Ward 2/3 High School proposal in the NW Current

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The answer isn't the old Western or the old Hardy.

The answer is converting SWW into a neighborhood HS. (The rather pathetic Francis Stevens crowd who've contributed so much to the school's downfall will be thrilled of course.) It has enough shine beneath the tarnish to appeal to Ward 2 and the southern portion of Ward 3.

Plus, DCPS just hates it.

And, it's terribly run.

Make SWW the new Western HS!

The location and facilities of Francis Stevens would make a nice small high school for the inner city set. But where do you want to put the elementry the middle school?

There are very few in-boundary kids that go to F-S. It's always been a convenient drop-off point for parents who work on the west side of town, or for parents who want a better option than their local schools. Just send the Foggy Bottom kids to the expanded Hyde; convert F-S to a new Ward 2/Ward 3 High School. The growing capacity of the charters would be more than enough to take on the OOB population that attends F-S now.

And it wouldn't have to be a small high school. There is plenty of room to expand the F-S campus if the will and the money is there.

What a great idea. Kids who are zoned for FS could also go to Garrison, another Ward 2 school slated for closure. For middle school they could go to Hardy, also in Ward 2.

Where do you live, PP?

Do they have a public library nearby? If so, ask the person at the counter for "maps." (The word is pronounced how it's spelled.) It will be useful for you to familiarize yourself with these "maps" before making further suggestions. Let me know when you're done, and then we'll move on to the advanced course: incorporating traffic patterns and flows! (Here we'll discuss topics like "rush hour." You may have heard of it on the AM radio. It particularly applies to places without convenient metro rail access, so that's a further layer of complexity that we'll hopefully cover before the end of the semester.)

Somehow everyone currently attending F-S is able to manage it. But, hey, urban living isn't for everyone. The suburbs help manage the hysteria, for those who can't cope.

As you claimed, the parents work on the west side of town. You're proposing that they add a third point to their commute, likely nowhere near the other two points.

And, by the way, you do know there's a marked difference between choosing to make a time-consuming commute and being forced to make a time-consuming commute, right?

Think before you speak. It will benefit us all.

[Anonymous]

If it became more well known that F-S is primarily used by OOB parents as a convenient drop-off point for their kids, on the parents' way to work on the west side of town, more people will begin asking why that real estate isn't being used for neighborhood purposes.

[Anonymous]

I thought the reason for keeping FS open was the demand for the changing IB demographics of Ward 2? What is being proposed is creating a high school in Ward 2 while still providing multiple Ward 2 elementary schools and a middle school.

If the PP is OOB for FS and there is insufficient IB interest in the school, perhaps it would be a better investment to improve neighborhood schools where there is sufficient population and demand and eliminate the troublesome commute altogether.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it became more well known that F-S is primarily used by OOB parents as a convenient drop-off point for their kids, on the parents' way to work on the west side of town, more people will begin asking why that real estate isn't being used for neighborhood purposes.

I bet it would be even more convenient for those parents to drop off (or walk) their kids to school in their own neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

The FS building could accommodate a high-school. If a ward 2/3 high school is actually on the table the building would work. The IB families for FS-SWW could then be reassigned to Ross, Hyde-Addison or Marie Reed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it became more well known that F-S is primarily used by OOB parents as a convenient drop-off point for their kids, on the parents' way to work on the west side of town, more people will begin asking why that real estate isn't being used for neighborhood purposes.

This has been known since the last round of Rhee's closings. I think the neighborhood rallied around it because they would rather have a 3/4 empty school than another office/condo/GW dorm on the site.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it became more well known that F-S is primarily used by OOB parents as a convenient drop-off point for their kids, on the parents' way to work on the west side of town, more people will begin asking why that real estate isn't being used for neighborhood purposes.

I bet it would be even more convenient for those parents to drop off (or walk) their kids to school in their own neighborhoods.

Not if they live in MD...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it became more well known that F-S is primarily used by OOB parents as a convenient drop-off point for their kids, on the parents' way to work on the west side of town, more people will begin asking why that real estate isn't being used for neighborhood purposes.

I bet it would be even more convenient for those parents to drop off (or walk) their kids to school in their own neighborhoods.

Not if they live in MD...

Oooh, that's true, I have seen a lot of MD plates at dropoff at F-S. However, I've since learned from reading this board that those MD plates probably come from just one parent, while the other lives in DC but probably doesn't have primary custody of the child; or, the "MD" plates are from parents who are seeking better insurance rates for their vehicles, but they really live in DC; so there's really no problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it became more well known that F-S is primarily used by OOB parents as a convenient drop-off point for their kids, on the parents' way to work on the west side of town, more people will begin asking why that real estate isn't being used for neighborhood purposes.

I bet it would be even more convenient for those parents to drop off (or walk) their kids to school in their own neighborhoods.

Not if they live in MD...

Oooh, that's true, I have seen a lot of MD plates at dropoff at F-S. However, I've since learned from reading this board that those MD plates probably come from just one parent, while the other lives in DC but probably doesn't have primary custody of the child; or, the "MD" plates are from parents who are seeking better insurance rates for their vehicles, but they really live in DC; so there's really no problem.

