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Spring Valley & Mann
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Anonymous
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I think the 14% figure is a lie, that's all.
(and if a "handful" of kids went directly from preschool into OOB **preK**, then it's safe to assume Dad is a developer or D.C. business owner and got a favor. Ala the Fenty twins-Lafayette. |
Anonymous
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Did anyone read that they are thinking of moving the boundaries for Ward 3 DCPS ES's? To alleviate the extreme crowding at Janney and other like schools?
Something to think about OP? You could move and then get booted to another school! Decide soon... |
Anonymous
PP, without the school directory, how could you possibly know? First, you (or someone else) assert that there are no OOB kids at Mann: "DCUM lie of the year." Then, you back off 0% OOB to "no &$% way that 39 of the 269" are OOB. What's next? Mann has the capacity for about 270 kids. The building is small. There's no gym. There's no auditorium. There's no cafeteria. There's a "community center" that serves as gym/auditorium/cafeteria. However, the community center is so small that all-school meetings usually take place outside, even when it's freezing. When more that 270 neighborhood kids enroll, they must all be accommodated. If I recall correctly, the current third grade was huge when it was the K class several years ago. When fewer than 270 neighborhood, the principal must admit OOB kids to reach about 270. The budget is based in that many kids enrolling. My impression of Mann enrollment patterns is that kids start to leave in the 4th and 5th grades. Some go to private. Some move away, e.g., embassy families, political appointees, etc. However, those freed spots are not filled entirely with new neighborhood kids. While it does happen, neighborhood families do seem reluctant to enroll their kids at Mann in the 4th and 5th grades for the first time. So, some of those freed spots are made available to OOB kids. HOWEVER, not all of those freed 4th and 5th grade spots can be made available to OOB kids because the building can only accommodate about 270 kids. That is, neighborhood families make more use of Mann in the lower grades than the upper grades, and declining neighborhood enrollment in the upper grades is the norm. Thus, while some OOB kids can be admitted in the upper grades, not every freed spot can be made available to OOB kids. The principal simply can't fill the upper grades with OOB kids one-for-one with departing neighborhood kids without exceeding the overall capacity of about 270. |
Anonymous
| I don't know how they can even fit 270 kids in that building. It really is a quaint, old fashioned school house. I think Mann even uses trailers to house some of the lower classes. That's why there isn't a high enrollment of oob children. |
Anonymous
Thankfully, there's only one trailer, PP. It's used for one of the fourth grade classes. |
Anonymous
Um, no. You sound really angry and paranoid PP. They went to private preschool then Mann for K and got in OOB. No favors. White kids from middle class families might not "look" OOB to you but that's what they were. |
Anonymous
The parent who gave us our tour of Mann has 2 kids there OOB. |
Anonymous
What does this mean, though? If your kids start at a given school and the boundaries are moved, do they change schools?? And if they are going to change boundaries, shouldn't they have already done this for the upcoming school year given that the lottery is already going on?? |
Anonymous
I think it is a long-range plan, PP. Boundaries are unlikely to change for next year. That said, it is always possible that school boundaries and policies will change after you purchase your house to secure your children spots at a neighborhood school. For example, I am now dealing with the middle school issue one year earlier than I had planned due to the elimination of the 6th grade at or elementary school. If you want to secure a spot at your local school long term, you should be an in-boundary house withing walking distance. It is those that are on the outskirts of the boundary who get moved around. |
Anonymous
When you say they "get moved around"... do you mean they pull a child in one ES out and make them go to a different ES school part-way through if they redraw the boundaries? Or that you might have thought you were in-boundary for a certain MS, but before your DC starts there they redraw the boundaries and you're at a different MS? |
Anonymous
Well, here's my nomination:
The reason in-boundary parents were so adamant that the principal needed to be changed was that the academics at Hardy were lousy, advanced students aren't tracked, and Mr. Pope wouldn't consider changing a thing. |
Anonymous
| Has anyone seen the "modernization" plans for Mann scheduled for 2012? Will this include a gym, etc.? |
Anonymous
This isn't a problem with Hardy, Pope, or even Rhee. . There is no tracking in DCPS. If you want an accelerated (track) program, then you should apply to a specialty school. |
Anonymous
That's a good question, PP. Unfortunately, I don't know the answer. Here's an analogous situation: When an in-boundary family moves OOB, it's left up to the principal to decide whether or not the family can be accommodated as an OOB family. At our school, I have it on reasonable authority, but I do not know first-hand, that it has gone both ways: The principal said no to one family and yes to another. My suspicion is that if the principal would be willing to make the spots available via OOB lottery, then he/she would be willing to grandfather the family in. If the boundaries are re-drawn due to overcrowding, my suspicion is that it would again be up to the principal to decide whether to grandfather in the in-boundary families that are now OOB. The trouble might end up being that the principal does not have space for the now-OOB kids if overcrowding drove the re-drawing of the boundaries in the first place. Since overcrowding impacts the lower grades first, those in the upper grades of a school might be grandfathered in, while those in lower grades might well be sent to the schools for which they are in boundary. I'd be curious to hear from parents who've been through this. Anyone? |
Anonymous
Deal has tracking. |