Sports at Walls (WaPo article)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Maret paid to significantly upgrade Jellef and turn it into a multi-use field space. I don’t disagree that DC should have done this on their own…but for whatever reason they didn’t have the vision or interest at the time.

It is confusing why Jellef keeps getting mentioned…the field is 2 miles away in Georgetown…it is not much closer than Banneker and not accessible via metro (probably a couple buses). Maret is creating a new multi-field site with a regulation-sized baseball field because Jellef can’t be used for varsity games (RF is only like 220 feet out while LF is like 400 because it’s a giant rectangle).

In the original Maret deal, Maret paid for creating the field at Jelleff, and in exchange got ten years of preferential use. That deal was arguably fair for the time. The reason people get heated is that when that deal was close to expiring, Maret pressured the city to "renew" it for another nine years -- without throwing anything additional in. There was nothing in the original agreement that said Maret had a right to an extension, or the city was obligated to extend. This was a post-hoc renegotiation of the original contract. And the city went along with it.

The reason this is such a big deal is that there is such a shortage of athletic field space and the city seems so cavalier about how the allocate it.

And yes, Maret plays varsity games there.

Maret didn't "create" the field. They paid for renovation work and added lights. The city should have paid for the renovations but couldn't be bothered.

And Maret's "preference" was basically all the useful hours.

It was a bad deal from the start. Hardy et al. would have benefitted more from a poorly-maintained field than no field.

And the renewal was simply inexcusable. Back-room cronyism at it's finest.

Moving back to Walls....

[Anonymous]

I was just biking on the Anacostia trail the other day. There is LOADS of space for sports there and I think I even saw a disused baseball field. There’s space in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know who planted this story with WaPo but kudos to the Walls baseball PR team. The lack of access to a close baseball field for Walls - a school in an urban location where there is no nearby baseball field - really is not worthy of a newspaper article. Really, I'd love to know who at WaPo greenlit this article???

Many DC high schools have significant variation in the extracurricular resources and offerings based on the size and makeup of the student body and the location of the school. I know of several students who didn't pursue Walls because of their weak sports facilities - and this opens up spots for students who want to go to Walls for what it does offer (nerdy, academically focused kids). Those students going to a larger school also have to navigate the burdens that go along with those resources (overcrowding, less individual attention).

Walls as a school would have been much better served by an article on how each year they have such serious staffing issues (such as no biology teacher one year) or the fact that their faculty basically refused to come into the building even after other schools were hybrid.

Did you even read the article before jumping in here to pontificate? The article highlighted the baseball team but also brought up the challenges faced by all the Walls sports teams.
Are you actually trying to say kids at Walls should have no sports? Guess what, they don’t have space in the building for a robotics team either. They do have a robotics team but it is hard for them to seriously compete with other schools because of lack of a dedicated space + equipment. And if you think Walls has staffing issues, come visit JR where my kid goes. Much more serious staffing issues there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess I have a hard time really understanding the story.

Walls was created on the GW campus under a specific philosophy. It was never expected to have much in the way of athletic facilities and didn’t really offer much of anything with respect to athletics.

It has now transitioned to kind of a public “private” school where athletics are more prominent. The issue is its location was never created for this.

Seems like Walls needs to move its campus elsewhere…perhaps to an under-enrolled comprehensive HS that comes with its own athletic fields and other traditional HS facilities.

This may mean it’s relationship with GW is altered or terminated… not sure…and not sure if most of the students/parents care more about that than sports.

Your argument makes no sense.
Every high school should have sports and extracurriculars. TJ which is the premier magnet school in the US has fields and sports teams. Walls was supposed to get access to GW facilities but they only get minimal access and DCPS doesn’t care. The athletic director tries his best to find and pay for athletic field access with no help from DCPS. The kids schlepp all over the city trying to find scraps of playing space. No one is talking about moving Walls. That is a pie in the sky idea which will not happen in the next 10-15 years. I don’t have kids at Walls but I am outraged for those students. You can ignore their predicament but it is just another example of how DCPS doesn’t care about its students. Sooner or later you will be directly affected by this type of attitude by the Mayor and Central Office. It is pervasive in every thing they do

No - every high school does not need sports. Walls is not a comprehensive HS - it has a different purpose and a location that is selected to match its purpose. Just because parents are now trying to use Walls as a means to avoid paying private school tuition does not mean that the school should abandon its original mission.

[Anonymous]

We can have a separate conversation about indoor sports, but re: baseball and soccer - you guys know there aren't any fields or baseball diamonds IN Foggy Bottom, right? GW's athletic facilities are all the way up at its Mount Vernon campus in Foxhall Village. GW has shuttles that run between the campuses but they are small; students trying to get to their dorms and classes would be crowded out if there were SWW kids filling up the shuttles. There's no metro access to get there; I guess they could take the D6 bus but it would take a long time, especially in traffic.

