Proximity Preference 0.5 mile for charters

[Anonymous]

This is utterly ludicrous. How are immersion schools supposed to survive? They already can only get native speakers via recruitment only, and now that's gone too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is utterly ludicrous. How are immersion schools supposed to survive? They already can only get native speakers via recruitment only, and now that's gone too?

Take a deep breath. This is an optional preference a single charter can choose to adopt - or not. There's also an optional special needs preference that only one charter uses (Bridges). The panic here is a bit overblown - as was Bowser's announcement IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is utterly ludicrous. How are immersion schools supposed to survive? They already can only get native speakers via recruitment only, and now that's gone too?

Take a deep breath. This is an optional preference a single charter can choose to adopt - or not. There's also an optional special needs preference that only one charter uses (Bridges). The panic here is a bit overblown - as was Bowser's announcement IMO.

+1, especially on the Bowser comment. At most, charter's that chose to add this preference will provide local familieswith a slight guarantee, but I wouldn't expect it to shift school pops drastically outside of BASIS or Latin.

If I remember correctly, most elementary charters enroll the majority of their students from within a 1/2 mile radius anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And yet Logan Montessori and SWS will continue to not offer the preference. Once again screwing Hill families.

Even if they offered it it's unclear anyone would qualify--e.g., those who live across the street from SWS are still less than .5 miles from L-T.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't have time to read entire post. Is there a petition or something the public can do to show opposition to this?

How can you really oppose if you don't read the entire thread? Did you even read the article? What, specifically, are your concerns?

Proximity preference violates the entire premise of citywide schools. There are few enough seats after sibling preference.

You sure about that? Even the charters across the river that took over buildings of closed DCPS schools? Maybe for the schools in DCUM world this is true, but this could create a walkable school for some kids that had their neighborhood school closed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is utterly ludicrous. How are immersion schools supposed to survive? They already can only get native speakers via recruitment only, and now that's gone too?

Take a deep breath. This is an optional preference a single charter can choose to adopt - or not. There's also an optional special needs preference that only one charter uses (Bridges). The panic here is a bit overblown - as was Bowser's announcement IMO.

+1, especially on the Bowser comment. At most, charter's that chose to add this preference will provide local familieswith a slight guarantee, but I wouldn't expect it to shift school pops drastically outside of BASIS or Latin.

If I remember correctly, most elementary charters enroll the majority of their students from within a 1/2 mile radius anyway.

BASIS and Latin are not elementary schools. This won't apply to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is utterly ludicrous. How are immersion schools supposed to survive? They already can only get native speakers via recruitment only, and now that's gone too?

The strong schools will survive, though target language instruction will suffer. But then who really cares about that in the DC charter realm? Yu Ying has thrived with a handful of native speakers, literally a handful out of 540 students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is utterly ludicrous. How are immersion schools supposed to survive? They already can only get native speakers via recruitment only, and now that's gone too?

The strong schools will survive, though target language instruction will suffer. But then who really cares about that in the DC charter realm? Yu Ying has thrived with a handful of native speakers, literally a handful out of 540 students.

I know LAMB isn't in the common lottery so this may be moot. But LAMB's Missouri Avenue campus is surrounded by homes and apartment buildings full of native speakers whose children attend Brightwood or Center City PCS on Georgia. If they were to offer this preference it would absolutely increase the percentage of native speakers.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The IB schools must also be more than .5 mile away. I wonder how many students this applies to.

It applies to a lot of schools in Ward 8. I strongly suspect that's who it will mostly affect.

Not sure I get this. Can you explain?

There are quite a few charters occupying or very close to DCPSes that have been closed. Students who used to attend those schools (I'm thinking of Mary Church Terrell School on Wheeler Road SE which is closed - students got redistricted to MLK ES, but there are several charters very close to the MCT building, for example). There were a lot of DCPS closed in 2008 and 2013. A lot of those kids ended up at charters in their neighborhoods, which are not as difficult to get into as charters in ward 4.

Also the Fort Dupont neighborhood (though Ward 7, not 8) is about a mile away from Anne Beers, it's elementary school. A new Rocketship will be opening in the neighborhood, so those kids will get preference.

Agree. I honestly don't know how I feel about the 0.5 mile number. It seems like if your designated school is 0.3 miles from your house but there's a charter literally across the street, the preference should apply. Given the requirement that the by-right school be more than half a mile away, it seems like the kid living across the street from the charter isn't going to get the preference, which seems silly.

