New DCPS school on former Georgetown Day site will be a high school

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Also, how is it possible they could have this school opened for the 23/24 school year? They haven’t even bid it out yet let alone broken ground and the facility is much larger than the elementary school renovations that have all taken almost 2 years up to the day to renovate.

While they may not have to "break ground" as it were, I am a little confused as to the SY23/24 timeline quoted in the communication sent out by DC Central office. This is only a line item in the budget which needs to be approved by Council. And the new fiscal year is not until July (I'm not sure but I think that is the earliest). So bids for planning will go out in the summer and finalized late Fall. Given that the site was originally for K-8 for 600 kids (and without a cafeteria etc.) I would imagine that it will take longer than 9 months to finish up all the work, given that they need to put in labs etc. Eaton renovation took over 2 years but granted it did involve a lot of foundation work for the new section.

Then there is the question of sequencing -- if the current crop of 7th Graders at Hardy are the first to attend this school, that only makes about 120 kids for the 9th grade class. Are they planning to fill the rest by lottery + at risk preference? Are there even that many kids in the system who would want to attend? What about class offerings? If the majority are at risk in grades 10-12, will they have sufficient mass to offer AP/honors classes right off the bat? While this may sound politically incorrect, am I accurate in assuming that many of these possible 10-12th graders are coming from other schools in the system that do not currently have extensive AP offerings (or honors?)

If not, then what is the draw of this school?

I'm wondering if they plan to add one additional class each year?

So 23-24 has only the freshman class. 24-25 has freshman and sophomore classes. Etc.

In this scenario, they do not need the entire campus finished by 22-23. They can work on renovations and expansion each year, adding more capacity for the next year's additional class. Finally, by year 26-27 the school has all four grades filled.

This is how most new schools operate. It wouldn't make sense to fill all grades the same year.

Yes, but this would be really rough extracurricularly for a high school. No teams basically (or totally non-competitive ones that will get crushed); I assume you'd need to grandfather them into Wilson or something along those lines. That alone would drive lots of kids away.

I'd be fine if the high school didn't have a major focus on sports, if instead it was an IB program or STEM-focused. Football is declining pretty quickly in popularity and is a huge money suck. There won't be a pool at this site.

I'd expect the new MacArthur HS to instead focus on sports activities with a small footprint - tennis, crew (take advantage of easy access to the Potomac!), basketball, cross-country running, etc. Maybe utilize Palisades Rec Center for soccer and baseball/softball teams.

In short, don't expect this school to be a sports powerhouse. You can go elsewhere in the city if you want your kid to have that experience.

Ohhh, I was about to roll my eyes at the PP's obsession with sports, but this makes me swoon! Except for the no-pool part. We need more pools. If the Palisades rec center didn't get one because of lobbying by the FCCsomething or the PCCsomething, maybe it's time to build one for this high school.

It's not about an obsession with sports, it's about this being the IB school for a bunch of kids and needing their buy-in for the school to succeed. That's totally different than something that is a special program not catering to an IB population -- e.g., SWS or Banneker. The list of sports you have sounds fine, but a basketball team with only Freshmen is basically just dog-meat, same for many of these sports. That will keep IB kids away and lead to a rough transition.

OK, so I'm back to rolling my eyes at people's obsession with sports. Do families really prioritize a winning basket ball team over excellent academics in a high school?

A LOT of families choose Wilson over SWS because of the "full high school experience." That's something that MacArthur will not have for awhile. I absolutely think you are undervaluing the extent to which families will stick with Wilson if given the option (as typically the first few classes are) and/or look elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, how is it possible they could have this school opened for the 23/24 school year? They haven’t even bid it out yet let alone broken ground and the facility is much larger than the elementary school renovations that have all taken almost 2 years up to the day to renovate.

While they may not have to "break ground" as it were, I am a little confused as to the SY23/24 timeline quoted in the communication sent out by DC Central office. This is only a line item in the budget which needs to be approved by Council. And the new fiscal year is not until July (I'm not sure but I think that is the earliest). So bids for planning will go out in the summer and finalized late Fall. Given that the site was originally for K-8 for 600 kids (and without a cafeteria etc.) I would imagine that it will take longer than 9 months to finish up all the work, given that they need to put in labs etc. Eaton renovation took over 2 years but granted it did involve a lot of foundation work for the new section.

