Jefferson Academy Kool-Aid

[Anonymous]

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

---Margaret Mead who obviously didn't read DC Urban Moms

[Anonymous]

These folks have not yet shown themselves to be thoughtful. They need to find a solution that helps them AND the populations that use these schools now if they have any hope of succeeding.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Do any of you saying Jefferson is a viable option for Brent families know where it actually is relative to where people live. It's on the opposite side of the interstate. In another quadrant of the city. Across South Capitol. With no direct bus. And a walk that will soon be across an open trench with freight trains running through it. Totally a neighborhood school.

ˆˆˆ^Fair enough. I had the same thought, yet......when we got a spot at Latin ( 5 miles away ) I tossed my kids on the awful Latin bus and/or scary Metro to get there. Parents will do/go anywhere for quality schooling

While it may feel far because it's not the usual direction those that live on the Hill may normally travel, Jefferson really isn't all that far. Sports on the Hill soccer teams practice there all the time (such as girls u-11 tonight).

It actually IS that far if you're doing it every day, during rush hour.

You have lost your perspective. Get on the Metro at Eastern Market (three colored lines, three stops, free both ways), hop off L'Enfant Plaza, walk one and a half blocks and voila. My son does this on a regular basis. Easy and fast.

So true. By 6th grade you wouldn't be/shouldn't be driving your kids unless they're in a cast. They're city kids - teach them to use public transit.

I'll make the parenting decisions for my daughter, who doesn't turn 11 until this summer. Age does not always corrolate with maturity and there are too many incidents (reported and unreported) on Metro.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Frankly, I am more curious about the impressions that parents of older students in 4th or 5th grade had of the open house.

Parents of small children can be dangerous because they really have no idea unless they are in the education field of how to evaluate a secondary school. And they have absolutely no skin in the game. Cheerful optimism from them can be dangerous because it maintains the status quo and doesn't fire bold action or change. Mostly they are thinking "well, it's fine for those kids". But when their own kid gets close enough to actually Go there it doesn't happen. Justifications abound.

Oh, the parents of young children absolutely have skin in the game. Their time horizon is just 3-4 years rather than 1-2 years. And for them, the highly desirable charters may not even be a dim possibility. There is definite skin in the game.

Agreed. Our kid will be in prek at Amidon (and most likely will stay for elementary) and guess where his middle school will be - Jefferson (gasp, it's not just Hill parents that feed to Jefferson). There's a bunch of middle class families in SWDC who are making the effort to send their kids to Amidon and want to see their neighborhood ES and MS succeed. We want our kids to go to the local schools and not have to be schlepped all over town to go to school. Jefferson will be the next focus and believe me, in 2-3 years time, I'm sure us prek/k parents at Amidon will be thinking about middle school and how we can feed into a good neighborhood school.

Also, with the construction going on at the Wharf, and all around SW, it is bound to bring in some families (not too many since they are mostly building studios and 1 bedrooms) but there's opportunities to have your voice heard at DCPS and let them know we want better options at Jefferson for our kids and the families that continue to grow (and stay) in the local neighborhoods.

The PARCC is a joke.

So... you presently have zero personal experience with DCPS, much less knowledge of what it takes to improve a school, or the proven intestinal fortitude to have withstood the slow drain of students with each passing year.

You'll have to patient and wait until you know whereof you speak before anyone takes you seriously, sweetie.

+1. You can have your voice heard and then promptly disregarded. The Wharf will be a nice destination, but hardly a draw for families looking for somewhere to live with a middle school aged kid. In the end, it's about the cohort, and most Hill families aren't buying the magic unicorn optimism that seems to be motivating some well-intentioned parents. Too many at-risk kids (62%). Too many kids testing at below proficiency (80%). Too many suspensions (30%). Declining enrollment (310 in 2014).

[Anonymous]

+100. You nailed it, PP. I wish that the cock-eyed optimist parents were lobbying for something other than a Stuart Hobson in five or ten years type program. Where's the enthusiasm at Brent for that? How about a building for a second Latin campus in Ward 6, or DCPS MS GT programs as a funded concept city wide.

[Anonymous]

I don't see enthusiasm for ANY SOLUTION building other than a pan Ward 6 middle school or cluster. I also don't see DCPS or the Cluster leadership working with Hill parents to bring this about, at least not while Muriel is Mayor and Henderson Chancellor. Ack.