It's not silly. The point isn't to make it easier for people to get into the charter across the street from them, it's to make it easier to get into a charter that's closer than their far-away in-bounds school. If it simply applied to any charter that was within walking distance, regardless of where your in-bounds DCPS school was, it would both hurt DCPS enrollment and, worse, make availability of the most desirable charters simply a function of wealth. It's already bad enough that the only people who can easily get into the JKLMM schools are the families who can afford to buy in those neighborhoods. A similar proximity preference for charters would drive up housing prices near schools like Mundo Verde, CMI, LAMB, etc. -- changing the demographics of those schools and of the surrounding neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

In Wards 1-6, the specific criteria (Elementary IB greater distance than .5 miles, Elementary Charter in the common lottery less than .5 miles) proposed can't apply to more the a sliver of a fraction of kids each year.

[Anonymous]

They are using the same <.5 + >.5 formula that determines proximity preference for DCPS schools.

Both will only apply to a relatively small number of students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And yet Logan Montessori and SWS will continue to not offer the preference. Once again screwing Hill families.

Even if they offered it it's unclear anyone would qualify--e.g., those who live across the street from SWS are still less than .5 miles from L-T.

We wouldn't switch anyway, but I just mapped it and we live .3 miles from SWS and .6 miles from LT. So, there are definitely people who would fall into this category if DCPS citywide schools were included. Quite a bit of the Eastern end of the LT catchment would qualify.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The IB schools must also be more than .5 mile away. I wonder how many students this applies to.

It applies to a lot of schools in Ward 8. I strongly suspect that's who it will mostly affect.

Not sure I get this. Can you explain?

There are quite a few charters occupying or very close to DCPSes that have been closed. Students who used to attend those schools (I'm thinking of Mary Church Terrell School on Wheeler Road SE which is closed - students got redistricted to MLK ES, but there are several charters very close to the MCT building, for example). There were a lot of DCPS closed in 2008 and 2013. A lot of those kids ended up at charters in their neighborhoods, which are not as difficult to get into as charters in ward 4.

Also the Fort Dupont neighborhood (though Ward 7, not 8) is about a mile away from Anne Beers, it's elementary school. A new Rocketship will be opening in the neighborhood, so those kids will get preference.

Agree. I honestly don't know how I feel about the 0.5 mile number. It seems like if your designated school is 0.3 miles from your house but there's a charter literally across the street, the preference should apply. Given the requirement that the by-right school be more than half a mile away, it seems like the kid living across the street from the charter isn't going to get the preference, which seems silly.

It's not silly. The point isn't to make it easier for people to get into the charter across the street from them, it's to make it easier to get into a charter that's closer than their far-away in-bounds school. If it simply applied to any charter that was within walking distance, regardless of where your in-bounds DCPS school was, it would both hurt DCPS enrollment and, worse, make availability of the most desirable charters simply a function of wealth. It's already bad enough that the only people who can easily get into the JKLMM schools are the families who can afford to buy in those neighborhoods. A similar proximity preference for charters would drive up housing prices near schools like Mundo Verde, CMI, LAMB, etc. -- changing the demographics of those schools and of the surrounding neighborhoods.

That's right. Walkability preference is getting confused with neighborhood preference. It is meant to cure a specific problem - kids that don't have a walkable neighborhood school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is utterly ludicrous. How are immersion schools supposed to survive? They already can only get native speakers via recruitment only, and now that's gone too?

The strong schools will survive, though target language instruction will suffer. But then who really cares about that in the DC charter realm? Yu Ying has thrived with a handful of native speakers, literally a handful out of 540 students.

I know LAMB isn't in the common lottery so this may be moot. But LAMB's Missouri Avenue campus is surrounded by homes and apartment buildings full of native speakers whose children attend Brightwood or Center City PCS on Georgia. If they were to offer this preference it would absolutely increase the percentage of native speakers.

Even if LAMB was eligible and decided to apply this preference (LAMB parents on this board has mentioned recruiting efforts for the school lottery throughout the neighborhood), all of those apartments are less than .5 miles from their IB school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't have time to read entire post. Is there a petition or something the public can do to show opposition to this?

How can you really oppose if you don't read the entire thread? Did you even read the article? What, specifically, are your concerns?

Proximity preference violates the entire premise of citywide schools. There are few enough seats after sibling preference.

+1. I hope most schools say no to this.

This will be a windfall for Rocketship and other operators in Ward 8.