New school in Palisades

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uh, that quoted Cheh email was posted upthread in July 2020. It would have been great to know it would be a middle school, but aren't we now discussing whether 1. Hardy MS will move there or 2. A high school, or 3. 9th grade only, sharing principal with Wilson?
It just so happens those numbers are how I rank the options.

That's also the ranking of what would make the most sense, but probably the opposite of probability of happening because . . . DCPS.

The options are (1) a new middle school which would feed to Wilson HS; (2) a new high school (either at the MacArthur property OR at Hardy, with Hardy MS moving to MacArthur); or (3) a 9th grade academy (at either location).

Personally, I rank them (1) new high school; (2) 9th grade academy; (3) new middle school. Wilson is already nearly 2,000 students and projected to get much bigger. A new middle school will blow it up. Frankly, if a new middle school is opened up, it is not going to feed to Wilson anyway. Wilson will be so large that Hardy and the new middle school will have to feed to Cardozo or some other high school.

That's something a lot of people don't get. Wilson is projected to be 2800 students by 2028 if nothing is done. A feeder is going to have to be dropped, and it isn't going to be Deal. The choice for Hardy is whether it feeds a new HS on Wisconsin or MacArthur, or an existing school further east.

What happened to the option of moving Hardy closer to the elementary schools that feed into it (including the one that doesn't yet exist), and putting a new high school into Hardy's Georgetown building, which Hardy would feed into, which would be more accessible to the rest of town, to ensure continued diversity, and right across the street from Duke Ellington High School, which would offer amazing opportunities for creative and productive interactions between two public high schools with different missions and specialties.

That’s still on the table, bolded above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is acknowledging the real need for new schools in Ward 3 — living in AU Park, over the past 10 years every house sold by an empty nest family/older homeowners has been replaced by a family with young school-aged children.

The trouble is DCPS isn’t engaging in comprehensive planning and the whole process seems as hoc. We have the River School planning to move INTO Tenleytown; meanwhile under one of the options, DCPS is telling us that Janney kids may end up having to get down to Foxhall/for middle school?! Huh??????

I really don't get what the River School has to do with any of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its going to very hard to drum up sympathy for this anti-River push, and it frankly seems like nothing more than NIMBY attitudes coming from people who have chosen to live within blocks of some of the busiest commercial thoroughfares in NW. I, too, live near one of these busy commercial areas, and while my children riding their bikes around worries me, it is the price of doing business for having a beautiful, leafy neighborhood in a major city. There are plenty of examples of large historic homes that are transformed into commercial/nonprofit/educational spaces. If they turned an old Ambassadors residence in Spring Valley into a small elementary school, I would be fine with that. If they built a new school at Hardy Park that could alleviate crowding at our schools but would add more cars to an already busy thoroughfare...I would be fine with that too! Consider it like NCRC in Cleveland Park. Its just not a big deal, and I think these anti-River organizers (are going to have a hard time painting this little school as some sort of nefarious actor that's going to turn 42nd St into the Indy500.

I would argue that a new school at Hardy Park leads to a net reduction in traffic. The school is being built to address increased demand in the immediate neighborhood. The kids are going to go to school somewhere if not there, and that other school is going to be further away from where they live. People traveling shorter distances means less traffic.

The traffic is increasing because the population is increasing. A new school isn't a cause, it's an effect.

You cry out NIMBY because some people care about the community and not wanting to get run over when walking to school? You've missed the mark on that one. Doing a lot of finger pointing here which sounds like you are very much vested in this. When I walk my daughters to school their safety concerns me. When my son walks to Wilson, that concerns me maybe even more (teenagers!).

This sounds like a big deal to me by the way you a defending all the issues? It is in no way a "little school". Your family either goes there or you have not read their BZA. Maybe both? Going to school there is great! Not knowing what you are talking about because you didn't read the information is not. The amount of children and staff they want to bring without adequate space is worrisome.

