Anonymous
Post 11/06/2014 09:42     Subject: BASIS DC shut down/abolished the school list serve
Anonymous wrote:By the way is it true that another teacher quit BASIS today?


Yes and it is a terrible loss. She was the third Spanish teacher and she was excellent. The other two were both at the end of the year. And they were awful. I finally thought my kid had a shot at learning the language. Damn. It may not have had much to do with BASIS, though. She got a fairly prestigious job in her home country, and she had been commuting from Annapolis each day because she her child was a student at the Naval Academy...... which must not have been pleasant at all. But now I am afraid again about who will be our next Spanish teacher. Basis does in general a fairly good job of firing teachers at the end of the year. Hiring good ones? Not nearly as well done. And long term great Basis teachers tend to be put in charge of new Basis schools that are starting elsewhere. That is how we lost the best maths teacher my child ever had, and our best HOS, who this year is in charge of additional schools instead of just focusing on us. So we have also had 3 HOS in 3 years, one fired, one fantastic, one who also should be gone at least by the end of the year (I'm hoping sooner). Really tough row to hoe in a start up, even if it is part of a chain, because they did not bring us many solid experienced teachers from AZ. And most of the ones who came have been promoted and moved on.

Each year it gets better, and my first started young enough that I am not all that worried about the final outcome. They learned a lot from the chaos and uneven instruction and out of control kids the first year. Things are a world away this year when my youngest started. So that transformation occurred basically in two years (we are in our third). If we could only find a way to hire competent teachers, the uneven instruction would become a non-issue. And if we could only find a way to deal with the few children in each Element that really ruin classes for all the rest by being disruptive (they get sent to the Dean, and then turn up the next day and do the same thing), and a few other issues, I would have no complaints. As it is, at the moment, I am quite happy with both children's teachers. And this is a first for me. So let's see whether they can hire a decent Spanish teacher again and keep her here this time. Maybe they could just move someone from Arizona. That would be wonderful. As it is, the children (when it is the right time of the year) have the option of participating in a sample class offered by several candidates and voting for the one they think is best suited for the school, which is quite a cool system. So my child voted for the teacher who is their instructor in one of the courses they are taking this year, and the teacher is excellent.
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2014 23:08     Subject: Re:BASIS DC shut down/abolished the school list serve
Holy moley! The cray-cray is strong at Basis! Please continue as this shit is hilarious. Is crazy Basis mom also crazy word salad lady? Because that would be awesomer.
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2014 22:54     Subject: BASIS DC shut down/abolished the school list serve
PLEASE stop alienating potential and present Basis parents and cease this ranting. PLEASE!!
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2014 20:53     Subject: BASIS DC shut down/abolished the school list serve
Also, since there were at one point, long ago, possibly 25 open slots, along with a flurry of people reaching out to friends and family about coming to Basis... but since then, when asked about their numbers, school officials don't seem worried or concerned.

Not seeming concerned is, of course, obviously a sign of the imminent and utter destruction of the school. I mean, literally, figuratively, metaphysically, and in every other possible meaning. They are a gazillion billion trillion dollars in debt, and there is, at this very moment, a chunk of hurtling ice comet flying straight at the school from the Oort cloud in deep space.

Look, the long and short of it is that aside from maybe 2 or 3 people who keep repeating the same stuff here over and over again, the rest of us are perfectly fine. The world is not coming to an end. Basis is not coming to an end. Their 6th grade cohort is not coming to an end. The bag of candy maybe came to an end but nothing else is. Now, if only these constant posts over nothing could come to an end.
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2014 20:44     Subject: BASIS DC shut down/abolished the school list serve
The other day, when I walked by the school, I sneezed and nobody said "bless you". The indignity. The outrage. I demand an explanation, I demand that the Head of School come and personally appear before me to say "bless you" and we need to discuss this ad nauseam, over the course of several weeks, and hundreds of posts!
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2014 20:30     Subject: BASIS DC shut down/abolished the school list serve
Anonymous wrote:Jesus you people are crazy.


+1. Another possible middle school crossed off. Will be looking at private schools or moving.
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2014 19:49     Subject: BASIS DC shut down/abolished the school list serve
By the way is it true that another teacher quit BASIS today?
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2014 19:31     Subject: BASIS DC shut down/abolished the school list serve
Haha there is so much insanity in this thread. It is calling out for a good gif.
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2014 19:26     Subject: BASIS DC shut down/abolished the school list serve
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There were 4 "if you left BASIS" threads, and a whole bunch of "join my facebook listserv," "I can't believe 25 6th grader spots are gone and no one told us until it was too late" "chemistry candy gate" and "I am a Luddite" emails. She wrote a bunch of them, but unlikely all of them, but I say everyone drop it. The various points have been beaten to death, and this has gotten silly and ridiculous and it is time to move on.


