Eliot-Hines Middle School

[Anonymous]

PP 16:37 I don't think that those who don't go E-H will be shunned, but I think you should expect some tension and maybe heated conversations about the choices. But understand that it is very, very hard to watch (as a parent who is trying to be a "pioneer") as kids peel off to go to other schools, and then often, come back to where they started. If only people would commit-we're going to stick together and do this, instead of thinking that every new charter or Ward 3 school was some kind of nirvana, we'd be in a much better place as a city and a school system. It's how the cluster got started 30 years ago-parents in and out of boundary, decided to pick Peabody-Watkins-SH and stick with it, and it's gotten better, but over 30 years as people left and the strengthening of the school took a long time, longer than it would have if people had stayed. So I guess what im saying is that its a long process, and you can;t really expect it to be anything else.

[Anonymous]

The Clusters really don't fit this either since many of the kids peel off before S-H also. That is why Brent kids can get in at 5th grade-- and they are what, 30 years ahead of Brent?

[Anonymous]

Hoardering and clustering are similiar don't you think?

To hear Tommy Wells, make Jefferson the sacrificial lamb is truly disheartening and suspect.

This is Washington, DC and not Mayberry, North Carolina, this small town cozy feeling is not necessary. Close friends and friendships are not dependent on location.

Diversity needs to come naturally, it doesn't need to be manipulated or falsely recruited. It all goes back to an original posting, how many does it take?

Are we freaking serious, that we are looking for the poineer family for E-H?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP 16:37 I don't think that those who don't go E-H will be shunned, but I think you should expect some tension and maybe heated conversations about the choices. But understand that it is very, very hard to watch (as a parent who is trying to be a "pioneer") as kids peel off to go to other schools, and then often, come back to where they started. If only people would commit-we're going to stick together and do this, instead of thinking that every new charter or Ward 3 school was some kind of nirvana, we'd be in a much better place as a city and a school system. It's how the cluster got started 30 years ago-parents in and out of boundary, decided to pick Peabody-Watkins-SH and stick with it, and it's gotten better, but over 30 years as people left and the strengthening of the school took a long time, longer than it would have if people had stayed. So I guess what im saying is that its a long process, and you can;t really expect it to be anything else.

Someone 30 years ago decided it was too much trouble to try to keep Watkins, Brent, Tyler, Maury, Peabody, etc. a going concern for Capitol Hill parents, so they decided to focus on just a select few to create their "Cluster." Non-Cluster schools like Brent were ignored by Capitol Hill families for decades. You say that these parents "decided to pick Peabody-Watkins-SH and stick with it" and I read "they abandonded". Folks 30 years ago abandoning Brent for Capitol Hill Cluster is to folks leaving Brent at 5th grade for Latin/DC Basis/KIPP.

[Anonymous]

I agree. This romanticizing of the Cluster is ironic given that they were trying to concentrate high performing students and create a stable/protected cohort for their kids to prevent exodus from the school system then. And, curiosly, where do Stuart Hobson kids go for high school? Private or selective admissions all the way. Slightly hypocritical, no?

When anyone ELSE around Capitol Hill tries to do something similar the Cluster acts horrified and as if we are elitist heretics for not just committing to our neighborhood school. Naueseating.

[Anonymous]

Not to mention the Montessori and SWS programs within the Cluster that were further ways of attracting parents who would otherwise leave the schools. I believe the Cluster has tried every trick in the book, including sucking in JO Wilson and Ludlow Taylor when it appeared they were having miraculous test scores rising.

The rest of us? We just need to commit.

[Anonymous]

I forgot to mention the LAWSUIT that some Cluster patents brought against a Charter for fear it would empty out the high performing kids. It was thrown out of court in the end. Baseless. I don't disapprove of working to preserve your neighborhood school, but it is the hypocrisy that gets me.

[Anonymous]

You know what is so funny!!! When Eastern was at their height of being the perinnial favorite among the high-school systems. The current principal NEVER wanted to be part of the cluster. One reason, stating that the success of Eastern was that it drew the best from the city and not just the nearby neighborhoods. I have always wondered with Eastern being the sole high-school for the past 30-years for Ward 6 that it never was "clusterized."

