Mayor Bowser to Make Education Policy and Personnel Announcement - Boundary Decision?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The pro-Crestwood/16th street heights gerrymandering looks ridiculous, and is counter-productive to school crowding at Deal/Wilson; but the deal/wilson map was always ridiculous and overcrowding has always been a problem at those schools. The Mayor's decision simply amounts to political pandering and/or payback, and could you really have expected a principled stance from Bowser, given her record of wind-vane politics?

Improving the city's schools has always been a "long game" and her decision simply delays progress (especially around the neighborhoods of Crestwood and 16th Street Heights) for a while longer. But progress is being made, slowly. I DO think the residents who lobbied the Mayor to extend grandfathering should be called out for throwing their neighbors under the bus; but I blame Bowser for that cop-out more than I do Crestwood and 16th Street heights. Maybe we'll get a more forceful, creative Mayor next time who will push for better.

Also, perhaps we'll see more positive development out of the Charters industry, to relieve pressure on Deal/Wilson and provide another viable option east of 16th Street.

I just don't see how it is throwing neighbors under the bus. Which neighbors, you mean Petworth? How does it affect them? Petworth was never IB for Deal, so it's not like Crestwood took something that Petworth previously had. I don't get your logic. If you meant that Crestwood did not show solidarity in working on the MacFarland project, I can see that, but that's not throwing someone under a bus. And actually the most vocal/visible Crestwood resident, owner of this site, has shown a lot of solidarity. I think you're way off base.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, next on the chopping block will be Hardy getting zoned out of Wilson. Wouldn't be shocking.

Impossible, this would make Wilson Deal's private outlet...

I believe that what will happen is that Deal feeders, especially Hearst and Eaton, will receive input to restrict OB access at higher grades.

Is that a real option? Would that make much of a difference if in 5 years the schools are 50% IB in the higher grades?

It is the only option. 75% of Deal's OB population comes from Eaton and Hearst.

And Shepherd and Bancroft.

I think you need to add that they are feeders for Deal, but may have several OOB studnets.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:The pro-Crestwood/16th street heights gerrymandering looks ridiculous, and is counter-productive to school crowding at Deal/Wilson; but the deal/wilson map was always ridiculous and overcrowding has always been a problem at those schools. The Mayor's decision simply amounts to political pandering and/or payback, and could you really have expected a principled stance from Bowser, given her record of wind-vane politics?

Improving the city's schools has always been a "long game" and her decision simply delays progress (especially around the neighborhoods of Crestwood and 16th Street Heights) for a while longer. But progress is being made, slowly. I DO think the residents who lobbied the Mayor to extend grandfathering should be called out for throwing their neighbors under the bus; but I blame Bowser for that cop-out more than I do Crestwood and 16th Street heights. Maybe we'll get a more forceful, creative Mayor next time who will push for better.

Also, perhaps we'll see more positive development out of the Charters industry, to relieve pressure on Deal/Wilson and provide another viable option east of 16th Street.

You should be aware -- and I don't thinking I'm giving away any secrets here -- that the plan that Mayor Bowser accepted regarding grandfathering was proposed by the Ward 4 Education Alliance. As far as I know, only one Crestwood family signed on in support of the plan. The 16th Street Heights folks were stronger in their support, but the bulk of those supporting the proposal were exactly those families that you think we threw under the bus. I would submit that if they don't feel thrown under the bus, you shouldn't feel like they were either.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The pro-Crestwood/16th street heights gerrymandering looks ridiculous, and is counter-productive to school crowding at Deal/Wilson; but the deal/wilson map was always ridiculous and overcrowding has always been a problem at those schools. The Mayor's decision simply amounts to political pandering and/or payback, and could you really have expected a principled stance from Bowser, given her record of wind-vane politics?

Improving the city's schools has always been a "long game" and her decision simply delays progress (especially around the neighborhoods of Crestwood and 16th Street Heights) for a while longer. But progress is being made, slowly. I DO think the residents who lobbied the Mayor to extend grandfathering should be called out for throwing their neighbors under the bus; but I blame Bowser for that cop-out more than I do Crestwood and 16th Street heights. Maybe we'll get a more forceful, creative Mayor next time who will push for better.

Also, perhaps we'll see more positive development out of the Charters industry, to relieve pressure on Deal/Wilson and provide another viable option east of 16th Street.

