Why don't you try Francis Stevens or HD Cooke? Both have emerging middle class support that's already begun so you're not starting from scratch.

Honestly when have you seen a principal willing to come on to DCUM and say try us out. Most would encourage us batty lot that have a million and one opinions. Things maybe can change faster than you think. Maybe I am the eternal optimist but there are tipping points in schools and it may be there. Who knows maybe a year from now a bunch of us will make bitter postings regretting our choice but at least we will do it from experience, not some judgmental ooh poor kids go there position. If we come back in a year please write an I told you so, until then...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My reason for posting the school's real scores and giving my account as someone living near MR is to at least encourage those who legitimately have other options to think VERY CAREFULLY before actually picking MR. I don't see how it would help people considering the school to give them HAPPY TALK about how everything will be great as long as they are involved parents.

You are discouraging others from giving Marie Reed a chance even though you've never acutally had a child attend the school. Living near Marie Reed does not give you any special insight into what goes on inside the school. You are still on the outside looking in. Just because you've deicded that Marie Reed will not work for you based on your priorities, don't presume to know what's best for other people.

Do you have "special insight"??? If so, please, do tell... MR parents don't appear to frequent DCUM.

NP here. For the record, that suggests she's not going to dissuade or insult anyone then, right?

Well said, 12:47. 18:05, 6 years ago no one went to Ross, now it is a decent alternative and a fairly solid neighborhood school. I believe it is possible to change a school grade by grade if I think the underlying infrastructure is good. I believe that schools like Tubman, Cooke, and Reed have good proactive principals who welcome change and who are working with the parents to make positive changes. This is a far cry from the old days of DCPS where principals actually actively opposed change and discouraged rich folks from attending. If Rhee did nothing else, she did create a culture of change and flexibility in her new principals. Not all have succeeded, but I am encouraged by what I see in the neighborhood.

If the teachers are sound and committed, and the principal is accountable to the parents and is energizing and motivating the teachers, then I am willing to reinvest in my neighborhood school and watch it change grade by grade. I firmly believe that the seeds of change are there; all we need is to diversify the student body.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My reason for posting the school's real scores and giving my account as someone living near MR is to at least encourage those who legitimately have other options to think VERY CAREFULLY before actually picking MR. I don't see how it would help people considering the school to give them HAPPY TALK about how everything will be great as long as they are involved parents.

You are discouraging others from giving Marie Reed a chance even though you've never acutally had a child attend the school. Living near Marie Reed does not give you any special insight into what goes on inside the school. You are still on the outside looking in. Just because you've deicded that Marie Reed will not work for you based on your priorities, don't presume to know what's best for other people.

Do you have "special insight"??? If so, please, do tell... MR parents don't appear to frequent DCUM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My reason for posting the school's real scores and giving my account as someone living near MR is to at least encourage those who legitimately have other options to think VERY CAREFULLY before actually picking MR. I don't see how it would help people considering the school to give them HAPPY TALK about how everything will be great as long as they are involved parents.

You are discouraging others from giving Marie Reed a chance even though you've never acutally had a child attend the school. Living near Marie Reed does not give you any special insight into what goes on inside the school. You are still on the outside looking in. Just because you've deicded that Marie Reed will not work for you based on your priorities, don't presume to know what's best for other people.

Come on. Honestly. I don't "presume to know what's best for other people". I am sharing MY OPINIONS in an ONLINE FORUM. Pretty sure that's what it's for.

Anonymous wrote:

My reason for posting the school's real scores and giving my account as someone living near MR is to at least encourage those who legitimately have other options to think VERY CAREFULLY before actually picking MR. I don't see how it would help people considering the school to give them HAPPY TALK about how everything will be great as long as they are involved parents.

You are discouraging others from giving Marie Reed a chance even though you've never acutally had a child attend the school. Living near Marie Reed does not give you any special insight into what goes on inside the school. You are still on the outside looking in. Just because you've deicded that Marie Reed will not work for you based on your priorities, don't presume to know what's best for other people.

Anonymous wrote:
I don't understand what interest the people posting negative things here have in making sure that the schools in their neighborhoods that they think are "bad" -- stay "bad".

It has NOTHING to do with this! I would love it if my neighborhood school was great - or even good! The problem is that I haven't been here for 10yrs or longer, the time necessary to really make a difference in a school, assuming you have a big group of people working together to that end. My kids need the school to be good TODAY -- not in 5-10 YEARS!!!

My reason for posting the school's real scores and giving my account as someone living near MR is to at least encourage those who legitimately have other options to think VERY CAREFULLY before actually picking MR. I don't see how it would help people considering the school to give them HAPPY TALK about how everything will be great as long as they are involved parents.

Too many people on DCUM seem to have a problem with the truth, unless the "truth" is that every school has wonderful potential and is just around the corner from being a fantastic school... as long as you're an involved parent. Fantasyland.

