Question for Supporters of New WotP High School
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Anonymous
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Update:
###### The International Baccalaureate Program @Roosevelt: A magnet school The provides a world-class educational experience aligned with the frameworks and standards of the International Baccalaureate Program. We expect all students who successfully complete our course of study to be prepared for the International Baccalaureate diploma. The International Baccalaureate Program is a rigorous college preparatory course of study that meets the needs of highly motivated secondary school students. The IB diploma allows graduates to fulfill requirements of national education systems worldwide, incorporating the best elements of each. ###### |
Anonymous
The DME recognizes that "If you build it they will come." is absolutely not accurate. If you build it, they might come, but they need to make sure that enough of the herd moves with them so that they can be assured that they will still have high-achieving cohort with them. Eastern HS was rebuilt beautifully and staged one grade at a time with the hope that they would pull high achieving demographic to the school. This follows the renovations at McKinley Tech, which used a big-bang approach to load the school in one year. Neither approach worked. High-SES families don't gamble with their HS age children's future. Moving Ellington to some other school that might be acceptable to the Ellington parents and re-open "Western HS". An Ellington move might be more acceptable if the new location has better transportation options. WoTP families won't be seriously inconvenienced by a move to Western HS if it is a good program, and it will be a good program if they majority of the families are the same or similar to those feeding Wilson. Some excess capacity might be created that could then be opened to Academies for OOB applications. If the program can maintain high quality and a certain level of acceptance from Ward 3 families, it will be a good-enough school initially and likely to become a much better school in a short time. Hardy MS is an example of how this works. Hardy is perceived as less-than-DEAL, and doesn't get its proportion of IB students, but fills itself with OOB commuters. This year, with lottery changes,it looks like more IB students are heading to Hardy. Give it three years and Hardy becomes a close second behind Deal and gets very, very hard to lottery into. It will still be a smaller program and have fewer curriculum strands, but it won't be so far behind that it is unacceptable. A new Western will be smaller than Wilson. But it could be a very good program and an new outlet with capacity to take high school students looking for a comprehensive public HS from across the city. Other HS around the city such as McKinley Tech and Banneker could easily be changed to more demographically diverse schools...if whites from around the city decided to join up. The advantage that Western has is that it is a short distance from the clientele that DME wants to buy into DCPS. |
jsteele
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Again, can we please keep this thread limited to Roosevelt. Please start another thread to discuss Ellington and a possible new WotP high school.
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Anonymous
Then somebody needs to change the title of the thread. Personally, I see the options under discussion as related. |
Anonymous
Enrollment current/2002-03: Banneker 430/NA, 61% FRL - walkable from metro for teens, Howard U School without Walls 585/NA, 20% FRL - metro, GW Boundary maps : http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/Files/downloads/Learn-About-Schools/Attn_Zones_High_2013_2014.pdf 2002-03 source: http://www.21csf.org/csf-home/DocUploads/DataShop/DS_143.pdf I think Banneker enrollment has stayed about the same as ten years ago. SWW has grown from 430 ten years ago (over capacity for the building then) to 585 (over capacity for the building now). SWW FRL numbers used to be 40%, now 17%. (from memory, not from old docs.) Banneker was originally proposed for Capitol Hill, on the Blue/Orange metro line at the now-abandoned Hine Junior High space with excellent access to all of the city. It was located instead, as a conscious choice, in a location that was not anywhere near accessible to the enclaves of white families. The concern was that if it was easy to get to it would "flip" and become a white, academic HS. |
Anonymous
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Yeah, no matter how good a Western HS may be, too many parents in that part of the city are still going to choose private without even thinking about DCPS.
