GDS admissions

[Anonymous]

As a GDS parent I am beyond pissed that the school did not notify the ANC that it was overenrolled. I doubt it was some nefarious plot- worse it's more of GDS lack of organization on big issues. But it's wrong and looks entitled and tone-deaf.

I am also mad because I CAN ASSURE YOU- the school are up our butts about drop off and pick up. My child drives several kids to school. They park and CANNOT LEAVE AND COME BACK-EVER. Not even for a doctor's appointment. They write the kids up for any infraction and will take kids parking permits away- which is appropriate for rule breaking.

So the school takes going and coming from the campus VERY seriously and punishes children and parents who make any mistakes- but then they can't do their own part of the agreement???!!!!

That said, the ANC meeting was over-the-top crazy. The attacks on GDS were ridiculous.

Folks we live in a city. The highest and best use of land in urban envirnonments is more density. I believe the neighbors will rue the day they didn't let GDS do a small development in the old Volvo space. When the school eventually sells it- I guarantee what a builder brings in with more money and legal firepower will be worse in terms of traffic and increased density.

We are not directly in the GDS neighborhood but are adjacent to another private school and we deal with what that brings. Having a school does increase traffic but in other ways GDS is an asset- would you rather have the wasteland of a few blocks north, or the construction site that is Friendship heights or Bethesda? No? I fear it's coming no matter how many temper tantrums the ANC throws. Its the nature of urbanization in the DC area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a GDS parent I am beyond pissed that the school did not notify the ANC that it was overenrolled. I doubt it was some nefarious plot- worse it's more of GDS lack of organization on big issues. But it's wrong and looks entitled and tone-deaf.

I am also mad because I CAN ASSURE YOU- the school are up our butts about drop off and pick up. My child drives several kids to school. They park and CANNOT LEAVE AND COME BACK-EVER. Not even for a doctor's appointment. They write the kids up for any infraction and will take kids parking permits away- which is appropriate for rule breaking.

So the school takes going and coming from the campus VERY seriously and punishes children and parents who make any mistakes- but then they can't do their own part of the agreement???!!!!

That said, the ANC meeting was over-the-top crazy. The attacks on GDS were ridiculous.

Folks we live in a city. The highest and best use of land in urban envirnonments is more density. I believe the neighbors will rue the day they didn't let GDS do a small development in the old Volvo space. When the school eventually sells it- I guarantee what a builder brings in with more money and legal firepower will be worse in terms of traffic and increased density.

We are not directly in the GDS neighborhood but are adjacent to another private school and we deal with what that brings. Having a school does increase traffic but in other ways GDS is an asset- would you rather have the wasteland of a few blocks north, or the construction site that is Friendship heights or Bethesda? No? I fear it's coming no matter how many temper tantrums the ANC throws. Its the nature of urbanization in the DC area.

Identical view as you. Also a GDS parent of a high schooler who drives 3-4 kids into school daily. I'm really annoyed that the school failed to report its enrollment numbers to the ANC/city. I mean WTF guys....how did you miss this? And how did you over-enroll 2 years in a row. In some sense it's very GDS - they get lots of things right, their intent is great, but they often mess up or don't communicate on the one key item

I also agree that they are VERY hard on the parents and kids who drive to school and are very tight on policing the driving in and around campus.

The Wisconsin dropoffs are not goverened by any agreement I saw - its' a major city street so I have no idea what ANC was saying

Issue us that GDS now has given ample reason for ANC and the city to be ALL over them because of the enrollment cap violations. I have a feeling this ends in some sort of city sanctions on the school and limits the school's right to develop the metro chiller property they just bought next to campus. I think that is off the table entirely now

And yes, these ANC members want the wasteland of Friendship. That was very clear in watching the video of the attack (which GDS clearly armed them on by their stupidity on not reporting)

[Anonymous]

The school promised DDOT that "Drop-off/pick-up not be permitted from public streets," and DDOT based its support for the project on that. Look at page 20.

https://app.dcoz.dc.gov/CaseReport/ViewExhibit.aspx?exhibitId=136929

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a GDS parent I am beyond pissed that the school did not notify the ANC that it was overenrolled. I doubt it was some nefarious plot- worse it's more of GDS lack of organization on big issues. But it's wrong and looks entitled and tone-deaf.

I am also mad because I CAN ASSURE YOU- the school are up our butts about drop off and pick up. My child drives several kids to school. They park and CANNOT LEAVE AND COME BACK-EVER. Not even for a doctor's appointment. They write the kids up for any infraction and will take kids parking permits away- which is appropriate for rule breaking.

