How many freshman at Wilson this fall?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Eastern HS needs a fresh start - new principal, etc. Someone who can turn it around and make it at least a 50% neighborhood school.

Eastern would 'turn around' in a heartbeat if neighborhood families enrolled. The curriculum is there (IB classes). They also have a track for higher achieving students (students apply to be included). I think DCPS has provided a carrot...but people seem to be wanting an heirloom tomato.

Come on, Eastern's much lauded International Baccalaurate Diploma program has a pass rate of about 50% with average points totals in the mid 20s (the IBD equivalent of a D+ or C-).

The vast majority of us can't even get through DCPS MS on the Hill - we have no access to Stuart Hobson, and little reason to believe that our middle school-age children would be safe, happy, or challenged at Jefferson Academy or Eliot-Hine, let alone 9th grade at Eastern.

DCPS has provided nothing more than a dead-end street for in-boundary UMC families at Eastern, which is criminal given that we're now the majority of in-boundary residents.

Do you have kids in DC public schools? It certainly doesn't sound like it.

Jefferson's at-risk and non-at-risk students both outperform DC averages on the PARCC in ELA (admittedly, math still needs work). 100% of their white students got a 4 or 5 on PARCC last year and over 90+ of them did so on the math section--that's better than Hardy or Deal. They have a just-refurbished building that looks really nice, and it's easy to get to because it's 3 blocks from L'Enfant Plaza and on several bus lines. I don't know why you'd think your kids couldn't be happy, safe, or challenged there. There are middle class families there of various races. Same with Eastern--they have an IB curriculum and lots of kids who are passing it, they advertise different events like an open greenhouse session and a movie afternoon in the library, they have sports and music and gardening. Kids who do well there should do well in the college admissions process too. DCPS can't force a bunch of rich families to enroll in the school just to make you happy. But all the rich families on Capitol Hill are guaranteed a spot at Eastern and are free to enroll at any time.

Jefferson Academy booster, rich families? Where are these rich families at schools feeding into JA? The scores of SE families I know with children at Van Ness, Tyler and Brent are solidly middle class, not wealthy. 100% of white students at Jefferson screams joke of a sample size - there weren't even a dozen white students enrolled last year. With so few Brent students staying on for 5th grade (a dozen less than last year) and a new Washington Latin campus opening next year, the momentum for UMC enrollment at JA clearly isn't building, not yet anyway. UMC buy-in at Jefferson is almost all hype. Sorry, lots of UMC SE parents won't enroll at JA, or Eastern, just to make you happy.

[Anonymous]

If you own a home worth over a million IB for Van Ness or Brent, you are rich. If your HHI is in the six figures and you have retirement savings, you are rich. Now you might not feel as rich as a GS-14 when you're surrounded by law firm partners, but compared to DC in general, the metro area more broadly, and the country as a whole you sure are rich.

[Anonymous]

Heard from teacher that the 700 figure is accurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Heard from teacher that the 700 figure is accurate.

So basically the freshman class at Wilson is larger than the entire student body at Ballou, the entire student body at Coolidge, all of Duke Ellington, all of Woodson, all of Dunbar, and equal to the entire student population at Eastern. This is outrageous and unacceptable. Mary Cheh, how did this happen on your watch?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you own a home worth over a million IB for Van Ness or Brent, you are rich. If your HHI is in the six figures and you have retirement savings, you are rich. Now you might not feel as rich as a GS-14 when you're surrounded by law firm partners, but compared to DC in general, the metro area more broadly, and the country as a whole you sure are rich.

Close to 80% of DCPS students are classified as "economically disadvantaged."

I can't quickly find the current definitions, but it's about $27K HHI for a family of two and $50K for a family of five.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heard from teacher that the 700 figure is accurate.

So basically the freshman class at Wilson is larger than the entire student body at Ballou, the entire student body at Coolidge, all of Duke Ellington, all of Woodson, all of Dunbar, and equal to the entire student population at Eastern. This is outrageous and unacceptable. Mary Cheh, how did this happen on your watch?

And this is just the beginning. The classes are going to grow from here.

[Anonymous]

I was just thinking--do you think Wilson is so big this because in part kids are coming back from
the charters for high school? And these are kids who 5 years ago would I have never stayed in DC for elementary and middle?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Eastern HS needs a fresh start - new principal, etc. Someone who can turn it around and make it at least a 50% neighborhood school.

Eastern would 'turn around' in a heartbeat if neighborhood families enrolled. The curriculum is there (IB classes). They also have a track for higher achieving students (students apply to be included). I think DCPS has provided a carrot...but people seem to be wanting an heirloom tomato.

Come on, Eastern's much lauded International Baccalaurate Diploma program has a pass rate of about 50% with average points totals in the mid 20s (the IBD equivalent of a D+ or C-).

The vast majority of us can't even get through DCPS MS on the Hill - we have no access to Stuart Hobson, and little reason to believe that our middle school-age children would be safe, happy, or challenged at Jefferson Academy or Eliot-Hine, let alone 9th grade at Eastern.

DCPS has provided nothing more than a dead-end street for in-boundary UMC families at Eastern, which is criminal given that we're now the majority of in-boundary residents.

Do you have kids in DC public schools? It certainly doesn't sound like it.

