Status of Eaton Renovation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DGS is apparently really good at contracting interior-only renovations. They can get that done in a single summer.

I'd be on board with just an interior reno. Given the budget all we're getting is window dressing anyway. Swing space just sounds awful for commuting purposes considering I'm not even sure what the options would be. I know it was supposed to eventually be in Meyer in what, 2024?, but Hyde Addison is using that so it's a no-go, I sincerely doubt UDC has any interest in being a swing space again, so that leaves what? There's no room to swing on site given the previously mentioned small playground.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DGS is apparently really good at contracting interior-only renovations. They can get that done in a single summer.

I'd be on board with just an interior reno. Given the budget all we're getting is window dressing anyway. Swing space just sounds awful for commuting purposes considering I'm not even sure what the options would be. I know it was supposed to eventually be in Meyer in what, 2024?, but Hyde Addison is using that so it's a no-go, I sincerely doubt UDC has any interest in being a swing space again, so that leaves what? There's no room to swing on site given the previously mentioned small playground.

Hyde Addison will be out of Meyer in 2019.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DGS is apparently really good at contracting interior-only renovations. They can get that done in a single summer.

I'd be on board with just an interior reno. Given the budget all we're getting is window dressing anyway. Swing space just sounds awful for commuting purposes considering I'm not even sure what the options would be. I know it was supposed to eventually be in Meyer in what, 2024?, but Hyde Addison is using that so it's a no-go, I sincerely doubt UDC has any interest in being a swing space again, so that leaves what? There's no room to swing on site given the previously mentioned small playground.

Hyde Addison will be out of Meyer in 2019.

Right. Eaton's renovation is now supposed to start this coming June and be completed by the time school opens in August 2019. So it overlaps with Hyde's time at Meyer now, when on the old schedule it was supposed to be well after Hyde's use of Meyer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DGS is apparently really good at contracting interior-only renovations. They can get that done in a single summer.

I'd be on board with just an interior reno. Given the budget all we're getting is window dressing anyway. Swing space just sounds awful for commuting purposes considering I'm not even sure what the options would be. I know it was supposed to eventually be in Meyer in what, 2024?, but Hyde Addison is using that so it's a no-go, I sincerely doubt UDC has any interest in being a swing space again, so that leaves what? There's no room to swing on site given the previously mentioned small playground.

Hyde Addison will be out of Meyer in 2019.

Right. Eaton's renovation is now supposed to start this coming June and be completed by the time school opens in August 2019. So it overlaps with Hyde's time at Meyer now, when on the old schedule it was supposed to be well after Hyde's use of Meyer.

Hm. Murch will be out of UDC by then ...

[Anonymous]

There was an HSA meeting last night. The basic story is no one knows anything. DGS and DCPS have told Eaton nothing.

The majority of people who attend Eaton HSA meetings want this not to happen right away. And they don't want a smoke and mirrors job, of just slapping on some paint. Eaton needs a full renovation just like every other school, and doesn't appreciate Mary Cheh "finding" an insufficient amount of money. Eaton wants a full year to plan and a full two year renovation that gets almost everything needed.

The whole thing sucks. Mary Cheh is no friend of Eaton, that's for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was an HSA meeting last night. The basic story is no one knows anything. DGS and DCPS have told Eaton nothing.

The majority of people who attend Eaton HSA meetings want this not to happen right away. And they don't want a smoke and mirrors job, of just slapping on some paint. Eaton needs a full renovation just like every other school, and doesn't appreciate Mary Cheh "finding" an insufficient amount of money. Eaton wants a full year to plan and a full two year renovation that gets almost everything needed.

The whole thing sucks. Mary Cheh is no friend of Eaton, that's for sure.

She did the bare minimum to help Murch when Bowser tried to submarine its renovation, and her kids went there. She just doesn't care about anything that isn't her idea in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was an HSA meeting last night. The basic story is no one knows anything. DGS and DCPS have told Eaton nothing.

The majority of people who attend Eaton HSA meetings want this not to happen right away. And they don't want a smoke and mirrors job, of just slapping on some paint. Eaton needs a full renovation just like every other school, and doesn't appreciate Mary Cheh "finding" an insufficient amount of money. Eaton wants a full year to plan and a full two year renovation that gets almost everything needed.

The whole thing sucks. Mary Cheh is no friend of Eaton, that's for sure.

Well, that's been clear for quite some time. She's also two faced about it - first insisting the shelter would have no impact on Eaton (HA) and now "finding" some paltry renovation budget and using the shelter as justification for moving Eaton up. I think she finally sniffed out that fact that Eaton will soon be very much an IB school and she would continue to ignore it at her own peril. In the past she didn't care about Eaton because it was so heavily OOB that the parents were not her constituency. But that has all changed in a very quick 3 years given the school will likely reach 70% IB this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't Mary Cheh promise that John Eaton E.S. would be fully renovated before the Cathedral Commons (Idaho Ave.) homeless shelter opens? If so, what are the plans? Has DCPS provided any scope on additional classroom seats, new multipurpose space, parking, design goals, etc.? Based on reports of renovations at Janney, Murch, Lafayette, Ellington, etc., good planning takes time and a rushed process usually runs into pitfalls.

