"The current system is unsustainable." Really?

[Anonymous]

"The current system is unsustainable."

I have heard this comment from many people both on this board and amongst elected officials regarding DCPS policies and operations. However, as a newcomer to the city with a not-as-of-yet school aged child, I am curious what events will force DCPS to change its ways? In other words, what pressures are in operation that will cause a crisis in the system that a little duct tape, spit, and glue can't fix?

Though I'm new to the conversation I understand that for the first time in a long while the population is rising and more and more kids are unable to get into the good Ward 3 schools from OOB, thereby forcing them to go to their local school, or opt for the suburbs or private. But how is this situation 'unsustainable'?

Don't get me wrong - I understand the gnashing of teeth, but the fact that more and more kids will have to go to their local neighborhood school seems totally sustainable (and perhaps inevitable) to me. What am I missing?

[Anonymous]

What the hell are you even talking about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"The current system is unsustainable."

I have heard this comment from many people both on this board and amongst elected officials regarding DCPS policies and operations. However, as a newcomer to the city with a not-as-of-yet school aged child, I am curious what events will force DCPS to change its ways? In other words, what pressures are in operation that will cause a crisis in the system that a little duct tape, spit, and glue can't fix?

Though I'm new to the conversation I understand that for the first time in a long while the population is rising and more and more kids are unable to get into the good Ward 3 schools from OOB, thereby forcing them to go to their local school, or opt for the suburbs or private. But how is this situation 'unsustainable'?

Don't get me wrong - I understand the gnashing of teeth, but the fact that more and more kids will have to go to their local neighborhood school seems totally sustainable (and perhaps inevitable) to me. What am I missing?

You're missing the fact that people don't go to their local neighborhood schools. 44% of DC kids go to charters, of which a handful are really good and the rest just as mediocre as the DCPS schools the kids left behind. Meanwhile neighborhood schools become under enrolled and lose funding and the extras that could make them attractive to new students. In a perverse way, it spins the downward cycle even faster.

[Anonymous]

The "unsustainable" piece usually refers to overcrowding at west of the park schools, and Deal in particular.

[Anonymous]

I'm kinda with you OP. I feel like the unsustainable argument is made to try and simplify the complexity of the problems with DC schools and to frighten people into submission. It's the same vague argument used for Medicare, Social Security, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm kinda with you OP. I feel like the unsustainable argument is made to try and simplify the complexity of the problems with DC schools and to frighten people into submission. It's the same vague argument used for Medicare, Social Security, etc.

Interesting to get an outsider's point of view.

[Anonymous]

Well I think unsustainable also refers to the wait lists etc. for many heads parents east of the park used Ward 3 schools as an escape. That is no longer possible. That's the unsustainable part. Doesn't mean it will force change on DCPS, that is something else entirely.

[Anonymous]

OP here. So, if I understand correctly, the Ward 3 schools are packed. Increasingly, they are packed by IB students, which force more and more OOB kids into either charters, private, or the suburbs.

So, other than the fact that the District's population is rising, what is new about any this that hasn't been the case for decades? If anything, a rising population (of presumably relatively high SES families) will improve the quality of local schools as a result. Or perhaps as others elsewhere have stated, these kids' parents will prefer to enroll them in new charters or privates because they demand good schools.

Again, I understand the angst as I have a very young child myself. But I fail to see any new 'crisis' here that hasn't been going on for many generations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So, if I understand correctly, the Ward 3 schools are packed. Increasingly, they are packed by IB students, which force more and more OOB kids into either charters, private, or the suburbs.

So, other than the fact that the District's population is rising, what is new about any this that hasn't been the case for decades? If anything, a rising population (of presumably relatively high SES families) will improve the quality of local schools as a result. Or perhaps as others elsewhere have stated, these kids' parents will prefer to enroll them in new charters or privates because they demand good schools.

Again, I understand the angst as I have a very young child myself. But I fail to see any new 'crisis' here that hasn't been going on for many generations.

The crisis is that with the OOB feeder system, there's no place to put the ever-growing population of students who all have rights to attend the same TWO schools.

[Anonymous]

Well I think unsustainable also refers to the wait lists etc. for many heads parents east of the park used Ward 3 schools as an escape. That is no longer possible. That's the unsustainable part.

What about that is unsustainable, exactly?

[Anonymous]

The crisis is that with the OOB feeder system, there's no place to put the ever-growing population of students who all have rights to attend the same TWO schools.

DCPS will cross that bridge when they get to it.

[Anonymous]

The "unsustainable" piece usually refers to overcrowding at west of the park schools, and Deal in particular.

There's nothing unsustainable about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The crisis is that with the OOB feeder system, there's no place to put the ever-growing population of students who all have rights to attend the same TWO schools.

DCPS will cross that bridge when they get to it.

Which is what they are trying to do....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So, if I understand correctly, the Ward 3 schools are packed. Increasingly, they are packed by IB students, which force more and more OOB kids into either charters, private, or the suburbs.

So, other than the fact that the District's population is rising, what is new about any this that hasn't been the case for decades? If anything, a rising population (of presumably relatively high SES families) will improve the quality of local schools as a result. Or perhaps as others elsewhere have stated, these kids' parents will prefer to enroll them in new charters or privates because they demand good schools.

Again, I understand the angst as I have a very young child myself. But I fail to see any new 'crisis' here that hasn't been going on for many generations.

That's the point those of us who have been living here for years are making. This is not a new crisis, it's the same old crisis in new clothes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So, if I understand correctly, the Ward 3 schools are packed. Increasingly, they are packed by IB students, which force more and more OOB kids into either charters, private, or the suburbs.

So, other than the fact that the District's population is rising, what is new about any this that hasn't been the case for decades? If anything, a rising population (of presumably relatively high SES families) will improve the quality of local schools as a result. Or perhaps as others elsewhere have stated, these kids' parents will prefer to enroll them in new charters or privates because they demand good schools.

Again, I understand the angst as I have a very young child myself. But I fail to see any new 'crisis' here that hasn't been going on for many generations.

The crisis is that with the OOB feeder system, there's no place to put the ever-growing population of students who all have rights to attend the same TWO schools.

This only applies to Deal, Wilson and JKLMM schools, 5 elementary and one middle and one high school. The rest of DCPS are underenrolled with very few exceptions like Ross.