Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most are concerned with academic proficiency, but is it so wrong to want your child to go to school with at least some kids -- whatever race -- who live in your neighborhood? For me, part of the reason for opting public school over private is the benefit of going to a neighborhood school. OOB kids can certainly fit into that picture, but if a school is largely OOB, then you completely lose the benefits of a neighborhood school. My DC LOVED walking to Eaton with neighborhood friends and also having playdates with IB and OOB friends, but without an IB cohort, it just would not have been the same. I don't think it makes me a racist to want to send my child to a school with some neighborhood connection.

Most of the city agrees, looking at the reaction to the DME proposal.

I completely agree. I am not denying that racism exists in this city/country. But it is ridiculous to suggest that people are racist because they want to see more truly IB kids in the school. People who want a neighborhood school, want a school where their neighbors' kids go. They don't want to attend a school that happens to be in their neighborhood but whose student body comes from all 8 wards. If they wanted that, then they would attend charters. I have nothing against charters - glad they are there as options. But for those of us who want neighborhood schools, this means not only that the school is in the neighborhood, but also that most of the neighborhood kids go there.

I don't know why this is so hard for some people to understand, or why some people impute the worst motives for this. It's almost as if the charter movement has made people forget the neighbrohood schools of our childhoods or something, I don't know. Again, nothing against charters, but I am a big believer in neighborhood schools.

You're mostly right, but I'll point out the inconvenient fact that more kids who are in-boundary for Hardy attend Basis and Latin than Hardy. School quality matters too.

Exactly, PP. I'll make the obvious point that those families are not attracted to Latin and BASIS because of the low OOB numbers or low AA population.

I'll add that Pride's plan for improving the quality of Hardy is to increase the IB percentage. It's a good plan. Once Hardy is 70% IB or higher, it will give Latin, BASIS and perhaps Deal a run for their money.

However, the plan poses chicken-or-egg dilemma. The grass-roots campaign to boost IB enrollment that is underway is admirable and will eventually succeed. However, its seems unnecessarily drawn-out.

I've been lambasted for making this point before, but here it is: The fastest way to turn Hardy back into a neighborhood school is to cut it's enrollment significantly, e.g., 100 kids.

You're going to be lambasted again, and deservingly so. The self-serving "take care of my snowflake and screw the city in the process" of your POV is breath-taking.

Apparently this is tough for people like you to understand, but when the majority of DCPS's students are below grade level, then shutting off an escape valve (such as Hardy) is educational malpractice. If your snowflake is too good to share a school with the refugees, then:

A) move
B) go private
C) apply to the charters which are already better than Hardy anyway

but in any case:

for the love of your child SHUT UP and don't ever talk in public like you do on DCUM. You racist, douchebag prick.

Putting aside the incendiary, uncouth race-baiting for a moment, perhaps you should look at what else you wrote to explain the reluctance of so many parents in Hardy’s surrounding neighborhoods to send their kids to the school. You said that Hardy is an escape valve for some of the majority of DCPS students who are below grade level. What concerns prospective parents then, is that because Hardy is pretty small and so many kids are below grade level, significant educational resources need to go to bring those students (“refugees” as you describe them) closer to the level where they need to be. This probably comes at the expense of curricular programs, activities and other offerings that really challenge and enable children performing at and above grade level to advance further, as the best middle schools in the area provide in abundance. This may sound insensitive, but few parents want their children held back in this manner.

The last refuge of someone in DC who has no valid argument to make is to hurl the “racist” accusation. But if there’s an undertone anywhere it is when some current parents begrudgingly appear willing to welcome more in-bounds (presumably whiter) students, so long as Hardy’s culture (presumably majority OB, African-American, distinctly urban in character) remains, new parents don’t demand too much change and they open their wallets. That sounds a lot like the strained atmosphere when Michelle Rhee tried to make changes at Hardy several years ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:



You're going to be lambasted again, and deservingly so. The self-serving "take care of my snowflake and screw the city in the process" of your POV is breath-taking.

Apparently this is tough for people like you to understand, but when the majority of DCPS's students are below grade level, then shutting off an escape valve (such as Hardy) is educational malpractice. If your snowflake is too good to share a school with the refugees, then:

A) move
B) go private
C) apply to the charters which are already better than Hardy anyway

but in any case:

for the love of your child SHUT UP and don't ever talk in public like you do on DCUM. You racist, douchebag prick.

Translation: if you live IB, it's not your school. If you don't like it, go somewhere else. If you object, be prepared to be called a racist. And people wonder why the IB families aren't flocking there.

Yup.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:



You're going to be lambasted again, and deservingly so. The self-serving "take care of my snowflake and screw the city in the process" of your POV is breath-taking.

