School Without Walls at Francis-Stevens Open House, 7/17

[sondreal]

Open House
7/17, 6:30pm
Francis-Stevens Auditorium
2425 N St NW (Nearest metros: Foggy Bottom & Farragut North)

The Walls at Francis-Stevens HSA invites you to an open house to present the newly formed School Without Walls at Francis-Stevens to parents, prospective parents and the community at large. Meet Principal Richard Trogisch and new/returning staff as they discuss their plans to make SWW@FS one of the premier elementary and middle schools in DCPS, extending the vision and academic rigor of the highly-regarded SWWHS program to grades PS-8, beginning in the 2013/14 school year. Seats available in K-5 and grades 7-8.

All are welcome. Q&A will follow.

RSVP: http://www.evite.com/event/01ADCIYTSLYJQ4CHKEPC4ZWDNDOXFA
Email: [e-mail]
Like the PTA on Facebook: facebook.com/SWWFS
Twitter:
@WallsAtFS
@WallsAtFS_HSA

Chris Sondreal
Communications co-chair, SWWFS HSA

[Anonymous]

Did anyone attend this open house? Any new information or insights?

[Anonymous]

Much like the last, though enrollment is picking up. 300 of 380 seats are taken. (Up from 220 who attended from 2012/13)

[Anonymous]

I was impressed. Good presentations, clearly engaged parents who were able to articulate their goals for the school very well. There were some teachers there which shows a lot of dedication in the middle of the summer. Everyone was super friendly and nice. I was actually checking it out for a friend who is out of town, my kids are happy in their current schools, but I would be quite likely to choose F-S for my own children if I needed a school.

[Anonymous]

We live inbounds for School Without Walls; our dc is happy in current school, but DH and I are intrigued by this new option. We were both impressed by the presentations by the teachers and principal.

[Anonymous]

SWW doesn't have boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Maybe 23:55 meant SWW at FS? I believe the PK-8 school does have cachement boundaries...although the name confusion is a bit of a problem because I do think it can be misleading to some families--there still seem to be many people who are not clear that living in the FS boundary and/or enrolling your child at the PK-8 campus does not mean automatic admission to the high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe 23:55 meant SWW at FS? I believe the PK-8 school does have cachement boundaries...although the name confusion is a bit of a problem because I do think it can be misleading to some families--there still seem to be many people who are not clear that living in the FS boundary and/or enrolling your child at the PK-8 campus does not mean automatic admission to the high school.

Yes, this thread is about SWW @ Francis-Stevens, which covers PS3-8 and does have boundaries.

[Anonymous]

SWW@FS is a PS-MS it is not an application school. SWWHS is a highly selective HS. There is a rigorous testing and interview process for admission to the HS, and students must meet baseline criteria to even apply, ie. at least proficient on DC CAS as well as a grade requirement. At this point DCPS has stated that FS WILL NOT be a feeder school to the HS. The HS is NOT a lottery. I have heard talk that going to FS will be some advantage for admission to the HS. Thus far DCPS has stated that is not the case, but rather all student applying to the HS will be on equal footing. Therefore, if you are considering FS for elementary and middle school you should know that it will NOT afford you some preference in getting into the HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SWW@FS is a PS-MS it is not an application school. SWWHS is a highly selective HS. There is a rigorous testing and interview process for admission to the HS, and students must meet baseline criteria to even apply, ie. at least proficient on DC CAS as well as a grade requirement. At this point DCPS has stated that FS WILL NOT be a feeder school to the HS. The HS is NOT a lottery. I have heard talk that going to FS will be some advantage for admission to the HS. Thus far DCPS has stated that is not the case, but rather all student applying to the HS will be on equal footing. Therefore, if you are considering FS for elementary and middle school you should know that it will NOT afford you some preference in getting into the HS.

Right. But that does not change the SWW@F-S is a neighborhood school with boundaries.

[Anonymous]

I heard the enrollment was very low at FS- only 135 enrolled but they need to get to 380 because that is what the budget is based on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard the enrollment was very low at FS- only 135 enrolled but they need to get to 380 because that is what the budget is based on.

Last night, they said 300 spots are now taken.

[Anonymous]

The principal has been repeated queried at these forums about SWW@FS to SWW-HS process and he has been emphatic that any applicants from 8th grade into the HS will have to pass the same exam as students citywide.

At the same he's said he expects all students will be able to test into Any of the city's selective schools (Banneker, SWW, Ellington, any others?). You can't blame him for wanting academic success.

It is his expectation that the 50-student per grade (small classes, familiarity with all students), ~8 years of Latin and academic rigor will get students there.

He was equally emphatic that students will not be allowed to fail. Parents of students at academic risk will be compelled to enlist in a student improvement plan, etc.

[Anonymous]

No one really knows what will happen in the future with the application process to SWW high school now that the school has been merged with FS. DCPS says it will remain application only, but they merged the high school without any input, so it would not be a total surprise if they arbitrarily changed the whole entry process to the high school. It doesn't really make much sense to merge a preschool-8 neighborhood school with an application only high school that the lower school does not feed into. It's also why there is a lot of confusion with parents about the current feeder pattern.