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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Reposting because the quotes got messed up:

The fact that people who live OOB for Watkins and LT (both of those schools have a majority OOB population) are choosing to attend SH is meaningless. They are doing that because their options are WORSE. What people on the Hill want is strong elementary schools and a strong middle school. They don’t have that, so they are voting with their feet. You seem to think that because there are worse DCPS schools that people are fleeing to fill Hill ES and SH, that somehow negates the fact that people who actually live IB for these schools don’t attend. It does not.[/quote]

+1. We left Watkins because it's too crazy, and we're IB. It's no neighborhood school. [/quote]

How do you think schools get to be IB? Overnight? Do you think Maury was always IB? Can we also address the irony that you pulled your kid out of your IB school because it was too crazy....and since you presumably didn't pull them out of school entirely, now they are not IB kids at their current school? Does your kid pull down the scores and quality of the education? Or is that just other OOB kids?[/quote]

Some of the frustration expressed here emanates from the snail's pace of change at LT and SH in the last decade.  I've lived IB for both for over 15 years.

Positive change hasn't even been slow but steady.  SH saw a big drop in IB enrollment when many new charters were opening, and after Watkins lost Cap Hill Montessori and SWS in a two-year period, taking 7 or 8 years to recover.  LT had the same problem during the Cobbs years.

Meanwhile, we've watched Maury go from around 1/4 IB/high SES to nearly 2/3 in just five years, and Brent do the same in under a decade.  For its part, LT is on it's third principal in five years and stubbornly remains a Title 1 school. Parents get fed up waiting around for both LT and SH to take off despite the local buzz about impressive test scores, teaching, facility upgrades etc.
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WTF do you mean "take off"???? Their scores are better than Brent's. LT re-enrolling rates are way up. The wait lists for LT show only IB this year and likely last, with a smattering the year before. Those kids are staying. Data doesn't lie.  And IB is a function of the entire population, so IB percentages don't move quickly; they crawl as IB kids rise. Also, not sure where the principal garbage is coming from. LT enrollment is up, retention rates are up and scores are up, notwithstanding your noise about principals. And you clearly do not understand how a Title 1 designation is made. There's no sliding scale; it is either Title 1 or not. And, btw, schools on the cusp prefer to remain Title 1 because it dramatically increases funding.

What is so infuriating about "you people" is that you make statements that do not comport with facts in evidence and are just so smug in your knowledge of those non-facts.

[/quote]

You're not really asking the questions.  You're looking for reasons to beat up on PPs who tout true neighborhood schools.  Go away.  Yes, LT is improving now that it's finally got a good principal, but, no, it's not a true neighborhood school, not yet.

I used to work at the US Dept. of Ed and know all about how Title 1 schools are designated.

Remaining Title 1 is a double-edged sword.  Yes, the loss of funding hurts, but if Maury and Brent are any example, as long as a PTA offers strong leadership, works well with a principal, and moves boldly to develop robust fundraising capacity, the influx of high SES parents willing to donate to school coffers offsets the loss (around 100K annually) within a year or two.  Then the sky's the limit on the fundraising front.  Maury is raising more than double what it lost when it came off Title 1 status several years ago, and Brent four times that sum. Most of the funds raised pay for teachers aides at both schools, as in JKLM, which really helps all the kids.  Once LT can afford to hire its own aides, neighborhood buy-in will take off. [/quote]

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