Apparently this is tough for people like you to understand, but when the majority of DCPS's students are below grade level, then shutting off an escape valve (such as Hardy) is educational malpractice. If your snowflake is too good to share a school with the refugees, then:

A) move
B) go private
C) apply to the charters which are already better than Hardy anyway

but in any case:

for the love of your child SHUT UP and don't ever talk in public like you do on DCUM. You racist, douchebag prick.

Translation: if you live IB, it's not your school. If you don't like it, go somewhere else. If you object, be prepared to be called a racist. And people wonder why the IB families aren't flocking there.

Yup.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:



You're going to be lambasted again, and deservingly so. The self-serving "take care of my snowflake and screw the city in the process" of your POV is breath-taking.

Apparently this is tough for people like you to understand, but when the majority of DCPS's students are below grade level, then shutting off an escape valve (such as Hardy) is educational malpractice. If your snowflake is too good to share a school with the refugees, then:

A) move
B) go private
C) apply to the charters which are already better than Hardy anyway

but in any case:

for the love of your child SHUT UP and don't ever talk in public like you do on DCUM. You racist, douchebag prick.

Translation: if you live IB, it's not your school. If you don't like it, go somewhere else. If you object, be prepared to be called a racist. And people wonder why the IB families aren't flocking there.

Anonymous wrote:



You're going to be lambasted again, and deservingly so. The self-serving "take care of my snowflake and screw the city in the process" of your POV is breath-taking.

Apparently this is tough for people like you to understand, but when the majority of DCPS's students are below grade level, then shutting off an escape valve (such as Hardy) is educational malpractice. If your snowflake is too good to share a school with the refugees, then:

A) move
B) go private
C) apply to the charters which are already better than Hardy anyway

but in any case:

for the love of your child SHUT UP and don't ever talk in public like you do on DCUM. You racist, douchebag prick.

Anonymous wrote:
Is Hardy test-in for OOB students?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread has totally jumped the shark.

It's poorly written, is full of hammy and bad acting, and never succeeded in answering its reason for beginning in the first place.

Welcome to the internet. Remember to thank Al Gore.

Anonymous wrote:This thread has totally jumped the shark.

It's poorly written, is full of hammy and bad acting, and never succeeded in answering its reason for beginning in the first place.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most are concerned with academic proficiency, but is it so wrong to want your child to go to school with at least some kids -- whatever race -- who live in your neighborhood? For me, part of the reason for opting public school over private is the benefit of going to a neighborhood school. OOB kids can certainly fit into that picture, but if a school is largely OOB, then you completely lose the benefits of a neighborhood school. My DC LOVED walking to Eaton with neighborhood friends and also having playdates with IB and OOB friends, but without an IB cohort, it just would not have been the same. I don't think it makes me a racist to want to send my child to a school with some neighborhood connection.

Most of the city agrees, looking at the reaction to the DME proposal.

I completely agree. I am not denying that racism exists in this city/country. But it is ridiculous to suggest that people are racist because they want to see more truly IB kids in the school. People who want a neighborhood school, want a school where their neighbors' kids go. They don't want to attend a school that happens to be in their neighborhood but whose student body comes from all 8 wards. If they wanted that, then they would attend charters. I have nothing against charters - glad they are there as options. But for those of us who want neighborhood schools, this means not only that the school is in the neighborhood, but also that most of the neighborhood kids go there.

I don't know why this is so hard for some people to understand, or why some people impute the worst motives for this. It's almost as if the charter movement has made people forget the neighbrohood schools of our childhoods or something, I don't know. Again, nothing against charters, but I am a big believer in neighborhood schools.

You're mostly right, but I'll point out the inconvenient fact that more kids who are in-boundary for Hardy attend Basis and Latin than Hardy. School quality matters too.

Exactly, PP. I'll make the obvious point that those families are not attracted to Latin and BASIS because of the low OOB numbers or low AA population.

I'll add that Pride's plan for improving the quality of Hardy is to increase the IB percentage. It's a good plan. Once Hardy is 70% IB or higher, it will give Latin, BASIS and perhaps Deal a run for their money.

However, the plan poses chicken-or-egg dilemma. The grass-roots campaign to boost IB enrollment that is underway is admirable and will eventually succeed. However, its seems unnecessarily drawn-out.

I've been lambasted for making this point before, but here it is: The fastest way to turn Hardy back into a neighborhood school is to cut it's enrollment significantly, e.g., 100 kids.

You're going to be lambasted again, and deservingly so. The self-serving "take care of my snowflake and screw the city in the process" of your POV is breath-taking.

