Why can’t Watkins get traction with Capitol Hill?

[Anonymous]

Peabody is overwhelmingly IB. Watkins IB enrollment is extremely low. It seems all the other hill neighborhood schools are increasing their IB enrollment while Watkins is going in the opposite direction.

What will it take for neighborhood buy-in? They renovated Watkins not long ago and the IB % has been steadily dropping.

[Anonymous]

People don't like the split location thing
Gerrymandered zone means it isn't that convenient for some
No Stuart-Hobson feed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People don't like the split location thing
Gerrymandered zone means it isn't that convenient for some
No Stuart-Hobson feed

It doesn't feed to S-H?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People don't like the split location thing
Gerrymandered zone means it isn't that convenient for some
No Stuart-Hobson feed

It doesn't feed to S-H?

Sorry, my bad, it does. So, I dunno.

[Anonymous]

OP, go back to older Watkins threads. This issue has been thrashed out on these boards many times in the last decade. Size of Watkins (too big), the rise of language immersion charters up in NE, in-bound hostile leadership and strong buy in from Ward 7 and 8 parents have featured heavily in the story. Despite frequent predictions that things would get better at Watkins for IB families, they only seem to get worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, go back to older Watkins threads. This issue has been thrashed out on these boards many times in the last decade. Size of Watkins (too big), the rise of language immersion charters up in NE, in-bound hostile leadership and strong buy in from Ward 7 and 8 parents have featured heavily in the story. Despite frequent predictions that things would get better at Watkins for IB families, they only seem to get worse.

The answer is one word is “Leadership”

They have had REALLY bad leaders for the last 8 years - and essentially they ruined the place

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, go back to older Watkins threads. This issue has been thrashed out on these boards many times in the last decade. Size of Watkins (too big), the rise of language immersion charters up in NE, in-bound hostile leadership and strong buy in from Ward 7 and 8 parents have featured heavily in the story. Despite frequent predictions that things would get better at Watkins for IB families, they only seem to get worse.

The answer is one word is “Leadership”

They have had REALLY bad leaders for the last 8 years - and essentially they ruined the place

How many seats did they offer when reopening after Covid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, go back to older Watkins threads. This issue has been thrashed out on these boards many times in the last decade. Size of Watkins (too big), the rise of language immersion charters up in NE, in-bound hostile leadership and strong buy in from Ward 7 and 8 parents have featured heavily in the story. Despite frequent predictions that things would get better at Watkins for IB families, they only seem to get worse.

I always see charters mentioned for under-enrolled DCPS campuses but there are more students zoned for Watkins choosing other DCPS schools than there are at charters. What's the programming or appeal of those other DCPS schools? Can this programming be replicated at Watkins?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, go back to older Watkins threads. This issue has been thrashed out on these boards many times in the last decade. Size of Watkins (too big), the rise of language immersion charters up in NE, in-bound hostile leadership and strong buy in from Ward 7 and 8 parents have featured heavily in the story. Despite frequent predictions that things would get better at Watkins for IB families, they only seem to get worse.

The answer is one word is “Leadership”

They have had REALLY bad leaders for the last 8 years - and essentially they ruined the place

How many seats did they offer when reopening after Covid?

For my fourth grader - none - the entire fourth grade did not go back that whole year and the leaders of that school allowed that to happen - and so we left - end of our Watkins story and our families 8 year history at the cluster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Peabody is overwhelmingly IB. Watkins IB enrollment is extremely low. It seems all the other hill neighborhood schools are increasing their IB enrollment while Watkins is going in the opposite direction.

What will it take for neighborhood buy-in? They renovated Watkins not long ago and the IB % has been steadily dropping.

Really? It was much less than it is today when my kid went through a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, go back to older Watkins threads. This issue has been thrashed out on these boards many times in the last decade. Size of Watkins (too big), the rise of language immersion charters up in NE, in-bound hostile leadership and strong buy in from Ward 7 and 8 parents have featured heavily in the story. Despite frequent predictions that things would get better at Watkins for IB families, they only seem to get worse.

The answer is one word is “Leadership”

They have had REALLY bad leaders for the last 8 years - and essentially they ruined the place

How many seats did they offer when reopening after Covid?

