New Mcarthur High School

[Anonymous]

I'd love to learn more about this school. My son enters Hardy next year. Will they be adding a grade each year and the first year the building will just have Freshman? Wondering if it needs to work out the kinks and we should move to go to Wilson which is a known quantity!

[Anonymous]

Sigh. It’s called Jackson-Reed, not Wilson.

[Anonymous]

They haven't hired a school leader yet, I'd wait to see how that goes. Basics are online, they will open with 9th and grow each year: https://dcpsplanning.wordpress.com/

It could end up being full of kinks, or enough Hardy families could go to make it a pretty cool small-school option.

[Anonymous]

It could be great, but they are close to insuring that it gets off to a poor start. They really need to get out front *now* with solid plans and communications, or families will plan to go elsewhere next year.

I don’t understand why they don’t understand that they are behind the timeline of people’s decision-making process, particularly when no one has to go there for the first two years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It could be great, but they are close to insuring that it gets off to a poor start. They really need to get out front *now* with solid plans and communications, or families will plan to go elsewhere next year.

I don’t understand why they don’t understand that they are behind the timeline of people’s decision-making process, particularly when no one has to go there for the first two years.

They are so far behind the 8 ball on this. With a child in the first class that has to go there, I’m applying my child out all over the place given the lack of information. If it turns out to be great, wonderful. But I’m not willing to wait 2 years to see what great might look like when right now is the time to find another solution.

[Anonymous]

I have a Hardy 7th grader. I was initially willing to consider the school despite the fact that my child has a right to go to JR. but DCPS has shown me absolutely zero, nothing that would inspire me to give it any consideration at all. I would bet close to zero Hardy kids who have a right to pick between the two those first two years will choose MacArthur. The commute was already a big concern for us but for a top-notch education we would’ve considered it but it’s clearly not gonna happen here, at least not in the first few years. The school is going to be a failure unless the city gets its act together quickly.

[Anonymous]

please go to the new school Us JR parents need the space.

[Anonymous]

There is actually a choice for Hardy students? Wow!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is actually a choice for Hardy students? Wow!

The only cohort of Hardy Students who will have a choice are the current 8th and 7th graders. If you child is currently in 6th they will be default routed to MacArthur.

[Anonymous]

TBH, it feels like DCPS is purposely trying to make the in-bound families leery in order to maximize the number of OOB students who would enroll. This time next year the first freshman class will be in session and DCPS has released zero details; that's kinda insane.

This makes me think the school will be filled with kids whose families are desperate for ANY alternative than their local HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TBH, it feels like DCPS is purposely trying to make the in-bound families leery in order to maximize the number of OOB students who would enroll. This time next year the first freshman class will be in session and DCPS has released zero details; that's kinda insane.

This makes me think the school will be filled with kids whose families are desperate for ANY alternative than their local HS.

I doubt it’s purposeful. I just expect DCPS isn’t used to the kind of advance planning typical of Ward 3. There’s a mom on this very thread with a sixth grader who says she’s already applying to high schools! That may not be unusual for Ward 3 but it’s extremely unusual just about everywhere else on earth. When they opened Ron Brown DCPS announced the new principal the January before the school opened, so they’re probably just applying their usual schedule in an unusual corner of the city.

Also, I wouldn’t worry that much about OOB kids. Most of them will be refugees from the wildly overenrollled JR, seeking a school with average class sizes under 35. It’s easy to take a risk on a new high school if you have rights to JR, especially since 9th grade is the weakest year there, academically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TBH, it feels like DCPS is purposely trying to make the in-bound families leery in order to maximize the number of OOB students who would enroll. This time next year the first freshman class will be in session and DCPS has released zero details; that's kinda insane.

This makes me think the school will be filled with kids whose families are desperate for ANY alternative than their local HS.

I doubt it’s purposeful. I just expect DCPS isn’t used to the kind of advance planning typical of Ward 3. There’s a mom on this very thread with a sixth grader who says she’s already applying to high schools! That may not be unusual for Ward 3 but it’s extremely unusual just about everywhere else on earth. When they opened Ron Brown DCPS announced the new principal the January before the school opened, so they’re probably just applying their usual schedule in an unusual corner of the city.

Also, I wouldn’t worry that much about OOB kids. Most of them will be refugees from the wildly overenrollled JR, seeking a school with average class sizes under 35. It’s easy to take a risk on a new high school if you have rights to JR, especially since 9th grade is the weakest year there, academically.

This is us as as we have a 7th grader at Deal.

[Anonymous]

As a counterpoint, I am in a feeder elementary and parents are really excited about this high school

[Anonymous]

I want to be excited about this school. I *was* excited about the school months ago.

I have a current Hardy 6th grader. I am worried.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sigh. It’s called Jackson-Reed, not Wilson.

It's been renamed JR, its still called Wilson