If the feeder pattern gets changed and the families who would WALK to their school gets changed - how are they going to get to the Hardy location??????? They are going to have to drive which will cause even more issues, not a reduction. What about the families that lived in the area to be close to their public school and do not have a car? Families that bike to school? That Hardy area is not metro accessible which is why the River School is "trying to move" from their original location is it not? Biking with small children for the 3 or so miles during rush hour? Thank you google maps and the 1 hr walk in the morning (for a grown adult).

"People traveling shorter distances means less traffic". What in the world?

Please edit and repost. Your rant makes no sense. I can't even tell what schools you're talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is acknowledging the real need for new schools in Ward 3 — living in AU Park, over the past 10 years every house sold by an empty nest family/older homeowners has been replaced by a family with young school-aged children.

The trouble is DCPS isn’t engaging in comprehensive planning and the whole process seems as hoc. We have the River School planning to move INTO Tenleytown; meanwhile under one of the options, DCPS is telling us that Janney kids may end up having to get down to Foxhall/for middle school?! Huh??????

YES.

DCPS is NOT ENGAGING IN COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING.

This is directly the fault of the mayor and the chancellor. Why are they not thinking 10 years ahead, while DCUM is? It’s ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is acknowledging the real need for new schools in Ward 3 — living in AU Park, over the past 10 years every house sold by an empty nest family/older homeowners has been replaced by a family with young school-aged children.

The trouble is DCPS isn’t engaging in comprehensive planning and the whole process seems as hoc. We have the River School planning to move INTO Tenleytown; meanwhile under one of the options, DCPS is telling us that Janney kids may end up having to get down to Foxhall/for middle school?! Huh??????

YES.

DCPS is NOT ENGAGING IN COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING.

This is directly the fault of the mayor and the chancellor. Why are they not thinking 10 years ahead, while DCUM is? It’s ridiculous.

Yes, unfortunately for D.C. parents, "overcrowding" has been a subject of discussion since at least 2009 or so. Every year, DCPS under-estimates the number of students in the Ward 3 schools (leading to a shortfall of funding which the PTAs try desperately to make up), and always every year the real numbers are dramatically higher, putting pressure on the principals to move around the deck chairs so that some classes won't have 40 kids. This silliness has been going on for years, to deaf ears at DCPS. They just kept doing the same screwy things. But, FINALLY, the community gets proposals for new schools, which actually have the probability of fixing this problem, AND DCPS gets to keep the boundaries stretching out as far as they want to. Finally, maybe everybody can be happy (at leas for a while). The new schools are good news, be satisfied with success!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its going to very hard to drum up sympathy for this anti-River push, and it frankly seems like nothing more than NIMBY attitudes coming from people who have chosen to live within blocks of some of the busiest commercial thoroughfares in NW. I, too, live near one of these busy commercial areas, and while my children riding their bikes around worries me, it is the price of doing business for having a beautiful, leafy neighborhood in a major city. There are plenty of examples of large historic homes that are transformed into commercial/nonprofit/educational spaces. If they turned an old Ambassadors residence in Spring Valley into a small elementary school, I would be fine with that. If they built a new school at Hardy Park that could alleviate crowding at our schools but would add more cars to an already busy thoroughfare...I would be fine with that too! Consider it like NCRC in Cleveland Park. Its just not a big deal, and I think these anti-River organizers (are going to have a hard time painting this little school as some sort of nefarious actor that's going to turn 42nd St into the Indy500.

I would argue that a new school at Hardy Park leads to a net reduction in traffic. The school is being built to address increased demand in the immediate neighborhood. The kids are going to go to school somewhere if not there, and that other school is going to be further away from where they live. People traveling shorter distances means less traffic.

The traffic is increasing because the population is increasing. A new school isn't a cause, it's an effect.

You cry out NIMBY because some people care about the community and not wanting to get run over when walking to school? You've missed the mark on that one. Doing a lot of finger pointing here which sounds like you are very much vested in this. When I walk my daughters to school their safety concerns me. When my son walks to Wilson, that concerns me maybe even more (teenagers!).

