New River Campus?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gonna be funny when the neighbors shut down the school idea so the property is sold to a developer who puts up 18 SFH on the site instead.

maybe that would be better. after construction there would be fewer people, less noise, fewer cars. and people who would support the neighborhood economically because they live there and actually care. only bad would be if they knock down the landmark house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What building do they plan to use?

If it's an existing non-residential space, I don't see how the neighbor can complain. If you live in a city, you're going to interact with other people.

I wonder what will move into their current space.

The existing space is residential. The school is trying to get it flipped to commercial. Amazing school and mission! Think about it...if one school or business can come in and flip a lot from residential to commercial, what does that say about future residential lots???

you realize every school, and many businesses do this, right?

except this neighborhood already has 13 schools and day care centers unlike some other neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The want to expand the school to 350 kids (expanding to add through sixth grade), day care center and health clinic open to the public. The issue in the neighborhood is not the mission of the school it is that there are already 12+ schools, the department of homeland security and the new buildings at the old Fannie Mae site that are already causing huge amounts of traffic in an area that already has dangerous traffic. They are under contract to purchase TTR old Buchanan estate which is on the corner of Nebraska, 42nd and Van Ness. With 350 kids, 90 faculty, many more staff, patients to the clinic, families of the infants and staff at the health clinic that will add more than 500 cars to the residential part of tenleytown.

Thanks for the NIMBY fear-mongering.

It would be a great addition to the neighborhood, more families would have more walkable and bikable options for their kids.

there are already 13 schools and day care centers in tenleytown . and sidwell is about to expand and is just a few blocks away
aren't there other neighborhoods with no schools that could get this one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For anyone who is interested in River's actual plans rather than the fearmongering, here they are: https://anc3e.org/wp-content/uploads/River-School-Presentation-to-ANC3E-0210.pdf

Traffic is all off Nebraska with a large U-shaped drop-off entirely self-contained on their property, just like NPS across the street. The "health clinic" is the same as the one on their current campus and is a very small pediatric hearing clinic -- not exactly a heavy driver of traffic!

I mean, you said it yourself.

the new health clinic is not the same as on the current river campus - it will be almost 10,000 square feet and thew new day care center would be more than 20,000 square feet. they are not the same as they are in palisades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The want to expand the school to 350 kids (expanding to add through sixth grade), day care center and health clinic open to the public. The issue in the neighborhood is not the mission of the school it is that there are already 12+ schools, the department of homeland security and the new buildings at the old Fannie Mae site that are already causing huge amounts of traffic in an area that already has dangerous traffic. They are under contract to purchase TTR old Buchanan estate which is on the corner of Nebraska, 42nd and Van Ness. With 350 kids, 90 faculty, many more staff, patients to the clinic, families of the infants and staff at the health clinic that will add more than 500 cars to the residential part of tenleytown.

Thanks for the NIMBY fear-mongering.

It would be a great addition to the neighborhood, more families would have more walkable and bikable options for their kids.

there are already 13 schools and day care centers in tenleytown . and sidwell is about to expand and is just a few blocks away
aren't there other neighborhoods with no schools that could get this one?

Sure there are but those neighborhoods are too far east (!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I imagine they want a location that will attract a certain type of family.

Families of children that are deaf or have hearing loss and now can reach the school via metro?

What percentage of the students are hearing impaired?

10-15% have hearing impairment that has been corrected to some extent by cochlear implants or hearing aids.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think River School is feeling pressured as other schools like Sidwell and GDS have recently acquired property and expanded. River School’s crappy building is holding it back.

Suppose to feel bad because the really wonderful private school is having a hard time keeping up with the Joneses??? It wants to push its way it to a residential neighborhood (its first attempt since its other three attempts at commercial sites didn't work out), so lets just totally disrupt people's way of living and AGING IN PLACE so they can keep up and release the "pressure". Just kill me now why don't you.

geez, that’s a bit hysterical. you don’t own the streets - nobody does. anti-school nimbyism based on parking is just another level. as the mom of a SN kid who couldn’t consider River due to its location, I think it’s great it is trying to find a more centrally accessible location to expand to.

