GDS admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While I don’t particularly care about the traffic issue, the notion that school made a deal with the community and then brazenly violated the deal is outrageous. This is exacerbated by the outwardly facing raison d’etre of the school. Either it was an honest mistake (which, candidly, seems nearly impossible and signals total incompetence if true) or was permitted by the HoS and/or board (which is outrageous).

That’s the issue. It’s teaching kids that a deal is a deal and that they have to keep their word - not just the cars on Wisconsin.

What exactly is the "brazen violation"? There is none. Read the MOU before you spout false assertions.

Well, the HoS open admitted that they over-enrolled. Is that not correct? And is that not a brazen violation?

]
I would not call that a "brazen violation." That is an unexpected consequence of COVID--admissions yields were totally unpredictable for any private school from elementary all the way up to colleges and universities. Anyone who is at all familiar with school admissions can testify that this has been the case since 2020 with the start of the pandemic.
The HOS admitted in the video that they dropped the ball on submitting a report about the over-enrollment and submitted it late, and moreover said that the school was going to reduce admissions acceptances this year to compensate, which makes sense because admissions yields are becoming more predictable now that COVID seems to be more or less behind us. Give GDS a fine for a late filing. Do not blow this up into deranged arguments about the HOS urging parents to commit fraud.

You make it seems as if it happen outside of their control. They chose to issue acceptances and improperly managed their yield. We have had at least two full admission cycles since COVID for them to correct the problem (that never should have happened to begin with). They chose not to until they got caught.

Again, I don’t care about the traffic but the hypocrisy on “doing the right thing” (which, by the way, I support 100%) is almost comic. As the same time that they are teaching kids important lessons on equity, they are exerting outrageous privilege essentially saying to their host community “yeah, you caught us, we did it and what are you gonna do about it.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was hilarious! Shaw has been head of school for 14 years and has no understanding of how pickups and drop off impact the neighborhood. Also he does not understand “DC transportation” drop off rules for a school! Guess he never read the agreement he signed?

In an interview last week, Shaw told me he wants more clarity from D.C. transportation officials about the dropoff rule. GDS is already responsible for counting each car that pulls up to deliver or retrieve a kid.

“If somebody drops their child off at Mazza Gallerie and walks here, are we meant to be able to police the five miles of Wisconsin Avenue?”

He is telling parents to drop off anywhere but not at the school so the school can lower their car count? That is pretty slimy! He does not even report the drop off numbers for years and no one is checking the car count. I am sure the count is always well below the allowed number

Dude just report the numbers- enrollment and car count. Make sure you do it on time and make the numbers match what is in the agreement. There is no independent audit and you have an at large council member on your board to run interference. How incompetent are you to let it get to this point?

A woman HOS would have read the agreement and been proactive with the neighbors.

This is a pretty hateful interpretation of Shaw's words. Once again, the ANC is twisting words and making assumptions that GDS administrators and parents have only the worst intentions. Russell is NOT telling parents to drop off anywhere. No one with any objectivity would interpret that response in that way except for someone who seems to have a chip on his shoulder about the school. The school reminds parents in every single weekly communication about transportation rules. The school requires parents to sign off on a transportation agreement every year upon enrollment. The school give every single family an individualized transportation plan every year. These would all be admissible legally as evidence that the school is not shirking its duties to comply with the MOU.
And, btw, there are a lot of reasons why parents might drop off a student at Friendship or Tenley, including dropping off a spouse at the metro.
The ANC head appears full of spite and hatred and ill-will. It's really ugly and unbecoming. I truly do not understand how he got elected by the good people of our neighborhood. It's a terrible look. He lacks any semblance of class or decorum.

Who is giving hateful interpretations now? You sling insults at the ANC head like nothing but then expect the neighborhood to look at the GDS HoS like some saint because he opens what - the playgrounds to community use every now and again? The facts are the HoS did not keep his word and hold the school's part of the agreement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You choose to live in a neighborhood near a 75 year old school with 1000 students. Most people consider this when looking for a new house. Yes, I am sure it sucks but you went into it with your eyes wide open.

Until a couple of years ago, the campus only included the high school, with 500 students. The desire to unify the school on a single campus is what led to the agreement with the ANC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there real consequences for over-enrollment?

Yes the school gets more money and more kids get in. There is no penalty for the school. The ANC has no power. You have to wonder if the school will abide by the fire code limits?

Good for GDS. These government rules and regulations are getting out of control!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You choose to live in a neighborhood near a 75 year old school with 1000 students. Most people consider this when looking for a new house. Yes, I am sure it sucks but you went into it with your eyes wide open.