[Anonymous]

A building is not what is stopping a second Latin campus. Their board doesn't want to expand.

And if they did expand they would put it in Ward 7 or 8 based on their statements to the Post last year lamenting how their student demographics have changed and poor families are much less represented than they used to be.

[Anonymous]

Latin doesn't want to expand partly because they had a hell of a time getting a permanent facility, after years of hassling with the city over the issue. If DCPS were freeing more up mostly empty schools in decent condition to the high-performing charters, I picture Latin's good liberal board singing a different tune. And if Latin elected not to grab a cheap or free Metro accessible building outside Wards 7 and 8, BASIS would.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Latin doesn't want to expand partly because they had a hell of a time getting a permanent facility, after years of hassling with the city over the issue. If DCPS were freeing more up mostly empty schools in decent condition to the high-performing charters, I picture Latin's good liberal board singing a different tune. And if Latin elected not to grab a cheap or free Metro accessible building outside Wards 7 and 8, BASIS would.

And since WL is the lead plaintiff in the Focus lawsuit, no way would DCPS lease them another building.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Right, boatloads of happy middle-class Cap Hill families at Hobson, the neighborhood middle school that's 40% FARMs, 80% OOB, 15% white, and 0% Asian (just like the Hill, right?).

It's just like the middle-SES Hill.

The Hill, regardless of SES, is nowhere near 85% non-white in 2016.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, boatloads of happy middle-class Cap Hill families at Hobson, the neighborhood middle school that's 40% FARMs, 80% OOB, 15% white, and 0% Asian (just like the Hill, right?).

It's just like the middle-SES Hill.

The Hill, regardless of SES, is nowhere near 85% non-white in 2016.

the %0 Asian is about right +/- %1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, boatloads of happy middle-class Cap Hill families at Hobson, the neighborhood middle school that's 40% FARMs, 80% OOB, 15% white, and 0% Asian (just like the Hill, right?).

It's just like the middle-SES Hill.

The Hill, regardless of SES, is nowhere near 85% non-white in 2016.

20003 alone is about 27K people and < %10 are school aged children. There are more seniors than school aged children. While Hill East is fast gentrifying it's not as whited out as you may think with 3:2 white to black ratio. You still have multi-generational households, plus neighboring boundaries for Payne, Miner and Tyler. It's not all dog parks, yoga and bike lanes (thank god!). Some of us do lament the loss of diversity underway

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, boatloads of happy middle-class Cap Hill families at Hobson, the neighborhood middle school that's 40% FARMs, 80% OOB, 15% white, and 0% Asian (just like the Hill, right?).

It's just like the middle-SES Hill.

The Hill, regardless of SES, is nowhere near 85% non-white in 2016.

20003 alone is about 27K people and < %10 are school aged children. There are more seniors than school aged children. While Hill East is fast gentrifying it's not as whited out as you may think with 3:2 white to black ratio. You still have multi-generational households, plus neighboring boundaries for Payne, Miner and Tyler. It's not all dog parks, yoga and bike lanes (thank god!). Some of us do lament the loss of diversity underway

Here's info for all of ward 6, including 20002, which has SH smack dab in the middle of it. Not saying that the Hill is "whited out", just noting that SH's population does not reflect the neighborhood, nor does EH for that matter.

[Anonymous]

Some of us celebrate growing diversity as dynamic Asians, South and Central Americans, Middle Easterners, Europeans/Russians, Australians, Africans etc. etc., immigrant, second generation American and expatriate, rock onto the Hill and stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, boatloads of happy middle-class Cap Hill families at Hobson, the neighborhood middle school that's 40% FARMs, 80% OOB, 15% white, and 0% Asian (just like the Hill, right?).

It's just like the middle-SES Hill.

The Hill, regardless of SES, is nowhere near 85% non-white in 2016.

20003 alone is about 27K people and < %10 are school aged children. There are more seniors than school aged children. While Hill East is fast gentrifying it's not as whited out as you may think with 3:2 white to black ratio. You still have multi-generational households, plus neighboring boundaries for Payne, Miner and Tyler. It's not all dog parks, yoga and bike lanes (thank god!). Some of us do lament the loss of diversity underway

We need to act now to preserve the open air drug markets and corner stores selling blunts and singles! Life in the Hill isn't the same without the crunch of crack vials under your shoes and junkies defecating in your alley.