Why Does Van Ness Elementary School Not Have a Boundary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

EYA sold all their townhouses and is out of the picture. The current developers in SE are building studios and a few 2brs. They're not too interested in attracting families with good schools...if they were, don't you think they would have spoken out about DME's plan to send the neighborhood to Eastern instead of Wilson? And the Wharf developers aren't going to help with a school that doesn't serve their neighborhood.

EYA is definitely not out of the picture. EYA is planning on at least one Condo Building (on the parking lot across from their townhomes). From an earlier meeting, the housing authority indicated that if this partnership was successful, that they would be open to having EYA put condos on the 3 other vacant blocks that need to be developed to.

Also, don't forget about "The Lofts at Capitol Quarter" that just broke ground a month ago. These 195 garden style apartment units will be built right next to Van Ness, and will not have as many studio apartments as the high rise apartments will have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

EYA sold all their townhouses and is out of the picture. The current developers in SE are building studios and a few 2brs. They're not too interested in attracting families with good schools...if they were, don't you think they would have spoken out about DME's plan to send the neighborhood to Eastern instead of Wilson? And the Wharf developers aren't going to help with a school that doesn't serve their neighborhood.

EYA is definitely not out of the picture. EYA is planning on at least one Condo Building (on the parking lot across from their townhomes). From an earlier meeting, the housing authority indicated that if this partnership was successful, that they would be open to having EYA put condos on the 3 other vacant blocks that need to be developed to.

Also, don't forget about "The Lofts at Capitol Quarter" that just broke ground a month ago. These 195 garden style apartment units will be built right next to Van Ness, and will not have as many studio apartments as the high rise apartments will have.

I think it's pretty well established that condos and garden-style apartments won't bring many kids to the area. A few, yes.

[Anonymous]

Brent parent here - the reality for Van Ness is that if you build a great school, the parents will come. Unlike some other school boundaries, the housing options are plentiful. If DCPS would put in the time and resources (hire a principal NOW and then an Assistant Principal, get a marketing and communications team in place, keep meeting with the already great parent group that is formed) this school will have 400 children in two years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The CSX tunnel project is by no means a done deal. The pols are still debating its merits.

Even Kaya Henderson can see that there's no point in re-opening Van Ness as another DCPS school withering on the vine in the face of charter competition. They've got Amidon for that locally.

As long as enough funds to renovate come through, the school culture is dominated by professional parents, good admins and teachers screened by parent hiring panels come in, support for advanced learners is built into the curriculum, and the PTA can afford to pay for inputs the school will need to keep up with others where at least two-thirds of the kids test proficient or advanced (the Waterfront developers will help there), Van Ness will serve the Navy Yard neighborhood well.

Elementary school management isn't rocket science.

Ha! A lot of "ifs"! I feel you might be overly optimistic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brent parent here - the reality for Van Ness is that if you build a great school, the parents will come. Unlike some other school boundaries, the housing options are plentiful. If DCPS would put in the time and resources (hire a principal NOW and then an Assistant Principal, get a marketing and communications team in place, keep meeting with the already great parent group that is formed) this school will have 400 children in two years.

This is one of the best posts on this topic in this entire thread. The "if you build it, they will come" theory is exactly what could happen. If DCPS announced that Van Ness would have an IB type program with a great principal in place, with a specified border (South Capitol to the west, SE/SW freeway to the north, Anacostia River to the south and east), prospective parents could look at the multitude of housing options in the area and plan to move to the Capitol Riverfront.

Its a great opportunity to organically created a high performing DCPS public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The CSX tunnel project is by no means a done deal. The pols are still debating its merits.

Even Kaya Henderson can see that there's no point in re-opening Van Ness as another DCPS school withering on the vine in the face of charter competition. They've got Amidon for that locally.

As long as enough funds to renovate come through, the school culture is dominated by professional parents, good admins and teachers screened by parent hiring panels come in, support for advanced learners is built into the curriculum, and the PTA can afford to pay for inputs the school will need to keep up with others where at least two-thirds of the kids test proficient or advanced (the Waterfront developers will help there), Van Ness will serve the Navy Yard neighborhood well.

Elementary school management isn't rocket science.

Of course not. But, my dear, it sounds like you're new. It sounds like you think no-one has been down this road before. Believe it or not, other parents have pushed for the same things. For decades. In the million dollar homes that are on the Hill. You haven't just discovered fire or invented the wheel.

I'm not saying don't dream, but I am saying you need to start managing your expectations right away, so that you're not bitter within two years, before your next child is even born. You simply will not get something that DCPS has been deliberately denying other schools - schools with generous parent bases, that have worked for it, earned it, can afford it, and have been told they MAY NOT HAVE IT.

DCPS is NOT interested in creating heavily middle class schools. It doesn't matter what the developers intend, they make no decisions. DCPS is trying to distribute higher SES families through the system like sprinkles of salt. Hopefully enough (30% here, 25% there, 40% here, 20% there) to affect the culture of the low-performing schools. You're not expected to elevate the schools to high-performing. But hopefully you'll get them to the level of Watkins or Jefferson MS. At least you can be used to buck up Eastern HS.

Just don't spend so much that you can't put away enough for private school once your DC hits 1st grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

EYA sold all their townhouses and is out of the picture. The current developers in SE are building studios and a few 2brs. They're not too interested in attracting families with good schools...if they were, don't you think they would have spoken out about DME's plan to send the neighborhood to Eastern instead of Wilson? And the Wharf developers aren't going to help with a school that doesn't serve their neighborhood.

EYA is definitely not out of the picture. EYA is planning on at least one Condo Building (on the parking lot across from their townhomes). From an earlier meeting, the housing authority indicated that if this partnership was successful, that they would be open to having EYA put condos on the 3 other vacant blocks that need to be developed to.

