Wilson enrollment numbers increasing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They will have to keep shrinking the feeders.

I think the boundary review process showed pretty convincingly that there is zero will to do that. After the dust settled, there are more kids in Wilson feeders than ever. And they're not done expanding Janney, Murch, Lafayette, Mann and Hearst. We probably won't have another boundary review for a long, long time.

Bowser would score points with her base by moving a couple of Ward 3 neighborhoods out of Wilson to preserve or enhance access from EOTP.

She would not score points on that because that's just stupid. She needs to invest in Roosevelt (above and beyond the PPF) to take the pressure off of Wilson.

I hope this happens, but I'm not holding my breath because Cardoza was completely redone and is a beautiful facility but it was turned into a middle/high school and nothing was done to try and entice higher SES families to attend. And now you have the chancellor spending her energies launching a school only for boys, and only for African-American and Latino boys. Since that school is supposed to be in Anacostia I doubt it would relieve any pressure from Wilson because the kids that will attend that new high school will probably never have attended Wilson. And right now you have a bunch of kids that went to elementary schools that feed to Wilson that are attending basis for middle school but bases has not been able to retain those kids for high school. So they'll all be heading back to Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley is an option...or taking the Lab School/Old Hardy back for a Palisades HS. It doesn't matter if we have to split Deal, there's just too much spilling into Wilson.

That building currently holds 90 kids at Lab and I think it held a couple hundred when it was Hardy. That's tiny for a high school and wouldn't change anything for Wilson.

I think it's more like 60 for Lab, but buildings can be expanded. The lot it's on is bigger than the Ellington lot.

[Anonymous]

With regards to Wilson and it's effect on other DCPS high schools it's a vicious cycle. Deal has the same issue: These schools are popular because of all the classes, sports, and clubs that they offer. They can offer all those things BECAUSE of their high enrollment numbers. No one will go to any other DCPS high school until they can offer what Wilson offers, but they can't get the advanced classes, lots of different sports teams,etc until they have at least 1400 kids (for high school). Now some will argue that they want all those course offerings and sports and clubs, etc. but then they also demand a small high school. It's just not possible, and you can thank the DC per pupil formula for that. It's basically illegal for the city to try to give a little extra to a smaller high school so they can offer more advanced classes. (And you can't just throw money at a small high school to add extra sports teams, because you actually need a warm body to be on the team.)

It's got nothing to do with whether or not DCPS does more to "promote" these other high schools. They can send their boosters out into the communities, and try to say how great these other schools are, but if a 9th grader can't have the option of taking an advanced math or have a choice between 3 or 4 different languages, and advanced science classes, etc coming from some of the better middle schools, then it's just a non-starter for most families. I think it's so funny that sooo many potential Wilson families scream about getting all the OOB kids OUT of Wilson because it's just SO CROWDED, when in reality, if you barred OOB kids from Wilson (46% currently) you would have a high school of about 900 kids, far too small to offer what Wilson students currently enjoy. And then guess what, everyone in NW would be screaming about how Wilson did a bait and switch and now they don't have the courses all those parents want their geniuses to have access to.

And I also think it's ridiculous that now Kaya and DCPS want to open yet another high school, the all-boys model when we don't have healthy enrollments at ANY other DCPS high school. It's crazy. I honestly don't know what the answer is except maybe if you graduate from Roosevelt, Eastern, Dunbar or some other HS, you get an extra college tuition grant to use at a private or public university in addition to the DC TAG or something. Then the enrollment numbers would come and people would be scrambling to apply to anywhere other than Wilson, and the enrollments would increase, the courses would expand and the DCPS HS would be stabilized with a healthy enrollment number. But then, as I noted above, Wilson would suffer.

[Anonymous]

do other school systems have this per-pupil funding scheme? I think that perpetuates the OOB system and discourages the improvement of neighborhood schools.

[Anonymous]

NO they do not. And PP you're exactly correct. It does perpetuate the disadvantages we already have when we try to support our local neighborhood school. We have this funding system because of the charter schools. It was set up this way to be "equal" funding for charters and to foster as many charters as possible, and is seen as the most advantageous to charters funding system in the country. Now we know that what is "equal" is not necessarily equitable, but we can't change it now. Of course, it also doesn't take into account that most charters have robust national fundraising networks that can, and do, raise many millions of dollars for their charters. Even if a charter is not affiliated with a national chain, mom and pop charters still benefit from local foundation money,which DCPS cannot tap into.

[Anonymous]

It is easy to stop overcrowding at Wilson and Deal: if you are in a feeder school OOB, you have to lottery in. If that had happened, SW and Crestwood could have stayed in-bounds for Wilson with dozens of OOB slots available through the lottery for each of those schools each year.

This was proposed during the DME's assignment/boundary review and she rejected it. Basically, she kowtowed to families who got their 3yos into Hearst and felt entitled to Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's so funny that sooo many potential Wilson families scream about getting all the OOB kids OUT of Wilson because it's just SO CROWDED, when in reality, if you barred OOB kids from Wilson (46% currently) you would have a high school of about 900 kids, far too small to offer what Wilson students currently enjoy. And then guess what, everyone in NW would be screaming about how Wilson did a bait and switch and now they don't have the courses all those parents want their geniuses to have access to.