Then there is the question of sequencing -- if the current crop of 7th Graders at Hardy are the first to attend this school, that only makes about 120 kids for the 9th grade class. Are they planning to fill the rest by lottery + at risk preference? Are there even that many kids in the system who would want to attend? What about class offerings? If the majority are at risk in grades 10-12, will they have sufficient mass to offer AP/honors classes right off the bat? While this may sound politically incorrect, am I accurate in assuming that many of these possible 10-12th graders are coming from other schools in the system that do not currently have extensive AP offerings (or honors?)

If not, then what is the draw of this school?

I'm wondering if they plan to add one additional class each year?

So 23-24 has only the freshman class. 24-25 has freshman and sophomore classes. Etc.

In this scenario, they do not need the entire campus finished by 22-23. They can work on renovations and expansion each year, adding more capacity for the next year's additional class. Finally, by year 26-27 the school has all four grades filled.

This is how most new schools operate. It wouldn't make sense to fill all grades the same year.

Yes, but this would be really rough extracurricularly for a high school. No teams basically (or totally non-competitive ones that will get crushed); I assume you'd need to grandfather them into Wilson or something along those lines. That alone would drive lots of kids away.

I'd be fine if the high school didn't have a major focus on sports, if instead it was an IB program or STEM-focused. Football is declining pretty quickly in popularity and is a huge money suck. There won't be a pool at this site.

I'd expect the new MacArthur HS to instead focus on sports activities with a small footprint - tennis, crew (take advantage of easy access to the Potomac!), basketball, cross-country running, etc. Maybe utilize Palisades Rec Center for soccer and baseball/softball teams.

In short, don't expect this school to be a sports powerhouse. You can go elsewhere in the city if you want your kid to have that experience.

Ohhh, I was about to roll my eyes at the PP's obsession with sports, but this makes me swoon! Except for the no-pool part. We need more pools. If the Palisades rec center didn't get one because of lobbying by the FCCsomething or the PCCsomething, maybe it's time to build one for this high school.

It's not about an obsession with sports, it's about this being the IB school for a bunch of kids and needing their buy-in for the school to succeed. That's totally different than something that is a special program not catering to an IB population -- e.g., SWS or Banneker. The list of sports you have sounds fine, but a basketball team with only Freshmen is basically just dog-meat, same for many of these sports. That will keep IB kids away and lead to a rough transition.

OK, so I'm back to rolling my eyes at people's obsession with sports. Do families really prioritize a winning basket ball team over excellent academics in a high school?

A LOT of families choose Wilson over SWS because of the "full high school experience." That's something that MacArthur will not have for awhile. I absolutely think you are undervaluing the extent to which families will stick with Wilson if given the option (as typically the first few classes are) and/or look elsewhere.

+1. It is not just sports. Other extracurriculars will take a while to get going as well. Not to mention the full slate of course offerings, electives etc.

[Anonymous]

Also pointing out to the sports eye-rollers that it’s really important to play a varsity sport if you want to get into a top college. And demonstrate leadership in multiple extracurriculars. This isn’t just personal preference but could be a real challenge for some of the early cohorts. That said, I’m sure there are ways to solve it.

[Anonymous]

I think it will be immensely popular. The building will be gorgeous, it will not be overcrowded and kids peers from Hardy will be there. It is also perhaps more convenient than Wilson for some definitely for those in the key boundary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it will be immensely popular. The building will be gorgeous, it will not be overcrowded and kids peers from Hardy will be there. It is also perhaps more convenient than Wilson for some definitely for those in the key boundary.

Have you seen plans for this “gorgeous” building? Roughly 500 out of the 1500 kids attending will be at-risk out of boundary by design, according to the plan. It’s sole purpose isn’t to serve the surrounding community. They’re setting a precedent for an entirely new system here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it will be immensely popular. The building will be gorgeous, it will not be overcrowded and kids peers from Hardy will be there. It is also perhaps more convenient than Wilson for some definitely for those in the key boundary.

Have you seen plans for this “gorgeous” building? Roughly 500 out of the 1500 kids attending will be at-risk out of boundary by design, according to the plan. It’s sole purpose isn’t to serve the surrounding community. They’re setting a precedent for an entirely new system here.

How will someone living east of the park (aka not zoned for hardy or deal) who is at risk get to the school via public transit in less than an hour. They know they will never get that many at risk kids from oob enrolling. If they really wanted to do this they should at least do it at Wilson which is right on the metro.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it will be immensely popular. The building will be gorgeous, it will not be overcrowded and kids peers from Hardy will be there. It is also perhaps more convenient than Wilson for some definitely for those in the key boundary.

Have you seen plans for this “gorgeous” building? Roughly 500 out of the 1500 kids attending will be at-risk out of boundary by design, according to the plan. It’s sole purpose isn’t to serve the surrounding community. They’re setting a precedent for an entirely new system here.

