School closings coming

[Anonymous]

It is also a big deal if you are in a charter in a temporary space. Closed DCPS schools represent future locations for your kid's current school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mom and pop charter schools are on this list too. They are not exempt from a round of closing. I am just flabber-gasted that OSSE has chosen this outside group to come in and have the last say-so.

We have created 13 k thru 8 schools and I guess we are about to close them or return them to traditional middle schools. Yet, the most recent survey reveals [hypothetically] that our middle schools should all be located on the campus of St. Elizabeth.

As for the high-schools let's see whose on the chopping block e.g., Elllington, Roosevelt, Spingarn, Coolidge and Banneker. These schools are not on the get rid off but a retooling or relocation of the student populaton is on the horizon. Case in point Banneker students could definitely be merged into McKinley. Banneker property alone is worth about zillion dollars for Howard University.

Banneker should not be closed. In my opinion, the high schools most likely on the chopping block should be School without walls and Anacostia.

School without walls is on a quick decline, and most of the students could be transferred either to Wilson's academies or Bannaker and get the same education.

Anacostia has a long, troubled history and has some serious problems. The students could be ,urged as well.

[Anonymous]

17:29, you way the options but the love affair of Banneker and Howard is platonic. Merely, because if it was so viable then Howard would have not invested into their own charter-school.

Again, if all schools are about academics then why can't the two shall mix; if they serve an application only population? You can't even compare the SWW/GW relationship with a Howard/Banneker relationship talking about apples and oranges. A history lesson will show what Banneker started out to be and what it has ended up to be are at two different spectrums. Plainly put it is a diamond in the wrong setting.

Just imagine if the 100 incoming freshmen that were destined for Banneker returned to their neighborhood schools, it would start a renaissance movement.

[Anonymous]

Rumor has it that Shaw will be used as swing space for the Dunbar students when their new school is under construction. It is already being used as housing facility for historical files and data of DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Here is the article on the Mayor's hiring of a consulting firm on capacity issues

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-commissions-a-schools-analysis/2011/08/17/gIQAwqJdOJ_story.html?wprss=rss_local

Bill Turque basically says not when but how much

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-schools-insider/post/school-closings-not-a-question-of-if-but-how-big/2011/09/29/gIQAzC7N7K_blog.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is the article on the Mayor's hiring of a consulting firm on capacity issues

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-commissions-a-schools-analysis/2011/08/17/gIQAwqJdOJ_story.html?wprss=rss_local

Bill Turque basically says not when but how much

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-schools-insider/post/school-closings-not-a-question-of-if-but-how-big/2011/09/29/gIQAzC7N7K_blog.html

Thanks for the link. Turque's article make me hopeful that our Charter, which is in a temporary space, may actually be able to secure a great new home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:17:29, you way the options but the love affair of Banneker and Howard is platonic. Merely, because if it was so viable then Howard would have not invested into their own charter-school.

Again, if all schools are about academics then why can't the two shall mix; if they serve an application only population? You can't even compare the SWW/GW relationship with a Howard/Banneker relationship talking about apples and oranges. A history lesson will show what Banneker started out to be and what it has ended up to be are at two different spectrums. Plainly put it is a diamond in the wrong setting.

Just imagine if the 100 incoming freshmen that were destined for Banneker returned to their neighborhood schools, it would start a renaissance movement.

No, it would remove them from DCPS completely. Parents don't like to be told that their children are going to a low-performing school to raise that school's bar. There's no way in hell a lot people would send their children to their neighborhood schools, no matter how much someone who isn't invested in that child wants them to. I wouldn't. I'd move or go private. History suggests that is exactly what generations of Washingtonians have in fact done. Why would Banneker parents be any different?

