Anonymous wrote:Most of the charters in Ward 1 are for younger students---that leaves the parents of middle schoolers out in the cold.

There are no charters in Mount Pleasant. What charters are there on U Street? The GA Ave corridor and Petworth are in Ward 4---not Ward 1.

There are an awful lot of parents in Adams Morgan, MtP and Columbia Heights who now send their kids to charters because the public schools in these neighborhoods are chronically underperforming.

The Haynes middle school campus (the one next to the liquor store & near the strip club) is in Ward 1. The early childhood & high school is in Ward 4. Which presents another problem...

This is a terrible idea that will just lead to the same problems we had before - segregated schools along race and class lines. We may as well just base funding for schools on property taxes in the school's footprint, thereby dooming poor kids to a shitty education and making sure the rich have ALL the spoils. But I guess you wealthy people in Ward 3 with kids in private don't give a shit about those poor kids, though. That is, until you start complaining about having to house them in prisons one day. How you can't see that education is a social good that benefits everyone is just beyond me.

Ward 4: Hope Community, LAMB, Haynes, Bridges, Cap City, Center City-Brightwood, Center City-Petworth, Community Academy Amos I, Community Academy Amos II, Hospitality, Ideal, Paul, Roots, Latin.

Hopefully I listed them all.

Meridian is on U. Inspired Teaching is near U. DC Bilingual, Mundo Verde, Creative Minds - all Ward 1.

Most of the charters in Ward 1 are for younger students---that leaves the parents of middle schoolers out in the cold.

There are no charters in Mount Pleasant. What charters are there on U Street? The GA Ave corridor and Petworth are in Ward 4---not Ward 1.

There are an awful lot of parents in Adams Morgan, MtP and Columbia Heights who now send their kids to charters because the public schools in these neighborhoods are chronically underperforming.

Amen. There are too many charters in Ward 1. Wards 4&5 could use some more charters.

Anonymous wrote:Charter neighborhood preference is a rotten idea. It completely screws over that part of the DC parent population living in areas where there is neither available nor affordable space to house a charter school, i.e., Most of Wards 1 through 3.

Neighborhood preference eviscerates the very idea of charters, i.e., that as a parent you have the opportunity to find a school that best meets your educational goals for your child---whether it be experiential learning (Cap City), language immersion (LAMB, Elsie Stokes, Mundo Verde, Yu Ying), classical and/or advanced curriculum (Latin/Basis)---regardless of where you happen to live.

I agree with you entirely. But Ward 1 (Columbia Heights, Georgia Avenue Corridor, Mt. Pleasant, Petworth, U Street) is home to an awful lot of charters.

Charter neighborhood preference is a rotten idea. It completely screws over that part of the DC parent population living in areas where there is neither available nor affordable space to house a charter school, i.e., Most of Wards 1 through 3.

Neighborhood preference eviscerates the very idea of charters, i.e., that as a parent you have the opportunity to find a school that best meets your educational goals for your child---whether it be experiential learning (Cap City), language immersion (LAMB, Elsie Stokes, Mundo Verde, Yu Ying), classical and/or advanced curriculum (Latin/Basis)---regardless of where you happen to live.

Anonymous wrote:Those "underpeforming" DCPschools are "underperforming" because of their student demographics, despite what Michelle Rhee might have told you.

What do you suppose when your basic, non-KIPP charter opens and fills up entirely with the same exact group of children, no more, no less? I'll tell you: not Cap City lower school or Latin.

So teachers and administrators do nothing? Shouldn't we then just fire them all and replace them with a bunch of warm bodies we pick up at the Home Depot parking lot for day laborer rates?

I'm being sarcastic, but that's the logical conclusion of your premise.

Those "underpeforming" DCPschools are "underperforming" because of their student demographics, despite what Michelle Rhee might have told you.

What do you suppose when your basic, non-KIPP charter opens and fills up entirely with the same exact group of children, no more, no less? I'll tell you: not Cap City lower school or Latin.

The preference should exist. Why? Look at the the recent studies of quality seats in underserved neighborhoods. Once a school like El Haynes, Cap City, or Latin has a permanent home it is insane that kids with underperforming schools who live across the street are not given a preference.

Why hasn't' anyone else thought of that? Flipping brilliant!

why not just fix DCPS and allow them to have their own curriculum? allowing a for-profit school system to creep over and take over schools is not very smart. Charter is not the answer.

What if there were two classes of charters, city-wide and community. When a charter is approved by the charter board they would have to decide which type they want to be. The two types would have different application processes. The charter board would be responsible for creating an appropriate mix.

I understand the opposition to local preference, but the current model of all charters being citywide is just insane from a planning perspective. It creates an incredible burden on parents and the transportation system to shuffle tens of thousands of kids around the city twice a day. I believe that it is possible to have a system with essentially the same outcomes we have now, but much less of a transportation burden, if proximity were factored into the admission process.

Which ward is Basis in?