Anonymous wrote:The Head should take action to ensure that comprehensive parent directory issues? NAYSAYER!

This thread isn't much fun when diehard boosters get the upper hand. What I hear from skeptics is not so much direct criticism of Basis as indirect criticism of DCPS, and a society with a high tolerance threshold for extreme urban poverty and underfunding schools.

A very good question goes unanswered. It is why can't DC support a public middle school that puts a good-sized group of kids on a path to 8-10 AP classes, yet offers a flexible math curriculum, a gym, playing fields/track/courts, a band and orchestra, an auditorium, and fun facilities like a student-run radio station, a greenhouse, and well-stocked art rooms?

Takoma Park MD Middle School has had the facilities enumerated above, with a test-in math/science magnet program for one-third of the students, and more for a long time, and it's not a mile over the DC/MD line.

No school can afford comparable facilities on a DC charter outlay of $9,000 per student and whatever the franchise can afford to add to top it up (not much); MoCo struggles to provide them with nearly twice that allocation. Enter Basis, in the throes of growing pains outside Arizona for the first time. Is it any wonder that high-SES pps grumble and worry?

The situation is far from ideal, and hardly Basis' fault.

I have to question those comments above... With respect to "underfunded schools", DCPS receives more per student than most of the districts in the nation. The problem is thus not with being underfunded, it's with being mismanaged, as obviously all that funding is not reaching the students.

Second, with regard to urban poverty, what's keeping the seriously poor here, when there are cheaper places to live all around the country? Clearly it's not work, as work obviously isn't paying well enough to get by. And arguably it's not a strong community or family network in the area, as if it were truly strong it would have been working to uplift its members out of poverty. I've spent my own years in poverty in the past, and when things were rough, I at least had the sense to pull up tent pegs and move on to find something with a cheaper cost of living and more opportunity to get ahead. I realized long ago that it's easier to change myself than it is to sit around and expect the world to change for me.

In these days of rampant identity theft, spam and other information abuses, a lot of people value their privacy and are only willing to share personal information on their own terms and in a controlled manner.

Nothing wrong with that - it has nothing to do with the school.

The Head should take action to ensure that comprehensive parent directory issues? NAYSAYER!

This thread isn't much fun when diehard boosters get the upper hand. What I hear from skeptics is not so much direct criticism of Basis as indirect criticism of DCPS, and a society with a high tolerance threshold for extreme urban poverty and underfunding schools.

A very good question goes unanswered. It is why can't DC support a public middle school that puts a good-sized group of kids on a path to 8-10 AP classes, yet offers a flexible math curriculum, a gym, playing fields/track/courts, a band and orchestra, an auditorium, and fun facilities like a student-run radio station, a greenhouse, and well-stocked art rooms?

Takoma Park MD Middle School has had the facilities enumerated above, with a test-in math/science magnet program for one-third of the students, and more for a long time, and it's not a mile over the DC/MD line.

No school can afford comparable facilities on a DC charter outlay of $9,000 per student and whatever the franchise can afford to add to top it up (not much); MoCo struggles to provide them with nearly twice that allocation. Enter Basis, in the throes of growing pains outside Arizona for the first time. Is it any wonder that high-SES pps grumble and worry?

The situation is far from ideal, and hardly Basis' fault.

Such low participation in the directory is kind of weird, but I'm chalking it up to a glitch with the start of a brand new school. At all of the other schools we've been involved with, both DCPS and Charter, I'm pretty sure the form to be included in the directory was with all the other registration information. You simply filled out one more form among the many the school passed out and checked a box stating you'd allow your info to be published. Hopefully in future years, BASIS will simply do that, too.

My kids don't attend BASIS but I have friends who do and it's a red flag toward building community when half of the parents don't want to have information shared in a directory. This should be Step 1 in creating a welcoming, successful environment and the head of school or principal should demand participation. Oy vay. Glad mine are done with the test tube schools.

I wouldn't disagree that there is opportunity to turn academics around in the low-SES AA community. But in practice I don't see it happening.

As for the current reality, I can't speak for the other grades, but the majority of the honor roll for BASIS 5th grade was not low-SES AA. It was primarily white, high-SES AA and hispanic who made that cut.

Anonymous wrote:As far as the Boosters are concerned, they have absolutely nothing to do with Basis as far as what the rules are or their empty influences...When we get some REAL Board Members of Boosters to run it the way it was made to run, I will be happy to join and until then, I will be a voice for those who want to know what is really going on and everything I state can be either backed up by the founder of the school, head of school, or by any Basis website. You can also simply do your homework also by researching any of the other Basis websites and calling to find out!

I guess this is why only about half the parents have opted to have their contact info in the directory too. I really don't understand but I guess there is a lot of suspicion on the part of some about developing a school community. Maybe the low-SES community this poster talked about makes any school-based community unnecessary. Sad. If parents don't want the Boosters to contact them, no meet-and-greets are possible. The boosters organized the wonderful picnic at Hains Point, paid for the Halloween party and helped to organize it, and are planning other events but I guess there is a lack of interest in developing a school community among posters like the above. I don't know what this poster means by "When we get some REAL Board Members of Boosters to run it the way it was made to run, I will be happy to join..." What would be a real board member be that's different from the current board?

