Jefferson Academy Kool-Aid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make Elliot Hine and Jefferson one school.

I agree there should be one less middle school in Ward 6. But If you close EH, where would kids from hill East attend? If you close Jefferson, where will kids from SW attend?

A very short bus ride shouldn't be all that hard to figure out. Don't some of the WMATA busses have special school routes for high schools?

[Anonymous]

I'm a believer in neighborhood schools and love to see families engaged in rejuvenating their IB school. That said, I think more of them need to close. It would be fiscally irresponsible to renovate both Jefferson and EH - there is too much MS capacity (granted not enough high-quality capacity). With dollars spread over fewer middle schools, DCPS would better be able to improve quality. Nobody wants to see their close-to-them MS school be closed, but at the same time, we all want a high quality MS. There are some hard choices to be made. Ten years ago, I was told the MS issue on CH would be fixed - had Latin and BASIS not opened, maybe this would be the case. But now 10 years later, I'm faced with not having a neighborhood MS option that I'm comfortable with for my kid. I sure wish some hard choices had been made years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe SH is 15% inbounds - what a joke! Get rid of the OOB elementary school feeder rights, draw a normal looking boundary (say 1 mile radius around the school, rather than the absurd jury-rigged boundary currently in place) and SH would turn into Deal OVERNIGHT. In fact, SH would probably turn majority white/high SES overnight.

Some of us around Ward 6 are actually trying to come up with practical solutions to our splintered middle
School situation that put the most number of students ( of all backgrounds ) in a better position educationally than they are now.

Then there are jack**** like the pp who give us all a bad name.

I, for one, don't crave a majority white/high income school for my white/middle income kids. I desire a school that has fabulous visionary leadership, professional teaching staff, a variety of electives and extracurricular activities, a positive school culture and a majority of students who have come out of their elementary schools prepared to learn and thrive at grade level. It can happen. And experience tells me DCPS isn't willing to make that happen. So it leaves ignorant parents to think it is all about white kids

Thank you for saying that. I have a hard time believing that people like that PP are my neighbors on the HIll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a believer in neighborhood schools and love to see families engaged in rejuvenating their IB school. That said, I think more of them need to close. It would be fiscally irresponsible to renovate both Jefferson and EH - there is too much MS capacity (granted not enough high-quality capacity). With dollars spread over fewer middle schools, DCPS would better be able to improve quality. Nobody wants to see their close-to-them MS school be closed, but at the same time, we all want a high quality MS. There are some hard choices to be made. Ten years ago, I was told the MS issue on CH would be fixed - had Latin and BASIS not opened, maybe this would be the case. But now 10 years later, I'm faced with not having a neighborhood MS option that I'm comfortable with for my kid. I sure wish some hard choices had been made years ago.

Isn't the issue that neither EH or Jefferson is large enough (paired with SH) to hold all of the students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe SH is 15% inbounds - what a joke! Get rid of the OOB elementary school feeder rights, draw a normal looking boundary (say 1 mile radius around the school, rather than the absurd jury-rigged boundary currently in place) and SH would turn into Deal OVERNIGHT. In fact, SH would probably turn majority white/high SES overnight.

Your comment makes me wonder whether you would score anywhere above "basic" in PARCC. Those 85% is "us" stupid. Brent, Maury, Miner, Tyler kids. But your blind fury against "IB" students robs you of the ability to apply some basic common sense to this topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:tl;dr: Please segregate the high SES kids from "the others", even if they live on the next block. No other solution is acceptable.

And some people wonder why they've been ignored for ten years???

No kidding. Good luck with that PPP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a believer in neighborhood schools and love to see families engaged in rejuvenating their IB school. That said, I think more of them need to close. It would be fiscally irresponsible to renovate both Jefferson and EH - there is too much MS capacity (granted not enough high-quality capacity). With dollars spread over fewer middle schools, DCPS would better be able to improve quality. Nobody wants to see their close-to-them MS school be closed, but at the same time, we all want a high quality MS. There are some hard choices to be made. Ten years ago, I was told the MS issue on CH would be fixed - had Latin and BASIS not opened, maybe this would be the case. But now 10 years later, I'm faced with not having a neighborhood MS option that I'm comfortable with for my kid. I sure wish some hard choices had been made years ago.

Isn't the issue that neither EH or Jefferson is large enough (paired with SH) to hold all of the students?

The somewhat brilliant plan that a PP offered a few days ago on this thread was that SH would be all 6th graders, then Jefferson (or EH, not sure which makes more sense) would be 7-8. Then I guess the leftover middle school building could go to a charter middle school. win-win-win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe SH is 15% inbounds - what a joke! Get rid of the OOB elementary school feeder rights, draw a normal looking boundary (say 1 mile radius around the school, rather than the absurd jury-rigged boundary currently in place) and SH would turn into Deal OVERNIGHT. In fact, SH would probably turn majority white/high SES overnight.

