New DCPS school on former Georgetown Day site will be a high school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But yet nothing about Foxhall ES . . .

DCPS already announced it will be open for 24-25 school year

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13FKV5zdEwAAxacPAgSnc6iUmapLhLwh2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But yet nothing about Foxhall ES . . .

DCPS already announced it will be open for 24-25 school year

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13FKV5zdEwAAxacPAgSnc6iUmapLhLwh2

Those were the CWG recommendations. I don't think DCPS (or the mayor) have made any announcements about it. In all probability, it will go ahead, but the likes of the FCCA are still holding out hope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the mom upthread saying "don't say it's remote or there are no kids, we live here" isn't thinking about how child-dense Georgetown is compared to the rest of the city and where it is compared to the rest of the city.

It's relatively transit-inaccessible. Clearly not central. Not central to current Hardy enrollment, not central to current Wilson enrollment. The neighborhood is single family homes and the occasional rowhouse. Few homes have more than 2 kids, half the houses are empty nests. Many local children are in private school systems.

This is not student rich on relative terms. It is not accessible on relative terms. I'm not saying you can't have your school. Just own the facts, don't try to distort them.

Wilson isn't central for most of Hardy's enrollment. MacArthur will actually be closer for most Hardy families.

Ixnay. Wilson is more accessible for all Eaton families, most Mann families, and some Stoddert families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again reflecting DC's racial fears. The high schools are highly segregated, so the place for a new high school in DC is of course placed at the least accessible furthest corner of Georgetown.

Google Maps tells me if you get to the Anacostia Metro at 7:30 am, catch the Green Line then the D6, you can get to that location just before 9am.

So you wanna move some white people to Annacostia to hopefully full up all the open school seats? If the city wanted to get rid of high school boundaries they would have done it. Perhaps they did not cause they would have even more empty seats...

if the city wants to desegregate schools it would create a true magnet school centrally located. Dunbar is only at 50% capacity, turn that into a TJ or Boston Latin

How, exactly? Because isn't that what Banneker is already trying to do? DCPS already has eight selective high schools. A ninth isn't going to move the needle.

EIGHT?!?!?

Bard
Banneker
CHEC
Early College at Coolidge
Ellington
McKinley
Phelps
Walls
People keep coming up with the same solution and it keeps not working.

For a school to be a successful magnet high school it has to have two things: exceptionally good teaching / academics and very good students.

Without one or the other, it doesn't act as a magnet. DC hasn't REALLY tried magnets at all of these schools. Some of them, yes. Not all.

If DC wanted a real magnet that could actually succeed & be diverse (and have a positive knock on effect on middle schools), they could make an actually selective -- but guaranteed entry for feeders -- track to the IB program at Eastern (w/ a minimum criteria so that if not enough kids meet the criteria the first year, the classes are just smaller.) Guarantee admission for every kid from every school that feeds to Eastern that meets the minimum requirement (and it has to be real -- 4s on PARCC or some equivalent) + lottery entry for anyone else. Guarantee that they'll have real IB level classes & supports for a 10 year pilot program. I would bet my house that the school would succeed with 10 years and Stuart-Hobson, Elliot-Hine and Jefferson would see massive upticks in IB buy-in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the mom upthread saying "don't say it's remote or there are no kids, we live here" isn't thinking about how child-dense Georgetown is compared to the rest of the city and where it is compared to the rest of the city.

It's relatively transit-inaccessible. Clearly not central. Not central to current Hardy enrollment, not central to current Wilson enrollment. The neighborhood is single family homes and the occasional rowhouse. Few homes have more than 2 kids, half the houses are empty nests. Many local children are in private school systems.

This is not student rich on relative terms. It is not accessible on relative terms. I'm not saying you can't have your school. Just own the facts, don't try to distort them.

Wilson isn't central for most of Hardy's enrollment. MacArthur will actually be closer for most Hardy families.

Ixnay. Wilson is more accessible for all Eaton families, most Mann families, and some Stoddert families.

And MacArthur is more convenient for all Hyde families, all Key families, all future Foxhall families, and most Stoddert families.

You really want to play this dumb game?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are they putting a school in this area? The population does not justify it. The area around there is just parkland, big institutions, federal land, etc. That section of DC is classified as rural on maps. On top of that the traffic is bad. So it will be very hard for teachers and students.

Duke Ellington is already in the area and their athletic field is only used by dogs walkers. Seems like another build it and no one will use it.

Maps from the early 1900s?

DC needs another HS somewhere west of RCP. There is no more land to buy, so DC has to take whatever it can get. The school age population is absolutely on the verge of exploding, demographic projections for the latter half of this decade in Ward 3 and western part of Ward 2 are absolutely insane.

When we moved to Burleith five years ago, we were one of the few couples under the age of 35 in the neighborhood who were not associated with the university. There's been a crazy surge of young families with babies here in the last two years, pandemic be damned.

Why not lean into redistricting then? A number of high schools are under-enrolled. Lafayette and Shepherd to Coolidge, Oyster and Bancroft to Macfarland/CHEC, etc. Send some kids to Cardozo.

