture everyone talks about. I think the teachers are mostly great and we have been generally happy but I am eager for new leadership, better communication and more consistent policies.

I don't find the characterizations of what happened in COVID to be true. I found Hearst to do as good of a job than other area schools. Each seemed to do slightly differently. Rather I appreciated how thoughtfully it was done.

As for the current school policies that you find don't allow for parent engagement inside the building, what are they?

Disagree. I have not found Hearst to be like this at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed, pp, both seem competent. I would have been fine with them returning next year, but news that they are leaving doesn't concern me. I think this a great opportunity for the school to maybe live up to its potential. The high turnover of staff each year is a red flag and makes one wonder what was going on behind closed doors with the admin team.

Hearst definitely has higher turnover than the other ward 3 elementary schools. We’re a long term family and teachers seem to be progressively unhappier as the years go by. A lot of really good teachers left to continue teaching, just at other schools. I think that’s a red flag. Ones who are left seem beaten down. Less and less fun things happening at the school for the kids, used to have assemblies and fall festivals and they’re all gone, things that brought parents in during the day all cancelled. Personally I’m happy to see admin turnover.

I don't k now of a lot of teachers leaving to teach at other schools. Over my 6 years, teachers I know of who left (and it's easy to remember, because it's a small school), most left for personal reasons, usually tied to spouse/parnter having a new job in a different location, or moved to a new city altogether, or decided to not come back after maternity leave, or decided on a career change, or retired, etc. I do know one teacher who left to teach at a different school altogether, staying in the area.

Anonymous wrote:The experience we had with them was truly horrendous. A lot of it was under staffing and this was last year when that was a citywide -- not just them -- problem. But... they were awful.

Many of the enrichments were excellent and it is useful that it's so turnkey. That said, they rip off teachers who want to provide enrichments (taking 20% from them and then upcharging parents another 25%, so that the teacher is taking home only about half of what the parents are being charged), so if you have any culture of that at your school... watch out.

At Hearst, the PTA used to run aftercare. As part of that, teachers taught great classes - handwriting, writing in cursive, jewelry-making, art, etc. They were paid by PTA funds. Alongside, there were classes run by vendors, for karate, ballet, etc. The teacher run classes were very good, and much cheaper, so they were always oversubscribed. So the PTA built a lottery system for the teacher-run classes, with a preference for a child that had not already had a chance to take a teacher run class. Once Flex took over, the teachers stopped teaching classes. I suspect it has to do with how they were reimbursing teachers, per the quoted poster. It was a huge loss. But the PTA didn't have enough volunteers to organize and run the after school program. Also, Flex's regular after care program (not enrichment, just watching kids) seems understaffed / not the most happiest of staff.

I used to be on the PTA, so was in the Hearst building after school for meetings or organizing stuff. So I got a chance to see the vendor run classes as I walked the hallways. Many of the vendor run classes were not very good. I think it's because parents do not observe, and so the usual quality control mechanism isn't there (for example as parents normally do for sports, or other type of classes, eg. dance studios where they could observe and meet the teacher.) Parents probbably can probably observe if they ask, but most kids are just picked up in the lobby. And, probably most parents are coming to pick up after work; and most parents probably think something is better than nothing.

Thanks for posting DCPS grading policy. So to simplify, does it essentially come down to this?:

2+2 = 4.
Did you learn this?
Does it matter whether you handed in your homework late multiple times? No.
Does it matter that you failed the exam and took it over and over? No.
At some point did you learn it and pass the exam ( if there was one) - Yes. Passing and probably at least a "B."

Is that essentially the bottom line?

I'm starting to wonder if learning study skills, (eg: using flash cards to memorize vocabulary words) has become privatized. Literally.
-- Eiher go to private school. A friend's son at Maret 6th grade has 5 new vocabulary words a week to memorize, use in context, with HW.
-- Or your parents have to instill it (I had to "teach" my 6th grader to use flash cards to memorize Spanish words, and teach him the concept of mastery and building a foundation.)
-- Or you find a vendor (eg: Kumon, and others.)

I've heard that at MCPS high schools, they've eliminated final exams. Also, I think across MCPS, they have the simliar "retake" policy and "hand in late" policies as DCPS.

I heard that Arlington Public Schools recently made official a "no HW in elementary school" policy.

I've heard that genearlly, middle schools across the board - DCPS, MCPS, and even Fairfax PS -- do not have a lot of HW.

So... in high school, APs come along, and crash... learn fast, struggle, hopefully you figure it out in time, or have parents that help or hire tutors.