This sounds like a big deal to me by the way you a defending all the issues? It is in no way a "little school". Your family either goes there or you have not read their BZA. Maybe both? Going to school there is great! Not knowing what you are talking about because you didn't read the information is not. The amount of children and staff they want to bring without adequate space is worrisome.

If the feeder pattern gets changed and the families who would WALK to their school gets changed - how are they going to get to the Hardy location??????? They are going to have to drive which will cause even more issues, not a reduction. What about the families that lived in the area to be close to their public school and do not have a car? Families that bike to school? That Hardy area is not metro accessible which is why the River School is "trying to move" from their original location is it not? Biking with small children for the 3 or so miles during rush hour? Thank you google maps and the 1 hr walk in the morning (for a grown adult).

"People traveling shorter distances means less traffic". What in the world?

PP here. I live in AU Park. I am a Janney parent. I feel compelled to post because -- as a neighbor, not some River plant -- your signs feel manipulative, and they annoy me. I am the constituency you are trying to scare into opposing the River School project by insisting that if we let it go through, our children are automatic roadkill, as if River parents somehow also used their malevolent wealth and connections to obtain some sort of black market driver's license, despite being serial child smushers. And I am telling you, I simply don't care. I suspect others don't care.

If it make you feel any better, I used to live in the Palisades, and I can happily report to the community with first hand experience that while the queuing of River cars on MacArthur was mildly annoying, I learned to use my blinker and shift lanes around the G-Wagons. 5-7 seconds added to my morning routine, no dead children.

Now FEEDER PATTERNS, I care about!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is acknowledging the real need for new schools in Ward 3 — living in AU Park, over the past 10 years every house sold by an empty nest family/older homeowners has been replaced by a family with young school-aged children.

The trouble is DCPS isn’t engaging in comprehensive planning and the whole process seems as hoc. We have the River School planning to move INTO Tenleytown; meanwhile under one of the options, DCPS is telling us that Janney kids may end up having to get down to Foxhall/for middle school?! Huh??????

YES.

DCPS is NOT ENGAGING IN COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING.

This is directly the fault of the mayor and the chancellor. Why are they not thinking 10 years ahead, while DCUM is? It’s ridiculous.

I am laughing but really I want to cry.

You make a great point. How can River School move into Tenley when we are then going to do the reverse drive? Why doesn't DCPS buy the location and build a public school? Not sure if that helps with the Comprehensive Plan, which I agree has been completely left out of the conversation. It would help substantially with the overcrowding and from the price tag much cheaper!

DCPS needs to get on board with the Comprehensive Plan and not have a school move in to an already overflowing area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uh, that quoted Cheh email was posted upthread in July 2020. It would have been great to know it would be a middle school, but aren't we now discussing whether 1. Hardy MS will move there or 2. A high school, or 3. 9th grade only, sharing principal with Wilson?
It just so happens those numbers are how I rank the options.

That's also the ranking of what would make the most sense, but probably the opposite of probability of happening because . . . DCPS.

The options are (1) a new middle school which would feed to Wilson HS; (2) a new high school (either at the MacArthur property OR at Hardy, with Hardy MS moving to MacArthur); or (3) a 9th grade academy (at either location).

Personally, I rank them (1) new high school; (2) 9th grade academy; (3) new middle school. Wilson is already nearly 2,000 students and projected to get much bigger. A new middle school will blow it up. Frankly, if a new middle school is opened up, it is not going to feed to Wilson anyway. Wilson will be so large that Hardy and the new middle school will have to feed to Cardozo or some other high school.

That's something a lot of people don't get. Wilson is projected to be 2800 students by 2028 if nothing is done. A feeder is going to have to be dropped, and it isn't going to be Deal. The choice for Hardy is whether it feeds a new HS on Wisconsin or MacArthur, or an existing school further east.

