Ballou's New $120 Million Building--With an 8 Lane POOL!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope they maintain the school so it doesn't become another HD woodson http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/34603/end-of-an-error

WOW @ that article!

Damn shame.

[Anonymous]

18:02- I posted the remark about African-Americans and swimming. Its not ridiculous- its fact. Look it up.
http://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/water-safety/waterinjuries-factsheet.html
http://thegrio.com/2012/07/25/olympic-swimmer-cullen-jones-aims-to-reduce-black-drowning-deaths/
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/teens-drown-wading-louisianas-red-river/story?id=11312631#.UVRfAjXMjv8

That took 15 seconds on google...

[Anonymous]

Woodson was built in 1972 and was not properly maintained through DCPS, it was not vandalized. It was poorly designed and maintained. How do you have a school with an escalator and not have maintenance contract to repair it. So to compare the old Woodson to the future new Ballou is the hysteria generated by fools. If we want all this wish-list of what we don't want it too look like, I am all for saying let it not look like Wilson High School from the inside and outside. Yeah, I said it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Be a little responsible with these comments, folks. Many students at Ballou sacrifice and sweat to be a part of that band. I can't imagine how discouraged they might feel if they read these comments.

Also, as far as AAs not swimming, Howard U (an HBCU here in DC) requires that ALL students take swimming and has for decades. Be careful about stereotypes. Additionally, the trend, particularly amongst young AAs, is natural hair, which does not involve straightening or chemicals. Swimming, getting hair wet, and then styling it afterwards is less of an issue if at all. You all sound a little stuck in the past if you ask me.

Glad to hear that Ballou is getting an updated facility. They need it for many reasons and the students deserve it just like your precious little NW and Hill tots. Get over it and fight for what you need in your communities.

A couple of problems with this- I graduated from Howard. I had to take swimming. I have many friends at HU who did not. 2nd- you can't prove a point using one anecdote and certainly not by comparing Howard to the experience of the majority of African-Americans.

And again, not a stereotype--check the stats.

[Anonymous]

Maybe having a new building that is a pleasant place to be fore eight hours will encourage kids to go and stay in school. I know that my aesthetic surroundings influences my mood a lot. Do you feel better going to work when you have a nice office, or when you have a crappy flics with ceiling tiles falling down and drips and mold etc?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:During racial sensitivity workshops at my private dc school, one of the issues raised by the African American girls was that they should not have had to take the required swimming class because it messed up their hair and it was racially insensitive not to offer them an alternative sport where their hair did not get wet.

this for real?

Yup, for real. I think in addition I recall the af am girls explaining that not only was the requirement an issue, but the way the white girls would ask them questions about their hair after was annoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Be a little responsible with these comments, folks. Many students at Ballou sacrifice and sweat to be a part of that band. I can't imagine how discouraged they might feel if they read these comments.

Also, as far as AAs not swimming, Howard U (an HBCU here in DC) requires that ALL students take swimming and has for decades. Be careful about stereotypes. Additionally, the trend, particularly amongst young AAs, is natural hair, which does not involve straightening or chemicals. Swimming, getting hair wet, and then styling it afterwards is less of an issue if at all. You all sound a little stuck in the past if you ask me.

Glad to hear that Ballou is getting an updated facility. They need it for many reasons and the students deserve it just like your precious little NW and Hill tots. Get over it and fight for what you need in your communities.

A couple of problems with this- I graduated from Howard. I had to take swimming. I have many friends at HU who did not. 2nd- you can't prove a point using one anecdote and certainly not by comparing Howard to the experience of the majority of African-Americans.

And again, not a stereotype--check the stats.

PP here and also an HU grad. Yes, fewer AAs know how to swim or have been exposed to swimming - that is a fact - but offering a blanket statement that it is caused primarily because AA women don't want to get their hair wet is broad and general, and probably untrue. There are many reasons why AAs, including AA men, not just women, have been less exposed as a culture to swimming for a long time. Maybe access to a pool in the HS would help change that. My very diverse HS had one and all students took 2 semesters of swimming, black or white. Would we even be debating this if the pool were going to a white HS?

Some people at HU did get out of swimming, usually with a doctor's note. The fact, however, is that it is a requirement and that AA students do and can learn to swim.

