Why Does Van Ness Elementary School Not Have a Boundary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't spent any time at A-B but I have spent time at Brent. I have tremendous respect for the principal, staff and teachers who work tirelessly to provide the best education they can for all students in the building. Not many years ago, Brent had a higher number of low income kids, and I thought it was a good school then too. A measure of a good school is much greater than just the test scores.

I have no idea how Brent kids would do at A-B, as I've never been there, but I do think that A-B kids would get a good education at Brent were they there.

I disagree. In my opinion, if Amidon-Bowen and Brent Elementary would swap students, Amidon-Bowen would be considered a "good" school, and Brent Elementary would be considered a "bad" school

I think Brent's teachers would struggle to handle Amidon Bowen's behavioral issues.

[Anonymous]

One can't legitimately argue both (a) that Van Ness should be opened because Amidon is close to capacity and (b) that the border for Van Ness should exclude all of Southwest because Amidon is substantially under enrolled. So which one is it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

By this logic, there is no real need to open Van Ness.

I disagree with this statement. The three closest schools to housing in the Capitol Riverfront is (in this order) Brent Elementary School, Tyler Elementary School, Amidon-Bowen Elementary School.

Brent Elementary School
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2013-2014 Enrollment - 359
Capacity 325


Tyler Elementary School
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2013-2014 Enrollment - 507
Capacity - 500


Amidon-Bowen Elementary School
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2013-2014 Enrollment - 342
Capacity - 400


I definitely believe that there is a need to reopen Van Ness Elementary School
Capacity - 400

And this proves what? Isn't Tyler overwhelming OOB? So strike that one. Yes, Brent is at capacity, but unless you plan on shrinking its boundary, opening a new school nearby won't make a difference. And Amidon has a huge boundary and still isn't close to capacity.

There may be great reasons to open Van Ness, but capacity concerns at nearby schools is not one of them. To me, the more persuasive reason is that Amidon is essentially in a different neighborhood, and there is a real benefit to having a neighborhood school. I don't know if that justifies the expense, but it's a better reason.

[Anonymous]

But there aRe lots of kids in the Van ness area that attend Brent OOB that may prefer to attend van ness when it opens, so it would take pressure off of Brent if van ness opened. Plus some in the Brent area may decide they prefer van ness and go there OOB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But there aRe lots of kids in the Van ness area that attend Brent OOB that may prefer to attend van ness when it opens, so it would take pressure off of Brent if van ness opened. Plus some in the Brent area may decide they prefer van ness and go there OOB.

Not a chance for either

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But there aRe lots of kids in the Van ness area that attend Brent OOB that may prefer to attend van ness when it opens, so it would take pressure off of Brent if van ness opened. Plus some in the Brent area may decide they prefer van ness and go there OOB.

Nice try. Brent is 50 percent OOB. While I know there are a few families living in CQ who have older kids have attended Brent, none are in K or the ECE program, at least to the best of my limited knowledge. In fact, several younger siblings have been (or almost certainly will be) shut out of Brent via the lottery Thus, it is not likely that any current or future Brent student would be eligible to transfer to Van Ness, at least until the corresponding upper grades have been established -- I.e., sometime after the 2015 SY. Either way, it's not going to make much of a dent in terms of any supposed "pressure" on Brent. If anything, right now the argument can be made that the size of the Brent catchment needs to be expanded insofar as IB families comprise only half of the school and yet 78 percent of IB students attend.

Is it possible that some Brent families might want to attend Van Ness? Sure, anything is possible, particularly if a family is shut out of PS/PK at Brent. However, they will be competing along with the rest of the city for OOB spots in the absence of a proximity preference. it's not like they can just show up and enroll at Van Ness as in the good ole days. Of course, none of this accounts for the impact of the CSX-VAT project.

