Why Does Van Ness Elementary School Not Have a Boundary

[Anonymous]

Why is there a Van Ness ES and a Van Ness neighborhood and the two are on opposite sides of the city?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It makes sense for Van Ness Elementary School to have a boundary where South Capitol Street is the boundary to the West, the SE/SW Freeway is the boundary to the north, and the Anacostia River is the boundary to the South and East. There are hardly any kids from the Capitol Riverfront area attending Amidon-Bowen, so it won't hurt the population at Amidon-Bowen at all by giving Van Ness its own boundary. Hopefully this sentiment is being echoed to the DCPS.

Logistically, these borders make sense, but are there really enough children within those boundaries to fill a school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is there a Van Ness ES and a Van Ness neighborhood and the two are on opposite sides of the city?

Why is there a Reagan Building and Reagan Airport and they are on opposite sides of the River? BTW, I have never heard anyone living in Forest Hills refer to their neighborhood as Van Ness.

[Anonymous]

Why is there a road named Virginia and a state named Virginia? I am so confused!

[Anonymous]

Why is there a Washington city and a Washington state? I am so confused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC would be downright foolish to extend the Van Ness boundary past the SE freeway and into Capitol Hill. It would be an obvious political nightmare for them as soon a child is inevitably struck by a vehicle.

Chill out, Chicken Little, the DME is not going to fiddle with Brent's boundaries with fewer IB kids in the queue for K in 2016,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is there a Van Ness ES and a Van Ness neighborhood and the two are on opposite sides of the city?

Why is there a Reagan Building and Reagan Airport and they are on opposite sides of the River? BTW, I have never heard anyone living in Forest Hills refer to their neighborhood as Van Ness.

Fair enough, guess I am just used to ES's being named for neighborhoods, rather than people but that seems not to be DC's practice.

I have heard plenty of people who live towards the southern side of that commercial strip refer to it as "Van Ness".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It makes sense for Van Ness Elementary School to have a boundary where South Capitol Street is the boundary to the West, the SE/SW Freeway is the boundary to the north, and the Anacostia River is the boundary to the South and East. There are hardly any kids from the Capitol Riverfront area attending Amidon-Bowen, so it won't hurt the population at Amidon-Bowen at all by giving Van Ness its own boundary.

Except that many kids who remain in Amidon-Bowen's boundary will try to lottery in to Van Ness (which is quite accessible to all of them, and probably closer than A-B for many). That will drain Amidon. And some folks who want to get into Amidon OOB will rank Van Ness higher, especially if they are coming from east of the river and have to go right past Van Ness on the way to Amidon.

I would MUCH rather see an Amidon/Van Ness cluster. Let Van Ness have all the PK3-K kids for the whole current Amidon-Bowen boundary, and let Amidon have all the kids in grades 1-5. This would provide greater economic and racial diversity, provide a strong feeder to Jefferson, and allow each school to focus on a smaller age range. They could stagger start times for families with kids in different grades.

I know there are some folks already planning for a bus route that would link Van Ness, Amidon, and Jefferson to make the trip easier. This would also help with some of the Capitol Quarter residents who say they don't want their kids crossing South Capitol (never mind the fact that the ANC just asked for an additional crosswalk there, DDOT would have crossing guards, you're not going to let your 4-year-old walk to school alone no matter what street they have to cross, and plenty of families in SW will cross S. Cap if their kids get into Van Ness OOB).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:van ness is so inconveniently located for most people I cant see why that makes sense as a citywide school

It's such an inconvenient location that SWS wanted to expand its program by relocating to Van Ness several years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It makes sense for Van Ness Elementary School to have a boundary where South Capitol Street is the boundary to the West, the SE/SW Freeway is the boundary to the north, and the Anacostia River is the boundary to the South and East. There are hardly any kids from the Capitol Riverfront area attending Amidon-Bowen, so it won't hurt the population at Amidon-Bowen at all by giving Van Ness its own boundary.

Except that many kids who remain in Amidon-Bowen's boundary will try to lottery in to Van Ness (which is quite accessible to all of them, and probably closer than A-B for many). That will drain Amidon. And some folks who want to get into Amidon OOB will rank Van Ness higher, especially if they are coming from east of the river and have to go right past Van Ness on the way to Amidon.

I would MUCH rather see an Amidon/Van Ness cluster. Let Van Ness have all the PK3-K kids for the whole current Amidon-Bowen boundary, and let Amidon have all the kids in grades 1-5. This would provide greater economic and racial diversity, provide a strong feeder to Jefferson, and allow each school to focus on a smaller age range. They could stagger start times for families with kids in different grades.

I know there are some folks already planning for a bus route that would link Van Ness, Amidon, and Jefferson to make the trip easier. This would also help with some of the Capitol Quarter residents who say they don't want their kids crossing South Capitol (never mind the fact that the ANC just asked for an additional crosswalk there, DDOT would have crossing guards, you're not going to let your 4-year-old walk to school alone no matter what street they have to cross, and plenty of families in SW will cross S. Cap if their kids get into Van Ness OOB).

So why would parents of Amidon-Bowen students take their children out of Amidon-Bowen to try to get into Van Ness Elementary when Amidon-Bowen is more convenient? It's not like Van Ness Elementary will have a track record of success when it opens. What possible reason would parents of students want to send their kids to Van Ness as opposed to Amidon-Bowen? What compelling reason do you have to go to Van Ness?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It makes sense for Van Ness Elementary School to have a boundary where South Capitol Street is the boundary to the West, the SE/SW Freeway is the boundary to the north, and the Anacostia River is the boundary to the South and East. There are hardly any kids from the Capitol Riverfront area attending Amidon-Bowen, so it won't hurt the population at Amidon-Bowen at all by giving Van Ness its own boundary.