Some of us around Ward 6 are actually trying to come up with practical solutions to our splintered middle
School situation that put the most number of students ( of all backgrounds ) in a better position educationally than they are now.

Then there are jack**** like the pp who give us all a bad name.

I, for one, don't crave a majority white/high income school for my white/middle income kids. I desire a school that has fabulous visionary leadership, professional teaching staff, a variety of electives and extracurricular activities, a positive school culture and a majority of students who have come out of their elementary schools prepared to learn and thrive at grade level. It can happen. And experience tells me DCPS isn't willing to make that happen. So it leaves ignorant parents to think it is all about white kids

Thank you for saying that. I have a hard time believing that people like that PP are my neighbors on the HIll.

what about for HS? get off your high horse. You aren't sending your kid to Easter High School either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe SH is 15% inbounds - what a joke! Get rid of the OOB elementary school feeder rights, draw a normal looking boundary (say 1 mile radius around the school, rather than the absurd jury-rigged boundary currently in place) and SH would turn into Deal OVERNIGHT. In fact, SH would probably turn majority white/high SES overnight.

Your comment makes me wonder whether you would score anywhere above "basic" in PARCC. Those 85% is "us" stupid. Brent, Maury, Miner, Tyler kids. But your blind fury against "IB" students robs you of the ability to apply some basic common sense to this topic.

[not PP] sure, some of the 85% come from Hill schools, but it's not 85%. Watkins and SH draw students from the entire eastern 1/2 of the district

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jefferson is serving only about 80 kids living in the catchment boundary. Brent is never going to send scores of kids to Jefferson by virtue of its size alone and the same will be true of Van Ness. So what is the rationale for keeping the school open when it's only half filled and badly in need of modernization? DCPS is incapable of seeing the forest for the trees, otherwise Eliot-Hine would have been modernized before Watkins to provide a suitable swing space. Maybe some Hill parents can coalesce around a plan to excess Jefferson so that Basis or another charter can have a proper middle/high school campus. After all, Henderson should be made to choke on her pronouncement that DCPS doesn't do middle school very well. In the absence of the NCLB waiver Jefferson would be just another of many failing schools in our city.

So where are all of these kids from VN and Brent going to go to Middle school?

Basis or somewhere in VA.

That WAS true, however Basis is full with several in bounds Brent families not getting in. In addition, the in-bounds populations for K and PS3 are much bigger than what had been seen previously. Some of them will move/leave through the years but Basis and Latin will not be a realistic choice for any families with an older child K or below. Truthfully, it isn't a realistic choice for non-siblings going forward.

So the real answer is:

- Private school
- Basis/Latin if you have a sibling or if you are one of the lucky 10% of non-siblings who get in
- Move to NW/VA/MD
- Give Jefferson a shot

Maybe another Charter opens that can be added to this list but this is basically a whole new game that will be played going forward.

[Anonymous]

Washington Global? Brookland middle? MacFarland? Hardy?

[Anonymous]

And there are numerous Brent parents at Stuart-Hobson, some loop via Watkins' 5th grade, some lottery in, some already live IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Washington Global? Brookland middle? MacFarland? Hardy?

And you forgot DCI.
And you forgot to mention those who rent property in the NW to have their kids go to Deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jefferson is serving only about 80 kids living in the catchment boundary. Brent is never going to send scores of kids to Jefferson by virtue of its size alone and the same will be true of Van Ness. So what is the rationale for keeping the school open when it's only half filled and badly in need of modernization? DCPS is incapable of seeing the forest for the trees, otherwise Eliot-Hine would have been modernized before Watkins to provide a suitable swing space. Maybe some Hill parents can coalesce around a plan to excess Jefferson so that Basis or another charter can have a proper middle/high school campus. After all, Henderson should be made to choke on her pronouncement that DCPS doesn't do middle school very well. In the absence of the NCLB waiver Jefferson would be just another of many failing schools in our city.

So where are all of these kids from VN and Brent going to go to Middle school?

See if you can get in touch with Adrian Fenty and ask why he surplused Hine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jefferson is serving only about 80 kids living in the catchment boundary. Brent is never going to send scores of kids to Jefferson by virtue of its size alone and the same will be true of Van Ness. So what is the rationale for keeping the school open when it's only half filled and badly in need of modernization? DCPS is incapable of seeing the forest for the trees, otherwise Eliot-Hine would have been modernized before Watkins to provide a suitable swing space. Maybe some Hill parents can coalesce around a plan to excess Jefferson so that Basis or another charter can have a proper middle/high school campus. After all, Henderson should be made to choke on her pronouncement that DCPS doesn't do middle school very well. In the absence of the NCLB waiver Jefferson would be just another of many failing schools in our city.

So where are all of these kids from VN and Brent going to go to Middle school?

See if you can get in touch with Adrian Fenty and ask why he surplused Hine.

He's busy spending Steve Jobs' money...