In the end, who really knows? Based on Catania's commentary at the DCPS budget hearing, it seems there is some possibility that the 2015 reopening could be pushed by a year or to. Common sense seems to suggest that spending $15MM to reopen a school for about 100 kids is foolish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Except, if you don't open a school that is acceptable to CQ families, you won't have any CQ families DC in DCPS elementary schools. Which will change the nature of the city. The residents of the new condos and apartments will be defined by what schooling is available to them. And the people paying big bucks for housing aren't going to send their children to A-B. Just ain't gonna happen. Creating a 35% FARM school for these families is a net positive for DC's finances. The extra real-estate taxes accruing on the extra priciness of these condos and the extra income taxes more than pays for the cost of a not yet full elementary school.

You can look at this as 'entitled' (yep, it is!) or as a trade-off (pay taxes, get services you value). It is still a better deal for the city than not providing a school that high-SES city residents will use.

This is exactly right. There will be a lot more housing in the Capitol Riverfront than just Capitol Quarter. "The Lofts at Capitol Quarter" apartments (195 units), Park Chelsea (432 units), River Parc (287 Units), "Gallery At Capitol Riverfront" (324 units), "Ballpark Square" (326), Riverfront on Anacostia (305), Twelve12 (218 units), Yards Parcel N (327 Units), Foundry Lofts (200 units), Velocity Condos (200 Units), Capitol Hill Tower (300 Units). Not to mention that EYA is planning a condo in the area with about (150 units).

This is a LOT of housing in the Capitol Riverfront that's outside of Capitol Quarter, and this housing becomes a lot more attractive to middle-upper income families if they know they are zoned for a successful elementary school like Van Ness Elementary will be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One can't legitimately argue both (a) that Van Ness should be opened because Amidon is close to capacity and (b) that the border for Van Ness should exclude all of Southwest because Amidon is substantially under enrolled. So which one is it?

You can absolutely argue both points. Amidon-Bowen has seen its population grow for the last 3 years. This past year, Amidon-Bowen had a population of 342 with a capacity of 400. If the population continues to grow, then its very likely to be at capacity for the 2015-2016 school year (When Van Ness Elementary is slated to open) Then the 3 closest elementary schools to Van Ness will be at capacity. Since hardly any kids in the the Van Ness Boundary (East of South Capitol Street, South of the SE/SW freeway) go to Amidon-Bowen, it absolutely makes sense to make that boundary, so Amidon-Bowen doesn't lose any students.

See how easy that was to successfully argue both points?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One can't legitimately argue both (a) that Van Ness should be opened because Amidon is close to capacity and (b) that the border for Van Ness should exclude all of Southwest because Amidon is substantially under enrolled. So which one is it?

You can absolutely argue both points. Amidon-Bowen has seen its population grow for the last 3 years. This past year, Amidon-Bowen had a population of 342 with a capacity of 400. If the population continues to grow, then its very likely to be at capacity for the 2015-2016 school year (When Van Ness Elementary is slated to open) Then the 3 closest elementary schools to Van Ness will be at capacity. Since hardly any kids in the the Van Ness Boundary (East of South Capitol Street, South of the SE/SW freeway) go to Amidon-Bowen, it absolutely makes sense to make that boundary, so Amidon-Bowen doesn't lose any students.

See how easy that was to successfully argue both points?

How do you know where Van Ness students currently attend school?

[Anonymous]

http://edu.codefordc.org/#!/neighborhood/27 shows it. The elementary schools where that neighborhood sends the most kids are Tyler (11 kids), then Eagle Academy and Amidon-Bowen (10 each). Lots of other schools show "few children" which I think means under 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One can't legitimately argue both (a) that Van Ness should be opened because Amidon is close to capacity and (b) that the border for Van Ness should exclude all of Southwest because Amidon is substantially under enrolled. So which one is it?

