New DCPS school on former Georgetown Day site will be a high school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any idea which of the current Hardy classes will be the first at this high school? Current 6th graders or 7th graders? The GDS space is not particularly well-suited for a 1000 student high school. Depending on the extent of the needed improvements, this might take a while.

When they discussed this initially they thought one year. But if they need $45 million in improvements wonder if that is feasible, unless the plans are ready to go now.

I really hope my current Hardy 6th grader is given a choice to do Wilson. I have zero interest in having my heavily sports leaning child be relegated to a brand new school without key programs and facilities in place.

I don't think the current cohort at Hardy will be affected at all. They would have to plan and design for the space (including a cafeteria), bid out, start and finish construction in little over 2 years. Eaton renovation alone took that long. The current 5th graders in the Hardy feeders will likely be the first group in the new school. I don't know how they plan the curricular offerings either. They can't just turn on a switch and have 1000 kids in the school, unless they allow for ~800 lottery spaces for 10-12 grades, can they? But that would be well over 50% OOB/at large spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any idea which of the current Hardy classes will be the first at this high school? Current 6th graders or 7th graders? The GDS space is not particularly well-suited for a 1000 student high school. Depending on the extent of the needed improvements, this might take a while.

When they discussed this initially they thought one year. But if they need $45 million in improvements wonder if that is feasible, unless the plans are ready to go now.

I really hope my current Hardy 6th grader is given a choice to do Wilson. I have zero interest in having my heavily sports leaning child be relegated to a brand new school without key programs and facilities in place.

Unlikely as your DC would naturally join in 9th grade whether they open in SY23-24 as planned or a more realistic delay to SY24-25. I agree they desperately need athletic facilities. Maybe they can build a field with the hardy park space? Would be a great location but not popular with the neighbors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any idea which of the current Hardy classes will be the first at this high school? Current 6th graders or 7th graders? The GDS space is not particularly well-suited for a 1000 student high school. Depending on the extent of the needed improvements, this might take a while.

When they discussed this initially they thought one year. But if they need $45 million in improvements wonder if that is feasible, unless the plans are ready to go now.

I really hope my current Hardy 6th grader is given a choice to do Wilson. I have zero interest in having my heavily sports leaning child be relegated to a brand new school without key programs and facilities in place.

Unlikely as your DC would naturally join in 9th grade whether they open in SY23-24 as planned or a more realistic delay to SY24-25. I agree they desperately need athletic facilities. Maybe they can build a field with the hardy park space? Would be a great location but not popular with the neighbors.

Opening in SY23-24 would be quite a lift! Given there are no plans, contracts or bids for what is likely a fairly extensive job to refurbish the school. I agree that SY24-25 is more likely.

[Anonymous]

I’m glad that the decisions have finally been made but don’t understand why it took nine months of total inactivity on the part of DCPS (after the CWG had submitted its final recommendations) for the decisions to be made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any idea which of the current Hardy classes will be the first at this high school? Current 6th graders or 7th graders? The GDS space is not particularly well-suited for a 1000 student high school. Depending on the extent of the needed improvements, this might take a while.

When they discussed this initially they thought one year. But if they need $45 million in improvements wonder if that is feasible, unless the plans are ready to go now.

I really hope my current Hardy 6th grader is given a choice to do Wilson. I have zero interest in having my heavily sports leaning child be relegated to a brand new school without key programs and facilities in place.

Unlikely your current 6th grader will go to Wilson, DCPS plans to renovate and then open the new HS for 2023. Sorry, but I bet they will have a good gym and other sports stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m glad that the decisions have finally been made but don’t understand why it took nine months of total inactivity on the part of DCPS (after the CWG had submitted its final recommendations) for the decisions to be made.

They had to wait to see how the budget shook out. COVID messed up the tax rolls, had to figure out what could be afforded. My guess is that they are opening the schools a year or two later than expected because of money issues.

As a parent in Burleith, I’m very happy with the decisions DC has made.

Ps - FCCA can suck *IT*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any idea which of the current Hardy classes will be the first at this high school? Current 6th graders or 7th graders? The GDS space is not particularly well-suited for a 1000 student high school. Depending on the extent of the needed improvements, this might take a while.

When they discussed this initially they thought one year. But if they need $45 million in improvements wonder if that is feasible, unless the plans are ready to go now.

I really hope my current Hardy 6th grader is given a choice to do Wilson. I have zero interest in having my heavily sports leaning child be relegated to a brand new school without key programs and facilities in place.

Unlikely your current 6th grader will go to Wilson, DCPS plans to renovate and then open the new HS for 2023. Sorry, but I bet they will have a good gym and other sports stuff.

I’m sure the gym will be fine. The 2 sports my child plays both require large outdoor fields and having driven by the MacArthur site im a little confused about how they’ll fit those in. I suppose we’ll find out, but it doesn’t sit well to feel like the rug may be pulled out from our educational path at any given moment. My child is very excited about meeting back up in HS with friends who peeled off to Deal for MS. For where we live also the commute to Wilson is significantly easier than MacArthur. The same way there’s been a handful of years for Eaton families who were rezoned to choose Deal or Hardy, I’d like to see the families that land on the cusp of this transition offered the choice as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm actually curious, not trolling. Are elementary schools EOTP overflowing and in need of additional feeder MS and HS? From what I understand, there are plenty of spots at a number of options, but I could be wrong.

