Class Size at DCPS Brent Elementary in Capitol Hill

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP can talk to the LSAT all she wants without the LSAT being able to fix the crowding. Brent is out of real estate and in the possession of a 10 million budget to build a six-classroom addition the school can't spend, because DCPS no longer renovates piecemeal. Ditching PS3 would make little difference - ECE classes are far too small to serve as regular classes. The principal is hardly allowing any OOB kids to enroll - its a myth that a bunch of OOB siblings are coming in. THere were only 3 in 1st grade this year. The issue is that too many IB kids are coming into the lower grades for class sizes to stay small and there's really no room on campus for more classroom trailers. Only DCPS can fix the problem by adding classroom space.

Take out the PK3 and then you can do some remodeling to get the room sizes you need.

https://public.tableau.com/profile/aaron2446#!/vizhome/MSDCSeatsandWaitlistOfferData/MSDCPublicDisplay

Who is getting all the waitlist offers displayed on this site? IB kids would not be waitlisted in K and above, so is has to be OOB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What good would that do when the DCPS schools whose boundaries abut Brent's are also overcrowded? On the Brent District's southern border, Van Ness is likely to need classroom trailers to get to 5th grade in two years. On the northern border, Peabody can't absorb anywhere near all the 3-6 year olds applying to PreS3 and PreK4 in its catchment area and has large K classes. On the western border, Tyler Spanish immersion has an in-boundary waiting list. Where the logic in DCPS shifting Brent's crowding issues to one or more neighboring schools?

What's needed is political attention to crowding in popular schools with high SES populations all over the City. What was DCPS thinking when they auctioned off one old school building after another to developers on the Hill 10-20 years back? Let us guess, they weren't thinking about anything but getting the cash for the real estate.

20 years back you would not have lived on the hill. I needed to get something to my brother who worked at the Navy Yard. He told me to keep driving around until I saw him and make sure my doors were locked. I grew up and lived in Urban areas - but this was the reality or being safe.

[Anonymous]

NP. Not time to change boundaries, time to change planning priorities....

DCPS schools appealing strongly to neighborhood families should not be punished for their success! The classroom trailers at Brent which have kept the specials team intact for now, have eaten up a good chunk of the playground, around a third. Even so, more than 50 schools are above Brent on the list of buildings to be renovated/expanded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What good would that do when the DCPS schools whose boundaries abut Brent's are also overcrowded? On the Brent District's southern border, Van Ness is likely to need classroom trailers to get to 5th grade in two years. On the northern border, Peabody can't absorb anywhere near all the 3-6 year olds applying to PreS3 and PreK4 in its catchment area and has large K classes. On the western border, Tyler Spanish immersion has an in-boundary waiting list. Where the logic in DCPS shifting Brent's crowding issues to one or more neighboring schools?

What's needed is political attention to crowding in popular schools with high SES populations all over the City. What was DCPS thinking when they auctioned off one old school building after another to developers on the Hill 10-20 years back? Let us guess, they weren't thinking about anything but getting the cash for the real estate.

20 years back you would not have lived on the hill. I needed to get something to my brother who worked at the Navy Yard. He told me to keep driving around until I saw him and make sure my doors were locked. I grew up and lived in Urban areas - but this was the reality or being safe.

We've lived on the Hill for over 20 years, providing for quick commutes to the Congressional offices where we work. We were married for over a decade before we had kids and bought in-boundary for Brent.

We've watched the population of school-aged kids in the neighborhood explode since we arrived in the late 90s. We've also watched one classy old DCPS building after another get auctioned off to a condo developer. The myopic game started with the Carberry school on 5th St NE. The Pierce school on Maryland was next, then the Lennox School on 5th in SE, and finally the Bryan school on Independence. Insanity.

At least DCPS has finally stopped selling off school real estate around here, buildings that could have been used to catch overflow from today's overcrowded schools.

[Anonymous]

Isn't Brent in the process of getting trailers? In the short term that will address class size.

Longer term the boundaries need to be changed unless the baby boom subsides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What good would that do when the DCPS schools whose boundaries abut Brent's are also overcrowded? On the Brent District's southern border, Van Ness is likely to need classroom trailers to get to 5th grade in two years. On the northern border, Peabody can't absorb anywhere near all the 3-6 year olds applying to PreS3 and PreK4 in its catchment area and has large K classes. On the western border, Tyler Spanish immersion has an in-boundary waiting list. Where the logic in DCPS shifting Brent's crowding issues to one or more neighboring schools?

What's needed is political attention to crowding in popular schools with high SES populations all over the City. What was DCPS thinking when they auctioned off one old school building after another to developers on the Hill 10-20 years back? Let us guess, they weren't thinking about anything but getting the cash for the real estate.

20 years back you would not have lived on the hill. I needed to get something to my brother who worked at the Navy Yard. He told me to keep driving around until I saw him and make sure my doors were locked. I grew up and lived in Urban areas - but this was the reality or being safe.

We've lived on the Hill for over 20 years, providing for quick commutes to the Congressional offices where we work. We were married for over a decade before we had kids and bought in-boundary for Brent.

We've watched the population of school-aged kids in the neighborhood explode since we arrived in the late 90s. We've also watched one classy old DCPS building after another get auctioned off to a condo developer. The myopic game started with the Carberry school on 5th St NE. The Pierce school on Maryland was next, then the Lennox School on 5th in SE, and finally the Bryan school on Independence. Insanity.