The "clientele that DME wants to buy into DCPS" are actually everywhere else. Especially in the center-city where there's currently nothing worth buying. |
Anonymous
Simply not true. Many parents in that part of the city would be happy to continue in DCPS if there were more Deal-like options, and then more Wilson-like options. They have opted out along the way because they don't see a straight path to a decent school. So the continued improvement of Hardy and a second HS option WOTP would go a long way to keeping them in the system. Another option would be to open Ellington/Western to neighborhood kids, but also keep the city-wide, application-only arts and music track. It would be a way to cooperate in achieving the common good. It would also really diversify the core curriculum classes, which would benefit all of the students. If anyone at DCPS likes this idea, I don't see why they could add onto Western's expansion by putting in even more classrooms. |
Anonymous
You're not understanding. There's a significant percentage in the western part of the city who have never considered public school and never will. Take a look at this map that shows feeder patterns by neighborhood for DCPS and DCPCS: http://edu.codefordc.org/#!/neighborhood Click on the cluster where Roosevelt is located - that's toward the middle of the city and labeled "Brightwood Park, Crestwood, Petworth" Notice the number and thickness of lines emanating from this area, showing a large number of students. Now click on the western most cluster - Spring Valley, Palisades, Western Heights, Foxhall, etc. The number of students enrolled in DCPS or charters near Roosevelt is exponentially larger than that near a Western High School. Which makes more sense to develop? |
Anonymous
With the exception of Haynes and the DCI feeders, many of the new charters don't have middle or high school options, and there's a huge crush to get into latin, basis, or sww. What about a new charter high school near Walter Reed that would feed from CM, IT, 2R, etc as well as be open to citywide lottery? |
Anonymous
The title doesn't need to be changed. Why don't get you get that Ellington is off the table. |
Anonymous
You are really backwards on this. White students who could get into a magnet school had privates open to them - and privates were more affordable. High achieving black students who didn't have the funds and couldn't get tuition assistance for privates had nothing but DCPS. The proximity to Howard University - a visible incentive to get to the next step - is the reason for Banneker's location. |
Anonymous
+1 Ship has sailed. |
Anonymous
Aside from Ellington's inevitability, that part of ward three does not need a high school. The kids there can get to wilson easily enough (or private schools, of course). Wilson, just needs to have room for them, which it would, if a souped-up Roosevelt existed. |
Anonymous
Incentivize, incentivize, incentivize (is that a real word?) Anyway, offering some very attractive, valuable extras can draw and keep good students and their families. Depending on the specifics of the school, off the top of my head: * A solid, college counseling/advising program. Including SAT/ACT prep. I mean using the type of college counselors that parents pay money for privately. * Subsidized study abroad opportunities. Develop solid exchange programs and relationships with schools in Europe, Asia, South America. * Real service learning opportunities. Peace Corp type programs for teens-in fact, get the Peace Corps in there. * Government intership programs-Congress, WH, Supreme Court, we are in DC! Set that up, please! * Scholarships for graduates in good standing. Surely DCPS can find some $$ to reward kids who go through this new program with great success. |
Anonymous
What you are not understanding is that there are lots of families in the most Western part of the city that would like to send their children to public schools (hugely increasing numbers) - but have even been out of the Deal district for years -- where those schools are IB for Hardy. For decades Hardy has not only been underperforming Deal but also the publicly outwardly stated position of the old principal was that it was for Ward 4 and 5 children to attend (this is on the record) - this is why it was controversial when he was removed and replaced with the Principal Pride. For decades, the farthest West kids parents either move or opt for private, but many many many would like a Deal-quality public option and then feed into Wilson. The untenable part of the proposal to convert Roosevelt to a busing option for WOTP kids - is that the kids current served by Deal-Wilson are the closest to it - but they are entrenched in that boundary pattern & won't budget. So what you are proposing would impact the kids who are in the Western most part of the city -- ie the ones who have been closed out of Deal have basically gotten out of DCPS in the past but families who live in these areas now want to stay in the public system -- so this is the population that constitutes the big potential overflow to Wilson in the future (if Hardy improves & IB Wilson families stay in the system -- -- this would be where the major overload of kids who could be IB for Wilson but historically those families have opted out.) In any practical terms, your proposal is about sending all of the kids from the most western part of the city across town to Roosevelt after Hardy -- many driving past Wilson which would be half way for them - commuting through and past the neighborhoods of the kids who would live closer to Roosevelt but the families have traditionally been going to Wilson. This has been the entrenched pattern for decades (Janney, Murch, Lafayette, Eaton (got an exception to feed to Deal vs. Hardy) (and Oyster ends at 8 and feeds to Wilson currently) -- vs. Hyde-Addison, Key, Stoddert, Mann -- which go to Hardy. The EOTP families seem to feel more entitled to having future options that the farthest WOTP families (Hardy-track) who are also want viable options for their children beyond ES. You need a better understanding of the demographic patterns and boundaries of the city to understand why it is not tenable. |