The fate of Fillmore

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this a WOTP thing?

Not exactly. Housed at Hardy middle school, Fillmore provides arts instruction to students from Key, River Terrace, Ross, Stoddert and West.

It requires bussing the kids to Hardy, and the schools that use it devote part of their school's budget to pay for it. http://fillmoreartscenter.org/about-2/

Fewer schools use it now than in the past. Marie Reed used to be a Fillmore school, but now that its renovation is complete they do arts instruction in-house.

River Terrace and West are nowhere near Fillmore! There has to be a better way. The intra-day commute makes no sense.

West parent here. Fillmore comes to West once per week. It seems like a great arrangement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would eliminate PK3 and PK4 if necessary at these schools to create arts classroom.

Install sinks. Hire teachers.

Stoddert does not have PS3 and ONE PK4 classroom, which is physically designed built to serve little children (everything is tiny). The inboundary population for Stoddert could easily fill 4 PK classes each year, yet compared to every other quadrant of the city (where PS3 is offered) and just about every other DCPS (where more than one PK class is offered) DCPS serves the fewest families at Stoddert with regard to PS3 and PK. Anyway, cutting that one measly class won't produce the space needed for arts education. Our staff parking lot is full of trailers already. No, we don't need to install a sink an hire teachers. We need DGS to get on the ball and add a freaking wing to the school and have DCPS quit threatening us every other year with the elimination of our art programming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would be inequitable to require schools without arts classrooms (that is, the Fillmore feeder schools) to use regular classrooms for art. The Fillmore schools are the only ones throughout DCPS to not have such dedicated space and equipment. Hence, the structural need for Fillmore Arts, as a matter of policy.

One idea would be to convert the "old Hardy school" on Foxhall to a space for K and 1st grade students. Then the Fillmore feeder schools would automatically have rooms for arts classrooms, as well as address their overcrowding problem.

At our elementary school, there is one arts room (not quite typical classroom size). What is so deficient about using the kids' regular classroom for art?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would be inequitable to require schools without arts classrooms (that is, the Fillmore feeder schools) to use regular classrooms for art. The Fillmore schools are the only ones throughout DCPS to not have such dedicated space and equipment. Hence, the structural need for Fillmore Arts, as a matter of policy.

One idea would be to convert the "old Hardy school" on Foxhall to a space for K and 1st grade students. Then the Fillmore feeder schools would automatically have rooms for arts classrooms, as well as address their overcrowding problem.

A better idea is to move Fillmore to the "old Hardy school" (and not hand it over to Lab) so that Hardy MS can reclaim the Fillmore space (the school is growing and will need it). One of the biggest gripes you'll get about the Old Hardy School is concern from the hood about traffic. Well, if it's used as Fillmore, the "traffic" is buses that come and go on a schedule, not a hundred or two hundred parents arriving each morning and each afternoon to collect their 4 year olds.

[Anonymous]

Former Ross parent here. Another thing we really liked about Fillmore was the instrumental music program. Nice to see kids from all backgrounds have the opportunity to try an instrument. There really is no room at all in the Ross building for music, in addition to no room for art. There is exactly one tiny "multi-purpose" room, that is used for a mini cafeteria (that can only fit one class at a time). No room to store supplies, much less to conduct these classes. And no room on the grounds to expand or add a trailer.
Fillmore isn't perfect, but it's pretty decent and has been a good solution for schools like Ross that have no on-site alternatives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former Ross parent here. Another thing we really liked about Fillmore was the instrumental music program. Nice to see kids from all backgrounds have the opportunity to try an instrument. There really is no room at all in the Ross building for music, in addition to no room for art. There is exactly one tiny "multi-purpose" room, that is used for a mini cafeteria (that can only fit one class at a time). No room to store supplies, much less to conduct these classes. And no room on the grounds to expand or add a trailer.
Fillmore isn't perfect, but it's pretty decent and has been a good solution for schools like Ross that have no on-site alternatives.