Except that many kids who remain in Amidon-Bowen's boundary will try to lottery in to Van Ness (which is quite accessible to all of them, and probably closer than A-B for many). That will drain Amidon. And some folks who want to get into Amidon OOB will rank Van Ness higher, especially if they are coming from east of the river and have to go right past Van Ness on the way to Amidon.

I would MUCH rather see an Amidon/Van Ness cluster. Let Van Ness have all the PK3-K kids for the whole current Amidon-Bowen boundary, and let Amidon have all the kids in grades 1-5. This would provide greater economic and racial diversity, provide a strong feeder to Jefferson, and allow each school to focus on a smaller age range. They could stagger start times for families with kids in different grades.

I know there are some folks already planning for a bus route that would link Van Ness, Amidon, and Jefferson to make the trip easier. This would also help with some of the Capitol Quarter residents who say they don't want their kids crossing South Capitol (never mind the fact that the ANC just asked for an additional crosswalk there, DDOT would have crossing guards, you're not going to let your 4-year-old walk to school alone no matter what street they have to cross, and plenty of families in SW will cross S. Cap if their kids get into Van Ness OOB).

So why would parents of Amidon-Bowen students take their children out of Amidon-Bowen to try to get into Van Ness Elementary when Amidon-Bowen is more convenient? It's not like Van Ness Elementary will have a track record of success when it opens. What possible reason would parents of students want to send their kids to Van Ness as opposed to Amidon-Bowen? What compelling reason do you have to go to Van Ness?

[Anonymous]

If Van Ness' boundary excludes Syphax Gardens, James Creek, and Greenleaf Gardens and includes the Capitol Quarter site (which is about 2:1 market/workforce housing to section 8/subsidized units) and a whole bunch of new market-rate apartments, I think some current or potential Amidon parents will want to give it a try. Agree with them or not, there are families that won't consider a school if its FARMS rate is very high.

Also, families might prefer a school where all the kids are tiny instead of one with 5th graders (who can be teenagers by the time they graduate, if they are old for their year or get held back) in there. The same reason folks complain about DCPS creating campuses for grades 6-12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Amidon and Brent in the same choice set? What a joke! And they aren't even close to being in the same area.

I don't think there's any elementary schools closer to Amidon, at least until they re-open Van ness.

That said it's analogous to Shepherd being in the same cluster as Whittier and Takoma. No competition over what people would pick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Van Ness' boundary excludes Syphax Gardens, James Creek, and Greenleaf Gardens and includes the Capitol Quarter site (which is about 2:1 market/workforce housing to section 8/subsidized units) and a whole bunch of new market-rate apartments, I think some current or potential Amidon parents will want to give it a try. Agree with them or not, there are families that won't consider a school if its FARMS rate is very high.

Also, families might prefer a school where all the kids are tiny instead of one with 5th graders (who can be teenagers by the time they graduate, if they are old for their year or get held back) in there. The same reason folks complain about DCPS creating campuses for grades 6-12.

If Van Ness's boundaries exclude Greenleaf and Syphax I bet a lot of the families in those apartments will still send their kids to Van Ness OOB, if they think Van Ness is a better option.

I know families are concerned about putting their three and four year olds in the same building as much bigger kids. But generally the children are kept apart. Also I've rarely observed any bullying or aggression between older students and preschool aged students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It makes sense for Van Ness Elementary School to have a boundary where South Capitol Street is the boundary to the West, the SE/SW Freeway is the boundary to the north, and the Anacostia River is the boundary to the South and East. There are hardly any kids from the Capitol Riverfront area attending Amidon-Bowen, so it won't hurt the population at Amidon-Bowen at all by giving Van Ness its own boundary.

Except that many kids who remain in Amidon-Bowen's boundary will try to lottery in to Van Ness (which is quite accessible to all of them, and probably closer than A-B for many). That will drain Amidon. And some folks who want to get into Amidon OOB will rank Van Ness higher, especially if they are coming from east of the river and have to go right past Van Ness on the way to Amidon.

I would MUCH rather see an Amidon/Van Ness cluster. Let Van Ness have all the PK3-K kids for the whole current Amidon-Bowen boundary, and let Amidon have all the kids in grades 1-5. This would provide greater economic and racial diversity, provide a strong feeder to Jefferson, and allow each school to focus on a smaller age range. They could stagger start times for families with kids in different grades.

I know there are some folks already planning for a bus route that would link Van Ness, Amidon, and Jefferson to make the trip easier. This would also help with some of the Capitol Quarter residents who say they don't want their kids crossing South Capitol (never mind the fact that the ANC just asked for an additional crosswalk there, DDOT would have crossing guards, you're not going to let your 4-year-old walk to school alone no matter what street they have to cross, and plenty of families in SW will cross S. Cap if their kids get into Van Ness OOB).

So why would parents of Amidon-Bowen students take their children out of Amidon-Bowen to try to get into Van Ness Elementary when Amidon-Bowen is more convenient? It's not like Van Ness Elementary will have a track record of success when it opens. What possible reason would parents of students want to send their kids to Van Ness as opposed to Amidon-Bowen? What compelling reason do you have to go to Van Ness?

Well, Amidon has a gigantic OOB student population, so I'm not sure that the kids from the local projects change the make up of the classrooms that much. I think the bigger factor is how many more seats at Van Ness will DCPS create than there are school age kids in the area...