Not a BASIS booster but I happened to meet Ms. Siddall recently and I was curious (after seeing the many anti-BASIS threads, including the one with the long-winded "commentary" on the political agenda of the organization) and found her bio (below) on the BASIS website. I assumed she was a BASIS "person" - a transfer from AZ - but she has deep roots in the education movement here in DC. After all the complaints about BASIS' elitism (I may have, despite myself, bought into some of the rhetoric), I have to admit I was surprised to see that she helped to establish AppleTree Institute. From all that I have heard, AppleTree is excellent and has locations all over the city and a great reputation for serving its diverse students very well.


Mary Riner Siddall brings more than 20 years of education, executive leadership, fundraising, and marketing experience to her role as Executive Head of School. Inspired by the lack of quality choices for low-income students, she created and ran the No Excuses Campaign to put the spotlight on high-performing, high-poverty schools across the country to illustrate that all children can succeed academically, regardless of their background or income. This national campaign heralded in the modern school reform movement as we know it, showcasing the best practices of successful charter schools.
A passionate advocate for disadvantaged youth, Mary helped establish several student-focused organizations such as AppleTree Institute, Alliance for School Choice, and DC Parents for School Choice through her fundraising efforts. When her own children became school-aged, her national focus turned to DC Public Schools and the DC charter school movement, where she has been heavily involved in school quality and turnaround efforts. An expert on parent engagement, she is a founding board member of DC School Reform Now, an organization formed to help ensure all DC children receive a quality education. Mary has also been working with pre-kindergarten through high school students as an instructor for the last five years at St. John’s Church, and is the founder and an advisory board member of America's Future Foundation.
Mary possesses a B.A. in Humanities with Honors from Washington College, studied at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and did graduate work in The School of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America.

Anonymous wrote:"Interesting to note that it is the much-demonized upper middle class and gentrifiers who are paying the lion's share of taxes to fund the DC school system, yet it is they who continually face the most resistance toward actually having their students' needs met by the DC school system."

Actually, it's far more interesting to note your assumptions about taxes, the upper middle class, and how accelerated you assume the children of this suffering group to be.

And to the PP who thinks BASIS is being formed by parents? Guess again. BASIS is a calculated expansion move by a group from Tucson led by a very conservative leader. It is not a grass roots movement to save the poor wilting "gifteds".

I understood that Mary Siddall approached BASIS about coming to DC. I don't think the expansion move was as calculated as you think.

Those of us who have hard working bright kids -- not necessarily gifted -- would like to support a public charter school that serves their needs. Thus, we are pulling our kids our of Deal and Latin and passing on Maret and GDS in an effort to give BASIS DC the momentum it needs its first year. Sounds grass roots to me.

Some of us are white. Some Hispanic. Some black. Some Asian. Some Indian. Most of us pay property taxes.

"Interesting to note that it is the much-demonized upper middle class and gentrifiers who are paying the lion's share of taxes to fund the DC school system, yet it is they who continually face the most resistance toward actually having their students' needs met by the DC school system."

Actually, it's far more interesting to note your assumptions about taxes, the upper middle class, and how accelerated you assume the children of this suffering group to be.

And to the PP who thinks BASIS is being formed by parents? Guess again. BASIS is a calculated expansion move by a group from Tucson led by a very conservative leader. It is not a grass roots movement to save the poor wilting "gifteds".

Anonymous wrote:Some of the types who are threatening to sue Basis are probably the same as those who sued Two Rivers when it first opened. Good luck to them. Didn't work then, won't work now.

And, who knows, they might be affiliated with the "Right Size Hine" movement.

Well meaning dinosaur liberals . . .

Some of the types who are threatening to sue Basis are probably the same as those who sued Two Rivers when it first opened. Good luck to them. Didn't work then, won't work now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"We all pay in, but we don't all pay in equally."

Right - that's called democracy.

If you don't want to use the public system, available to all irrespective of the amount of taxes paid, based on income, there's to option of going private.

If you choose not to go private, or can't afford to, then you can use the public system that's available to all citizens, regardless of income, where how much you put in doesn't give you special privileges.

