MacArthur

[Anonymous]

I assume most Hardy families are applying to Walls.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Get a grip, the feeders schools are far more diverse than their neighborhoods/catchment areas. Arguably, the right demographic balance hasn't been struck. Trying to shame and shout down anybody who points this out isn't reasonable.

Did you expect a bunch of kids in 8th grade to suddenly leave NCS and Landon to show up at first year MacArthur?

Why would MacArthur look wildly different from its feeder schools of from the other nearby DCPS middle and high schools (eg, Deal, Walls, J-R, Oyster-Adams)?

And to add a question:

What school--private or public--in NW DC or even in nearby MD or VA is 85% white?!

I'm not sure there is a neighborhood that is 85% white. You might find schools or neighborhoods that are 15% Black, but not 85% white.

In Arlington you’ll find schools that have very high percentages of white students (at around 85%), but that county has always been very segregated.

However, in the DC region as a whole, Upper NW public schools are actually some of the most white. Many if not most of the high performing suburban public schools are actually majority or plurality Asian.

It’s funny how people are actually discussing this. It’s like a conversation from the 1980s or 1990s.

Did you read the data above? What do you mean by "actually" Asian? Are you one of the people equating not-Black with white?

No school in NW DC is 85% white. The "catchment area" of MacArthur is not 85% white. Hardy is not 85% white.

Back to a meaningful discussion of MacArthur.

The large Asian population refers to the surrounding suburban districts, the desirable (by DC Urban Mom standards) school pyramids as based on test scores, etc. Upper NW DCPS schools are majority or mostly white. Same with Arlington County schools, but it's more pronounced there. Yes. agreed that this discussion on race is something out of the 1980s, and not relevant to MacArthur at all.

Which middle or high school in Upper NW is majority white?

MacArthur sounds like it is doing well. I would love to hear more specifics.

Lafayette ES in Chevy Chase DC is over 70% white. That’s greater than most suburban elementary schools in Fairfax and Montgomery Counties.

Yes, Lafayette and Janney ES are 73% and 70% white, respectively.

Which middle or high school? (That was the question, and, no, St. Albans is not relevant to this discussion.)

The only reason demographics came up in this thread is the crazy poster claiming the "catchment area" is 85% white and, therefore, Macarthur must be doing badly because it is not 85% white. Moving on.

Who cares whether the area is 85% white, or 75%, or 65%… the point is that the neighborhood is majority white, yet white children only make up 20% of the student body. As a PP said, it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Lafayette and Janney are not Macarthur's neighborhood.

Hardy, the one feeder school for Macarthur, is 40% white.

So half of the white kids in Hardy’s most recent graduating class did not continue on to Macarthur? Again, not very inspiring.

It might have to do with perceived inequities. Is MaCarthur really a compressive high school like JR, Coolidge, et al., with all the sports, athletic facilities, electives, natatorium, common areas, homecoming traditions, and other activities and campus perks? Perhaps some families are still bitter that the beautiful Central HS did not reopen as the neighborhood high school. But the mayor wanted Duke Ellington to stay in Georgetown so that was that.

Typo. Families might still be bitter over not reopening Western High School (not Central, which is now Cardozo).

It's nothing deep and mysterious like that.

You have a bunch of kids who have expected for years to go to J-R. They have friends from the prior grade at J-R; some have siblings at J-R; they've had expectations of what classes and activities they would do at J-R, etc etc.

These reasons are exactly why last year's and this year's classes from Hardy get the option of J-R or Macarthur. That a significant number kids chose/will choose J-R is not surprising; it's built into the plan.

And, yes, some go to Walls or private or Banneker or wherever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Macarthur has the highest truancy rate of any school in Ward 3. Why? In part because it is ard to get there without a car and because there are not sufficient activities to keep students occupied after school. How many of the students are actually able to get to JR to participate in sports, for example? Macarthur was ill-conceived from the beginning. DC should identify a space for a new high school in Ward 3. There are properties on the market -- Homeland Security, for example -- that could support a full service high school.

