Janney third grade parents--what do you think of the giant class sizes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once Murch and Lafayette have renovated buildings I think some of the pressure on Janney / AU Park will be taken off.

how so? Janney is already overcrowded, and Murch will start off full. Lafayette too. This won't matter to Janney.

+1

It matters to the 31-yr-old couple with 2 preschoolers who are currently living in Trinidad/ petworth/ "hill east" / eckington and have to move because their IB school is a non-starter; they didn't get into MV; and their 2.5 bedroom rowhome with no backyard is too small.

These people have a choice of where to move when they cash out of their generic rowhome. If the choice is ward3, it won't reflexively be a move to AU park once Murch and Lafayette look like sparkly Janney in 3 years. A lot of people equate shiny new with excellence (see eg Stoddert)

Yes, thank you. I am the quoted PP. People flock to AU park for the sparkling new Janney over Lafayette and Murch. Once those schools also have new buildings, people will consider those neighborhoods more. Will it help my PK and 1st grader's class sizes? Maybe by a small amount. But, going forward, it will relieve pressure off the school in general. Big picture, people. Big picture.

Yes, but the big picture is that both of those schools -- Murch and Lafayette -- are already overcrowded too. I fail to see how that helps at all. Yes, with new buildings they will likely become even more overcrowded, and maybe on the margin might help Janney, but really only on the margin. Janney's problem does not go away because Murch and Lafayette get renovated.

[Anonymous]

The big picture is that nationwide people are staying and moving to urban environments, and DCPS is attracting more families over time.

The real big picture is, shockingly, not only about AU Park.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why it's hard to enforce in-bounds enrollment. Just require all families to provide two forms proving residence -- two utility bills to your name at an in-bounds address, for example. That's what DC requires for car registration and parking permits, so why not the same requirement for school enrollment?

It seems you have never enrolled in a DC public school - DCPS or charter - or it has been a while. There is a list of specific documents you can produce to prove residency.
See this link http://osse.dc.gov/service/enrollment-and-residency-verification

Nope, I've not gotten to enjoy that process yet. Glad to hear from the other PP that it's actually not OOB cheaters that are causing the enrollment problems. Seems someone (the parents?) needed to pressure the former principal to stop contributing to overcrowding by bending the enrollment rules. Maybe a new principal solved the problem though.

I hope DCPS will show the courage to stick to its boundary plan, to keep the enrollment numbers realistic.

[Anonymous]

The boundary is not realistic, that is why people are concerned about overcrowding.

[Anonymous]

I have a hard time thinking the Janney overcrowding problem is just boundary cheaters. If you remove every one, I still think the numbers will be too high. The only way to relieve the pressure at Janney is to shrink the boundary, which will upset those who get moved, and maybe even the school as the budget and number of teachers will shrink alongside it. Let's say someone actually does it anyway. Likely those kids will still go to Deal and Wilson, so, while Janney may be temporarily relieved of overcrowding, Deal and Wilson will not. Furthermore, it would be likely Downtown would place a bunch of OOB kids into those slots that were cut by shrinking the boundaries anyway. And now you have even more kids going to Deal and Wilson.

The only way to do it is to both shrink boundaries AND remove feeder rights. And then make an honest effort to improve the schools, instead of just allowing the active parents to do the work for them.

But we all know that will never happen.

[Anonymous]

No, the real solution is to build another ES in upper NW DC, which is not going to happen but is the natural solution when all neighboring schools are also overcrowded. Then some ES will need to be rezoned to Hardy.
Is Wilsok over crowded?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, the real solution is to build another ES in upper NW DC, which is not going to happen but is the natural solution when all neighboring schools are also overcrowded. Then some ES will need to be rezoned to Hardy.
Is Wilsok over crowded?

Extremely. And it will only get worse as the now much larger elementary schools feed into it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, the real solution is to build another ES in upper NW DC, which is not going to happen but is the natural solution when all neighboring schools are also overcrowded. Then some ES will need to be rezoned to Hardy.
Is Wilsok over crowded?

Extremely. And it will only get worse as the now much larger elementary schools feed into it.

Yes. Wilson is overcrowded. Although, that is in part due to crowded schools like Janney, Lafayette, Murch, which are primarily made up of IB kids. But it is also crowded because of feeder patterns - Oyster, Eaton, Hearst, Shepard Park, Bancroft - those schools have many OOB kids as well. Which is great in that their communities are welcoming and the character of the school is wonderful, but Deal and Wilson just can't accommodate the numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, the real solution is to build another ES in upper NW DC, which is not going to happen but is the natural solution when all neighboring schools are also overcrowded. Then some ES will need to be rezoned to Hardy.
Is Wilsok over crowded?

The last thing we need to do is build another ES in upper NW. If Eaton (45% IB) and Hearst (27% IB) had realistic boundaries and average W3 IB participation rates (85%), there would space for 359 kids.

If Janney parents to prefer to have kids sitting on each other laps, so be it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, the real solution is to build another ES in upper NW DC, which is not going to happen but is the natural solution when all neighboring schools are also overcrowded. Then some ES will need to be rezoned to Hardy.
Is Wilsok over crowded?

The last thing we need to do is build another ES in upper NW. If Eaton (45% IB) and Hearst (27% IB) had realistic boundaries and average W3 IB participation rates (85%), there would space for 359 kids.

If Janney parents to prefer to have kids sitting on each other laps, so be it.

Hearst is only desirable to Janney parents if they can fully take it over and reconfigure it to their specific needs (a la an early childhood campus for Janney). Of course, the needs and desires of current Hearst families weren't even considered because apparently Janney has a birth right over all things Ward 3 .

[Anonymous]

It's gonna get REAL interesting when these large classes hit Deal.
Janney sent about 80 kids to Deal this year.
In 3 years they will send 130.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's gonna get REAL interesting when these large classes hit Deal.
Janney sent about 80 kids to Deal this year.
In 3 years they will send 130.

There are 50 more kids in 3rd grade than there were in 5th last year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's gonna get REAL interesting when these large classes hit Deal.
Janney sent about 80 kids to Deal this year.
In 3 years they will send 130.

There are 50 more kids in 3rd grade than there were in 5th last year?

At least 45 more.

130 vs. 80 something.

[Anonymous]

I'd like to see an updated report from the DME's office about how the numbers are changing, so we all can see whether last year's plan is still on track to solve anything. I fear a tidal wave of kids is coming from several schools that will swamp Deal and Wilson in the coming years.

[Anonymous]

OOB Students should have to reapply for middle school and high school.