Ward 2/3 High School proposal in the NW Current

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The renovation plans for Ellington - with significant private investment will make it a performing arts center, not just a high school. The extra space is going to dance studios, rehearsal rooms with specially-built acoustics, exhibit space, auditoriums and performance halls. It's not just that the students are mostly AA, it's that the school is a school for performing arts. That's what it's meant to be, and there's no other performing arts school anywhere that's also a neighborhood school. Demand that of this one really is repellant.

I don't have the codefordc link that shows the dearth of kids attending DCPS from that part of town, but it's proof that building a new high school there doesn't make sense.

If you want to keep Wilson for WOTP families then put some effort behind other options EOTP where a good percentage of Wilson students live and where projections show that the population if school-aged kids is growing.

Wow, defensive, without adequate explanation for the vitriol. Perhaps this would help ease such an emotional response to the idea: the benefit of the new HS would not only be for "WOTP" residents -- most of the kids going to the feeder schools for the future high school in Ward 2/3 do not live in Wards 2 or 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or of the opinion that trekking across the city (in either direction) for a viable eduction is a complete non-starter. Yeah, or that.

Or, of the belief that there isn't genuine social and political backlash from pushing a largely AA application school out of its home in Georgetown. This seems to be difficult for newcomers, gentrifiers, and generally higher SES white families to understand. There is real insecurity and even justified resentment about the geographic segregation in DC.

We can argue the particulars and justifications all day long, but it doesn't change the long-standing community opinion among a certain - large, and mobilized to vote - segment of the population.

To you, it's demographic common sense. To others, it's being exiled and excluded, and ultimately looks like segregation.

You don't have to agree, but you should understand what the tensions are and why this a hotter potato than you seem to think.

Thank you, Peggy, for explaining The Plan.

Feel free to also educate as to why upper NW will forever have to host UDC, taking up several city blocks, even though exactly zero UDC students live anywhere near the campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The renovation plans for Ellington - with significant private investment will make it a performing arts center, not just a high school. The extra space is going to dance studios, rehearsal rooms with specially-built acoustics, exhibit space, auditoriums and performance halls. It's not just that the students are mostly AA, it's that the school is a school for performing arts. That's what it's meant to be, and there's no other performing arts school anywhere that's also a neighborhood school. Demand that of this one really is repellant.

I don't have the codefordc link that shows the dearth of kids attending DCPS from that part of town, but it's proof that building a new high school there doesn't make sense.

If you want to keep Wilson for WOTP families then put some effort behind other options EOTP where a good percentage of Wilson students live and where projections show that the population if school-aged kids is growing.

Wow, defensive, without adequate explanation for the vitriol. Perhaps this would help ease such an emotional response to the idea: the benefit of the new HS would not only be for "WOTP" residents -- most of the kids going to the feeder schools for the future high school in Ward 2/3 do not live in Wards 2 or 3.

Defensive, or calling for common sense?

Here's a map showing where Wilson's students live. Most of them live EOTP (remember that kids in SW DC are in-boundary) and most of them pass several other half-empty high schools on their way to Ward 3. http://edu.codefordc.org/#!/school/463

Click on this map to see how many students from Georgetown/Burleith/Hillandale are going to any public school - whether it's DCPS or charter. http://edu.codefordc.org/#!/neighborhood/4

Now scroll to figure D.9 in this link to see the population forecast for school aged children over the next 10 years.
http://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/DC%20Public%20Education%20FMP%20Appendix%20D-E_1.pdf

And then try to make your case for a new high school in Wards 2/3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The renovation plans for Ellington - with significant private investment will make it a performing arts center, not just a high school. The extra space is going to dance studios, rehearsal rooms with specially-built acoustics, exhibit space, auditoriums and performance halls. It's not just that the students are mostly AA, it's that the school is a school for performing arts. That's what it's meant to be, and there's no other performing arts school anywhere that's also a neighborhood school. Demand that of this one really is repellant.

I don't have the codefordc link that shows the dearth of kids attending DCPS from that part of town, but it's proof that building a new high school there doesn't make sense.

If you want to keep Wilson for WOTP families then put some effort behind other options EOTP where a good percentage of Wilson students live and where projections show that the population if school-aged kids is growing.