[Anonymous]

How can J-R take this crew opportunity away from SWW kids all of a sudden? Our daughter was counting on going to SWW and starting on the J-R crew team after training all year.

Anonymous wrote:This has been one of my big disappointments with Walls. We knew there wasn't much of a Walls campus, but it is crazy that the swim team commutes to Dunbar for practice everyday when GW has a pool. J-R is pulling up the ladder on having Walls students row on their crew team because of changes in how regattas are defining schools and school districts. So that opportunity is going away. Having a place for graduation is nice, but the sports stuff affects kids day-in and day-out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can J-R take this crew opportunity away from SWW kids all of a sudden? Our daughter was counting on going to SWW and starting on the J-R crew team after training all year.

Anonymous wrote:This has been one of my big disappointments with Walls. We knew there wasn't much of a Walls campus, but it is crazy that the swim team commutes to Dunbar for practice everyday when GW has a pool. J-R is pulling up the ladder on having Walls students row on their crew team because of changes in how regattas are defining schools and school districts. So that opportunity is going away. Having a place for graduation is nice, but the sports stuff affects kids day-in and day-out.

If you want all the upside of surrounding your kid with many of the smartest and most motivated kids in the city there are going to be some trade offs.

[Anonymous]

From the washpo article:

A note on the GW facilities -- Their baseball field is in Virginia at Barcroft Park. Many youth games are played there -- even down to the 13U level. I think they have some deal with Arlington Babe Ruth about the use of the stadium (which is magnificent). My son has played there against Arlington based teams many times. So it isn't like GWU is jealously denying the use of its baseball park to lower level teams. Wouldn't hurt to ask if there are openings.

Also the Capital One stadium at Tysons just opened this spring. It is even nicer than the GW facility in Arlington. The company built it as a means of outreach to the broader DC community. They are hosting high school games on certain nights. I saw one HS game there and the atmosphere was electric. I know the operators. They would love to host some DC public high school games. It wouldn't fix SWW's facility problem, but it could give them some games in a really high-quality park.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess I have a hard time really understanding the story.

Walls was created on the GW campus under a specific philosophy. It was never expected to have much in the way of athletic facilities and didn’t really offer much of anything with respect to athletics.

It has now transitioned to kind of a public “private” school where athletics are more prominent. The issue is its location was never created for this.

Seems like Walls needs to move its campus elsewhere…perhaps to an under-enrolled comprehensive HS that comes with its own athletic fields and other traditional HS facilities.

This may mean it’s relationship with GW is altered or terminated… not sure…and not sure if most of the students/parents care more about that than sports.

Your argument makes no sense.
Every high school should have sports and extracurriculars. TJ which is the premier magnet school in the US has fields and sports teams. Walls was supposed to get access to GW facilities but they only get minimal access and DCPS doesn’t care. The athletic director tries his best to find and pay for athletic field access with no help from DCPS. The kids schlepp all over the city trying to find scraps of playing space. No one is talking about moving Walls. That is a pie in the sky idea which will not happen in the next 10-15 years. I don’t have kids at Walls but I am outraged for those students. You can ignore their predicament but it is just another example of how DCPS doesn’t care about its students. Sooner or later you will be directly affected by this type of attitude by the Mayor and Central Office. It is pervasive in every thing they do

No - every high school does not need sports. Walls is not a comprehensive HS - it has a different purpose and a location that is selected to match its purpose. Just because parents are now trying to use Walls as a means to avoid paying private school tuition does not mean that the school should abandon its original mission.

The school has abandoned its original mission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know who planted this story with WaPo but kudos to the Walls baseball PR team. The lack of access to a close baseball field for Walls - a school in an urban location where there is no nearby baseball field - really is not worthy of a newspaper article. Really, I'd love to know who at WaPo greenlit this article???

Many DC high schools have significant variation in the extracurricular resources and offerings based on the size and makeup of the student body and the location of the school. I know of several students who didn't pursue Walls because of their weak sports facilities - and this opens up spots for students who want to go to Walls for what it does offer (nerdy, academically focused kids). Those students going to a larger school also have to navigate the burdens that go along with those resources (overcrowding, less individual attention).

Walls as a school would have been much better served by an article on how each year they have such serious staffing issues (such as no biology teacher one year) or the fact that their faculty basically refused to come into the building even after other schools were hybrid.