I have an issue with the 25 spots and intend to try to bring it up at the next coffee hour. I want to know why it happened, and how HOS intends to prevent it from happening in this year's lottery. Bottom line is this is about money, people. We do not get money for empty spots. We can hardly ask to expand if we cannot fill our school. I also agree that we all have neighborhood list serves we could have posted the openings on had we been told earlier. So:

Are you all going to boo me down or throw popcorn at me? I agree that it is time to move on here, but I think you people ought to be ashamed of how far this went and in what direction. It is not like she is a deranged dangerous person who has done permanent damage to the school. Unless you are gullible enough to blame her for shutting down the list serve when they "had been thinking about it for some time" - read ante FB Luddite Candygate which were all in the same friggin 3 emails.


There were more than 3 emails-a quick word search will tell you that-please drop it-also, the 25 slots WAS settled well before it was dropped-o. The Basis listserv, Jeff Jacobs listed something like 6 different dates where Basis parents received written notice about the 25 available spots, many of those dates in plenty of time for parents to do something about them. This has been mentioned to you or the other woman more than twice, yet you keep bringing it up, or making new threads asking why people left, whether people were leaving after 8th etc. Instead of lamenting the past which is now lost, lets do something about the future, and stop repelling people and doing more harm with this noise and excessive repetitive emails, ok?


You seem to have an inability to grasp basic concepts, and then an inability to separate them out. So let me help you here about the past, and about the future. You usually use the past to learn about the future. Because those who are now in 8th grade, the third graduating class, maybe just maybe will not have their "top students" leave. If everyone gets on board and plays their cards right. But the past, what made those students leave, is critical to my child's future happiness. So respect it and kindly pipe down.

Finding out why the "top students" in our first and second graduating class left, even though when my child went to the expo it was clear they would have to repeat biology and world history, would be valuable "feedback," as our HOS calls it. We are in an environment where, thanks to the multiple exit polls, we know exactly why some of these kids left. Some of it we cannot fix (social environment, more extracurriculars, etc) but some of it we could - treating 8th graders like they have actually spent two years at Basis with the respect they deserve, as opposed to threatening all their grades because some (perhaps) innocent idiot ate some candy, and then when you finally grace them with your presence again, Dean and HOS, apologizing, and explaining fundamental Basis values.

Neither of them did either of this. They showed up and said your grades are safe, they never took responsibility, never apologized, never explained. So anytime the Dean is called all students will feel their grades are in danger. We have such sensitive and effective leadership, it blows my mind I am in absolute awe of their "messaging."

As the parent of a student in the upper school, the comment by the HOS, documented by the Boosters, that we lost some of our "top students" upset me. I have a child going into these crucial grades and I am not sure how that child would feel if they lost most of their academically accelerated peer group. Sad, no doubt. Lonely, isolated, the list goes on ad infinitum. Would we bail on Basis? No. Do we want our child to keep their friends through high school? Yes. Otherwise high school may be a very lonely time. Fortunately our child has other friends, from the neighborhood, from church.......

Why did we end up not filling these 6th grade slots? No clue, and so far no answers.

If we were given an answer that explained how they were going to not lose the opportunity to admit 25 additional 6th grade students next year, which we have the space for in our charter, please enlighten me, and I will cease to be a harpy

But you all seem to be so focused on when we knew what, and what this idiot woman knew when, both of which completely miss the point. We had the opportunity to have 25 additional students in our 6th grade, students who wanted to be there (at least according to our wait list) and we fumbled the ball.

We probably had the ability to keep some of these "top" upper school students, had anyone spoken to them. So now our first two graduating classes are not going to have the matriculation statistics that they would have had. Please explain to me how not figuring out why these "top" students left is a great idea? Or how trying to figure it out creates unecessary controversy?

Suffice it to say, the pyramid model in Arizona depends absolutely on completely filling the 5th and 6th grade classes, and the academic model depends absolutely on the "top students" staying for high school. So, after 3 HOS in 3 years, an apparent inability to fill the 6th grade, and the loss of some of our "top students" in the Upper School, your proposal is what precisely?

