best in-boundary potential for improvement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll say it again: Eaton and Hearst

You're right of course, in theory. But families in the surrounding neighborhood are so wealthy that they hit the tipping point.Those are wealthy old money areas where almost everyone has an in-law with millions in a trust fund somewhere to pay for private. Plus Sidwell and StA and NCS are right in the neighborhood and have always been their first choice. (at least after the 60's) Demographics may have changed in the neighborhood such that you simply don't have as many families with school age children as you had prior to 1950's and 1960's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there are several things going on with Bancroft. First, in order to shift the paradigm from an 80% lower income school to a more mixed income demographic would take almost unanimous buy-in to Bancroft from the middle and upper middle class MtP parents who live in the rowhouse component of the neighborhood, because the Bancroft demographics are dominated by the much larger multi-family building population along 16th and MtP Streets. It's different than the WOTP schools---where the multi-family buildings along Connecticut Avenue are not in any way low-income, so the children from the Conn. Ave. apartments and the children from the Cleveland Park bungalows generally have parents of similar education levels. Unanimous buy-in by the MtP rowhouse population just isn't going to happen---too many people go charter, OOB or private. So the "critical mass" never happens. Every year it seems like a fairly sizable cohort of middle class families do start at Bancroft for pre-K and K---particularly if they are interested in the bilingual aspects---but that demographic has all but peeled off by 3rd grade. I don't know why that is----parents afraid that their kid will be the "only" in their class, or parents disatisfied with the level of instruction and teacher quality. In my years of living in MtP, I have heard parents talk (both with experience and neighborhood rumor) about the latter.

I think more middle class families are beginning to stick around in the upper grades. The parents of the 3rd grade class this year are particularly active in the school and hold many of the positions on the PTA. My child is in 2nd grade at Bancroft this year. We'll definitely be there next year and plan to stick around through 5th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll say it again: Eaton and Hearst

You're right of course, in theory. But families in the surrounding neighborhood are so wealthy that they hit the tipping point.Those are wealthy old money areas where almost everyone has an in-law with millions in a trust fund somewhere to pay for private. Plus Sidwell and StA and NCS are right in the neighborhood and have always been their first choice. (at least after the 60's) Demographics may have changed in the neighborhood such that you simply don't have as many families with school age children as you had prior to 1950's and 1960's.

Which would seem to argue for expanding those schools' boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll say it again: Eaton and Hearst

You're right of course, in theory. But families in the surrounding neighborhood are so wealthy that they hit the tipping point.Those are wealthy old money areas where almost everyone has an in-law with millions in a trust fund somewhere to pay for private. Plus Sidwell and StA and NCS are right in the neighborhood and have always been their first choice. (at least after the 60's) Demographics may have changed in the neighborhood such that you simply don't have as many families with school age children as you had prior to 1950's and 1960's.

Which would seem to argue for expanding those schools' boundaries.

That's not the way it works. Instead, the school will accept more OOBs.

Look at Francis-Stevens, how many young families live in Foggy Bottom or West End? Instead, it will turn into an OOB school. That's fine really, Hearst has been an OOB school for a long time. Eaton still has some inbounds families, but most families who can afford to buy into Eaton's neighborhood can also afford the private schools they've moved next to. These dynamics can change. Once upon a time Ross was just an OOB school, now there are some middle-class families who got in at the right time and have shifted the balance of the school.

[Anonymous]

That is also playing out at Hearst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is also playing out at Hearst.

I agree.

[Anonymous]

Aren't most inbounds Hearst families in Cleveland Park? Who moves to Cleveland Park (?!) only to attend DCPS?!

[Anonymous]

Aren't most inbounds Hearst families in Cleveland Park? Who moves to Cleveland Park (?!) only to attend DCPS?!

Answer: Cleveland Park isn't only $2-4 million Victorians. Hearst's boundaries include apartments on Wisconsin, in Mclean Gardens, and in the Van Ness apartments and condos on Connecticut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we hijack this thread and rename it, "best out-of-boundary potential for ruination?"

'Cuz i'm thinking that as JKLM students leave for the private schools in the later grades, some enterprising disadvantaged kids could really make a difference if they applied OOB.

I'm leading a takeover of Key! Who's with me? Bring your pitchforks, everyone!

This is just silly. If you kick the neighborhood kids out of any JKLM school, you will have just another failing DCPS school.

[Anonymous]

If IB kids went to Hardy instead of private it would have test scores as good as Deal or Latin.