Reply to Basis DC just withdrew its request to amend their charter and add elementary school

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Reply to "Basis DC just withdrew its request to amend their charter and add elementary school"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why are people happy about this? I'm not a basis parent and would t send my current preschooler to basis elem if I had the choice. BUT it seems like DC needs more,not less, legit legitimately challenging charter schools. Plenty of schools serve struggling, high risk kids but what about the kid that really is years ahead of classmates? Basis seemed like a good fit for some of those kids. [/quote]

I'm a current BASIS parent. I read the application and it was a cut and paste job from other cities and didn't really address the challenges the DC school has had. The DCPCSB members who spoke at the hearing were full of praise for the results the current students have achieved but were also very concerned about the steady drop in the numbers of students of color and with disabilities at BASIS DC over the last 5 years and the overall attrition rate.

The Board asked hard questions about whether they are truly committed and capable of serving any and all students in the city who would get in through the lottery. The proposal didn't suggest that they were and they were told to shore up their application in the month between the hearing and the vote.

From a political and optics perspective BASIS didn't do itself any favors by saying in the application that they were only interested in locating in Wards 1-6 or by having only 1 of the BASIS DC Board members in attendance for the p public hearing (there were 5 or 6 BASIS.ed staff from Arizona there). The local Board member who went was unfortunately unable to answer many questions about the plans (solely because she was pretty new to the Board and wasn't privy to the discussion about deciding to pursue an elementary school).

Maybe the DCPCSB would have approved the application. But I think it would have been a split decision or come with some conditions or criticism. If that's true BASIS would not want to risk that, so instead they withdrew the plan a week before the vote.
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Thanks for this update! Its good to hear that the DCPCSB has some standards and independence. [/quote]

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