My child will be 9 when he starts...late Sep birthday.

9 yo’s aren’t in middle school — must be 10 by end of September for 5th.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a year away from the possible 5th grade move to middle, but I at this point I can't imagine putting my kid on a city bus every day to get to/from school. I would personally be able to swing the drive, but is it out of the question for DC to provide school busses? I think our kids deserve that. They are exposed to A LOT on mass transit, not to mention the safety issues of not being guaranteed a seat, etc. Especially in situations like Brent where the IB elementary and IB middle schools are so far apart. Not to offer school busses for the DCPS kids is really unacceptable.

How do you think kids got to school EVERY day across DC? When Rhee closed all of the schools were you banging on the table wondering how these kids will get to school each day? But your precious child who lives on Cap Hill deserves a school bus? Look around and see how the rest of DC lives.

Is there a reason to be so nasty? I think EVERYONES precious child should have a school bus if they are not in walking distance from school. I walk my kids to my neighborhood school and have been doing that since my rising 4th grader was 3. When we need to go to a school further away, they will not be on a city bus. I have the flexibility to make this happen since it bothers me (fine if it does not bother you). Not everyone has a choice, which is my point. Everyone should be able to choose not to send their 9 year old to school on dc public transit. No clue why you would think I thought this should be for my child only. Good lord.

Don’t expect help from Charles Allen. This has been asked and he is “monitoring the situation”. He won’t do anything as usual.

I really don't think that a school bus is what's keeping Brent families from going to Jefferson. For a lot of them, who have not necessarily visited the school or otherwise considered it, it wouldn't matter if you sent a limo to their house every day and transported their kids directly to the middle school door.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a year away from the possible 5th grade move to middle, but I at this point I can't imagine putting my kid on a city bus every day to get to/from school. I would personally be able to swing the drive, but is it out of the question for DC to provide school busses? I think our kids deserve that. They are exposed to A LOT on mass transit, not to mention the safety issues of not being guaranteed a seat, etc. Especially in situations like Brent where the IB elementary and IB middle schools are so far apart. Not to offer school busses for the DCPS kids is really unacceptable.

How do you think kids got to school EVERY day across DC? When Rhee closed all of the schools were you banging on the table wondering how these kids will get to school each day? But your precious child who lives on Cap Hill deserves a school bus? Look around and see how the rest of DC lives.

Is there a reason to be so nasty? I think EVERYONES precious child should have a school bus if they are not in walking distance from school. I walk my kids to my neighborhood school and have been doing that since my rising 4th grader was 3. When we need to go to a school further away, they will not be on a city bus. I have the flexibility to make this happen since it bothers me (fine if it does not bother you). Not everyone has a choice, which is my point. Everyone should be able to choose not to send their 9 year old to school on dc public transit. No clue why you would think I thought this should be for my child only. Good lord.

Don’t expect help from Charles Allen. This has been asked and he is “monitoring the situation”. He won’t do anything as usual.

OK, but what can he do? He's just one member of the Council. The city went 40 years between changing boundaries and feeders and may well do that again. From the perspective of Hill parents, the problems of local DCPS middle schools won't begin to be solved by door to door city bus rides. Charles Allen isn't Santa Claus.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4th and 5th grade are great at Brent. There is a group of upper middle class families going to JA in the Fall. I wouldn’t call it large though but great kids with committed families.

I really really hate to be pessimistic because this is real progress. But the proof will be if these families choose to STAY at JA after one year of PARCC test prep.

No it won't. Most of these particular families will stay, regardless of how the experience pans out.

The real proof will be in JA begins to attract most of the Brent families who stay for 4th grade within five years. Doubt it.

Anonymous wrote:If Brent, Maury and Watkins each lose at least half of their kids in 5th grade, one idea is to move to two middle schools, one for 5th and 6th, the other 7th and 8th and have all Hill schools feed into the two schools (yes, I know, there are more than those three schools), but it strikes me that there is a serious feeder problem with those schools in particular, and also SWS.

But it's an idea with no chance of seeing the light of day ever, mainly due to the political clout Cluster supporters enjoy, and have for decades. That's it, that's all.

This is an idea only bandied about by Hill parents who lack familiarity with the political landscape on the subject.