Also, don't forget about "The Lofts at Capitol Quarter" that just broke ground a month ago. These 195 garden style apartment units will be built right next to Van Ness, and will not have as many studio apartments as the high rise apartments will have.

I think it's pretty well established that condos and garden-style apartments won't bring many kids to the area. A few, yes.

And what will the upper grades look like? Families tend to leave apartment style housing as their children/families grow. Plus Jefferson still looms around the corner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The CSX tunnel project is by no means a done deal. The pols are still debating its merits.

Even Kaya Henderson can see that there's no point in re-opening Van Ness as another DCPS school withering on the vine in the face of charter competition. They've got Amidon for that locally.

As long as enough funds to renovate come through, the school culture is dominated by professional parents, good admins and teachers screened by parent hiring panels come in, support for advanced learners is built into the curriculum, and the PTA can afford to pay for inputs the school will need to keep up with others where at least two-thirds of the kids test proficient or advanced (the Waterfront developers will help there), Van Ness will serve the Navy Yard neighborhood well.

Elementary school management isn't rocket science.

I understand the neighborhood opposition, but I do think it's pretty close to a done deal - there's just so much regional potential income at stake and the east coast states really are committed to garnering as much of the increased freight traffic as possible that could hit Port of Baltimore subsequent to the widening of the Panama Canal - and that should be done in 2015 or so. And that requires accomodating double stacked containers and being able to run freight and passenger trains at the same time. Residents will rightly hate the construction process but extensive rerouting's not really an option and I think the regional income is too large for any jurisdiction to pass up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brent parent here - the reality for Van Ness is that if you build a great school, the parents will come. Unlike some other school boundaries, the housing options are plentiful. If DCPS would put in the time and resources (hire a principal NOW and then an Assistant Principal, get a marketing and communications team in place, keep meeting with the already great parent group that is formed) this school will have 400 children in two years.

This is one of the best posts on this topic in this entire thread. The "if you build it, they will come" theory is exactly what could happen. If DCPS announced that Van Ness would have an IB type program with a great principal in place, with a specified border (South Capitol to the west, SE/SW freeway to the north, Anacostia River to the south and east), prospective parents could look at the multitude of housing options in the area and plan to move to the Capitol Riverfront.

Its a great opportunity to organically created a high performing DCPS public school.

Sure it could - exactly like it did at Eastern. That multi-million dollar renovation, and the introduction of the International Baccalaureate Program to make it a city-wide draw... It's inspirational.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Sure it could - exactly like it did at Eastern. That multi-million dollar renovation, and the introduction of the International Baccalaureate Program to make it a city-wide draw... It's inspirational.

You're comparing apples and oranges if you're comparing Eastern HIGH School to Van Ness ELEMENTARY school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Plus Jefferson still looms around the corner.

I wouldn't exactly fear that, if you compare it to other schools. The principal is great, and the school is scheduled to be renovated in 2016.

Jefferson has 99% FARMs, but 63% of the kids are proficient/advanced in math. 45% in reading.

Hardy has 67% of kids proficient/advanced in math and 62% in reading, with only 55% of the kids eligible for FARMs.
Stuart-Hobson has about the same FARMs rate as Hardy and 64% proficiency in both math and reading.

It will be interesting to see how Jefferson does in the 2014 CAS results (and it looks like there's room for improvement on reading in particular), but it seems to be doing really well. It also has a higher in-boundary student population than Hardy or S-H. If you compare the student progress year-to-year, Jefferson actually does better than either of these schools. It's close to Deal on some measures of progress and outperforms them on others.

[Anonymous]

Oooookkkayyyyyy... Back away slowly, smile and nod. Run!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brent parent here - the reality for Van Ness is that if you build a great school, the parents will come. Unlike some other school boundaries, the housing options are plentiful. If DCPS would put in the time and resources (hire a principal NOW and then an Assistant Principal, get a marketing and communications team in place, keep meeting with the already great parent group that is formed) this school will have 400 children in two years.

This is one of the best posts on this topic in this entire thread. The "if you build it, they will come" theory is exactly what could happen. If DCPS announced that Van Ness would have an IB type program with a great principal in place, with a specified border (South Capitol to the west, SE/SW freeway to the north, Anacostia River to the south and east), prospective parents could look at the multitude of housing options in the area and plan to move to the Capitol Riverfront.

Its a great opportunity to organically created a high performing DCPS public school.

Sure it could - exactly like it did at Eastern. That multi-million dollar renovation, and the introduction of the International Baccalaureate Program to make it a city-wide draw... It's inspirational.

What in God's name are you smoking? Is Eastern a nice facility? Undeniably. Does it have a city-wide draw? Hardly. Inspirational? Huh? Get back to me when Ward 3 parents are choosing Eastern over Wilson.

[Anonymous]

The bar for "inspirational" seems to be set rather low.

http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/scorecard/Eastern+High+School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Plus Jefferson still looms around the corner.

I wouldn't exactly fear that, if you compare it to other schools. The principal is great, and the school is scheduled to be renovated in 2016.

Jefferson has 99% FARMs, but 63% of the kids are proficient/advanced in math. 45% in reading.

Hardy has 67% of kids proficient/advanced in math and 62% in reading, with only 55% of the kids eligible for FARMs.
Stuart-Hobson has about the same FARMs rate as Hardy and 64% proficiency in both math and reading.

It will be interesting to see how Jefferson does in the 2014 CAS results (and it looks like there's room for improvement on reading in particular), but it seems to be doing really well. It also has a higher in-boundary student population than Hardy or S-H. If you compare the student progress year-to-year, Jefferson actually does better than either of these schools. It's close to Deal on some measures of progress and outperforms them on others.

Who are you trying to convince? Yourself? What measures of progress indicate that Jefferson is close to Deal?