Anonymous wrote:I agree with everything PP said about charters helping expand educational choices in the city, and making the overall educational scene more dynamic and responsive. I don't think the OP has met any OG Latin parents--they were pretty assertive

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This uncivil thread has been a real disappointment. What could have evolved into a mature debate about how Latin 2 is likely to turn out has instead become fertile ground for cheap potshots at posters looking at the big picture and commenting honestly. My inexpert opinion is that charters saved DC schools in at least half the city in the last 15 years by providing a pressure release valve for middle-class families who landed in appealing housing in failing school zones. Ergo, those families were able to stay in DC longer thanks to charters, which led to the reputation that charters are better than DCPS EotP, other than in the case of several elementary programs on Capitol Hill. Now charters attract a more upscale demographic than DCPS overall, but the when looking at middle schools on a case-by-case basis, it's no longer true that your child will always get a better education at a charter than at a DCPS program close to home. To me, this thread shows that more families are starting to look more critically at charters like Latin and BASIS and at their DCPS options, and making more nuanced decisions based on which middle schools are available to them (public, private, suburban) and what they want from a school. That's a good thing, but it means that school reputation and experience from years past may not be as valid or reliable as parents think. The reason that Latin is coming in for criticism that it doesn’t serve the brightest and most motivated students well is because families with gifted students who wouldn’t have touched a DC public middle school with a ten-foot pole a decade back are sending their children there. Now that parents have convinced Latin's admins to teach advanced MS math and 8th-12th grade Spanish, I don’t see why the victories will end here. I wouldn’t be surprised if more advanced humanities are offered to Latin MS students eventually at both campuses, along with modern MS language classes before 8th grade. I also think you’re going to see a more assertive breed of parent emerging at Latin 2 than at Latin 1, people who will perhaps openly, and brazenly, take the initiative to organize their own after-school MS language classes eventually, along with classes or tutoring groups for advanced STEM subjects like AP Physics C. Some of the future Latin 2 parents organized pods taught by licensed elementary school teachers during darkest Covid. They're not done organizing.

A word of advice. If you and your fellow organizers are going to storm a school with a proud 16-year history and bend it to your own personal vision, at least do it with a modicum of humility and grace and respect. Otherwise you piss people off and they don’t want to help you.

Anonymous wrote:This uncivil thread has been a real disappointment. What could have evolved into a mature debate about how Latin 2 is likely to turn out has instead become fertile ground for cheap potshots at posters looking at the big picture and commenting honestly. My inexpert opinion is that charters saved DC schools in at least half the city in the last 15 years by providing a pressure release valve for middle-class families who landed in appealing housing in failing school zones. Ergo, those families were able to stay in DC longer thanks to charters, which led to the reputation that charters are better than DCPS EotP, other than in the case of several elementary programs on Capitol Hill. Now charters attract a more upscale demographic than DCPS overall, but the when looking at middle schools on a case-by-case basis, it's no longer true that your child will always get a better education at a charter than at a DCPS program close to home. To me, this thread shows that more families are starting to look more critically at charters like Latin and BASIS and at their DCPS options, and making more nuanced decisions based on which middle schools are available to them (public, private, suburban) and what they want from a school. That's a good thing, but it means that school reputation and experience from years past may not be as valid or reliable as parents think. The reason that Latin is coming in for criticism that it doesn’t serve the brightest and most motivated students well is because families with gifted students who wouldn’t have touched a DC public middle school with a ten-foot pole a decade back are sending their children there. Now that parents have convinced Latin's admins to teach advanced MS math and 8th-12th grade Spanish, I don’t see why the victories will end here. I wouldn’t be surprised if more advanced humanities are offered to Latin MS students eventually at both campuses, along with modern MS language classes before 8th grade. I also think you’re going to see a more assertive breed of parent emerging at Latin 2 than at Latin 1, people who will perhaps openly, and brazenly, take the initiative to organize their own after-school MS language classes eventually, along with classes or tutoring groups for advanced STEM subjects like AP Physics C. Some of the future Latin 2 parents organized pods taught by licensed elementary school teachers during darkest Covid. They're not done organizing.