With the $25 million she "found," there is legit no chance Eaton gets parking. It would have to go underground. $25 million to excavate underground and actually do anything of substance to the interior space just isn't going to cut it. And there really isn't anywhere on Eaton's property to create either additional seats (which I would argue it doesn't need since I think the school shook out at 60ish percent IB last year) or add a proper cafeteria separate from the current multipurpose room. They'd have to eat the playground, which is already small compared to other public schools and frankly, I'd rather my kid stay with the current not ideal space inside than have even less space to play outside.

DCPS would like to add additional classroom space to Eaton somehow. There is continued strong demand for OOB seats west of the Park, and fewer and fewer seats as IB enrollment increases. Hearst and Eaton are the last of the upper NW elementaries to "flip," and politically it's very tough to see OOB enrollment squeezed further. It DCPS could add classroom on top of the school on along the side, then there would still be substantial OOB places even as IB climbs. This would be a win for DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't Mary Cheh promise that John Eaton E.S. would be fully renovated before the Cathedral Commons (Idaho Ave.) homeless shelter opens? If so, what are the plans? Has DCPS provided any scope on additional classroom seats, new multipurpose space, parking, design goals, etc.? Based on reports of renovations at Janney, Murch, Lafayette, Ellington, etc., good planning takes time and a rushed process usually runs into pitfalls.

With the $25 million she "found," there is legit no chance Eaton gets parking. It would have to go underground. $25 million to excavate underground and actually do anything of substance to the interior space just isn't going to cut it. And there really isn't anywhere on Eaton's property to create either additional seats (which I would argue it doesn't need since I think the school shook out at 60ish percent IB last year) or add a proper cafeteria separate from the current multipurpose room. They'd have to eat the playground, which is already small compared to other public schools and frankly, I'd rather my kid stay with the current not ideal space inside than have even less space to play outside.

DCPS would like to add additional classroom space to Eaton somehow. There is continued strong demand for OOB seats west of the Park, and fewer and fewer seats as IB enrollment increases. Hearst and Eaton are the last of the upper NW elementaries to "flip," and politically it's very tough to see OOB enrollment squeezed further. It DCPS could add classroom on top of the school on along the side, then there would still be substantial OOB places even as IB climbs. This would be a win for DCPS.

No room on either side. Maybe up, but if it's visible at all from the front, the risk of rejection from the historic board is high since Eaton was a cornerstone of the application to become an historic district in the first place. You could build back slightly from the ece area, but you would lose the little kid playground and compromise egress possibly. I don't realistically see how Eaton becomes bigger. They should have expanded Hearst when they were doing that reno. Eaton is on an extremely finite piece of property and is subject to historic preservation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't Mary Cheh promise that John Eaton E.S. would be fully renovated before the Cathedral Commons (Idaho Ave.) homeless shelter opens? If so, what are the plans? Has DCPS provided any scope on additional classroom seats, new multipurpose space, parking, design goals, etc.? Based on reports of renovations at Janney, Murch, Lafayette, Ellington, etc., good planning takes time and a rushed process usually runs into pitfalls.

With the $25 million she "found," there is legit no chance Eaton gets parking. It would have to go underground. $25 million to excavate underground and actually do anything of substance to the interior space just isn't going to cut it. And there really isn't anywhere on Eaton's property to create either additional seats (which I would argue it doesn't need since I think the school shook out at 60ish percent IB last year) or add a proper cafeteria separate from the current multipurpose room. They'd have to eat the playground, which is already small compared to other public schools and frankly, I'd rather my kid stay with the current not ideal space inside than have even less space to play outside.

DCPS would like to add additional classroom space to Eaton somehow. There is continued strong demand for OOB seats west of the Park, and fewer and fewer seats as IB enrollment increases. Hearst and Eaton are the last of the upper NW elementaries to "flip," and politically it's very tough to see OOB enrollment squeezed further. It DCPS could add classroom on top of the school on along the side, then there would still be substantial OOB places even as IB climbs. This would be a win for DCPS.

No room on either side. Maybe up, but if it's visible at all from the front, the risk of rejection from the historic board is high since Eaton was a cornerstone of the application to become an historic district in the first place. You could build back slightly from the ece area, but you would lose the little kid playground and compromise egress possibly. I don't realistically see how Eaton becomes bigger. They should have expanded Hearst when they were doing that reno. Eaton is on an extremely finite piece of property and is subject to historic preservation.

