DCUM Forum

Anonymous

06/21/2023 17:35 Subject: BASIS DC will seek to expand to include K to 4th grade

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Commuting to an elementary school is much more parent dependent than to a middle school. This will make the school less accessible to children whose parents, nannies’ can’t drop them off.

Lots of people do it to MV, YY, TR, etc. It is the charter model. Your post is silly.

You prove my point.

It disadvantages low income children who can commute on their own via metro to middle school now. They will be locked out.

+1

I get this argument. A middle school kid could commute from their neighborhood to Basis but that same kid as an elementary school kid would be too young for that commute. So the kid is effectively shut out from Basis for middle school because now the ES will feed into the middle school. Our family wouldn’t choose Basis for ES because of the commute but would have chosen it for middle school (I mean on our lottery list of course).

Hmm. There seem to be kids commuting from that boundary to OOB elementary schools right now. Maybe those kids wouldn't have to commute if BASIS opens an elementary.

https://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sit...PS%20Boundary_0.xlsx

https://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/page_content/attachments/SY2122_Public%20School%20Enrollments%20per%20DCPS%20Boundary_0.xlsx

Anonymous

06/21/2023 17:34 Subject: BASIS DC will seek to expand to include K to 4th grade

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Commuting to an elementary school is much more parent dependent than to a middle school. This will make the school less accessible to children whose parents, nannies’ can’t drop them off.

Lots of people do it to MV, YY, TR, etc. It is the charter model. Your post is silly.

You prove my point.

It disadvantages low income children who can commute on their own via metro to middle school now. They will be locked out.

+1

I get this argument. A middle school kid could commute from their neighborhood to Basis but that same kid as an elementary school kid would be too young for that commute. So the kid is effectively shut out from Basis for middle school because now the ES will feed into the middle school. Our family wouldn’t choose Basis for ES because of the commute but would have chosen it for middle school (I mean on our lottery list of course).

Hmm. There seem to be kids commuting from that boundary to OOB elementary schools right now. Maybe those kids wouldn't have to commute if BASIS opens an elementary.

https://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sit...PS%20Boundary_0.xlsx

Anonymous

06/20/2023 17:45 Subject: BASIS DC will seek to expand to include K to 4th grade

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

??? No one even knows where this school will be located.

Everyone knows where this school will be located. Every split basis campus does things the same way.

So where exactly will this not yet approved school be? Since you know, please share.

.
The school has said it will be close to the current campus. They implied it will be close enough to share facilities.

Yes, exactly. In my PP I was assuming that the new campus would be near the existing campus. That's what BASIS said and that's what it's like at every BASIS split campus. Someone responded objecting that I had no idea where the new school would be located (from the perspective of saying where commuting would be convenient from, not like the exact street address).

But where? There’s no buildings around there with outdoor space. The nearby daycares play on the sidewalk. Is that what BASIS is planning?

+1. "Close enough to share facilities" means what exactly? I don't think it means that students can walk from one campus to the other within 5 min. Knowing BASIS, if kids can ride a metro/take a bus to the other campus, that's close enough.

Anonymous

06/20/2023 17:04 Subject: BASIS DC will seek to expand to include K to 4th grade

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Commuting to an elementary school is much more parent dependent than to a middle school. This will make the school less accessible to children whose parents, nannies’ can’t drop them off.

Lots of people do it to MV, YY, TR, etc. It is the charter model. Your post is silly.

You prove my point.

It disadvantages low income children who can commute on their own via metro to middle school now. They will be locked out.

+1

I get this argument. A middle school kid could commute from their neighborhood to Basis but that same kid as an elementary school kid would be too young for that commute. So the kid is effectively shut out from Basis for middle school because now the ES will feed into the middle school. Our family wouldn’t choose Basis for ES because of the commute but would have chosen it for middle school (I mean on our lottery list of course).

Anonymous

06/20/2023 16:33 Subject: BASIS DC will seek to expand to include K to 4th grade

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

??? No one even knows where this school will be located.

Everyone knows where this school will be located. Every split basis campus does things the same way.

So where exactly will this not yet approved school be? Since you know, please share.

.
The school has said it will be close to the current campus. They implied it will be close enough to share facilities.

But where? There’s no buildings around there with outdoor space. The nearby daycares play on the sidewalk. Is that what BASIS is planning?

Anonymous

06/20/2023 12:29 Subject: Re:BASIS DC will seek to expand to include K to 4th grade

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have commuted 2 miles to BASIS from our house in the upper grades if they'd been teaching things our DCPS doesn't seem to offer. These include hard enough math, serious writing instruction and well-taught science classes. My kid has hardly learned a thing in 5th grade in DCPS. She had a lot of fun with her friends of many years, but that was about it.

Be careful what you wish for, CH parents of little kids. If BASIS opens a K-4 campus, the odds of your kids being admitted to their 5th-12th grade program are going to plummet in short order.

My kids go to a Hill ES that folks use. The chatter in the playground about this expansion is almost uniformly negative. Parents know exactly how bad this is. The only people in favor are the IB MS ideologue supporters… and I totally get why they’re excited.[/quote

"..that folks use.." By definition, every school is one that "folks" use. I assume you mean "highly educated parents." If so, please say that.

To be honest, I meant that IB families use. Most, but definitely not all, of those have highly educated parents.