Wasn’t the Intelsat campus in Van Ness recently rejected by the Mayor and or Council? It was recently renovated with state-of-the-art secondary school seats (for a now defunct independent school) by a top-notch architecture firm. I think it is still vacant. I thought the Ward Circle site was also brought up recently but dismissed.

The MacArthur site might be fine for a private school, but as a city neighborhood high school with an attendance zone it’s far from ideal and lacks the facilities and accessibility of all the other comprehensive high schools with like Roosevelt, Coolidge, Anacostia, JR, Cardozo, Eastern, etc.

Even an accessible urban site downtown would be better, but still not equal in terms of campus facilities. The wildly popular HB Woodlawn secondary school in Arlington is located in high-rise Rosslyn in a bespoke multi-story structure.

Regarding a football / sports stadium with regulation track for the school, could the old Western HS field (at Reservior and 39th) be used by the school?

[Anonymous]

GDS found the Macarthur site to be inadequate for a small private elementary school. Why the city thought it was ideal for a public high school is beyond me.

[Anonymous]

Even the Gordon jr high site / current Hardy Middle School would be more appropriate for a high school. It’s also within walking distance of the old Western track. (I’m not saying it should. Just noting how an old junior high campus is better than the MacArthur site.)

DCPS really dropped the ball on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Macarthur has the highest truancy rate of any school in Ward 3. Why? In part because it is ard to get there without a car and because there are not sufficient activities to keep students occupied after school. How many of the students are actually able to get to JR to participate in sports, for example? Macarthur was ill-conceived from the beginning. DC should identify a space for a new high school in Ward 3. There are properties on the market -- Homeland Security, for example -- that could support a full service high school.

Wasn’t the Intelsat campus in Van Ness recently rejected by the Mayor and or Council? It was recently renovated with state-of-the-art secondary school seats (for a now defunct independent school) by a top-notch architecture firm. I think it is still vacant. I thought the Ward Circle site was also brought up recently but dismissed.

The MacArthur site might be fine for a private school, but as a city neighborhood high school with an attendance zone it’s far from ideal and lacks the facilities and accessibility of all the other comprehensive high schools with like Roosevelt, Coolidge, Anacostia, JR, Cardozo, Eastern, etc.

Even an accessible urban site downtown would be better, but still not equal in terms of campus facilities. The wildly popular HB Woodlawn secondary school in Arlington is located in high-rise Rosslyn in a bespoke multi-story structure.

Regarding a football / sports stadium with regulation track for the school, could the old Western HS field (at Reservior and 39th) be used by the school?

You don't know much about the Intelsat building if you don't understand that it is a money pit that know sane organization would want to own. (Not to mention that it is not in Macarthur's boundary.)

The Ellington track is used by Hardy, Burke, Field, and WIS--as well as by individuals. Macarthur can join the crowd (maybe they already do?), but don't think that spot is sitting vacant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Macarthur has the highest truancy rate of any school in Ward 3. Why? In part because it is ard to get there without a car and because there are not sufficient activities to keep students occupied after school. How many of the students are actually able to get to JR to participate in sports, for example? Macarthur was ill-conceived from the beginning. DC should identify a space for a new high school in Ward 3. There are properties on the market -- Homeland Security, for example -- that could support a full service high school.

Wasn’t the Intelsat campus in Van Ness recently rejected by the Mayor and or Council? It was recently renovated with state-of-the-art secondary school seats (for a now defunct independent school) by a top-notch architecture firm. I think it is still vacant. I thought the Ward Circle site was also brought up recently but dismissed.

The MacArthur site might be fine for a private school, but as a city neighborhood high school with an attendance zone it’s far from ideal and lacks the facilities and accessibility of all the other comprehensive high schools with like Roosevelt, Coolidge, Anacostia, JR, Cardozo, Eastern, etc.

Even an accessible urban site downtown would be better, but still not equal in terms of campus facilities. The wildly popular HB Woodlawn secondary school in Arlington is located in high-rise Rosslyn in a bespoke multi-story structure.

Regarding a football / sports stadium with regulation track for the school, could the old Western HS field (at Reservior and 39th) be used by the school?

