s/o: DCPS boundary and assignment rules that really need to change

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with children who lottery in not being able to follow the feeder path. This children are like "dreamers". They should not have to create a new social group because of a rule change.

If someone wants to argue that is a family moves OOB, they get to stay through the terminal grade, I think that is fine ONLY if they are within the last year of the school (example - family moves in 4th grade - so the student does not need to start a new school at 5th)

Yeah, that's tough. When a kid has a cohort they've been with from PreK, and then has to move when they get to middle school - not an easy time for transition.

That's something their families should consider when choosing to apply for the OOB lottery versus staying in their IB schools.
It would be good for all kids entering middle school to have the same chance of getting into more desired middle schools OOB. Why should someone who won the lottery at age 4 get to stay lucky until they're 18? That's not fair to kids who moved to DC later, or whose families couldn't get them across town as a little kid but can have them travel as teenagers.

It would also help elementary schools where families are happy but feel like they "need" to lottery into schools that offer a better feeder pattern. If you know you have just as much chance at Hardy if you stay at your IB versus shelpping your kid to Key each day for 4 years, might you stay another few years at your IB school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Better and more centralized residency verification, more enforcement for people who lie about living OOB or in DC at all, and better and more centralized record-keeping about who got in IB and who was OOB to help with the feeder school issue.

Correct. It’s DCPS not PGPS!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Better and more centralized residency verification, more enforcement for people who lie about living OOB or in DC at all, and better and more centralized record-keeping about who got in IB and who was OOB to help with the feeder school issue.

Correct. It’s DCPS not PGPS!

Run a data match of the DCPS and all city employees payroll addresses against the school enrollment addresses. They've caught so many teachers this year, I think maybe they've done this already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SWW@FS and Ross must feed to the new Shaw Middle as originally planned. That would cut down on crowding at SWW@FS and set Shaw up for success.

Call upper NW's bluff on overcrowding and cut their PK4 waay back-- only enough to provide inclusion classes for special ed students and the at-risk kids who live IB.

How does that help? All those kids show up at K then. Same problem.

End automatic feeder rights for OOB to Deal and Hardy. Or say that only the top 15 to 20 percent of OOB can continue on in the pattern. That way you reward the kids who work hard and achieve and will take advantage of the privilege of continuing on the OOB track after elementary and middle school. Win-win.

[Anonymous]

It goes without saying that this way you also weed out the troublemakers and disruptors and the kids who, despite the chance to go to a higher performing elementary school, just aren’t keeping up with their peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It goes without saying that this way you also weed out the troublemakers and disruptors and the kids who, despite the chance to go to a higher performing elementary school, just aren’t keeping up with their peers.

also special ed kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Better and more centralized residency verification, more enforcement for people who lie about living OOB or in DC at all, and better and more centralized record-keeping about who got in IB and who was OOB to help with the feeder school issue.

Correct. It’s DCPS not PGPS!

Run a data match of the DCPS and all city employees payroll addresses against the school enrollment addresses. They've caught so many teachers this year, I think maybe they've done this already.

This x100! I think it should be a firing offense too. They are going against ethical behavior and stealing from their employer by getting free services & goods for their family by providing false information to their employer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SWW@FS and Ross must feed to the new Shaw Middle as originally planned. That would cut down on crowding at SWW@FS and set Shaw up for success.

Call upper NW's bluff on overcrowding and cut their PK4 waay back-- only enough to provide inclusion classes for special ed students and the at-risk kids who live IB.

How does that help? All those kids show up at K then. Same problem.

End automatic feeder rights for OOB to Deal and Hardy. Or say that only the top 15 to 20 percent of OOB can continue on in the pattern. That way you reward the kids who work hard and achieve and will take advantage of the privilege of continuing on the OOB track after elementary and middle school. Win-win.

No!! OB in or out. No cherry picking the kids with advantages and access to tutors etc. IF you were going to do a "honors" preference for OB then it must be offered city wide to everyone at all schools.
They really just need to stop the feeder preference for OB. I am not in NW and don't plan to enroll in a feeder for the Deal or Hardy or whatever. I also think you should not be allowed to stay at a school for the following year if you move OB. Possibly, a acceptation for 4-5th or 7-8th and 11-12th but not for the younger sibling, Baring Homeless/Foster/Primary care giver death etc which case should be appealed through principal AND school SW AND central office all signing off.
I do think dropping the OB preference will make some folks move out of DC and others invest in their neighborhood schools more. Said by a NE parent that has no clue what we will do for High School in a few years. But I sill don't think OB feeders are in the long term best interest of DCPS or Charters.

