Reply to BASIS DC shut down/abolished the school list serve

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[quote=Anonymous]I find this unbelievable.  Yes, the rules were too detailed and people complained to moderators and the Board about stupid things, people were put on moderated status for stupid reasons, and some posts were inappropriate - it was too time consuming for them any time an issue blew up and made people hostile to the BOOSTERS in general for no other reason - it makes sense for the BOOSTERS (kind of the equivalent of a PTA but not, because all they do is raise money for the Annual Teacher Fund, without having any say or clue in where our money goes and how it is distributed - like the school, NO financial transparency at all) to get out of the business.

But they are not leaving the list serve intact.

UNBELIEVABLE BUT TRUE - TRY POSTING TO THE BASIS LIST SERVE - YOU CANNOT.  PERIOD.  IT IS GONE.  WHOEVER MADE THIS DECISION NOT ONLY DECIDED TO GET OUT OF THE BUSINESS OF MODERATING IT - WHICH WAS A STUPID IDEA IN THE FIRST PLACE, BUT DECIDED TO DESTROY IT.

They ended their frigging newsletter with the numerous other ways parents can stay in touch with each other
They neglected to tell us that there is no longer a way to get in touch with the entire school, the whole community

The place where numerous people posted, to every member of the school community who had signed up to get the emails, about scholarships, competitions, conferences, opportunities for additional intellectual stimulation for all of our children, all this outside STEM related stuff that no one person could possibly have had a line on, and new ones crop up every year, letting everyone in the community know........ is no longer, and there is no substitute.

We were just talking about a way to kind of establish a calendar for the annual scholarship, competition, and conference opportunities when suddenly........... you cannot.

We had an awesome kid enter a fun competition which might have won Basis DC $30k, and all the voting was on line.  And this was the way he and his mother put the word out - watch the video, vote for my son, you can vote once a day from different places from date x to date y.  Even if we did not win it, a lot of Basis parents tried to, and a lot of us had fun showing our children the video the child made to enter the competition which was sponsored by Uncle Ben's Rice.  He made a lettuce wrap, with panache, enthusiasm, and overall cuteness.  We will never have that opportunity again.

I guess they owned the list serve, having established it.
WHO EXACTLY MADE THIS DECISION - NOT TO NO LONGER MODERATE IT, BUT TO DESTROY IT?

When we come from all over the city, most of our kids had never met each other before 5th grade............
They published a directory, which is indeed useful, but really?

The place where parents asked for missing or misunderstood homework assignments and were usually responded to with information, even sometimes scanned notes for classes missed, etc.  We are not Washington Latin.  We have no Wikis.  If a child writes down an assignment incorrectly, or is confused, the only thing you can do now is email particular parents, or email your child's teacher........... revealing at the least your identity, maybe your child's sloppiness, what have you.  There is a reason we were not bothering the teachers, and for the most part, requests for help were met with information and cooperation.  That was a new thing this year, and it was community building.

NOW YOU CANNOT POST A QUESTION.  YOU CANNOT PROVIDE AN ANSWER.  WTF?

THE ONLY THING THEY DID NOT DO IS ERASE ALL PRIOR CORRESPONDENCE ON THE LIST SERVE.  AND THEY BETTER NOT.  I AM TO SAY THE LEAST EXTREMELY DISILLUSIONED WITH THE DECISION MAKERS HERE -

They could have just said "we are out of the moderating business, we understand it is a useful resource, in addition to the catfights (which will now be fought here, in front of everyone), so we are going to leave you all to your own devices, a fairly responsible group of adults, to stay in touch with the community here, to ask questions, to post opportunities...

There was a gigantic dispute a few weeks ago because you are not supposed to post about politics, and someone posted about an at large candidate who proclaims from the rooftops that he does not support charter schools.  But that was too political for some tender sensibilities - not an endorsement of another candidate, just a heads up about this one.

I do not have the words to express how outraged I am.  Yes they owned it, but they could have just handed it over to the community, and if people fight, they fight.  If they want to post about UFOs let them do it.  But not allowing anyone to post anything at all, ever again?  THAT WAS THE WRONG DECISION

I URGE EVERY BASIS PARENT TO FIND OUT PRECISELY WHO IS RESPONSIBLE AND IRRITATE THEM TO NO END
BECAUSE I AM SURE IT WAS NOT DESTROYED, IT WAS DISABLED
IT PROBABLY TAKES THE PUSH OF A KEY BUTTON AND ALL THE SUBSCRIBERS WILL ONCE AGAIN BE ABLE TO SPEAK TO EACH OTHER

Almost everyone here probably participates in a neighborhood list serve.  I do.  While there is sometimes the same amount of stupidity and pettiness it is a way to keep your hand on the pulse of the neighborhood, and a source of information even if some of it is misinformation.  But why not let Basis parents sort that out for themselves?

Now we are supposed to raise issues with the BOOSTERS and they may or may not announce them in their weekly newsletter, and may or may not ask the administration and provide answers to the community.

Because now they and the school own the ability to communicate with a group of interested parents from all grades.  So they can set the agendas, and if your issue is vetoed the community will never know you raised it in the first place.[/quote]

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