DC Begins School Boundary Study

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure CM Frumin is up for this fight. If I were a young Ward 3 family I’d be on high alert early in this process.

+1. The LaFayette PTA needs to have a sit down with CM Frumin immediately to understand how his “Ward 3 for All” plan impacts the boundary revision process.

Most of Lafayette is W4. Families will need to sit down with CM Lewis George, too.

No one plays the equity card more than Janeese, and if you gave her a truth serum, I would bet a lot of money that she wants to move Lafayette kids to the other side of the park.

But she also knows that expressing that desire would make her a one-termer, so she'll conveniently forget about equity on this subject.

Her core constituents are not WOTP (ie, don’t think she cares). But if she is ok with moving Lafayette, she might have to propose to move SP as well. And that would hit her pretty close to home.

[Anonymous]

I do not think that anybody is looking to get rid of AP classes, in fact several high schools across DC are offering dual college enrollment/college credit courses, I think the conversation is going the opposite direction. How can we offer a wider range of options, perhaps allowing kids to cross enroll for classes between schools etc.

Separately, some of you were asking for more details/data on boundaries -- this page has some good info/graphics - it is not a PDF so it's hard to reference a page number. It's all interesting, but I think finding 4 may have some things you all are looking for.

Right. The equity folks would probably love to get rid of APs, but there are some limits.

If Banneker and Walls were proposed today, they would never get approved.

[Anonymous]

Right now we are only 4 years into the opening of Wells and the renovation of Coolidge. Plus Covid messed up everything for a couple of years. Wells has 2 teachers in every core classroom making more differentiation possible. This helps support strong students as well as below level students. Enrollment in feeder elementary is increasing with more inbound participation to fill in space vacated by 6-8 grade classrooms. I have no illusions that everything is amazing but there is definitely good reason to believe that things are moving in the right direction.

I’m less worried about HS since there are enough application options (including the new early college program at Coolidge that is just ramping up) unlike MS.

It’s ok for others not to share the optimism but it’s not like nothing has changed for 10 years and people are saying it will change now with no basis for that belief.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure CM Frumin is up for this fight. If I were a young Ward 3 family I’d be on high alert early in this process.

+1. The LaFayette PTA needs to have a sit down with CM Frumin immediately to understand how his “Ward 3 for All” plan impacts the boundary revision process.

Most of Lafayette is W4. Families will need to sit down with CM Lewis George, too.

No one plays the equity card more than Janeese, and if you gave her a truth serum, I would bet a lot of money that she wants to move Lafayette kids to the other side of the park.

But she also knows that expressing that desire would make her a one-termer, so she'll conveniently forget about equity on this subject.

Her core constituents are not WOTP (ie, don’t think she cares). But if she is ok with moving Lafayette, she might have to propose to move SP as well. And that would hit her pretty close to home.

Please. The WOTP people would figure out a way to get her office for sure if she suggested moving Lafayette. I’m one of those people. No way that’s actually going to happen so it’s not worth the political turmoil. Also, Lafayette parents aren’t sending their kids to Coolidge anytime soon. So it wouldn’t do anything to actually create any equity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not think that anybody is looking to get rid of AP classes, in fact several high schools across DC are offering dual college enrollment/college credit courses, I think the conversation is going the opposite direction. How can we offer a wider range of options, perhaps allowing kids to cross enroll for classes between schools etc.

Separately, some of you were asking for more details/data on boundaries -- this page has some good info/graphics - it is not a PDF so it's hard to reference a page number. It's all interesting, but I think finding 4 may have some things you all are looking for.

Right. The equity folks would probably love to get rid of APs, but there are some limits.

If Banneker and Walls were proposed today, they would never get approved.

Not PP, but efforts to get more kids enrolled in AP classes, when those kids are not prepared, is getting rid of AP classes. AP for all is basically AP for none, just like it's not an honors class if everyone is taking it.
With dual enrollment, it's really hard to tell what's happening. But for instance, even though Coolidge doesn't break out the PARCC numbers for their Early College Academy separately, there just aren't enough kids at Coolidge total who are scoring at grade level to mean that the Early College academy kids are, either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure CM Frumin is up for this fight. If I were a young Ward 3 family I’d be on high alert early in this process.

+1. The LaFayette PTA needs to have a sit down with CM Frumin immediately to understand how his “Ward 3 for All” plan impacts the boundary revision process.