That we all hide our heads in the sand and light lots of candles? Not getting it, not buying it, and now believing that a bunch of parents don't even believe they have to list Basis as an option for 6th, because it is always an option before count day.This is why we needed a list serve. Based on the posts from isolated and extremely vocal parents, many have said they do not want to join our school. What do you people think you are doing here? Recruiting?
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2014 18:51     Subject: BASIS DC shut down/abolished the school list serve
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There were 4 "if you left BASIS" threads, and a whole bunch of "join my facebook listserv," "I can't believe 25 6th grader spots are gone and no one told us until it was too late" "chemistry candy gate" and "I am a Luddite" emails. She wrote a bunch of them, but unlikely all of them, but I say everyone drop it. The various points have been beaten to death, and this has gotten silly and ridiculous and it is time to move on.


I have an issue with the 25 spots and intend to try to bring it up at the next coffee hour. I want to know why it happened, and how HOS intends to prevent it from happening in this year's lottery. Bottom line is this is about money, people. We do not get money for empty spots. We can hardly ask to expand if we cannot fill our school. I also agree that we all have neighborhood list serves we could have posted the openings on had we been told earlier. So:

Are you all going to boo me down or throw popcorn at me? I agree that it is time to move on here, but I think you people ought to be ashamed of how far this went and in what direction. It is not like she is a deranged dangerous person who has done permanent damage to the school. Unless you are gullible enough to blame her for shutting down the list serve when they "had been thinking about it for some time" - read ante FB Luddite Candygate which were all in the same friggin 3 emails.


There were more than 3 emails-a quick word search will tell you that-please drop it-also, the 25 slots WAS settled well before it was dropped-o. The Basis listserv, Jeff Jacobs listed something like 6 different dates where Basis parents received written notice about the 25 available spots, many of those dates in plenty of time for parents to do something about them. This has been mentioned to you or the other woman more than twice, yet you keep bringing it up, or making new threads asking why people left, whether people were leaving after 8th etc. Instead of lamenting the past which is now lost, lets do something about the future, and stop repelling people and doing more harm with this noise and excessive repetitive emails, ok?


There may have been many more than three responses to her emails, but that is what a word search would reveal.

The 25 slots has not been settled nor explained, I love how I keep asking people to provide me with an answer, and no one can. So why not just concede the point

Please have someone very patient explain to you why the past is relevant to the present and the future. They would clearly have to be very patient As a parent of a child in the US, why there was a mass exodus is important to me because I would like to prevent it from happening this year. You sound like one of the many parents who have just parked their kid here for MS and does not give a fuck about our future. Fine, but own it. And shut up. The way you do something about the future is to examine the past, idiot.

How did we screw up so badly that we went from a waiting list to not being able to fill our 6th grade?
Why did so many of our "top students" leave when they knew they would have to take World History all over again, get no credit for Biology etc? Sorry but my kid went to the expo and it was crystal clear no credit would be offered. They left anyway, some of them repeating 9th grade, with eyes wide open.

Do you think maybe figuring out why they left in the US might keep others like them here in the future? Or should we just move on, praying to whom? Do you think maybe looking at what we did might enable us to fill our 6th grade next year? Or is that too much dwelling for you. No idea who Jacobs is, but you are judged by whom you associate with.

So my idiot "let's not dwell on the past" poster, what was the famous quote..... Cannot quite conjure it because exposure to you has fried my brain cells, something akin to those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it?

We are not even three full years old. The idea that these US students left because we were not fully enrolled does not fly with me. So I was responsible for one of the 4 threads on that issue. Iasked, and was shut down, by a bunch of idiotic Boosters, no doubt you played your role. Thank you for interfering with our ability to learn from our mistakes.

Now grab a lollipop, aka a gobstopper, and think before you give us the doubtful pleasure of again listening to your stupid theories.

How do you solve problems? You figure out all the W's. What went wrong, why, how, when, and who should have fixed it. Have we heard anything on this subject re the 25 open spots for 6th from are HOS? Absolutely not

But for those of you who could care less if history repeats itself, by all means stop dwelling, move on, both from our losses at the bottom and at the top because something will magically happen to change the situation without our needlessly questioning our HOS. Again, getting the STRONG feeling it does not affect your kid in the long term.

Perhaps the other poster was right, it is "love it or leave it." But for my particular child, who oddly enough I care about to the exclusion of all others, I do not want to see their friends leave after this year. Forgive me for trying to figure out why.