Apparently this is tough for people like you to understand, but when the majority of DCPS's students are below grade level, then shutting off an escape valve (such as Hardy) is educational malpractice. If your snowflake is too good to share a school with the refugees, then:

A) move
B) go private
C) apply to the charters which are already better than Hardy anyway

but in any case:

for the love of your child SHUT UP and don't ever talk in public like you do on DCUM. You racist, douchebag prick.

Putting aside the incendiary, uncouth race-baiting for a moment, perhaps you should look at what else you wrote to explain the reluctance of so many parents in Hardy’s surrounding neighborhoods to send their kids to the school. You said that Hardy is an escape valve for some of the majority of DCPS students who are below grade level. What concerns prospective parents then, is that because Hardy is pretty small and so many kids are below grade level, significant educational resources need to go to bring those students (“refugees” as you describe them) closer to the level where they need to be. This probably comes at the expense of curricular programs, activities and other offerings that really challenge and enable children performing at and above grade level to advance further, as the best middle schools in the area provide in abundance. This may sound insensitive, but few parents want their children held back in this manner.

The last refuge of someone in DC who has no valid argument to make is to hurl the “racist” accusation. But if there’s an undertone anywhere it is when some current parents begrudgingly appear willing to welcome more in-bounds (presumably whiter) students, so long as Hardy’s culture (presumably majority OB, African-American, distinctly urban in character) remains, new parents don’t demand too much change and they open their wallets. That sounds a lot like the strained atmosphere when Michelle Rhee tried to make changes at Hardy several years ago.

You did not understand what the PP said. She said that Hardy is an escape valve for at grade level students who escape from schools where kids are not at grade level.
Please re -read her message.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most are concerned with academic proficiency, but is it so wrong to want your child to go to school with at least some kids -- whatever race -- who live in your neighborhood? For me, part of the reason for opting public school over private is the benefit of going to a neighborhood school. OOB kids can certainly fit into that picture, but if a school is largely OOB, then you completely lose the benefits of a neighborhood school. My DC LOVED walking to Eaton with neighborhood friends and also having playdates with IB and OOB friends, but without an IB cohort, it just would not have been the same. I don't think it makes me a racist to want to send my child to a school with some neighborhood connection.

Most of the city agrees, looking at the reaction to the DME proposal.

I completely agree. I am not denying that racism exists in this city/country. But it is ridiculous to suggest that people are racist because they want to see more truly IB kids in the school. People who want a neighborhood school, want a school where their neighbors' kids go. They don't want to attend a school that happens to be in their neighborhood but whose student body comes from all 8 wards. If they wanted that, then they would attend charters. I have nothing against charters - glad they are there as options. But for those of us who want neighborhood schools, this means not only that the school is in the neighborhood, but also that most of the neighborhood kids go there.

I don't know why this is so hard for some people to understand, or why some people impute the worst motives for this. It's almost as if the charter movement has made people forget the neighbrohood schools of our childhoods or something, I don't know. Again, nothing against charters, but I am a big believer in neighborhood schools.

You're mostly right, but I'll point out the inconvenient fact that more kids who are in-boundary for Hardy attend Basis and Latin than Hardy. School quality matters too.

Exactly, PP. I'll make the obvious point that those families are not attracted to Latin and BASIS because of the low OOB numbers or low AA population.

I'll add that Pride's plan for improving the quality of Hardy is to increase the IB percentage. It's a good plan. Once Hardy is 70% IB or higher, it will give Latin, BASIS and perhaps Deal a run for their money.

However, the plan poses chicken-or-egg dilemma. The grass-roots campaign to boost IB enrollment that is underway is admirable and will eventually succeed. However, its seems unnecessarily drawn-out.

I've been lambasted for making this point before, but here it is: The fastest way to turn Hardy back into a neighborhood school is to cut it's enrollment significantly, e.g., 100 kids.

You're going to be lambasted again, and deservingly so. The self-serving "take care of my snowflake and screw the city in the process" of your POV is breath-taking.

Apparently this is tough for people like you to understand, but when the majority of DCPS's students are below grade level, then shutting off an escape valve (such as Hardy) is educational malpractice. If your snowflake is too good to share a school with the refugees, then:

A) move
B) go private
C) apply to the charters which are already better than Hardy anyway

but in any case:

for the love of your child SHUT UP and don't ever talk in public like you do on DCUM. You racist, douchebag prick.

Putting aside the incendiary, uncouth race-baiting for a moment, perhaps you should look at what else you wrote to explain the reluctance of so many parents in Hardy’s surrounding neighborhoods to send their kids to the school. You said that Hardy is an escape valve for some of the majority of DCPS students who are below grade level. What concerns prospective parents then, is that because Hardy is pretty small and so many kids are below grade level, significant educational resources need to go to bring those students (“refugees” as you describe them) closer to the level where they need to be. This probably comes at the expense of curricular programs, activities and other offerings that really challenge and enable children performing at and above grade level to advance further, as the best middle schools in the area provide in abundance. This may sound insensitive, but few parents want their children held back in this manner.