It makes me sick that a great school is not an option for everyone. But pretending that SOME people don't just settle for their not-great in-boundary school just because they don't WANT to move is ignoring at least part of the reality here on these boards. I HATE the idea of selling the home we're in, but we're doing it to get the kids in a better school. My point is that at least some of the people considering MR out of boundary can do the same as we are, and CHOOSE not to.

10:15, ITA. But, I get my back up when the same handful of people present the same tired solutions: "go charter, move to JLKMO districts, go to Virginia." It is condescending and does not take into account reality. Charters and JKLMOs are no longer an option really. There's just not enough of them to go 'round.

9:04 again. My post was not directed at Marie Reed, it was to the general idea that people have no choices as I just do not buy it.

Also, I support people staying and making a difference and finding something that works, I think the most important factor in a child's education is the parents, so children of parents that are well educated and/or care about education will likely succeed at any school and attending a school in transition will help the school population overall. I think that the well educated population of DC that is now living across the city can make a difference to the school options for all of the city's children and that will happen over time. That said, that is a long road and not everyone is up for it and I do not begrudge parents the right to make decisions about what is right for their individual children.

Oh come on, folks. At this point, there aren't enough houses in the HJKLMMOSEMu districts for all of us to move to, and charters are either impossible to get into (let us not forget that Stokes, which 3 years ago was undesirable is now having trouble accommodating siblings) or are brand new without even teachers hired yet. Even Appletree, a formerly "safe" fallback, is now struggling to meet demand.

JLMMMO are overcrowded, and by all accounts, are getting more crowded every year as parents take 8:43's bait and move into the neighborhoods. Sorry, but I'd rather have my K child at a so-so school within walking distance with 25 kids in her class than a school across town with no metro access and no restaurants within walking distance with 32-36 kids per class where principals struggle to meet burgeoning enrollment with mixed grade classes.

As I've said before, we can't all live in upper Northwest. And, not all of us want to live in outer NOVA.

I'll send my kid to an EOP "second tier" school and make that into the walking distance, easy playdates heaven described by so many Janney parents.

Anonymous wrote:NP, but I agree with 8:43. Many people do not want to consider moving or consider the cost too high (cost can be monetary, loss of a certain quality of house, neighborhood or commute or whatever). Some people do not work the numbers and look around to see what is available and what it would cost. For example, if you own in nice neighborhood to live in with crappy schools and cannot afford to sell, you can rent out your place and rent in a better school district. I am sure there are people who have no choice, but they are certainly not everyone complaining on DCUM. I agree there should be good public schools everywhere, but the reality is this is an urban school districts and urban school districts nationwide have had challenges since longer than probably any of us can remember, so this should not come as a surprise to many.

DC has a lot of choice and when it works out for families I think that is wonderful and fullys upport the OOB process and charter schools. That said, the majority of my concern is for families that really do not have choices, and there are plenty of those but most do not post on DCUM.

And you don't think that having a mix of people from more income & educational levels could have a positive impact on the schools where kids don't have a choice about whether to move? Anyway, the majority of kids at MR are OOB. They had a choice, & they chose MR. Same is true at a number of the other schools gentrified/gentrifying neighborhoods where the majority of parents are too freaked out to send their kids there because of test scores, "diversity", FARMs, or whatever else.

I don't understand what interest the people posting negative things here have in making sure that the schools in their neighborhoods that they think are "bad" -- stay "bad". Having a desirable DCPS in your neighborhood would surely improve your property values, have a positive impact on the kids that go there (local and OOB), etc. Why would you discourage people who want to try it out?

NP, but I agree with 8:43. Many people do not want to consider moving or consider the cost too high (cost can be monetary, loss of a certain quality of house, neighborhood or commute or whatever). Some people do not work the numbers and look around to see what is available and what it would cost. For example, if you own in nice neighborhood to live in with crappy schools and cannot afford to sell, you can rent out your place and rent in a better school district. I am sure there are people who have no choice, but they are certainly not everyone complaining on DCUM. I agree there should be good public schools everywhere, but the reality is this is an urban school districts and urban school districts nationwide have had challenges since longer than probably any of us can remember, so this should not come as a surprise to many.

DC has a lot of choice and when it works out for families I think that is wonderful and fullys upport the OOB process and charter schools. That said, the majority of my concern is for families that really do not have choices, and there are plenty of those but most do not post on DCUM.

Way to many of you have no clue of what you speak about people's financial choices or options. It is a lot easier to pass judgement than to potentially accept that options are not as wide spread as you would like. Yes sometimes it is a result of no fault, sometimes not saving enough, sometimes a bad decision, but it does not change the fact that people then work to make the best of it. Quit making yourself feel better by passin massive judgement.

Anonymous wrote:Many of us don't have extra income to consider private and/or the option to move.

This makes no sense. Why wouldn't you have the option to move?? This is not saying that everyone can afford a $1.5M home in the Mann boundary, but I would suspect many people here on this thread COULD have the option to move to a townhouse or condo in a better school district. They just don't want to do this -- the better school isn't worth it to them. Let's call it what it is.