Feedback on Eaton Elementary School in Cleveland Park, NW

[Anonymous]

That historic district designation may well be what keeps DCPS delaying Eaton's renovation. CP kept the developer of Cathedral Commons tied up for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That historic district designation may well be what keeps DCPS delaying Eaton's renovation. CP kept the developer of Cathedral Commons tied up for years.

With all due respect, you don't know what your're talking about. Several DCPS schools in Northwest are under historic protections (though not necessarily in historic districts) and they have been renovated. Several branch libraries including in Mt. Pleasant and Georgetown have been renovated. There are experienced architects in Washington who worked on these projects and know historic preservation rules and how to work with them. Historic preservation should not be an impediment to Eaton's renovation at all, and there have been no indications whatsoever that is so. The unfortunate fact is that Eaton keeps slipping indefinitely into the future renovation queue because no on at DCPS or on the council seems willing to go to bat for it.

With respect to Cathedral Commons, it is not even in the historic district. In fact, Mayor Williams and the ANC brokered an agreement with Giant back in 2003-04 to renovate the store, and then Giant walked away from it because it was undergoing management changes and its new parent was distracted by an SEC investigation. After Giant came back several years later with a new plan, it's too bad that there wasn't more review of the design, because even folks who eagerly awaited a new Giant feel that the new center is mediocre and cheap looking.

But with the right focus by the school community and neighborhood, a renovated Eaton can be great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That historic district designation may well be what keeps DCPS delaying Eaton's renovation. CP kept the developer of Cathedral Commons tied up for years.

With all due respect, you don't know what your're talking about. Several DCPS schools in Northwest are under historic protections (though not necessarily in historic districts) and they have been renovated. Several branch libraries including in Mt. Pleasant and Georgetown have been renovated. There are experienced architects in Washington who worked on these projects and know historic preservation rules and how to work with them. Historic preservation should not be an impediment to Eaton's renovation at all, and there have been no indications whatsoever that is so. The unfortunate fact is that Eaton keeps slipping indefinitely into the future renovation queue because no on at DCPS or on the council seems willing to go to bat for it.

With respect to Cathedral Commons, it is not even in the historic district. In fact, Mayor Williams and the ANC brokered an agreement with Giant back in 2003-04 to renovate the store, and then Giant walked away from it because it was undergoing management changes and its new parent was distracted by an SEC investigation. After Giant came back several years later with a new plan, it's too bad that there wasn't more review of the design, because even folks who eagerly awaited a new Giant feel that the new center is mediocre and cheap looking.

But with the right focus by the school community and neighborhood, a renovated Eaton can be great.

And there are many who feel that it is perfectly fine and are happy with the outcome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That historic district designation may well be what keeps DCPS delaying Eaton's renovation. CP kept the developer of Cathedral Commons tied up for years.

With all due respect, you don't know what your're talking about. Several DCPS schools in Northwest are under historic protections (though not necessarily in historic districts) and they have been renovated. Several branch libraries including in Mt. Pleasant and Georgetown have been renovated. There are experienced architects in Washington who worked on these projects and know historic preservation rules and how to work with them. Historic preservation should not be an impediment to Eaton's renovation at all, and there have been no indications whatsoever that is so. The unfortunate fact is that Eaton keeps slipping indefinitely into the future renovation queue because no on at DCPS or on the council seems willing to go to bat for it.

With respect to Cathedral Commons, it is not even in the historic district. In fact, Mayor Williams and the ANC brokered an agreement with Giant back in 2003-04 to renovate the store, and then Giant walked away from it because it was undergoing management changes and its new parent was distracted by an SEC investigation. After Giant came back several years later with a new plan, it's too bad that there wasn't more review of the design, because even folks who eagerly awaited a new Giant feel that the new center is mediocre and cheap looking.

But with the right focus by the school community and neighborhood, a renovated Eaton can be great.

And there are many who feel that it is perfectly fine and are happy with the outcome.

But let's face it, hardly worthy of an Executive Neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That historic district designation may well be what keeps DCPS delaying Eaton's renovation. CP kept the developer of Cathedral Commons tied up for years.

