Reply to Hardy Middle School -- 5th grade in feeder school -- who's considering Hardy for 6th?

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Reply to "Hardy Middle School -- 5th grade in feeder school -- who's considering Hardy for 6th?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Let's not focus on individual teachers in this thread, OK?  Hardy is much bigger and let's hope better than that to focus on one teacher.

By the way, I was talking with a middle school parent this weekend who sent a child to Basis rather than Hardy.  One concern mentioned was that a family they knew that did send their child to Hardy started swearing around the house.  Swearing wasn't part of the family's vocabulary at all - it was something the child had picked up from other kids at Hardy.  Maybe that's a minor thing to some but it's a sign of the morals and values of some kids at the school and their families.  Parents who swear around their kids and who permit their kids to swear are, frankly, not kids/families I want my kids around.

Yes, kids are going to hear that eventually but ... in middle school??[/quote]

focusing on Hardy as a former Mann parent with children elsewhere - we know of one transfer so far and one family who wishes they could.  They both say the focus is on discipline not education - don't know precisely what that means - but they definitely feel deceived and shortchanged about Hardy the way it was marketed to Mann parents..................[/quote]

As a CURRENT Mann parent actively discussing middle school options, I don't know what you're talking about. I trust what you say, but this is fairly opposite what I've been hearing from current Hardy parents that were (and often still are) at Mann. [/quote]

[b]I am not sure precisely what these parents are talking about either.[/b]  But we asked them directly rather than listening to them volunteer about their experiences at Hardy.  All started this year.  All said they felt the school was too focused on discipline and not on education.  It may be the first few weeks or it may be what we have all heard about the difference between EOTP and WOTP ES's sometimes - that at Mann you would almost NEVER hear a member of the school staff (teacher, principal, security guard) raise their voice at a child while last year there was an EOTP parent complaining (or maybe it was two years ago) about teachers screaming at kids.... at a DCPS not a charter.

All I know is these three families were sold on Hardy by Ms. Pride (the Hardy principal) and perhaps also Ms. Whisnant (and I hope they take the time to go back and tell her how they feel, because only she can judge whether they are outliers and I do believe she will always do right by Mann kids - although why she does not push Latin and BASIS for those very few for whom one school would be a paradise (and probably the other a disaster), I do not know.  Anyway, these families were convinced and therefore did not apply to private schools and only one applied to Latin/Basis.  All wanted out as of two weeks ago, and were tremendously shocked by what they expected versus what they have experienced.

I just felt in the interests of honesty (and because I do have a much younger child who is not yet at Mann and by the time this child gets to Hardy I am sure there will be nothing to worry about) that people should hear a different perspective.  I was shocked based on all I had read on this board.  Because based on all my reading here, if I had a 4th grader, I would seriously be thinking about Hardy.  Until these recent conversations with families whose kids we know and whose judgement we trust.  So I thought in the interests of honesty it was the right thing to do to post their feelings as well.............  FWIW.............

PS kids learn bad language everywhere although the type of bad language may vary based on the particular environment, our kids while at Mann were telling "your Mama" jokes, only some of which were funny.  And there was absolutely no way to prevent the older ones from contaminating the younger ones, and if you tell them how bad it is they only do it more.  Usually they either have the good judgement not to be heard around their parents or are so innocent that they think the parents will be amused.  [b]The key, as with all things, is not to let your shock show - or they will realize how powerful the language is for whatever reason..............[/b]  And then after a while, to explain why that particular word or joke is not funny/unacceptable/will reflect badly on your entire family/will make other parents not allow their kids to invite you over for playdates if they ever hear you talk that way..............[/quote]

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