You can absolutely argue both points. Amidon-Bowen has seen its population grow for the last 3 years. This past year, Amidon-Bowen had a population of 342 with a capacity of 400. If the population continues to grow, then its very likely to be at capacity for the 2015-2016 school year (When Van Ness Elementary is slated to open) Then the 3 closest elementary schools to Van Ness will be at capacity. Since hardly any kids in the the Van Ness Boundary (East of South Capitol Street, South of the SE/SW freeway) go to Amidon-Bowen, it absolutely makes sense to make that boundary, so Amidon-Bowen doesn't lose any students.

See how easy that was to successfully argue both points?

No, I don't. If Amidon is expected to continue growing and hit capacity, then doesn't it make sense for the Van Ness border to include part of Southwest in order to take some of the pressure off Amidon? Or are you assuming that Amidon will grow to capacity then suddenly stop growing? If so, what is the basis for that assumption?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One can't legitimately argue both (a) that Van Ness should be opened because Amidon is close to capacity and (b) that the border for Van Ness should exclude all of Southwest because Amidon is substantially under enrolled. So which one is it?

You can absolutely argue both points. Amidon-Bowen has seen its population grow for the last 3 years. This past year, Amidon-Bowen had a population of 342 with a capacity of 400. If the population continues to grow, then its very likely to be at capacity for the 2015-2016 school year (When Van Ness Elementary is slated to open) Then the 3 closest elementary schools to Van Ness will be at capacity. Since hardly any kids in the the Van Ness Boundary (East of South Capitol Street, South of the SE/SW freeway) go to Amidon-Bowen, it absolutely makes sense to make that boundary, so Amidon-Bowen doesn't lose any students.

See how easy that was to successfully argue both points?

No, I don't. If Amidon is expected to continue growing and hit capacity, then doesn't it make sense for the Van Ness border to include part of Southwest in order to take some of the pressure off Amidon? Or are you assuming that Amidon will grow to capacity then suddenly stop growing? If so, what is the basis for that assumption?

Maybe Amidon will grow and become more of an in-bounds school (displacing OOB)? Isn't that what we all want?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One can't legitimately argue both (a) that Van Ness should be opened because Amidon is close to capacity and (b) that the border for Van Ness should exclude all of Southwest because Amidon is substantially under enrolled. So which one is it?

You can absolutely argue both points. Amidon-Bowen has seen its population grow for the last 3 years. This past year, Amidon-Bowen had a population of 342 with a capacity of 400. If the population continues to grow, then its very likely to be at capacity for the 2015-2016 school year (When Van Ness Elementary is slated to open) Then the 3 closest elementary schools to Van Ness will be at capacity. Since hardly any kids in the the Van Ness Boundary (East of South Capitol Street, South of the SE/SW freeway) go to Amidon-Bowen, it absolutely makes sense to make that boundary, so Amidon-Bowen doesn't lose any students.

See how easy that was to successfully argue both points?

No, I don't. If Amidon is expected to continue growing and hit capacity, then doesn't it make sense for the Van Ness border to include part of Southwest in order to take some of the pressure off Amidon? Or are you assuming that Amidon will grow to capacity then suddenly stop growing? If so, what is the basis for that assumption?

Maybe Amidon will grow and become more of an in-bounds school (displacing OOB)? Isn't that what we all want?

Amidon is 82 percent IB, so there aren't many OOB kids there. Tyler, however, is only 26 percent IB, so it is 100 percent incorrect to state that all three schools are at or over capacity. Tyler has room for hundreds of in-bounds kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Middle-upper class families (however you define the term) will not be climbing over one another for the chance to buy a luxury condo in Near Southeast just to send their child to Van Ness. Even with a shiny new Vida Fitness and Whole Foods, your aren't living in the Upper West Side for chrissakes.

The Vida is adamantly adult only (no kids allowed) fwiw

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Middle-upper class families (however you define the term) will not be climbing over one another for the chance to buy a luxury condo in Near Southeast just to send their child to Van Ness. Even with a shiny new Vida Fitness and Whole Foods, your aren't living in the Upper West Side for chrissakes.

The Vida is adamantly adult only (no kids allowed) fwiw

How is my high-SES nine-year old going to do cardio?