Or we close Ross, which is too small, and move those children to better-sized schools that can handle the needs of a modern elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this a WOTP thing?

Not exactly. Housed at Hardy middle school, Fillmore provides arts instruction to students from Key, River Terrace, Ross, Stoddert and West.

It requires bussing the kids to Hardy, and the schools that use it devote part of their school's budget to pay for it. http://fillmoreartscenter.org/about-2/

Fewer schools use it now than in the past. Marie Reed used to be a Fillmore school, but now that its renovation is complete they do arts instruction in-house.

River Terrace and West are nowhere near Fillmore! There has to be a better way. The intra-day commute makes no sense.

West parent here. Fillmore comes to West once per week. It seems like a great arrangement.

An even better arrangement would be to hire art teachers who work at West full time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this a WOTP thing?

Not exactly. Housed at Hardy middle school, Fillmore provides arts instruction to students from Key, River Terrace, Ross, Stoddert and West.

It requires bussing the kids to Hardy, and the schools that use it devote part of their school's budget to pay for it. http://fillmoreartscenter.org/about-2/

Fewer schools use it now than in the past. Marie Reed used to be a Fillmore school, but now that its renovation is complete they do arts instruction in-house.

River Terrace and West are nowhere near Fillmore! There has to be a better way. The intra-day commute makes no sense.

West parent here. Fillmore comes to West once per week. It seems like a great arrangement.

An even better arrangement would be to hire art teachers who work at West full time.

We have a fantastic art teacher full time. Fillmore brings in music. I don’t know the details, but it seems like it works better than a part time music teacher. Why do you care how we do it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this a WOTP thing?

Not exactly. Housed at Hardy middle school, Fillmore provides arts instruction to students from Key, River Terrace, Ross, Stoddert and West.

It requires bussing the kids to Hardy, and the schools that use it devote part of their school's budget to pay for it. http://fillmoreartscenter.org/about-2/

Fewer schools use it now than in the past. Marie Reed used to be a Fillmore school, but now that its renovation is complete they do arts instruction in-house.

River Terrace and West are nowhere near Fillmore! There has to be a better way. The intra-day commute makes no sense.

West parent here. Fillmore comes to West once per week. It seems like a great arrangement.

An even better arrangement would be to hire art teachers who work at West full time.

We have a fantastic art teacher full time. Fillmore brings in music. I don’t know the details, but it seems like it works better than a part time music teacher. Why do you care how we do it?

Because I'd like to see less bussing and Hardy used fully for middle schoolers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this a WOTP thing?

Not exactly. Housed at Hardy middle school, Fillmore provides arts instruction to students from Key, River Terrace, Ross, Stoddert and West.

It requires bussing the kids to Hardy, and the schools that use it devote part of their school's budget to pay for it. http://fillmoreartscenter.org/about-2/

Fewer schools use it now than in the past. Marie Reed used to be a Fillmore school, but now that its renovation is complete they do arts instruction in-house.

River Terrace and West are nowhere near Fillmore! There has to be a better way. The intra-day commute makes no sense.

West parent here. Fillmore comes to West once per week. It seems like a great arrangement.

An even better arrangement would be to hire art teachers who work at West full time.

We have a fantastic art teacher full time. Fillmore brings in music. I don’t know the details, but it seems like it works better than a part time music teacher. Why do you care how we do it?

Because I'd like to see less bussing and Hardy used fully for middle schoolers.

Then of course you must also be an advocate for resolving the Fillmore schools' absence of available classroom space...no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this a WOTP thing?

Not exactly. Housed at Hardy middle school, Fillmore provides arts instruction to students from Key, River Terrace, Ross, Stoddert and West.

It requires bussing the kids to Hardy, and the schools that use it devote part of their school's budget to pay for it. http://fillmoreartscenter.org/about-2/

Fewer schools use it now than in the past. Marie Reed used to be a Fillmore school, but now that its renovation is complete they do arts instruction in-house.

