Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How long will they continue on Taylor St.?

They cannot stay past next year and they didn't want to even stay next year. They couldn't close the deal on any of the three deals they had cooking. This was due to many factors. This is a school undergoing a lot of first year pains. They have to be out the next year. As it stands, there is a full construction zone right next to the school because the powers that be thought they could just expand without checking to see if anyone else bought the site next door.

who were the powers that be? confused

admin and the board

They were never looking at the building that got knocked down. They were looking at the other building on the other side. From my understanding, they had the option to snag all of Bridges old space, but they didn't it because it wasn't good.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How long will they continue on Taylor St.?

They cannot stay past next year and they didn't want to even stay next year. They couldn't close the deal on any of the three deals they had cooking. This was due to many factors. This is a school undergoing a lot of first year pains. They have to be out the next year. As it stands, there is a full construction zone right next to the school because the powers that be thought they could just expand without checking to see if anyone else bought the site next door.

who were the powers that be? confused

admin and the board

Children in poverty by ward (2014).

Ward 1 - 24%
Ward 2 - 8%
Ward 3 - 2%
Ward 4 - 18%
Ward 5 - 22%
Ward 6 - 21%
Ward 7 - 38%
Ward 8 - 25%

http://www.neighborhoodinfodc.org/index.html

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to beat a dead horse, but I think Breakthrough said whatever they needed to say to get their charter approved and are now quite happy to be located within gentrification and populated by gentrifiers. I blame Breakthrough but I also blame the PCSB, which clearly does not give a damn that schools like Breakthrough will talk the game of wanting to serve underserved students without ever really having the intention to do so.

"Not to beat a dead horse, but..." followed by beating a dead horse. I don't think that schools like Breakthrough don't want to serve underserved kids. I do think that they, like all of the rest of us, are at the mercy of the lottery, and because "Montessori charter" is basically catnip to gentrifier parents of toddlers, they will be heavily represented in the overall pool of applicants. I don't blame the school.

From their application:

Breakthrough Montessori Public Charter School aims to be a standard setting, high-impact, fully implemented, public Montessori school that will transform the learning experiences of low income children in Washington, D. C. With financial and technical support from Next Generation Learning Challenges and the CityBridge Foundation—as part of their Breakthrough Schools: D.C. initiative—and the on-the-ground experience of our partners, the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector (NCMPS) and Lee Montessori Public Charter School (LMPCS), we are confident that our school will positively impact 90 families in our first year, expanding to 270 families by year five.

In addition to providing fully implemented public Montessori education to greater numbers of DC families, we are equally committed to closing the opportunity gap in the district. We aim to achieve this goal by making, by design, Breakthrough Montessori PCS a racially and economically diverse school. Our premise, built on a large body of research suggesting that socioeconomic and racial integration provide significant educational benefits for all students, is that schools that intentionally seek to reduce racial and economic isolation create powerful communities of choice, in which school structure and culture support rigor, relevance, and inclusivity for all.

No they don't have control over the lottery results, but they have a lot of control over where they locate, who they hire and how they market and recruit.

That's probably the biggest factor. I'd be happily surprised to see them pick up one of the soon to be released properties over in Ward 7 / Ward 8.

Also, there are a lot of low income kids in Wards 1, 4 and 5. There are a fair number of non-low income kids in those areas as well, but as someone with a child in a Ward 1 elementary school, it's not all the children of 2-lawyer families.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to beat a dead horse, but I think Breakthrough said whatever they needed to say to get their charter approved and are now quite happy to be located within gentrification and populated by gentrifiers. I blame Breakthrough but I also blame the PCSB, which clearly does not give a damn that schools like Breakthrough will talk the game of wanting to serve underserved students without ever really having the intention to do so.

"Not to beat a dead horse, but..." followed by beating a dead horse. I don't think that schools like Breakthrough don't want to serve underserved kids. I do think that they, like all of the rest of us, are at the mercy of the lottery, and because "Montessori charter" is basically catnip to gentrifier parents of toddlers, they will be heavily represented in the overall pool of applicants. I don't blame the school.

