Overcrowded Schools

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:It seems that a number of boundary changes that were included in the Advisory Committee recommendations were not included in the final recommendations. Yet, no complaining about wealthy whiners. It's starting to look to me as if the entire city is getting new boundary maps because of Deal and Wilson overcrowding.

Overcrowding with Deal and Wilson because of the crazy feeders/boundaries and under-enrollment EOTR because of the charter expansion. We just don't talk about that side much here.

[jsteele]

Can anyone provide additional examples of schools whose overcrowding problems are being solved by the boundary changes? I see a lot of proponents arguing that Deal and Wilson are enough by themselves to justify changing the maps for the entire city, but I'm not seeing new additions to the list. So far I have:

Wilson
Deal
Murch
Stoddert

Anymore?

[Anonymous]

Plus DCPS announced today that DCPS attendance has gone up and is the highest it's been in 5 years, since Charters began nibbling away at it. Continued growth in enrollment is not sustainable in an environment where the same schools continue to burst at the seams. There must be new quality schools as well as new programs to attract interest in under-enrolled schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Plus DCPS announced today that DCPS attendance has gone up and is the highest it's been in 5 years, since Charters began nibbling away at it. Continued growth in enrollment is not sustainable in an environment where the same schools continue to burst at the seams. There must be new quality schools as well as new programs to attract interest in under-enrolled schools.

This...Hardy and MacFarland (gentrification is booming in Petworth)

[Anonymous]

Maury is in trailers, but the boundary review only exacerbated that problem, expanding the boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Brent is packed to the brim, too. As is Peabody. And Ross. And Tubman. And Bruce-Monroe. And Hendley. It's not just a NW thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Murch is overcrowded. Three new class sections were added this year in order to avoid having class sizes exceeding 30 students per room. New trailers were brought onto the property and placed on the bluetop and in the staff parking. Staff parking went from 45 parking spaces to 15. Arrangements are still being made to find parking in the neighborhood for the staff.

The Murch property is one small block with no room to expand into additional parcels. Part of that block is actually National Park Service land and so building on it may be problematic. Expanding beyond the current footprint would necessarily take away staff parking and/or playground space. So, more students, more staff, less parking and smaller playground.

Murch is overcrowded.

But why? Why continue to admit so many oob students? It seems to defy logic for a school to accept more students (that don't have a "right" to attend) than there is space for.

This is not an argument to keep out oob kids. It's a logic argument. People complain about the trailers but they are not there because of an overcrowding of IB students.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Brent is packed to the brim, too. As is Peabody. And Ross. And Tubman. And Bruce-Monroe. And Hendley. It's not just a NW thing.

Brent boundaries didn't change. Ross boundaries stayed the same. Tubman looks like it got a bit bigger though it changed. Bruce-Monroe changed, but doesn't appear to have shrunk any. I couldn't find a map for Peabody. So, I wouldn't say that the recommendations help with over-crowding at any of these.

[Anonymous]

Peabody boundaries in effect stayed the same, with a change in terminology.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:Can anyone provide additional examples of schools whose overcrowding problems are being solved by the boundary changes? I see a lot of proponents arguing that Deal and Wilson are enough by themselves to justify changing the maps for the entire city, but I'm not seeing new additions to the list. So far I have:

Wilson
Deal
Murch
Stoddert

Anymore?

Yeah, so add Capitol Hill then. But also add Hardy among the schools that will benefit from relieving Deal/Wilson -- demonstrating the DME's problem was not just "overcrowding" albeit you've decided to narrowly define the topic that way. Also add population growth across gentrifying areas, which gave rise to the promise of new schools to represent and serve the future of the growing city, including Unicorn.

[Anonymous]

Key has 2 classes in trailers but the boundary changes aren't big enough to help.

[Anonymous]

Murch is very overcrowded, but it's slated for expansion, which might address the issue. Janney just finished its second expansion and is over-capacity upon opening. There was a lot of static from Janney families whose houses would have been moved into Hearst and the advisory committee made up an expected enrollment number that is low by about 10 percent even in the first year, and said there was no need for redrawing boundaries. Thats what happens when you have an advisory committee made up with people with aspirations for higher office.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:Can anyone provide additional examples of schools whose overcrowding problems are being solved by the boundary changes? I see a lot of proponents arguing that Deal and Wilson are enough by themselves to justify changing the maps for the entire city, but I'm not seeing new additions to the list. So far I have:

Wilson
Deal
Murch
Stoddert

Anymore?

Not sure that Stoddert overcrowding will be solved by zoning Burleith children into Hyde-Addison: there are just not that many children in Burleith, which is a very small community. The boundary map is misleading as it includes the gated community of Hillandale as part of Burleith--Hillandale is definitely not part of Burleith. And Burleith is definitely not part of Georgetown. I note that Key is, what, going to remain overcrowded? Palisades is no longer scheduled to be rezoned into Hyde-Addison.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
Yeah, so add Capitol Hill then. But also add Hardy among the schools that will benefit from relieving Deal/Wilson -- demonstrating the DME's problem was not just "overcrowding" albeit you've decided to narrowly define the topic that way. Also add population growth across gentrifying areas, which gave rise to the promise of new schools to represent and serve the future of the growing city, including Unicorn.

Can't add Capital Hill because the recommendations don't appear to resolve over-crowding issues there. I defined the topic as overcrowding because that is the issue that I was always told this was supposed to resolve. To your point about creating Deal@Unicorn, we were specifically told these recommendations were not about improving schools. But, if you want to create a topic about that, feel free.

[Anonymous]

How important is crowding? Mann has been in trailers for years as have some of the top performing public schools in MoCo. In NoVa, friends tell me the boundaries change about every 4 years vs. 40 years in DC. Overseas, there are well run schools with more than 30 kids per elementary class. DCPS is pushing blended learning and MoCo wants iPads for all, meanwhile kids in developed and developing countries learn the math, science, and language skills that create new technologies with chalk, slate, pencils, paper, and kindle paperwhite tablets and G2 (not so smart) cell phone apps with locally produced content from PhDs in the place of paper-bound, colonial era libraries accessible to elites in capital cities.

Cry me a river, DC. There are children in much poorer cities and less developed countries who get more depth and rigor in their schooling. Smartboards in every class, custom-designed natural light windows, and compostable logs bordering organic gardens have value. But it all comes down to school leaders, teachers and staff, and in-boundary or founder parents.