GDS admissions

[Anonymous]

Is this how public gov meetings are run? It doesn't seem democratic.

They seemed to arbitrarily give some people more time and others less time and the one head guy repeatedly interrupted people he did not agree with. They would give public commenters 30 seconds but then the head guy after that would make comments that were longer than 30 seconds on those comments.

I am not a GDS parent but live nearby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a GDS parent but not a DC resident. Can someone please explain to me what these ANCs are and whether they have any enforcement power? Is it just a commission of NIMBYs who bother to run for a council seat that has no power?

I watched the meeting video. Good lord, if this is how DC neighborhoods are run, I’m so grateful to live in MoCo

Did one of the ANC members sing or perform a poem or was that just a neighbor?

The guy who chairs the ANC seems like the exact type of person I imagined would want that job and would seek to run for it.

Some sort of a lawyer who never practiced at a big firm. Barely makes it as a lawyer and therefore the type who has the time to run an election platform entirely based on being against GDS. Because he’s a liberal you know. But he’s not liberal about a school that’s spending millions monitoring its transportation plan. So he’s gonna treat this like the Watergate Commission or whatever he learned at the third rate law school he attended.

ANCs are meant to provide local representation for micro-areas throughout the city, but they have no official binding authority (though their decisions do carry weight). They then advise their councilmember (in this case, the Ward 3 councilmember) who is able to exercise real authority as part of the DC city council.

ANC reps are unpaid and they often run unopposed in their elections. The job requires a lot of time and frankly stinks. Most of your time is spent on very rudimentary matters...someone wants to put up a fence or make a home improvement that requires a variance, a business wants a liquor license...think of any day-to-day random matter that may impact a neighborhood in a city.

As you might imagine, the job stinks, pays nothing and has no binding authority...which is why it takes a very particular person (likely with some specific issue that consumes them) to run for the office.

I believe ANCs are elected for 4-year terms, with some recently elected in 2022 and some coming up in 2024. Only people that live within that specific ANC area can vote for that ANC rep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a GDS parent but not a DC resident. Can someone please explain to me what these ANCs are and whether they have any enforcement power? Is it just a commission of NIMBYs who bother to run for a council seat that has no power?

I watched the meeting video. Good lord, if this is how DC neighborhoods are run, I’m so grateful to live in MoCo

Did one of the ANC members sing or perform a poem or was that just a neighbor?

The guy who chairs the ANC seems like the exact type of person I imagined would want that job and would seek to run for it.

Some sort of a lawyer who never practiced at a big firm. Barely makes it as a lawyer and therefore the type who has the time to run an election platform entirely based on being against GDS. Because he’s a liberal you know. But he’s not liberal about a school that’s spending millions monitoring its transportation plan. So he’s gonna treat this like the Watergate Commission or whatever he learned at the third rate law school he attended.

ANCs are meant to provide local representation for micro-areas throughout the city, but they have no official binding authority (though their decisions do carry weight). They then advise their councilmember (in this case, the Ward 3 councilmember) who is able to exercise real authority as part of the DC city council.

ANC reps are unpaid and they often run unopposed in their elections. The job requires a lot of time and frankly stinks. Most of your time is spent on very rudimentary matters...someone wants to put up a fence or make a home improvement that requires a variance, a business wants a liquor license...think of any day-to-day random matter that may impact a neighborhood in a city.

As you might imagine, the job stinks, pays nothing and has no binding authority...which is why it takes a very particular person (likely with some specific issue that consumes them) to run for the office.

I believe ANCs are elected for 4-year terms, with some recently elected in 2022 and some coming up in 2024. Only people that live within that specific ANC area can vote for that ANC rep.

All true, but they are 2-year terms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a GDS parent but not a DC resident. Can someone please explain to me what these ANCs are and whether they have any enforcement power? Is it just a commission of NIMBYs who bother to run for a council seat that has no power?

I watched the meeting video. Good lord, if this is how DC neighborhoods are run, I’m so grateful to live in MoCo

Did one of the ANC members sing or perform a poem or was that just a neighbor?

The guy who chairs the ANC seems like the exact type of person I imagined would want that job and would seek to run for it.

Some sort of a lawyer who never practiced at a big firm. Barely makes it as a lawyer and therefore the type who has the time to run an election platform entirely based on being against GDS. Because he’s a liberal you know. But he’s not liberal about a school that’s spending millions monitoring its transportation plan. So he’s gonna treat this like the Watergate Commission or whatever he learned at the third rate law school he attended.

