Option B best for Ward 3?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody will - which is why property values will go down. Nobody will buy a house knowin there is a real chance that there kid won't be able to attend the good local school. DCPS will lose too - people leave and take their tax dollars with them. Houses in Bethesda will shoot up in value.

I don't agree with this. If you look at the overall numbers, most white children in DC attend private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody will - which is why property values will go down. Nobody will buy a house knowin there is a real chance that there kid won't be able to attend the good local school. DCPS will lose too - people leave and take their tax dollars with them. Houses in Bethesda will shoot up in value.

I don't agree with this. If you look at the overall numbers, most white children in DC attend private.

But I think that percentage is falling, as gentrifiers are sending their kids to DCPS and charters.

[Anonymous]

you really believe once the tinkering starts that there won't be 'fine-tuning'?

[Anonymous]

None of these options will lead to an exodus WOTP. This area will still have great ES and MS options. The major issue is HS if Wilson goes city wide. Recall the idea that lots of highly educated white people would send their kids to Wilson is less than 5 years old - and still not something the majority of WOTP families are comfortable with. This will have a minor if at all measurable impact on real estate prices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody will - which is why property values will go down. Nobody will buy a house knowin there is a real chance that there kid won't be able to attend the good local school. DCPS will lose too - people leave and take their tax dollars with them. Houses in Bethesda will shoot up in value.

I don't agree with this. If you look at the overall numbers, most white children in DC attend private.

I don't agree with this either. There will not be another white flight. I live in Ward 3 and actually think all of the doomsday scenarios and threats are just laughable. I know no one wants to hear it but we are going to have to give a little bit. Instead of making threats, it might be better come up with tweaks to Option B and present it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of these options will lead to an exodus WOTP. This area will still have great ES and MS options. The major issue is HS if Wilson goes city wide. Recall the idea that lots of highly educated white people would send their kids to Wilson is less than 5 years old - and still not something the majority of WOTP families are comfortable with. This will have a minor if at all measurable impact on real estate prices.

Do you live wotp? I think many people now do plan to send their kids to Wilson and will change that if the school is city wide lottery.

[Anonymous]

Option B is a great scenario for ward B and we should support it and let dcps get on with it already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is Policy Example B: http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/local/policy-example-b/920/

Geographical preference comes first, so if you live near the school you have have a right to attend. Next comes feeder preference. Whether you're IB or OOB, you have a right to attend the MS and HS if you attended the feeder elementary school, ditto for MS to HS.

Then comes the 10% set aside for OOB families and here's where it gets murky. They say the 10% (thats 15% for MS) is specifically for students from low performing schools. Later they say those students will also have to compete with siblings first, then twins or "multiples" admitted to the school, and it would seem that whatever is left over after that goes to the low performing refugees.

But the bottom line is that no one from Ward 3 is going to get kicked out of Wilson. More than that, many of the OOB kids who would have otherwise attended Deal, Hardy and/or Wilson will now have very limited access to those schools. Perhaps they'll have other options in other parts of the city, perhaps not, but Option B is net positive for Ward 3.

True. Option B hands Ward 3 an even bigger schools premium on home values. Unless you are IB for a failing school, the only way to get access to Deal and Wilson is to live in bounds, and with the new boundaries, the number of homes inbounds falls substantially. The lottery options start to look pretty good.

SF has a similar system, and real estate agents now tout proximity to housing projects as selling points to UMC families. The UMC families buy places near failing schools, and then do really well in the lottery. Poorer families can't take advantage of the spots, since the city doesn't provide transportation.

Maybe in theory. Maybe a handful of people buy into the projects. But this is not the trend in SF. I have a close relative (who also happens to be a real estate broker) with a child in San. Fran. public schools. She said that middle class famlies either move to the 'burbs, go parochial or charter. Her friends are all gone from SFPS.
The city wide lottery did not work in SF. People (rich, poor, in between) want neighborhood schools. Noone wants their young children bused to another part of the city for kindergarten.
What has worked in SF is the infusion of assistance to low income schools. She mentioned a program in our equivalent of "title 1 schools" (not sure if they use the same terms.) where they hold class size down to about 15 students along with other supports to families (tutoring, after care, meals, etc). It's working.
Help the kids in ways that will make them successful....shuffling kids around the city won't work for many reasons, including the fact that UMC families don't have to allow their kids to be shuffled, they will opt out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of these options will lead to an exodus WOTP. This area will still have great ES and MS options. The major issue is HS if Wilson goes city wide. Recall the idea that lots of highly educated white people would send their kids to Wilson is less than 5 years old - and still not something the majority of WOTP families are comfortable with. This will have a minor if at all measurable impact on real estate prices.

Some highly educated white people have been sending their kids to Wilson all along - the ones who live in Ward 3 in those expensive houses and people on the Hill and other desirable places outside of ward 3.

A bunch of other Ward 3 parents -- much wealthier, in many cases, send their kids to the several private schools, also conveniently located in ward 3 - for proximity to the families they serve.

Most parents, regardless of wealth, prefer near-by preferably walkable schools for their kids, whether public or private.

Some parents are willing to send their kids long distances for a good education, but it's hard to imagine the success of a plan that requires most parents to do this.

[Anonymous]

what is WOTP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what is WOTP?

West of the Park - i.e. rock creek park. There is plenty of desirable real estate EOTP (get it?) but all real-estate WOTP is desirable.

[Anonymous]

[i]Folks- option B gives people in any ward a choice. Choose where you live and that will be your school.



Yes, kids should choose where they live so they can get a decent education. Even better, kids should choose not to be poor. Problem solved.

[Anonymous]

What will option b mean for overcrowding problem at ward 3 es, deal and Wilson? These are excellent schools but seriously under threat because too many kids want to go to these good schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[i]Folks- option B gives people in any ward a choice. Choose where you live and that will be your school.



Yes, kids should choose where they live so they can get a decent education. Even better, kids should choose not to be poor. Problem solved.

What is your solution, busing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The OOB set aside is bullshit - how much do you want to bet that is Central Office folks setting aside seats for their kids, so they can be sent to good schools while keeping their low mortgages in other parts of the city. Great way to fund a Mercedes.

I would have laughed at this but at least one of the options gives preference to DCPS employees. I think they have to work at the school, though.

Unbelievable! Option B sucks. All the options do. I'm not supporting the least sucky option. I'd rather leave things as is and start over with more competent people at the helm.