At least DCPS has finally stopped selling off school real estate around here, buildings that could have been used to catch overflow from today's overcrowded schools.

THese same developers are the reason your property value has changed and you are comfortable raising your family on the hill

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't Brent in the process of getting trailers? In the short term that will address class size.

Longer term the boundaries need to be changed unless the baby boom subsides.

Brent has 2 trailers already and frankly there is not a lot of room to put any more. And to those who suggest boundary changes, review the comment above that details how Brent is surrounded by 3 over crowded schools.

The real issue is political. Ward 6 has beeen last in renovations for years. Last to get their middle schools done and now with a long list of elementary schools that are over crowded or have major facility needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't Brent in the process of getting trailers? In the short term that will address class size.

Longer term the boundaries need to be changed unless the baby boom subsides.

Brent has 2 trailers already and frankly there is not a lot of room to put any more. And to those who suggest boundary changes, review the comment above that details how Brent is surrounded by 3 over crowded schools.

The real issue is political. Ward 6 has beeen last in renovations for years. Last to get their middle schools done and now with a long list of elementary schools that are over crowded or have major facility needs.

Are Tyler and Payne overcrowded?

[Anonymous]

Just spitballing here. What about DCPS opening a dedicated preschool on the Hill to relieve some of the overcrowding caused by PK classes? Could be a training/demonstration school for ECE in general.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't Brent in the process of getting trailers? In the short term that will address class size.

Longer term the boundaries need to be changed unless the baby boom subsides.

Brent has 2 trailers already and frankly there is not a lot of room to put any more. And to those who suggest boundary changes, review the comment above that details how Brent is surrounded by 3 over crowded schools.

The real issue is political. Ward 6 has beeen last in renovations for years. Last to get their middle schools done and now with a long list of elementary schools that are over crowded or have major facility needs.

Nope. Ward 4, 7 and 8 don't have renovated middle schools -- and in fact no middle schools in some places (still ECs). Ward 4 is just now starting on one of its high schools. Ward 6 is not last in line in this regard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just spitballing here. What about DCPS opening a dedicated preschool on the Hill to relieve some of the overcrowding caused by PK classes? Could be a training/demonstration school for ECE in general.

Free preschool for the affluent is not and should not be a priority. DCPS is not short of good preschool teachers.

If Brent is overcrowded it is welcome to cut Pk3 like schools WOTP. If not, then it is not really overcrowded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just spitballing here. What about DCPS opening a dedicated preschool on the Hill to relieve some of the overcrowding caused by PK classes? Could be a training/demonstration school for ECE in general.

Free preschool for the affluent is not and should not be a priority. DCPS is not short of good preschool teachers.

If Brent is overcrowded it is welcome to cut Pk3 like schools WOTP. If not, then it is not really overcrowded.

If Brent is overcrowded, DCPS has no business admitting OOB kids. I say this as someone OOB who would love to get into Brent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just spitballing here. What about DCPS opening a dedicated preschool on the Hill to relieve some of the overcrowding caused by PK classes? Could be a training/demonstration school for ECE in general.

Free preschool for the affluent is not and should not be a priority. DCPS is not short of good preschool teachers.

If Brent is overcrowded it is welcome to cut Pk3 like schools WOTP. If not, then it is not really overcrowded.

If Brent is overcrowded, DCPS has no business admitting OOB kids. I say this as someone OOB who would love to get into Brent.

Ask people in the Wilson feeder patterns how well that works.

The issue is the city has dozens of school that need to renovated and they are only doing a few a year. It is clear the Mayor has no plan on education and yet she was elected without a fight. This problem will not go away until there is a chance in leadership (so it will never go away).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just spitballing here. What about DCPS opening a dedicated preschool on the Hill to relieve some of the overcrowding caused by PK classes? Could be a training/demonstration school for ECE in general.

Free preschool for the affluent is not and should not be a priority. DCPS is not short of good preschool teachers.

If Brent is overcrowded it is welcome to cut Pk3 like schools WOTP. If not, then it is not really overcrowded.

Not just cut PK4 but also limit / cut PK4. Both are non-compulsory grades

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP can talk to the LSAT all she wants without the LSAT being able to fix the crowding. Brent is out of real estate and in the possession of a 10 million budget to build a six-classroom addition the school can't spend, because DCPS no longer renovates piecemeal. Ditching PS3 would make little difference - ECE classes are far too small to serve as regular classes. The principal is hardly allowing any OOB kids to enroll - its a myth that a bunch of OOB siblings are coming in. THere were only 3 in 1st grade this year. The issue is that too many IB kids are coming into the lower grades for class sizes to stay small and there's really no room on campus for more classroom trailers. Only DCPS can fix the problem by adding classroom space.

Take out the PK3 and then you can do some remodeling to get the room sizes you need.

https://public.tableau.com/profile/aaron2446#!/vizhome/MSDCSeatsandWaitlistOfferData/MSDCPublicDisplay

Who is getting all the waitlist offers displayed on this site? IB kids would not be waitlisted in K and above, so is has to be OOB.

If not IB kids, who is receiving these waitlist offers? Better yet, why is an already crowded school even making offers? No waitlist offers would definitely relieve some of this pressure...