Reply to So much less frenzy these days - does that mean Common Lottery is really really working?

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Reply to "So much less frenzy these days - does that mean Common Lottery is really really working?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Wow, it's like an echo from my past.

Here's the advice I wish I'd gotten at the time:

1. Hope for the best, but accept that half the parents who are currently extolling the virtues of your EOTP school will be gone next year or sooner (didn't Cooke's biggest booster bail even before the beginning of the school year this year?).  Do not take this personally, but understand that people will lie to your face, take up hours of your time meeting with you to plan events, and then walk away without a second glance the minute Mundo Verde calls.  They will feel bad, but they will do it.
2. In year two, celebrate the heck out of the parents who came back, and do lots of fun things with those parents and their kids.  Half of them will be gone in another two years, but you can create strong bonds that will last past your current school location.
3. Celebrate the small victories: if you only raise $8,000 in year 1 for the PTA, that's $8,000 more than you would have if you hadn't worked on it.
4 Cultivate the heck out of all the parents, even those who look different, speak different languages, and spank their kids in public.  These are the parents who will stick with the school so any support you can get from them will be long-lasting.
5. Push the school early and often to advertise events in every medium possible, including emails, texts, flyers posted, and overhead announcements.  DO NOT accept that low income parents don't have smart phones.  Cricket has made smart phones available to everyone who wants one. Instead push to have blast texts sent out.
6. Do not denigrate the efforts of those who are currently at the school.  The seemingly clueless administrator at the front desk is likely the only one who knows where the speakers are for movie night.  Make friends.
[/quote]

Is it possible that things are different than they were a few years ago?  There are so many more IB families going to their neighborhood DCPS because there are no other choices.  Charter schools are saturated, and it's more and more difficult to get in OOB anymore.  With boundary changes and more restrictions on OOB preferences (like doing away with proximity preference), going to your neighborhood IB school may just be the new normal.[/quote]

I would love to think so, I really would.  But it's going to take time, and if I've learned nothing else, it's that parents will put the" interests" of their kids first.  Shiny new charters will continue to open, and everyone gets in somewhere eventually if they're willing to wait / play the lottery every year.  When I was involved in my grand experiment, many of those I considered dedicated told me shamefacedly that they "played the lottery for the heck of it" (see other threads) and were shocked, shocked that they got in.  Despite my best efforts, none of them stayed.  Many of them acknowledged later that their kids had gotten a fine education at the LRDCPS, but none of them were willing to return, even if their child was not as stimulated in the new school.  Even now that I'm at another dcps that is more well-regarded, parents still leave for the shiny new charters.  So I'm behind you 100%; I really am.  I'm just realistic that parents who marked their neighborhood school as their last choice will. No. Stay.

Perhaps some schools will have successes - Ross and Bancroft have gone from disparaged to competitive, and even Eaton and Hearst were considered undesirable 7 years ago, so yes, things do change.  Tubman and cooke weren't even considered worthy to park one's kids at for a few years when I was starting out, so even parents willing to stay through Kindergarten is likely an improvement.  But those who come in thinking that all it takes is hard work and dedication are naive.  You need a principal who is on board, parents who are willing to work the system AND STAY THERE when things are not always perfect and a school that can attract the new parents without alienating its base.  [/quote]

So, you are at a more highly regarded school? In other words, you did exactly what you complain other people did. Well, I guess it wouldn't be DCUM if there wasn't a self-righteous hypocrite responding.[/quote]

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