Brent rebuild details to know before you accept that lottery spot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS and the Brent principal surprised parents before spring break announcing that the swing space for the Brent modernization will be at Meyer in Columbia Heights and will now be two years instead of the expected 18 months. The plan now calls for kids to be on a bus an hour earlier than current drop off because of the significant bus time/traffic issues. It’s the furthest swing space DCPS has ever assigned.

Where did Hardy move for Swing Space? I thought it was near RFK.

?? Hardy had not had a renovation in eons!

So bussing kids from Glover Park to RFK is not relevant for the conversation because at the time Hardy was mostly OOB kids?
What is the time frame that is being used to measure "furthest swing space DCPS has ever assigned"?

I have no awareness that Hardy kids were ever bussed to RFK. I mean, are we talking about the 80s or what?

Hardy is crappy inside. If it's been renovated in the last 30 years, they did a poor job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Part of me is laughing because I know so many Cap Hill parents who send their kids to summer camps that involve 1 hour one-way bus rides with no problem.

I don’t know anyone who does that for a 3-6 year old. Maybe at 7-8. And also those buses likely have better attendance and seatbelts.

No. A disaster is school being closed for the entirety of your kid’s kindergarten year. Talk to any Covid parent and they would have given anything to put their kid on a bus to school.

I do this. And no. Those busses don't have seatbelts. And yes. DCPS busses do have seatbelts.

The CHML buses did NOT have functioning seatbelts. They also had one single aide who was typically scrolling their phone. Yes, people put their kids on the bus to Potomac (in the summer when traffic isn't quite as bad, so the ride is typically actually shorter)... but not until rising K at the earliest, since there is no PK camp at Potomac. Also, when those kids get to camp, they get to run and play for 8 hours. These kids are going to get off a cramped bus and be forced to follow the discipline and structure of a classroom environment for likely the first time in their lives. It is going to be a disaster for the majority of kids. I really, genuinely suggest you reach out to the parents who lived this at CHML before you dismiss these comments with respect to PK kids as overblown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the Brent community should let Allen know he should fix it or they'll sign the petition en masse? Doesn't affect our family, but that distance is ridiculous.

Another uneducated voter chimes in. DCPS is under the purview and control of the Mayor...full stop. There no longer exists a stand-alone Education Committee so any oversight falls under Chair Mendelson's Committee of the Whole. Neither Charles nor any other Council Member has any control over any of this. If you actually cared you'd be targeting Bowser. But you don't. You'd rather throw an infantile temper tantrum.

P.S. You know what isn't going to help Ward 6 get fair funding? Not having a Councilmember fighting for dollars and resources. But you just go ahead with your big bad self and cut off your nose to spite your face.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone else find it amusing that some anonymous poster chimes is to suggest the crappy swing space is a trade-off for a community garden and then 12 pages of people just accept that as fact and repeat the claim?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else find it amusing that some anonymous poster chimes is to suggest the crappy swing space is a trade-off for a community garden and then 12 pages of people just accept that as fact and repeat the claim?

No one is talking about the community garden in 14 of the pages in this thread. What are you talking about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the Brent community should let Allen know he should fix it or they'll sign the petition en masse? Doesn't affect our family, but that distance is ridiculous.

Another uneducated voter chimes in. DCPS is under the purview and control of the Mayor...full stop. There no longer exists a stand-alone Education Committee so any oversight falls under Chair Mendelson's Committee of the Whole. Neither Charles nor any other Council Member has any control over any of this. If you actually cared you'd be targeting Bowser. But you don't. You'd rather throw an infantile temper tantrum.

P.S. You know what isn't going to help Ward 6 get fair funding? Not having a Councilmember fighting for dollars and resources. But you just go ahead with your big bad self and cut off your nose to spite your face.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the Brent community should let Allen know he should fix it or they'll sign the petition en masse? Doesn't affect our family, but that distance is ridiculous.

Another uneducated voter chimes in. DCPS is under the purview and control of the Mayor...full stop. There no longer exists a stand-alone Education Committee so any oversight falls under Chair Mendelson's Committee of the Whole. Neither Charles nor any other Council Member has any control over any of this. If you actually cared you'd be targeting Bowser. But you don't. You'd rather throw an infantile temper tantrum.