[Anonymous]

Make the entry year the same for all schools. (Looking at you, BASIS and Latin.) At risk preference in the lottery. Don’t let the issues of the Wilson feeder pattern distract from the different issues in other wards, especially 7/8. Wilson issues: oob cheating, overcrowding, property values. Rest of the city: instability, creaming, middle school quality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SWW@FS and Ross must feed to the new Shaw Middle as originally planned. That would cut down on crowding at SWW@FS and set Shaw up for success.

Call upper NW's bluff on overcrowding and cut their PK4 waay back-- only enough to provide inclusion classes for special ed students and the at-risk kids who live IB.

What exactly is "upper NW's bluff"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With the next boundary/assignment/feeder review only a few years away, I've started keeping a list of things I think should change. There's probably something to piss off everyone here but I do think all of this would be an improvement. Do others want to share what they'll be pushing for?

End rule that you get to stay in DCPS school once you move OOB (unless foster care, homelessness, or other reasons why DCPS is legally obligated to let you stay--and centralize the process of granting those exemptions as much as possible, with less discretion for principals and registrars). Just let kids finish out the school year if they move.

End rule that getting in to an elementary school or middle school OOB gives you the right to continue on to its destination middle/high school. It just gets you through the terminal grade at the school you got into. There could be a destination school preference in the middle and high school lotteries, but I’d rather not.

Money follows the kid--if kid changes school before the end of the year, the new school gets a percentage of the per-pupil funding. Since school year is 10 months long, I’d say 10% for each month they’re at a given school. Round to the nearest month.

All bilingual elementary schools (and bilingual programs at schools like Marie Reed and Tyler that have bilingual tracks) have programmatic feeder into MacFarland and Roosevelt (that’s right, Oyster and Bancroft lose their Deal/Wilson feeds). Oyster becomes a PK3-5 school, with younger grades at Oyster and older grades at Adams. More kids in each grade, and more PK classes.

Lafayette and Shepherd to Wells and Coolidge. For folks who say it won’t fit, there is room at Coolidge. Make an 8th grade academy in the Coolidge building and use Wells for just 6th and 7th if necessary.

Francis-Stevens drops the SWW name, gets its own principal, and becomes a PK3-5 school. Schools that feed there for middle go to Cardozo for middle along with the schools that already feed into Cardozo. Cardozo middle gets its own principal too (ideally someone well-liked from Francis-Stevens who can bring along a lot of the teachers there), along with some enrichment classes and extracurriculars that make more IB and middle class families take a closer look.

CHML becomes PK3-5. This creates more PK spots on Capitol Hill (though open to everyone). DCPS offers Montessori middle school program at Brookland middle (closer to Montessori charters and is centrally located with CHML, Langdon, and Nalle (all of which would have programmatic feeder rights to the BMS program).

Schools that currently use Fillmore take their art classes in-house (with fewer kids after the rules change for moving OOB, there should be some room), or DCPS uses some of the Ellington classrooms if they must bus kids to art. Fillmore becomes an early childhood school like Stevens. Sweeten the pot for families losing Fillmore by giving them a preference for Fillmore spots, right below an at-risk preference.

Hey troll - cut the bullshit about moving Lafayette. It will NEVER happen. Please do not make my kids part of your SJW social engineering project.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With the next boundary/assignment/feeder review only a few years away, I've started keeping a list of things I think should change. There's probably something to piss off everyone here but I do think all of this would be an improvement. Do others want to share what they'll be pushing for?

End rule that you get to stay in DCPS school once you move OOB (unless foster care, homelessness, or other reasons why DCPS is legally obligated to let you stay--and centralize the process of granting those exemptions as much as possible, with less discretion for principals and registrars). Just let kids finish out the school year if they move.

End rule that getting in to an elementary school or middle school OOB gives you the right to continue on to its destination middle/high school. It just gets you through the terminal grade at the school you got into. There could be a destination school preference in the middle and high school lotteries, but I’d rather not.