I know this will never happen but it’s frustrating to watch the mayor earmark money to build classrooms that already exist in other parts of NW. Especially in such a remote, inaccessible part of the city.

This makes the most sense, but of course it will never happen. I've once suggest those OOB for the elementary schools should also do the lottery for Deal and then Wilson.

I think it is frustrating for DCPS staff who build fancy high schools which don't get enough enrollment from neighborhood kids, and politicians making decisions on school boundaries and feeder rights which keeps things that way.

People respond to carrots, not sticks. So many middle and UMC families of all colors drive right by high performing charters everyday to shlep to Walls, Wilson, and soon-to-be MacArthur HS in a few years.

I guarantee that the MacArthur HS will be a wild success from the outset.

Yes I agree that it will be a success in terms of meeting enrollment targets and getting in boundary buy in. The carrot you speak of is "high performing kids" right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thats nutty. If there are only 500 seats for inbounds this will not relieve pressure on Wilson significantly. This would only work if other new high schools were created.

This will work better if fewer elementary schools fed into Deal, and instead went to Hardy. Both Wilson and Deal are overcrowded so stopping Hardy going to Wilson only solves one part of the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thats nutty. If there are only 500 seats for inbounds this will not relieve pressure on Wilson significantly. This would only work if other new high schools were created.

This will work better if fewer elementary schools fed into Deal, and instead went to Hardy. Both Wilson and Deal are overcrowded so stopping Hardy going to Wilson only solves one part of the problem.

Deal feeders: Bancroft ES (627 kids), Janney ES (681), Lafayette ES (902), Shepherd ES (372), Hearst ES (346) and Murch ES (597) = 3525 kids in the ES feeders, but this will shrink by 500 seats to account for redistricting to Foxhall ES. So probably around 3000 kids in the ES feeders for the 1600 kids that should be at Wilson HS (currently has 1900 kids)

Hardy feeders: Eaton ES (429), Hyde/Addison ES (386), Key ES (346), Mann ES (394), and Stoddert ES (428). Plus, future Foxhall (500). So around 2500 kids in ES feeders once Foxhall is going.

Given that MacArthur HS can only hold 1000, the ES feeder pattern will be a problem potentially worse than Wilson HS's ES feeders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thats nutty. If there are only 500 seats for inbounds this will not relieve pressure on Wilson significantly. This would only work if other new high schools were created.

This will work better if fewer elementary schools fed into Deal, and instead went to Hardy. Both Wilson and Deal are overcrowded so stopping Hardy going to Wilson only solves one part of the problem.

Deal feeders: Bancroft ES (627 kids), Janney ES (681), Lafayette ES (902), Shepherd ES (372), Hearst ES (346) and Murch ES (597) = 3525 kids in the ES feeders, but this will shrink by 500 seats to account for redistricting to Foxhall ES. So probably around 3000 kids in the ES feeders for the 1600 kids that should be at Wilson HS (currently has 1900 kids)

Hardy feeders: Eaton ES (429), Hyde/Addison ES (386), Key ES (346), Mann ES (394), and Stoddert ES (428). Plus, future Foxhall (500). So around 2500 kids in ES feeders once Foxhall is going.

Given that MacArthur HS can only hold 1000, the ES feeder pattern will be a problem potentially worse than Wilson HS's ES feeders.

Aren’t 500 MacArthur seats going to OOB?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thats nutty. If there are only 500 seats for inbounds this will not relieve pressure on Wilson significantly. This would only work if other new high schools were created.

This will work better if fewer elementary schools fed into Deal, and instead went to Hardy. Both Wilson and Deal are overcrowded so stopping Hardy going to Wilson only solves one part of the problem.

Deal feeders: Bancroft ES (627 kids), Janney ES (681), Lafayette ES (902), Shepherd ES (372), Hearst ES (346) and Murch ES (597) = 3525 kids in the ES feeders, but this will shrink by 500 seats to account for redistricting to Foxhall ES. So probably around 3000 kids in the ES feeders for the 1600 kids that should be at Wilson HS (currently has 1900 kids)

Hardy feeders: Eaton ES (429), Hyde/Addison ES (386), Key ES (346), Mann ES (394), and Stoddert ES (428). Plus, future Foxhall (500). So around 2500 kids in ES feeders once Foxhall is going.

Given that MacArthur HS can only hold 1000, the ES feeder pattern will be a problem potentially worse than Wilson HS's ES feeders.

Aren’t 500 MacArthur seats going to OOB?

Noooooooo. I think nearly half will be re-zoned from existing ES's - Key, Stoddert, and Mann.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thats nutty. If there are only 500 seats for inbounds this will not relieve pressure on Wilson significantly. This would only work if other new high schools were created.

This will work better if fewer elementary schools fed into Deal, and instead went to Hardy. Both Wilson and Deal are overcrowded so stopping Hardy going to Wilson only solves one part of the problem.