So the school takes going and coming from the campus VERY seriously and punishes children and parents who make any mistakes- but then they can't do their own part of the agreement???!!!!

That said, the ANC meeting was over-the-top crazy. The attacks on GDS were ridiculous.

Folks we live in a city. The highest and best use of land in urban envirnonments is more density. I believe the neighbors will rue the day they didn't let GDS do a small development in the old Volvo space. When the school eventually sells it- I guarantee what a builder brings in with more money and legal firepower will be worse in terms of traffic and increased density.

We are not directly in the GDS neighborhood but are adjacent to another private school and we deal with what that brings. Having a school does increase traffic but in other ways GDS is an asset- would you rather have the wasteland of a few blocks north, or the construction site that is Friendship heights or Bethesda? No? I fear it's coming no matter how many temper tantrums the ANC throws. Its the nature of urbanization in the DC area.

Identical view as you. Also a GDS parent of a high schooler who drives 3-4 kids into school daily. I'm really annoyed that the school failed to report its enrollment numbers to the ANC/city. I mean WTF guys....how did you miss this? And how did you over-enroll 2 years in a row. In some sense it's very GDS - they get lots of things right, their intent is great, but they often mess up or don't communicate on the one key item

I also agree that they are VERY hard on the parents and kids who drive to school and are very tight on policing the driving in and around campus.

The Wisconsin dropoffs are not goverened by any agreement I saw - its' a major city street so I have no idea what ANC was saying

Issue us that GDS now has given ample reason for ANC and the city to be ALL over them because of the enrollment cap violations. I have a feeling this ends in some sort of city sanctions on the school and limits the school's right to develop the metro chiller property they just bought next to campus. I think that is off the table entirely now

And yes, these ANC members want the wasteland of Friendship. That was very clear in watching the video of the attack (which GDS clearly armed them on by their stupidity on not reporting)

There's no way it wasn't purposeful.

NCS also way over-enrolled the class of 2025 because they got record acceptances due to Covid.
So they pulled the acceptances WAY back for the class of 2026. In contrast, GDS just kept admitting their norm.
Come on--this was not an accident.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drop offs before 9 am on the west side of Wisconsin are prohibited.

False. That is not stated in the agreement signed by GDS and the city

No, true.

Unless the general prohibition against standing/parking in the curb lane on the west side of Wisconsin between 7:30 and 9 M-F somehow applies to everyone except GDS families and their staff?

[Anonymous]

It's an unfortunate situation, and I'm sure that ANC is thorough. I would not like being blocked in my driveway, either! Hopefully, more gds drivers will abide by the rules, and more students will use the bus option if it's available to them.

I was amazed at how that gas stations shut down pumps at 9 PM on a major street like Wisconsin avenue. That shows the strength of their ANC. Things will work out over time between GDS and the ANC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a GDS parent I am beyond pissed that the school did not notify the ANC that it was overenrolled. I doubt it was some nefarious plot- worse it's more of GDS lack of organization on big issues. But it's wrong and looks entitled and tone-deaf.

I am also mad because I CAN ASSURE YOU- the school are up our butts about drop off and pick up. My child drives several kids to school. They park and CANNOT LEAVE AND COME BACK-EVER. Not even for a doctor's appointment. They write the kids up for any infraction and will take kids parking permits away- which is appropriate for rule breaking.

So the school takes going and coming from the campus VERY seriously and punishes children and parents who make any mistakes- but then they can't do their own part of the agreement???!!!!

That said, the ANC meeting was over-the-top crazy. The attacks on GDS were ridiculous.

Folks we live in a city. The highest and best use of land in urban envirnonments is more density. I believe the neighbors will rue the day they didn't let GDS do a small development in the old Volvo space. When the school eventually sells it- I guarantee what a builder brings in with more money and legal firepower will be worse in terms of traffic and increased density.

We are not directly in the GDS neighborhood but are adjacent to another private school and we deal with what that brings. Having a school does increase traffic but in other ways GDS is an asset- would you rather have the wasteland of a few blocks north, or the construction site that is Friendship heights or Bethesda? No? I fear it's coming no matter how many temper tantrums the ANC throws. Its the nature of urbanization in the DC area.

Identical view as you. Also a GDS parent of a high schooler who drives 3-4 kids into school daily. I'm really annoyed that the school failed to report its enrollment numbers to the ANC/city. I mean WTF guys....how did you miss this? And how did you over-enroll 2 years in a row. In some sense it's very GDS - they get lots of things right, their intent is great, but they often mess up or don't communicate on the one key item

I also agree that they are VERY hard on the parents and kids who drive to school and are very tight on policing the driving in and around campus.