How will someone living east of the park (aka not zoned for hardy or deal) who is at risk get to the school via public transit in less than an hour. They know they will never get that many at risk kids from oob enrolling. If they really wanted to do this they should at least do it at Wilson which is right on the metro.

I could be wrong but I believe at risk are entitled to a school bus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So basically they are solving the 'by right' dc high school challenge by building a high ses school and having some opportunity for low ses to attend, and by default doing that at Wilson too. Its solving the wrong problems. And it's terrible to put a high school in such an inaccessible location. What happened to equity? This is akin to people sleeping out to get a spot at a charter school. You shouldn't be allowed to make something open for all and then build in barriers to make it not open for all.

+1

I am sure some of the Ward 3 Council candidates will gush over this. But your point is spot on.

The overcrowding is because the city refuses to draw appropriate boundaries and enforce them. There are plenty of HS seats right now. There would be no real need for a new school if the under-enrolled schools were full.

Except that WOTP families will move to MD or VA or go private before sending their kids to low-performing high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, how is it possible they could have this school opened for the 23/24 school year? They haven’t even bid it out yet let alone broken ground and the facility is much larger than the elementary school renovations that have all taken almost 2 years up to the day to renovate.

While they may not have to "break ground" as it were, I am a little confused as to the SY23/24 timeline quoted in the communication sent out by DC Central office. This is only a line item in the budget which needs to be approved by Council. And the new fiscal year is not until July (I'm not sure but I think that is the earliest). So bids for planning will go out in the summer and finalized late Fall. Given that the site was originally for K-8 for 600 kids (and without a cafeteria etc.) I would imagine that it will take longer than 9 months to finish up all the work, given that they need to put in labs etc. Eaton renovation took over 2 years but granted it did involve a lot of foundation work for the new section.

Then there is the question of sequencing -- if the current crop of 7th Graders at Hardy are the first to attend this school, that only makes about 120 kids for the 9th grade class. Are they planning to fill the rest by lottery + at risk preference? Are there even that many kids in the system who would want to attend? What about class offerings? If the majority are at risk in grades 10-12, will they have sufficient mass to offer AP/honors classes right off the bat? While this may sound politically incorrect, am I accurate in assuming that many of these possible 10-12th graders are coming from other schools in the system that do not currently have extensive AP offerings (or honors?)

If not, then what is the draw of this school?

I'm wondering if they plan to add one additional class each year?

So 23-24 has only the freshman class. 24-25 has freshman and sophomore classes. Etc.

In this scenario, they do not need the entire campus finished by 22-23. They can work on renovations and expansion each year, adding more capacity for the next year's additional class. Finally, by year 26-27 the school has all four grades filled.

This is how most new schools operate. It wouldn't make sense to fill all grades the same year.

Yes, but this would be really rough extracurricularly for a high school. No teams basically (or totally non-competitive ones that will get crushed); I assume you'd need to grandfather them into Wilson or something along those lines. That alone would drive lots of kids away.

I'd be fine if the high school didn't have a major focus on sports, if instead it was an IB program or STEM-focused. Football is declining pretty quickly in popularity and is a huge money suck. There won't be a pool at this site.

I'd expect the new MacArthur HS to instead focus on sports activities with a small footprint - tennis, crew (take advantage of easy access to the Potomac!), basketball, cross-country running, etc. Maybe utilize Palisades Rec Center for soccer and baseball/softball teams.

In short, don't expect this school to be a sports powerhouse. You can go elsewhere in the city if you want your kid to have that experience.

They have to offer all of the DCSAA sports.

The problem is there are not enough kids high school age in the area to make the high school worth building. I bet the majority of kids will come from outside the area. The question is why don’t they build the school where it is needed?

Where is that?

Exactly, where is that? It’s needed to relieve Wilson. Would have been wiser, IMO, to move Ellington to the new site and restore the current Ellington to its former Western High School status. Much more centrally located and the D2 bus route straight from Dupont could make out of bounds transportation easier . Also easier to reach for upper NW students who want a smaller school. I’m wondering if it’s 1/2 set aside for at risk or 1/2 for out of bounds. Big difference in who would be allowed to attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it will be immensely popular. The building will be gorgeous, it will not be overcrowded and kids peers from Hardy will be there. It is also perhaps more convenient than Wilson for some definitely for those in the key boundary.

Have you seen plans for this “gorgeous” building? Roughly 500 out of the 1500 kids attending will be at-risk out of boundary by design, according to the plan. It’s sole purpose isn’t to serve the surrounding community. They’re setting a precedent for an entirely new system here.

