Getting the GDS mojo back

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Sure, you wouldn't hear it in those contexts (or from teachers). Fundraising, campus consolidation, HS course offerings, discipline, extra-curriculars, and admissions are the contexts in which I've heard parents and administrators bring Sidwell up.

Campus consolidation - come on. Many schools on one campus were mentioned - Maret, NCS, Sidwell, StA. Please.

GDS's consolidation was originally touted as a way to gain a competitive advantage over Sidwell specifically. Obviously, it wouldn't have given us an edge over Maret or the Cathedral Schools, each of which already had a single campus (or close to it). Nor did anyone claim that GDS had been losing students to Maret or STA/NCS over our split campus set-up. And no one mentioned WIS as a (two campus) school GDS would compete more successfully with if it consolidated. It really was all about Sidwell for some advocates. Sounds foolish now because Sidwell will consolidate faster and cheaper, with much less disruption and much more space than GDS will -- but that was one of the big selling points for the project at the time the land sales wereammpunced.

I attended three meetings on campus consolidation and no one ever indicated it was a horse race. Nearly every discussion revolved around parents' preference for kids to be on one campus.

GDS is half the age of most of the upper NW privates. It bought what it could afford.

GDS paid twice the assessed value of the land, bought land it apparently did not intend to use for school facilities, took on substantial debt to do so, and did so without a commitment from a development partner. GDS is paying all the land assembly, permitting, and predevelopment costs for a commercial project. In short, it got suckered into spending much more than it could afford. Greed and gullibility -- not frugality or financial constraints -- are the factors that drove the school's decisionmaking in this instance.

Is this really true? According to whom? Zillow?

DC's real property tax assessment database at the time of the purchase. Of course the city raised the assessment post-purchase to reflect the sale price, so now GDS is paying property taxes based on the inflated sale price.

[Anonymous]

Go to http://geospatial.dcgis.dc.gov/realproperty/

and input Safeway's address (4203 Davenport ST NW). Scroll down and you'll see how the assessment changed from <$12 million in 2015 to >$24 million thereafter.

[Anonymous]

GDS is definitely losing its mojo if it didn't win the independent school Harvard sweepstakes this year. Thought that was a given.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure, you wouldn't hear it in those contexts (or from teachers). Fundraising, campus consolidation, HS course offerings, discipline, extra-curriculars, and admissions are the contexts in which I've heard parents and administrators bring Sidwell up.

Campus consolidation - come on. Many schools on one campus were mentioned - Maret, NCS, Sidwell, StA. Please.

GDS's consolidation was originally touted as a way to gain a competitive advantage over Sidwell specifically. Obviously, it wouldn't have given us an edge over Maret or the Cathedral Schools, each of which already had a single campus (or close to it). Nor did anyone claim that GDS had been losing students to Maret or STA/NCS over our split campus set-up. And no one mentioned WIS as a (two campus) school GDS would compete more successfully with if it consolidated. It really was all about Sidwell for some advocates. Sounds foolish now because Sidwell will consolidate faster and cheaper, with much less disruption and much more space than GDS will -- but that was one of the big selling points for the project at the time the land sales wereammpunced.

I attended three meetings on campus consolidation and no one ever indicated it was a horse race. Nearly every discussion revolved around parents' preference for kids to be on one campus.

GDS is half the age of most of the upper NW privates. It bought what it could afford.

GDS paid twice the assessed value of the land, bought land it apparently did not intend to use for school facilities, took on substantial debt to do so, and did so without a commitment from a development partner. GDS is paying all the land assembly, permitting, and predevelopment costs for a commercial project. In short, it got suckered into spending much more than it could afford. Greed and gullibility -- not frugality or financial constraints -- are the factors that drove the school's decisionmaking in this instance.

Is this really true? According to whom? Zillow?

DC's real property tax assessment database at the time of the purchase. Of course the city raised the assessment post-purchase to reflect the sale price, so now GDS is paying property taxes based on the inflated sale price.

Using tax assessments as the primary means of valuing land in DC, especially in the last 10 years and especially for commercial properties pre-2015, is incredibly inaccurate. Anyone who is familiar with real estate transactions in DC knows this.