That ANC meeting was an *embarrassment* for the neighborhood. And now the meeting is online for the world to see the ugly ANC leadership of Tenleytown, DC.
A bully with some seemingly personal ax to grind with GDS was running the show, and the other ANC commissioners reflexively cowered and fell in line right behind him. No one in that meeting from the ANC possessed the ability to think critically or objectively; or maybe they did but fell under the spell of the leader? Whatever it was, it was atrocious, and, I hope will lead to some self-reflection.
The lack of structure, clarity, and, frankly, leadership, at that meeting was galling. There's a way to point out and recommend a penalty for failure to file required reports that does not need to be so contentious. (Usually a fine of sone kind; there's probably some precedent. The fee should not be arbitrary; especially witnessing the atrocious behavior of the ANC, I would not leave it to the ANC to come up with the fine amount.) The ANC and GDS should have formed a sub-committee to revisit the definition of "neighborhood" which appears to be the main source of confusion. West side of Wisconsin should be off limits to stopping in the AM? include that in an amended MOU--but be sure to survey your local businesses first. GDS should find out if the other schools along Wisconsin have similar restraints about drop offs and pick ups on Wisconsin.
That ANC lacks practical wisdom and needs to think deeply about what public service truly means. I see that GDS acted with admirable restraint, but it's obvious they need to get their house in order.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this how public gov meetings are run? It doesn't seem democratic.

They seemed to arbitrarily give some people more time and others less time and the one head guy repeatedly interrupted people he did not agree with. They would give public commenters 30 seconds but then the head guy after that would make comments that were longer than 30 seconds on those comments.

I am not a GDS parent but live nearby.

+1

The chairman/bully was a textbook example of white male privilege holding a gavel (or in this case, the zoom mute button when he wasn't demanding help with figuring out zoom). His treatment of the woman from GDS was when he was at his absolute worst. She couldn't get five words out without him interrupting her with some rant. It is hard to call it anything less than bullying, and given that he was at least somewhat less out of control with the two other (white men) people from GDS, it certainly came across as beyond just being rude and bullying.

And the second ANC member, when she was finally allowed to say anything---almost 90 minutes into the hearing--seemed to be running a shakedown operation that another ANC member then joined. She was basically demanding that GDS turn over its tuition money from 50 students to "the community." Totally bizarre and lawless.

[Anonymous]

SMH.

It is illegal for anyone to stand/park in the west side curb lane of Wisconsin from 7:30-9 am M-F. There is no discussion. It doesn’t need to be included in any agreement because it’s the law.

Unless you think GDS and its families are above the law?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SMH.

It is illegal for anyone to stand/park in the west side curb lane of Wisconsin from 7:30-9 am M-F. There is no discussion. It doesn’t need to be included in any agreement because it’s the law.

Unless you think GDS and its families are above the law?

Great. So the police should enforce that.

Not the ANC. Unless you want the ANC to also have its own police force too. Clearly the ANC chair acted like he wants to have enforcement power too.

Police should then also enforce it for FedEx and UPS and restaurant delivery vehicles. Nowhere in the law is parents dropping kids called out as special police enforcement.

No one wants special treatment. You also shouldn’t want special enforcement. Unless what you are saying is that you are ok for vehicles stopping when your groceries and packages are being delivered in rush hour but not for GDS. “Because GDS bad. Very very bad.”

[Anonymous]

Not at GDS but really, the occasional Fed Ex is nothing compared to the twice daily line of students getting dropped off for school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this how public gov meetings are run? It doesn't seem democratic.

They seemed to arbitrarily give some people more time and others less time and the one head guy repeatedly interrupted people he did not agree with. They would give public commenters 30 seconds but then the head guy after that would make comments that were longer than 30 seconds on those comments.

I am not a GDS parent but live nearby.

+1

The chairman/bully was a textbook example of white male privilege holding a gavel (or in this case, the zoom mute button when he wasn't demanding help with figuring out zoom). His treatment of the woman from GDS was when he was at his absolute worst. She couldn't get five words out without him interrupting her with some rant. It is hard to call it anything less than bullying, and given that he was at least somewhat less out of control with the two other (white men) people from GDS, it certainly came across as beyond just being rude and bullying.

And the second ANC member, when she was finally allowed to say anything---almost 90 minutes into the hearing--seemed to be running a shakedown operation that another ANC member then joined. She was basically demanding that GDS turn over its tuition money from 50 students to "the community." Totally bizarre and lawless.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this how public gov meetings are run? It doesn't seem democratic.

They seemed to arbitrarily give some people more time and others less time and the one head guy repeatedly interrupted people he did not agree with. They would give public commenters 30 seconds but then the head guy after that would make comments that were longer than 30 seconds on those comments.

I am not a GDS parent but live nearby.

+1

The chairman/bully was a textbook example of white male privilege holding a gavel (or in this case, the zoom mute button when he wasn't demanding help with figuring out zoom). His treatment of the woman from GDS was when he was at his absolute worst. She couldn't get five words out without him interrupting her with some rant. It is hard to call it anything less than bullying, and given that he was at least somewhat less out of control with the two other (white men) people from GDS, it certainly came across as beyond just being rude and bullying.

And the second ANC member, when she was finally allowed to say anything---almost 90 minutes into the hearing--seemed to be running a shakedown operation that another ANC member then joined. She was basically demanding that GDS turn over its tuition money from 50 students to "the community." Totally bizarre and lawless.

Maybe there is history there? We all know GDS’s stance on white men.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We all know GDS’s stance on white men.

OMG you're sooooooo right. I mean, the Head of School and the Board of Trustees chair are both white men...what's up with that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this how public gov meetings are run? It doesn't seem democratic.