Forgive my ignorance on this. But WOTP ES, MS AND HS are overflowing. Unless you live on a main corridor like Wisc/Conn. there is practically no public transit, but we manage to get our kids to school anyway, so this doesn't seem like a larger lift than normal. Regardless of how technically dense "in relative terms" the area is, it is a population that needs more school spots for an exploding population of young families who want to send their kids to PS.

Many of those schools are full and the delta reflects how many of those EOTP families put their students in WOTP schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm actually curious, not trolling. Are elementary schools EOTP overflowing and in need of additional feeder MS and HS? From what I understand, there are plenty of spots at a number of options, but I could be wrong.

Forgive my ignorance on this. But WOTP ES, MS AND HS are overflowing. Unless you live on a main corridor like Wisc/Conn. there is practically no public transit, but we manage to get our kids to school anyway, so this doesn't seem like a larger lift than normal. Regardless of how technically dense "in relative terms" the area is, it is a population that needs more school spots for an exploding population of young families who want to send their kids to PS.

Many of those schools are full and the delta reflects how many of those EOTP families put their students in WOTP schools.

Yup. We are IB for Wells/Coolidge and will lottery for Hardy -the drive will be heinous. And yet, few other choices as cannot afford private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m glad that the decisions have finally been made but don’t understand why it took nine months of total inactivity on the part of DCPS (after the CWG had submitted its final recommendations) for the decisions to be made.

They had to wait to see how the budget shook out. COVID messed up the tax rolls, had to figure out what could be afforded. My guess is that they are opening the schools a year or two later than expected because of money issues.

As a parent in Burleith, I’m very happy with the decisions DC has made.

Ps - FCCA can suck *IT*

THIS is the kind of commentary I come to DCUM for!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Putting the high school in the Hardy building and moving Hardy to the GDS McArthur building would have made so much more sense. The Hardy building is a lot more accessible to the rest of the city.

Agreed. The Georgetown ANC was adamant that Hardy remain a middle school. Apparently Ellington was also opposed to a high school nearby.

If only they could move Ellington...

This is what I was shouting from the hilltop. Move Ellington to Palisades and restore the former Eastern High school to the new high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Putting the high school in the Hardy building and moving Hardy to the GDS McArthur building would have made so much more sense. The Hardy building is a lot more accessible to the rest of the city.

Agreed. The Georgetown ANC was adamant that Hardy remain a middle school. Apparently Ellington was also opposed to a high school nearby.

If only they could move Ellington...

This is what I was shouting from the hilltop. Move Ellington to Palisades and restore the former Eastern High school to the new high school.

Not much better for transportation but you do gain the football field nearby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Putting the high school in the Hardy building and moving Hardy to the GDS McArthur building would have made so much more sense. The Hardy building is a lot more accessible to the rest of the city.

Agreed. The Georgetown ANC was adamant that Hardy remain a middle school. Apparently Ellington was also opposed to a high school nearby.

If only they could move Ellington...

This is what I was shouting from the hilltop. Move Ellington to Palisades and restore the former Eastern High school to the new high school.

Not much better for transportation but you do gain the football field nearby.

The field has been transferred to DPR. They'll probably lease it to the Russians for one kopek a year before letting DCPS use it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ps - FCCA can suck *IT*

Indeed, suck it FCCA! (it sounds even better when you pronounce "FCCA" phonetically)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So basically they are solving the 'by right' dc high school challenge by building a high ses school and having some opportunity for low ses to attend, and by default doing that at Wilson too. Its solving the wrong problems. And it's terrible to put a high school in such an inaccessible location. What happened to equity? This is akin to people sleeping out to get a spot at a charter school. You shouldn't be allowed to make something open for all and then build in barriers to make it not open for all.

The cynic in me says that this isn't so much about "having some opportunity for low SES to attend" as much as it is about creating another OOB lottery opportunity for higher income/higher educated households east of Rock Creek park. Back in the 1980s-1990s, when it was still possible to send 2 kids to Sidwell on a two fed salary, the residents of upper NW opted for privates instead of Wilson, leaving Wilson and Deal to be the OOB schools of choice for middle class families EOTP who wanted to escape their failing neighborhood schools. Over 30 years, the IB populations at the upper NW schools has ramped back up: first Deal, then Wilson, then Hardy. But there is still a desire to have an OOB safety valve for middle/higher income families east of the park, because there is not enough of a critical mass of them zoned for any particular middle/high school pyramid to cause the school to care about their concerns. The percentage of kids who attend DCPS MS and HS EOTP are disproportionately at-risk compared to the overall at-risk % of children in the city overall. That means that there is a middle class EOTP "drain" from DCPS MS and HS.

Thanks for this smart, fair-minded, accurate and succinct but thorough analysis.

Agreed that this is huge for UMC EOTP families because it will provide them a DCPS option other than Walls.

But there is Banneker, Ellington and how many other Magnet schools? 6 others? So UMC eotp, like myself, have plenty of options other than Walls. It makes trying to get kids into Cardozo a lost cause.

That was always a lost cause. DCPS is finally acknowledging that WOTP families will never send their kids to Cardozo. It’s just not gonna happen. They will move to MD and VA first.