Reply to Unite to Stop DME School Proposals

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]But it is a choice model with a strange preference for DCPS teachers.[/quote]

I forgot about the teacher preference, and this comment struck me as so strange that I went back and read the proposals again.

What a difference a few months makes.  Reading them after these weeks of debate and controversy makes them seem less onerous.  But they really should have started each one with the objectives and changes that they would bring (instead of putting them at the end) because even the most hated proposals have something many parents say they want.  Choice sets, for example, has creation of strong connections to neighborhood schools as its objective and proposes to create specialized programming in every area of the city.

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You have completely, totally fallen for it the way a fish bites a worm on a hook.  This was precession the point of the whole process:  to float radical, idealogical, plans that completely overhaul how students are assigned to public school in DC and allow a freak out to happen. By the time the freak out about the most radical plans is over, people will be "softened up" and will passively accept any changes short of those far out plans.

Voila.  You have been manipulated by a master.[/quote]

Actually, what I did was some informal market research and, reading here on DCUM and attending the community forums, learned more about what other parents want.  Here are some of the desired features I keep hearing and reading:

- right to attend neighborhood schools
- expand early childhood capacity, especially for lower-income so that children are prepared to learn by K
- specialized programming (IB, Montessori, dual-language, STEM) with predictable feeder patterns for those through MS and HS
- magnet programs or application academies for high school, either as a standalone or within comprehensive schools
- break up of PS-8 schools in Wards 1, 4 and 5 to create stand alone middle schools

It surprised me to go back and see that all of these objectives are in the policy examples, they're just buried beneath the proposals to achieve them.

I'm just really focused on getting stronger programs for PS-12 [i]in my neighborhood.[/i]  And I think parents in underserved areas of the city feel the same way and are in a unique position to demand that, in the same way that Ward 3 and Capitol Hill parents demanded it.

I don't feel manipulated.  My kid is high SES and will do well no matter where he ends up - I'll make sure of that.  DCPS wants more parents like me, and there are more of us to make those demands.  Since the DME is moving in that direction, I'd rather keep going there than start from scratch.[/quote]

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