Deal feeders: Bancroft ES (627 kids), Janney ES (681), Lafayette ES (902), Shepherd ES (372), Hearst ES (346) and Murch ES (597) = 3525 kids in the ES feeders, but this will shrink by 500 seats to account for redistricting to Foxhall ES. So probably around 3000 kids in the ES feeders for the 1600 kids that should be at Wilson HS (currently has 1900 kids)

Hardy feeders: Eaton ES (429), Hyde/Addison ES (386), Key ES (346), Mann ES (394), and Stoddert ES (428). Plus, future Foxhall (500). So around 2500 kids in ES feeders once Foxhall is going.

Given that MacArthur HS can only hold 1000, the ES feeder pattern will be a problem potentially worse than Wilson HS's ES feeders.

Aren’t 500 MacArthur seats going to OOB?

Noooooooo. I think nearly half will be re-zoned from existing ES's - Key, Stoddert, and Mann.

I should add that this will have knock-on effects for all of the ES boundaries in Ward 3. By sending kids in the portions of Mann, Stoddert, and Key to Foxhall, they can then add back more kids from the over-filled Janney and Lafayette ES boundaries.

The addition of Foxhall ES will trigger redrawing the boundaries for pretty much all the schools WoTP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again reflecting DC's racial fears. The high schools are highly segregated, so the place for a new high school in DC is of course placed at the least accessible furthest corner of Georgetown.

Google Maps tells me if you get to the Anacostia Metro at 7:30 am, catch the Green Line then the D6, you can get to that location just before 9am.

So you wanna move some white people to Annacostia to hopefully full up all the open school seats? If the city wanted to get rid of high school boundaries they would have done it. Perhaps they did not cause they would have even more empty seats...

if the city wants to desegregate schools it would create a true magnet school centrally located. Dunbar is only at 50% capacity, turn that into a TJ or Boston Latin

How, exactly? Because isn't that what Banneker is already trying to do? DCPS already has eight selective high schools. A ninth isn't going to move the needle.

This is true but DC does not want real magnet schools.

EIGHT?!?!?

Bard
Banneker
CHEC
Early College at Coolidge
Ellington
McKinley
Phelps
Walls
People keep coming up with the same solution and it keeps not working.

For a school to be a successful magnet high school it has to have two things: exceptionally good teaching / academics and very good students.

Without one or the other, it doesn't act as a magnet. DC hasn't REALLY tried magnets at all of these schools. Some of them, yes. Not all.

If DC wanted a real magnet that could actually succeed & be diverse (and have a positive knock on effect on middle schools), they could make an actually selective -- but guaranteed entry for feeders -- track to the IB program at Eastern (w/ a minimum criteria so that if not enough kids meet the criteria the first year, the classes are just smaller.) Guarantee admission for every kid from every school that feeds to Eastern that meets the minimum requirement (and it has to be real -- 4s on PARCC or some equivalent) + lottery entry for anyone else. Guarantee that they'll have real IB level classes & supports for a 10 year pilot program. I would bet my house that the school would succeed with 10 years and Stuart-Hobson, Elliot-Hine and Jefferson would see massive upticks in IB buy-in.

[Anonymous]

Is Foxhall ES really happening though? I though they wanted to put it on a neighborhood park and that the neighbors don't want that. Is there some new development?

[Anonymous]

This was just sent to Working Group members:
Dear CWG,



We hope this finds you and your family safe and healthy and that you are having a good school year.



As you all are aware, DCPS transmitted your final recommendations for the Foxhall and MacArthur Schools back in June 2021. We’re writing to share that final decisions have been made regarding both buildings, informed by your feedback and recommendations:



MacArthur will be a high school serving the Hardy Middle School feeder pattern, with a set of seats reserved via the Equitable Access program for students furthest from opportunity. The Equitable Access program allows schools to reserve seats for students who meet OSSE’s “at-risk of academic failure” criteria, which includes students who receive SNAP/TANF, are experiencing homelessness, are part of the foster care system, or are overage for their grade.
Foxhall will be an elementary school serving PK4-5th grade. This will require drawing a new boundary that re-assigns portions of the Key, Mann and Stoddert boundaries, and setting “phase-in” policies for affected schools.


The planned opening of Foxhall will be delayed by one year until at least SY25-26, given procurement and construction timelines. MacArthur is currently planned to open in SY23-24 (as announced in September 2021).



We wanted to be sure to notify this group first but will also circulate this information to the broader community via the DCPS Planning Blog—here. Additionally, we are attaching the final Capital Improvement Program (CIP) letters regarding the two buildings which have also been shared publicly.



Please feel free to email us with any questions, and please know that we will continue to keep this group updated as soon as we have additional details regarding next steps and engagement plans. For reference, the final recommendations document and supplemental materials are located here.



Thank you all for your time and hard work in this process! We look forward to re-engaging with you on the planning for both of these schools.



-Sujata

DCPS School Planning Team

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any idea which of the current Hardy classes will be the first at this high school? Current 6th graders or 7th graders? The GDS space is not particularly well-suited for a 1000 student high school. Depending on the extent of the needed improvements, this might take a while.

When they discussed this initially they thought one year. But if they need $45 million in improvements wonder if that is feasible, unless the plans are ready to go now.

I really hope my current Hardy 6th grader is given a choice to do Wilson. I have zero interest in having my heavily sports leaning child be relegated to a brand new school without key programs and facilities in place.