If you limited OOB kids to the actual seats available you'd have a full school with no crowding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NO they do not. And PP you're exactly correct. It does perpetuate the disadvantages we already have when we try to support our local neighborhood school. We have this funding system because of the charter schools. It was set up this way to be "equal" funding for charters and to foster as many charters as possible, and is seen as the most advantageous to charters funding system in the country. Now we know that what is "equal" is not necessarily equitable, but we can't change it now. Of course, it also doesn't take into account that most charters have robust national fundraising networks that can, and do, raise many millions of dollars for their charters. Even if a charter is not affiliated with a national chain, mom and pop charters still benefit from local foundation money,which DCPS cannot tap into.

Some of these facts might be slightly incorrect. I believe the per pupil funding formula is used to allocate fundin to LEAs (e.g. DCPS, KIPP, Mundo Verde), but LEAs have discretion in allocating to their schools and campuses. I think DCPS in the past has used a weighted student formula, and could, if it elected to, allocate more funding per pupil to some schools versus others. Also, DCPS has the DC public education fund, which can receive philanthropic donations to invest in specific programs and schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the outcomes of the boundary review process was to align the Wilson feeder boundary with the Hardy and Deal feeders - meaning that a huge swath of Foggy Bottom, SW and Capitol Hill will be cut out of the boundary.

This is expected to help curb enrollment growth.

Map here; new boundary in blue, old boundary in the green outline

http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/Files/downloads/COMMUNITY/Final%20proposal%20and%20boundaries%202014/Wilson.pdf

I sorta remember that there weren't all that many kids from the "cut off" zone in SW, etc. Anyone know the numbers?

It was not just SW. We are in NW and were cut off from Wilson, now rerouted to Cardozo.

[Anonymous]

The whole city cannot feed into one high school.

[Anonymous]

NP. I see all the stress over parents fighting to stuff extra kids into Wilson as a positive direction for DC, because it shows that there are more families that there used to be who are demanding better education for their children and who are willing to sacrifice to get that better education. The problem (a good problem to have) is that Wilson is no longer big enough to hold all those education-focused families.

But unfortunately, the hard solution is that some families need to be re-routed to a different school. No one wants to be re-routed to a different school, but it's the only solution. DCPS needs to do its part to create at least one strong alternative school for the Wilson overflow. But ultimately, some families will have to be pushed out.

The recent boundary revisions were a move in the right direction, but I don't think they can be the end of the process. More frustration to come for those on the edges of Wilson's new boundaries. But remember, it's ultimately a good thing, because the critical mass of students pushed out of Wilson will form the nucleus of the next great DCPS school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. I see all the stress over parents fighting to stuff extra kids into Wilson as a positive direction for DC, because it shows that there are more families that there used to be who are demanding better education for their children and who are willing to sacrifice to get that better education. The problem (a good problem to have) is that Wilson is no longer big enough to hold all those education-focused families.

But unfortunately, the hard solution is that some families need to be re-routed to a different school. No one wants to be re-routed to a different school, but it's the only solution. DCPS needs to do its part to create at least one strong alternative school for the Wilson overflow. But ultimately, some families will have to be pushed out.

The recent boundary revisions were a move in the right direction, but I don't think they can be the end of the process. More frustration to come for those on the edges of Wilson's new boundaries. But remember, it's ultimately a good thing, because the critical mass of students pushed out of Wilson will form the nucleus of the next great DCPS school.

They need to make changes before they are necessary if they want to improve the overcrowding. For example, how many students are supposed to be in Wilson? Does anyone know that number?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[H]ow many students are supposed to be in Wilson? Does anyone know that number?

1600 is the Wilson building capacity. Wilson was at 1696 students in 2013-14. Only 43 students were removed from Wilson as a result of the changes. Lots of data available from the links in the FAQ.
http://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/Wilson.pdf
http://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/Impact%20Analysis%20Final%20Boundaries.pdf (page 30)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[H]ow many students are supposed to be in Wilson? Does anyone know that number?

1600 is the Wilson building capacity. Wilson was at 1696 students in 2013-14. Only 43 students were removed from Wilson as a result of the changes. Lots of data available from the links in the FAQ.
http://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/Wilson.pdf
http://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/Impact%20Analysis%20Final%20Boundaries.pdf (page 30)

This is such a good example of how inept DCPS is. They know they need to make further changes to the boundaries and are just kicking the can. How will this be addressed? Does the building not have a fire code limit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[H]ow many students are supposed to be in Wilson? Does anyone know that number?

1600 is the Wilson building capacity. Wilson was at 1696 students in 2013-14. Only 43 students were removed from Wilson as a result of the changes. Lots of data available from the links in the FAQ.
http://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/Wilson.pdf
http://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/Impact%20Analysis%20Final%20Boundaries.pdf (page 30)

This is such a good example of how inept DCPS is. They know they need to make further changes to the boundaries and are just kicking the can. How will this be addressed? Does the building not have a fire code limit?

Meanwhile, construction is underway to add six classrooms to Janney. That's probably 120-150 kids just at one school. And every single one of them has the right to attend Deal and Wilson. So 43 subtracted due to boundary revision, 120 added due to increased capacity of feeder schools. Meanwhile, expansions are also underway or planned at Murch, Lafayette, Hearst, Eaton and Mann. That sound you hear is a can being kicked.