Fillmore killed....again.
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Anonymous
| I wouldn't disagree with closing Ross either. |
Anonymous
Close any high school with <500 students, the size of most nwdc elementary schools. |
Anonymous
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Why do Filmore supporters keep coming back with odd arguments like - close any HSs with less than 500 students?
The under-enrolled HSs are a completely different story. They have the capacity for more students. DCPS is working on making these schools more attractive to more families by renovating buildings, adding AP courses, having a focus such as global studies. Roosevelt has a dual language track. Filmore for just 4 schools does not make sense. Isn't there any space at the adjacent rec center that Stoddert can use? I may be mad too if my kid used Filmore but sometimes you have to take into account the larger perspective. It can't always be me! me! me! |
Anonymous
| If DCPS and OSSE made a concerted, focused effort to find and eliminate out of state residency fraud in DC, they could save a lot of money that is otherwise being allocated to educate kids from Maryland. This money could go to specialized teachers, tutors and, yes, arts education. |
Anonymous
Bowser is the biggest, throwback political hack in the mayor's office since the infamous days of the late (not great) mayor-for-life Marion B.arry. |
Anonymous
Actually public education in DC is funded on a per-pupil basis. In the short term expelling residency cheats would result in a budget cut. That's part of the problem. |
Anonymous
The problem with the equity argument as framed is that the logical conclusion is that no school can ever be better than the worst, in every aspect. That's a race to the bottom. |
Anonymous
Completely wrong. This article gives an overview of the history of Fillmore: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1988/06/16/6-northwest-schools-prosper-under-cluster-plan/5f11b7d3-6f80-437b-b689-c00d38c4df4a/ The history of Fillmore is intimately tied up with the history of Hardy. In 1972 DCPS wanted to close six small elementary schools that were south of Massachusetts and west of Wisconsin: Key, Mann, Stoddert, Hyde, Hardy and Fillmore. Hardy elementary was on Foxhall Road where Hardy Rec Center is now, the Fillmore Elementary building is now owned by GW University but was at 35th and S, just south of what is now Hardy Middle School. All six schools were severely underenrolled -- I recall Key had something like 40 students -- and the facilities were antiquated, with no auditoriums, gyms, libraries or art facilities. The plan from DCPS was to build a single consolidated elementary school with a modern building. The parents at the six schools didn't like this idea. They were already disgruntled that they fed into a large junior high school -- Gordon Junior High -- which was about 90% out-of-boundary and not appealing to in-boundary families. They came up with a counter-proposal: close two of the schools, Hardy and Fillmore, and consolidate the students into the remaining four. Convert Hardy into a middle school, and have the four feed into it. Convert the old Fillmore school into an arts center, and have each school bus their kids to Fillmore one day a week for specials: art and music at Fillmore, gym at Jelleff, and library at the Georgetown Library. The fifth day of the week middle school kids from Hardy would come over. This was done to counter DCPS' contention that the schools were not viable without gyms, libraries and art facilities. DCPS hated this plan, but the parents got the council to approve it over DCPS's objection. It went into effect in 1974, and for 42 years, every couple of years DCPS has tried to kill it. In 1996, after 22 years of trying, DCPS was able to kill the Hardy Middle School on Foxhall Road through an ingenious sleight of hand -- they renamed the old Gordon Junior High to Hardy Middle School and closed Gordon instead of Hardy! Less than ten years later they moved Hardy to Hamilton Education Campus in Northeast for several years while the old Gordon building was renovated. That move was the death-knell for Hardy as any kind of neighborhood school. Around that time the Fillmore program was moved into the third floor of the Hardy building. Then the Fillmore Building was sold to the Corcoran School of Art, when they went bankrupt GW bought it. Key was the first of the four schools to be renovated, in 2003, followed by Stoddert, then Mann; Hyde is due next year. When Key was renovated it had an art room and a music room, along with a library and a gym. DCPS' problem is that enrollment has surged. The art and music rooms have since been converted to classrooms and Key now has trailers in the parking lot. A similar thing has happened at Stoddert, which also has trailers. I heard a rumor that what's driving it this time is that DCPS has been unable to find swing space for the Hyde renovation. |
Anonymous
This. Since key and stoddert wont have art and music rooms, no other schools can have them. |
Anonymous
Fair's fair. |
Anonymous
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Thanks for the True history of Fillmore. Fillmore has shown its merit over 43 years, and continues to serve its original purpose: to provide arts and music classes for schools that simply don't have them. It's a disgrace that DCPS still believes "the nail that sticks out should get hammered."
Or, maybe the "kill Fillmore" drive is simply about convenience this time: Hyde needs a place to live while its Georgetown buildings are renovated, and Fillmore looks like the easiest bug to squash on the way to making a temporary space for Hyde at Hardy, for who knows how many years. |
Anonymous
Ross is very small, yes. But this small environment has been very successful in serving kids from different cultures, speaking different languages, coming from different socioeconomic situations. It wouldn't make sense to close a school that is academically successful and also successful in closing the achievement gap. But yes, when it comes to the small size being a limiting factor in ability to provide a range of specials, it is an issue. No room for expansion in this tiny building and tiny playground. People have primarily discussed the loss of art on this thread, and my child has really enjoyed the art at Fillmore. But there is also the loss of music, and the known links between music and math. It's only once a week, and I'm not versed on the data regarding how much music is needed to have a positive effect on improving or reinforcing skills in math. But what I do know is that a lot of kids are getting exposure to music who would not otherwise have this opportunity. There are plenty of Ross families who do not have the resources to give their kid music lessons outside of school. I don't know what the answer is, but I do know there is no room to expand at Ross. And among other costs of suddenly moving a program in house, the startup costs to suddenly have a stash of instruments to loan to all the families who can't afford to rent an instrument is not insignificant. And those loaner instruments have been a great equalizer so that all kids can have the same experience and not feel left out because their family can't afford it. I would wish this opportunity for every kid in DCPS. |
Anonymous
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Key has more students than Coolidge. So key should get a huge new building too. Not one built for 340 students.
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Anonymous
So would you be opposed to arts education once a week at Garrison, Reed or SWWFS? |
Anonymous
Great history. Times have changed just a bit since 1974. 
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