Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where did your kids go to elementary school? Mine were at Brent, where a well-run PTA raises 400K and pays for gazillion useful things, including after-school tutoring for academic stragglers (mostly poor AA kids). It wouldn't kill BASIS to have a PTA/PTO. We miss Brent's.

You piqued my interest so I pulled up the 990. I hate to the one to tell you this but they aren't spending money where you think they are. The short version is they spent $300k in the last filed year. Of that, $73k was for COGS (cost of goods sold) so that's a net zero. $31k went to "classroom supplies", $21k for "custodial" and $19k for physical education. There's another net $85k in the "other" category. They also carry a YoY balance of $200k - maybe you can explain why they would hold back 50% of their gross revenue?

Like I said, in my experience PTAs are personal fiefdoms used to make UMC folks feel good about themselves but don't directly serve the institution as much as it does the PTA members' egos.

Do you want to tell the "mostly poor AA kids" or should I?

I once served as treasurer of the Brent PTA. You're not getting the full picture from the 990. Not even close.

I do not know what your post means. The Form 990 is what it is. Are you suggesting Brent PTA is knowingly filing false forms? To make themselves look worse? If you think the 990 is wrong by all means tell us why or how.

PTA's can be well run and provide direct support where needed. Janney's PTA is a good example. Compare Brent's line items with Janney PTA's. Janney spent $339k on wages and salaries, presumably for teachers and admins. Brent not a dime. Janney "Other" category spend are: $29k for "field trips", $27k for "teacher development", $24k for "instruction program" and $20k for "music program" and $88k for "other". Brent also spent $95k on "fundraising expenses". Janney $0. You cannot look at the Brent data and tell me they are primarily engaged in supporting at risk kids (you know, "the mostly poor AA's" about which Brent parents so condescendingly speak). Brent's COGS and fundraising expenses raise huge red flags.

My point here is not to flame Brent's PTA. My guess is that Brent's PTA is the rule and not the exception as far as operational inefficiency and lack of clear priorities. But to suggest that a PTA is a panacea ignores reality. To use Brent's PTA as an exemplar is borderline delusional.

13 pages of the same, people get a life!

I couldn't agree more with this quote: "PTAs are personal fiefdoms used to make UMC folks feel good about themselves."

At our prior elementary, we were pressed to donate to the PTA (for a lot of projects I found unnecessary) AND to contribute twice yearly to teacher holiday and end of school gifts.

I'm much happier having BASIS collect the money directly and to dole it out to teachers directly, regardless of transparency.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will say that as a BASIS parent, we're not donating directly to the school. If they want our money (and we were huge donors in elementary), they can allow a PTO.

I don’t want a PTO.

And I’m MUCH happier giving to BASIS, where I know my funds will go directly to teachers, than I was at our prior elementary, where funding was wasted on an endless list of annoying parent-driven pet projects….

My issue is that BASIS should already be paying their teachers well, instead of doing things like advertising on busses. So I don't "know that my funds are going directly to teachers" and instead feel like my funds are paying for BS that I don't actually want to pay for, because BASIS is using parents to pay their staff and putting the BASIS money elsewhere. Plus, there is no transparency, the way there is with a PTO.

Yes, but nobody with the power to effect change cares about your issue, not with the BASIS waiting list growing annually.

Transparency? That's for private and suburban schools in this Metro area.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fair point that there is no “BASIS way,” at least not one that’s set in stone. I got disillusioned with this head when he wouldn’t let parents of Spanish immersion grads organize low cost after-school language maintenance lessons on campus, or offer these kids remotely challenging 8th grade Spanish. That wasn’t about education or college admissions on the part of the HoS, it was about control. Parents come to DCUM to raise issues for the simple reason that the BASIS DC will not tolerate a PTA.

BASIS parents don’t have a private listserv or fb page or anything? No place where you can discuss issues in a less public setting and without the anonymity?

No.

Huh? Yes, there is a BASIS parent email/site. BASIS-DC-Listserv on io groups. Parents who weren't aware should join!

The list serve isn't an open forum. Any challenging post stands a good chance of being deleted.

Look, the best way to deal with BASIS administrators is to pretend they don't exist. I recommend this 7 years in. If your kid is a high performer and you have the means, you can ignore the semi competent people in charge and bare bones facilities. We hire tutors where AP teachers aren't too hot. Sometimes we do this in league with other parents. We register our teens to take AP tests that BASIS DC doesn't sign off at at other schools in the area. We pay for summer language immersion camps abroad. We don't participate in extra curriculars on campus. We seek out more serious activities and enrichment at venues with good facilities for sports and music.

