Boundary Focus Groups

[Anonymous]

The thought is "if I can't have it, neither can you" its deep
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No - the thought is that if it comes at my expense, then you can't have it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The thought is "if I can't have it, neither can you" its deep
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No - the thought is that if it comes at my expense, then you can't have it.

What is wrong with this sentiment? If I pay for it, why do you get it? Why shouldn't I have it?

Isn't it painfully obvious that until we find a way to deal with poverty and lack of stable families, nothing will change the schools in many neighborhoods.

So, if DCPS enacts policies that result in higher SES families leaving the system, the good schools will become crappy and the crappy schools will still be crappy. Easy math.

[Anonymous]

There's this thing about taxes in a democracy -- they go to everyone -- not just to the people who pay the most into the system.

[Anonymous]

Who is conducting the focus groups? That is -- DCPS employees or outside consultants?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's this thing about taxes in a democracy -- they go to everyone -- not just to the people who pay the most into the system.

What you don't understand is that this is not about money/taxes. It's about parents who prepare their children to learn wanting their children surrounded by other kids who are equally prepared to learn. If money could solve the problem, there would be no bad schools.

[Anonymous]

Focus groups? DCPS has utilized focus groups on testing and immediate results were cheating. DCPS utilized focus groups on new schools and the results are no middle-schools. DCPS will initialize focus groups about boundary changes and the results will be about race and income. *explosive*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who is conducting the focus groups? That is -- DCPS employees or outside consultants?

The 21st Century Fund, an outside contractor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The scary thing is that This city and DCPS are capable of enacting such a plan in the name of equity. Here you have got to understand that mediocre/crappy equity trumps excellence every time. Every time. Excellence and success are actually dirty words if not everyone can have it at the same time. Even if there is a benefit down the road for everyone. There is no patience for that. The thought is "if I can't have it, neither can you" its deep

Completely agree.
I wish I had the answer for what to do about improving MS/ HS options across the city. No one has a magic answer for overcoming poverty and all its obstacles. I do know that education needs to starts before 5- not just trying to fix a gap at HS. I don't, however, believe that you dismantle what works or punish HIH by taking their school option away.

[Anonymous]

Calling the existing system "what works" is a joke. It's like that knight from the Monty Python Holy Grail movie saying, "come back, I'll bite your legs off." One working feeder patterrn in the entire city does not cut it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our group focused on the need for all schools in the District to be on par with the handful of schools WotP. There is no excuse as to why DCPS can't get their act together.

What a preposterously naive sentiment. Are you going to contribute the fairy dust to sprinkle over DCPS to help them "get their act together?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Calling the existing system "what works" is a joke. It's like that knight from the Monty Python Holy Grail movie saying, "come back, I'll bite your legs off." One working feeder patterrn in the entire city does not cut it.

But you don't solve the problem by disrupting the one good pattern. You solve the problem by developing additional good ones.

[Anonymous]

Amen to 8:00 AM---

That's why they should focus on taking the OOB population West of the Park and redirecting them "en masse" to one middle school in order to start creating the core mass of prepared students needed to create another functioning feeder pattern. Then take the EoftheP neighborhoods along 16th Street from Colonial Village down to Dupont and feed them into a maximum of three elementary schools and feed those into the new MS/HS as well. Right now---that corridor disperses the HIH into too many ES, none of which perform well (except perhaps for Shephard and Ross) beyond preK, K and the early grades---as the HIH parents peel off for charters, privates or west of the park OOB slots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Amen to 8:00 AM---

That's why they should focus on taking the OOB population West of the Park and redirecting them "en masse" to one middle school in order to start creating the core mass of prepared students needed to create another functioning feeder pattern. Then take the EoftheP neighborhoods along 16th Street from Colonial Village down to Dupont and feed them into a maximum of three elementary schools and feed those into the new MS/HS as well. Right now---that corridor disperses the HIH into too many ES, none of which perform well (except perhaps for Shephard and Ross) beyond preK, K and the early grades---as the HIH parents peel off for charters, privates or west of the park OOB slots.

