Updates on LAMB at Kingsbury?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Kingsbuty site was never designed to be a school. It was a private mansion.

It has been a small, specialized school for a couple decades which has fallen on hard times economically.

LAMB would be a very different beast and despite assurances about people using transit I assume 90% of families will drive. Maybe they will give up the requirement of kids being escorted in by parents in favor of a drop off line. But dropoff and pickup will be a major pain for the neighbors.

History is important to know, but it doesn't mean things can't change. Schools move and buildings are repurposed. I do think it would be best to move in gradually. But your position of demanding that things never change from how they were is just unreasonable.

Yes, welcome to urbanization and a rapidly growing school age population which is not going private. Also, cry me a river about your traffic. You should see my street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Kingsbuty site was never designed to be a school. It was a private mansion.

It has been a small, specialized school for a couple decades which has fallen on hard times economically.

LAMB would be a very different beast and despite assurances about people using transit I assume 90% of families will drive. Maybe they will give up the requirement of kids being escorted in by parents in favor of a drop off line. But dropoff and pickup will be a major pain for the neighbors.

History is important to know, but it doesn't mean things can't change. Schools move and buildings are repurposed. I do think it would be best to move in gradually. But your position of demanding that things never change from how they were is just unreasonable.

This. What do you believe is the best use of the site?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Kingsbuty site was never designed to be a school. It was a private mansion.

It has been a small, specialized school for a couple decades which has fallen on hard times economically.

LAMB would be a very different beast and despite assurances about people using transit I assume 90% of families will drive. Maybe they will give up the requirement of kids being escorted in by parents in favor of a drop off line. But dropoff and pickup will be a major pain for the neighbors.

Oh my god, cry me a river. I live across from a huge DCPS elementary school. It’s a PITA for maybe 20 minutes, twice a day. Get over yourselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Kingsbuty site was never designed to be a school. It was a private mansion.

It has been a small, specialized school for a couple decades which has fallen on hard times economically.

LAMB would be a very different beast and despite assurances about people using transit I assume 90% of families will drive. Maybe they will give up the requirement of kids being escorted in by parents in favor of a drop off line. But dropoff and pickup will be a major pain for the neighbors.

History is important to know, but it doesn't mean things can't change. Schools move and buildings are repurposed. I do think it would be best to move in gradually. But your position of demanding that things never change from how they were is just unreasonable.

This. What do you believe is the best use of the site?

But the building doesn't belong to the city and never has. It's always been in private hands. Are you suggesting that DC should assert eminent domain and take it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Kingsbuty site was never designed to be a school. It was a private mansion.

It has been a small, specialized school for a couple decades which has fallen on hard times economically.

LAMB would be a very different beast and despite assurances about people using transit I assume 90% of families will drive. Maybe they will give up the requirement of kids being escorted in by parents in favor of a drop off line. But dropoff and pickup will be a major pain for the neighbors.

History is important to know, but it doesn't mean things can't change. Schools move and buildings are repurposed. I do think it would be best to move in gradually. But your position of demanding that things never change from how they were is just unreasonable.

This. What do you believe is the best use of the site?

I posted earlier. I think LAMB should go in there. It should be capped at 300-400 pending a couple of years of run time showing that it works at the site. There should be a publicly elected person (mayor/council) in charge of sorting through feedback on that and determining that the cap should be lifted. Financing should be arranged through the DC government and the charter school facility fee so that we're not at the whim of banks and mortgage rules.

The only downside I see there is that LAMB puts itself at the mercy of the DC government. But I think that's a reasonable trade off for a public school working with public funding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Kingsbuty site was never designed to be a school. It was a private mansion.

It has been a small, specialized school for a couple decades which has fallen on hard times economically.

LAMB would be a very different beast and despite assurances about people using transit I assume 90% of families will drive. Maybe they will give up the requirement of kids being escorted in by parents in favor of a drop off line. But dropoff and pickup will be a major pain for the neighbors.

History is important to know, but it doesn't mean things can't change. Schools move and buildings are repurposed. I do think it would be best to move in gradually. But your position of demanding that things never change from how they were is just unreasonable.

This. What do you believe is the best use of the site?

But the building doesn't belong to the city and never has. It's always been in private hands. Are you suggesting that DC should assert eminent domain and take it?

Kingsbury has agreed to sell. That’s not the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Kingsbuty site was never designed to be a school. It was a private mansion.

It has been a small, specialized school for a couple decades which has fallen on hard times economically.

LAMB would be a very different beast and despite assurances about people using transit I assume 90% of families will drive. Maybe they will give up the requirement of kids being escorted in by parents in favor of a drop off line. But dropoff and pickup will be a major pain for the neighbors.

History is important to know, but it doesn't mean things can't change. Schools move and buildings are repurposed. I do think it would be best to move in gradually. But your position of demanding that things never change from how they were is just unreasonable.

This. What do you believe is the best use of the site?