We pay around 10K/yr per child for additional inputs. Much cheaper than Sidwell, GDS, NCS or St. Albans.

Then those who post challenging posts can start their own forum, yes? Seems some BASIS parents prefer the anonymity of this forum so they can hijack threads about more general topics and make it all about BASIS and themselves.

Do you have observations or comments you'd like to make about the waitlist that you are unable to make because of BASIS posts? By all means, please share.

BASIS attracts rude and entitled parents who cannot seem to hold civil conversations with each other and set their children against one another instead of creating a collegial and supportive school community.

Few BASIS parents enroll in search of a collegial and supportive school community. Parents seek a collection of high AP scores no later than jr. year (just not in Spanish) on the road to impressive college admissions results. That's it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will say that as a BASIS parent, we're not donating directly to the school. If they want our money (and we were huge donors in elementary), they can allow a PTO.

I don’t want a PTO.

And I’m MUCH happier giving to BASIS, where I know my funds will go directly to teachers, than I was at our prior elementary, where funding was wasted on an endless list of annoying parent-driven pet projects….

My issue is that BASIS should already be paying their teachers well, instead of doing things like advertising on busses. So I don't "know that my funds are going directly to teachers" and instead feel like my funds are paying for BS that I don't actually want to pay for, because BASIS is using parents to pay their staff and putting the BASIS money elsewhere. Plus, there is no transparency, the way there is with a PTO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where did your kids go to elementary school? Mine were at Brent, where a well-run PTA raises 400K and pays for gazillion useful things, including after-school tutoring for academic stragglers (mostly poor AA kids). It wouldn't kill BASIS to have a PTA/PTO. We miss Brent's.

You piqued my interest so I pulled up the 990. I hate to the one to tell you this but they aren't spending money where you think they are. The short version is they spent $300k in the last filed year. Of that, $73k was for COGS (cost of goods sold) so that's a net zero. $31k went to "classroom supplies", $21k for "custodial" and $19k for physical education. There's another net $85k in the "other" category. They also carry a YoY balance of $200k - maybe you can explain why they would hold back 50% of their gross revenue?

Like I said, in my experience PTAs are personal fiefdoms used to make UMC folks feel good about themselves but don't directly serve the institution as much as it does the PTA members' egos.

Do you want to tell the "mostly poor AA kids" or should I?

I once served as treasurer of the Brent PTA. You're not getting the full picture from the 990. Not even close.

The system in his developing country sounds like a big improvement over the one at BASIS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will say that as a BASIS parent, we're not donating directly to the school. If they want our money (and we were huge donors in elementary), they can allow a PTO.

I don’t want a PTO.

And I’m MUCH happier giving to BASIS, where I know my funds will go directly to teachers, than I was at our prior elementary, where funding was wasted on an endless list of annoying parent-driven pet projects….

The beauty of a benevolent dictatorship, one of the most effective political systems the world over.

That's how things worked in schools in my developing country. Parents were encouraged to tip teachers generously so they'd teach, and treat, our children well.

Yeah, but the teachers likely don’t know what I give, nor do I assume my funds go to my kids’ actual teachers. So I’m not currying special treatment.

Anonymous wrote:Where did your kids go to elementary school? Mine were at Brent, where a well-run PTA raises 400K and pays for gazillion useful things, including after-school tutoring for academic stragglers (mostly poor AA kids). It wouldn't kill BASIS to have a PTA/PTO. We miss Brent's.

You piqued my interest so I pulled up the 990. I hate to the one to tell you this but they aren't spending money where you think they are. The short version is they spent $300k in the last filed year. Of that, $73k was for COGS (cost of goods sold) so that's a net zero. $31k went to "classroom supplies", $21k for "custodial" and $19k for physical education. There's another net $85k in the "other" category. They also carry a YoY balance of $200k - maybe you can explain why they would hold back 50% of their gross revenue?

Like I said, in my experience PTAs are personal fiefdoms used to make UMC folks feel good about themselves but don't directly serve the institution as much as it does the PTA members' egos.

Do you want to tell the "mostly poor AA kids" or should I?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fair point that there is no “BASIS way,” at least not one that’s set in stone. I got disillusioned with this head when he wouldn’t let parents of Spanish immersion grads organize low cost after-school language maintenance lessons on campus, or offer these kids remotely challenging 8th grade Spanish. That wasn’t about education or college admissions on the part of the HoS, it was about control. Parents come to DCUM to raise issues for the simple reason that the BASIS DC will not tolerate a PTA.

