Reply to New Ward 3 Middle School ???

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]A new middle school in the Palisades would be fantastic.  If it is anything like the Key School, there would be no need to pay for private school or move to Maryland - at least until it is time to send DD and DS to Wilson.[/quote]

Not so fast.  Key has always been "fine" up until 3rd grade or so.  There hasn't been much pressure on it to be really great academically b/c most families pull out and pay a lot of money for a good 4-12 or 6-12 school.  Having a real public MS path will just bring much more scrutiny to Key's program (in addition to the MS program).  I've heard plenty of Key boosters (privately) discuss whether or not such a path really would be "good enough."  Just imagine the backlash if such a school is built (which I think it a ridiculous waste of money for a city that just doesn't have it) and the community doesn't actually use it![/quote]

Key parent here, and I'll say 1. Key wasn't always "fine," it has improved dramatically in the past decade, 2. the teachers and administration are under huge academic scrutiny; and 3. in the past couple of years the upper grades have changed. When my kids started at Key there weren't enough fifth graders for an entire class, and they had a combined 4-5. Shortly after that the fifth grade grew to the point where there was a full class, and a couple of years ago they added a second fifth grade. The fifth grade that just graduated was essentially the same size as it was in kindergarten, two full classes.  That group had been very optimistic about staying in the public system, and they got whipsawed when the situation at Hardy collapsed and Deal and Latin rather rapidly became much harder to get into.

From my conversations most of these families would have been thrilled to go to Deal. A number of them actually moved into the Deal district and will be attending in the fall.[/quote]

I agree that there are enough 5th graders to fill two classes.  That's not really the issue (although it speaks to the fact that many families bought into the idea that "Hardy would be improving" and stayed in DC longer than similarly situated families had in the past).  The issue is that the 4th and 5th grades have (and continue to be) filled with kids who didn't apply to or get accepted to a 4-12 private.  4th and 5th graders are essentially "holding" grades as families figure out their 6-12 options.  There has been no consistent pressure on the school to make 4th and 5th academically challenging b/c the Key-track has never been the academic path: the path has always really been the 4-12 or the 6-12 track.

The fact that Hardy continues to be horrible is not news either.  The difference this year (and the reason for the unbelievable angst amongst the 5th graders at Key) was that no-one could finagle their way into Deal.  That, and the fact that Latin is harder to get into, meant that there are no longer reasonable "fall back positions" for Key students.  That is also not going to change anytime soon.  Moving into the Deal boundaries or moving to an area with good schools are going to become more common choices for these families b/c the numbers aren't favorable.   [/quote]

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