But the kids at Eastern making those scores aren’t wealthy. If your kids went there they would score high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was just thinking--do you think Wilson is so big this because in part kids are coming back from
the charters for high school? And these are kids who 5 years ago would I have never stayed in DC for elementary and middle?

No. The Wilson boundaries contain too many feeder schools. Look at the boundary map. Wilson’s geographic area is 2x or 3x the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just thinking--do you think Wilson is so big this because in part kids are coming back from
the charters for high school? And these are kids who 5 years ago would I have never stayed in DC for elementary and middle?

No. The Wilson boundaries contain too many feeder schools. Look at the boundary map. Wilson’s geographic area is 2x or 3x the norm.

We go around and around on this every month on this board -- but PP is right. Even if you kicked out every OOB student it would still be overcrowded.

Lines need to be redrawn, significantly. Eliminating two tiny elementary schools from the feeder path won't cut it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just thinking--do you think Wilson is so big this because in part kids are coming back from
the charters for high school? And these are kids who 5 years ago would I have never stayed in DC for elementary and middle?

No. The Wilson boundaries contain too many feeder schools. Look at the boundary map. Wilson’s geographic area is 2x or 3x the norm.

We go around and around on this every month on this board -- but PP is right. Even if you kicked out every OOB student it would still be overcrowded.

Lines need to be redrawn, significantly. Eliminating two tiny elementary schools from the feeder path won't cut it.

yes, but where did these 700 kids go to middle school? Do the numbers from Deal, Hardy, Adams add up to 700?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just thinking--do you think Wilson is so big this because in part kids are coming back from
the charters for high school? And these are kids who 5 years ago would I have never stayed in DC for elementary and middle?

No. The Wilson boundaries contain too many feeder schools. Look at the boundary map. Wilson’s geographic area is 2x or 3x the norm.

We go around and around on this every month on this board -- but PP is right. Even if you kicked out every OOB student it would still be overcrowded.

Lines need to be redrawn, significantly. Eliminating two tiny elementary schools from the feeder path won't cut it.

yes, but where did these 700 kids go to middle school? Do the numbers from Deal, Hardy, Adams add up to 700?

some of the kids moved IB this summer. Others were at private and charters for middle school but still live IB.

Move Bancroft and Adams to MacFarland and Roosevelt (just like all the other bilingual elementaries. plus making Oyster a PK-5 school allows the school to open more PK classrooms--more space for English-dominant IB kids and more high-quality seats for Spanish-dominant kids from all over).
Move Shepherd and Lafayette to Wells and Coolidge.
Adding more grade-level kids to the Roosevelt and Coolidge feeder patterns and reducing overcrowding at Deal and Wilson.
Yeah, some parents will freak out. They'll threaten to move out of DC or send their kids to private school. They won't all do it, and DCPS won't particularly care if they do.

[Anonymous]

So glad my youngest is a senior so I can be done with all of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal's 8th grade class was big and a lot of them are going to Wilson. Hardy is coming on. Don't expect enrollment to shrink anytime soon.

Deal's incoming 6th graders are the smallest # they've had in a while. 475 I believe.

Yes, but it’s anomaly. Expected to bounce back up the following year, according to Ms Neal. Anticipating total enrollment of 2000 by 2023, I believe.

2000 kids in a middle school? That is insanity and an absolute failure of leadership andnparents to demand better.

Awesome that you care, and the solution is what? What are we supposed to demand they do?

no more OOB kid feeder rights from Deal or Hardy. Redraw the boundaries. its not hard, there is just no political will to do it.

Or, politicians know their base and excluding the minority groups that come from the areas you reference would rob the school of its diversity and a pool of talent, while also removing an enriching option from those OOB, Hardy, and Deal kids. Besides you, who wins?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just thinking--do you think Wilson is so big this because in part kids are coming back from
the charters for high school? And these are kids who 5 years ago would I have never stayed in DC for elementary and middle?

No. The Wilson boundaries contain too many feeder schools. Look at the boundary map. Wilson’s geographic area is 2x or 3x the norm.

We go around and around on this every month on this board -- but PP is right. Even if you kicked out every OOB student it would still be overcrowded.

Lines need to be redrawn, significantly. Eliminating two tiny elementary schools from the feeder path won't cut it.

yes, but where did these 700 kids go to middle school? Do the numbers from Deal, Hardy, Adams add up to 700?

some of the kids moved IB this summer. Others were at private and charters for middle school but still live IB.

Move Bancroft and Adams to MacFarland and Roosevelt (just like all the other bilingual elementaries. plus making Oyster a PK-5 school allows the school to open more PK classrooms--more space for English-dominant IB kids and more high-quality seats for Spanish-dominant kids from all over).
Move Shepherd and Lafayette to Wells and Coolidge.
Adding more grade-level kids to the Roosevelt and Coolidge feeder patterns and reducing overcrowding at Deal and Wilson.
Yeah, some parents will freak out. They'll threaten to move out of DC or send their kids to private school. They won't all do it, and DCPS won't particularly care if they do.

What you propose would mean a meaning desegregation of DCPS in its entirety. Bold move! Resources would suddenly come pouring into the non-Wilson schools, and that's not a bad thing. Good on you, PP, whether you meant to state this view or not. Its an interesting approach that could result in a major overall and improvement in public education in the District.