From their application:

Breakthrough Montessori Public Charter School aims to be a standard setting, high-impact, fully implemented, public Montessori school that will transform the learning experiences of low income children in Washington, D. C. With financial and technical support from Next Generation Learning Challenges and the CityBridge Foundation—as part of their Breakthrough Schools: D.C. initiative—and the on-the-ground experience of our partners, the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector (NCMPS) and Lee Montessori Public Charter School (LMPCS), we are confident that our school will positively impact 90 families in our first year, expanding to 270 families by year five.

In addition to providing fully implemented public Montessori education to greater numbers of DC families, we are equally committed to closing the opportunity gap in the district. We aim to achieve this goal by making, by design, Breakthrough Montessori PCS a racially and economically diverse school. Our premise, built on a large body of research suggesting that socioeconomic and racial integration provide significant educational benefits for all students, is that schools that intentionally seek to reduce racial and economic isolation create powerful communities of choice, in which school structure and culture support rigor, relevance, and inclusivity for all.

No they don't have control over the lottery results, but they have a lot of control over where they locate, who they hire and how they market and recruit.

I don't totally disagree with you.

I will say that as a parent at a Title 1 DCPS, I've been at a couple of parent outreach events in our neighborhood (this year and last year) that Breakthrough has been to. It's not that they are not recruiting in the communities they are hoping to serve. In my direct personal observation, they are.

As for where they locate, there's a reason that multiple charters have been interested in or located in the Taylor Street building. In the past few years, there have been a few hotbeds of charter incubation (Taylor Street for Bridges and Breakthrough and, once upon a dream, SSMA; 16th Street for MV, CMI and DCI; Florida and 14th for SSMA and ITS; etc.). A lot of charters end up in Brookland for the same reason that not-uber-wealthy families who want to buy a SFH do: space is affordable and available. As someone who once had a child at a charter that had not yet found its "forever home" I understand the wish of the school community as it exists now to remain in a certain geographic area. I also understand the school hoping to keep the community they've built as intact as possible. Moving from Ward 4 to Ward 7 would essentially mean starting from scratch, as I know exactly 0 Ward 1-5 parents who would be willing to commute to Ward 7 or 8 to take their 4yo to school. Maybe some from Capitol Hill, but I doubt that. I know several Ward 7 families who commute up to Ward 4, and it's a pain, and they wish they had better local options, but I think it's disingenuous to suggest that schools lie on their charter applications about wanting to serve low income kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to beat a dead horse, but I think Breakthrough said whatever they needed to say to get their charter approved and are now quite happy to be located within gentrification and populated by gentrifiers. I blame Breakthrough but I also blame the PCSB, which clearly does not give a damn that schools like Breakthrough will talk the game of wanting to serve underserved students without ever really having the intention to do so.

"Not to beat a dead horse, but..." followed by beating a dead horse. I don't think that schools like Breakthrough don't want to serve underserved kids. I do think that they, like all of the rest of us, are at the mercy of the lottery, and because "Montessori charter" is basically catnip to gentrifier parents of toddlers, they will be heavily represented in the overall pool of applicants. I don't blame the school.

From their application:

Breakthrough Montessori Public Charter School aims to be a standard setting, high-impact, fully implemented, public Montessori school that will transform the learning experiences of low income children in Washington, D. C. With financial and technical support from Next Generation Learning Challenges and the CityBridge Foundation—as part of their Breakthrough Schools: D.C. initiative—and the on-the-ground experience of our partners, the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector (NCMPS) and Lee Montessori Public Charter School (LMPCS), we are confident that our school will positively impact 90 families in our first year, expanding to 270 families by year five.

In addition to providing fully implemented public Montessori education to greater numbers of DC families, we are equally committed to closing the opportunity gap in the district. We aim to achieve this goal by making, by design, Breakthrough Montessori PCS a racially and economically diverse school. Our premise, built on a large body of research suggesting that socioeconomic and racial integration provide significant educational benefits for all students, is that schools that intentionally seek to reduce racial and economic isolation create powerful communities of choice, in which school structure and culture support rigor, relevance, and inclusivity for all.

No they don't have control over the lottery results, but they have a lot of control over where they locate, who they hire and how they market and recruit.

