Anonymous
Post 04/12/2015 11:48     Subject: Ward 6 Middle Schools
^ so, to clarify: because of the 10 kids that can't read at grade-level in my neighborhood, and also don't have a lot of extra resources, we should scrap this discussion? Or, is it palatable to send your kids to the Jefferson "extra needs" school with some sort of additional support/resources? What do you need to feel good about the shift?
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2015 11:44     Subject: Ward 6 Middle Schools
Anonymous wrote:OK, I follow, because they can't "test-in" and then it'll never fly to send their kid to the "extra needs" school. But then don't my neighbors have extra resources to deal with that outside of DCPS? Whereas the kids that really need the support don't?


No, they don't. But I truly appreciate you asking these questions because it illustrates the level of understanding (or lack thereof) that is necessary to propose something like this. Do you have any idea how expensive that is? Do you have another 50k-75k a year in your after tax to devote to that? If you are in a 35% percent federal tax bracket and pay 8.9% to dc that's another @145k per year in pretax income out the door.

Anonymous
Post 04/12/2015 11:37     Subject: Ward 6 Middle Schools
And, if you talk about where these kids re commuting in from, I don't think it's unfair to say the areas are rougher. You're making my point of not wanting to be honest about the situation, you begin to sound like CHPSPO.
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2015 11:34     Subject: Ward 6 Middle Schools
OK, I follow, because they can't "test-in" and then it'll never fly to send their kid to the "extra needs" school. But then don't my neighbors have extra resources to deal with that outside of DCPS? Whereas the kids that really need the support don't?
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2015 11:32     Subject: Ward 6 Middle Schools
Anonymous wrote:And I can't help it if these kids with extra needs happen to be minorities and poor. There's now way way around that - it's practicality right?


You are both missing, and making, my point. These aren't all brown kids from "war zones" (thanks for that, btw). I realize that when you think about this in your head they all are, but in reality it won't hold. My point (which you are missing) is that some of your neighbor's kids are going to end getting tracked into the school that is brown in hour mind's eye.

But thanks for making my point for me!
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2015 11:26     Subject: Ward 6 Middle Schools
And I can't help it if these kids with extra needs happen to be minorities and poor. There's now way way around that - it's practicality right?
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2015 11:24     Subject: Ward 6 Middle Schools
Well, this I don't really know about - it seems to me that if your parents are "god knows where" and you live in a neighborhood that equates to a war zone, you have "special needs" but I don't really care what you call it. Is there some,thing to call it that makes it not feel like they're being warehoused? I truly don't want them warehoused, I want them to have access to the resources they need.
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2015 11:18     Subject: Ward 6 Middle Schools
Anonymous wrote:What is it we can't get along about - how to fix the schools? Because this "specialized" solution feels equitable. "Empowering men of color" hasn't been admonished as segregation by DCPs as so if we can pitch it right, maybe this wouldn't either? You get the money and the resources you need - and you deserve more with this population - "we" get the population we desire. Could we even sweeten the deal with say, every penny raised is shared between the two schools? Again, I don't think this is an all-white/high SES school we'd be creating, it's a school where the kids with potential can get out of the fray and the kids with extra needs get them met.

I'm no educational expert, so maybe there is an inherent flaw and this is a total pipe dream, but if it truly is a situation where very child could benefit, and it gives the higher SES students a way to stay with DCPS and bring the resources they do, I'd like to think its politics and fear of being politically incorrect that keeps us from talking about it.


But just so you all understand the practical result of this proposal, the school would cater to high performers and potentials. That doesn't mean "white" or "wealthy". White, "SES" (stupid term that is code for white, btw) kids who have special needs or develop later in life are going to be warehoused (I mean tracked into vocation) along with the minority and poor kids you're actually targeting. Unless you now want to differentiate between special needs and the population of brown trouble makers.
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2015 10:55     Subject: Ward 6 Middle Schools
* it's NOT politics
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2015 10:54     Subject: Ward 6 Middle Schools
What is it we can't get along about - how to fix the schools? Because this "specialized" solution feels equitable. "Empowering men of color" hasn't been admonished as segregation by DCPs as so if we can pitch it right, maybe this wouldn't either? You get the money and the resources you need - and you deserve more with this population - "we" get the population we desire. Could we even sweeten the deal with say, every penny raised is shared between the two schools? Again, I don't think this is an all-white/high SES school we'd be creating, it's a school where the kids with potential can get out of the fray and the kids with extra needs get them met.

I'm no educational expert, so maybe there is an inherent flaw and this is a total pipe dream, but if it truly is a situation where very child could benefit, and it gives the higher SES students a way to stay with DCPS and bring the resources they do, I'd like to think its politics and fear of being politically incorrect that keeps us from talking about it.
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2015 10:48     Subject: Re:Ward 6 Middle Schools
I would love a test-in option on or near the Hill.
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2015 10:47     Subject: Ward 6 Middle Schools
This is the problem. Ward 6 can't get along on this issue.
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2015 08:36     Subject: Ward 6 Middle Schools
Also, I don't think this is sold as a high SES needs solution, it's an improving outcomes solution. Everyone wins?
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2015 08:32     Subject: Ward 6 Middle Schools
Ok, maybe the word "vocational" isn't perfect here. But Germany and Sweden "track" with great success starting as early as 11. Regardless of what you call it, leaving the kids to languish in crappy schools is really working well... Ward 6 high SES kids will eventually "flip" these schools and the kids there now will be shoved east of the river, into even worse schools. So - what's your idea pp?
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2015 08:31     Subject: Ward 6 Middle Schools
Not going to happen. Bowser and Henderson can't even commit to prioritizing the modernization of Jefferson and EH. They see no benefit to taking any steps to back a middle school which could be perceived as a viable option for high-SES families from the Hill and beyond. Eliot-Hine is 80 percent OOB. Jefferson is 60 percent OOB. White students constitute zero percent of the census. And what has DCPS as a whole done to attract high-SES students? Nothing, so long as it can point to all the funds poured into Stuart-Hine and trumpet the fact it has the second best non-charter teat results behind Deal.