I agree that a new HS is the right answer. But the 9th grade academy idea is horrible. Even the presentation deck makes clear that it solves very few problems and creates a bunch of new ones. I am worried, though, that it seems like the easiest to execute for fall 2022 and the least politically fraught and thus will be what DCPS selects.

The Wilson catchment area is huge, having everyone in it travel to Wisconsin or MacArthur is a big lift. People plan their lives around transportation and having two campuses with completely different transportation profiles is going to be hard for everyone.

How can some families manage that lift down to Wisconsin or MacArthur? Especially if they have to pick up elementary school kids from a different school/neighborhood then to fly down to the Hardy spot to get their middle schooler?? Most people I know moved to the area for the public schools in particular and now will have no way to get to school without having to drive. Someone raised a good point about how DCPS is letting River School move into an already crowded school area. How is this possible? Cheh knows about the River School trying to come to Tenleytown and is okay with that happening? The 9th grade academy is not such a great idea IMO. it is just a bandaid and not a solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uh, that quoted Cheh email was posted upthread in July 2020. It would have been great to know it would be a middle school, but aren't we now discussing whether 1. Hardy MS will move there or 2. A high school, or 3. 9th grade only, sharing principal with Wilson?
It just so happens those numbers are how I rank the options.

That's also the ranking of what would make the most sense, but probably the opposite of probability of happening because . . . DCPS.

The options are (1) a new middle school which would feed to Wilson HS; (2) a new high school (either at the MacArthur property OR at Hardy, with Hardy MS moving to MacArthur); or (3) a 9th grade academy (at either location).

Personally, I rank them (1) new high school; (2) 9th grade academy; (3) new middle school. Wilson is already nearly 2,000 students and projected to get much bigger. A new middle school will blow it up. Frankly, if a new middle school is opened up, it is not going to feed to Wilson anyway. Wilson will be so large that Hardy and the new middle school will have to feed to Cardozo or some other high school.

That's something a lot of people don't get. Wilson is projected to be 2800 students by 2028 if nothing is done. A feeder is going to have to be dropped, and it isn't going to be Deal. The choice for Hardy is whether it feeds a new HS on Wisconsin or MacArthur, or an existing school further east.

I agree that a new HS is the right answer. But the 9th grade academy idea is horrible. Even the presentation deck makes clear that it solves very few problems and creates a bunch of new ones. I am worried, though, that it seems like the easiest to execute for fall 2022 and the least politically fraught and thus will be what DCPS selects.

The Wilson catchment area is huge, having everyone in it travel to Wisconsin or MacArthur is a big lift. People plan their lives around transportation and having two campuses with completely different transportation profiles is going to be hard for everyone.

How can some families manage that lift down to Wisconsin or MacArthur? Especially if they have to pick up elementary school kids from a different school/neighborhood then to fly down to the Hardy spot to get their middle schooler?? Most people I know moved to the area for the public schools in particular and now will have no way to get to school without having to drive. Someone raised a good point about how DCPS is letting River School move into an already crowded school area. How is this possible? Cheh knows about the River School trying to come to Tenleytown and is okay with that happening? The 9th grade academy is not such a great idea IMO. it is just a bandaid and not a solution.

I'm sorry, you lost me at "River School." This is the public schools forum. Private schools forum is two up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uh, that quoted Cheh email was posted upthread in July 2020. It would have been great to know it would be a middle school, but aren't we now discussing whether 1. Hardy MS will move there or 2. A high school, or 3. 9th grade only, sharing principal with Wilson?
It just so happens those numbers are how I rank the options.

That's also the ranking of what would make the most sense, but probably the opposite of probability of happening because . . . DCPS.

The options are (1) a new middle school which would feed to Wilson HS; (2) a new high school (either at the MacArthur property OR at Hardy, with Hardy MS moving to MacArthur); or (3) a 9th grade academy (at either location).