And forgive me for calling you an idiot. But you sure do a pretty good imitation of one.
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2014 18:13     Subject: Re:BASIS DC shut down/abolished the school list serve
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
yes but if you want everyone to vote in a contest that could get the school $30k, you now have no way to contact them, and remind them, and some may have been bothered by that as well. I agree with grade specific list serves for homework, but otherwise it seems to me that most of what was posted was kind of a school wide thing....


The Boosters and the school I am pretty sure will be more than happy to post such a thing in their weekly newsletters.


Sorry for the mix up here, but I think they only send out one weekly newsletter, and that is my point and the point of the "play nice" poster - for all intents and purposes, the Boosters are the school. They represent the school, not the parents. And I bet they don't do anything this serious without the advice, consent, or even perhaps at the request from the school to do it. So I think the administration shut down the list serve. And the Boosters are their tools.


That's not at all how it works. The boosters are self selected, the boosters consist of any engaged parent, any parent can participate and get involved, and it's not at all top down or driven by the school administration.


Who sends the newsletter? Who writes the newsletter? Why is there no summary of the first coffee hour? Or even the most recent boosters meeting?
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2014 14:01     Subject: BASIS DC shut down/abolished the school list serve
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There were 4 "if you left BASIS" threads, and a whole bunch of "join my facebook listserv," "I can't believe 25 6th grader spots are gone and no one told us until it was too late" "chemistry candy gate" and "I am a Luddite" emails. She wrote a bunch of them, but unlikely all of them, but I say everyone drop it. The various points have been beaten to death, and this has gotten silly and ridiculous and it is time to move on.


I have an issue with the 25 spots and intend to try to bring it up at the next coffee hour. I want to know why it happened, and how HOS intends to prevent it from happening in this year's lottery. Bottom line is this is about money, people. We do not get money for empty spots. We can hardly ask to expand if we cannot fill our school. I also agree that we all have neighborhood list serves we could have posted the openings on had we been told earlier. So:

Are you all going to boo me down or throw popcorn at me? I agree that it is time to move on here, but I think you people ought to be ashamed of how far this went and in what direction. It is not like she is a deranged dangerous person who has done permanent damage to the school. Unless you are gullible enough to blame her for shutting down the list serve when they "had been thinking about it for some time" - read ante FB Luddite Candygate which were all in the same friggin 3 emails.


There were more than 3 emails-a quick word search will tell you that-please drop it-also, the 25 slots WAS settled well before it was dropped-o. The Basis listserv, Jeff Jacobs listed something like 6 different dates where Basis parents received written notice about the 25 available spots, many of those dates in plenty of time for parents to do something about them. This has been mentioned to you or the other woman more than twice, yet you keep bringing it up, or making new threads asking why people left, whether people were leaving after 8th etc. Instead of lamenting the past which is now lost, lets do something about the future, and stop repelling people and doing more harm with this noise and excessive repetitive emails, ok?
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2014 13:55     Subject: BASIS DC shut down/abolished the school list serve
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There were 4 "if you left BASIS" threads, and a whole bunch of "join my facebook listserv," "I can't believe 25 6th grader spots are gone and no one told us until it was too late" "chemistry candy gate" and "I am a Luddite" emails. She wrote a bunch of them, but unlikely all of them, but I say everyone drop it. The various points have been beaten to death, and this has gotten silly and ridiculous and it is time to move on.


I have an issue with the 25 spots and intend to try to bring it up at the next coffee hour. I want to know why it happened, and how HOS intends to prevent it from happening in this year's lottery. Bottom line is this is about money, people. We do not get money for empty spots. We can hardly ask to expand if we cannot fill our school. I also agree that we all have neighborhood list serves we could have posted the openings on had we been told earlier. So:

Are you all going to boo me down or throw popcorn at me? I agree that it is time to move on here, but I think you people ought to be ashamed of how far this went and in what direction. It is not like she is a deranged dangerous person who has done permanent damage to the school. Unless you are gullible enough to blame her for shutting down the list serve when they "had been thinking about it for some time" - read ante FB Luddite Candygate which were all in the same friggin 3 emails.



I'm too polite to boo at you during open forum, but I will be annoyed if you insist on beating the dead horse that is the 25 6th grade spots. What do you want to hear? In your opinion, what would be an appropriate response from the administration? This was already brought up and talked about at the last parent coffee. I don't understand what more you want? If you really like BASIS, why aren't you posting on your community listserv about it already? Or talking directly to friends with younger children about it? I'm sure if you'd like to organize a parent information night at your home or at your local library or church or wherever, you can do this and it would be welcomed and appreciated.