But the building doesn't belong to the city and never has. It's always been in private hands. Are you suggesting that DC should assert eminent domain and take it?

DP

LAMB can buy it or the DC government can buy it and lease it to LAMB. It doesn't need to be eminent domain because it's up for sale.

[Anonymous]

And we're back to the beginning.

LAMB is trying to buy it without city funds.

But the building is not today, and never was, zoned to be a school. So that's where the fight is.

And neighbors get a say in zoning matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And we're back to the beginning.

LAMB is trying to buy it without city funds.

But the building is not today, and never was, zoned to be a school. So that's where the fight is.

And neighbors get a say in zoning matters.

And the city also gets a say, and can say this is and has been for many years now a school. And schools need buildings, and DC is not willing to sell charters any of its buildings. DC can and should help. Whether with funding as well or not.

The idea that the cap needs to be lifted in a few years doesn't work for the school because the school needs to close down and sell its other building in order to move here. And, the school is already capped above 400 even if enrollment isn't there yet.

What, exactly, do you think is going to happen? What is the school going to do? You just want to kind of "see how it goes" and how bad your traffic is snarled coming down 16th from upper NW or something? The thing the city could do if it were interested is offer a way to mitigate or mediate concerns between charters and neighbors during moves and increases in population. This would be smart because it's happening more and more often. If the city doesn't want to finance or help charters find good buildings and wants to rely on private help from NGOs like it does now, then it needs to take charge of situations like this in ways that help schools and neighbors both. Not leave this up to the zoning board and appeals courts!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And we're back to the beginning.

LAMB is trying to buy it without city funds.

But the building is not today, and never was, zoned to be a school. So that's where the fight is.

And neighbors get a say in zoning matters.

And the city also gets a say, and can say this is and has been for many years now a school. And schools need buildings, and DC is not willing to sell charters any of its buildings. DC can and should help. Whether with funding as well or not.

The idea that the cap needs to be lifted in a few years doesn't work for the school because the school needs to close down and sell its other building in order to move here. And, the school is already capped above 400 even if enrollment isn't there yet.

What, exactly, do you think is going to happen? What is the school going to do? You just want to kind of "see how it goes" and how bad your traffic is snarled coming down 16th from upper NW or something? The thing the city could do if it were interested is offer a way to mitigate or mediate concerns between charters and neighbors during moves and increases in population. This would be smart because it's happening more and more often. If the city doesn't want to finance or help charters find good buildings and wants to rely on private help from NGOs like it does now, then it needs to take charge of situations like this in ways that help schools and neighbors both. Not leave this up to the zoning board and appeals courts!

The only reason the cap doesn't work is because of the current funding arrangement with private financing. There's no reason why LAMB can' take a phased approach with public financing.

Kingsbury has operated as a school with a very low cap that was negotiated based on zoning exceptions (or something along those lines). They also didn't always behave as good neighbors when they'd rent the place out to other users.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And we're back to the beginning.

LAMB is trying to buy it without city funds.

But the building is not today, and never was, zoned to be a school. So that's where the fight is.

And neighbors get a say in zoning matters.

And the city also gets a say, and can say this is and has been for many years now a school. And schools need buildings, and DC is not willing to sell charters any of its buildings. DC can and should help. Whether with funding as well or not.

The idea that the cap needs to be lifted in a few years doesn't work for the school because the school needs to close down and sell its other building in order to move here. And, the school is already capped above 400 even if enrollment isn't there yet.

What, exactly, do you think is going to happen? What is the school going to do? You just want to kind of "see how it goes" and how bad your traffic is snarled coming down 16th from upper NW or something? The thing the city could do if it were interested is offer a way to mitigate or mediate concerns between charters and neighbors during moves and increases in population. This would be smart because it's happening more and more often. If the city doesn't want to finance or help charters find good buildings and wants to rely on private help from NGOs like it does now, then it needs to take charge of situations like this in ways that help schools and neighbors both. Not leave this up to the zoning board and appeals courts!

Just because it was operating as a "school" doesn't mean it can/should continue if it was done "illegally". Maybe LAMB should keep the Missouri Ave. location as PK-2 (non-testing grades) and the Kingsbury site 3-5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And we're back to the beginning.

LAMB is trying to buy it without city funds.

But the building is not today, and never was, zoned to be a school. So that's where the fight is.

And neighbors get a say in zoning matters.

And the city also gets a say, and can say this is and has been for many years now a school. And schools need buildings, and DC is not willing to sell charters any of its buildings. DC can and should help. Whether with funding as well or not.

The idea that the cap needs to be lifted in a few years doesn't work for the school because the school needs to close down and sell its other building in order to move here. And, the school is already capped above 400 even if enrollment isn't there yet.