Money follows the kid--if kid changes school before the end of the year, the new school gets a percentage of the per-pupil funding. Since school year is 10 months long, I’d say 10% for each month they’re at a given school. Round to the nearest month.

All bilingual elementary schools (and bilingual programs at schools like Marie Reed and Tyler that have bilingual tracks) have programmatic feeder into MacFarland and Roosevelt (that’s right, Oyster and Bancroft lose their Deal/Wilson feeds). Oyster becomes a PK3-5 school, with younger grades at Oyster and older grades at Adams. More kids in each grade, and more PK classes.

Lafayette and Shepherd to Wells and Coolidge. For folks who say it won’t fit, there is room at Coolidge. Make an 8th grade academy in the Coolidge building and use Wells for just 6th and 7th if necessary.

Francis-Stevens drops the SWW name, gets its own principal, and becomes a PK3-5 school. Schools that feed there for middle go to Cardozo for middle along with the schools that already feed into Cardozo. Cardozo middle gets its own principal too (ideally someone well-liked from Francis-Stevens who can bring along a lot of the teachers there), along with some enrichment classes and extracurriculars that make more IB and middle class families take a closer look.

CHML becomes PK3-5. This creates more PK spots on Capitol Hill (though open to everyone). DCPS offers Montessori middle school program at Brookland middle (closer to Montessori charters and is centrally located with CHML, Langdon, and Nalle (all of which would have programmatic feeder rights to the BMS program).

Schools that currently use Fillmore take their art classes in-house (with fewer kids after the rules change for moving OOB, there should be some room), or DCPS uses some of the Ellington classrooms if they must bus kids to art. Fillmore becomes an early childhood school like Stevens. Sweeten the pot for families losing Fillmore by giving them a preference for Fillmore spots, right below an at-risk preference.

Hey troll - cut the bullshit about moving Lafayette. It will NEVER happen. Please do not make my kids part of your SJW social engineering project.

I think you are the troll trying to derail this thread by pretending to be a Lafayette parent in hopes of provoking another argument about race. Pls contribute something useful for a change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SWW@FS and Ross must feed to the new Shaw Middle as originally planned. That would cut down on crowding at SWW@FS and set Shaw up for success.

Call upper NW's bluff on overcrowding and cut their PK4 waay back-- only enough to provide inclusion classes for special ed students and the at-risk kids who live IB.

How does that help? All those kids show up at K then. Same problem.

End automatic feeder rights for OOB to Deal and Hardy. Or say that only the top 15 to 20 percent of OOB can continue on in the pattern. That way you reward the kids who work hard and achieve and will take advantage of the privilege of continuing on the OOB track after elementary and middle school. Win-win.

Elementary kids don’t get ranked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SWW@FS and Ross must feed to the new Shaw Middle as originally planned. That would cut down on crowding at SWW@FS and set Shaw up for success.

Call upper NW's bluff on overcrowding and cut their PK4 waay back-- only enough to provide inclusion classes for special ed students and the at-risk kids who live IB.

That would be fine.

A major benefit of PK3 and 4 is it keeps highly-educated parents around in neighborhood elementaries. This is an underrated benefit of ECE: by paying for it, DC is essentially buying their way into more highly-performing elementaries. The NW schools don’t need this lever. But in Capitol Hill, Shaw, Petworth, Brookland and other areas in the city, PK is a huge plus. Well worth it for the city yo pay for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SWW@FS and Ross must feed to the new Shaw Middle as originally planned. That would cut down on crowding at SWW@FS and set Shaw up for success.

Call upper NW's bluff on overcrowding and cut their PK4 waay back-- only enough to provide inclusion classes for special ed students and the at-risk kids who live IB.

How does that help? All those kids show up at K then. Same problem.

End automatic feeder rights for OOB to Deal and Hardy. Or say that only the top 15 to 20 percent of OOB can continue on in the pattern. That way you reward the kids who work hard and achieve and will take advantage of the privilege of continuing on the OOB track after elementary and middle school. Win-win.

Elementary kids don’t get ranked.

Also, those lazy unachievers need more help, not less. This is public education for all kids, not a curated student body to further your kid’s academic success.