Anonymous wrote:The question has never been "how many feeder kids are attending Hard." The question has always been "how many IB kids are attending Hardy."

I am sure it changing. It has years to go before it is a Deal but it is a great little school where plenty of kids do well.

I don't understand why people can't just answer that question.

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Anonymous wrote:Actually the IB number is lower since all the feeder kids aren't IB.

Of course Pride gave feeder numbers instead of IB.

IB numbers are not necessarily lower than feeder school numbers. The reason being that, for instance, in the current 6th grade there are IB kids who did not attend feeder public schools. I personally know two IB families whose kids attended schools abroad last year (one US family from the Dept. of State and one foreign nationality family), one IB family who just moved in Glover Park from Capitol Hill, and one IB kid who attended a charter school in 5th grade. And I only know a small fraction of the kids, as family-to-family contacts in middle school are more sporadic than in elementary schools, so there might well be more cases.

My son (6th grader, IB) has had "hangouts" with two classmates who live in Capitol Hill, a 15 minute longer drive for us, but it was nice for us and him to scroll in Capitol Hill. These Capitol Hill (OB) kids I got to know had attended Brent elementary school in Capitol Hill which show DC CAS scores which are comparable to the Hardy IB feeder schools. There's at least 10 Brent students in 6th grade this year.

My son is having an top notch academic and social experience at Hardy. Great teachers, young and motivated. Academically challenged, with daily but not crazy homework assignments, a lot of academic support both in the classroom and during after school hours (after-school tutoring classes to help with homework or questions for most of the subjects at least one afternoon a week) . Several after school clubs (math booth camp, Chinese, robotics, debating, etc), school library stays open for after-school supervised homework... My kid would stay at school until night if he could, and comes home tired but happy, with all homework done. Communication with teachers is fast and effective and kids perfomance and attendance can be monitored by parents in real time through the engrade application, updated daily by the teachers with class and homework grade.

Let me just tell you that the family next door did not "trust" Hardy and sent their 6th grader kid to a nearby private school. The kid is having a much less exciting experience, no learning or curricular advantage compared to Hardy, no STEM program, no Chinese, not learning to play an instrument...Kid is pressuring his parents to be moved to Hardy with my son and his friends he got to know, parents have already visited the school and talked to the principal and most likely will move him to Hardy next year....

Anonymous wrote:Actually the IB number is lower since all the feeder kids aren't IB.

Of course Pride gave feeder numbers instead of IB.

Anonymous wrote:#s from Principal Pride speaking at a forum today - 6th graders - she broke down by 'feeders' 18 from Hyde-Addison, 13 from Stoddert, 6 from Mann, 5 from Key, 1 from Eaton. 35% of the 130 students in 6th. (Likely of course some of the feeder kids, (only 38% of H-A was IB last year). 10 kids from Thompson, 10 from Brent, 10 from another school I missed, and 2 or less from other schools. She noted that they take some kids in January from Bowling Air Force Base and/or embassies when those rotations change over. Found Pride to be extremely impressive and making a big effort to reach out to the community. Honors English in every grade, geometry program now in the school, etc.

She said she plans to remain at the school for a long time.

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Anonymous wrote:Feeder or IB - who cares (I'm IB Btw). The point is, the school has flipped. Give it a few more years and people will be clamoring to get into boutique little Hardy instead of ginormous Deal . . .

When you say "the school has flipped," I wonder: how quickly does a school really turn around? In other words, how long will it really take for Hardy to be as desirable as Deal?

Anonymous wrote:Feeder or IB - who cares (I'm IB Btw). The point is, the school has flipped. Give it a few more years and people will be clamoring to get into boutique little Hardy instead of ginormous Deal . . .

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Anonymous wrote:

1. The future of Hardy now that the high IB numbers are confirmed (nay sayers can gather there to predict the IB kids will leave before 6th grade is over)

35% is high? I can't think of another school with IB numbers in that neighborhood that would be described as "high IB."

Anonymous wrote:

1. The future of Hardy now that the high IB numbers are confirmed (nay sayers can gather there to predict the IB kids will leave before 6th grade is over)

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Anonymous wrote:The kids at the British School across the street also wear a uniform. It looks similar to Hardy's; kids in wrinkled, re-worn stuff. Not a future fashionista in the entire bunch of them; but not a big deal I guess.

The British school uniforms look a little silly, like someone's idea of English little boy and little girl outfits just after the War. But parents who enroll their kids there do so completely voluntarily, paying with full knowledge of the school's expectations, as well as affectations. Unless a kid gets into a good charter or the parents can afford private, she or he has pretty much no choice about going to Hardy, uniforms and all. There's a difference.

This is true of any middle school, private or public. All schools have a culture - some value jocks, some value geeks, some value arts and music, some have dress codes, some do not; some have informal dress codes with kids that do not meet these informal codes being ostracized; some are cliquish, some are not; some are large, some are small; some teach to the test; others give kids a lot more intellectual freedom.

Each school has a culture. If you want to pay for private or move to a public with a different culture, then of course you can pick your culture. If you want to go public and don't want to move, then yes, you won't be able to choose the culture. Of course, if your child attends, as a parent or prospective parents at the school, you can (hopefully constructively) work to change that culture.

The Hardy uniforms are a relic of the"tough love", strict discipline approach that was all the rage in the late 1980s/early 1990s to try to bring order to inner city public schools. It's time for the school to move into the 21st century and get more in tune with a changing DC.

Except that they are not; they date from the mid-late 2000s and were not put in place because of any kind of tough-love or disciplinary needs. Please stop this pernicious and false stereotype.