Should DCPS add or shutdown any schools?

[Anonymous]

I am loving the Middle School Advanced Math spreadsheet. So much easier to understand. Maybe they'll do a special high school math spreadsheet, it really is hard data to interpret and the current way of reporting might be making DCPS look worse than it actually is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Coolidge, Wells, and Whittier are all over capacity in one of the fastest growing neighborhoods for families in DC. It's wild to me that DCPS just told Whittier they'll basically modernize to the same capacity and instead of building a new building for Wells just added a cafeteria for Coolidge.

+1000

This is the part of the city I was going to mention. Wells was overcrowded right after it was built. Whittier keeps growing its enrollment despite a horrible old building. When that new building is built it will be immediately overcrowded. Why? Because DCPS refuses to plan for growth and make the school bigger. DCPS is a truly terrible organization.

They need a second HS but the problem is that school would almost certainly need Shepherd as a feeder and the Mayor will never let that happen. So instead Coolidge and J-R will remain massively overcrowded and growing and the solution will be to limit OOB Coolidge enrollment (fine) and address zero systemic issues.

Omg, get a life! Why are you so obsessed with changing Shepherd’s feeder pattern? You post on every thread in this forum with that nonsense.

TBF, the shepherd pattern is very weird because of the mayor. We can actually attribute it specifically to political meddling. A thing that used to happen all the time, but really only applies to shepherd now

Agreed, Shepherd and 1/2 Lafayette should be routed into Wells/Coolidge.

Yeah there should be a Takoma/Shepherd/Lafayette feeder MS and HS. And if you built it and didn't abandon it it could be a very good HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS should add an early learning center in Ward 3 to offer more preK 3 seats.

100% THIS.
You know how to preserve economic segregation in this city? Make sure the working poor and public service workers without access to inherited wealth (which makes them the least likely to own their own vehicles) can't access necessary child care and education services - like PK3 slots that don't require a hefty commute, or any schoolbus service at all - unless they move to the part of town TPTB have decided it's ok for The Poors to live.

There are plenty of older apartment buildings in Upper NW - on Connecticut, near Wisconsin, and elsewhere. And there are plenty of DC families who lack cars or hefty bank accounts who would like to live in those buildings...but can't, if it means potentially shelling out an extra $30K (or $60K, if your kid was born Oct 1 instead of Sept 30) in child care costs per kid, or personally handling daily school transportation.

If you only offer services to those who need them in specific areas of the city... then the only place people who need those services will be able to live is those areas. And if you don't offer those services in other areas of the city, people for whom those services are necessary will be functionally unable to live in those areas - it makes the difference to everyone from the working poor to people with "good" jobs who lack family wealth. Maybe everyone is fine with that setup, and it's a feature, not a bug. But don't put a bow on it and pretend these decisions aren't just reflecting economic segregation - they're PERPETUATING and CEMENTING it.

[Anonymous]

Ward 4 especially/Ward 1 could really use another public application high school. Banneker is not big enough (not to mention Coolidge early college) to accommodate people in those areas and there are geographic constraints (crossing the park, cemeteries) for families to get to Walls, McKinley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ward 4 especially/Ward 1 could really use another public application high school. Banneker is not big enough (not to mention Coolidge early college) to accommodate people in those areas and there are geographic constraints (crossing the park, cemeteries) for families to get to Walls, McKinley.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Coolidge, Wells, and Whittier are all over capacity in one of the fastest growing neighborhoods for families in DC. It's wild to me that DCPS just told Whittier they'll basically modernize to the same capacity and instead of building a new building for Wells just added a cafeteria for Coolidge.

+1000

This is the part of the city I was going to mention. Wells was overcrowded right after it was built. Whittier keeps growing its enrollment despite a horrible old building. When that new building is built it will be immediately overcrowded. Why? Because DCPS refuses to plan for growth and make the school bigger. DCPS is a truly terrible organization.

They need a second HS but the problem is that school would almost certainly need Shepherd as a feeder and the Mayor will never let that happen. So instead Coolidge and J-R will remain massively overcrowded and growing and the solution will be to limit OOB Coolidge enrollment (fine) and address zero systemic issues.

Omg, get a life! Why are you so obsessed with changing Shepherd’s feeder pattern? You post on every thread in this forum with that nonsense.

TBF, the shepherd pattern is very weird because of the mayor. We can actually attribute it specifically to political meddling. A thing that used to happen all the time, but really only applies to shepherd now

Shepherd fed to Wilson before Bowser was mayor, and it’ll feed after she leaves office. Do you think she’s the only powerful person in the neighborhood? Y’all really don’t know anything about DC.

[Anonymous]

Not totally on topic..maybe I should start a new thread? But for parents who know, how is it going, having Francis Middle take Garrison, Seaton, and Cleveland kids?

Should parents from those schools push to stay at Francis? Or should parents at Francis' original feeders (Ross and Thomson) and Francis fifth graders push to join those schools at the new middle?

Or better to go with the DCPS' current plan - with Cleveland, Garrison and Seaton going to Shaw and Ross, Thomson, and Francis staying at Francis?

I'm a parent at one of the elementaries above and am just curious if anyone's thinking about this, based on one year of having everyone together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not totally on topic..maybe I should start a new thread? But for parents who know, how is it going, having Francis Middle take Garrison, Seaton, and Cleveland kids?

Should parents from those schools push to stay at Francis? Or should parents at Francis' original feeders (Ross and Thomson) and Francis fifth graders push to join those schools at the new middle?

Or better to go with the DCPS' current plan - with Cleveland, Garrison and Seaton going to Shaw and Ross, Thomson, and Francis staying at Francis?

