New Brent facility

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent advocates are not trying to accelerate or "pull forward" the Brent renovation. Brent has already been recognized by the city for years as being in need of renovation of its outdated and overcrowded space, and the original schedule was derailed (like so many things) by COVID. No one is trying to jump the line, and its irresponsible to suggest otherwise.

Thank you. There are multiple other elementary schools with more dire facilities needs than Brent's and people need to understand that if Brent's schedule got moved up, it would impact kids and teachers at those schools. For instance I know for a fact that J.O. Wilson is in dire need of new facilities. They should absolutely be further up the queue.

It would be great if no one had to wait but it's just not the reality in this district (or in almost any public school district).

Why, because JO Wilson serves its in-boundary population so well? Because it's over-crowded?

Spare us the sermon. Brent is bursting at the seams with more than 80% in-boundary participation despite a disastrous, seriously antiquated HVAC system. Water leaks from vents into rooms, occasionally flooding the library. The playground affords the school less space per student than any other in the system save Ross.

Where parents and admins organize and lobby politicians like made for much-needed renovations, wait times have a way of shrinking or disappearing in DCPS, e.g. Maury, renovated with around 18 months of lead time in 2017-18.

J.O. Wilson needs new facilities because the children who attend the school deserve a school that has proper functioning AC and basic amenities. Brent is in better condition than JOW, therefore it should be further down the queue. This is not a contest where the "best school" wins. DCPS is legally mandated to serve all the children in its system and it does not and cannot pick and choose the best-resourced schools to funnel all its resources to. The suggestion that it should is offensive.

Also, investing money in Brent while neglecting JOW won't solve the overcrowding issue in the longrun. Look at what has happened in JKLM schools. Overcrowding gets addressed with bigger, newer facilities and then demand for that school rises and it just gets overcrowded again. Particularly with the development on the Hill, you can't solve overcrowding by just focusing on the schools that are oversubscribed, like Brent. Overcrowding in DCPS is partially the result of some schools flourishing while others languish. Having more schools performing well will reduce overcrowding overall by reducing competition for spots at such a small number of schools.

[Anonymous]

You're not calling the shots on DCPS renovations.

JO Wilson has had unstable and weak leadership for many years

Brent will find a way to move up the renovation. That's the name of that tune.

[Anonymous]

Having been involved in small ways in two school renovations, I will point out two things for consideration.

- The simple answer like “remove this programming” or “get rid of OOO students” is not possible for a variety of reasons.

- Even though there is a “formula” to determine the renovation list, this is all politics. Note that both JO Wilson and Brent are Ward 6 schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent advocates are not trying to accelerate or "pull forward" the Brent renovation. Brent has already been recognized by the city for years as being in need of renovation of its outdated and overcrowded space, and the original schedule was derailed (like so many things) by COVID. No one is trying to jump the line, and its irresponsible to suggest otherwise.

Thank you. There are multiple other elementary schools with more dire facilities needs than Brent's and people need to understand that if Brent's schedule got moved up, it would impact kids and teachers at those schools. For instance I know for a fact that J.O. Wilson is in dire need of new facilities. They should absolutely be further up the queue.

It would be great if no one had to wait but it's just not the reality in this district (or in almost any public school district).

Why, because JO Wilson serves its in-boundary population so well? Because it's over-crowded?

Spare us the sermon. Brent is bursting at the seams with more than 80% in-boundary participation despite a disastrous, seriously antiquated HVAC system. Water leaks from vents into rooms, occasionally flooding the library. The playground affords the school less space per student than any other in the system save Ross.

Where parents and admins organize and lobby politicians like made for much-needed renovations, wait times have a way of shrinking or disappearing in DCPS, e.g. Maury, renovated with around 18 months of lead time in 2017-18.

Right, so much for equity. Let's get the parents who have the finances and the connections and let them lobby for the school with 9% econ disadvantaged hop the line

I agree. If we don’t perfectly socially engineer an optimum outcome, society has failed. We may as well take resources from Brent at this rate to bring grades down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having been involved in small ways in two school renovations, I will point out two things for consideration.

- The simple answer like “remove this programming” or “get rid of OOO students” is not possible for a variety of reasons.

- Even though there is a “formula” to determine the renovation list, this is all politics. Note that both JO Wilson and Brent are Ward 6 schools.

Why can't you remove PK3? Ross did it last year.

[Anonymous]

Maury rebuilt a few years ago and completely disregarded the demand for PK space. Completely unacceptable