You know, the charter law and implementing regs don't contain any language that, in order for a new school to be approved, it needs to either 1. be universally appealing to all DC families or 2. it MAY appeal to a niche group, BUT that group needs to be historically underserved, poor, and probably in Wards 6, 7 or 8.

Well, maybe they should. Charter schools claim to be the solution for the terrible education offered by the public schools. The students most damaged (and most prevalent) in these awful public schools are the historically underserved and poor. Therefore, in DC, the schools that are granted charters SHOULD serve the local population and its particular needs.

I'm Jewish, and a fluent Modern Hebrew speaker. My language education was in a secular setting with little or no mention of Judaism, and included students who were fluent in Arabic and from a wide variety of backgrounds. I understand how this school could work without being religious. That said, I'm opposed to this school's charter. As other posters have pointed out, the community of Hebrew speakers is very small and there is not an educational need in DC for this school, beyond a very small subset of people, many who have alternate means of language education.

The charter system should not be manipulated by small niche groups seeking to use public funds to further segregate the community. Charter schools should respond to the educational needs of as many of DC's children as possible to truly meet their mission.

I'm 21:50 and I am not a wash. Hebrew booster. My kid is
in private and won't attend tHis charter or any charter for that matter.

But, because of the nature of my job i move about some charters and some Dcps. I've also lived here forever and have a handle on political "reality" here. One thing to remember is that it's trending away from the "reality" that was possible when DC was majority AA. As the District gets richer and less black with each passing year, these sorts of airy "oh that'll never work" smug Barry-leftover assumptions will die out.

Thinking about it, it's your pretend mission you want to rework, to make it look like you have a broader mission. Forget about who you're pretending to appeal to.

Hope that helps.

Anonymous wrote:You know, the charter law and implementing regs don't contain any language that, in order for a new school to be approved, it needs to either 1. be universally appealing to all DC families or 2. it MAY appeal to a niche group, BUT that group needs to be historically underserved, poor, and probably in Wards 6, 7 or 8.

There are several PPs on here who keep saying that it's NOT OK for this proposed Wash. Hebrew to appeal to a limited subset of DC residents (affluent people! smart people!) .... but it is most certainly OK that other charters appeal to a limited subset of DC residents since, you know, they're downtrodden.

That's your opinion. Not the law.

It's also the political reality in DC. Whether or not you want to see it. So ignore it at your peril, and watch the DC leadership kill your proposal.

Or, you could drop the self-righteous schtick about your constitutional right to appeal to affluent people! and smart people! And then you could rework your pitch so it sounds like you're at least trying to have a broader appeal.

You know, the charter law and implementing regs don't contain any language that, in order for a new school to be approved, it needs to either 1. be universally appealing to all DC families or 2. it MAY appeal to a niche group, BUT that group needs to be historically underserved, poor, and probably in Wards 6, 7 or 8.

There are several PPs on here who keep saying that it's NOT OK for this proposed Wash. Hebrew to appeal to a limited subset of DC residents (affluent people! smart people!) .... but it is most certainly OK that other charters appeal to a limited subset of DC residents since, you know, they're downtrodden.

That's your opinion. Not the law.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
[/b]
That's the silliest thing on this thread. In about 10 years of existence, charter schools now enroll some 40% of public school students. And except for one little blip last year, DCPS has continued to lose students every single year (not only to charters, but to privates and to the suburbs) for literally decades. Charter schools are about the only reason middle class families have made a comeback in DC.

Your own post is pretty darn silly. Some charters are good, but some have been appallingly bad. Maybe I can make a sweeping generalization and say that sweeping generalizations, like yours or the PP you quote, are generally (in a sweeping way) silly.

You could make the sweeping generalization that DCPS has been a dogpile for decades, and you'd be right.

I'm another non-Hebrew school Jew. It seems like a good idea for MoCo, but not DC proper. My concern is sustainability of the model given very small Hebrew-speaking population. (Not Jews per se. Modern Hebrew speakers.) All it would take is a couple of PTA disputes about translation of the word occupation in a newsletter for the multi-culti mission of the school to collapse. As stated in PP, Brooklyn is not DC.

Anonymous wrote:

My problem with a Hebrew charter is different from all that. It looks like it's designed just to appeal to a small religious minority in Ward 3, so they can leave the rest of us shlubs behind in mediocre DCPS. I don't think the charter movement was meant to promote this sort of segregation by ethnicity or narrow academic interest.

This is the problem, IMO. To the extent that anybody supports charters in DC, it's because they provide new opportunities to people who had limited opportunities. Charters allow the college-bound to escape their bad local publics. Charters provide STEM and immersion in widely-spoken languages to kids who would otherwise go to Ballou. They provide vo-tech training to kids who won't be going to college.