[Anonymous]

Spending $45 million over the past two years on land (and that's just sales prices -- not transaction, financing or holding costs. Property taxes alone are $680K per year on these lots.) isn't something a school does because it's relatively young and cash-strapped.

[Anonymous]

According to LotusPrep, GDS is alright but not quite Big 3.....

[Anonymous]

The "big 3" exists only in DCUM's collective imagination and whoever heard of Lotus Prep?

GDS has been a great school in many ways. It seems to be in the midst of an identity crisis right now. The challenge it faces is to recognize, appreciate, and build on its strengths (diversity, teachers) and address its weaknesses (discipline, school climate, governance/leadership) without getting caught up in enhancing its prestige and protecting its image.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spending $45 million over the past two years on land (and that's just sales prices -- not transaction, financing or holding costs. Property taxes alone are $680K per year on these lots.) isn't something a school does because it's relatively young and cash-strapped.

They don't pay property tax as a non profit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure, you wouldn't hear it in those contexts (or from teachers). Fundraising, campus consolidation, HS course offerings, discipline, extra-curriculars, and admissions are the contexts in which I've heard parents and administrators bring Sidwell up.

Campus consolidation - come on. Many schools on one campus were mentioned - Maret, NCS, Sidwell, StA. Please.

GDS's consolidation was originally touted as a way to gain a competitive advantage over Sidwell specifically. Obviously, it wouldn't have given us an edge over Maret or the Cathedral Schools, each of which already had a single campus (or close to it). Nor did anyone claim that GDS had been losing students to Maret or STA/NCS over our split campus set-up. And no one mentioned WIS as a (two campus) school GDS would compete more successfully with if it consolidated. It really was all about Sidwell for some advocates. Sounds foolish now because Sidwell will consolidate faster and cheaper, with much less disruption and much more space than GDS will -- but that was one of the big selling points for the project at the time the land sales wereammpunced.

There is really not a lot of overlap b/t GDS and WIS.....

There's quite a bit of overlap in applications to those two. They were the only two private schools we applied to (got into both, chose WIS for a variety of reasons), and we've heard that from a number of others. Admission rates are very similar. According to an educational consultant we talked to, GDS is easier to get in to for middle and especially high school, and WIS is somewhat easier to get into for primary school if you are open to either language program. We also know several students who have switched from one to the other for middle or high school.

Everything we've heard about GDS this year has made me glad we chose WIS, but I think the social issues at GDS will work out if/when they get stronger leadership and decide to focus on the things they do well rather than on the non-educational things that they are apparently doing very poorly (becoming real estate tycoons, for one). It's a school with a strong educational history and an explicit social justice mission, which makes it pretty unique in DC, but the whole-school group therapy sessions everyone has heard about and the poorly managed expansion are leading down some pretty perilous paths. Very happy with our decision for these reasons and because we think the community at WIS is less status-crazed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spending $45 million over the past two years on land (and that's just sales prices -- not transaction, financing or holding costs. Property taxes alone are $680K per year on these lots.) isn't something a school does because it's relatively young and cash-strapped.

They don't pay property tax as a non profit.

They do on commercial and residential lots that are not devoted to educational uses -- Safeway, Martens, 2 houses and two rowhouse office buildings.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

The mojo won't come back unless/until there's new leadership in the Diversity Office. That office used to be one of the strongest pillars of the school/community and now it's just a trainwreck.

[Anonymous]

There is really not a lot of overlap b/t GDS and WIS.....

+++


There's quite a bit of overlap in applications to those two.

Please. GDS and WIS aren't comparable. How many seniors does WIS send to Harvard and top Ivies? It's like saying that there's a lot of overlap between the New York Yankees and the Staten Island Yankees.

[Anonymous]

I know at least two WIS kids who chose it over GDS. One's at Dartmouth, the other's at Columbia.

[Anonymous]

GDS, WIS and Field were the schools we applied to. Ultimately we choose Field - didn't get into WIS. We liked GDS and it was a very close call but looking forward to starting at Field in the fall.