The Wisconsin dropoffs are not goverened by any agreement I saw - its' a major city street so I have no idea what ANC was saying

Issue us that GDS now has given ample reason for ANC and the city to be ALL over them because of the enrollment cap violations. I have a feeling this ends in some sort of city sanctions on the school and limits the school's right to develop the metro chiller property they just bought next to campus. I think that is off the table entirely now

And yes, these ANC members want the wasteland of Friendship. That was very clear in watching the video of the attack (which GDS clearly armed them on by their stupidity on not reporting)

There's no way it wasn't purposeful.

NCS also way over-enrolled the class of 2025 because they got record acceptances due to Covid.
So they pulled the acceptances WAY back for the class of 2026. In contrast, GDS just kept admitting their norm.
Come on--this was not an accident.

I've seen a lot of Wisconsin Avenue drop off and pick ups for NCS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Watching this ANC bully scream at the GDS administrator at minute 58 of the video is wild. He's treating this meeting as a litigation - he's play-acting as a lawyer

Haha yes. The ANC guy is off his rocker! I commend Russell and Jeff for keeping their cool. The ANC guys behavior was not appropriate—he’s definitely LARPing as a courtroom litigator. So inappropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school promised DDOT that "Drop-off/pick-up not be permitted from public streets," and DDOT based its support for the project on that. Look at page 20.

https://app.dcoz.dc.gov/CaseReport/ViewExhibit.aspx?exhibitId=136929

That is not specific enough to be enforceable. If I drop off or pick up my kid at the Tenleytown Metro stop at Albemarle or 40th St, that is technically dropping off/picking up on a public street. But who is going to protest that? And how would you tell the difference between a kid at GDS vs a kid from Jackson-Reed, Deal, or Janney? The boundaries need to be defined, and other parts of the document seem to define them specifically enough. Clearly, there need to be better lawyers working on these documents. The phrase "public streets" is far to vague to be meaningful.

[Anonymous]

The school takes its traffic measurements on school property. If parents can drop off on Wisconsin right in front of the school their cars would not be part of the traffic counts. Sounds like GDS doesn't want its traffic counts to be accurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a GDS parent I am beyond pissed that the school did not notify the ANC that it was overenrolled. I doubt it was some nefarious plot- worse it's more of GDS lack of organization on big issues. But it's wrong and looks entitled and tone-deaf.

I am also mad because I CAN ASSURE YOU- the school are up our butts about drop off and pick up. My child drives several kids to school. They park and CANNOT LEAVE AND COME BACK-EVER. Not even for a doctor's appointment. They write the kids up for any infraction and will take kids parking permits away- which is appropriate for rule breaking.

So the school takes going and coming from the campus VERY seriously and punishes children and parents who make any mistakes- but then they can't do their own part of the agreement???!!!!

That said, the ANC meeting was over-the-top crazy. The attacks on GDS were ridiculous.

Folks we live in a city. The highest and best use of land in urban envirnonments is more density. I believe the neighbors will rue the day they didn't let GDS do a small development in the old Volvo space. When the school eventually sells it- I guarantee what a builder brings in with more money and legal firepower will be worse in terms of traffic and increased density.

We are not directly in the GDS neighborhood but are adjacent to another private school and we deal with what that brings. Having a school does increase traffic but in other ways GDS is an asset- would you rather have the wasteland of a few blocks north, or the construction site that is Friendship heights or Bethesda? No? I fear it's coming no matter how many temper tantrums the ANC throws. Its the nature of urbanization in the DC area.

Identical view as you. Also a GDS parent of a high schooler who drives 3-4 kids into school daily. I'm really annoyed that the school failed to report its enrollment numbers to the ANC/city. I mean WTF guys....how did you miss this? And how did you over-enroll 2 years in a row. In some sense it's very GDS - they get lots of things right, their intent is great, but they often mess up or don't communicate on the one key item

I also agree that they are VERY hard on the parents and kids who drive to school and are very tight on policing the driving in and around campus.

