School closings coming

[Anonymous]

What is happening with Shaw Middle School? IT has been closed for awhile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stranger things can happen and everyone has their price. Who said merge it into Wilson (they would just love that) but McKinley is the most likely choice? The unused square footage that's available at McKinley could suck up Bannker and Ellington and still have room for more.

If all schools are about academics then sharing the wealth of merging Banneker will be seen anecdotal instead of anti-education. C'mon Banneker will become the death of the neighborhood movement, if the data are showing that the majority of their students reside in the northeast quadrant. Then McKinley, Phelps, Eastern and Woodson should welcome their students back with open arms and opportunities.

Oops, I totally misread that. Yes, McKinley not Wilson.

Nonetheless, why should a high-performing magnet care about the neighborhood movement? The existence of charters and magnets is antithetical to the neighborhood movement, so it's not clear why they would be invested in propping it up. McKinley was renovated fairly recently right? On the one hand I can see Banneker enjoying having a share of that facility. OTOH, there's a significant trade-off. If I'm the parent of a child at Banneker, one of the things I like best about it could be that it's drawing the best & the brightest of the AA students, and putting them in an environment well-removed from the social and behavioral influences of the hoi polloi. That it's conveniently situated near Howard, one of many schools I'd like my child and his peers to aspire to attend, is a bonus.

I can see how this is beneficial to McKinley or Phelps or Eastern, but on balance I don't see how it's beneficial to Banneker.

[Anonymous]

I can't find it now but I remember of Turque blog post that said that the Mayor had hired a Chicago group to do an evaluation and the expectation was that they would advocate a lot more schools being turned into charters. Frankly at some point DCPS will be incredibly small district of well off ward 3 schools, won't be the worst then.

[Anonymous]

Frankly at some point DCPS will be incredibly small district of well off ward 3 schools, won't be the worst then.

appropo of your prediction, I plucked this out of today's Post, from a new Pew report:

"In the District, 42 percent of black children are living in poverty, about four percentage points higher than the national average. More than 20 percent of Hispanic kids in the city are poor. In contrast, less than half a percentage point of white children are poor in the District."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Frankly at some point DCPS will be incredibly small district of well off ward 3 schools, won't be the worst then.

appropo of your prediction, I plucked this out of today's Post, from a new Pew report:

"In the District, 42 percent of black children are living in poverty, about four percentage points higher than the national average. More than 20 percent of Hispanic kids in the city are poor. In contrast, less than half a percentage point of white children are poor in the District."

The only thing that surprises me about this is that there are any poor white children in the District. I thought those families fled DC a couple generations ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't find it now but I remember of Turque blog post that said that the Mayor had hired a Chicago group to do an evaluation and the expectation was that they would advocate a lot more schools being turned into charters. Frankly at some point DCPS will be incredibly small district of well off ward 3 schools, won't be the worst then.

That report is supposed to come out in October. I think they are gearing up for that. The way the system operates is outdated and they really need to colocate and/or close a lot of facilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is happening with Shaw Middle School? IT has been closed for awhile.

I think a charter school is in at least part of it.

[Anonymous]

What charter?

[Anonymous]

A merger of Coolidge and Roosevelt would require an incredible police and security presence.

[Anonymous]

This is likely true
Down by Banneker, there are conflicts between cardozo and cesar chavez schools...

[Anonymous]

What is happening with Shaw Middle School? IT has been closed for awhile.

I think a charter school is in at least part of it.

It is a vacant eyesore. The Shaw Middle School kids attend Shaw at Garnett Hill Patterson at U Street and Vermont Ave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Frankly at some point DCPS will be incredibly small district of well off ward 3 schools, won't be the worst then.

appropo of your prediction, I plucked this out of today's Post, from a new Pew report:

"In the District, 42 percent of black children are living in poverty, about four percentage points higher than the national average. More than 20 percent of Hispanic kids in the city are poor. In contrast, less than half a percentage point of white children are poor in the District."

The only thing that surprises me about this is that there are any poor white children in the District. I thought those families fled DC a couple generations ago.

Probably families in crisis-- divorced women with degrees in humanities/ arts making peanuts and raising children.

[Anonymous]

Why is any of this new news? DCPS has been working on consolidating facilities and closing underused schools since at least Janey's tenure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is any of this new news? DCPS has been working on consolidating facilities and closing underused schools since at least Janey's tenure.

Because it's a big deal to the people who live in neighborhoods near closed schools. Neighbors are upset at losing their school (which they may have attended or where they may regularly volunteer). Receiving schools must be chosen for displaced kids. And a plan needs to be formulated for the now-vacant buildings.

If you're in-boundary for a school that's significantly over-enrolled, the process probably won't affect you. For everyone else, it's a huge deal.

[Anonymous]

It frustrates me that a space like Shaw, which has a huge amount of green space and is close to a Metro, sits vacant. Charter schools, perhaps more than one, could certainly use the facility. It is such a waste of taxpayer dollars. Or perhaps there are already plans for this facility?