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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have five years experience at DHMS with two children.  The administration (Ms E Smith) is the best in Arlington and on par with what we would expect at any excellent school.  As a result of this outlier administration in APS, DHMS tends to get a better pool of teachers.   They want to work for her.   Period.  I know there’s always personality conflicts, and some teachers are going to disagree (of course), but you have to take the overall picture and it’s extremely positive.

We have emailed teachers twice that I can think of and they responded.   But, perhaps that is tone/demands/frequency of your emails or the particular teacher happens to be a dud?

Unlike some APS schools, DHMS has a no tech policy, meaning phones away in lockers which I love.  However, APS totally undercuts this by handing all the children iPads and then expects teachers to police their use for 25 kids all class.  From my perspective, that is an APS problem and not a DHMS problem per se.   I know some teachers are better than others, etc., but it’s a real distraction and problem across the board in APS that isn’t properly being dealt with.

My children participated in vastly different kinds of activities at DHMS.  One was athletic and did all the sports.  Another was primarily interested in clubs.  We’ve had teachers go the extra mile, showing up out of school hours, hours away, for unpaid extra activities.  We’ve also had a few dud coaches, “coaching” sports they know nothing about (seriously)!  But, you know the seasons are short, and my kids were generally very happy.  I mean, it’s MS so I don’t exactly expect ES reactions of I love my teacher mommy.  Perhaps that’s a transition for you?

There is a big movement to self responsibility that’s actually the most important a kid can learn in MS.  More important than any of the underlying memorizing topics and the stupid grades.  Focus on that transition.  Your child absolutely needs to learn to advocate for themselves.  Learn this now.  Candidly, my reaction to your post was: sounds to me like this is your first or only child and you are too involved. [/quote]

So your whole response to this person is you're wrong that's not how it is and what your child is experiencing is not happening.  Super helpful.

Also, what basis could you possibly have for saying it's the best administration in APS?[/quote]

DP. "Best" is of course a matter of opinion, but I agree that Ms. E. Smith is excellent. I have interacted with a number of administrators, and she is among the best I have seen. I also agree that the school has pulled some wonderful staff and teachers away from other schools.

OP's post is interesting to me because it's out of line with my experience and I'm trying to figure out why. I think part of it is that OP is new to middle school. It's odd to complain when the teachers are notifying you about your child's missing assignments. Most parents would complain if they were not being notified. It sounds to me that either OP's expectations are out of line for a public middle school or maybe OP's child has ADHD or a learning disability and needs more support at home or at school. [/quote]

I am not at Hamm but I think APS transitioning to middle school in 6th grade could be what's going on  Developmentally, some kids are really ready and some kids really aren't.  Maybe this particular 6th grade class at Hamm just has a lot more not ready kids.[/quote]

It’s 300 kids mostly from Glebe and Taylor.  I mean, it’s possible that sixth grade has a bunch of extremist duds but I highly doubt that knowing the average home price.

I suspect this poster just happens to be wrong. I mean, maybe not wrong for their child and their experience and their needs but generally speaking wrong.  When you repeat things like: everyone says this is some sort of horrible experience and yet you read the thousands of posts for years about people generally liking Hamm I think this person is just really needy and their child is struggling to transition to MS and they are blaming the school.

There’s no PE half the time.  That’s APS.

Your child needs significant executive function support at home.  Perhaps consider a tutor for this?

You need to help your child email and communicate with teachers.  You should not be doing it for them.

Perhaps you misunderstood how Parentvue and Canvas work?  I will get notified that my child has a “D” in an automatically generated email from parentvue.   My child does not have a D.   They have three assignments in Canvas and the teacher hasn’t graded one, meaning they are missing a third of their current grade (which is a very small portion of their whole grade).  When this happens, do not email the teacher and demand an explanation.  Figure it out yourself.  I suspect this is what you are referring to in your post.  If your child is routinely — and I mean routinely — getting Cs or lower in APS middle school as a final grade in their report card your child probably has some learning differences that need to be addressed.

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