The Wisconsin dropoffs are not goverened by any agreement I saw - its' a major city street so I have no idea what ANC was saying

Issue us that GDS now has given ample reason for ANC and the city to be ALL over them because of the enrollment cap violations. I have a feeling this ends in some sort of city sanctions on the school and limits the school's right to develop the metro chiller property they just bought next to campus. I think that is off the table entirely now

And yes, these ANC members want the wasteland of Friendship. That was very clear in watching the video of the attack (which GDS clearly armed them on by their stupidity on not reporting)

If GDS wants to come down hard on families not abiding by the agreement, they should just stand at the garage opening on River during a rainy morning and afternoon, and take names. I've seen the same car drop of a single student multiple times in the LMS parking garage drop-off line, with one of the principals just standing there. I'm glad that the admin is doing something, but it could be doing so much more. I get that the ANC and some neighbors may be over the top on this issue, but the GDS community's actions allow them to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school takes its traffic measurements on school property. If parents can drop off on Wisconsin right in front of the school their cars would not be part of the traffic counts. Sounds like GDS doesn't want its traffic counts to be accurate.

That's because the MOU says nothing about forbidding drop offs/pick ups on Wisconsin Avenue. Apparently the ANC thinks Wisconsin Avenue is off limits, but the MOU states otherwise. Don't be dense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school takes its traffic measurements on school property. If parents can drop off on Wisconsin right in front of the school their cars would not be part of the traffic counts. Sounds like GDS doesn't want its traffic counts to be accurate.

That's because the MOU says nothing about forbidding drop offs/pick ups on Wisconsin Avenue. Apparently the ANC thinks Wisconsin Avenue is off limits, but the MOU states otherwise. Don't be dense.

Drop off is not allowed on the west side of Wisconsin in the morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school takes its traffic measurements on school property. If parents can drop off on Wisconsin right in front of the school their cars would not be part of the traffic counts. Sounds like GDS doesn't want its traffic counts to be accurate.

That's because the MOU says nothing about forbidding drop offs/pick ups on Wisconsin Avenue. Apparently the ANC thinks Wisconsin Avenue is off limits, but the MOU states otherwise. Don't be dense.

So the traffic count is a fraud and GDS parents are OK with that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a GDS parent I am beyond pissed that the school did not notify the ANC that it was overenrolled. I doubt it was some nefarious plot- worse it's more of GDS lack of organization on big issues. But it's wrong and looks entitled and tone-deaf.

I am also mad because I CAN ASSURE YOU- the school are up our butts about drop off and pick up. My child drives several kids to school. They park and CANNOT LEAVE AND COME BACK-EVER. Not even for a doctor's appointment. They write the kids up for any infraction and will take kids parking permits away- which is appropriate for rule breaking.

So the school takes going and coming from the campus VERY seriously and punishes children and parents who make any mistakes- but then they can't do their own part of the agreement???!!!!

That said, the ANC meeting was over-the-top crazy. The attacks on GDS were ridiculous.

Folks we live in a city. The highest and best use of land in urban envirnonments is more density. I believe the neighbors will rue the day they didn't let GDS do a small development in the old Volvo space. When the school eventually sells it- I guarantee what a builder brings in with more money and legal firepower will be worse in terms of traffic and increased density.

We are not directly in the GDS neighborhood but are adjacent to another private school and we deal with what that brings. Having a school does increase traffic but in other ways GDS is an asset- would you rather have the wasteland of a few blocks north, or the construction site that is Friendship heights or Bethesda? No? I fear it's coming no matter how many temper tantrums the ANC throws. Its the nature of urbanization in the DC area.

Identical view as you. Also a GDS parent of a high schooler who drives 3-4 kids into school daily. I'm really annoyed that the school failed to report its enrollment numbers to the ANC/city. I mean WTF guys....how did you miss this? And how did you over-enroll 2 years in a row. In some sense it's very GDS - they get lots of things right, their intent is great, but they often mess up or don't communicate on the one key item

I also agree that they are VERY hard on the parents and kids who drive to school and are very tight on policing the driving in and around campus.

The Wisconsin dropoffs are not goverened by any agreement I saw - its' a major city street so I have no idea what ANC was saying

Issue us that GDS now has given ample reason for ANC and the city to be ALL over them because of the enrollment cap violations. I have a feeling this ends in some sort of city sanctions on the school and limits the school's right to develop the metro chiller property they just bought next to campus. I think that is off the table entirely now

And yes, these ANC members want the wasteland of Friendship. That was very clear in watching the video of the attack (which GDS clearly armed them on by their stupidity on not reporting)

There's no way it wasn't purposeful.

NCS also way over-enrolled the class of 2025 because they got record acceptances due to Covid.
So they pulled the acceptances WAY back for the class of 2026. In contrast, GDS just kept admitting their norm.
Come on--this was not an accident.

you really believe that after spending 5 years and 10s of millions trying to get that building built and approved by the ANC and DC that GDS would willingly violate the enrollment cap to thumb their nose at the ANC? Why on earth would they do that? You are ascribing to malice what is clearly incompetence. They call this Hanlon's Razor....