What is hysterical is you throwing around NIMBYism and acting like parking and local safety are not a concern. They are a MAJOR concern for those of us that have lived here for over 25+ years and have raised our own kids and now grandkids on these streets. Not having adequate parking for the hundreds of cars that will be coming into the area and adding to the congestion due to the River School's lack of planning and communication is a problem. How you handle your families needs is on you. Are you suddenly going to take the metro or bus with your kid now that the school is considering this centrally accessible location and it wants to expand? This is a residential lot they are trying to get special exception for; this is a private school that is coming from Ward 3 moving to Ward 3. Do not fool yourself.
Where did you end up sending your kid that was better located and did you use public transportation?

DP...you are hysterical. None of these nightmare scenarios ever come to fruition. They said the same thing when GDS opened its high school, when NCRC expanded, when Sidwell did its renovation, etc. We live in a city, the streets do not belong only to you.

Wanting safer streets for all those in the neighborhood and for those that walk, bike and travel on them daily means I am claiming ownership over them? Wanting safer streets is NEVER wrong. Maybe you should want them too, if not for yourself or your own family then for others. Maybe you should try and explain why safer streets are not needed to the poor young man's family who just got tragically struck and killed on Mass Ave. while riding his bike TO DINNER. Safer intersections and roadways are a must. There is no plan for the cars and congestion associated with this school moving here.

Ok, right, opening this school will lead to death. great argument.

That is not even funny. It would be horrible if something happen to a young kid because there is no parking or traffic. This is something we should all consider and the fact that you even mock someone poor young man's death is disturbing.

It's absurd to claim that a minimal increase in traffic is going to lead to unsafe streets. It's also really morbid to claim that the bike accident on Mass Ave -- a notoriously dangerous place to bike and a crazy traffic pattern - has anything at all to do with the school.

It is NOT A MINIMAL INCREASE. Did you even read their proposal? Adding that many cars without a proper way to funnel them into the campus/neighborhood is unsafe and a hazard. That IS causing a crazy traffic pattern. The school is not taking into account the safety of the neighborhood or those that live and work in the area and that is a horrible, selfish thought. You are right. The River School is WRONG.

300 cars is minimal. It’s not a backwater road; it’s a road that already handles a fair amount of volume. You sound very anxious.

Nebraska may be a major road but the roads that the parents will divert themselves to in order to avoid the long lines to drop off and pick up their children at the multiple pick up times each day in particularly, will be smaller roads that lots of kids walk and bike on that are not meant for large amounts of traffic or parking as they are narrow and there are near miss accidents or actual accidents on all of the time due to crappy traffic mini circles, bad planning with no left turns on certain streets, the slow street on Yuma and gds buses and other traffic that use warren when they are not supposed to

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A count of the River family directory shows 149 families (a previous year, but I don't think this year would be much different). Not 300. Many families have two or even three children in the school.

And by the way, there are no sports games. River only goes to 3rd grade. About the only big event is the annual Back to School night. (The auction is a big night, ostensibly, but fewer parents show up for it than Back to School orientation.)

River is planning to add 4th, 5th an d 6th grade. They currently have on social media and other documents related to their BZA application that they have 300 students. That may mean there are lots of siblings at the school so only 149 families. But they plan to grow a lot and add 20 new faculty and much more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You are right the spots along Nebraska tend to not be all used, but there are not nearly enough to hold all the River Schools parents. When those are used up, which are also surrounding houses and neighbors, where will the rest of the cars go? It is scary how mindless River School and their parents are about the well being of those that live in the Tenley community.

I don't know if you're right that they'd all be used, but if so just how often does any school invite all parents at once to the school? At best it's a couple of times a year - maybe graduation and a holiday event (like a Thanksgiving/Christmas assembly). Outside of that, it's more frequently grade by grade or a couple of grades at once. I think the people of any neighborhood might just have to deal with a 2 hour period once a year where parking is extra tight. And if they really can't, then perhaps the solution is to ask the school to ensure arrangements such as borrowing the NPS/NBC parking lot, like the Japanese embassy does for its occasional events.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Nebraska may be a major road but the roads that the parents will divert themselves to in order to avoid the long lines to drop off and pick up their children at the multiple pick up times each day in particularly, will be smaller roads that lots of kids walk and bike on that are not meant for large amounts of traffic or parking as they are narrow and there are near miss accidents or actual accidents on all of the time due to crappy traffic mini circles, bad planning with no left turns on certain streets, the slow street on Yuma and gds buses and other traffic that use warren when they are not supposed to

