Sports at Walls (WaPo article)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can J-R take this crew opportunity away from SWW kids all of a sudden? Our daughter was counting on going to SWW and starting on the J-R crew team after training all year.

Anonymous wrote:This has been one of my big disappointments with Walls. We knew there wasn't much of a Walls campus, but it is crazy that the swim team commutes to Dunbar for practice everyday when GW has a pool. J-R is pulling up the ladder on having Walls students row on their crew team because of changes in how regattas are defining schools and school districts. So that opportunity is going away. Having a place for graduation is nice, but the sports stuff affects kids day-in and day-out.

Your child can row year around at TBC. Many kids on other high school teams do it for summer and fall at a minimum. While JR has allowed the Walls kids on their team there were always questions as to why that was allowed. The crackdown on teams doing that is a good thing. TBC is great and your child will be just fine.

[Anonymous]

Well, DCPS has a policy that if a student's school doesn't offer a sport, that student can participate on a team through another DCPS school. I think it is a good policy that allows more opportunities for more students. Otherwise big, wealthy schools will hoard the opportunities. "Crack down" sounds a bit harsh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can J-R take this crew opportunity away from SWW kids all of a sudden? Our daughter was counting on going to SWW and starting on the J-R crew team after training all year.

Anonymous wrote:This has been one of my big disappointments with Walls. We knew there wasn't much of a Walls campus, but it is crazy that the swim team commutes to Dunbar for practice everyday when GW has a pool. J-R is pulling up the ladder on having Walls students row on their crew team because of changes in how regattas are defining schools and school districts. So that opportunity is going away. Having a place for graduation is nice, but the sports stuff affects kids day-in and day-out.

Your child can row year around at TBC. Many kids on other high school teams do it for summer and fall at a minimum. While JR has allowed the Walls kids on their team there were always questions as to why that was allowed. The crackdown on teams doing that is a good thing. TBC is great and your child will be just fine.

The club teams don’t seem as competitive as the high school teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good question. Wasn’t the school supposed to be a partnership between DCPS and GW?

Also, DCPS does not help the school at all with figuring out playing space.
DC parks and recs gives the school zero priority in reserving field space. Instead they prefer to lease field space to private schools who can pay more money. The Walls PTA has to give money to lease field space as DCPS does not include any money in the Walls budget to deal with this issue.

Does GW allow Walls to use its facilities for graduation and special events (homecoming, prom, etc)?

Graduation is at Lisner this year but doubt the rest. Dances are held elsewhere.

Glad to hear graduation is back at Lisner - last year was awful!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, DCPS has a policy that if a student's school doesn't offer a sport, that student can participate on a team through another DCPS school. I think it is a good policy that allows more opportunities for more students. Otherwise big, wealthy schools will hoard the opportunities. "Crack down" sounds a bit harsh.

This only applies to DCIAA sports. Crew is a club team as there is no DCIAA crew league.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can J-R take this crew opportunity away from SWW kids all of a sudden? Our daughter was counting on going to SWW and starting on the J-R crew team after training all year.

We are in incoming 9th family with a daughter interested in rowing too - is there a way to organize as parents to start a Walls team?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lost in all this is that JR, which has one one the strongest programs in the region and actually sends kids to play in college, does not even have their own field. It’s nice that NPS carved out some space for a diamond but the field is unusable 50% of the time. The city should pressure Sidwell, St. Albans, or GDS for access to their facilities in exchange for the generous tax breaks they receive. I’m surprised that the woke Council hasn’t even thought of using eminent domain to reclaim a few desperately need acres of space from these private schools.

One of my children attends Sidwell, and Sidwell better not allow public use by DCPS students (or anyone else). Not unless they’re going to lower my tuition bill.

[Anonymous]

Good to know, but is TBC additional training, or a competitive team? Would there be any possibility of college recruitment with them? Just feel like that option is being taken away unless we opt for J-R over SWW.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can J-R take this crew opportunity away from SWW kids all of a sudden? Our daughter was counting on going to SWW and starting on the J-R crew team after training all year.

Anonymous wrote:This has been one of my big disappointments with Walls. We knew there wasn't much of a Walls campus, but it is crazy that the swim team commutes to Dunbar for practice everyday when GW has a pool. J-R is pulling up the ladder on having Walls students row on their crew team because of changes in how regattas are defining schools and school districts. So that opportunity is going away. Having a place for graduation is nice, but the sports stuff affects kids day-in and day-out.

Your child can row year around at TBC. Many kids on other high school teams do it for summer and fall at a minimum. While JR has allowed the Walls kids on their team there were always questions as to why that was allowed. The crackdown on teams doing that is a good thing. TBC is great and your child will be just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lost in all this is that JR, which has one one the strongest programs in the region and actually sends kids to play in college, does not even have their own field. It’s nice that NPS carved out some space for a diamond but the field is unusable 50% of the time. The city should pressure Sidwell, St. Albans, or GDS for access to their facilities in exchange for the generous tax breaks they receive. I’m surprised that the woke Council hasn’t even thought of using eminent domain to reclaim a few desperately need acres of space from these private schools.