Anonymous

06/20/2023 11:12 Subject: Re:BASIS DC will seek to expand to include K to 4th grade

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have commuted 2 miles to BASIS from our house in the upper grades if they'd been teaching things our DCPS doesn't seem to offer. These include hard enough math, serious writing instruction and well-taught science classes. My kid has hardly learned a thing in 5th grade in DCPS. She had a lot of fun with her friends of many years, but that was about it.

Be careful what you wish for, CH parents of little kids. If BASIS opens a K-4 campus, the odds of your kids being admitted to their 5th-12th grade program are going to plummet in short order.

My kids go to a Hill ES that folks use. The chatter in the playground about this expansion is almost uniformly negative. Parents know exactly how bad this is. The only people in favor are the IB MS ideologue supporters… and I totally get why they’re excited.[/quote

"..that folks use.." By definition, every school is one that "folks" use. I assume you mean "highly educated parents." If so, please say that.

Anonymous

06/20/2023 11:11 Subject: Re:BASIS DC will seek to expand to include K to 4th grade

We've been at BASIS for 7 years. We agree with the PP a couple posts above.

Far too much of the middle school HW assigned is indeed busy work.
5th graders who are well-suited to the BASIS curriculum aren't always the ones who can enroll.
Some families who stay in DCPS for middle school or head to other charters have HS students who are ahead of many BASIS students academically.

Anonymous

06/20/2023 11:05 Subject: BASIS DC will seek to expand to include K to 4th grade

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people I know at Maury don’t want to go to BASIS in the first place. They’d rather be at either Latin, or even at EH than at BASIS.

Sure, Basis is a lot more rigorous than those schools. So, it attracts the more academically motivated.

Not exactly. BASIS attracts those who....get in (a little more than half of those who apply these days). We know Latin Cooper, DCI, Eliot-Hine and Stuart Hobson students who would probably have thrived at BASIS. Some of these kids are stronger students than others who wound up at BASIS from our DCPS ES (we've known these kids since ECE). Many of the kids who go to Latin Cooper etc. never get off the BASIS waitlist. Moreover, much of the famous rigor at BASIS is really just time-consuming busy work. There's not a lot of critical thinking, hand-on learning, self-directed or creative work at BASIS DC. I know this because my spouse taught there. Families who don't wind up at BASIS for middle school aren't all eschewing rigor, not by a long shot. Some are finding it by topping up ms curricula via tutoring, on-line courses, extensive reading, heritage language programs, summer math work and so forth.

Your post makes no sense.

Basis “attracts those who...get in”? Huh? Do you know how the lottery works? The school is 100% lottery.

You say that you know kids at other schools “who would probably have thrived at BASIS” and then you state “BASIS is really just time-consuming busy work.” You realize that you just contradicted yourself, right?

Everything you say is refuted by the data. Based on the metrics, BASIS is by far the best public middle school in DC. https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/middle-schools/district-of-columbia. For example, 91% of E-H is BELOW grade level in math and 83% is BELOW grade level in English; 86% of SH is BELOW grade level in math and 60% is BELOW grade level in English. You are seriously comparing it to Basis?

You then say that some at E-H, SH, and other schools are trying to supplement the poor curricula at those schools. Good for them. It sounds like the parents are just trying to try to make the best of a bad situation. Plenty of parents supplement at Basis too, although there is little need to do so in the core subjects.

You claim that “I know this because my spouse taught” at Basis. Teachers have a lot of discretion about how they teach the Basis curriculum. So, we can assume that your spouse forced a lot “of time-consuming busy work” on his or her students since that is your take on the school. Not a good look. Also, Basis pushes out teachers who can’t perform up to expectations and just assign busy work, so I wouldn’t be surprised if your spouse was encouraged to leave, did so, and now you feel like have to bash the school.

Anonymous

06/20/2023 07:14 Subject: BASIS DC will seek to expand to include K to 4th grade

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Commuting to an elementary school is much more parent dependent than to a middle school. This will make the school less accessible to children whose parents, nannies’ can’t drop them off.

Lots of people do it to MV, YY, TR, etc. It is the charter model. Your post is silly.

You prove my point.

It disadvantages low income children who can commute on their own via metro to middle school now. They will be locked out.

Anonymous

06/20/2023 05:41 Subject: BASIS DC will seek to expand to include K to 4th grade

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people I know at Maury don’t want to go to BASIS in the first place. They’d rather be at either Latin, or even at EH than at BASIS.

Sure, Basis is a lot more rigorous than those schools. So, it attracts the more academically motivated.

Not exactly. BASIS attracts those who....get in (a little more than half of those who apply these days). We know Latin Cooper, DCI, Eliot-Hine and Stuart Hobson students who would probably have thrived at BASIS. Some of these kids are stronger students than others who wound up at BASIS from our DCPS ES (we've known these kids since ECE). Many of the kids who go to Latin Cooper etc. never get off the BASIS waitlist. Moreover, much of the famous rigor at BASIS is really just time-consuming busy work. There's not a lot of critical thinking, hand-on learning, self-directed or creative work at BASIS DC. I know this because my spouse taught there. Families who don't wind up at BASIS for middle school aren't all eschewing rigor, not by a long shot. Some are finding it by topping up ms curricula via tutoring, on-line courses, extensive reading, heritage language programs, summer math work and so forth.