How will someone living east of the park (aka not zoned for hardy or deal) who is at risk get to the school via public transit in less than an hour. They know they will never get that many at risk kids from oob enrolling. If they really wanted to do this they should at least do it at Wilson which is right on the metro.

I could be wrong but I believe at risk are entitled to a school bus.

Only sped kids get a bus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it will be immensely popular. The building will be gorgeous, it will not be overcrowded and kids peers from Hardy will be there. It is also perhaps more convenient than Wilson for some definitely for those in the key boundary.

Have you seen plans for this “gorgeous” building? Roughly 500 out of the 1500 kids attending will be at-risk out of boundary by design, according to the plan. It’s sole purpose isn’t to serve the surrounding community. They’re setting a precedent for an entirely new system here.

How will someone living east of the park (aka not zoned for hardy or deal) who is at risk get to the school via public transit in less than an hour. They know they will never get that many at risk kids from oob enrolling. If they really wanted to do this they should at least do it at Wilson which is right on the metro.

I could be wrong but I believe at risk are entitled to a school bus.

Wrong. All DCPS students who must travel to school are entitled to Metro/bus passes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it will be immensely popular. The building will be gorgeous, it will not be overcrowded and kids peers from Hardy will be there. It is also perhaps more convenient than Wilson for some definitely for those in the key boundary.

Have you seen plans for this “gorgeous” building? Roughly 500 out of the 1500 kids attending will be at-risk out of boundary by design, according to the plan. It’s sole purpose isn’t to serve the surrounding community. They’re setting a precedent for an entirely new system here.

How will someone living east of the park (aka not zoned for hardy or deal) who is at risk get to the school via public transit in less than an hour. They know they will never get that many at risk kids from oob enrolling. If they really wanted to do this they should at least do it at Wilson which is right on the metro.

I'm not even sure how somebody who ISN'T at risk would get to this school EotP. Palisades from Capitol Hill or Ward 5, a real headache due to bad traffic downtown. Take the Red Line to Dupont or Tenley Town and a bus over? Some sort of DCPS shuttle bus from a Red Line Metro stop would be needed to make the commute work, and it would still take EotP students 45 mins or an hour to get to this site. Having a parent willing to drive a kid wouldn't necessarily help much, not to Palisades during rush hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it will be immensely popular. The building will be gorgeous, it will not be overcrowded and kids peers from Hardy will be there. It is also perhaps more convenient than Wilson for some definitely for those in the key boundary.

Have you seen plans for this “gorgeous” building? Roughly 500 out of the 1500 kids attending will be at-risk out of boundary by design, according to the plan. It’s sole purpose isn’t to serve the surrounding community. They’re setting a precedent for an entirely new system here.

How will someone living east of the park (aka not zoned for hardy or deal) who is at risk get to the school via public transit in less than an hour. They know they will never get that many at risk kids from oob enrolling. If they really wanted to do this they should at least do it at Wilson which is right on the metro.

I'm not even sure how somebody who ISN'T at risk would get to this school EotP. Palisades from Capitol Hill or Ward 5, a real headache due to bad traffic downtown. Take the Red Line to Dupont or Tenley Town and a bus over? Some sort of DCPS shuttle bus from a Red Line Metro stop would be needed to make the commute work, and it would still take EotP students 45 mins or an hour to get to this site. Having a parent willing to drive a kid wouldn't necessarily help much, not to Palisades during rush hour.

M4 to D6, from Tenleytown it’s 25 minutes of bus time plus the layover at Sibley. If MacArthur is a parking lot your healthy teenager can get out and walk the end of the route. In exchange he gets a shiny new school that, when it opens, will be an order of magnitude smaller than Wilson. Maybe your kid is planning to make the basketball team at Wilson and take AP World History as a freshmen (note: Wilson does not offer AP World History and does not allow freshmen to take APs) but not all kids have such ambitions and god willing enough kids will prefer the smaller school to relieve some of the pressure on Wilson, which is operating this year at 130% of capacity, with rising feeder school enrollments and a rising rate of retention from its feeders.

[Anonymous]

Have there been any studies about how wilson will be impacted? Will removing the hardy feed simply “right size” wilson, or will this open up so many seats that DCPS does the same lottery thing at wilson that they plan to do at the new HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have there been any studies about how wilson will be impacted? Will removing the hardy feed simply “right size” wilson, or will this open up so many seats that DCPS does the same lottery thing at wilson that they plan to do at the new HS?

Wilson is absolutely not getting smaller. It’ll be just as crowded, but with OOB students. That’s the whole plan.