Eaton Thrown Under the Bus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Graduates of Eaton and every other feeder to Hardy will suffer if Hardy doesn't maintain its feeder rights to Wilson. That means that parents with the means to jump ship will jump.

Even if these proposals go nowhere, DCPS has done lasting harm to its efforts to improve Hardy as a middle school, just by including in option B the possibility that Hardy might lose Wilson. This is a very effective way to break the trust of parents. I wonder if anyone involved in producing these plans will ever admit to what they were thinking when they put that in there. Parents who are choosing Hardy might start jumping ship immediately.

This is very well put. I am afraid that you are right.

[Anonymous]

Wait, so Bancroft stays in Wilson, but Eaton goes out? On what planet does that make sense?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There will be plenty of room at Wilson because this plan will inspire most people to consider private. Why on earth would a family who could afford private take the chance of sending a kid to Hardy? Eaton kids have had the Hardy option for years, but I've never seen a single kid take that option.

1) many families cannot afford private

2) many IB feeder families for Mann, etc are voluntarily sending their children to Hardy as it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait, so Bancroft stays in Wilson, but Eaton goes out? On what planet does that make sense?

On the DCPS planet.

[Anonymous]

Why don't all bilinguals feed into CHEC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There will be plenty of room at Wilson because this plan will inspire most people to consider private. Why on earth would a family who could afford private take the chance of sending a kid to Hardy? Eaton kids have had the Hardy option for years, but I've never seen a single kid take that option.

1) many families cannot afford private

2) many IB feeder families for Mann, etc are voluntarily sending their children to Hardy as it is.

Few Mann families go to Hardy, but yes, this who can't afford private will be stuck in a crummy school or forced to move. I guess that's tradition in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I love is that this is coupled with a proposal that DCPS staff have priority in placing their kids in the schools where they teach (I assume that they would have to be DC residents, but if past practice is any guide, that isn't certain either). The whole thing seems like a mixture of armchair social policy along with fixes for the politically connected (be it the teachers' union or Bowser's constituents.

I really don't think it's asking much for teachers to have their kids where they teach. It's not they are are DC gov high rollers.

I'd be ok it it were on a space available basis, like OOB enrollment today. But under this proposal, they would effectively have preferred rights over neighborhood children. The plan's result, as several have pointed out, at the elementary level will be to shrink the school's neighborhood boundaries so that the OOB set-aside and staff slots can be accommodated. If DCPS were to go to an all-lottery system for high school, only DCPS staff kids would have a lock on the school!

[Anonymous]

If Eaton is to be thrown under, the parents should advocate for the full lottery plan. That way they'd have at least a chance at a sect school . Hardy is awful.

[Anonymous]

Meant to say chance at a decent school .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When Proposal B talks about Hardy switching to a "New" high school, it is not clear whether it is talking about a newly built high school or a different high school, which would be new to Hardy students. It is doubtful that DC would build a new school in Ward 3 given the underutilization of other high schools throughout the city. In that case, Hardy would leap-frog over other neighborhoods that feed into Wilson in order to go to a high school to the East.

And let's be real. The only city-owned site of any size west of Rock Creek is Duke Ellington (which has a building but no campus with fields), And the decision seems to have been made to keep Ellington where it is, despite it's non-central location and the fact that it is no where near the Metro. The Third District police station site on Idaho Ave, would work for an elementary school but not for a HS, and you'd have to evict the cops. The logical conclusion is that the "new" high school to which DCPS vaguely refers is no where near Hardy.

Ellington is actually really accessible from the red line! The D2 at Dupont Circle literally sits at the metro for 10 minutes each morning, so kids just hope off metro, sit on the bus until it's ready to turn around, and get dropped off at Ellington's door. I myself do this multiple x per week.

A dedicated, purpose built performing arts school that is centrally located and more accessible to all by Metro would be superior. particularly if it were located near a performing arts complex like Arena.

No matter how much logic you throw at the situation I don't think you will get Ellington to move. The school community is really attached to being located in Georgetown and I think they feel that it is not fair to take away their space just because the land is very valuable even fi the student body would benefit from a centrally located school with an easier commute . I think that nothing short of throwing them a pristinely renovated building (maybe Roosevelt? is that still a school without a feeder system?) would work but not much else.

Yes. It reminds me of when Mayor Williams proposed to move UDC from its brutalist bunkers on Van Ness over to the historic St. Elizabeth's campus. He reasoned that UDC would be closer to more of its students' homes, and would get a modern home on what looks like a real, ivy-covered college campus. DC could pay for it by selling the Van Ness site for commercial and residential development, But Williams didn't count on the twisted racial politics of DC. Critics warned that it was all part of The Plan, in this case to move a largely black university out of Ward 3. Never mind that it made all the sense in the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Eaton is to be thrown under, the parents should advocate for the full lottery plan. That way they'd have at least a chance at a sect school . Hardy is awful.

Great logic. Let's screw the whole damn system if we are unhappy with a completely predictable outcome?

Just go to Hardy, it will get better. Don't vindictively advocate for the nuclear option C.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Eaton is to be thrown under, the parents should advocate for the full lottery plan. That way they'd have at least a chance at a sect school . Hardy is awful.

Our school feeds to Hardy and no children have gone to Hardy for years. Attrition to private, charter and moco starts in grade 3. While there is a sincere effort underway to improve hardy, it is likely that eaton will now have a similar attrition experience. Welcome to the club! It is one way for dcps to get the OOB numbers up.

And if they expect anyone to drive from the Sibley hospital area to Cardozo every day they must be smokin the good stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The proposals provide that John Eaton ES will be forced out of Deal, and be assigned to Hardy, What do Eaton parents think of that??

Eaton and Oyster were always the most vulnerable. They're both closer to Hardy than Deal anyway. Even if there weren't a re-alignment of the boundaries in the political works, it always made sense to anyone who can read a map.

+1

Given that Hardy, which looks to be turning into a fine option, is already a designated option for Eaton, and that one of the stated objectives for the boundary rewrite was to reduce overcrowding at Deal, I would like to cordially invite any Eaton parent who did not see this coming to our weekly poker game.

DCPS no doubt hoped that some might choose Hardy. But how many parents actually sent their kids to Hardy over Deal? Why would they forgo a superior option for a lesser one? It seems that Eaton parents sent the message LOUD AND CLEAR to DCPS, but DCPS has chosen to ignore it,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Eaton is to be thrown under, the parents should advocate for the full lottery plan. That way they'd have at least a chance at a sect school . Hardy is awful.

Great logic. Let's screw the whole damn system if we are unhappy with a completely predictable outcome?

Just go to Hardy, it will get better. Don't vindictively advocate for the nuclear option C.

People just want the best for their kids. A chance at a decent high school education is better than none. There is little chance at Hardy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don't all bilinguals feed into CHEC?

I meant the schools.