It's been a long time since I took civics, which I understand is not taught anymore, but I think that's how it works.

Sorry, PP. You missed an option:

If you don't want to use the public system, available to all irrespective of the amount of taxes paid, based on income, there's the option of...forming a charter school that offers a rigorous curriculum that won't be watered down.

This option is guaranteed by the District of Columbia School Reform Act of 1995, which frees charter schools from almost all laws that apply to DCPS and grants charter schools the power to set educational expectations.

Apparently, some parents in this city are exercising that option by forming and enrolling in BASIS DC.

Clearly, other parents in this city are distressed that this option is being exercised. Since these other parents are free to enroll in BASIS DC as well or to stick with DCPS or existing charter schools, the source of their distress is unclear.

I think the source of their distress is the usual source when something new comes along - threat to the status quo. Competition for the better students. Comparisons and who looks better, who looks worse. And so, that's manifesting itself as attacks on the newcomer.

Anonymous wrote:"We all pay in, but we don't all pay in equally."

Right - that's called democracy.

If you don't want to use the public system, available to all irrespective of the amount of taxes paid, based on income, there's to option of going private.

If you choose not to go private, or can't afford to, then you can use the public system that's available to all citizens, regardless of income, where how much you put in doesn't give you special privileges.

It's been a long time since I took civics, whicih I understand is not taught anymore, but I think that's how it works.

I think you are missing the civics lesson. A democracy doesn't even hope to work without an educated public. What the dc public schools have done for the last few decades does not qualify as education. Check out the graduation and literacy rates in this city. And you have the nerve to blame people who want to stay and fight for an improved public education system for demanding "special privilege'. You tell them to " suck it up" or go private? What is your definiton of special privilege, then? How come struggling kids supposedly " get their needs met" but kids who are just fine get a substandard education? This is a shame.

Anonymous wrote:"We all pay in, but we don't all pay in equally."

Right - that's called democracy.

If you don't want to use the public system, available to all irrespective of the amount of taxes paid, based on income, there's to option of going private.

If you choose not to go private, or can't afford to, then you can use the public system that's available to all citizens, regardless of income, where how much you put in doesn't give you special privileges.

It's been a long time since I took civics, which I understand is not taught anymore, but I think that's how it works.

Sorry, PP. You missed an option:

If you don't want to use the public system, available to all irrespective of the amount of taxes paid, based on income, there's the option of...forming a charter school that offers a rigorous curriculum that won't be watered down.

This option is guaranteed by the District of Columbia School Reform Act of 1995, which frees charter schools from almost all laws that apply to DCPS and grants charter schools the power to set educational expectations.

Apparently, some parents in this city are exercising that option by forming and enrolling in BASIS DC.

Clearly, other parents in this city are distressed that this option is being exercised. Since these other parents are free to enroll in BASIS DC as well or to stick with DCPS or existing charter schools, the source of their distress is unclear.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"We all pay in, but we don't all pay in equally."

Right - that's called democracy.

If you don't want to use the public system, available to all irrespective of the amount of taxes paid, based on income, there's to option of going private.

If you choose not to go private, or can't afford to, then you can use the public system that's available to all citizens, regardless of income, where how much you put in doesn't give you special privileges.

It's been a long time since I took civics, which I understand is not taught anymore, but I think that's how it works.

You are missing the core problem here, there's no expectation of special "privilege". That core problem being that most of the DCPS schools do not meet basic educational needs.

It's not right that people who pay a ton of money in to the public system should be excluded from it due to the fact that the public system is not meeting their educational needs.

That's not democracy.

We are paying for SCHOOLS, not glorified daycares. And, the laws speak of schools, not glorified daycares. As such, we pay for schools, deserve schools and have legal basis for expecting schools. Stop denying us that.

+10^6 (For those of you who went to a SCHOOL.)

Anonymous wrote:"We all pay in, but we don't all pay in equally."

Right - that's called democracy.

If you don't want to use the public system, available to all irrespective of the amount of taxes paid, based on income, there's to option of going private.