I actually think this is a reasonable idea. How do you constitute it? What makes it work?

If you just broke the feeder pattern at middle school would it work, e.g., no further feeder from out-of-boundary attendance at JKLM, etc., only geographic preference?

Or would you have to do something to limit access at PK4 or K for out-of-boundary students?

I say this assuming that you do some serious work on investing in these schools to make sure people are interested in attending them.

This is the left hand to the boundary commission right hand of this process - the Mayor can decide on the boundaries, but for them to work they need to program in some serious investment to entice people who are just knee-jerk avoiding their local school to stay. It’s really going to be incumbent on the Mayor to fund these schools to make that work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Amen to 8:00 AM---

That's why they should focus on taking the OOB population West of the Park and redirecting them "en masse" to one middle school in order to start creating the core mass of prepared students needed to create another functioning feeder pattern. Then take the EoftheP neighborhoods along 16th Street from Colonial Village down to Dupont and feed them into a maximum of three elementary schools and feed those into the new MS/HS as well. Right now---that corridor disperses the HIH into too many ES, none of which perform well (except perhaps for Shephard and Ross) beyond preK, K and the early grades---as the HIH parents peel off for charters, privates or west of the park OOB slots.

I actually think this is a reasonable idea. How do you constitute it? What makes it work?

If you just broke the feeder pattern at middle school would it work, e.g., no further feeder from out-of-boundary attendance at JKLM, etc., only geographic preference?

Or would you have to do something to limit access at PK4 or K for out-of-boundary students?

I say this assuming that you do some serious work on investing in these schools to make sure people are interested in attending them.

This is the left hand to the boundary commission right hand of this process - the Mayor can decide on the boundaries, but for them to work they need to program in some serious investment to entice people who are just knee-jerk avoiding their local school to stay. It’s really going to be incumbent on the Mayor to fund these schools to make that work.

Yes. It's about carrots, not sticks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Amen to 8:00 AM---

That's why they should focus on taking the OOB population West of the Park and redirecting them "en masse" to one middle school in order to start creating the core mass of prepared students needed to create another functioning feeder pattern. Then take the EoftheP neighborhoods along 16th Street from Colonial Village down to Dupont and feed them into a maximum of three elementary schools and feed those into the new MS/HS as well. Right now---that corridor disperses the HIH into too many ES, none of which perform well (except perhaps for Shephard and Ross) beyond preK, K and the early grades---as the HIH parents peel off for charters, privates or west of the park OOB slots.

I actually think this is a reasonable idea. How do you constitute it? What makes it work?

If you just broke the feeder pattern at middle school would it work, e.g., no further feeder from out-of-boundary attendance at JKLM, etc., only geographic preference?

Or would you have to do something to limit access at PK4 or K for out-of-boundary students?

I say this assuming that you do some serious work on investing in these schools to make sure people are interested in attending them.

This is the left hand to the boundary commission right hand of this process - the Mayor can decide on the boundaries, but for them to work they need to program in some serious investment to entice people who are just knee-jerk avoiding their local school to stay. It’s really going to be incumbent on the Mayor to fund these schools to make that work.

Right. Because it is all about funding. Not. The issue with any middle school located east of the park is that the students are in wildly divergent places academically as they leave their elementary schools. Parents of children who are academically sound as they leave elementary school will not allow those kids to enter a middle school where a majority of kids are struggling academically: thus you have them individually finding schools with a majority of good students through OOB processes, charters or leaving the public system altogether.

The answer is not in funding, it is in finding a way to funnel these academically well-prepared students all to the same place so they are not outnumbered by students needing remedial work.

How? That should be discussed. But honest discussion about this direction is considered taboo in this city. We need leaders who are not afraid to tackle the enormous gap in academic preparation in areas of this city outside upper NW head on rather than hiding behind funding and programming. Some students are simply better prepared academically and some are dismally left behind. These two groups may need different things from a school program and we should not shy away from that fact any longer.