But providing immersion in a language spoken by very few people seems to be going in the other direction, of pulling a group that everybody here seems to agree is economically advantaged, and smart to boot, out of the existing public and charter school system. Almost allowing them to wall themselves off in their own little world. I can't see DC going for this.

* To be absolutely clear, and to ward off the nutty PP, I'm not worried that a Hebrew charter would be overtly religious or that it would proselytize.

Anonymous wrote:I think you're getting hung up on the legal aspects. I'm not the poster who thinks that Hebrew=religion, although I see her point, that a school that has majority jewish teachers and students is going to have a hard time avoiding religion, if only at recess and lunchtime.

What about the fact that pretty much every DCPS, even up here in ward 3, is majority Christian with majority Christian staff? How do we manage to avoid religion at lunch and recess? The answer is, we don't. Kids talk about what they hear at home, which is why my son came home last year talking about "the baby Jesus." I went to a public, non-charter HS that was 90% Jewish, and religion had zero role in our day-to-day education--but the non-Jewish kids certainly all knew when Hanukkah was, because we all talked at it at lunch (the gifts we got, not the Macabees). Such is the life of the cultural minority. That has nothing to do with the formal role of religion in a school--which will be none at the proposed Hebrew charter, since it's a public school.

(All of that said, I would never send my kids to the Hebrew charter, nor would most of the Jewish families I know.)

Anonymous wrote:
[/b]
That's the silliest thing on this thread. In about 10 years of existence, charter schools now enroll some 40% of public school students. And except for one little blip last year, DCPS has continued to lose students every single year (not only to charters, but to privates and to the suburbs) for literally decades. Charter schools are about the only reason middle class families have made a comeback in DC.

Your own post is pretty darn silly. Some charters are good, but some have been appallingly bad. Maybe I can make a sweeping generalization and say that sweeping generalizations, like yours or the PP you quote, are generally (in a sweeping way) silly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An article in the NY Times says that the Hebrew Language Charter in NYC is very diverse --- "But as the school’s first year draws to a close, its classrooms are filled with a broad range of students, all seeming confident enough to jabber away as if they were elbowing their way down Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem. Perhaps surprisingly, the school has become one of the most racially mixed charter schools in the city. About a third of the 150 students are black, and several are Hispanic.
Here is the full article:

Oy. Read the last section about the Nation of Islam father and devout Christian mother. Ironically, both may be disappointed when they realize it's not as rigorous (father) or original text based (mother) as a yeshiva. So what accounts for diversity? It's in Brooklyn not Brookland.

Perhaps I'm cynical from living in DC since before the charter law, but I'm kind of sick of the carpetbagger mentality of some charter schools (BASIS founders said flat out they're here for "visibility and easy charter process) and lots of out of town reformers (Friends of Bedford) and congressional meddlers (vouchers).

+1 Chrter movement is the worst thing that ever happened to DC school children. It is a sham.

That's the silliest thing on this thread. In about 10 years of existence, charter schools now enroll some 40% of public school students. And except for one little blip last year, DCPS has continued to lose students every single year (not only to charters, but to privates and to the suburbs) for literally decades. Charter schools are about the only reason middle class families have made a comeback in DC.

Jews live in DC wards other than Ward 3. There is a large population in Ward 4 (Brightwood/upper 16th Street) and Ward 2 (Dupont/Logan/Foggy Bottom).

I don't think all of the charters are bad. Some are testing innovative educational strategies, and others are offering solid educations to kids with bad local choices.

Others, of course, have been started by people who don't have a clue what they're doing. Or by people who are using DC as part of a larger, nation-wide marketing strategy.

My problem with a Hebrew charter is different from all that. It looks like it's designed just to appeal to a small religious minority in Ward 3, so they can leave the rest of us shlubs behind in mediocre DCPS. I don't think the charter movement was meant to promote this sort of segregation by ethnicity or narrow academic interest.

Anonymous wrote:

+1 Chrter movement is the worst thing that ever happened to DC school children. It is a sham.

no, the worst thing is what was happening pre-charter...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not concerned that the Hebrew school will teach religion or that it will proselitize. I'm concerned that it is using a language only attractive to a small religious minority as a pretense for a public charter school.

I don't doubt that the proposal for the Hebrew school is constitutionally sound; that doesn't mean it meets an educational need in DC.

It is against Jewish religious law to proselytize. You should learn something about Judaism before you fear it.

Wait, the only way you can become jewish, and feel secure that you're one of God's chosen people, is to be born into it, right? And that's a good thing?

(Sorry, but your comment is so darn off-the mark, and enough of you are out there trashing other religions anyway, that you asked for this.)