Anonymous wrote:Right, and the Capitol Hill Cluster School also has-has?—a special Metrobus transporting students among the Peabody—Watkins —Stuart Hobson campuses. See a trend?

yes, Rich people get more than poor people. Please file that under the no shit category. That is why the ghetto kids are supposed to work hard and get rich so their kids do not have to put up with the BS they did. That is what people did for thousands of years until the entitlement class that has foolishly come to expect parity from a system that actually exacerbates and needs inequity.

Capitalism is a meritocracy, the part people forget is merit is multi-generational and accumulative and disproportionately based on positioning and only factoring facilities from those in the proper position. The race doesn't start even every generation and nobody would accept a system that doesn't the privileged to pass along that to their children.

Cap Hill is surrounded by poor people, this whole conversation is about the parents being uncomfortable with the reality that at some point they are going to have to send their kids to schools with more kids not like them than like them. They don't quite (or don't want to) realize that middle schools pull from multiple neighborhoods and can't be flipped by one group like they did with a few elementary schools. Those parents are getting to the point where the reality of the geographic locality that they love is slandered by the reality of SES isolation. They can no more build a wall from shifting demographics than the center of the country can. Even if the intent of the migration are polar opposites

News flash, the only middle school that will work for Cap Hill would consist of a mix of students that isn't really supported by the regions demographics. OOB applications, privates and moving will remain the majority of paths taken until the city gentrifies to a point when they can gerrymander a middle that looks more Ward 3 like than they would admit is their intent.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a year away from the possible 5th grade move to middle, but I at this point I can't imagine putting my kid on a city bus every day to get to/from school. I would personally be able to swing the drive, but is it out of the question for DC to provide school busses? I think our kids deserve that. They are exposed to A LOT on mass transit, not to mention the safety issues of not being guaranteed a seat, etc. Especially in situations like Brent where the IB elementary and IB middle schools are so far apart. Not to offer school busses for the DCPS kids is really unacceptable.

How do you think kids got to school EVERY day across DC? When Rhee closed all of the schools were you banging on the table wondering how these kids will get to school each day? But your precious child who lives on Cap Hill deserves a school bus? Look around and see how the rest of DC lives.

Is there a reason to be so nasty? I think EVERYONES precious child should have a school bus if they are not in walking distance from school. I walk my kids to my neighborhood school and have been doing that since my rising 4th grader was 3. When we need to go to a school further away, they will not be on a city bus. I have the flexibility to make this happen since it bothers me (fine if it does not bother you). Not everyone has a choice, which is my point. Everyone should be able to choose not to send their 9 year old to school on dc public transit. No clue why you would think I thought this should be for my child only. Good lord.

Don’t expect help from Charles Allen. This has been asked and he is “monitoring the situation”. He won’t do anything as usual.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a year away from the possible 5th grade move to middle, but I at this point I can't imagine putting my kid on a city bus every day to get to/from school. I would personally be able to swing the drive, but is it out of the question for DC to provide school busses? I think our kids deserve that. They are exposed to A LOT on mass transit, not to mention the safety issues of not being guaranteed a seat, etc. Especially in situations like Brent where the IB elementary and IB middle schools are so far apart. Not to offer school busses for the DCPS kids is really unacceptable.

How do you think kids got to school EVERY day across DC? When Rhee closed all of the schools were you banging on the table wondering how these kids will get to school each day? But your precious child who lives on Cap Hill deserves a school bus? Look around and see how the rest of DC lives.

Is there a reason to be so nasty? I think EVERYONES precious child should have a school bus if they are not in walking distance from school. I walk my kids to my neighborhood school and have been doing that since my rising 4th grader was 3. When we need to go to a school further away, they will not be on a city bus. I have the flexibility to make this happen since it bothers me (fine if it does not bother you). Not everyone has a choice, which is my point. Everyone should be able to choose not to send their 9 year old to school on dc public transit. No clue why you would think I thought this should be for my child only. Good lord.

Brent and Jefferson are 1.4 miles apart. Honestly, for healthy middle schoolers that IS walking distance. Kids with disabilities, of course, should have transportation built into their IEPs as needed. The other kids can walk, take the circulator directly between the schools, or use the metro for free.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a year away from the possible 5th grade move to middle, but I at this point I can't imagine putting my kid on a city bus every day to get to/from school. I would personally be able to swing the drive, but is it out of the question for DC to provide school busses? I think our kids deserve that. They are exposed to A LOT on mass transit, not to mention the safety issues of not being guaranteed a seat, etc. Especially in situations like Brent where the IB elementary and IB middle schools are so far apart. Not to offer school busses for the DCPS kids is really unacceptable.