Let's give these young students a chance to define themselves rather than live in the past. A pool is an excellent addition to the school and to that community. It offers exposure, physical fitness, job opportunities (for example, if they offer life guard certification classes) and perhaps use by other residents such as younger kids and seniors. What is there to oppose here? I wish all HS had a pool on site and Ballou has needed a renovation for a long time. Have all of the PPs criticizing the renovation actually been to and inside of Ballou? These kids deserve it as much as any others.

[Anonymous]

OK fellow Bison- I'm the person who said I thought having a pool was a great idea-- but partially because so many African-Americans don't swim. (I also posted the links to the stats) I didn't offer the hair argument, though for some females, its certainly true (http://www.essence.com/2010/07/20/why-black-women-dont-swim/). My HS also had a pool and swimming was part of the PE curriculum. I remember one young lady specifically asking the teacher about it ("What about us black girls and our hair???")...Hair aside, I hope the students are able to fully utilize all the resources being placed into the school. They definitely deserve a high-quality education.

As for Howard- I wonder when you graduated because there's no way swimming was a requirement for everyone when I was there (early 90s) because too many people didn't take swimming for it to have been from doctor's excuses. (My bowling class was packed, though...)

[Anonymous]

I am the one who originally made the comment about the hair, and I also said that there are historical reasons af ams have not swum as much (country club exclusions etc). I also think that the kids at ballou deserve both a pool and a shiny new building. And I love the band! It is great for kids to have an outlet like that. C'mon folks really? These kids deserve just as nice a school as kids from west of the park (says this kid from west of the park). We need to have fantastic schools all over the city for every child, and I am happy for my tax dollars to go to that. Maybe getting a nice school will send the message to these kids that they matter and people believe in their ability to succeed.

[Anonymous]

I have no issue with spending this kind of money on a better schooling experience for Ballou's kids. I do question spending that kind of money on fancy things such as a pool. Most private schools don't even feel the need to spend money on such extravagances initial cost, maintenance, insurance -- hello! Until a reasonable percentage of Ballou's kids are at least on grade level, throw the money into personnel and work with those kids in extremely small groups. Hire outside tutors, whatever it takes. Save the money aside for the pool, renovate the building and use money to bring kids up to grade level. THEN, by all means, build them the pool they deserve.

[Anonymous]

I think what people are missing is that, like Wilson's pool, the ballou pool will be opened to the community. So will other school activities. So it is a community center, not just a pool for the kids who go there.

[Anonymous]

The new Woodson has a pool and it is not opened to the public. So, let's try again with the point to make. Now I do believe the new Dunbar will have a new pool.

School's that got duped in the remodeling phase so far have been Eastern and Anacostia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think what people are missing is that, like Wilson's pool, the ballou pool will be opened to the community. So will other school activities. So it is a community center, not just a pool for the kids who go there.

Which means it's a longterm investment in the surrounding community, which is a great thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no issue with spending this kind of money on a better schooling experience for Ballou's kids. I do question spending that kind of money on fancy things such as a pool. Most private schools don't even feel the need to spend money on such extravagances initial cost, maintenance, insurance -- hello! Until a reasonable percentage of Ballou's kids are at least on grade level, throw the money into personnel and work with those kids in extremely small groups. Hire outside tutors, whatever it takes. Save the money aside for the pool, renovate the building and use money to bring kids up to grade level. THEN, by all means, build them the pool they deserve.

Yeah, but this argument is a little like saying "the renovations to the White House could be used to feed the homeless on Pennsylvania Ave". That's not how budget allotments work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no issue with spending this kind of money on a better schooling experience for Ballou's kids. I do question spending that kind of money on fancy things such as a pool. Most private schools don't even feel the need to spend money on such extravagances initial cost, maintenance, insurance -- hello! Until a reasonable percentage of Ballou's kids are at least on grade level, throw the money into personnel and work with those kids in extremely small groups. Hire outside tutors, whatever it takes. Save the money aside for the pool, renovate the building and use money to bring kids up to grade level. THEN, by all means, build them the pool they deserve.

Yeah, but this argument is a little like saying "the renovations to the White House could be used to feed the homeless on Pennsylvania Ave". That's not how budget allotments work.

Right, but I would then see the problem as being with the allotments not with my idea. DCPS is doing a great job of renovating buildings and that is an important part of fixing the general whole. However, building a swimming pool which is a very expensive thing to build, maintain, and insure, in a school where the students have been woefully uneducated, is not an appropriate allocation of funds.