With all due respect, you don't know what your're talking about. Several DCPS schools in Northwest are under historic protections (though not necessarily in historic districts) and they have been renovated. Several branch libraries including in Mt. Pleasant and Georgetown have been renovated. There are experienced architects in Washington who worked on these projects and know historic preservation rules and how to work with them. Historic preservation should not be an impediment to Eaton's renovation at all, and there have been no indications whatsoever that is so. The unfortunate fact is that Eaton keeps slipping indefinitely into the future renovation queue because no on at DCPS or on the council seems willing to go to bat for it.

With respect to Cathedral Commons, it is not even in the historic district. In fact, Mayor Williams and the ANC brokered an agreement with Giant back in 2003-04 to renovate the store, and then Giant walked away from it because it was undergoing management changes and its new parent was distracted by an SEC investigation. After Giant came back several years later with a new plan, it's too bad that there wasn't more review of the design, because even folks who eagerly awaited a new Giant feel that the new center is mediocre and cheap looking.

But with the right focus by the school community and neighborhood, a renovated Eaton can be great.

And there are many who feel that it is perfectly fine and are happy with the outcome.

But let's face it, hardly worthy of an Executive Neighborhood.

I don't even know what that means.

[Anonymous]

Let's make Eaton great again!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That historic district designation may well be what keeps DCPS delaying Eaton's renovation. CP kept the developer of Cathedral Commons tied up for years.

With all due respect, you don't know what your're talking about. Several DCPS schools in Northwest are under historic protections (though not necessarily in historic districts) and they have been renovated. Several branch libraries including in Mt. Pleasant and Georgetown have been renovated. There are experienced architects in Washington who worked on these projects and know historic preservation rules and how to work with them. Historic preservation should not be an impediment to Eaton's renovation at all, and there have been no indications whatsoever that is so. The unfortunate fact is that Eaton keeps slipping indefinitely into the future renovation queue because no on at DCPS or on the council seems willing to go to bat for it.

With respect to Cathedral Commons, it is not even in the historic district. In fact, Mayor Williams and the ANC brokered an agreement with Giant back in 2003-04 to renovate the store, and then Giant walked away from it because it was undergoing management changes and its new parent was distracted by an SEC investigation. After Giant came back several years later with a new plan, it's too bad that there wasn't more review of the design, because even folks who eagerly awaited a new Giant feel that the new center is mediocre and cheap looking.

But with the right focus by the school community and neighborhood, a renovated Eaton can be great.

Actually, if you look at DCPS supporting documents for renovations (Appendix G of the 2012 Master Facilities Plan is a good place to start), you will see that there are other schools still in line that have been evaluated to have greater need than Eaton. See page 187 of this doc: http://www.21csf.org/csf-home/DocUploads/DataShop/DS_362.pdf, showing that Eaton had the third highest (aka third best) EFEI score of all of the schools still awaiting renovation; and that nonetheless Eaton was in the queue ahead of 14 schools evaluated to be in worse shape (including two of the worst facilities, one of which I think has closed). Only so many schools can be done at a time.

Nonetheless, digging deep into documents like this will help the community bolster renovation arguments because it allows you to understand the criteria for spending and to be sensitive to which schools may have significantly greater needs when making a fact-based plea for your own cause. It is also useful to look at older documents to compare as in some cases you will see a school's facility condition mysteriously "improve" on paper, even though no repairs have been made, time has passed, and enrollment has increased (either the improvement is relative only to the rapid docile of other facilities, the criteria for what is "good" has changed, or politics are in the wind). You may need to do your own due diligence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That historic district designation may well be what keeps DCPS delaying Eaton's renovation. CP kept the developer of Cathedral Commons tied up for years.

With all due respect, you don't know what your're talking about. Several DCPS schools in Northwest are under historic protections (though not necessarily in historic districts) and they have been renovated. Several branch libraries including in Mt. Pleasant and Georgetown have been renovated. There are experienced architects in Washington who worked on these projects and know historic preservation rules and how to work with them. Historic preservation should not be an impediment to Eaton's renovation at all, and there have been no indications whatsoever that is so. The unfortunate fact is that Eaton keeps slipping indefinitely into the future renovation queue because no on at DCPS or on the council seems willing to go to bat for it.