And the school completely broke its promise with the community. What about the people that were here well before this precious 75 year old school even moved to this area of DC? Our eyes are just fine, thank you. It is your HoS that needs to check himself. You might want to do the same. Most people consider this a conscience. Do you know what that means or even have one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:expect the neighborhood to look at the GDS HoS like some saint because he opens what - the playgrounds to community use every now and again?

Who is saying this?

[Anonymous]

An ANC (Advisory Neighborhood Commission) is a non-partisan, neighborhood body each made up of locally elected representatives called Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners. They are a unique feature of the District's Home Rule Charter...

..The ANCs' main job is to be their neighborhood's official voice in advising the District government (and Federal agencies) on matters that affect their neighborhoods. Although they are not required to follow the ANCs' advice, many District agencies are required to give the ANCs' recommendations "great weight." Moreover, District law says that agencies cannot take any action that will significantly affect a neighborhood unless they give the affected ANCs 30 days advance notice. This includes zoning, streets, recreation, education, social services, sanitation, planning, safety, budget, and health services.

The ANCs may also initiate recommendations for improving city services, conduct neighborhood improvement programs, and monitor resident complaints. The ANCs began operating in 1976.

https://anc.dc.gov/page/about-ancs

A person banging two pots together on the corner will have more impact vs the ANC. GDS knows this and knows nothing will happen. Seems GDS parents do not understand this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the address of your the chiller plant that GDS purchased and people want them to build housing on? I mean that’s pretty preposterous, GDS should have consequences but that would be very costly and complex and they’re a school, not a housing authority. I live in the neighborhood and love the GDS playground and am happy to have a great school vs vape shops and another bank on this unattractive stretch of Wisconsin.

Corner of 42nd and Ellicott. I'm sure the ANC would rather it remain as the eyesore that it is - and given everything that's gone down, this will end up being wasted capital for GDS. No way this NIMBY crew running the ANC allows zoning to let GDS develop this site

With ANC now leaking the enrollment story to Axios, this thing isn't calming down anytime soon https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2023/02/22/georgetown-day-school-traffic-enrollment-tenleytown?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axioslocal_dc&stream=top

https://theaugurbit.com/2021/11/21/gds-finalizes-plan-to-buy-metro-chiller-plant-property-for-future-development/

I’m not on the ANC, but isn’t asking GDS to build deeply affordable housing on the site the opposite of NIMBY? That’s YIMBY.

Like l said, GDS should have consequences, but l don’t think telling them to build non-school related housing on a small 1/4 acre parcel instead of build something for the school, which I’m sure is their intention, is a reasonable consequence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While I don’t particularly care about the traffic issue, the notion that school made a deal with the community and then brazenly violated the deal is outrageous. This is exacerbated by the outwardly facing raison d’etre of the school. Either it was an honest mistake (which, candidly, seems nearly impossible and signals total incompetence if true) or was permitted by the HoS and/or board (which is outrageous).

That’s the issue. It’s teaching kids that a deal is a deal and that they have to keep their word - not just the cars on Wisconsin.

What exactly is the "brazen violation"? There is none. Read the MOU before you spout false assertions.

Well, the HoS open admitted that they over-enrolled. Is that not correct? And is that not a brazen violation?

]
I would not call that a "brazen violation." That is an unexpected consequence of COVID--admissions yields were totally unpredictable for any private school from elementary all the way up to colleges and universities. Anyone who is at all familiar with school admissions can testify that this has been the case since 2020 with the start of the pandemic.
The HOS admitted in the video that they dropped the ball on submitting a report about the over-enrollment and submitted it late, and moreover said that the school was going to reduce admissions acceptances this year to compensate, which makes sense because admissions yields are becoming more predictable now that COVID seems to be more or less behind us. Give GDS a fine for a late filing. Do not blow this up into deranged arguments about the HOS urging parents to commit fraud.

You make it seems as if it happen outside of their control. They chose to issue acceptances and improperly managed their yield. We have had at least two full admission cycles since COVID for them to correct the problem (that never should have happened to begin with). They chose not to until they got caught.

Again, I don’t care about the traffic but the hypocrisy on “doing the right thing” (which, by the way, I support 100%) is almost comic. As the same time that they are teaching kids important lessons on equity, they are exerting outrageous privilege essentially saying to their host community “yeah, you caught us, we did it and what are you gonna do about it.”

