Reply to How was the meeting with the admin meeting last week at BASIS?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]PP continued....  In other words, I think to the extent BASIS is a good school it is so despite many aspects of the curriculum, admin control and institutional design, not because of it. And, ultimately, I cannot rate BASIS highly and am compelled to speak out against it because of the damage I saw it inflict on a not insubstantial percentage of its student body. I get very angry when I hear BASIS defenders say, "well BASIS is not for everyone." I think it is OK to have niche public schools - one size does not fit all - but don't market BASIS as a school for all when it so clearly is not. When they say attrition is built into the program to me that means harm is built into the program (both for those that leave and those that struggle unhealthily but remain). That is completely unacceptable for a school no matter how strong other aspects of the program.[/quote]

I really have to disagree with you on your suggestion that BASIS is being marketed as a "school for all."  When we checked into the school, we read up on it and went to their open house, virtually everything we saw and heard, and since then have experienced as a family for the last 3 years has consistently presented BASIS as a school pushing intensive college prep and AP coursework with a heavy STEM focus.  Most definitely NOT a school being touted as a "school for everyone".  If college is not your plan, then why go to a school that expects students to do AP coursework?  If math and science aren't your kid's bag, then why send him to a STEM focused school?

What it's not?  It's not a big sports school with a football stadium and cheerleaders.  It's not a language immersion school.  It's not a school of the Arts.  It's not a vo-tech.  It's not a general education school.  It's not a liberal arts college prep where kids walk around wearing identical neckties and sweatervests emblazoned with Hufflepuff and Gryffindor crests.  There's lots of things that it isn't, and that's fine too.  But again, BASIS doesn't offer, market itself as, represent itself as, or even remotely pretend to be any of those things to anyone.  And as for it not being "for everyone" - that's fine too - the DC charter school system is chock full of niche and specialized offerings like language immersion, Montessori, IB, ELL, and so too is the DCPS public school system, with its many specialized schools, like SWW, Ellington School for the Arts, Banneker, et cetera, we have a diverse population with many diverse needs and interests, and frankly I can not ever see a "one size fits all" approach that would uniformly, consistently and completely satisfy all of those. [/quote]

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