That's probably the biggest factor. I'd be happily surprised to see them pick up one of the soon to be released properties over in Ward 7 / Ward 8.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to beat a dead horse, but I think Breakthrough said whatever they needed to say to get their charter approved and are now quite happy to be located within gentrification and populated by gentrifiers. I blame Breakthrough but I also blame the PCSB, which clearly does not give a damn that schools like Breakthrough will talk the game of wanting to serve underserved students without ever really having the intention to do so.

"Not to beat a dead horse, but..." followed by beating a dead horse. I don't think that schools like Breakthrough don't want to serve underserved kids. I do think that they, like all of the rest of us, are at the mercy of the lottery, and because "Montessori charter" is basically catnip to gentrifier parents of toddlers, they will be heavily represented in the overall pool of applicants. I don't blame the school.

From their application:

Breakthrough Montessori Public Charter School aims to be a standard setting, high-impact, fully implemented, public Montessori school that will transform the learning experiences of low income children in Washington, D. C. With financial and technical support from Next Generation Learning Challenges and the CityBridge Foundation—as part of their Breakthrough Schools: D.C. initiative—and the on-the-ground experience of our partners, the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector (NCMPS) and Lee Montessori Public Charter School (LMPCS), we are confident that our school will positively impact 90 families in our first year, expanding to 270 families by year five.

In addition to providing fully implemented public Montessori education to greater numbers of DC families, we are equally committed to closing the opportunity gap in the district. We aim to achieve this goal by making, by design, Breakthrough Montessori PCS a racially and economically diverse school. Our premise, built on a large body of research suggesting that socioeconomic and racial integration provide significant educational benefits for all students, is that schools that intentionally seek to reduce racial and economic isolation create powerful communities of choice, in which school structure and culture support rigor, relevance, and inclusivity for all.

No they don't have control over the lottery results, but they have a lot of control over where they locate, who they hire and how they market and recruit.

Anonymous wrote:Not to beat a dead horse, but I think Breakthrough said whatever they needed to say to get their charter approved and are now quite happy to be located within gentrification and populated by gentrifiers. I blame Breakthrough but I also blame the PCSB, which clearly does not give a damn that schools like Breakthrough will talk the game of wanting to serve underserved students without ever really having the intention to do so.

"Not to beat a dead horse, but..." followed by beating a dead horse. I don't think that schools like Breakthrough don't want to serve underserved kids. I do think that they, like all of the rest of us, are at the mercy of the lottery, and because "Montessori charter" is basically catnip to gentrifier parents of toddlers, they will be heavily represented in the overall pool of applicants. I don't blame the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How long will they continue on Taylor St.?

They cannot stay past next year and they didn't want to even stay next year. They couldn't close the deal on any of the three deals they had cooking. This was due to many factors. This is a school undergoing a lot of first year pains. They have to be out the next year. As it stands, there is a full construction zone right next to the school because the powers that be thought they could just expand without checking to see if anyone else bought the site next door.

who were the powers that be? confused

Anonymous wrote:How long will they continue on Taylor St.?

They cannot stay past next year and they didn't want to even stay next year. They couldn't close the deal on any of the three deals they had cooking. This was due to many factors. This is a school undergoing a lot of first year pains. They have to be out the next year. As it stands, there is a full construction zone right next to the school because the powers that be thought they could just expand without checking to see if anyone else bought the site next door.

How long will they continue on Taylor St.?

Not to beat a dead horse, but I think Breakthrough said whatever they needed to say to get their charter approved and are now quite happy to be located within gentrification and populated by gentrifiers. I blame Breakthrough but I also blame the PCSB, which clearly does not give a damn that schools like Breakthrough will talk the game of wanting to serve underserved students without ever really having the intention to do so.

how big does Breakthough plan to grow? 300? 350?

Anonymous wrote:

Actual Breakthrough family here. The school has 92 students enrolled. I think there were some issues with a couple students during count day. Those have since been resolved. According to the school, there is a process for remedying/appealing this they did that.

So if they have 92 students and still < economically disadvantaged....that's even worse for those arguing that Montessori isn't just for high SES gentrifiers.