Did you even read the article before jumping in here to pontificate? The article highlighted the baseball team but also brought up the challenges faced by all the Walls sports teams.
Are you actually trying to say kids at Walls should have no sports? Guess what, they don’t have space in the building for a robotics team either. They do have a robotics team but it is hard for them to seriously compete with other schools because of lack of a dedicated space + equipment. And if you think Walls has staffing issues, come visit JR where my kid goes. Much more serious staffing issues there.

How is that possible when, according to DCUM, all the BASIS teachers left for positions at Walls and JR?

[Anonymous]

Lost in all this is that JR, which has one one the strongest programs in the region and actually sends kids to play in college, does not even have their own field. It’s nice that NPS carved out some space for a diamond but the field is unusable 50% of the time. The city should pressure Sidwell, St. Albans, or GDS for access to their facilities in exchange for the generous tax breaks they receive. I’m surprised that the woke Council hasn’t even thought of using eminent domain to reclaim a few desperately need acres of space from these private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know who planted this story with WaPo but kudos to the Walls baseball PR team. The lack of access to a close baseball field for Walls - a school in an urban location where there is no nearby baseball field - really is not worthy of a newspaper article. Really, I'd love to know who at WaPo greenlit this article???

Many DC high schools have significant variation in the extracurricular resources and offerings based on the size and makeup of the student body and the location of the school. I know of several students who didn't pursue Walls because of their weak sports facilities - and this opens up spots for students who want to go to Walls for what it does offer (nerdy, academically focused kids). Those students going to a larger school also have to navigate the burdens that go along with those resources (overcrowding, less individual attention).

Walls as a school would have been much better served by an article on how each year they have such serious staffing issues (such as no biology teacher one year) or the fact that their faculty basically refused to come into the building even after other schools were hybrid.

Did you even read the article before jumping in here to pontificate? The article highlighted the baseball team but also brought up the challenges faced by all the Walls sports teams.
Are you actually trying to say kids at Walls should have no sports? Guess what, they don’t have space in the building for a robotics team either. They do have a robotics team but it is hard for them to seriously compete with other schools because of lack of a dedicated space + equipment. And if you think Walls has staffing issues, come visit JR where my kid goes. Much more serious staffing issues there.

How is that possible when, according to DCUM, all the BASIS teachers left for positions at Walls and JR?

Maybe (and hopefully) you are being sarcastic, but JR should have a LOT of teachers when fully staffed. A *few* at most coming from Basis would not solve that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know who planted this story with WaPo but kudos to the Walls baseball PR team. The lack of access to a close baseball field for Walls - a school in an urban location where there is no nearby baseball field - really is not worthy of a newspaper article. Really, I'd love to know who at WaPo greenlit this article???

Many DC high schools have significant variation in the extracurricular resources and offerings based on the size and makeup of the student body and the location of the school. I know of several students who didn't pursue Walls because of their weak sports facilities - and this opens up spots for students who want to go to Walls for what it does offer (nerdy, academically focused kids). Those students going to a larger school also have to navigate the burdens that go along with those resources (overcrowding, less individual attention).

Walls as a school would have been much better served by an article on how each year they have such serious staffing issues (such as no biology teacher one year) or the fact that their faculty basically refused to come into the building even after other schools were hybrid.

Did you even read the article before jumping in here to pontificate? The article highlighted the baseball team but also brought up the challenges faced by all the Walls sports teams.
Are you actually trying to say kids at Walls should have no sports? Guess what, they don’t have space in the building for a robotics team either. They do have a robotics team but it is hard for them to seriously compete with other schools because of lack of a dedicated space + equipment. And if you think Walls has staffing issues, come visit JR where my kid goes. Much more serious staffing issues there.

How is that possible when, according to DCUM, all the BASIS teachers left for positions at Walls and JR?

What are you talking about and why do you have to bring up Basis is every thread?

Walls doesn’t have a staffing issue. This year it was fully staffed all year. They’ve never had a biology opening. Maybe Pp is referring to the biology teacher going on paternity leave. That’s not a staffing issue. That’s a tescher’s right to take care of their infant. Stop spreading ridiculous rumors.

[Anonymous]

Parents should take the sports opportunities into account before applying. How difficult is that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can J-R take this crew opportunity away from SWW kids all of a sudden? Our daughter was counting on going to SWW and starting on the J-R crew team after training all year.

J-R rows as a scholastic team and many of the regattas changed the definition of a school from a district- like DCPS - to an actual single school. So the Walls kids were increasingly unable to row in the biggest regattas. So J-R decided to make the team only for J-R students going forward. (It used to be open to any DCPS high schooler)

It’s too bad because now only kids who live in the wealthiest part of the city can access a sport that provides college recruitment opportunities. There are club teams outside of school though.