GDS admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:#13 is slimy. Well, really all of it is slimy.

Very

[Anonymous]

So GDS failed to report and failed to indicate a change in language in the agreement. I don’t think it’s malicious or nefarious. But it does indicate a lack of concern for important elements of its zoning order. At the very least, it’s pretty incompetent.

[Anonymous]

There is nothing "slimy" about anything. I don't think GDS lacks concern of anything. Why always attribute the worst to people? Over and over again, Russ Shaw apologized and asked to sit down. I know you think that's too late, but why is it really too late? Aren't you just interested in solving the problem? The only ANC solution is some draconian deterrence, which will just create long-standing tension. Incompetence? Hardly. GDS has shown over and over again its competence: it's one of the top schools in the entire country. Sit down and talk, and stop threatening lawsuits. We're talking a mere 50 students during a pandemic. Many private schools were surprised by the yield. This whole mess is all due to pandemic, even the fact that the school failed to report. Things fell through the cracks everywhere during the pandemic for very understandable reasons. Befriend rather than fight. Move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is nothing "slimy" about anything. I don't think GDS lacks concern of anything. Why always attribute the worst to people? Over and over again, Russ Shaw apologized and asked to sit down. I know you think that's too late, but why is it really too late? Aren't you just interested in solving the problem? The only ANC solution is some draconian deterrence, which will just create long-standing tension. Incompetence? Hardly. GDS has shown over and over again its competence: it's one of the top schools in the entire country. Sit down and talk, and stop threatening lawsuits. We're talking a mere 50 students during a pandemic. Many private schools were surprised by the yield. This whole mess is all due to pandemic, even the fact that the school failed to report. Things fell through the cracks everywhere during the pandemic for very understandable reasons. Befriend rather than fight. Move on.

The bolded is crap. GDS doesn't get a pass on legal compliance just because it has smart students.

Here's what I don't understand:
- GDS takes millions in Covid funds, despite no hit to its revenues.
- GDS is "surprised" to end up with 50 extra kids, when that's probably double of what in admits in a normal year?
- GDS gets $2.5 million extra in tuition the last couple of years due to accident?

I agree that competence does not seem to be the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is nothing "slimy" about anything. I don't think GDS lacks concern of anything. Why always attribute the worst to people? Over and over again, Russ Shaw apologized and asked to sit down. I know you think that's too late, but why is it really too late? Aren't you just interested in solving the problem? The only ANC solution is some draconian deterrence, which will just create long-standing tension. Incompetence? Hardly. GDS has shown over and over again its competence: it's one of the top schools in the entire country. Sit down and talk, and stop threatening lawsuits. We're talking a mere 50 students during a pandemic. Many private schools were surprised by the yield. This whole mess is all due to pandemic, even the fact that the school failed to report. Things fell through the cracks everywhere during the pandemic for very understandable reasons. Befriend rather than fight. Move on.

The bolded is crap. GDS doesn't get a pass on legal compliance just because it has smart students.

Here's what I don't understand:
- GDS takes millions in Covid funds, despite no hit to its revenues.
- GDS is "surprised" to end up with 50 extra kids, when that's probably double of what in admits in a normal year?
- GDS gets $2.5 million extra in tuition the last couple of years due to accident?

I agree that competence does not seem to be the issue.

Sidwell took the PPP loan, not GDS, Maret, STA, NCS, etc. 50 extra kids is less than 1/2 the size of a typical GDS graduating senior class. Do you normally just make stuff up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is nothing "slimy" about anything. I don't think GDS lacks concern of anything. Why always attribute the worst to people? Over and over again, Russ Shaw apologized and asked to sit down. I know you think that's too late, but why is it really too late? Aren't you just interested in solving the problem? The only ANC solution is some draconian deterrence, which will just create long-standing tension. Incompetence? Hardly. GDS has shown over and over again its competence: it's one of the top schools in the entire country. Sit down and talk, and stop threatening lawsuits. We're talking a mere 50 students during a pandemic. Many private schools were surprised by the yield. This whole mess is all due to pandemic, even the fact that the school failed to report. Things fell through the cracks everywhere during the pandemic for very understandable reasons. Befriend rather than fight. Move on.

The bolded is crap. GDS doesn't get a pass on legal compliance just because it has smart students.

Here's what I don't understand:
- GDS takes millions in Covid funds, despite no hit to its revenues.
- GDS is "surprised" to end up with 50 extra kids, when that's probably double of what in admits in a normal year?
- GDS gets $2.5 million extra in tuition the last couple of years due to accident?

I agree that competence does not seem to be the issue.

Fact that ANC head posting here anonymously thinks that GDS took PPP money is all you need to know. Jon, GDS did NOT take PPP money.