Oh my. I am telling you now that your concerns about your child getting to school
Indicate that you are not a good fit for any DCPS or DC Charter School. Public Service Announcement.

Ummmm....ok. Go have a drink, maybe it will relax you a little.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a year away from the possible 5th grade move to middle, but I at this point I can't imagine putting my kid on a city bus every day to get to/from school. I would personally be able to swing the drive, but is it out of the question for DC to provide school busses? I think our kids deserve that. They are exposed to A LOT on mass transit, not to mention the safety issues of not being guaranteed a seat, etc. Especially in situations like Brent where the IB elementary and IB middle schools are so far apart. Not to offer school busses for the DCPS kids is really unacceptable.

How do you think kids got to school EVERY day across DC? When Rhee closed all of the schools were you banging on the table wondering how these kids will get to school each day? But your precious child who lives on Cap Hill deserves a school bus? Look around and see how the rest of DC lives.

Is there a reason to be so nasty? I think EVERYONES precious child should have a school bus if they are not in walking distance from school. I walk my kids to my neighborhood school and have been doing that since my rising 4th grader was 3. When we need to go to a school further away, they will not be on a city bus. I have the flexibility to make this happen since it bothers me (fine if it does not bother you). Not everyone has a choice, which is my point. Everyone should be able to choose not to send their 9 year old to school on dc public transit. No clue why you would think I thought this should be for my child only. Good lord.

Anonymous wrote:4th and 5th grade are great at Brent. There is a group of upper middle class families going to JA in the Fall. I wouldn’t call it large though but great kids with committed families.

Yes, committed families, but these are mostly super lefty advocates for neighborhood schools who, pretty clearly, can't be relied upon to offer an honest appraisal of their Jefferson experience at any point down the track.

These parents are going to tell everybody that's it's mostly rainbows and sunshine at JA. This will be the tenor of the buzz, even if the JA-bound kids come to dislike going, learn little, and get roughed up on the playground on a regular basis.

We're heading into 4th and won't drink the Kool-aid, thanks.

Right, and the Capitol Hill Cluster School also has-has?—a special Metrobus transporting students among the Peabody—Watkins —Stuart Hobson campuses. See a trend?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a year away from the possible 5th grade move to middle, but I at this point I can't imagine putting my kid on a city bus every day to get to/from school. I would personally be able to swing the drive, but is it out of the question for DC to provide school busses? I think our kids deserve that. They are exposed to A LOT on mass transit, not to mention the safety issues of not being guaranteed a seat, etc. Especially in situations like Brent where the IB elementary and IB middle schools are so far apart. Not to offer school busses for the DCPS kids is really unacceptable.

How do you think kids got to school EVERY day across DC? When Rhee closed all of the schools were you banging on the table wondering how these kids will get to school each day? But your precious child who lives on Cap Hill deserves a school bus? Look around and see how the rest of DC lives.

Right, but the dirty secret is that DC DOES offer a bus to to Deal kids coming from Shepherd and Bancroft. The DEAL BUS. There are two routes - Mount Pleasant to Deal and 16th Street Heights to Deal. It's utter BS that this special bus serves Deal while all other kids in the city are on a fend for yourself transit plan.

More here: https://www.wmata.com/schedules/timetables/upload/D31,32,33,34_170625.pdf

Anonymous wrote:We are a year away from the possible 5th grade move to middle, but I at this point I can't imagine putting my kid on a city bus every day to get to/from school. I would personally be able to swing the drive, but is it out of the question for DC to provide school busses? I think our kids deserve that. They are exposed to A LOT on mass transit, not to mention the safety issues of not being guaranteed a seat, etc. Especially in situations like Brent where the IB elementary and IB middle schools are so far apart. Not to offer school busses for the DCPS kids is really unacceptable.

Oh my. I am telling you now that your concerns about your child getting to school
Indicate that you are not a good fit for any DCPS or DC Charter School. Public Service Announcement.