River Terrace and West are nowhere near Fillmore! There has to be a better way. The intra-day commute makes no sense.

West parent here. Fillmore comes to West once per week. It seems like a great arrangement.

An even better arrangement would be to hire art teachers who work at West full time.

We have a fantastic art teacher full time. Fillmore brings in music. I don’t know the details, but it seems like it works better than a part time music teacher. Why do you care how we do it?

Because I'd like to see less bussing and Hardy used fully for middle schoolers.

Then of course you must also be an advocate for resolving the Fillmore schools' absence of available classroom space...no?

Fillmore needs to end. It has outlived its usefulness. The PP above has it right. Having it there allows DCPS to kick the can down the road forever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this a WOTP thing?

Not exactly. Housed at Hardy middle school, Fillmore provides arts instruction to students from Key, River Terrace, Ross, Stoddert and West.

It requires bussing the kids to Hardy, and the schools that use it devote part of their school's budget to pay for it. http://fillmoreartscenter.org/about-2/

Fewer schools use it now than in the past. Marie Reed used to be a Fillmore school, but now that its renovation is complete they do arts instruction in-house.

River Terrace and West are nowhere near Fillmore! There has to be a better way. The intra-day commute makes no sense.

West parent here. Fillmore comes to West once per week. It seems like a great arrangement.

An even better arrangement would be to hire art teachers who work at West full time.

We have a fantastic art teacher full time. Fillmore brings in music. I don’t know the details, but it seems like it works better than a part time music teacher. Why do you care how we do it?

Because I'd like to see less bussing and Hardy used fully for middle schoolers.

So shouldn’t your issue be with schools that send students to Fillmore, not schools that bring Fillmore to them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would be inequitable to require schools without arts classrooms (that is, the Fillmore feeder schools) to use regular classrooms for art. The Fillmore schools are the only ones throughout DCPS to not have such dedicated space and equipment. Hence, the structural need for Fillmore Arts, as a matter of policy.

In the last Fillmore crisis/fire drill DCPS played the equity card but in the other direction, saying that since not every school had a program like Fillmore, none should be allowed to have it.

The problem with this argument is that the logical conclusion is that, in every category, no school can ever have anything that is better than the worst school in DCPS has.

Anonymous wrote:
One idea would be to convert the "old Hardy school" on Foxhall to a space for K and 1st grade students. Then the Fillmore feeder schools would automatically have rooms for arts classrooms, as well as address their overcrowding problem.

I agree that old Hardy is the most likely solution for the long run. But there's another four years on the lease there. So for the 2018 version of the fire drill -- and the 2020 one as well -- it's not yet the answer.

[Anonymous]

This premise thread acts like Fillmore is some kind of a problem. Where's the problem? Despite the ongoing budget cuts, Fillmore works great, and no one who uses it wants it to go away. Some kinda weirdness with the initial mindset that there's even a question here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this a WOTP thing?

Not exactly. Housed at Hardy middle school, Fillmore provides arts instruction to students from Key, River Terrace, Ross, Stoddert and West.

It requires bussing the kids to Hardy, and the schools that use it devote part of their school's budget to pay for it. http://fillmoreartscenter.org/about-2/

Fewer schools use it now than in the past. Marie Reed used to be a Fillmore school, but now that its renovation is complete they do arts instruction in-house.

River Terrace and West are nowhere near Fillmore! There has to be a better way. The intra-day commute makes no sense.

West parent here. Fillmore comes to West once per week. It seems like a great arrangement.

An even better arrangement would be to hire art teachers who work at West full time.

We have a fantastic art teacher full time. Fillmore brings in music. I don’t know the details, but it seems like it works better than a part time music teacher. Why do you care how we do it?

Because I'd like to see less bussing and Hardy used fully for middle schoolers.

So shouldn’t your issue be with schools that send students to Fillmore, not schools that bring Fillmore to them?

Fillmore can't stay afloat without the schools sending students to them.