I'm a parent at one of the elementaries above and am just curious if anyone's thinking about this, based on one year of having everyone together.

It's only been a couple weeks with the new bigger feeder elementaries sending everyone.

I'm also an elementary parent and would personally prefer they stick with Francis as a feeder for all, if they can fit everyone, and to abandon the new middle school idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not totally on topic..maybe I should start a new thread? But for parents who know, how is it going, having Francis Middle take Garrison, Seaton, and Cleveland kids?

Should parents from those schools push to stay at Francis? Or should parents at Francis' original feeders (Ross and Thomson) and Francis fifth graders push to join those schools at the new middle?

Or better to go with the DCPS' current plan - with Cleveland, Garrison and Seaton going to Shaw and Ross, Thomson, and Francis staying at Francis?

I'm a parent at one of the elementaries above and am just curious if anyone's thinking about this, based on one year of having everyone together.

It's only been a couple weeks with the new bigger feeder elementaries sending everyone.

I'm also an elementary parent and would personally prefer they stick with Francis as a feeder for all, if they can fit everyone, and to abandon the new middle school idea.

I don't know, I think the growth expectations are completely up in the air and nobody knows what to forecast. But I also know that if Francis is successful as a middle school, it will get more and more crowded.

[Anonymous]

All of this assumes growth will continue despite declining birth rates and federal meddling in the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of this assumes growth will continue despite declining birth rates and federal meddling in the city.

I don’t think growth will continue; in addition to declining birth rates, a lot of DC growth recently has been driven by international migration in, and that’s also probably not continuing.

That said, I think a lot of the coming collapse will be in the charter sector, so it’s possible DCPS locations will see at least a blip of growth when those kids move school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS should add an early learning center in Ward 3 to offer more preK 3 seats.

100% THIS.
You know how to preserve economic segregation in this city? Make sure the working poor and public service workers without access to inherited wealth (which makes them the least likely to own their own vehicles) can't access necessary child care and education services - like PK3 slots that don't require a hefty commute, or any schoolbus service at all - unless they move to the part of town TPTB have decided it's ok for The Poors to live.

There are plenty of older apartment buildings in Upper NW - on Connecticut, near Wisconsin, and elsewhere. And there are plenty of DC families who lack cars or hefty bank accounts who would like to live in those buildings...but can't, if it means potentially shelling out an extra $30K (or $60K, if your kid was born Oct 1 instead of Sept 30) in child care costs per kid, or personally handling daily school transportation.

If you only offer services to those who need them in specific areas of the city... then the only place people who need those services will be able to live is those areas. And if you don't offer those services in other areas of the city, people for whom those services are necessary will be functionally unable to live in those areas - it makes the difference to everyone from the working poor to people with "good" jobs who lack family wealth. Maybe everyone is fine with that setup, and it's a feature, not a bug. But don't put a bow on it and pretend these decisions aren't just reflecting economic segregation - they're PERPETUATING and CEMENTING it.

Hi. Most of those apartments are filled with voucher recipients who do not have access to pre-K3 because there isn’t any in ward 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of this assumes growth will continue despite declining birth rates and federal meddling in the city.

I don’t think growth will continue; in addition to declining birth rates, a lot of DC growth recently has been driven by international migration in, and that’s also probably not continuing.

That said, I think a lot of the coming collapse will be in the charter sector, so it’s possible DCPS locations will see at least a blip of growth when those kids move school.

Could be. Or maybe they'll go to other underenrolled charters. I think historically it's been a real mixture of destinations and people don't just default to their neighborhood school. Or sometimes other charters step in and actively recruit or almost absorb. I think the Friendship Armstrong location did that back when City Arts and Prep closed, some years ago.

I think DCPS should be ready for change in either direction and wait and see how things shake out at the PCSB this cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Coolidge, Wells, and Whittier are all over capacity in one of the fastest growing neighborhoods for families in DC. It's wild to me that DCPS just told Whittier they'll basically modernize to the same capacity and instead of building a new building for Wells just added a cafeteria for Coolidge.

+1000

This is the part of the city I was going to mention. Wells was overcrowded right after it was built. Whittier keeps growing its enrollment despite a horrible old building. When that new building is built it will be immediately overcrowded. Why? Because DCPS refuses to plan for growth and make the school bigger. DCPS is a truly terrible organization.

They need a second HS but the problem is that school would almost certainly need Shepherd as a feeder and the Mayor will never let that happen. So instead Coolidge and J-R will remain massively overcrowded and growing and the solution will be to limit OOB Coolidge enrollment (fine) and address zero systemic issues.

Omg, get a life! Why are you so obsessed with changing Shepherd’s feeder pattern? You post on every thread in this forum with that nonsense.

TBF, the shepherd pattern is very weird because of the mayor. We can actually attribute it specifically to political meddling. A thing that used to happen all the time, but really only applies to shepherd now

Shepherd fed to Wilson before Bowser was mayor, and it’ll feed after she leaves office. Do you think she’s the only powerful person in the neighborhood? Y’all really don’t know anything about DC.

It continues to feed to J-R because of her and her neighbors political capital and she continues to ignore the rest of Ward 4 education because it's not politically expedient.

That doesn't preclude any of what you or others are saying. It's zoned that way because wealthier people want it be and not because it makes sense for the good of all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of this assumes growth will continue despite declining birth rates and federal meddling in the city.

I don’t think growth will continue; in addition to declining birth rates, a lot of DC growth recently has been driven by international migration in, and that’s also probably not continuing.

That said, I think a lot of the coming collapse will be in the charter sector, so it’s possible DCPS locations will see at least a blip of growth when those kids move school.

Unless the federal government tries to artificially prop up charters. Which it's trying to.