You don't know much about the Intelsat building if you don't understand that it is a money pit that know sane organization would want to own. (Not to mention that it is not in Macarthur's boundary.)

The Ellington track is used by Hardy, Burke, Field, and WIS--as well as by individuals. Macarthur can join the crowd (maybe they already do?), but don't think that spot is sitting vacant.

*no, not know

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GDS found the Macarthur site to be inadequate for a small private elementary school. Why the city thought it was ideal for a public high school is beyond me.

They didn't think it ideal for anything. They (over)paid for it to bail out GDS developer friends-of-Bowser.

[Anonymous]

And Matt Frumin (and before him, Eric Goulet) have been lobbying to the same end with the Intelsat building. Thankfully, this effort has been a nonstarter with the decision-makers, as that building would be a disastrous choice. Far inferior to the current Mac building, which is lovely (if small).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And Matt Frumin (and before him, Eric Goulet) have been lobbying to the same end with the Intelsat building. Thankfully, this effort has been a nonstarter with the decision-makers, as that building would be a disastrous choice. Far inferior to the current Mac building, which is lovely (if small).

Why can’t DC just tear down the 1980s-era Intelsat building if it’s that bad and build anew. (Is it historic? I thought a building had to be at least 50 years old.) I realise it’s not ideally situated for feeder patterns, but there are creative ways to solve that issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And Matt Frumin (and before him, Eric Goulet) have been lobbying to the same end with the Intelsat building. Thankfully, this effort has been a nonstarter with the decision-makers, as that building would be a disastrous choice. Far inferior to the current Mac building, which is lovely (if small).

Why can’t DC just tear down the 1980s-era Intelsat building if it’s that bad and build anew. (Is it historic? I thought a building had to be at least 50 years old.) I realise it’s not ideally situated for feeder patterns, but there are creative ways to solve that issue.

Yes, it’s got some kind of designation so it can’t be torn down.

[Anonymous]

I’ve heard there are a lot of behavioral issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Macarthur has the highest truancy rate of any school in Ward 3. Why? In part because it is ard to get there without a car and because there are not sufficient activities to keep students occupied after school. How many of the students are actually able to get to JR to participate in sports, for example? Macarthur was ill-conceived from the beginning. DC should identify a space for a new high school in Ward 3. There are properties on the market -- Homeland Security, for example -- that could support a full service high school.

This. For most people in DC, MacArthur is in a terrible location and the cramped campus is not worth the challenging commute. It was a mistake to try to build a high school out of an elementary school in an inconvenient location. I’m assuming the Mayor did it for her developer friends. She has never genuinely cared about the kids in this city

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even the Gordon jr high site / current Hardy Middle School would be more appropriate for a high school. It’s also within walking distance of the old Western track. (I’m not saying it should. Just noting how an old junior high campus is better than the MacArthur site.)

DCPS really dropped the ball on this.

My sense was that the Hardy site - although far from perfect - would have worked better for the HS, but the Community Working Group recommended MacArthur for reasons that I cannot recall or rationalize.

MacArthur was always going to require a lot in renovations and transportation improvements to work. The warning signs were clear as day when DDOT did absolutely nothing with the site for a good year after the decision was made. They then did the bare bones to make the site ready for the new students and have been backpedaling ever since on commitments they’d made to build out the site.

Bowser got an earful on this when she visited Foxhall recently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even the Gordon jr high site / current Hardy Middle School would be more appropriate for a high school. It’s also within walking distance of the old Western track. (I’m not saying it should. Just noting how an old junior high campus is better than the MacArthur site.)

DCPS really dropped the ball on this.

My sense was that the Hardy site - although far from perfect - would have worked better for the HS, but the Community Working Group recommended MacArthur for reasons that I cannot recall or rationalize.

MacArthur was always going to require a lot in renovations and transportation improvements to work. The warning signs were clear as day when DDOT did absolutely nothing with the site for a good year after the decision was made. They then did the bare bones to make the site ready for the new students and have been backpedaling ever since on commitments they’d made to build out the site.

Bowser got an earful on this when she visited Foxhall recently.

What did she reply? Is there any chance switching Hardy and MacArthur locations will even be considered?