Most of Lafayette is W4. Families will need to sit down with CM Lewis George, too.

No one plays the equity card more than Janeese, and if you gave her a truth serum, I would bet a lot of money that she wants to move Lafayette kids to the other side of the park.

But she also knows that expressing that desire would make her a one-termer, so she'll conveniently forget about equity on this subject.

Her core constituents are not WOTP (ie, don’t think she cares). But if she is ok with moving Lafayette, she might have to propose to move SP as well. And that would hit her pretty close to home.

Please. The WOTP people would figure out a way to get her office for sure if she suggested moving Lafayette. I’m one of those people. No way that’s actually going to happen so it’s not worth the political turmoil. Also, Lafayette parents aren’t sending their kids to Coolidge anytime soon. So it wouldn’t do anything to actually create any equity.

Have prior boundary studies suggested rezoning Lafayette? I just don’t see this happening for so many reasons. I mean I get the sense a lot of CC families rarely cross the park at all, let alone for school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure CM Frumin is up for this fight. If I were a young Ward 3 family I’d be on high alert early in this process.

+1. The LaFayette PTA needs to have a sit down with CM Frumin immediately to understand how his “Ward 3 for All” plan impacts the boundary revision process.

What is the "Ward 3 for All" plan? Does it include opening more out of boundary seats?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It just seems like Shepherd to Wells/Coolidge is the most obvious and needed change, but I would bet it's not going to happen.

]]

Shepherd + Lafayette to Ward 4 MS/HS schools and provide bus; Re-zone some of J/R to Foxhall high school and provide a bus; rezone Bancroft to Columbia Heights Educational Campus; equity access set asides in lottery; maintain OOB lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m always amused by y’all trying to kick Shepherd out in the name of overcrowding. Shepherd is such a tiny school.

Shepherd + 1/2 Lafayette would create a stronger cohort at Wells/Coolidge. I am always amused by the entitled Chevy Chase and Shepherd Park families who think it's too challenging to take Military/Piney Branch in the morning, and then want to restrict equity access at OOB at Deal/J-R. We see you.

UMC Takoma Elem family here. I support Shepard being zoned to Wells because I thing it makes sense geographically but I hate the narrative that we need students from other schools to come to Well’s to save us. I have been paying close attention to Wells and am looking forward to send my kid there without any new boundaries needed. I’m far more curious to see how many kids wind up in the new Walter reed developments and where they wind up.

Cool story. Not sending my (non-white, minority religion) DD to Wells unless the number of IB students goes up. Have toured school, met principal (seems great), but MS is fairly universally the worst time in a kid's life, and unless we improve Coolidge (which has been bad for 20+ years and where a kid was stabbed last week) you will not get IB participation in large numbers for Wells. Ward 4 is the most diverse ward in the city - so increasing IB buy-in will keep the school diverse by most metrics - but getting a critical cohort of Lafayette/Shepherd families is going to save Coolidge which will ensure Well's future.

What is large percentage to you. It is 68% inbound so far? Also curious why you assume that oob students are necessarily worse than in bound?

The boundary participation rate for Wells is 25%, Coolidge is 21%; Takoma is 35%. In contrast, Lafayette has a boundary participation of 92%; Deal is 74%; and J/R is 68%. Ward-wide, Ward 4 has a high level of education for women - the education level of the mother is the single biggest predictor of academic success for any student. There are also benefits in terms of community building when there is buy-in into the school.

I’m confused by these boundary participation rates. Why not look at the % of the students at the school who also live in bounds. From the school profiles on the DCPS website the percent of kids enrolled in schools who are in bounds for the school are:
78% Deal
64% Jackson-Reed
62% Wells
62% Hardy

92% Janney
88% Murch
88% Lafayette
78% Mann
77% Hearst
74% Brightwood
72% Eaton
70% Takoma
63% Shepard
58% Whittier

So yes. The West of the park schools do have somewhat higher percentages of the students at the school being from within their boundary but not outrageously so. I bet if there were as many charter options as close to Lafayette and Deal as there are to Takoma and Wells the numbers would be even closer. I’m sure a good number of Lafayette families would choose Language immersion or Montessori charter if given the option and Deal families might choose charters like Latin or DCI more frequently if they were closer.

So my question remains. Why is a cohort of 60-70% of the students being from the in-bounds area not a large enough cohort of in-bound students to consider the school?