Even now, with the relaunch of Eastern it is still being viewed as a work in progress. It very disheartening to see a cluster of diversity at the elementary level but when it is time to be promoted collectively, we stop, drop and roll on to other schools outside our neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

This is all interesting and valid. But I think a much more valid and worthwhile path to move forward in working with Eliot-Hine and Eastern as feeding destinations for most Capitol Hill Schools is to focus our energy on getting there and not on defining ourselves by denigrating the rest. The fact is that many or possibly most parents from EH feeder schools currently looking to middle school are at the schools they are because that's what they wanted for their children, not because the Cluster didn't want them. For example, we deliberately chose our school, not Peabody or Watkins, and we'll go on doing that.

[Anonymous]

I totally understand your wanting to keep Capitol Hill kids on the Hill, but I wonder if it is really all that problematic for the kids to "roll on" to schools outside the neighborhood. It seems moving on to another area of DC for middle school would broaden their scope of friends and they'd acquire greater independence by needing to take public transportation rather than just hoof it. Maybe having our kids scatter about throughout the city for middle school rather than stay in the Capitol Hill bubble is beneficial not only to the kids, but also to the DC community. And, ideally, the darlings will all flock back to the nest and enroll at Eastern for high school, with a richer appreciation for the Capitol Hill community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is all interesting and valid. But I think a much more valid and worthwhile path to move forward in working with Eliot-Hine and Eastern as feeding destinations for most Capitol Hill Schools is to focus our energy on getting there and not on defining ourselves by denigrating the rest. The fact is that many or possibly most parents from EH feeder schools currently looking to middle school are at the schools they are because that's what they wanted for their children, not because the Cluster didn't want them. For example, we deliberately chose our school, not Peabody or Watkins, and we'll go on doing that.

Yes but it is instructive to critically evaluate the Capitol hill Cluster because the message of "let's all join arms together and attend the same middle school" was the same rallying cry that started the Capital Hill Cluster. Do Brent, Maury, Tyler, Payne parents etc. want to go down that same path? I think it is worthwhile to critically consider that maybe encouraging parents to consider ALL of the available middle school options rather than encouraging them to consider just one school may in fact be better not only for each child but even for the DC community. I could be wrong, but . . . something, something, "invisible hand of the market" yadda, yadda, "rational self-interest" . . .

[Anonymous]

12:10 responding: Interesting point, I hadn't thought of it that way, not consciously anyway. I think that the development of Capitol Hill elementary schools proves exactly that people felt the "clustering" (or "hoarding", I now finally get that concept) wasn't the way to go. Maybe middle school is different because size matters more, in offering specials, advances courses, extracurriculars etc. But, extending the argument and thought process, I think the true "clusterers" would actually be the ones "hoarding" (or maybe herding?) quality education in Georgetown and the Upper Northwest.

[Anonymous]

Stop it! It is not about keeping Capitol Hill kids on the hill. We want to keep Potomac Gardens kids too, we want Benning Heights, we want Kenilworth, we want River Terrace, we want Parkside and just about everyone else who's within the damn school boundaries. There are NOT enough children on Capitol Hill to make a school viable. This is not a cluster but it is becoming selfish symposium.

Segreagation began with the notion of sticking together.

[Anonymous]

So did the civil rights movement. Get a grip.

[Anonymous]

Capitol Hill across large areas tends to me home to wealthy, highly educated people. I don't give a **** what color they are. Having these people enroll their children and exert some of their $$$ and expertise on the public school system ( more than just taxes and lip service ) is an unquestionable benefit to the city as a whole that has proven it has failed miserably at educating its people no matter what ses. If it takes a call to "stick together" to make this happen so be it. No one so far has said that these Capitol Hill people are better or more important or deserve more than anyone else. They are fighting tooth and nail to use and improve their public school system. Alternative is to leave the city or take their copious $$$ out of the city or to private schools. Do you want to argue that is better for the umderprivileged kids of Dc? Talk about a move backwards.