Reply to Feedback on SWW@Francis-Stevens

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Can someone please explain to me how the new SWW@FS is in any way substantively different from the old SWW?  I understand that the name is different, and the Principal and some of the teachers are different.  But by "substance," I mean:  what is the long-term plan for the future (I can't find any firm information on this, anywhere)?  Is there a plan to increase in-boundary attendance or change the feeder system?  What is the relationship with "Walls," really, other than the name change (believe me, I've looked, and I've seen no firm plan in this regard)?

Disclosure:  my child attended F-S Campus a few years ago, and the rumors about one or two violent kids not being removed from the school are accurate.  Many (I mean, a lot) of the cars at drop-off were from Maryland.  Test scores were bad.  I would like to learn more about whether there is any basis to be optimistic that things will change.[/quote]

I am interested in whether or not there is actually a difference, but for a different reason than the previous posters.  My DC graduated from Francis-Stevens and was accepted into Banneker and I have to say that I was pleased with the education she received there.  I travel a lot and felt comfortable with her there instead of our neighborhood school option.  She was challenged and supported while she was there and she grew tremendously as a person and student.  My question is are they changing the school for the previous population/demographic of children (Low income minorities) or are they changing the people and demographics of the students in the school?  Let's be real about this, the more non-poor (regardless of race) and non-black and brown students there are in ANY school the better their scores are.  Was this decision made to serve the current population (which was alienated during the transition) or to recruit the neighborhood white families and upper-middle class blacks that roam this forum.[/quote]

Not PP to whom you are responding, but to both of you, I'd encourage you to go to an open house and see for yourselves. My sense is that they are committed to meeting the needs of the students who go there. In the upper grades, they are under-enrolled; in the lower-grades, they are at capacity--so I think the goal is to get people in the lower grades to stick with the school through 8th grade and do what is needed to give them the best academic experience possible. One thing they said, for example, is that [b]one 8th grade student has surpassed what they can offer in the math curriculum, so she goes to Walls high school to take math there.[/b] If you are reading at a higher level, then you go to the higher level reading group. If you are doing math at an 8th grade level at 5th grade, then you take math with the 8th graders. If you are behind, then you get remedial help. [/quote] NP here, so the Francis students are being allowed to attend Walls?  I have to assume then, that those Francis students who are allowed to take classes at Walls are then given preference for admittance to Walls.  Is the plan to change Walls to a feeder school?  This seems like a slippery slope otherwise.[/quote]

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