Anonymous wrote:No wonder IB families are not clamoring to go to Hardy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Latin, it was definitely an attempt to instill discipline. It bugs me that Hardy parents give years ago got to decide what my kid wears to a PUBLIC school. Ridiculous! What if parents refuse to put their kids in uniforms?

I think you've hit upon a real issue here.

There is a fundamental difference between a charter school, a private school, and a neighborhood school. You attend a neighborhood school as a matter of right, you don't apply. At an application school, the leaders of the school can tailor the school atmosphere to attract the kind of student they want to apply. At a neighborhood school the school leaders should be tailoring the school to the people who live in the neighborhood.

Hardy has a difficult legacy because at one time it was run essentially as a magnet school, students had to apply. The uniforms are a vestige of that legacy. They need to go.

Hardy was never a magnet school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy has uniforms because it has uniforms. There's always resistance to change even if it means going back to normal; especially when there's a perception that there's some kind of racial motive for "normal," as utterly ridiculous as it might seem to a nonbiased mind.

Ridiculous like building UDC a new campus at St. Elizabeth's was racially motivated.
Like building a new, purpose-build, centrally located performing high school would be racially motivated,
Like having rigorous test-in magnet schools would be racially motivated.
Like building bike paths is racially motivated.
Like rethinking Easter Monday at the zoo is racially motivated.
Like the proposed DC bottle deposit law is racially motivated!!!

Uh...whut? Someone is living on another planet if s/he thinks this list is at all relevant to what the thread was discussing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my IB child goes to Hardy in a year, I will refuse to send my child in a uniform. Others should do so as well. It is a public school.

I'm sure that standing for this principle will make a profound difference for your child and many others. You'll probably go down in the history books for this brave stand.

No doubt about it, if you care about DCPS generally, and Hardy and your child in particular, this is the most important thing you can do. Much more important than doing something absurd like volunteering time, money, or expertise at the school.

Oh please ... I will volunteer extensively as I always have. Honestly though, as represented on this board at least, the Hardy parents seem defensive and unwelcoming to new parents with different ideas. I suspect private may be a better option for my child.

In reality, I wonder if the current Hardy parents want more IB kids to attend. That will fill up OOB spots.

When people come here and make generalizations, accusations and toss around outright lies, you had better believe I get defensive. My kid does go there. I do go to the concerts and the conferences and the parent meetings and the sports events and to the office to get my kid when he's sick. I'm actually there. You're NOT. There are too many threads here bashing Hardy. They start off with the fake innocence of "I'm just asking a question: how many IB kids are actually going????" IT IS SO FUCKING TIRESOME. If you want to come, great. We will welcome you with open arms. But if you don't, then that's fine too. Just don't come here looking for a pat on the back because you decided it just wasn't good enough for you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my IB child goes to Hardy in a year, I will refuse to send my child in a uniform. Others should do so as well. It is a public school.

I'm sure that standing for this principle will make a profound difference for your child and many others. You'll probably go down in the history books for this brave stand.

No doubt about it, if you care about DCPS generally, and Hardy and your child in particular, this is the most important thing you can do. Much more important than doing something absurd like volunteering time, money, or expertise at the school.

Oh please ... I will volunteer extensively as I always have. Honestly though, as represented on this board at least, the Hardy parents seem defensive and unwelcoming to new parents with different ideas. I suspect private may be a better option for my child.

In reality, I wonder if the current Hardy parents want more IB kids to attend. That will fill up OOB spots.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my IB child goes to Hardy in a year, I will refuse to send my child in a uniform. Others should do so as well. It is a public school.

I'm sure that standing for this principle will make a profound difference for your child and many others. You'll probably go down in the history books for this brave stand.

No doubt about it, if you care about DCPS generally, and Hardy and your child in particular, this is the most important thing you can do. Much more important than doing something absurd like volunteering time, money, or expertise at the school.

Oh please ... I will volunteer extensively as I always have. Honestly though, as represented on this board at least, the Hardy parents seem defensive and unwelcoming to new parents with different ideas. I suspect private may be a better option for my child.

In reality, I wonder if the current Hardy parents want more IB kids to attend. That will fill up OOB spots.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eaton parents are not concerned about the racial profile of Hardy. Eaton itself is very diverse. We are concerned about academic weakness, a perceived harsh disciplinary structure, and the absence of sports. The uniforms add to the perception about the discipline. It is not racial.

You have no idea - none - what you are talking about with regard to sports and discipline. Hardy offers every single sport - except crew - offered by Deal. And I suspect you can work something out with crew if you are interested.

As a Hardy parent, your complaints about the harsh disciplinary structure seem absurd. Heck, every other Ward 3 parent on this board complains - again, with no basis - that discipline is too lax.

The uniform thing is racial. Sorry, it is. Unless you have the same concerns about Latin, Georgetown Prep, Holton, and other schools that have uniforms but do not have a predominantly AA student body. I'm not saying you are a racist. I'm sure you're a good, well-meaning person. But your reactions here are indicative of a subconscious racial reaction. It might help you to understand that this is happening - then you can figure out how to prevent it or respond appropriately.

I appreciate your thoughts on discipline and I will trust your opinion. The uniform thing is not racial. I would not choose to send my child to a private school with uniforms so why should I be forced to send my kids to the one public school that has uniforms (simply because a group of random parents voted on it years ago). Hardy is not a private or charter school -- no uniforms.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^sorry for the typos

And just to get it out of the way, no I'm not saying that St Alban's and Hardy are the same school. It would be foolish to compare St.Alban's with any public school. I'm just responding to the poster who asserts that Hardy's uniform policy is about controlling unruly urban youths while St Alban's policy is simply about "tradition."

Whatever. I'm sure that poster will drum up another reason to hate on Hardy. In the meantime let me go make sure my son has his khakis and navy blue polo ready for school on Monday.

--a Hardy mom

Public school uniforms are among the portfolio of measures, that were once the latest fad thought to add control and focus to failing, inner city schools. Uniforms were part of a tough, regimented approach to discipline believed necessary to bring order out of chaos. A PP said that Montgomery County, MD schools do not allow uniforms while many PG schools mandate them. Of these templates, I think that most parents would say, if you're going to have a public schools role model, it should be closer to MoCo's than to PG's. I mean that some PG schools are apparently so dysfunctional that parents are sneaking their kids across the District line to enroll them in so-so DCPS schools. Whatever conditions once prevailed at Hardy that compelled uniforms, I hope that the school has moved beyond them. Or has it? From the standpoint of Hardy recruiting a more diverse, higher IB share student body, school uniforms do send the wrong signal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my IB child goes to Hardy in a year, I will refuse to send my child in a uniform. Others should do so as well. It is a public school.

I'm sure that standing for this principle will make a profound difference for your child and many others. You'll probably go down in the history books for this brave stand.

No doubt about it, if you care about DCPS generally, and Hardy and your child in particular, this is the most important thing you can do. Much more important than doing something absurd like volunteering time, money, or expertise at the school.

Anonymous wrote:Eaton parents are not concerned about the racial profile of Hardy. Eaton itself is very diverse. We are concerned about academic weakness, a perceived harsh disciplinary structure, and the absence of sports. The uniforms add to the perception about the discipline. It is not racial.

Anonymous wrote:If my IB child goes to Hardy in a year, I will refuse to send my child in a uniform. Others should do so as well. It is a public school.

Anonymous wrote:Eaton parents are not concerned about the racial profile of Hardy. Eaton itself is very diverse. We are concerned about academic weakness, a perceived harsh disciplinary structure, and the absence of sports. The uniforms add to the perception about the discipline. It is not racial.