The question was asked. It was not answered. Unless you went to a coffee in a parallel universe.
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2014 13:49     Subject: BASIS DC shut down/abolished the school list serve
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There were 4 "if you left BASIS" threads, and a whole bunch of "join my facebook listserv," "I can't believe 25 6th grader spots are gone and no one told us until it was too late" "chemistry candy gate" and "I am a Luddite" emails. She wrote a bunch of them, but unlikely all of them, but I say everyone drop it. The various points have been beaten to death, and this has gotten silly and ridiculous and it is time to move on.


I have an issue with the 25 spots and intend to try to bring it up at the next coffee hour. I want to know why it happened, and how HOS intends to prevent it from happening in this year's lottery. Bottom line is this is about money, people. We do not get money for empty spots. We can hardly ask to expand if we cannot fill our school. I also agree that we all have neighborhood list serves we could have posted the openings on had we been told earlier. So:

Are you all going to boo me down or throw popcorn at me? I agree that it is time to move on here, but I think you people ought to be ashamed of how far this went and in what direction. It is not like she is a deranged dangerous person who has done permanent damage to the school. Unless you are gullible enough to blame her for shutting down the list serve when they "had been thinking about it for some time" - read ante FB Luddite Candygate which were all in the same friggin 3 emails.



I'm too polite to boo at you during open forum, but I will be annoyed if you insist on beating the dead horse that is the 25 6th grade spots. What do you want to hear? In your opinion, what would be an appropriate response from the administration? This was already brought up and talked about at the last parent coffee. I don't understand what more you want? If you really like BASIS, why aren't you posting on your community listserv about it already? Or talking directly to friends with younger children about it? I'm sure if you'd like to organize a parent information night at your home or at your local library or church or wherever, you can do this and it would be welcomed and appreciated.





I always talk about Basis at my ES and everywhere I go, completely enthusiastically. I have more than one child there now. I did get the spaces for 5th and 6th posted on a few neighborhood list serves, not just my own, so don't start with the you complain but do nothing crapola.

We had a substantial wait list for 6th grade after the lottery. We ended up down an Element. In a per pupil funding system this is a money issue, money we have permanently lost. It would also be an issue if Basis went back to the Charter Board requesting permission to expand "for financial reasons," which is what the HOS did our first year. If we cannot fully enroll the two grades in which we accept kids, I can't see them granting us permission to expand. Perhaps finances have changed. Perhaps 25 losses don't matter. Perhaps we don't need to expand.

But no one has explained how or why it happened (was it the unified lottery? Did we call people too late?)
What did we do wrong, and how are we going to fix it in the future? Simple questions, and they never have been answered - or if you think they have, answer them for me here and I'll find some other reason for you to throw peanuts at me....

TIA

I did get the "we have identified a few spaces" posted on my list serve and two others, so don't start with the you complain but do nothing crapola
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2014 11:32     Subject: BASIS DC shut down/abolished the school list serve
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There were 4 "if you left BASIS" threads, and a whole bunch of "join my facebook listserv," "I can't believe 25 6th grader spots are gone and no one told us until it was too late" "chemistry candy gate" and "I am a Luddite" emails. She wrote a bunch of them, but unlikely all of them, but I say everyone drop it. The various points have been beaten to death, and this has gotten silly and ridiculous and it is time to move on.


I have an issue with the 25 spots and intend to try to bring it up at the next coffee hour. I want to know why it happened, and how HOS intends to prevent it from happening in this year's lottery. Bottom line is this is about money, people. We do not get money for empty spots. We can hardly ask to expand if we cannot fill our school. I also agree that we all have neighborhood list serves we could have posted the openings on had we been told earlier. So:

Are you all going to boo me down or throw popcorn at me? I agree that it is time to move on here, but I think you people ought to be ashamed of how far this went and in what direction. It is not like she is a deranged dangerous person who has done permanent damage to the school. Unless you are gullible enough to blame her for shutting down the list serve when they "had been thinking about it for some time" - read ante FB Luddite Candygate which were all in the same friggin 3 emails.



I'm too polite to boo at you during open forum, but I will be annoyed if you insist on beating the dead horse that is the 25 6th grade spots. What do you want to hear? In your opinion, what would be an appropriate response from the administration? This was already brought up and talked about at the last parent coffee. I don't understand what more you want? If you really like BASIS, why aren't you posting on your community listserv about it already? Or talking directly to friends with younger children about it? I'm sure if you'd like to organize a parent information night at your home or at your local library or church or wherever, you can do this and it would be welcomed and appreciated.