DCI and Latin have plenty have families from Lafayette. Boundary participation is a more significant rate over time - but even by your culled stats. Coolidge is 44% inbound and almost 60% at-risk. When you can show that Wells actually feeds into Coolidge - the in-school participation arguably is more important - but then again, the in-school numbers are much higher in Wards 1-3;6. Wells is also not a diverse school - which is supposed to be an objective. Compare to Hardy, Deal, S-H.

I don't disagree with you, but if DCI, Latin or Basis were located at say the former Whittle School in Van Ness...then those schools would see a massive amount of lottery applicants from Ward 3. Likely a factor of 5x+ compared to what they see now. Similarly, if a school like McKinley was located in that location, it would also see a massive increase in Ward 3 demand. There is some talk about having DCPS somehow take over the Whittle space, though not sure if that will go anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It just seems like Shepherd to Wells/Coolidge is the most obvious and needed change, but I would bet it's not going to happen.

]]

Shepherd + Lafayette to Ward 4 MS/HS schools and provide bus; Re-zone some of J/R to Foxhall high school and provide a bus; rezone Bancroft to Columbia Heights Educational Campus; equity access set asides in lottery; maintain OOB lottery.

You know that Hardy is being rezoned for MacArthur in August, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It just seems like Shepherd to Wells/Coolidge is the most obvious and needed change, but I would bet it's not going to happen.

]]

Shepherd + Lafayette to Ward 4 MS/HS schools and provide bus; Re-zone some of J/R to Foxhall high school and provide a bus; rezone Bancroft to Columbia Heights Educational Campus; equity access set asides in lottery; maintain OOB lottery.

You know that Hardy is being rezoned for MacArthur in August, right?

Plus, Macarthur won't have space for to add additional area to its boundary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It just seems like Shepherd to Wells/Coolidge is the most obvious and needed change, but I would bet it's not going to happen.

]]

Shepherd + Lafayette to Ward 4 MS/HS schools and provide bus; Re-zone some of J/R to Foxhall high school and provide a bus; rezone Bancroft to Columbia Heights Educational Campus; equity access set asides in lottery; maintain OOB lottery.

You know that Hardy is being rezoned for MacArthur in August, right?

Plus, Macarthur won't have space for to add additional area to its boundary.

It will because they are planning to give Hardy families choice of either school, there are Hard families who will bail on a new high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It just seems like Shepherd to Wells/Coolidge is the most obvious and needed change, but I would bet it's not going to happen.

]]

Shepherd + Lafayette to Ward 4 MS/HS schools and provide bus; Re-zone some of J/R to Foxhall high school and provide a bus; rezone Bancroft to Columbia Heights Educational Campus; equity access set asides in lottery; maintain OOB lottery.

You know that Hardy is being rezoned for MacArthur in August, right?

Plus, Macarthur won't have space for to add additional area to its boundary.

It will because they are planning to give Hardy families choice of either school, there are Hard families who will bail on a new high school.

Not for long. Starting in 2025 all Hardy kids will feed to MacArthur.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It just seems like Shepherd to Wells/Coolidge is the most obvious and needed change, but I would bet it's not going to happen.

]]

Shepherd + Lafayette to Ward 4 MS/HS schools and provide bus; Re-zone some of J/R to Foxhall high school and provide a bus; rezone Bancroft to Columbia Heights Educational Campus; equity access set asides in lottery; maintain OOB lottery.

You know that Hardy is being rezoned for MacArthur in August, right?

Plus, Macarthur won't have space for to add additional area to its boundary.

It will because they are planning to give Hardy families choice of either school, there are Hard families who will bail on a new high school.

Not for long. Starting in 2025 all Hardy kids will feed to MacArthur.

2024. Current 7th graders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It just seems like Shepherd to Wells/Coolidge is the most obvious and needed change, but I would bet it's not going to happen.

]]

Shepherd + Lafayette to Ward 4 MS/HS schools and provide bus; Re-zone some of J/R to Foxhall high school and provide a bus; rezone Bancroft to Columbia Heights Educational Campus; equity access set asides in lottery; maintain OOB lottery.

You know that Hardy is being rezoned for MacArthur in August, right?

Plus, Macarthur won't have space for to add additional area to its boundary.

It will because they are planning to give Hardy families choice of either school, there are Hard families who will bail on a new high school.

Not for long. Starting in 2025 all Hardy kids will feed to MacArthur.

2024. Current 7th graders.

Nope. 2025. Current 6th graders.