[Anonymous]

Seems to me that required public transportation and/ or school bussing rather than enrollment caps would be much, much more effective. And better for the environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sick of GDS families clogging up our streets. So much better before they added the new building. Just horrible group of people who don’t care about our neighborhood and that during the day. We just want to get in and out without honking at people to move their cars. Such entitled a-holes. Never should have moved into such a crowded area.

"GDS parents clogging up your streets"? I was driving through your neighborhood to get to work for years before my child ever enrolled at GDS, and will continue to do so after she graduates. GDS's feel-good but completely impractical transportation plan does not alter that one bit.
Your problem, and that of your snooty neighbors, is blaming others for the fact that you chose to live in the city in an urban environment near two major streets, a Metro station, a commercial district and several schools. GDS families are not to blame for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems to me that required public transportation and/ or school bussing rather than enrollment caps would be much, much more effective. And better for the environment.

So would moving the school to the suburbs, which would be my preference. Much nicer environment in MoCo or NVa for a school than the trashy and crime-ridden Tenleytown neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a parent with no knowledge about how the school will handle this, but imagine that the pk and k classes would stay the same but the other entry years (1, 3, 4, 6, and 9) will all go down by some percentage. I also suspect that the school won’t replace attrition in non-entry year grades.

It tuition is lower for lower grades - then it would make sense to take a strategy that would take the losses by having fewer little kids in order to allow GDS to still offer HS spots that bring the school more $

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many private schools in the DMV and around the country have the same spike in apps and yields due to school shutdowns ranging from a few months to 18-24 mos.
Most communities understood this and the schools business model and waived the caps given the crazy situation. Any business owner or operator gets it. This is a lasting effect of the govt shutting down schools in DC for almost two years. These schools had to operated in crisis mode with tons of local govt uncertainty for two years.

So much for “community understanding” or prioritizing effective education.

No waiver would be needed now if the GDS community had abided by its side of the agreement. Public schools are all operating normally. Kids can go back.

I agree with this - it's not ok to enroll in a school that says there are requirements to use bus and then just drive your kid anyway. I live in a different neighborhood that has been affected by school planning/expansion decisions. This sort of traffic has an impact when parents and students start to use side streets to get to school. It increases traffic, affects parking. If the families were more respectful on our streets, it wouldn't be a as big of a deal - but this is DMV - so we all know there are a fair share of parent-/student-drivers who are not respectful.

I also think there must be a way for GDS to be more aggressive in compliance. Potomac as bus rules and they are quite strict about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems to me that required public transportation and/ or school bussing rather than enrollment caps would be much, much more effective. And better for the environment.

So would moving the school to the suburbs, which would be my preference. Much nicer environment in MoCo or NVa for a school than the trashy and crime-ridden Tenleytown neighborhood.

Why didn’t GDS just move everything to the burbs rather than consolidate their whole school on that small lot? There is so little space there. No room for a cafeteria for the US. Have to jump through hoops to schedule field time. Etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems to me that required public transportation and/ or school bussing rather than enrollment caps would be much, much more effective. And better for the environment.

Encouragement of using public transportation and school busing are part of the agreement. Are kids allowed to park near school? The agreement says “residential neighborhood” but doesn’t specify what that is as it does in the drop-off/pick-up provision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sick of GDS families clogging up our streets. So much better before they added the new building. Just horrible group of people who don’t care about our neighborhood and that during the day. We just want to get in and out without honking at people to move their cars. Such entitled a-holes. Never should have moved into such a crowded area.

"GDS parents clogging up your streets"? I was driving through your neighborhood to get to work for years before my child ever enrolled at GDS, and will continue to do so after she graduates. GDS's feel-good but completely impractical transportation plan does not alter that one bit.
Your problem, and that of your snooty neighbors, is blaming others for the fact that you chose to live in the city in an urban environment near two major streets, a Metro station, a commercial district and several schools. GDS families are not to blame for that.

who is snooty now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems to me that required public transportation and/ or school bussing rather than enrollment caps would be much, much more effective. And better for the environment.

So would moving the school to the suburbs, which would be my preference. Much nicer environment in MoCo or NVa for a school than the trashy and crime-ridden Tenleytown neighborhood.

Why didn’t GDS just move everything to the burbs rather than consolidate their whole school on that small lot? There is so little space there. No room for a cafeteria for the US. Have to jump through hoops to schedule field time. Etc.

GDS gets what they deserve. Small lot in city and cramming 1000 students, and faculty and staff. Yeah, smart idea in an already congested part of the city and adjacent to a residential neighborhood. For a school that tries to make good choices, this one sucked.

Other schools will continue to improve their campuses (maybe not Maret), build new sports, music, theater facilities and GDS will keep on fighting with the neighborhood and fall further behind the other top tier schools….

Not fun having a gym in the basement with almost no widows. I’m sure the campus is not a place US students want to be at….