With respect to Cathedral Commons, it is not even in the historic district. In fact, Mayor Williams and the ANC brokered an agreement with Giant back in 2003-04 to renovate the store, and then Giant walked away from it because it was undergoing management changes and its new parent was distracted by an SEC investigation. After Giant came back several years later with a new plan, it's too bad that there wasn't more review of the design, because even folks who eagerly awaited a new Giant feel that the new center is mediocre and cheap looking.

But with the right focus by the school community and neighborhood, a renovated Eaton can be great.

Actually, if you look at DCPS supporting documents for renovations (Appendix G of the 2012 Master Facilities Plan is a good place to start), you will see that there are other schools still in line that have been evaluated to have greater need than Eaton. See page 187 of this doc: http://www.21csf.org/csf-home/DocUploads/DataShop/DS_362.pdf, showing that Eaton had the third highest (aka third best) EFEI score of all of the schools still awaiting renovation; and that nonetheless Eaton was in the queue ahead of 14 schools evaluated to be in worse shape (including two of the worst facilities, one of which I think has closed). Only so many schools can be done at a time.

Nonetheless, digging deep into documents like this will help the community bolster renovation arguments because it allows you to understand the criteria for spending and to be sensitive to which schools may have significantly greater needs when making a fact-based plea for your own cause. It is also useful to look at older documents to compare as in some cases you will see a school's facility condition mysteriously "improve" on paper, even though no repairs have been made, time has passed, and enrollment has increased (either the improvement is relative only to the rapid docile of other facilities, the criteria for what is "good" has changed, or politics are in the wind). You may need to do your own due diligence.

Other school communities play politics to get renovated?! Shocking! Meanwhile Eaton sticks to its usual strategy of passivity with DCPS, and remains the only school within Ward 3 with no completed or active renovation program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That historic district designation may well be what keeps DCPS delaying Eaton's renovation. CP kept the developer of Cathedral Commons tied up for years.

With all due respect, you don't know what your're talking about. Several DCPS schools in Northwest are under historic protections (though not necessarily in historic districts) and they have been renovated. Several branch libraries including in Mt. Pleasant and Georgetown have been renovated. There are experienced architects in Washington who worked on these projects and know historic preservation rules and how to work with them. Historic preservation should not be an impediment to Eaton's renovation at all, and there have been no indications whatsoever that is so. The unfortunate fact is that Eaton keeps slipping indefinitely into the future renovation queue because no on at DCPS or on the council seems willing to go to bat for it.

With respect to Cathedral Commons, it is not even in the historic district. In fact, Mayor Williams and the ANC brokered an agreement with Giant back in 2003-04 to renovate the store, and then Giant walked away from it because it was undergoing management changes and its new parent was distracted by an SEC investigation. After Giant came back several years later with a new plan, it's too bad that there wasn't more review of the design, because even folks who eagerly awaited a new Giant feel that the new center is mediocre and cheap looking.

But with the right focus by the school community and neighborhood, a renovated Eaton can be great.

Actually, if you look at DCPS supporting documents for renovations (Appendix G of the 2012 Master Facilities Plan is a good place to start), you will see that there are other schools still in line that have been evaluated to have greater need than Eaton. See page 187 of this doc: http://www.21csf.org/csf-home/DocUploads/DataShop/DS_362.pdf, showing that Eaton had the third highest (aka third best) EFEI score of all of the schools still awaiting renovation; and that nonetheless Eaton was in the queue ahead of 14 schools evaluated to be in worse shape (including two of the worst facilities, one of which I think has closed). Only so many schools can be done at a time.

Nonetheless, digging deep into documents like this will help the community bolster renovation arguments because it allows you to understand the criteria for spending and to be sensitive to which schools may have significantly greater needs when making a fact-based plea for your own cause. It is also useful to look at older documents to compare as in some cases you will see a school's facility condition mysteriously "improve" on paper, even though no repairs have been made, time has passed, and enrollment has increased (either the improvement is relative only to the rapid docile of other facilities, the criteria for what is "good" has changed, or politics are in the wind). You may need to do your own due diligence.

