Ward 2/3 High School proposal in the NW Current

[Anonymous]

Would like to see RT relieved of his SWW responsibilities. His ego is putting the school at risk

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who is going to attend this new school? The same Ward 2 and Ward 3 families that are not attending Hardy Middle School now? What about this school is going to keep them in the feeer pipeline and draw them into DCPS beyond elementary school?

Many are not attending Hardy because, until recently, they could attend Deal with minor effort. That has changed.

You can make smarmy comments all you want, but the need is there. The statistics and forecasts bear this out. Your ignorance does not change these realities.

The comment is neither smarmy nor ignorant. It reflect reality. The vast majority of Ward 2 and Ward 3 families choose not to attend Hardy. They either go charter or private, with some returning to Wilson or SWW in high school. Both Wlson and SWW are proven commodities.

If you suddenly create a new school, what would be the enticement for parents to stick with DCPS in Hardy and then continue on to this unproven commodity?

They are walking away now, despite having proven high school options. Why would they not walk if they are instead presented with an unproven high school option?

They are indeed walking...to Wilson. And many others are choosing to walk to Hardy, too. If Hardy is taken out of the Wilson feeder track, it makes sense they will walk to the new high school, too, as long as it is in similar walking distance. They will not be able to walk to a new Ward 2/3 high school if it's not in their neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would like to see RT relieved of his SWW responsibilities. His ego is putting the school at risk

+1. Especially now that he thinks he can take on another HS as well. Maybe dcps should have one principal for all their schools!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the link to the article:

http://www.currentnewspapers.com/admin/uploadfiles/NW%2005-07-2014.pdf

So just to be clear- he wants to run a preschool- 8 neighborhood school in one location, a HS in another location, and a magnet HS in yet another location? HAvent there been a lot of problems with him trying to run just FS and SWW HS? Talk about hubris!

I was thinking the same thing. That, and he's pushing his own agenda by getting his name in the NW Current. Of course, that's a publication with zero political clout and a not-exactly-powerful readership base. Because seriously, the NW Current is for lining the catbox.

I don't think it's Hubris. The Walls parents are breathing down his neck with demands not to combine F-S with Walls; so he needs the F-S kids to go to another HS in order to take pressure off his duties at his main campus. Also, I've read nowhere that he actually enjoys dividing his duties between two schools -- I'll bet he'd be more than happy for a new principal to come in and take it off his hands. He's a high school teacher; he doesn't want to deal with PK and K kids, through 8th grade. There are differently qualified people out there to do that

I think he's raising Ellington as a possibility because it's centrally located between F-S and Hardy, and therefore is a prime location to draw students from

those two schools. No one else has publicly suggested a possible NEIGHBORHOOD space for a new high school for Hardy & F-S to feed into.

Right now FS and SWW HS are combined. He in no way wants to give up his duties at either school. He is a main force behind the whole merger. He is in opposition with the HS community about the merger. Right now he cannot just send FS students to the HS because it is application only. This new school he proposes would give their students a place to go. But don't think for one second he wants to give up running FS. He wants to run more schools, not the opposite. [/quotend
They are not even slightly combined. They just share a name and a principal. Thus, people are confused, and there is not proper leadership. That does not a combination make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is proposing taking away Duke Ellington. The school would still exist and in a potentially more central and more convenient location, with maybe even nicer facilities.

Ellington isn't going anywhere. These kids have to stay late into the evening to do their art and they're safer in that location than other places in the city.

If you guys want to move Ellington, why don't you talk to the administration, students, and families and see how they feel about it? If you could convince them it was in their interest, maybe you'd have some success but right now it just looks like a power grab.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is proposing taking away Duke Ellington. The school would still exist and in a potentially more central and more convenient location, with maybe even nicer facilities.

That's the thing, though, Duke Ellington supporters want it to stay exactly where it is, convenience and facilities notwithstanding. I think it's related to a a long-term concern that residents in their current Georgetown location would like to kick the majority black school population out. This perception affects their reaction to arguments that a different location would actually benefit the school -- making it more accessible to more kids all over the city. The city has changed tremendously since Duke Ellington settled in Georgetown in 1974, including building an extensive subway system that is convenient to many DC schools, but not Ellington.

Plus from what I hear students aren't complaining about not being near the metro.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or of the opinion that trekking across the city (in either direction) for a viable eduction is a complete non-starter. Yeah, or that.

