Greater Greater Washington story on school enrollment growth
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Anonymous
It isn't sustainable. Parents are voting with their feet leaving their neighborhood schools (exceptions being Anacostia, Ballou, Woodson, all with less than 30% OOB). The city is opening and expanding city-wide HS options quickly (Ron Brown, Bard, Coolidge Early College and, perhaps, expansion of Banneker). DCPS neighborhood HS (2017-18) and percent OOB at each. Anacostia - 25% OOB Ballou - 28% OOB Cardozo ~61% OOB (may be skewed because there is no public data for IB/OOB at high school level only) Coolidge 55% OOB (will no longer be a comprehensive school in 2019-20) Dunbar 53% OOB Eastern 62% OOB Woodson 27% OOB Roosevelt 38% OOB Wilson 41% OOB City-wide/lottery and/or application options as of SY 2019-20 (including alternative schools for purpose of inclusive and overall heacount) Banneker Bard CHEC Coolidge Early College Ellington Moore Phelps Ron Brown SWW Washington Met |
Anonymous
And yet how many Palisades kids would happy attend Walls or Latin? Lots, methinks. With respect to Palisades in particular, I have little sympathy - you chose to move to an area with limited public transportation. That said, if you wanted to make the case for school buses from areas with poor transit, I would be open to that. |
Anonymous
They are embracing Hardy due to it's location. They know in just 3 short years, it will be all IB, thus majority white. |
Anonymous
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So thanks to Nick for writing this story. I don't know him but I have tracked these issues for years and this all makes sense to me. The truth is there is no easy solution and it is not just a WOTP issue. He mentioned Capitol Hill elementary schools and he is right (as the Miner post confirms). A little further south, look at the growth in the Navy Yard and SW in the last 5 years and there are still cranes for additional apartment buildings.
This is a once in a generation (or a few) challenge and I'm glad it is at least being discussed. |
Anonymous
And Eastern has plenty of capacity, assuming IB families take advantage of it. And if they don't, application school slots are plentiful and growing. |
Anonymous
+1. A MS and a HS can shift from majority OOB to majority IB much faster than an ES, where students are enrolled for 7-8 years, depending on whether there is Pk3 or Pk4. |
Anonymous
But the elementary schools are packed, which is still an issue. |
Anonymous
But there is still capacity to the east and south (EOTR). Lines will need to be redrawn. |
Anonymous
But to Nick's point, they would have to be re-drawn to the extent that if you lived on top of a school building, you would be assigned to another one miles away. You are kidding yourself if you think that will work. |
Anonymous
Well, a school-wide lottery won't work, and neither will parents consent to redistricting if they perceive it sends their child to a "bad" school. So I think this is much ado about nothing -- schools will be packed and class sizes will be large and there will be trailers. The End. One thing that DCSP/DGA will likely change is making schools bigger when they modernize (they refused to add an additional story to Maury to preserve outdoor space - but they'll have to move off that stance when it comes to capacity, obviously). |
Anonymous
What? DCPS has absolutely redrawn boundaries and sent families to schools they perceived as 'bad' (see Eaton feed shifting to hardy). The parents have options -- lottery for a city-wide DCPS or a charter, enroll in a private school, or move. But DCPS has a right to shift boundaries as they see fit. |
Anonymous
Forget the capacity east and south, think about the capacity in the middle. This is where something can be done, where the high density is and the metro and many bus stops are. And where there are enough middle class families so that schools don't have to look like they are failing from the get go. But still, any middles school that has a feed to Deal or Wilson is going to scream and cry and carry on. Because at the end of the day if your kid is on a track that you like you don't care so much about improving the 'system' if it is currently working for you. |
Anonymous
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Nick, the MFP says there are 26 buildings that are District-owned. Yes, some need to stay swing space, but some could be used. I don't even know the names of them all, but re-run the numbers with the following buildings added and I think you will find a lot of problems solved.
Emery Spingarn Meyer Bruce (Chavez) Fletcher-Johnson Marshall Old Miner Old Randle Highlands Winston 1325 S St NW (small but perfect for preschool?) Current Banneker site Garnett-Patterson Any others? |
Anonymous
No. Nick persists in thinking new schools cannot be created. That may be true in Ward 3 but it is not true elsewhere in the city. E.g. re-open Spingarn and Eastern's boundary can shrink or shift west. Some kids end up at Spingarn which is closer to their house than Eastern is. |
Anonymous
Any of those could be leased out to new charter schools, too. Might as well bring in some revenue on a vacant space. |