Whittle School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh wow. They really, really messed up. You do not want to mess with the city on building permits.

I can see how someone from out of town and unfamiliar with DC would think that authorization from the State Dept would exempt them from needing DC permits. But wow. I'm assuming that they don't have a locally based lawyer or expert who could have advised them. There are a number of companies in DC that only work on navigating the permit process, it's its own industry here.

Local politicos want their cut!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh wow. They really, really messed up. You do not want to mess with the city on building permits.

I can see how someone from out of town and unfamiliar with DC would think that authorization from the State Dept would exempt them from needing DC permits. But wow. I'm assuming that they don't have a locally based lawyer or expert who could have advised them. There are a number of companies in DC that only work on navigating the permit process, it's its own industry here.

They have the money to grease the right palms (that's how it works here) and should be back in business in no time. Their lawyers just need to figure out who to pay to get this fast tracked.

[Anonymous]

Sorry but LOL. Any day laborer hanging out at home depot with a 3rd grade education in Honduras knows you need DC construction permits. And they want people to pay them 50k to educate their kids...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh wow. They really, really messed up. You do not want to mess with the city on building permits.

I can see how someone from out of town and unfamiliar with DC would think that authorization from the State Dept would exempt them from needing DC permits. But wow. I'm assuming that they don't have a locally based lawyer or expert who could have advised them. There are a number of companies in DC that only work on navigating the permit process, it's its own industry here.

They have the money to grease the right palms (that's how it works here) and should be back in business in no time. Their lawyers just need to figure out who to pay to get this fast tracked.

Normally I would completely agree with you on this, in fact that's how I thought they were even going to be open in 2019 because they had already fast tracked the permitting process. I thoughts that's how they got away with announcing their presence to the neighborhood with no public meetings. However, now that this has made the Post and DCRA is already involved they are going to have to go by the book. The time to pay the money was at the start of the process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry but LOL. Any day laborer hanging out at home depot with a 3rd grade education in Honduras knows you need DC construction permits. And they want people to pay them 50k to educate their kids...

He knew, and decided to just do whatever he wanted because he has money. I think this is a pretty good indication of what kind of neighbor the school will be.

[Anonymous]

Wait. The guy below is head of construction in DC? smh And they've got like 8 people on staff just for admissions. With a sales team like that, they should have a waitlist already. All together it's something like 30 people working on DC launch. No wonder they have to charge so much.

Ron Corrado
Ron was born in New York City and raised in Connecticut, where he studied electrical engineering at Greater New Haven State Tech. Ron’s career experience includes working with the U.S. Department of State; he moved to Herk-de-Stad, Belgium, to lead construction and renovation projects in over 20 European countries and the former Soviet Union. He then spent three years on the Pentagon’s renovation-management and project-controls team and later worked in commercial construction. Ron has more than 20 years of experience managing design and construction for K–12 schools. He was the deputy chief operating officer for a 4,000-student, 12-campus charter school in D.C.

BTW, the LEADERSHIP [caps!!!] team is 70% Privileged and/or Old White Men from fancy schools. The staff and faculty are mostly women and POC. Their education and experiences look at least as impressive as EXETER. Maybe the marketing team should focus more on the people actually working with students and families and less name-dropping of OWM.

[Anonymous]

Nice timing for this Washington Post story, right before private school acceptances are announced...really a coincidence, or someone behind this to freeze people from choosing Whittle over other private school options, as how could you possibly turn down an offer to an existing school with this uncertainty now?

If they did need DC permits and ignored DCRA then they could be in limbo for months, which means they will miss the 2019-20 school year start and have to be paying teachers for not working? And how many teachers who they are trying to poach will now sign on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nice timing for this Washington Post story, right before private school acceptances are announced...really a coincidence, or someone behind this to freeze people from choosing Whittle over other private school options, as how could you possibly turn down an offer to an existing school with this uncertainty now?

If they did need DC permits and ignored DCRA then they could be in limbo for months, which means they will miss the 2019-20 school year start and have to be paying teachers for not working? And how many teachers who they are trying to poach will now sign on?

Someone is about to hit a fundraising record.

