GDS Incoming 9th Grade to be much smaller

[Anonymous]

There was much conjecture about this given the spat between the ANC and GDS - and it turned out to be true

Incoming 9th grade to have roughly 15-20 fewer new admits than prior years.

https://theaugurbit.com/2023/04/23/incoming-freshman-class-will-be-significantly-smaller-due-to-overenrollment/

[Anonymous]

I thought that was already known—not conjecture, but confirmed by the school at least a couple months ago.

[Anonymous]

All the GDS new admit classes are much smaller this year to account for the overenrollment issue. This has been known for quite awhile - certainly since admission decisions were made. It should balance back out in a couple years or so.

[Anonymous]

Where does the ANC derive the authority to ask for/enforce this cap?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought that was already known—not conjecture, but confirmed by the school at least a couple months ago.

Yes there was much discussion on DCUM but no one had seen hard numbers before this story, unless I'm mistaken. That's why I said it was conjecture and now seems confirmed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where does the ANC derive the authority to ask for/enforce this cap?

The same cap exists at Potomac. It’s for traffic reasons

[Anonymous]

I think the current 8th grade is larger than traditionally the 8th grade has been. And the prior two years’ 9th grades have been overenrolled. So they are just going back to a class size of around 125, which is what the 9th grade class had historically been prior to the pandemic. So I don’t think this is as significant as it seems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does the ANC derive the authority to ask for/enforce this cap?

The same cap exists at Potomac. It’s for traffic reasons

Similar caps are at a lot of schools but many use smoke and mirrors to get around it. Or, in the case of *****, they just hired a member of the ANC leadership and suddenly concerns disappeared.

[Anonymous]

What a brutal year for admissions for families looking for grade 9.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where does the ANC derive the authority to ask for/enforce this cap?

The school and ANC have an official agreement in place. Kinda crummy that the school was ignoring it. Will tuition need to increase substantially to compensate for lower enrollment numbers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the current 8th grade is larger than traditionally the 8th grade has been. And the prior two years’ 9th grades have been overenrolled. So they are just going back to a class size of around 125, which is what the 9th grade class had historically been prior to the pandemic. So I don’t think this is as significant as it seems.

perhaps true but the change (and expectations that came from larger classes last 2-3 years is what feels particularly difficult for kids who applied this year. Plus the article mentions all the advantages of siblings plus we know faculty kids get special attention in process. So I wonder how many unhooked kids actually got in 9th grade this year (GDS also started recruiting athletes last year but is very quiet about it)

Plus a celebrity (very famous Hollywood type kid) got admitted this year in 9th grade batch though that's more of a one-off. Those in the know will know who i mean but can't say more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where does the ANC derive the authority to ask for/enforce this cap?

The cap was part of the zoning order with the permit application when the GDS high school, and later the full school, moved into the neighborhood. The cap is the cap and it is there for safety reasons, ie fire marshall/building codes etc - so if GDS was in violation, it isn't necessarily for neighborhood traffic that is an issue, but rather how many people (staff, faculty, students) are in the space physically.

And if I were a member of the GDS community, I would be concerned that the school wasn't managing this properly.

The ANC is not the bad guy here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What a brutal year for admissions for families looking for grade 9.

It was brutal for all grades this year. Even kindergarten was under enrolled some.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does the ANC derive the authority to ask for/enforce this cap?

The cap was part of the zoning order with the permit application when the GDS high school, and later the full school, moved into the neighborhood. The cap is the cap and it is there for safety reasons, ie fire marshall/building codes etc - so if GDS was in violation, it isn't necessarily for neighborhood traffic that is an issue, but rather how many people (staff, faculty, students) are in the space physically.

And if I were a member of the GDS community, I would be concerned that the school wasn't managing this properly.

The ANC is not the bad guy here.

The ANC isn't the bad guy because enforcing a neighborhood agreement is reasonable, but it's not for fire safety reasons. The agreement contemplates the cap increasing over time, which wouldn't be possible if it was truly related to safety (and the anc has nothing to do with fire safety).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does the ANC derive the authority to ask for/enforce this cap?

The cap was part of the zoning order with the permit application when the GDS high school, and later the full school, moved into the neighborhood. The cap is the cap and it is there for safety reasons, ie fire marshall/building codes etc - so if GDS was in violation, it isn't necessarily for neighborhood traffic that is an issue, but rather how many people (staff, faculty, students) are in the space physically.

And if I were a member of the GDS community, I would be concerned that the school wasn't managing this properly.

The ANC is not the bad guy here.

My understanding is that GDS was initially led to believe they would have several years to cure the enrollment issue, but then the ANC told them it had to be cured this year. This is all second and third hand, but that’s my understanding of the situation.