Wow, defensive, without adequate explanation for the vitriol. Perhaps this would help ease such an emotional response to the idea: the benefit of the new HS would not only be for "WOTP" residents -- most of the kids going to the feeder schools for the future high school in Ward 2/3 do not live in Wards 2 or 3.

Defensive, or calling for common sense?

Here's a map showing where Wilson's students live. Most of them live EOTP (remember that kids in SW DC are in-boundary) and most of them pass several other half-empty high schools on their way to Ward 3. http://edu.codefordc.org/#!/school/463

Click on this map to see how many students from Georgetown/Burleith/Hillandale are going to any public school - whether it's DCPS or charter. http://edu.codefordc.org/#!/neighborhood/4

Now scroll to figure D.9 in this link to see the population forecast for school aged children over the next 10 years.
http://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/DC%20Public%20Education%20FMP%20Appendix%20D-E_1.pdf

And then try to make your case for a new high school in Wards 2/3.

You're ignoring the fact that the subject of this thread -- the NW current article -- proposes a new HS that F-S and Hardy would feed into. Now look at the demographics for those two schools. Then re-assess your conclusion based on the different facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The renovation plans for Ellington - with significant private investment will make it a performing arts center, not just a high school. The extra space is going to dance studios, rehearsal rooms with specially-built acoustics, exhibit space, auditoriums and performance halls. It's not just that the students are mostly AA, it's that the school is a school for performing arts. That's what it's meant to be, and there's no other performing arts school anywhere that's also a neighborhood school. Demand that of this one really is repellant.

I don't have the codefordc link that shows the dearth of kids attending DCPS from that part of town, but it's proof that building a new high school there doesn't make sense.

If you want to keep Wilson for WOTP families then put some effort behind other options EOTP where a good percentage of Wilson students live and where projections show that the population if school-aged kids is growing.

Wow, defensive, without adequate explanation for the vitriol. Perhaps this would help ease such an emotional response to the idea: the benefit of the new HS would not only be for "WOTP" residents -- most of the kids going to the feeder schools for the future high school in Ward 2/3 do not live in Wards 2 or 3.

Defensive, or calling for common sense?

Here's a map showing where Wilson's students live. Most of them live EOTP (remember that kids in SW DC are in-boundary) and most of them pass several other half-empty high schools on their way to Ward 3. http://edu.codefordc.org/#!/school/463

Click on this map to see how many students from Georgetown/Burleith/Hillandale are going to any public school - whether it's DCPS or charter. http://edu.codefordc.org/#!/neighborhood/4

Now scroll to figure D.9 in this link to see the population forecast for school aged children over the next 10 years.
http://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/DC%20Public%20Education%20FMP%20Appendix%20D-E_1.pdf

And then try to make your case for a new high school in Wards 2/3.

You're ignoring the fact that the subject of this thread -- the NW current article -- proposes a new HS that F-S and Hardy would feed into. Now look at the demographics for those two schools. Then re-assess your conclusion based on the different facts.

Assess and reassess - there are still other schools, already in existence, that make more sense than an entirely new school. Dunbar and Cardozo have just been renovated for hundreds of millions of dollars and Roosevelt's renovation started last year. Why not choose one of those schools to "take over"?

[Anonymous]

@ 19:50: I don't think anyone's goal is to "take over" anything; though some parents DO seem intent on abandoning their neighborhood schools in favor of scarce capacity elsewhere.

Rather, I think most parents would really love the idea of sending their kids to a neighborhood school. That's a simple goal that shouldn't hurt anyone.

Sharing the space at Ellington is just one way to accomplish that goal for Ward 2 & 3 kids and their feeder middle schools. If there is another logical choice for a neighborhood school to take pressure off Wilson, then, please, suggest it.

Someone certainly should occupy the available capacity at Dunbar and Cardozo, and the most logical selection of kids to do that are the ones that are in walking distance from those schools, or at least a short drive. Anyway, Dunbar and Cardozo are distractions from the main topic at hand: specifically, we are talking about Ellington or another piece of real estate nearby, if anyone cares to name one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone is welcome at Ellington. Just pass the audition.

Don't dodge the idea -- make it a neighborhood school with an application-only track. Neighborhood kids could go there, but if they want arts and music training, they'd have to pass the application process. Otherwise, they'd take the general classes everyone else does; plus any advanced classes they qualify for.