Other school communities play politics to get renovated?! Shocking! Meanwhile Eaton sticks to its usual strategy of passivity with DCPS, and remains the only school within Ward 3 with no completed or active renovation program.

I think you missed the point that if you go by need it should be third to last on the list, but isn't.

[Anonymous]

Here's the video from the John Eaton meeting with DCPS on a possible future renovation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXN1yxax448

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the Bancroft vs. OOB debate, I'd like to point out that many of my Mt. Pleasant friends whose kids go to Eaton or Hearst or a charter live on Hobart or Irving. Those kids were in bounds for HD Cooke up until this year, so parents opted to try to lottery elsewhere. Some of those parents actually tried to send their kids to HD Cooke when it returned to the neighborhood, but found it to be unwelcoming and hostile, with a disorganized aftercare program and odd dropoff practices (PS 3 and PS 4 kids were dropped off in the gymnasium and were at risk of being trampled by the largely unsupervised 4th & 5th graders).

We are at Cooke and are very happy. Terrific principal who is turning things around. Please stop disparaging our school when you gave up on it long ago before the change in administration.

+1 I truly wish people on this board would try and remember that every school they trash is some family's school, is some teacher's school. And unless you have personal experience (preferably recent too...2-3 years ago quickly looks like ancient history in DC) these people don't usually know what their talking about. They are just blindly regurgitating rumors and assumptions. Can't you just talk about your school on its own merits and leave everyone else's out of it?

+1. Even if the experience is true, try to remember that, for every bad experience, there was a good one. We had some unfortunate experiences at our elementary school, but also some great ones. If all I talked about were the bad experiences, it would create an impression of the school that would be horrible, and also unfair.

I wasn't actually disparaging the school as it currently stands, nor did I disparage the teachers. Clearly I was talking about a particular point in time, which was the year Cooke returned to the neighborhood (see original posting for my clear reference to a particular point in time). One of the reasons the former principal is no longer there is because she was unwelcoming and hostile to higher SES parents, which caused Hobart and Irving Street parents to lottery elsewhere. But, when people start disparaging Mount Pleasant families for not trying out Bancroft, I think it valid to point out that until this year, some of Mount Pleasant fed elsewhere, and that at that time, it was not a valid option. I did not at any time say that Cooke isn't an option today. By all accounts the new principal is doing a better job working with the higher SES parents than the former one was.

[Anonymous]

And, my other point is that even when kids on Hobart and Irving got in bound access to Bancroft, most of those kids are now well above the recommended 1st grade cutoff for starting in immersion, so should not be blamed for keeping their kids at their OOB school.

[Anonymous]

It would be nice if you could distinguish between the old and new administration, then. When I read your post, it did not make that distinction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I'm an Eaton parent and modernization is just quite frankly not on the top of my priorities list. I agree that the library is sort of dark and I wish the gym/multipurpose room was a little better. However, prior to our kids enrolling in Eaton, I toured several other schools of Eaton's 1920s vintage which had been substantially remodeled and I thought that the modernizations had stripped away the warmth and charm that some of these high-ceilinged, big window'ed old ES school buildings have.

I am much more concerned with what my kids are learning and the people imparting it to them than I am with buildings. Our MS thrived at Washington Latin when the school was in truly awful space.

Eaton is a registered landmark in a national register historic district. Any renovation to it would have to be sensitive to the building and would require approval by several local committees and the Historic Preservation Review Board. DH and I would love to see a renovation, and hopefully one would "clean up" the front addition that was added pre-historic district and is not very attractive compared with the original building. I agree that the library is sorely in need of renovation, and enhanced science, music and indoor play spaces would be useful.

So frustrating that nothing is happening with this now.

[Anonymous]

My neice attends Eaton as an OOB student. I was picking her up yesterday so I got to see the building. The layout is very weird. It feels lie you are entering a bunker, the entry way is small and dark. The hallways are super eide, you could really increase classroom size just by bumping out the walls.

Nevertheless my neice (who is a triple dcum threat of being brown, FARM qualifying and OOB) is thriving at Eaton. She is an advanced rwader, a kind and compassionate friend and an advocate of animal welfare (even became a vegetarian!). It's sad that to some she's only data point who is a potential drag on the school.