BASIS parents don’t have a private listserv or fb page or anything? No place where you can discuss issues in a less public setting and without the anonymity?

No.

Huh? Yes, there is a BASIS parent email/site. BASIS-DC-Listserv on io groups. Parents who weren't aware should join!

The list serve isn't an open forum. Any challenging post stands a good chance of being deleted.

Look, the best way to deal with BASIS administrators is to pretend they don't exist. I recommend this 7 years in. If your kid is a high performer and you have the means, you can ignore the semi competent people in charge and bare bones facilities. We hire tutors where AP teachers aren't too hot. Sometimes we do this in league with other parents. We register our teens to take AP tests that BASIS DC doesn't sign off at at other schools in the area. We pay for summer language immersion camps abroad. We don't participate in extra curriculars on campus. We seek out more serious activities and enrichment at venues with good facilities for sports and music.

We pay around 10K/yr per child for additional inputs. Much cheaper than Sidwell, GDS, NCS or St. Albans.

Then those who post challenging posts can start their own forum, yes? Seems some BASIS parents prefer the anonymity of this forum so they can hijack threads about more general topics and make it all about BASIS and themselves.

Do you have observations or comments you'd like to make about the waitlist that you are unable to make because of BASIS posts? By all means, please share.

BASIS attracts rude and entitled parents who cannot seem to hold civil conversations with each other and set their children against one another instead of creating a collegial and supportive school community.

+1000.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fair point that there is no “BASIS way,” at least not one that’s set in stone. I got disillusioned with this head when he wouldn’t let parents of Spanish immersion grads organize low cost after-school language maintenance lessons on campus, or offer these kids remotely challenging 8th grade Spanish. That wasn’t about education or college admissions on the part of the HoS, it was about control. Parents come to DCUM to raise issues for the simple reason that the BASIS DC will not tolerate a PTA.

You post the same thing in every BASIS thread and it’s a very weird and pretty stupid criticism. Stick with the immersion track if you’re so obsessed with language.

+1 Another bilingual genius who sent their kid to a science and math heavy school with limited foreign language focus and now gets all hot and bothered because the school won't change its curriculum for him.

Honestly, shut up. We all know where the push comes from. It comes from the two or three dozen BASIS 5th grade families where the kids went to LAMB, Mundo Verde, Tyler Spanish or DC Bilingual where IB schools were crappy.

If BASIS were run by genius educators, instead of Olga and Michael Block--non-educators--they'd rush to help these DC families keep the Spanish rolling cheaply. They do it so these kids could easily score 5s on AP Spanish as early as 8th grade. This would be a v. low cost approach to bumping up the program's AP results (the point of BASIS).

Yes, it would. Just too obvious for BASIS to consider.

Where did your kids go to elementary school? Mine were at Brent, where a well-run PTA raises 400K and pays for gazillion useful things, including after-school tutoring for academic stragglers (mostly poor AA kids). It wouldn't kill BASIS to have a PTA/PTO. We miss Brent's.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fair point that there is no “BASIS way,” at least not one that’s set in stone. I got disillusioned with this head when he wouldn’t let parents of Spanish immersion grads organize low cost after-school language maintenance lessons on campus, or offer these kids remotely challenging 8th grade Spanish. That wasn’t about education or college admissions on the part of the HoS, it was about control. Parents come to DCUM to raise issues for the simple reason that the BASIS DC will not tolerate a PTA.

You post the same thing in every BASIS thread and it’s a very weird and pretty stupid criticism. Stick with the immersion track if you’re so obsessed with language.

+1 Another bilingual genius who sent their kid to a science and math heavy school with limited foreign language focus and now gets all hot and bothered because the school won't change its curriculum for him.

Honestly, shut up. We all know where the push comes from. It comes from the two or three dozen BASIS 5th grade families where the kids went to LAMB, Mundo Verde, Tyler Spanish or DC Bilingual where IB schools were crappy.

If BASIS were run by genius educators, instead of Olga and Michael Block--non-educators--they'd rush to help these DC families keep the Spanish rolling cheaply. They do it so these kids could easily score 5s on AP Spanish as early as 8th grade. This would be a v. low cost approach to bumping up the program's AP results (the point of BASIS).

You seem both angry and confused. Are you mad that BASIS doesn't focus on AP Spanish or that they are too focused on APs?