Reply to Given the rigor of Basis, was it ever expected to be for every kid in the District?

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Reply to "Given the rigor of Basis, was it ever expected to be for every kid in the District? "

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[quote=Anonymous]I found a history going back to the charter board’s decision to approve Basis. There is an article in the Washington post from 5/11/11 that describes the controversy (link below).  Here are some quotes from the article: 
 
“The charter board’s approval overrode the objections of its staff members and four consultants, who said Basis could not demonstrate how it would adapt its rigorous approach to the District

“McKoy, the only board member who voted against the opening of Basis when it was approved last month, said he thought that the charter operator “brushed aside” concerns about the ability of students behind grade level to succeed.

Most charter board members said that the Basis record in Tucson, which includes a Top 10 ranking in Newsweek’s annual high school survey for the past five years and annual standardized test scores that exceed statewide averages, has earned the school a chance in the District.

Board Chairman Brian Jones said the approval of Basis is contingent on how the school demonstrates it will reach out to diverse sectors of the city. …. “As a school model with that kind of rigor, Basis at the end of the day may not be for every family in the District,” Jones said. “But that’s part of the genius of the charter school model. There’s a diversity of models — the whole notion of letting a thousand academic flowers bloom.”

“Reviewers also flagged abnormally high projected attrition: Of the 145 fifth-graders expected to enroll in 2012, 38 would remain Basis students by ninth grade, a retention rate of just over 25 percent.

My own reading on this is that the school may have been understood by the board from the beginning to be designed for very hard working and/or advanced kids.  And, so long as the kids that Basis retains after the shakeout period  are from various social, racial and economic backgrounds, that the school would be seen as a success by the board.   The board may expect and may be comfortable with the idea of self selection based on very hard working and/or advanced kids.

Is there more to this story?  Does anyone have first-hand knowledge of what really happened?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-demographics-could-challenge-new-charter-school/2011/05/06/AFfIEksG_story_1.html
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