Might I add that the concern for the low/SES not having any family support couldn't be anything further from the truth. I've had the privelgde to be invited to some of these high/SES homes where the children are ignored and will be willing to do anything for attention. The parents are so conserved with their "status" that they really have no idea of what their child is really doing. The low/SES has the opportunity to be at home more and have more of a community based support system. I find it very alarming that my child will be attending schools with parents that have this attitude. I am very happy with the education that Basis has brought to DC. My child has done well and spends no more that 2 1/2 hours on homework daily. As far as the Boosters are concerned, they have absolutely nothing to do with Basis as far as what the rules are or their empty influences. The Boosters only job there is to raise money for the teachers and staff of Basis for their end of the year bonuses. It is not like a PTA. They hold meetings to get to know each other so they can put ideas together on how to raise money. They are a separate 501-C to Basis and all proceeds are turned over to the head of school to determine, based on the class performances, what teachers get what bonuses. They also get together to provide things like, snacks for the teachers lounge and teacher and student socials. I am not a Booster but I have attended all of their meetings and I have not joined because it seems as if too many "stay at home" moms, or those with high/SES that are bored at work, take too much time at regulating these "made up in their mind" rules in the name of Basis despite what had been told to them is their role! When we get some REAL Board Members of Boosters to run it the way it was made to run, I will be happy to join and until then, I will be a voice for those who want to know what is really going on and everything I state can be either backed up by the founder of the school, head of school, or by any Basis website. You can also simply do your homework also by researching any of the other Basis websites and calling to find out!

+1 On almost all points, particularly the part about freedom, which has plusses and minuses, but are generally good.

However, i am a high-SES parent and my child was on the honor roll this past grading period and also has witnessed bullying of white kids by black kids (not sure what SES), so please don't think that only white kids can be a$$holes. . .

To answer the question or concern made about the low/SES vs high/SES at Basis DC in regards to the capability of learning and being able to handle the curriculum and holding the high/white/SES back, here is a very straight, non-politically correct answer. The real truth that these so-called high/SES parents aren't saying is that THEIR children aren't performing to the standards of Basis as they thought NOT because of the demographics or distraction by the "low/black/SES" students but in fact upon testing in, they didn't do as well as they "expected" their children to do! Truth is, ALL of the students, tested around the same no matter what school they came from (DCPS, Private, and Charter) and THOSE statistics and numbers SHOCKED a lot of those "high/SES parents! The parents that were spending money on tuition for their children previously and those "high/SES" parents who had children in GT programs quickly found out that they didn't test ANY better than the average DCPS low/SES child and THAT'S A FACT! This "superiority" complex that some high/SES parents have falsely given their children was quickly shot down by the test numbers and numbers don't lie and they don't care about the SES of the individual!!!!!! With that said, my child does attend Basis and I would be considered a "low/SES" parent and this report cards came out last week and my child did QUITE well and better than MANY of the "high/SES" students and did just as well if not BETTER when testing in the beginning of the school year. The challenge I see is that Basis does allow the children freedom that they probably aren't used to in the school system at such a young age such as, lockers, changing classes, and no online homework and all starting in the 5th grade! My daughter also comes home telling me about her day, often times telling me of the racial slurs and "superior" attitudes by some of her white/high/SES peers! Unfortunately, those "high/SES" students have parents that have mislead their children into thinking they are performing on such a "high" level when in fact they are quite average and once realization has set in those parents have made excuses as to why their children are suddenly not performing as they have in previous schools or why their peers that are of "low/SES" are out performing them and that is the RAW, non-political, TRUTH for ya and I dare anyone to dispute it. I have been speaking with many Basis parents and most of them have been cool and we have shared our "Basis" experience and our children talk. It would be apparent to me that if the children have parents that make excuses for them the child will make excuses as well as to why they aren't doing so well. My child has witnessed, at Basis, a friend of here's being called the "N" word by a white/high/SES student and still managed to bring home very acceptable grades. Her GPA is 86.6 and from Basis that's good considering points off for misspelled words, and the occasional forgetting to turn in homework. I know the more she gets accustom to program her grades will improve and again the numbers don't lie!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there are a lot of posters with legitimate concerns, but I haven't seen anyone talking any big bad clouds.

You're right. I'd categorize it as a bunch of BASIS parents who love the school, plus a few BASIS parents who are legitimately concerned about a few temporary and transitory things like the handful of troublemakers (who won't last more than the next couple of months), and the one or two non-BASIS parent naysayer(s) who have their own anti-Basis agenda, who come here every couple of days to trot out some new speculation and do a little sock puppeting around it to try and spread doubt. No real dark clouds.

Especially the generic PhD holder.

Anonymous wrote:I think there are a lot of posters with legitimate concerns, but I haven't seen anyone talking any big bad clouds.

You're right. I'd categorize it as a bunch of BASIS parents who love the school, plus a few BASIS parents who are legitimately concerned about a few temporary and transitory things like the handful of troublemakers (who won't last more than the next couple of months), and the one or two non-BASIS parent naysayer(s) who have their own anti-Basis agenda, who come here every couple of days to trot out some new speculation and do a little sock puppeting around it to try and spread doubt. No real dark clouds.

I think there are a lot of posters with legitimate concerns, but I haven't seen anyone talking any big bad clouds.

I regularly talk to a lot of actual BASIS parents when I go to pick up and drop off, and at events, and sure, some of them have their minor concerns here and there, but what I hear about are really just the fleeting things about logistics or activities, no big dark clouds as the anonymous poster(s) here are trying to portray.

I'll take actual firsthand experiences from people I actually know are BASIS parents over random, largely speculative, and at times quite questionable info from anonymous individuals who don't even sound like they have kids at BASIS any day of the week.

Oh Really? Just one or two naysayers? Couldn't possibly be different grades having different experiences?

Nothing is going to change if y'all put your heads in the sand. It does surprise me that they didn't think to put in place some disciplinary processes like they did for classroom processes.