Personally, I rank them (1) new high school; (2) 9th grade academy; (3) new middle school. Wilson is already nearly 2,000 students and projected to get much bigger. A new middle school will blow it up. Frankly, if a new middle school is opened up, it is not going to feed to Wilson anyway. Wilson will be so large that Hardy and the new middle school will have to feed to Cardozo or some other high school.

That's something a lot of people don't get. Wilson is projected to be 2800 students by 2028 if nothing is done. A feeder is going to have to be dropped, and it isn't going to be Deal. The choice for Hardy is whether it feeds a new HS on Wisconsin or MacArthur, or an existing school further east.

I agree that a new HS is the right answer. But the 9th grade academy idea is horrible. Even the presentation deck makes clear that it solves very few problems and creates a bunch of new ones. I am worried, though, that it seems like the easiest to execute for fall 2022 and the least politically fraught and thus will be what DCPS selects.

The Wilson catchment area is huge, having everyone in it travel to Wisconsin or MacArthur is a big lift. People plan their lives around transportation and having two campuses with completely different transportation profiles is going to be hard for everyone.

How can some families manage that lift down to Wisconsin or MacArthur? Especially if they have to pick up elementary school kids from a different school/neighborhood then to fly down to the Hardy spot to get their middle schooler?? Most people I know moved to the area for the public schools in particular and now will have no way to get to school without having to drive. Someone raised a good point about how DCPS is letting River School move into an already crowded school area. How is this possible? Cheh knows about the River School trying to come to Tenleytown and is okay with that happening? The 9th grade academy is not such a great idea IMO. it is just a bandaid and not a solution.

I'm sorry, you lost me at "River School." This is the public schools forum. Private schools forum is two up.

I think that person was responding, appropriately so, about moving kids back and forth between Wisconsin/MacArthur. Seems relevant to me. If you don't care for it you know you can just ignore.

Does anyone know what bus goes down there since we can't take Metro?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uh, that quoted Cheh email was posted upthread in July 2020. It would have been great to know it would be a middle school, but aren't we now discussing whether 1. Hardy MS will move there or 2. A high school, or 3. 9th grade only, sharing principal with Wilson?
It just so happens those numbers are how I rank the options.

That's also the ranking of what would make the most sense, but probably the opposite of probability of happening because . . . DCPS.

The options are (1) a new middle school which would feed to Wilson HS; (2) a new high school (either at the MacArthur property OR at Hardy, with Hardy MS moving to MacArthur); or (3) a 9th grade academy (at either location).

Personally, I rank them (1) new high school; (2) 9th grade academy; (3) new middle school. Wilson is already nearly 2,000 students and projected to get much bigger. A new middle school will blow it up. Frankly, if a new middle school is opened up, it is not going to feed to Wilson anyway. Wilson will be so large that Hardy and the new middle school will have to feed to Cardozo or some other high school.

That's something a lot of people don't get. Wilson is projected to be 2800 students by 2028 if nothing is done. A feeder is going to have to be dropped, and it isn't going to be Deal. The choice for Hardy is whether it feeds a new HS on Wisconsin or MacArthur, or an existing school further east.

I agree that a new HS is the right answer. But the 9th grade academy idea is horrible. Even the presentation deck makes clear that it solves very few problems and creates a bunch of new ones. I am worried, though, that it seems like the easiest to execute for fall 2022 and the least politically fraught and thus will be what DCPS selects.

The Wilson catchment area is huge, having everyone in it travel to Wisconsin or MacArthur is a big lift. People plan their lives around transportation and having two campuses with completely different transportation profiles is going to be hard for everyone.

How can some families manage that lift down to Wisconsin or MacArthur? Especially if they have to pick up elementary school kids from a different school/neighborhood then to fly down to the Hardy spot to get their middle schooler?? Most people I know moved to the area for the public schools in particular and now will have no way to get to school without having to drive. Someone raised a good point about how DCPS is letting River School move into an already crowded school area. How is this possible? Cheh knows about the River School trying to come to Tenleytown and is okay with that happening? The 9th grade academy is not such a great idea IMO. it is just a bandaid and not a solution.