P.S. You know what isn't going to help Ward 6 get fair funding? Not having a Councilmember fighting for dollars and resources. But you just go ahead with your big bad self and cut off your nose to spite your face.

Actually, if Charles wanted to make some noise on this and take up the cause, he could probably exert influence. But unfortunately he has a busy schedule of being completely useless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the Brent community should let Allen know he should fix it or they'll sign the petition en masse? Doesn't affect our family, but that distance is ridiculous.

Another uneducated voter chimes in. DCPS is under the purview and control of the Mayor...full stop. There no longer exists a stand-alone Education Committee so any oversight falls under Chair Mendelson's Committee of the Whole. Neither Charles nor any other Council Member has any control over any of this. If you actually cared you'd be targeting Bowser. But you don't. You'd rather throw an infantile temper tantrum.

P.S. You know what isn't going to help Ward 6 get fair funding? Not having a Councilmember fighting for dollars and resources. But you just go ahead with your big bad self and cut off your nose to spite your face.

Actually, if Charles wanted to make some noise on this and take up the cause, he could probably exert influence. But unfortunately he has a busy schedule of being completely useless.

He did step in on the proposed Maury cluster, despite the Council not really being involved. His support was very helpful and appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some potential silver linings for the neighborhood:
-Many of Brent’s lottery spots go to kids who are zoned for the Cluster, but have proximity preference. This situation could end up being a big boost for Watkins.
-The wonderful Hill Preschool used to have waitlists. Now, they barely fill a reduced number of classes. ECE parents have this (and other options) if they really don’t want to send their kids on a bus.

Why would losing kids to Brent be a big boost for Watkins? I do think it would be a boost for OOB kids to have access to Brent.

Agree that it would be nice to have more little kids at the Hill Preschool!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some potential silver linings for the neighborhood:
-Many of Brent’s lottery spots go to kids who are zoned for the Cluster, but have proximity preference. This situation could end up being a big boost for Watkins.
-The wonderful Hill Preschool used to have waitlists. Now, they barely fill a reduced number of classes. ECE parents have this (and other options) if they really don’t want to send their kids on a bus.

Why would losing kids to Brent be a big boost for Watkins? I do think it would be a boost for OOB kids to have access to Brent.

Agree that it would be nice to have more little kids at the Hill Preschool!

Sounds like they think people who are inbounds for the Cluster that go to Brent will choose to go to Watkins over dealing with the swing space.

I’m not sure that will be the case for many but it is an option for those families.

[Anonymous]

DCPS shouldn't be permitted to create a zero sum game like that. Spoiled Brent loses out to struggling Watkins, hurray! Longsuffering Watkins gains from thriving Brent's bout of misery, yea! The two schools should be consistently supported to attract and retain large, steady in-boundary populations, period.

[Anonymous]

No one is saying DCPS is doing this to help Watkins. Just that it might be an unintended consequence. Because DC has school choice, there will be other options for many of the families affected by this renovation. The whole premise of this thread is bizarre, because it’s warning people not to take a lottery space at Brent because of this. Anyone in that situation is really IB for somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is saying DCPS is doing this to help Watkins. Just that it might be an unintended consequence. Because DC has school choice, there will be other options for many of the families affected by this renovation. The whole premise of this thread is bizarre, because it’s warning people not to take a lottery space at Brent because of this. Anyone in that situation is really IB for somewhere else.

Also aren't there a significant number of Booking AFB families at Brent? I imagine those families will look elsewhere too.

[Anonymous]

Lots of military families at Brent, but they already take a bus to school and the ride won’t be much longer for them I’m told.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is saying DCPS is doing this to help Watkins. Just that it might be an unintended consequence. Because DC has school choice, there will be other options for many of the families affected by this renovation. The whole premise of this thread is bizarre, because it’s warning people not to take a lottery space at Brent because of this. Anyone in that situation is really IB for somewhere else.

No, even IB families have to lottery for PK. What’s bizarre is that you don’t know this.