What, exactly, do you think is going to happen? What is the school going to do? You just want to kind of "see how it goes" and how bad your traffic is snarled coming down 16th from upper NW or something? The thing the city could do if it were interested is offer a way to mitigate or mediate concerns between charters and neighbors during moves and increases in population. This would be smart because it's happening more and more often. If the city doesn't want to finance or help charters find good buildings and wants to rely on private help from NGOs like it does now, then it needs to take charge of situations like this in ways that help schools and neighbors both. Not leave this up to the zoning board and appeals courts!

Just because it was operating as a "school" doesn't mean it can/should continue if it was done "illegally". Maybe LAMB should keep the Missouri Ave. location as PK-2 (non-testing grades) and the Kingsbury site 3-5.

Translation: “100s of families should be hugely inconvenienced by having their children split across two campuses because I’m selfish.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And we're back to the beginning.

LAMB is trying to buy it without city funds.

But the building is not today, and never was, zoned to be a school. So that's where the fight is.

And neighbors get a say in zoning matters.

And the city also gets a say, and can say this is and has been for many years now a school. And schools need buildings, and DC is not willing to sell charters any of its buildings. DC can and should help. Whether with funding as well or not.

The idea that the cap needs to be lifted in a few years doesn't work for the school because the school needs to close down and sell its other building in order to move here. And, the school is already capped above 400 even if enrollment isn't there yet.

What, exactly, do you think is going to happen? What is the school going to do? You just want to kind of "see how it goes" and how bad your traffic is snarled coming down 16th from upper NW or something? The thing the city could do if it were interested is offer a way to mitigate or mediate concerns between charters and neighbors during moves and increases in population. This would be smart because it's happening more and more often. If the city doesn't want to finance or help charters find good buildings and wants to rely on private help from NGOs like it does now, then it needs to take charge of situations like this in ways that help schools and neighbors both. Not leave this up to the zoning board and appeals courts!

Just because it was operating as a "school" doesn't mean it can/should continue if it was done "illegally". Maybe LAMB should keep the Missouri Ave. location as PK-2 (non-testing grades) and the Kingsbury site 3-5.

Translation: “100s of families should be hugely inconvenienced by having their children split across two campuses because I’m selfish.”

I'm sorry, but this is done on the Hill. I see why folks don't particularly care LAMB parents; a bunch of entitled folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And we're back to the beginning.

LAMB is trying to buy it without city funds.

But the building is not today, and never was, zoned to be a school. So that's where the fight is.

And neighbors get a say in zoning matters.

And the city also gets a say, and can say this is and has been for many years now a school. And schools need buildings, and DC is not willing to sell charters any of its buildings. DC can and should help. Whether with funding as well or not.

The idea that the cap needs to be lifted in a few years doesn't work for the school because the school needs to close down and sell its other building in order to move here. And, the school is already capped above 400 even if enrollment isn't there yet.

What, exactly, do you think is going to happen? What is the school going to do? You just want to kind of "see how it goes" and how bad your traffic is snarled coming down 16th from upper NW or something? The thing the city could do if it were interested is offer a way to mitigate or mediate concerns between charters and neighbors during moves and increases in population. This would be smart because it's happening more and more often. If the city doesn't want to finance or help charters find good buildings and wants to rely on private help from NGOs like it does now, then it needs to take charge of situations like this in ways that help schools and neighbors both. Not leave this up to the zoning board and appeals courts!

Just because it was operating as a "school" doesn't mean it can/should continue if it was done "illegally". Maybe LAMB should keep the Missouri Ave. location as PK-2 (non-testing grades) and the Kingsbury site 3-5.

My understanding is that the school cannot afford Kingsbury plus another campus in the long-term.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And we're back to the beginning.

LAMB is trying to buy it without city funds.

But the building is not today, and never was, zoned to be a school. So that's where the fight is.

And neighbors get a say in zoning matters.

And the city also gets a say, and can say this is and has been for many years now a school. And schools need buildings, and DC is not willing to sell charters any of its buildings. DC can and should help. Whether with funding as well or not.

The idea that the cap needs to be lifted in a few years doesn't work for the school because the school needs to close down and sell its other building in order to move here. And, the school is already capped above 400 even if enrollment isn't there yet.

What, exactly, do you think is going to happen? What is the school going to do? You just want to kind of "see how it goes" and how bad your traffic is snarled coming down 16th from upper NW or something? The thing the city could do if it were interested is offer a way to mitigate or mediate concerns between charters and neighbors during moves and increases in population. This would be smart because it's happening more and more often. If the city doesn't want to finance or help charters find good buildings and wants to rely on private help from NGOs like it does now, then it needs to take charge of situations like this in ways that help schools and neighbors both. Not leave this up to the zoning board and appeals courts!

Just because it was operating as a "school" doesn't mean it can/should continue if it was done "illegally". Maybe LAMB should keep the Missouri Ave. location as PK-2 (non-testing grades) and the Kingsbury site 3-5.

My understanding is that the school cannot afford Kingsbury plus another campus in the long-term.

Precisely. And, the whole point of moving is to combine the schools together.

This whole thing about entitlement is just such bs