For my fourth grader - none - the entire fourth grade did not go back that whole year and the leaders of that school allowed that to happen - and so we left - end of our Watkins story and our families 8 year history at the cluster.

Wasn't this the case at every DCPS school that year?

[Anonymous]

The boundary is too big and weirdly shaped. Most people within the boundary are closer to another school on the Hill, so they go there instead. Watkins then becomes a school for Ward 7 and 8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, go back to older Watkins threads. This issue has been thrashed out on these boards many times in the last decade. Size of Watkins (too big), the rise of language immersion charters up in NE, in-bound hostile leadership and strong buy in from Ward 7 and 8 parents have featured heavily in the story. Despite frequent predictions that things would get better at Watkins for IB families, they only seem to get worse.

The answer is one word is “Leadership”

They have had REALLY bad leaders for the last 8 years - and essentially they ruined the place

How many seats did they offer when reopening after Covid?

For my fourth grader - none - the entire fourth grade did not go back that whole year and the leaders of that school allowed that to happen - and so we left - end of our Watkins story and our families 8 year history at the cluster.

Wasn't this the case at every DCPS school that year?

No, and I wish more people understood this.

We are at another CH DCPS elementary during Covid and then transferred after to a different one (neither was Peabody or Watkins). The schools handled it differently, and they continued to handle it differently.

Some schools really prioritized maintaining community connections during Covid, through playdates and masked community events, even during the 2020-2021 school year. Other schools truly went full virtual and outside a handful of at-risk kids, there was extremely limited community interaction for almost two years. Some schools offered more extensive in-person options in the spring of 2021, some did way more outreach in the summer of 2021. Even once all DCPS schools were back full time in person in 2021-2022 school year, you saw a lot of variation in what this meant for communities, in terms of allowing parents on campus and into schools, holding back to school events, and just how welcoming the schools were.

And I think you still see the results of those choices now. Some DCPS schools on the Hill have even stronger communities post-Covid, because of efforts made by school leadership, teachers, and PTAs to stay connected and keep the community alive. Some don't. These were choices schools made, and the schools you see shedding families quickly post-Covid, in many cases, took for granted that people would stick with them. In DC with the lottery, you cannot take your community of families for granted. I think Watkins is finding that out now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The boundary is too big and weirdly shaped. Most people within the boundary are closer to another school on the Hill, so they go there instead. Watkins then becomes a school for Ward 7 and 8.

The boundary is idiotic, especially when you have split campus. Families that are walking distance to Peabody for ECE are super far from Watkins. A small number of families are equidistant for both, but the shape of the boundary means this is a tiny portion of the IB community.

Watkins' location is really convenient for people commuting into downtown from Wards 7 and 8. It's not convenient to a family that lives on the Hill near Peabody and wants their 2nd grader to be able to scooter or bike to school.

I think DCPS (and the parents on the Hill who advocated for that gerrymandering, though those parents are long gone) really painted themselves into a corner on this one. Boundaries should probably be reallocated on the Hill but that process will be a nightmare because there is huge variety in quality and desirability of Hill elementaries. You'd have to do the entire ward, and you'll wind up with families now zoned for L-T going to Miner, or now zoned for Payne going to Watkins, or now zoned for Watkins going to Brent. People would lose their minds about some of those shifts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, go back to older Watkins threads. This issue has been thrashed out on these boards many times in the last decade. Size of Watkins (too big), the rise of language immersion charters up in NE, in-bound hostile leadership and strong buy in from Ward 7 and 8 parents have featured heavily in the story. Despite frequent predictions that things would get better at Watkins for IB families, they only seem to get worse.

The answer is one word is “Leadership”

They have had REALLY bad leaders for the last 8 years - and essentially they ruined the place

How many seats did they offer when reopening after Covid?

For my fourth grader - none - the entire fourth grade did not go back that whole year and the leaders of that school allowed that to happen - and so we left - end of our Watkins story and our families 8 year history at the cluster.

That is awful. Parents would have mounted a rebellion at our Hill ES. I think we got like 75% back in T4 and almost everyone had a spot who wanted it. I was super impressed that even the higher risk K and 1st teachers were back in T3.