The last refuge of someone in DC who has no valid argument to make is to hurl the “racist” accusation. But if there’s an undertone anywhere it is when some current parents begrudgingly appear willing to welcome more in-bounds (presumably whiter) students, so long as Hardy’s culture (presumably majority OB, African-American, distinctly urban in character) remains, new parents don’t demand too much change and they open their wallets. That sounds a lot like the strained atmosphere when Michelle Rhee tried to make changes at Hardy several years ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most are concerned with academic proficiency, but is it so wrong to want your child to go to school with at least some kids -- whatever race -- who live in your neighborhood? For me, part of the reason for opting public school over private is the benefit of going to a neighborhood school. OOB kids can certainly fit into that picture, but if a school is largely OOB, then you completely lose the benefits of a neighborhood school. My DC LOVED walking to Eaton with neighborhood friends and also having playdates with IB and OOB friends, but without an IB cohort, it just would not have been the same. I don't think it makes me a racist to want to send my child to a school with some neighborhood connection.

Most of the city agrees, looking at the reaction to the DME proposal.

I completely agree. I am not denying that racism exists in this city/country. But it is ridiculous to suggest that people are racist because they want to see more truly IB kids in the school. People who want a neighborhood school, want a school where their neighbors' kids go. They don't want to attend a school that happens to be in their neighborhood but whose student body comes from all 8 wards. If they wanted that, then they would attend charters. I have nothing against charters - glad they are there as options. But for those of us who want neighborhood schools, this means not only that the school is in the neighborhood, but also that most of the neighborhood kids go there.

I don't know why this is so hard for some people to understand, or why some people impute the worst motives for this. It's almost as if the charter movement has made people forget the neighbrohood schools of our childhoods or something, I don't know. Again, nothing against charters, but I am a big believer in neighborhood schools.

You're mostly right, but I'll point out the inconvenient fact that more kids who are in-boundary for Hardy attend Basis and Latin than Hardy. School quality matters too.

Exactly, PP. I'll make the obvious point that those families are not attracted to Latin and BASIS because of the low OOB numbers or low AA population.

I'll add that Pride's plan for improving the quality of Hardy is to increase the IB percentage. It's a good plan. Once Hardy is 70% IB or higher, it will give Latin, BASIS and perhaps Deal a run for their money.

However, the plan poses chicken-or-egg dilemma. The grass-roots campaign to boost IB enrollment that is underway is admirable and will eventually succeed. However, its seems unnecessarily drawn-out.

I've been lambasted for making this point before, but here it is: The fastest way to turn Hardy back into a neighborhood school is to cut it's enrollment significantly, e.g., 100 kids.

You're going to be lambasted again, and deservingly so. The self-serving "take care of my snowflake and screw the city in the process" of your POV is breath-taking.

Apparently this is tough for people like you to understand, but when the majority of DCPS's students are below grade level, then shutting off an escape valve (such as Hardy) is educational malpractice. If your snowflake is too good to share a school with the refugees, then:

A) move
B) go private
C) apply to the charters which are already better than Hardy anyway

but in any case:

for the love of your child SHUT UP and don't ever talk in public like you do on DCUM. You racist, douchebag prick.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sick and tired of all the bashing and trashing on Hardy. I'm sorry that in boundary families don't have access to your precious Deal, but where do you get off turning your nose up at a school that is good enough for the rest of us and better than other middle schools in DC? I'm ok if more neighborhood families come to Hardy, but it will continue to get better and better even without your kids and their great test scores, so I won't cry if you don't. Like Dr. Henderson said, it's a free country and you can move out of DCPS if it doesn't work for you. But if you come to Hardy,don't act all entitled and expect to start running things and change everything like the uniforms or demand stuff like Ancient Greek or whatever. Lots of parents are happy with the school today.

Henderson is not a "Doctor" of anything. She has a master's in Leadership from Georgetown.

Master Leader Henderson then.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sick and tired of all the bashing and trashing on Hardy. I'm sorry that in boundary families don't have access to your precious Deal, but where do you get off turning your nose up at a school that is good enough for the rest of us and better than other middle schools in DC? I'm ok if more neighborhood families come to Hardy, but it will continue to get better and better even without your kids and their great test scores, so I won't cry if you don't. Like Dr. Henderson said, it's a free country and you can move out of DCPS if it doesn't work for you. But if you come to Hardy,don't act all entitled and expect to start running things and change everything like the uniforms or demand stuff like Ancient Greek or whatever. Lots of parents are happy with the school today.

Henderson is not a "Doctor" of anything. She has a master's in Leadership from Georgetown.