Even without historic protections, it's hard to see how Eaton meaningfully builds above-ground, even on the side. If they build on the 34th St side, they totally eliminate the service area for loading, garbage pickup, etc., as well as part of the playground. On the opposite site, a large part of the playground area goes, and building toward Macomb St. would really impact play space. And, at this point, Eaton has one of the smallest (including on a per student basis) school yards in DC.

There's an opportunity to demolish and rebuild the ugly hyphen that was built in the Sixties (and resembles an East Bloc-era government building). But Eaton probably couldn't build the hyphen higher than the older wings without triggering historic preservation concerns. The only real way that Eaton can expand is underground, such as cut and cover gym space under the playground, with high windows along 33rd Pl. (sort of like what Sidwell did). But classrooms underground would not make sense. And, in any event, why would Eaton need to add significant classroom space when a large percentage of the student body is OOB? If Eaton diligently manages OOB enrollment down over the next few years, overcrowding should decrease significantly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't Mary Cheh promise that John Eaton E.S. would be fully renovated before the Cathedral Commons (Idaho Ave.) homeless shelter opens? If so, what are the plans? Has DCPS provided any scope on additional classroom seats, new multipurpose space, parking, design goals, etc.? Based on reports of renovations at Janney, Murch, Lafayette, Ellington, etc., good planning takes time and a rushed process usually runs into pitfalls.

With the $25 million she "found," there is legit no chance Eaton gets parking. It would have to go underground. $25 million to excavate underground and actually do anything of substance to the interior space just isn't going to cut it. And there really isn't anywhere on Eaton's property to create either additional seats (which I would argue it doesn't need since I think the school shook out at 60ish percent IB last year) or add a proper cafeteria separate from the current multipurpose room. They'd have to eat the playground, which is already small compared to other public schools and frankly, I'd rather my kid stay with the current not ideal space inside than have even less space to play outside.

DCPS would like to add additional classroom space to Eaton somehow. There is continued strong demand for OOB seats west of the Park, and fewer and fewer seats as IB enrollment increases. Hearst and Eaton are the last of the upper NW elementaries to "flip," and politically it's very tough to see OOB enrollment squeezed further. It DCPS could add classroom on top of the school on along the side, then there would still be substantial OOB places even as IB climbs. This would be a win for DCPS.

No room on either side. Maybe up, but if it's visible at all from the front, the risk of rejection from the historic board is high since Eaton was a cornerstone of the application to become an historic district in the first place. You could build back slightly from the ece area, but you would lose the little kid playground and compromise egress possibly. I don't realistically see how Eaton becomes bigger. They should have expanded Hearst when they were doing that reno. Eaton is on an extremely finite piece of property and is subject to historic preservation.

Even without historic protections, it's hard to see how Eaton meaningfully builds above-ground, even on the side. If they build on the 34th St side, they totally eliminate the service area for loading, garbage pickup, etc., as well as part of the playground. On the opposite site, a large part of the playground area goes, and building toward Macomb St. would really impact play space. And, at this point, Eaton has one of the smallest (including on a per student basis) school yards in DC.

There's an opportunity to demolish and rebuild the ugly hyphen that was built in the Sixties (and resembles an East Bloc-era government building). But Eaton probably couldn't build the hyphen higher than the older wings without triggering historic preservation concerns. The only real way that Eaton can expand is underground, such as cut and cover gym space under the playground, with high windows along 33rd Pl. (sort of like what Sidwell did). But classrooms underground would not make sense. And, in any event, why would Eaton need to add significant classroom space when a large percentage of the student body is OOB? If Eaton diligently manages OOB enrollment down over the next few years, overcrowding should decrease significantly.

"Downtown" and some of the Eaton admins pat themselves on the back for 'sharing' Eaton with lots of OOB. They don't seem to think it matters that the overcrowding makes the experience worse for students generally.

[Anonymous]

The numbers come from central office, not from the educators who actually work at Eaton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The numbers come from central office, not from the educators who actually work at Eaton.

Then why is the central office insisting on overcrowding Eaton when neighborhood enrollment is climbing? The reason for OOB enrollment is to make excess slots available rather than having them go unused. When a school is overcapacity, it's past time to ratchet back OOB enrollment. What exactly is DCPS thinks ng?

[Anonymous]

Thinking

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The numbers come from central office, not from the educators who actually work at Eaton.

Then why is the central office insisting on overcrowding Eaton when neighborhood enrollment is climbing? The reason for OOB enrollment is to make excess slots available rather than having them go unused. When a school is overcapacity, it's past time to ratchet back OOB enrollment. What exactly is DCPS thinks ng?

It's been ratcheted back. Look at the data from the 16-17 lottery compared to 15-16. https://public.tableau.com/profile/aaron2446#!/vizhome/MSDCSeatsandWaitlistOfferData/MSDCPublicDisplay

Where they still admit OOB students it generally is to make the budget work so that large class can be split into 2 or 3 and make the budget work.