One of my children attends Sidwell, and Sidwell better not allow public use by DCPS students (or anyone else). Not unless they’re going to lower my tuition bill.

You will get no sympathy on the public school board. Private schools get tax breaks; you aren’t paying market rates on all that land.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good to know, but is TBC additional training, or a competitive team? Would there be any possibility of college recruitment with them? Just feel like that option is being taken away unless we opt for J-R over SWW.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can J-R take this crew opportunity away from SWW kids all of a sudden? Our daughter was counting on going to SWW and starting on the J-R crew team after training all year.

Anonymous wrote:This has been one of my big disappointments with Walls. We knew there wasn't much of a Walls campus, but it is crazy that the swim team commutes to Dunbar for practice everyday when GW has a pool. J-R is pulling up the ladder on having Walls students row on their crew team because of changes in how regattas are defining schools and school districts. So that opportunity is going away. Having a place for graduation is nice, but the sports stuff affects kids day-in and day-out.

Your child can row year around at TBC. Many kids on other high school teams do it for summer and fall at a minimum. While JR has allowed the Walls kids on their team there were always questions as to why that was allowed. The crackdown on teams doing that is a good thing. TBC is great and your child will be just fine.

If crew is a priority, then pick JR as many kids do. We all have to make choices…the JR crew team receives exactly $0 from the school or DCPS. It is a club sport, not a DCPS sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lost in all this is that JR, which has one one the strongest programs in the region and actually sends kids to play in college, does not even have their own field. It’s nice that NPS carved out some space for a diamond but the field is unusable 50% of the time. The city should pressure Sidwell, St. Albans, or GDS for access to their facilities in exchange for the generous tax breaks they receive. I’m surprised that the woke Council hasn’t even thought of using eminent domain to reclaim a few desperately need acres of space from these private schools.

One of my children attends Sidwell, and Sidwell better not allow public use by DCPS students (or anyone else). Not unless they’re going to lower my tuition bill.

Ft Reno is playable more like 80%+ of the time. I would take Ft Reno any day of the week over Sidwell’s baseball field which is in fairly bad shape and isn’t a true baseball field (just a big rectangle with multipurpose OF).

Only STA has a real baseball field and it is great. GDS doesn’t have one at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can J-R take this crew opportunity away from SWW kids all of a sudden? Our daughter was counting on going to SWW and starting on the J-R crew team after training all year.

We are in incoming 9th family with a daughter interested in rowing too - is there a way to organize as parents to start a Walls team?

Crew is an intense sport. And it requires a lot of expensive equipment + a large number of team members. SWW has a total of 650 students while JR has 1400. I doubt SWW is large enough to field a crew team. Your best bet is to reach out to Kip Smith - the Walls athletic director. He is awesome and can probably talk through the crew situation with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good to know, but is TBC additional training, or a competitive team? Would there be any possibility of college recruitment with them? Just feel like that option is being taken away unless we opt for J-R over SWW.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can J-R take this crew opportunity away from SWW kids all of a sudden? Our daughter was counting on going to SWW and starting on the J-R crew team after training all year.

Anonymous wrote:This has been one of my big disappointments with Walls. We knew there wasn't much of a Walls campus, but it is crazy that the swim team commutes to Dunbar for practice everyday when GW has a pool. J-R is pulling up the ladder on having Walls students row on their crew team because of changes in how regattas are defining schools and school districts. So that opportunity is going away. Having a place for graduation is nice, but the sports stuff affects kids day-in and day-out.

Your child can row year around at TBC. Many kids on other high school teams do it for summer and fall at a minimum. While JR has allowed the Walls kids on their team there were always questions as to why that was allowed. The crackdown on teams doing that is a good thing. TBC is great and your child will be just fine.

You really shouldn't pick a high school based on if your child will get recruited for college sport. Crew is tough. Really tough. Kids are recruited off of less competitive than JR teams all the time. It has a lot to do with times and body build. Pick the school where your child will thrive for 4 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lost in all this is that JR, which has one one the strongest programs in the region and actually sends kids to play in college, does not even have their own field. It’s nice that NPS carved out some space for a diamond but the field is unusable 50% of the time. The city should pressure Sidwell, St. Albans, or GDS for access to their facilities in exchange for the generous tax breaks they receive. I’m surprised that the woke Council hasn’t even thought of using eminent domain to reclaim a few desperately need acres of space from these private schools.

One of my children attends Sidwell, and Sidwell better not allow public use by DCPS students (or anyone else). Not unless they’re going to lower my tuition bill.

The private schools rent out their fields for 3rd party use when the school needs are finished for the day. Perhaps their argument is tuition would be that much higher if parents objected to this. Not sure if Sidwell does it, but SJC definitely makes $$$s doing this and I believe STA/NCS make some $$s doing this for their outdoor facilities.

[Anonymous]

If crew is a priority, then pick JR as many kids do. We all have to make choices…the JR crew team receives exactly $0 from the school or DCPS. It is a club sport, not a DCPS sport.

This. Really unclear to me why families think that their child should have ALL the opportunities. Do your research. J-R crew is a club, not a school sport. If you want your child to have access to this club they have to be enrolled at J-R.