If you choose not to go private, or can't afford to, then you can use the public system that's available to all citizens, regardless of income, where how much you put in doesn't give you special privileges.

It's been a long time since I took civics, which I understand is not taught anymore, but I think that's how it works.

You are missing the core problem here, there's no expectation of special "privilege". That core problem being that most of the DCPS schools do not meet basic educational needs.

It's not right that people who pay a ton of money in to the public system should be excluded from it due to the fact that the public system is not meeting their educational needs.

That's not democracy.

We are paying for SCHOOLS, not glorified daycares. And, the laws speak of schools, not glorified daycares. As such, we pay for schools, deserve schools and have legal basis for expecting schools. Stop denying us that.

"We all pay in, but we don't all pay in equally."

Right - that's called democracy.

If you don't want to use the public system, available to all irrespective of the amount of taxes paid, based on income, there's to option of going private.

If you choose not to go private, or can't afford to, then you can use the public system that's available to all citizens, regardless of income, where how much you put in doesn't give you special privileges.

It's been a long time since I took civics, which I understand is not taught anymore, but I think that's how it works.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting to note that it is the much-demonized upper middle class and gentrifiers who are paying the lion's share of taxes to fund the DC school system, yet it is they who continually face the most resistance toward actually having their students' needs met by the DC school system.

No one is paying the lion's share of taxes. Everyone is paying their fair share.

Tax money that pays for public schools is used for all citizens based on their being citizens living in the same society, not based on their stature within the society.

Yes, some of us are indeed paying several times more than others - The "lion's share". We all pay in, but we don't all pay in equally.

Here's the DC CFO's most recent tax burden analysis which backs it up: http://www.cfo.dc.gov/cfo/frames.asp?doc=/cfo/lib/cfo/10-metro.pdf

As for what we get back in return, that's not equal either. We get mediocre schools that are dumbed down, schools that are little more than glorified daycares, schools that graduate cohort after cohort of illiterate kids. That's what the voices that get listened to have brought the city. The voices that actually care about getting their kids a decent education, the ones who actually want to get their kids into college, the ones who are paying 2, 3, and 4 times more than others - are not listened to, and are fought every step of the way.

So much for equity.

Anonymous wrote:
a.) what DCPS central office does is what DCPS central office does, and what BASIS does is what BASIS does.

b.) ALL public schools must abide by the laws, whether BASIS, DCPS, et cetera. If DCPS were abiding by the laws, and that means, meeting the needs of *all* students, regardless of whether they can or can't afford private schools, whether or not they are special needs, gifted and talented, or whatever. Clearly DCPS is not meeting that need, which is driving the huge explosion in charters. So before we go carrying on about what needs Charters are or aren't meeting, stop and go back and look at the core problem - it's DCPS. It's not about "gentrifying parents" and which schools they send their kids to. Gentrifying parents sending their kids to neighborhood schools isn't going to magically change DCPS, as everything else will just stay the same, unless change happens elsewhere also.

Are you saying Rhee and Henderson's school reform is a failure?

That's likely --the achievement gap has widened on their watch, after all.

But the Ward three schools are successful -- always have been, no matter who the superintendent has been. This suggests that it's the kids in the schools that make them so successful, not the administration.

As there is more gentrification, it's logical that that success would spread to other parts of town - if the parents put their kids in the neighborhood schools.

Then again, parents could play the lottery, drive across town and try to change the laws.

Anonymous wrote:Interesting to note that it is the much-demonized upper middle class and gentrifiers who are paying the lion's share of taxes to fund the DC school system, yet it is they who continually face the most resistance toward actually having their students' needs met by the DC school system.

No one is paying the lion's share of taxes. Everyone is paying their fair share.

Tax money that pays for public schools is used for all citizens based on their being citizens living in the same society, not based on their stature within the society.

Anonymous wrote:Interesting to note that it is the much-demonized upper middle class and gentrifiers who are paying the lion's share of taxes to fund the DC school system, yet it is they who continually face the most resistance toward actually having their students' needs met by the DC school system.

+ 1