[Anonymous]

I always wondered why there were no neighborhood meetings abiut how the school intends to do drop-off and pick up of kids in a K-12 school with no dedicated school lane. It’s not like people can drop on Connecticut Avenue and I can’t imagine Secret Service is going to be pleased if Van Ness is backed up in front of the embassies. It’s well known that these negotiations take a long time to work out— look at GDS, Lowell and Cathedral Schools, where there are have been countless parent committees and meetings dedicated to addressing this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always wondered why there were no neighborhood meetings abiut how the school intends to do drop-off and pick up of kids in a K-12 school with no dedicated school lane. It’s not like people can drop on Connecticut Avenue and I can’t imagine Secret Service is going to be pleased if Van Ness is backed up in front of the embassies. It’s well known that these negotiations take a long time to work out— look at GDS, Lowell and Cathedral Schools, where there are have been countless parent committees and meetings dedicated to addressing this.

Any car pool drop off would likely be off of Tilden, not Van Ness.

That said, I feel bad for the teachers who have said they were leaving for this school. It likely won't be open at this site by the fall. If DCRA past performance is any indication, it will take at least 4-5 months to get through permits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always wondered why there were no neighborhood meetings abiut how the school intends to do drop-off and pick up of kids in a K-12 school with no dedicated school lane. It’s not like people can drop on Connecticut Avenue and I can’t imagine Secret Service is going to be pleased if Van Ness is backed up in front of the embassies. It’s well known that these negotiations take a long time to work out— look at GDS, Lowell and Cathedral Schools, where there are have been countless parent committees and meetings dedicated to addressing this.

Any car pool drop off would likely be off of Tilden, not Van Ness.

That said, I feel bad for the teachers who have said they were leaving for this school. It likely won't be open at this site by the fall. If DCRA past performance is any indication, it will take at least 4-5 months to get through permits.

I'm assuming they will be paid no matter what, so it's an unexpected paid sabbatical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry but LOL. Any day laborer hanging out at home depot with a 3rd grade education in Honduras knows you need DC construction permits. And they want people to pay them 50k to educate their kids...

He knew, and decided to just do whatever he wanted because he has money. I think this is a pretty good indication of what kind of neighbor the school will be.

They have been terrible in communicating with the immediate neighbors and community thus far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always wondered why there were no neighborhood meetings abiut how the school intends to do drop-off and pick up of kids in a K-12 school with no dedicated school lane. It’s not like people can drop on Connecticut Avenue and I can’t imagine Secret Service is going to be pleased if Van Ness is backed up in front of the embassies. It’s well known that these negotiations take a long time to work out— look at GDS, Lowell and Cathedral Schools, where there are have been countless parent committees and meetings dedicated to addressing this.

Any car pool drop off would likely be off of Tilden, not Van Ness.

That said, I feel bad for the teachers who have said they were leaving for this school. It likely won't be open at this site by the fall. If DCRA past performance is any indication, it will take at least 4-5 months to get through permits.

I'm assuming they will be paid no matter what, so it's an unexpected paid sabbatical.

Tilden is a residential street, why would the assumption be that drop-off traffic is funneled there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh wow. They really, really messed up. You do not want to mess with the city on building permits.

I can see how someone from out of town and unfamiliar with DC would think that authorization from the State Dept would exempt them from needing DC permits. But wow. I'm assuming that they don't have a locally based lawyer or expert who could have advised them. There are a number of companies in DC that only work on navigating the permit process, it's its own industry here.

As someone who works in a fairly new federal building managed by a third party, I would much rather have DC do the final inspection. Seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always wondered why there were no neighborhood meetings abiut how the school intends to do drop-off and pick up of kids in a K-12 school with no dedicated school lane. It’s not like people can drop on Connecticut Avenue and I can’t imagine Secret Service is going to be pleased if Van Ness is backed up in front of the embassies. It’s well known that these negotiations take a long time to work out— look at GDS, Lowell and Cathedral Schools, where there are have been countless parent committees and meetings dedicated to addressing this.

Any car pool drop off would likely be off of Tilden, not Van Ness.

That said, I feel bad for the teachers who have said they were leaving for this school. It likely won't be open at this site by the fall. If DCRA past performance is any indication, it will take at least 4-5 months to get through permits.

It doesn't matter what street it would be on. No existing school makes changes without tons of neighborhood meetings and red tape and traffic studies and hearings, etc., let alone a gigantic brand new school in a busy area with embassies and several other schools. It was fishy from the start.