They seemed to arbitrarily give some people more time and others less time and the one head guy repeatedly interrupted people he did not agree with. They would give public commenters 30 seconds but then the head guy after that would make comments that were longer than 30 seconds on those comments.

I am not a GDS parent but live nearby.

+1

The chairman/bully was a textbook example of white male privilege holding a gavel (or in this case, the zoom mute button when he wasn't demanding help with figuring out zoom). His treatment of the woman from GDS was when he was at his absolute worst. She couldn't get five words out without him interrupting her with some rant. It is hard to call it anything less than bullying, and given that he was at least somewhat less out of control with the two other (white men) people from GDS, it certainly came across as beyond just being rude and bullying.

And the second ANC member, when she was finally allowed to say anything---almost 90 minutes into the hearing--seemed to be running a shakedown operation that another ANC member then joined. She was basically demanding that GDS turn over its tuition money from 50 students to "the community." Totally bizarre and lawless.

This.

That portion of the meeting was really difficult to watch. It gave me a really great impression of GDS leadership though. I was impressed how poised the GDS side remained through all those interactions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a GDS parent but not a DC resident. Can someone please explain to me what these ANCs are and whether they have any enforcement power? Is it just a commission of NIMBYs who bother to run for a council seat that has no power?

I watched the meeting video. Good lord, if this is how DC neighborhoods are run, I’m so grateful to live in MoCo

Did one of the ANC members sing or perform a poem or was that just a neighbor?

The guy who chairs the ANC seems like the exact type of person I imagined would want that job and would seek to run for it.

Some sort of a lawyer who never practiced at a big firm. Barely makes it as a lawyer and therefore the type who has the time to run an election platform entirely based on being against GDS. Because he’s a liberal you know. But he’s not liberal about a school that’s spending millions monitoring its transportation plan. So he’s gonna treat this like the Watergate Commission or whatever he learned at the third rate law school he attended.

ANCs are meant to provide local representation for micro-areas throughout the city, but they have no official binding authority (though their decisions do carry weight). They then advise their councilmember (in this case, the Ward 3 councilmember) who is able to exercise real authority as part of the DC city council.

ANC reps are unpaid and they often run unopposed in their elections. The job requires a lot of time and frankly stinks. Most of your time is spent on very rudimentary matters...someone wants to put up a fence or make a home improvement that requires a variance, a business wants a liquor license...think of any day-to-day random matter that may impact a neighborhood in a city.

As you might imagine, the job stinks, pays nothing and has no binding authority...which is why it takes a very particular person (likely with some specific issue that consumes them) to run for the office.

I believe ANCs are elected for 4-year terms, with some recently elected in 2022 and some coming up in 2024. Only people that live within that specific ANC area can vote for that ANC rep.

All true, but they are 2-year terms.

And each person represents roughly 2000 neighbors, which is why some apartment buildings are their own ANCs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SMH.

It is illegal for anyone to stand/park in the west side curb lane of Wisconsin from 7:30-9 am M-F. There is no discussion. It doesn’t need to be included in any agreement because it’s the law.

Unless you think GDS and its families are above the law?

Great. So the police should enforce that.

Not the ANC. Unless you want the ANC to also have its own police force too. Clearly the ANC chair acted like he wants to have enforcement power too.

Police should then also enforce it for FedEx and UPS and restaurant delivery vehicles. Nowhere in the law is parents dropping kids called out as special police enforcement.

No one wants special treatment. You also shouldn’t want special enforcement. Unless what you are saying is that you are ok for vehicles stopping when your groceries and packages are being delivered in rush hour but not for GDS. “Because GDS bad. Very very bad.”

Didn’t this thread cover the whataboutism arguments a few pages back? Is this how they teach logic and debate at Gds?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this how public gov meetings are run? It doesn't seem democratic.

They seemed to arbitrarily give some people more time and others less time and the one head guy repeatedly interrupted people he did not agree with. They would give public commenters 30 seconds but then the head guy after that would make comments that were longer than 30 seconds on those comments.

I am not a GDS parent but live nearby.

+1

The chairman/bully was a textbook example of white male privilege holding a gavel (or in this case, the zoom mute button when he wasn't demanding help with figuring out zoom). His treatment of the woman from GDS was when he was at his absolute worst. She couldn't get five words out without him interrupting her with some rant. It is hard to call it anything less than bullying, and given that he was at least somewhat less out of control with the two other (white men) people from GDS, it certainly came across as beyond just being rude and bullying.

And the second ANC member, when she was finally allowed to say anything---almost 90 minutes into the hearing--seemed to be running a shakedown operation that another ANC member then joined. She was basically demanding that GDS turn over its tuition money from 50 students to "the community." Totally bizarre and lawless.

This.

That portion of the meeting was really difficult to watch. It gave me a really great impression of GDS leadership though. I was impressed how poised the GDS side remained through all those interactions.

Poised? They didn’t give any answers or explanations. They sang the party line which only frustrated the ANC more. None of this is new. They should have has some sort of solution to present to the ANC.