I'm sorry, you lost me at "River School." This is the public schools forum. Private schools forum is two up.

I think that person was responding, appropriately so, about moving kids back and forth between Wisconsin/MacArthur. Seems relevant to me. If you don't care for it you know you can just ignore.

Does anyone know what bus goes down there since we can't take Metro?

First three sentences made sense. But then "Someone raised a good point about how DCPS is letting River School move into an already crowded school area." A John-Oliver-worthy non-sequitur. DCPS isn't letting anyone move anywhere, it's the Zoning Board that controls that. And I'm not sure how a school on Nebraska Avenue affects the ability of people who live in-boundary for Shepherd or Bancroft to get to Wisconsin Ave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should make it a boundaryless PK3-5 Spanish immersion school. Then it, Oyster (which would also become PK3-5), and Bancroft should be moved to MacFarland and Roosevelt.

This would:

* provide more PK3 seats WOTP
* provide more bilingual elementary seats
* not require any elementary school boundary changes
* reduce crowding at Deal (from Bancroft), Hardy (from IB families following the bilingual path), and Wilson.
* Increase enrollment and diversity at MacFarland and Roosevelt, and send them more students who enter middle and high school on grade level.

What would happen to Adams?
Optics of moving Bancroft to MacFarland are like moving Shepard to Wells. Not happening!

Adams can be grades 3-5 with Oyster for PK-2. This increases the number of seats available, especially for PK. Let DCPS pay for a bus for them like they do in the Capitol Hill Cluster if that makes it work.
Bancroft to MacFarland is tempered by the fact that Oyster and the new school in the Palisades would be going there too, along with every other bilingual school in DCPS. If Bancroft doesn't want to follow the bilingual feeder pattern, then it shouldn't be a bilingual school and it can keep its Deal feed.

Is this the PP that tirelessly suggests various ways to eliminate Adams middle school on EVERY vaguely related DCPS thread? It's kind of pathetic that you spend your life working against a high performing bilingual middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should make it a boundaryless PK3-5 Spanish immersion school. Then it, Oyster (which would also become PK3-5), and Bancroft should be moved to MacFarland and Roosevelt.

This would:

* provide more PK3 seats WOTP
* provide more bilingual elementary seats
* not require any elementary school boundary changes
* reduce crowding at Deal (from Bancroft), Hardy (from IB families following the bilingual path), and Wilson.
* Increase enrollment and diversity at MacFarland and Roosevelt, and send them more students who enter middle and high school on grade level.

What would happen to Adams?
Optics of moving Bancroft to MacFarland are like moving Shepard to Wells. Not happening!

Adams can be grades 3-5 with Oyster for PK-2. This increases the number of seats available, especially for PK. Let DCPS pay for a bus for them like they do in the Capitol Hill Cluster if that makes it work.
Bancroft to MacFarland is tempered by the fact that Oyster and the new school in the Palisades would be going there too, along with every other bilingual school in DCPS. If Bancroft doesn't want to follow the bilingual feeder pattern, then it shouldn't be a bilingual school and it can keep its Deal feed.

Is this the PP that tirelessly suggests various ways to eliminate Adams middle school on EVERY vaguely related DCPS thread? It's kind of pathetic that you spend your life working against a high performing bilingual middle school.

Dunno but DCPS stopped paying for the cluster bus.

[Anonymous]

There will be an uprising in Mt Pleasant if the Deal feeder pattern is changed.

DC will need to grandfather in ten years worth of students to change it. Which means overcrowding relief from such a change is a long time away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There will be an uprising in Mt Pleasant if the Deal feeder pattern is changed.

DC will need to grandfather in ten years worth of students to change it. Which means overcrowding relief from such a change is a long time away.

Any plan to change the Deal feeder pattern without a new middle school somewhere to the north of Deal in Ward 3 is a non-starter. I don't know why they even wasted time with the suggestion of a new middle school in the southern part of Ward 3.