Yes, there is a problem in that case. Maybe not for the schools, but insurance fraud hurts everyone. If you do the right thing and register your car in DC (and pay higher rates), you are effectively subsiding these bozos. I'm still surprised that the go-along-to-get-along, don't say nuthin' to nobody DC culture that tolerates (even celebrates) cheating.

As for schools, I don't doubt that some number of MD plates are single parents who may have part custody, etc., but the reality is that there are kids who live in Maryland and attend DCPS without paying tuition. Full stop. There were a couple in my daughter's class when she was in elementary school. And everyone remembers "What ward is Landover in?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it became more well known that F-S is primarily used by OOB parents as a convenient drop-off point for their kids, on the parents' way to work on the west side of town, more people will begin asking why that real estate isn't being used for neighborhood purposes.

I bet it would be even more convenient for those parents to drop off (or walk) their kids to school in their own neighborhoods.

Not if they live in MD...

Oooh, that's true, I have seen a lot of MD plates at dropoff at F-S. However, I've since learned from reading this board that those MD plates probably come from just one parent, while the other lives in DC but probably doesn't have primary custody of the child; or, the "MD" plates are from parents who are seeking better insurance rates for their vehicles, but they really live in DC; so there's really no problem.

Yes, there is a problem in that case. Maybe not for the schools, but insurance fraud hurts everyone. If you do the right thing and register your car in DC (and pay higher rates), you are effectively subsiding these bozos. I'm still surprised that the go-along-to-get-along, don't say nuthin' to nobody DC culture that tolerates (even celebrates) cheating.

As for schools, I don't doubt that some number of MD plates are single parents who may have part custody, etc., but the reality is that there are kids who live in Maryland and attend DCPS without paying tuition. Full stop. There were a couple in my daughter's class when she was in elementary school. And everyone remembers "What ward is Landover in?"

PP was being facetious. Everyone knows there are kids who attend DCPS from outside the city without paying tuition. I know two myself. However, on this forum, whenever someone says that there is a chorus with an outpouring of reasons why we can't assume someone is cheating the system when it appears they are. Strike that, not reasons, excuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it became more well known that F-S is primarily used by OOB parents as a convenient drop-off point for their kids, on the parents' way to work on the west side of town, more people will begin asking why that real estate isn't being used for neighborhood purposes.

I bet it would be even more convenient for those parents to drop off (or walk) their kids to school in their own neighborhoods.

Not if they live in MD...

Oooh, that's true, I have seen a lot of MD plates at dropoff at F-S. However, I've since learned from reading this board that those MD plates probably come from just one parent, while the other lives in DC but probably doesn't have primary custody of the child; or, the "MD" plates are from parents who are seeking better insurance rates for their vehicles, but they really live in DC; so there's really no problem.

LOL - nice one. Especially the part in bold. Yeah, we're not cheating, we're divorced, and the DC parent has custody. Oh, except the MD parent will be dropping the kid off every day because the kid sleeps in MD every night, with the non-custody parent. Mmmmkay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it became more well known that F-S is primarily used by OOB parents as a convenient drop-off point for their kids, on the parents' way to work on the west side of town, more people will begin asking why that real estate isn't being used for neighborhood purposes.

I bet it would be even more convenient for those parents to drop off (or walk) their kids to school in their own neighborhoods.

Not if they live in MD...

Oooh, that's true, I have seen a lot of MD plates at dropoff at F-S. However, I've since learned from reading this board that those MD plates probably come from just one parent, while the other lives in DC but probably doesn't have primary custody of the child; or, the "MD" plates are from parents who are seeking better insurance rates for their vehicles, but they really live in DC; so there's really no problem.

LOL - nice one. Especially the part in bold. Yeah, we're not cheating, we're divorced, and the DC parent has custody. Oh, except the MD parent will be dropping the kid off every day because the kid sleeps in MD every night, with the non-custody parent. Mmmmkay?

I've known families that shared custody across district lines. It's not that surprising in a tri-state metropolitan area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The FS building could accommodate a high-school. If a ward 2/3 high school is actually on the table the building would work. The IB families for FS-SWW could then be reassigned to Ross, Hyde-Addison or Marie Reed.

So Hardy would be the middle school that feeds to the Francis Stephens High School?

And who would feed to Hardy?

Or do you mean stick to the Educational Campus Idea that is at FS now, and have Hyde Addison, Ross, and Marie Reed feed to Francis Stephens at middle school?

Could be a decent school.

[Anonymous]

Making FS another option for MS or HS based on the schools listed above would have made much more sense than merging it with SWW and upending that high performing HS. Dcps just can't leave a good thing alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The FS building could accommodate a high-school. If a ward 2/3 high school is actually on the table the building would work. The IB families for FS-SWW could then be reassigned to Ross, Hyde-Addison or Marie Reed.

So Hardy would be the middle school that feeds to the Francis Stephens High School?

And who would feed to Hardy?

Or do you mean stick to the Educational Campus Idea that is at FS now, and have Hyde Addison, Ross, and Marie Reed feed to Francis Stephens at middle school?

Could be a decent school.

PP here. Yes, Hardy would be the middle school that feeds to FS High School. We all know that Hardy hasn't taken as a viable middle school for IB Key, Mann, Stoddard, Hyde kids. What about expanding the boundary to include the other Elementary schools close in but just east of the park - basically, all part of the same neighborhood. It might make the difference for Hardy. Then carry that over to F S High school.