Because that formula was so successful at Hardy under Pope??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone is welcome at Ellington. Just pass the audition.

Don't dodge the idea -- make it a neighborhood school with an application-only track. Neighborhood kids could go there, but if they want arts and music training, they'd have to pass the application process. Otherwise, they'd take the general classes everyone else does; plus any advanced classes they qualify for.

Because that formula was so successful at Hardy under Pope??

Ellington now has much better students than Hardy did then. That distinguishes the two examples quite a bit; among other important distinguishing facts that exist today. Get back to the point.

[Anonymous]

Sharing the space at Ellington is just one way to accomplish that goal for Ward 2 & 3 kids and their feeder middle schools. If there is another logical choice for a neighborhood school to take pressure off Wilson, then, please, suggest it.

I did suggest it. The EOTP kids who go to Wilson can go to EOTP schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Sharing the space at Ellington is just one way to accomplish that goal for Ward 2 & 3 kids and their feeder middle schools. If there is another logical choice for a neighborhood school to take pressure off Wilson, then, please, suggest it.

I did suggest it. The EOTP kids who go to Wilson can go to EOTP schools.

pffffft.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sharing the space at Ellington is just one way to accomplish that goal for Ward 2 & 3 kids and their feeder middle schools. If there is another logical choice for a neighborhood school to take pressure off Wilson, then, please, suggest it.

I did suggest it. The EOTP kids who go to Wilson can go to EOTP schools.

pffffft.

Appropriate. That was my response to the original post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sharing the space at Ellington is just one way to accomplish that goal for Ward 2 & 3 kids and their feeder middle schools. If there is another logical choice for a neighborhood school to take pressure off Wilson, then, please, suggest it.

I did suggest it. The EOTP kids who go to Wilson can go to EOTP schools.

pffffft.

Appropriate. That was my response to the original post.

My first response to you was more generous than your first response to me. Because I had a legitimate point, and was looking for a legitimate answer. Instead, you were dismissive from the beginning; hiding some kind of hidden vitriol, obvs, so I give up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The renovation plans for Ellington - with significant private investment will make it a performing arts center, not just a high school. The extra space is going to dance studios, rehearsal rooms with specially-built acoustics, exhibit space, auditoriums and performance halls. It's not just that the students are mostly AA, it's that the school is a school for performing arts. That's what it's meant to be, and there's no other performing arts school anywhere that's also a neighborhood school. Demand that of this one really is repellant.

I don't have the codefordc link that shows the dearth of kids attending DCPS from that part of town, but it's proof that building a new high school there doesn't make sense.

If you want to keep Wilson for WOTP families then put some effort behind other options EOTP where a good percentage of Wilson students live and where projections show that the population if school-aged kids is growing.

Exactly. What do these Ward 2/3 parents have in mind? That they'll settle for having Billy and Susie take AP Chem in a performance auditorium? No. That will need to be reconfigured for lab space.

Ellington is an arts school and it's of historic and cultural value and instead of leaving, it is being improved to be a performing arts center in its own right. The grasping hubris of the Ward 2 parents is almost comical. Why not just paint mustaches on your faces and call yourselves "Snidely Whiplash"?

Fortunately, the good guys will win this one. Hey, want to buy tickets for Sting's benefit concert?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sharing the space at Ellington is just one way to accomplish that goal for Ward 2 & 3 kids and their feeder middle schools. If there is another logical choice for a neighborhood school to take pressure off Wilson, then, please, suggest it.

I did suggest it. The EOTP kids who go to Wilson can go to EOTP schools.

pffffft.

Appropriate. That was my response to the original post.

My first response to you was more generous than your first response to me. Because I had a legitimate point, and was looking for a legitimate answer. Instead, you were dismissive from the beginning; hiding some kind of hidden vitriol, obvs, so I give up.

Sharing space at Duke Ellington is a non starter. It's like suggesting we book Prince or the Rolling Stones at the Kennedy Center - that's not what the venue is for. What I feel is not vitriol, but wonderment that anyone would propose such a thing expecting to be taken seriously.

You asked for a suggestion that would take pressure off Wilson. Getting EOTP kids going to an EOTP school, instead of Wilson, would do just that.

{{shrug}} <--culturally-appropriate, vitriol-defflecting gesture

[Anonymous]

^^deflecting