Anonymous wrote:This uncivil thread has been a real disappointment. What could have evolved into a mature debate about how Latin 2 is likely to turn out has instead become fertile ground for cheap potshots at posters looking at the big picture and commenting honestly. My inexpert opinion is that charters saved DC schools in at least half the city in the last 15 years by providing a pressure release valve for middle-class families who landed in appealing housing in failing school zones. Ergo, those families were able to stay in DC longer thanks to charters, which led to the reputation that charters are better than DCPS EotP, other than in the case of several elementary programs on Capitol Hill. Now charters attract a more upscale demographic than DCPS overall, but the when looking at middle schools on a case-by-case basis, it's no longer true that your child will always get a better education at a charter than at a DCPS program close to home. To me, this thread shows that more families are starting to look more critically at charters like Latin and BASIS and at their DCPS options, and making more nuanced decisions based on which middle schools are available to them (public, private, suburban) and what they want from a school. That's a good thing, but it means that school reputation and experience from years past may not be as valid or reliable as parents think. The reason that Latin is coming in for criticism that it doesn’t serve the brightest and most motivated students well is because families with gifted students who wouldn’t have touched a DC public middle school with a ten-foot pole a decade back are sending their children there. Now that parents have convinced Latin's admins to teach advanced MS math and 8th-12th grade Spanish, I don’t see why the victories will end here. I wouldn’t be surprised if more advanced humanities are offered to Latin MS students eventually at both campuses, along with modern MS language classes before 8th grade. I also think you’re going to see a more assertive breed of parent emerging at Latin 2 than at Latin 1, people who will perhaps openly, and brazenly, take the initiative to organize their own after-school MS language classes eventually, along with classes or tutoring groups for advanced STEM subjects like AP Physics C. Some of the future Latin 2 parents organized pods taught by licensed elementary school teachers during darkest Covid. They're not done organizing.

Anonymous wrote:This uncivil thread has been a real disappointment. What could have evolved into a mature debate about how Latin 2 is likely to turn out has instead become fertile ground for cheap potshots at posters looking at the big picture and commenting honestly. My inexpert opinion is that charters saved DC schools in at least half the city in the last 15 years by providing a pressure release valve for middle-class families who landed in appealing housing in failing school zones. Ergo, those families were able to stay in DC longer thanks to charters, which led to the reputation that charters are better than DCPS EotP, other than in the case of several elementary programs on Capitol Hill. Now charters attract a more upscale demographic than DCPS overall, but the when looking at middle schools on a case-by-case basis, it's no longer true that your child will always get a better education at a charter than at a DCPS program close to home. To me, this thread shows that more families are starting to look more critically at charters like Latin and BASIS and at their DCPS options, and making more nuanced decisions based on which middle schools are available to them (public, private, suburban) and what they want from a school. That's a good thing, but it means that school reputation and experience from years past may not be as valid or reliable as parents think. The reason that Latin is coming in for criticism that it doesn’t serve the brightest and most motivated students well is because families with gifted students who wouldn’t have touched a DC public middle school with a ten-foot pole a decade back are sending their children there. Now that parents have convinced Latin's admins to teach advanced MS math and 8th-12th grade Spanish, I don’t see why the victories will end here. I wouldn’t be surprised if more advanced humanities are offered to Latin MS students eventually at both campuses, along with modern MS language classes before 8th grade. I also think you’re going to see a more assertive breed of parent emerging at Latin 2 than at Latin 1, people who will perhaps openly, and brazenly, take the initiative to organize their own after-school MS language classes eventually, along with classes or tutoring groups for advanced STEM subjects like AP Physics C. Some of the future Latin 2 parents organized pods taught by licensed elementary school teachers during darkest Covid. They're not done organizing.

Anonymous wrote:The bolded statement is factual. DC is no longer the Chocolate City of the 1980s, the decade when thousands of UMC AA DC families bailed both on DCPS and the District itself. Phil Mendelson has often been talked about as a viable candidate for Mayor. If you're determined to see a racist behind the tatement, you will, whatever.

Anonymous wrote:The bolded statement is factual. DC is no longer the Chocolate City of the 1980s, the decade when thousands of UMC AA DC families bailed both on DCPS and the District itself. Phil Mendelson has often been talked about as a viable candidate for Mayor. If you're determined to see a racist behind the tatement, you will, whatever.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, as long as measures were taken to ensure strong minority representation, as in the high-octane Chicago middle and high school magnets. I also think that DC might elect a white mayor in the not-so-distant future. AAs are only around 45% of the city population now and dropping. This is definitely not the city I moved to 30 years ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a grip. I'm not white. The city's changing faster than it was even 10 years ago. Council of DC members know they can't rest on their education policy and funding laurels indefinitely. There are too many UMC voters of all races with elementary school-age children in DC public schools coming up the chain, and too few appealing public middle and high schools.

I don’t care if you are white or not. Still shocking what you wrote. It’s just strange to think a white mayor and declining AA population will change educational policy. It’s been my experience that the white educational activists are most adamantly opposed.

Don't take the race bait, PP. Ignore.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a grip. I'm not white. The city's changing faster than it was even 10 years ago. Council of DC members know they can't rest on their education policy and funding laurels indefinitely. There are too many UMC voters of all races with elementary school-age children in DC public schools coming up the chain, and too few appealing public middle and high schools.

I don’t care if you are white or not. Still shocking what you wrote. It’s just strange to think a white mayor and declining AA population will change educational policy. It’s been my experience that the white educational activists are most adamantly opposed.