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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think people also stay quiet because they don't always know, especially until hindsight, what wasn't going as it should have been. Maybe you think your kid is just slow to read, but no teacher recommends special ed and they dismiss it when you share a concern, and it's not until 4th grade that you get testing and learn that your kid has a learning disability. Or maybe they do fine at Eureka math and it's not until sixth grade that you realize they haven't memorized any facts. Or maybe the kid doesn't internalize or articulate the level of chaos in the classroom because that's not their nature, and you don't find out until years later.

There are of reasons people are positive about things, and they don't necessarily have to do with pride. [/quote]

Yes. If you haven't been to any other school, sometimes you just don't realize what's normal and what's not. When we switched from our IB DCPS to ITDS, it was really eye-opening how much people accepted as normal that wasn't as good.[/quote]

Is this at your DCPS or IT?[/quote]

At IT! None of it was really that big a deal, but it was noticeable how people had confidence in the school overall so they didn't tend to question things as much.[/quote]

Did you go back to DCPS?

[/quote]

No, I still prefer IT overall, especially for middle school. It's more that it's interesting how people who have only attended one school tend not to question things as much, and sometimes don't notice where their school is falling short.[/quote]

We had friends whose kids went from LT ES to ITDS MS in 5th/6th and were shocked that there were basically no clubs/afterschool enrichment offerings. IT was saying it was too small and they were pointing out that LT is smaller and has a robust program. Apparently IT is starting to add more along those lines but everyone had sort of taken for granted that it was impossible? (They’re really happy at IT from what I know, so not an overall knock on the school.)[/quote]

Yes, I think the afterschool stuff was underwhelming, then it vanished with COVID, and now what's comming back seems to be a bit stronger than before. I think part of it was that the prior Head of School had been at ITS forever and didn't know that much about what other schools were doing, and was oddly cold and defensive about parent input. The new HOS comes from a DCPS, and the principal comes from another charter, so they have a much better read on what's possible and things seem to be better. Also, it's true that ITS has a slightly larger total enrollment than LT, but ITS has those kids spread over more grades, so it's harder to come up with activities that suit a broader age range.

I think part of the difference is that a school that has good academics and a long waitlist doesn't feel the need to try quite so hard for aftercare, or to be as responsive in general. Our DCPS was very interested in growing and retaining families and it was a much more collaborative process overall. And at a high-income school, there isn't the feeling that if the kids don't do X thing at school they might never do it at all. So taking them to museums or the Kennedy Center or whatever just doesn't feel quite as urgent. People attend ITS for the combination of strong academics and a small-school feel, and extras like field trips and aftercare stuff isn't going to move the needle that much, and people are more okay with their kids just running around. At a DCPS that's working hard to improve, people feel the need to max out the value of every minute of the day because they don't have confidence in the school overall.[/quote]

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