Or, of the belief that there isn't genuine social and political backlash from pushing a largely AA application school out of its home in Georgetown. This seems to be difficult for newcomers, gentrifiers, and generally higher SES white families to understand. There is real insecurity and even justified resentment about the geographic segregation in DC.

We can argue the particulars and justifications all day long, but it doesn't change the long-standing community opinion among a certain - large, and mobilized to vote - segment of the population.

To you, it's demographic common sense. To others, it's being exiled and excluded, and ultimately looks like segregation.

You don't have to agree, but you should understand what the tensions are and why this a hotter potato than you seem to think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is proposing taking away Duke Ellington. The school would still exist and in a potentially more central and more convenient location, with maybe even nicer facilities.

Ellington isn't going anywhere. These kids have to stay late into the evening to do their art and they're safer in that location than other places in the city.

If you guys want to move Ellington, why don't you talk to the administration, students, and families and see how they feel about it? If you could convince them it was in their interest, maybe you'd have some success but right now it just looks like a power grab.

Yes, thank you! The idea that "Ellington used to be Western, and it should be again to benefit the families in Georgetown, Palisades, and Glover Park - because we are the most important elements in the system" is more repellent on an emotional level than its proponents seem to understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is proposing taking away Duke Ellington. The school would still exist and in a potentially more central and more convenient location, with maybe even nicer facilities.

Ellington isn't going anywhere. These kids have to stay late into the evening to do their art and they're safer in that location than other places in the city.

If you guys want to move Ellington, why don't you talk to the administration, students, and families and see how they feel about it? If you could convince them it was in their interest, maybe you'd have some success but right now it just looks like a power grab.

Yes, thank you! The idea that "Ellington used to be Western, and it should be again to benefit the families in Georgetown, Palisades, and Glover Park - because we are the most important elements in the system" is more repellent on an emotional level than its proponents seem to understand.

Thank you, PP. My sentiments too. No worries. Ellington is staying put and will be even more fabulous after the renovation! Plus the few families from Georgetown, Palisades and Glover Park that might send their kids to a DC Public High School in G'town would hardly be enough to fill the school. The remaining OOB would have a trek, just like Ellington students do now!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or of the opinion that trekking across the city (in either direction) for a viable eduction is a complete non-starter. Yeah, or that.

Or, of the belief that there isn't genuine social and political backlash from pushing a largely AA application school out of its home in Georgetown. This seems to be difficult for newcomers, gentrifiers, and generally higher SES white families to understand. There is real insecurity and even justified resentment about the geographic segregation in DC.

We can argue the particulars and justifications all day long, but it doesn't change the long-standing community opinion among a certain - large, and mobilized to vote - segment of the population.

To you, it's demographic common sense. To others, it's being exiled and excluded, and ultimately looks like segregation.

You don't have to agree, but you should understand what the tensions are and why this a hotter potato than you seem to think.

I don't know why y'all would be opposed to a little more diversity at Ellington. Just let in the neighborhood kids who want to come, and share the school. There's going to be a ton more space there.

[Anonymous]

Anyone is welcome at Ellington. Just pass the audition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone is welcome at Ellington. Just pass the audition.

Don't dodge the idea -- make it a neighborhood school with an application-only track. Neighborhood kids could go there, but if they want arts and music training, they'd have to pass the application process. Otherwise, they'd take the general classes everyone else does; plus any advanced classes they qualify for.

[Anonymous]

Ellington's renovation only adds 40-50 additional spaces.

[Anonymous]

The renovation plans for Ellington - with significant private investment will make it a performing arts center, not just a high school. The extra space is going to dance studios, rehearsal rooms with specially-built acoustics, exhibit space, auditoriums and performance halls. It's not just that the students are mostly AA, it's that the school is a school for performing arts. That's what it's meant to be, and there's no other performing arts school anywhere that's also a neighborhood school. Demand that of this one really is repellant.

I don't have the codefordc link that shows the dearth of kids attending DCPS from that part of town, but it's proof that building a new high school there doesn't make sense.

If you want to keep Wilson for WOTP families then put some effort behind other options EOTP where a good percentage of Wilson students live and where projections show that the population if school-aged kids is growing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ellington's renovation only adds 40-50 additional spaces.

That's what they SAY. Maybe it's true. But adding over 100,000 square feet is a whole lot for only 50 more classroom seats.