You should be aware -- and I don't thinking I'm giving away any secrets here -- that the plan that Mayor Bowser accepted regarding grandfathering was proposed by the Ward 4 Education Alliance. As far as I know, only one Crestwood family signed on in support of the plan. The 16th Street Heights folks were stronger in their support, but the bulk of those supporting the proposal were exactly those families that you think we threw under the bus. I would submit that if they don't feel thrown under the bus, you shouldn't feel like they were either.

The Crestwood families especially were needed to either develop the quality of the proposed Unicorn public schools or push for viable charter options. Instead, by some magical process, they got another 7 years of grandfathering, in addition to grandfathering current students were already getting, to sustain the deal/wilson gerrymandering. The effect is to take resources away from improving schools in and around their own respective neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The pro-Crestwood/16th street heights gerrymandering looks ridiculous, and is counter-productive to school crowding at Deal/Wilson; but the deal/wilson map was always ridiculous and overcrowding has always been a problem at those schools. The Mayor's decision simply amounts to political pandering and/or payback, and could you really have expected a principled stance from Bowser, given her record of wind-vane politics?

Improving the city's schools has always been a "long game" and her decision simply delays progress (especially around the neighborhoods of Crestwood and 16th Street Heights) for a while longer. But progress is being made, slowly. I DO think the residents who lobbied the Mayor to extend grandfathering should be called out for throwing their neighbors under the bus; but I blame Bowser for that cop-out more than I do Crestwood and 16th Street heights. Maybe we'll get a more forceful, creative Mayor next time who will push for better.

Also, perhaps we'll see more positive development out of the Charters industry, to relieve pressure on Deal/Wilson and provide another viable option east of 16th Street.

You should be aware -- and I don't thinking I'm giving away any secrets here -- that the plan that Mayor Bowser accepted regarding grandfathering was proposed by the Ward 4 Education Alliance. As far as I know, only one Crestwood family signed on in support of the plan. The 16th Street Heights folks were stronger in their support, but the bulk of those supporting the proposal were exactly those families that you think we threw under the bus. I would submit that if they don't feel thrown under the bus, you shouldn't feel like they were either.

The Crestwood families especially were needed to either develop the quality of the proposed Unicorn public schools or push for viable charter options. Instead, by some magical process, they got another 7 years of grandfathering, in addition to grandfathering current students were already getting, to sustain the deal/wilson gerrymandering. The effect is to take resources away from improving schools in and around their own respective neighborhoods.

They didn't get "another" 7 years of grandfathering. We don't know how many years of grandfathering they really got because the new MS is not open yet. They got anywhere from 0-4 years of grandfathering.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
The Crestwood families especially were needed to either develop the quality of the proposed Unicorn public schools or push for viable charter options. Instead, by some magical process, they got another 7 years of grandfathering, in addition to grandfathering current students were already getting, to sustain the deal/wilson gerrymandering. The effect is to take resources away from improving schools in and around their own respective neighborhoods.

In theory, possibly. In reality, you cannot force families with options to attend a school they don't want to attend. Crestwood families were not going to go to Unicorn in significantly different numbers than they will go now.

Edit: BTW, one reason the Ward 4 Alliance proposed the plan that Bowser accepted is that the Alliance members know they will still get the same support they were going to get without the change.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

You should be aware -- and I don't thinking I'm giving away any secrets here -- that the plan that Mayor Bowser accepted regarding grandfathering was proposed by the Ward 4 Education Alliance. As far as I know, only one Crestwood family signed on in support of the plan. The 16th Street Heights folks were stronger in their support, but the bulk of those supporting the proposal were exactly those families that you think we threw under the bus. I would submit that if they don't feel thrown under the bus, you shouldn't feel like they were either.

I was part of that discussion. What we were looking at was a fight within / between neighborhoods. For those who were dead set against (or not in favor of) sending their kids to a new middle school, they had incentive to actively fight against establishment of the middle school, which would prolong their rights to Deal. Even if it went through against their wishes, they were not going to send their kids anyway.
For those of us who are in favor of the new middle school, we'd rather focus on how to make the school better than fighting within the neighborhoods. And maybe, at the end of the day, a few more people will choose to send their kids to the school based on being involved in the process.

The reason we went with the Ward 4 Education Alliance was to see if there was consensus among Ward 4 and not just the Crestwood / 16th Street Heights people.