Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So should we separate the Real Estate Forum by jurisdictions?

I'm tired of the Silver Spring-Takoma Park fights, but am ok with it being in one place.

Actually that's a great idea. At least by MD/VA/DC... would be really helpful to stop getting area answers to DC questions! I mean, by that logic why do we have different private/independent/public school forums? Honestly, the groupings are largely arbitrary. I just think they should be made where they provide value. If *nearly every* thread is sabotaged by fighting between two factions, why wouldn't we consider separating them?

False equivalence much????? Only a handful of bored SAHM/D and shills for DCPS and the WTU care about the distinction between DCPS and DCPSB. Fot eh rest of us it's about free education in DC available by lottery.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that people that "fight" over DCPS and DCPCS either have very young kids or really just don't understand the history of public and charter schools in this city.

Having lived here a long time - I just dismiss them as being young and probably moving to MD or VA after K anyway.

This. Or, they'll move to my neighborhood in upper NW when they mature a little and have their A-Ha moment about the relative importance of given amenities. At some point, Yelping about craft cocktails gives way.

I doubt that immensely. I used to live in Tenleytown and left to move east. It felt too much like Rockthesda. Now we have a huge house in a cool, vibrant neighborhood, and a great school. No regrets!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious if anyone else might find it valuable to separate the DC Public and Public Charter Schools forum? I find that so many threads just devolve into a Charter vs DCPS fight that the value of the original post often gets lost completely. Perhaps we could get more meaningful discussions if we simply separated these two conversations completely? Just a thought.

It's exactly because of the inter-relations, tensions and connections that there should NOT be separate fora. The truth is most families who live in DC and are considering public schools for their kids are looking at a combo of DCPS and charters. And they are all funded (at least in part) with public money.

Even if Jeff split them up, issues would cross over all the time from forum to forum.

They should stay in one forum.

I agree with this response. Many families, including my own, have or have had kids in both systems. Moreover, my own bias is to see the two systems more closely unified. So, I am inclined to keep a single forum.

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious if anyone else might find it valuable to separate the DC Public and Public Charter Schools forum? I find that so many threads just devolve into a Charter vs DCPS fight that the value of the original post often gets lost completely. Perhaps we could get more meaningful discussions if we simply separated these two conversations completely? Just a thought.

There used to be two separate fora, IIRC. It wasn't particularly helpful for families who were considering schools in both sectors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious if anyone else might find it valuable to separate the DC Public and Public Charter Schools forum? I find that so many threads just devolve into a Charter vs DCPS fight that the value of the original post often gets lost completely. Perhaps we could get more meaningful discussions if we simply separated these two conversations completely? Just a thought.

It's exactly because of the inter-relations, tensions and connections that there should NOT be separate fora. The truth is most families who live in DC and are considering public schools for their kids are looking at a combo of DCPS and charters. And they are all funded (at least in part) with public money.

Even if Jeff split them up, issues would cross over all the time from forum to forum.

They should stay in one forum.

There's a similar thread in the private school forum right now asking why public school parents are constantly posting there. Apparently, some public school parents (1) want to monitor private schools because they have an interest, and (2) feel the need to monitor the private school forum to ensure public schools are represented in a positive light. If you split DCPS and DCPCS, I suspect you'll see the same sort of thing.

On the other hand, splitting VA public schools from the AAP noise seems to have made both groups happier.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that people that "fight" over DCPS and DCPCS either have very young kids or really just don't understand the history of public and charter schools in this city.

Having lived here a long time - I just dismiss them as being young and probably moving to MD or VA after K anyway.

This. Or, they'll move to my neighborhood in upper NW when they mature a little and have their A-Ha moment about the relative importance of given amenities. At some point, Yelping about craft cocktails gives way.

Both of your comments illustrate why the "old guard" is often out of touch with new reality. We may not have been in DC as long as you, but our kids are well past K and we have no intention of leaving public schools in DC, nor of moving to upper NW or MD or VA. And we know many families like us, who are digging in and some of us are already in public middle schools and high schools in DC.

I do love a good craft cocktail, but no, never come to DCUM to discuss them. Abundant discussions on DC schools though, and that isn't changing any time soon.

Anonymous wrote:I feel like living in a place like DC, everyone just wants to retreat to their own tribal echo chamber... but that is not a positive thing.

You're so right, and it is so unrealistic when people do it. Breeds ignorance and intolerance, and not just in DC.

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks for your input. Was just a thought. Honestly, I just want the threads to be more valuable/informative and as a parent new to this whole school thing (let alone school-choice!), I find it really hard to get good information in this forum due to the pettiness which from my perspective often seems to stem from the DCPS/DCPCS tension. Oh well, i guess on this free, anonymous forum we get what we pay for... Carry on, ya'll.

When it starts devolving into petty insults (not just a little wandering), please report it to Jeff using the "report" button by the offending post. He's been pretty good (IMO) about deleting the really ridiculous branches. There was one yesterday in the DC schools forum that hit the point of anti-gay slurs (?!), and got about a half a day's worth of useless stuff deleted.

There are a few really valuable nuggets buried in the mounds of petty bickering. You can even get some insight into things if you read past the surface, and think about why people are posting what they do.

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks for your input. Was just a thought. Honestly, I just want the threads to be more valuable/informative and as a parent new to this whole school thing (let alone school-choice!), I find it really hard to get good information in this forum due to the pettiness which from my perspective often seems to stem from the DCPS/DCPCS tension. Oh well, i guess on this free, anonymous forum we get what we pay for... Carry on, ya'll.

I depended on this forum as well when I was a new DC resident and new to figuring out public schools here. But I find your "I guess on this free forum we get what we pay for" quite obnoxious.

There is a WEALTH of valuable information in these fora, on literally every aspect of living in the DMV area. Sure, it's anonymous and free and so trolls and agendas and everything else often run rampant. But it also allows for a lot more transparency and honesty and varied perspectives than a paid or registered forum would. There is a lot of pettiness, but you just also brought your own brand of entitlement and "Guess this is the best there is" without considering maybe it's actually a lot, so don't think in a paid registered forum the negativity goes away... not by a long shot.

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious if anyone else might find it valuable to separate the DC Public and Public Charter Schools forum? I find that so many threads just devolve into a Charter vs DCPS fight that the value of the original post often gets lost completely. Perhaps we could get more meaningful discussions if we simply separated these two conversations completely? Just a thought.

It's exactly because of the inter-relations, tensions and connections that there should NOT be separate fora. The truth is most families who live in DC and are considering public schools for their kids are looking at a combo of DCPS and charters. And they are all funded (at least in part) with public money.

Even if Jeff split them up, issues would cross over all the time from forum to forum.

They should stay in one forum.

OP here, thanks for your input. Was just a thought. Honestly, I just want the threads to be more valuable/informative and as a parent new to this whole school thing (let alone school-choice!), I find it really hard to get good information in this forum due to the pettiness which from my perspective often seems to stem from the DCPS/DCPCS tension. Oh well, i guess on this free, anonymous forum we get what we pay for... Carry on, ya'll.

Anonymous wrote:I think that people that "fight" over DCPS and DCPCS either have very young kids or really just don't understand the history of public and charter schools in this city.

Having lived here a long time - I just dismiss them as being young and probably moving to MD or VA after K anyway.

This. Or, they'll move to my neighborhood in upper NW when they mature a little and have their A-Ha moment about the relative importance of given amenities. At some point, Yelping about craft cocktails gives way.