[Anonymous]

Agree PP. Students are not simply chess pieces that DCPS can move as they see fit. What DC is finding is that with out of boundary choice and charters and all the options available, the successful schools emerge because parents choose them, not because they are told to go there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the article on the Mayor's hiring of a consulting firm on capacity issues

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-commissions-a-schools-analysis/2011/08/17/gIQAwqJdOJ_story.html?wprss=rss_local

Bill Turque basically says not when but how much

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-schools-insider/post/school-closings-not-a-question-of-if-but-how-big/2011/09/29/gIQAzC7N7K_blog.html

Thanks for the link. Turque's article make me hopeful that our Charter, which is in a temporary space, may actually be able to secure a great new home.

Some empty DCPS spaces are more desirable than others. Would the parents in your temporary charter space move with the school to some beat up building in Ward 8?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:17:29, you way the options but the love affair of Banneker and Howard is platonic. Merely, because if it was so viable then Howard would have not invested into their own charter-school.

Again, if all schools are about academics then why can't the two shall mix; if they serve an application only population? You can't even compare the SWW/GW relationship with a Howard/Banneker relationship talking about apples and oranges. A history lesson will show what Banneker started out to be and what it has ended up to be are at two different spectrums. Plainly put it is a diamond in the wrong setting.

Just imagine if the 100 incoming freshmen that were destined for Banneker returned to their neighborhood schools, it would start a renaissance movement.

1. Howards' charter school is a MIDDLE school, arguably focusing on math and science...it's GRADUATES will then hopefully head to banneker or mckinley
2. The application nature of the schools doesn't mean that banneker's 95+ % proficient students will mesh well with McKinley"s respectable 75+% proficient group
3. just imagine if SWWS 90+ freshmen had no choice of SWWS, you actually believe they'd end up in their failing neighborhood schools, or head to charters/private/the suburbs?

[Anonymous]

And as pp above
4. If Banneker is a diamond in the wrong setting, it seems your solution is to smash the 'diamond' to smithereens...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And as pp above
4. If Banneker is a diamond in the wrong setting, it seems your solution is to smash the 'diamond' to smithereens...

Good point. But then, perhaps that's the poster's private agenda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is any of this new news? DCPS has been working on consolidating facilities and closing underused schools since at least Janey's tenure.

Because it's a big deal to the people who live in neighborhoods near closed schools. Neighbors are upset at losing their school (which they may have attended or where they may regularly volunteer). Receiving schools must be chosen for displaced kids. And a plan needs to be formulated for the now-vacant buildings.

If you're in-boundary for a school that's significantly over-enrolled, the process probably won't affect you. For everyone else, it's a huge deal.

Actually, I would be happy if they closed our neighborhood PS 3-8. It's under enrolled, and few of my neighbors would ever send their children there. Actually, some did enroll their children last year, but ultimately fled. I am sure circumstances are different in many other neighborhoods, tho.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i imagine the charter schools make it really hard for DCPS to plan. a charter can pop up at any time and move or close at any time. this has to wreak havoc for the planning process.

"Pop-up at any time"?! Have you ever been to a Public Charter School Board hearing? The application process to open a charter school is designed precisely to prevent any pop-ups. And moving is no walk in the park - what without equal access to public school buildings, and lowering facilities allotments and all. Charters don't open to burden DCPS, they open to try and make a change in the the landscape of public education in D.C. The only planning DCPS should be worried about is how to get their attendance rates up and successfully educate the children of our District.

[Anonymous]

Hate to burst your bubble, those 100 incoming freshmen per year that are accepted to Banneker every year is just a blip on the school population. So, if you lose them or incorporate them into your remaining applications schools there's no lost. Unfortunately, the diamond has lost it's luster and has become the heirloom of DCPS.

Don't be an ostritch, Banneker was established to bring back a certain demographic to DCPS. It has not shown the diversity needed to make it a rare jewel like SWW but it's shiney enough to have DCPS smile. Which brings me back to McKinley, which is the piece that's missing that certain "bling" and if that means combining the pieces of a heirloom with a new setting what's the problem? Moreso, consider McKinley the empty jewelry box.