Fall 2021 enrollments were a crap shoot. There was an unexpectedly high yield for many, many schools due to COVID. No one can say fairly that overenrollment as a result of COVID was an improper management of yield. It was a massive aberration--historical trends did not hold. Did enrollments rise for Fall 2022, or did they stay the same as Fall 2021? And it seems that Fall 2023 enrollments will drop, no?
And I don't hear the HOS saying "what are you going to do about it"? That is the adversarial lens through which the ANC wants to use to interpret anything that comes out of GDS. Frankly, the ANC would improve its damaged reputation by stopping the opening of vape shops rather that spewing vitriol at a school that historically has done a lot more good in this world than screw up a year of enrollments. It's a bad look, wrong priorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there real consequences for over-enrollment?

Yes the school gets more money and more kids get in. There is no penalty for the school

You clearly know nothing about private school budgets. At most places (including GDS), tuition doesn't fully cover the total cost of educating a student. Also keep in mind that a fair percentage of families aren't full pay, due to being on FA or having a parent work at the school.

[Anonymous]

All this hullabaloo for 50 kids!!!

🤦‍♀️

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was hilarious! Shaw has been head of school for 14 years and has no understanding of how pickups and drop off impact the neighborhood. Also he does not understand “DC transportation” drop off rules for a school! Guess he never read the agreement he signed?

In an interview last week, Shaw told me he wants more clarity from D.C. transportation officials about the dropoff rule. GDS is already responsible for counting each car that pulls up to deliver or retrieve a kid.

“If somebody drops their child off at Mazza Gallerie and walks here, are we meant to be able to police the five miles of Wisconsin Avenue?”

He is telling parents to drop off anywhere but not at the school so the school can lower their car count? That is pretty slimy! He does not even report the drop off numbers for years and no one is checking the car count. I am sure the count is always well below the allowed number

Dude just report the numbers- enrollment and car count. Make sure you do it on time and make the numbers match what is in the agreement. There is no independent audit and you have an at large council member on your board to run interference. How incompetent are you to let it get to this point?

A woman HOS would have read the agreement and been proactive with the neighbors.

This is a pretty hateful interpretation of Shaw's words. Once again, the ANC is twisting words and making assumptions that GDS administrators and parents have only the worst intentions. Russell is NOT telling parents to drop off anywhere. No one with any objectivity would interpret that response in that way except for someone who seems to have a chip on his shoulder about the school. The school reminds parents in every single weekly communication about transportation rules. The school requires parents to sign off on a transportation agreement every year upon enrollment. The school give every single family an individualized transportation plan every year. These would all be admissible legally as evidence that the school is not shirking its duties to comply with the MOU.
And, btw, there are a lot of reasons why parents might drop off a student at Friendship or Tenley, including dropping off a spouse at the metro.
The ANC head appears full of spite and hatred and ill-will. It's really ugly and unbecoming. I truly do not understand how he got elected by the good people of our neighborhood. It's a terrible look. He lacks any semblance of class or decorum.

Sure. You say all the parents sign an agreement but go on to say the parents break the agreement all the time. The HOS said the same thing. He knows parents are breaking the agreement and says he will not police the parents. Your “legal evidence” shows the school and parents willfully acts to break the agreement.

I do not understand how Shaw became HOS and how he is still there. This is some real basic stuff here. Give the parents who break the agreement three warnings and kick them out after the fourth infraction. They signed an agreement as part of their enrollment agreement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there real consequences for over-enrollment?

Yes the school gets more money and more kids get in. There is no penalty for the school

You clearly know nothing about private school budgets. At most places (including GDS), tuition doesn't fully cover the total cost of educating a student. Also keep in mind that a fair percentage of families aren't full pay, due to being on FA or having a parent work at the school.

So all the additional kids are on FA? Sure. So adding 50 kids paying $49k a year increases the fix cost of the school? Seems like you do not understand private schools budgets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He knows parents are breaking the agreement and says he will not police the parents.

Google is your friend.
https://theaugurbit.com/2022/11/14/transportation-limits-prompt-varied-views-in-community-neighborhood/

[Anonymous]

Hilarious that you should bring that up. GDS bought the old Volvo dealer in 2015 and has let the site rot since then.

Anonymous wrote:For the ANC chair and his supporters -- you all are just pissing in the wind.

I drove down Wisconsin Avenue past the old Volvo dealer waiting to be sold and developed, by the 7 story hulking building being built, looked across at the lots that have been cleared for construction (and thought of the fast food chains clamoring to join their brethren in Tenleytown), and thought . . . Wow, Tenleytown would feel so much more old fashioned quaint if there were 50 fewer GDS students.