You mean the same roads commuters now use? It's such a tired argument that existing traffic issues are fine but will go off a cliff with a small addition of traffic from one source. Chick-Fil-A generates more vehicle trips in a day than River School, but where was the outrage of people cutting through AU park to get their chicken fix?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The want to expand the school to 350 kids (expanding to add through sixth grade), day care center and health clinic open to the public. The issue in the neighborhood is not the mission of the school it is that there are already 12+ schools, the department of homeland security and the new buildings at the old Fannie Mae site that are already causing huge amounts of traffic in an area that already has dangerous traffic. They are under contract to purchase TTR old Buchanan estate which is on the corner of Nebraska, 42nd and Van Ness. With 350 kids, 90 faculty, many more staff, patients to the clinic, families of the infants and staff at the health clinic that will add more than 500 cars to the residential part of tenleytown.

Thanks for the NIMBY fear-mongering.

It would be a great addition to the neighborhood, more families would have more walkable and bikable options for their kids.

there are already 13 schools and day care centers in tenleytown . and sidwell is about to expand and is just a few blocks away
aren't there other neighborhoods with no schools that could get this one?

I agree Tentleytown is getting busy, but Mary Cheh and Greater Greater Washington and Muriel Bowser and a few annoying, but very well organized millenials with no understanding of livability want DENSITY. If not this school, what will they rubber stamp in its place? And none of them are interested in historical preservation of old buildings. Why doesn't the neighborhood pool together to buy it and create a comnunity center and park?

[Anonymous]

River School needs to get ready for a fight. The gloves are coming off. The neighborhood is organizing to oppose this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Nebraska may be a major road but the roads that the parents will divert themselves to in order to avoid the long lines to drop off and pick up their children at the multiple pick up times each day in particularly, will be smaller roads that lots of kids walk and bike on that are not meant for large amounts of traffic or parking as they are narrow and there are near miss accidents or actual accidents on all of the time due to crappy traffic mini circles, bad planning with no left turns on certain streets, the slow street on Yuma and gds buses and other traffic that use warren when they are not supposed to

You mean the same roads commuters now use? It's such a tired argument that existing traffic issues are fine but will go off a cliff with a small addition of traffic from one source. Chick-Fil-A generates more vehicle trips in a day than River School, but where was the outrage of people cutting through AU park to get their chicken fix?

Yes! The same side neighborhood/residential roads that MD and VA commuters fly through without any regard. Yes! That same argument is exhausting, isn't it? That we local parents and humans still keep on having to have and nothing gets done. I saw a woman almost get rammed by a MD driver that coasted through a stop sign during morning rush hour/drop-off at the SLOW STREET.
You want to bring up, chicken? My gosh, man. I think you have been inside your house too long. Either you are really hungry or clearly not right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Nebraska may be a major road but the roads that the parents will divert themselves to in order to avoid the long lines to drop off and pick up their children at the multiple pick up times each day in particularly, will be smaller roads that lots of kids walk and bike on that are not meant for large amounts of traffic or parking as they are narrow and there are near miss accidents or actual accidents on all of the time due to crappy traffic mini circles, bad planning with no left turns on certain streets, the slow street on Yuma and gds buses and other traffic that use warren when they are not supposed to

You mean the same roads commuters now use? It's such a tired argument that existing traffic issues are fine but will go off a cliff with a small addition of traffic from one source. Chick-Fil-A generates more vehicle trips in a day than River School, but where was the outrage of people cutting through AU park to get their chicken fix?

Seriously, is this the best argument that River School supporters can come up with?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You are right the spots along Nebraska tend to not be all used, but there are not nearly enough to hold all the River Schools parents. When those are used up, which are also surrounding houses and neighbors, where will the rest of the cars go? It is scary how mindless River School and their parents are about the well being of those that live in the Tenley community.

I don't know if you're right that they'd all be used, but if so just how often does any school invite all parents at once to the school? At best it's a couple of times a year - maybe graduation and a holiday event (like a Thanksgiving/Christmas assembly). Outside of that, it's more frequently grade by grade or a couple of grades at once. I think the people of any neighborhood might just have to deal with a 2 hour period once a year where parking is extra tight. And if they really can't, then perhaps the solution is to ask the school to ensure arrangements such as borrowing the NPS/NBC parking lot, like the Japanese embassy does for its occasional events.

Just want to clarify that borrowing the NPS/NBC parking lot would not be a possibility. There's already too much activity on that lot. The Japanese embassy events are outside of school/church/normal working hours, and that is a unique arrangement.