But Bancroft is 0.5 miles from CHEC and 1.5 miles from Cardozo. Or they could route it to Roosevelt through McFarland, which is about the same distance as Cardozo, linking up with some other bilingual elementary schools. Shepherd is 1.7 miles from Coolidge and 3.4 miles from Roosevelt. So those are two schools--not the only two schools--that are not super close to Wilson AND have a closer high school that is currently underenrolled. I agree that Adams could be sent to CHEC or Roosevelt (bilingual and international focus, respectively, and both are closer than Wilson). Hyde is equidistant to Cardozo and Wilson, and which middle school would you send them to if not Hardy? The whole idea of the mayor's plan was that there would be a predictable pyramid: all the kids in an elementary school could go on to a single middle school, and all the kids there would go to the same high school. So I think Hyde has the safest feed to Wilson of those on the list above. But nobody wants to lose their feed to Wilson. That's what caused this problem in the first place. In my mind, it would be simpler to solve it by not allowing OOB kids automatic rights to destination middle and high schools. That diffuses the opposition. If you cut a whole school out of a feeder pattern, the PTA gets involved, but if it's a geographically diverse group of families who left their IB schools for Wilson feeders, they are less unified. And you can pacify them with the opportunity to play the lottery again and get their kids into any open seats at Wilson or its feeders. |
| Hyde seems to be attracting more IB kids, and has a really active PTA. Maybe those IB families would be inclined to go private at middle or high school, but not everyone gets into GDS. I think the neighborhood would push back against removing Hyde from Wilson. |
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Shepherd neighborhood (not school) sends a whopping 23 kids to Wilson. I do think the OOB feeder rights need to be seriously re-evaluated.
http://edu.codefordc.org/#!/school/463 |
how old is that data? Prospect LC has been closed for two years and it's listed |
It is 2 years old. Not much has changed as most Shepherd kids that went to Wilson through Deal are the same ones that will go today. In other words, while there are many Shepherd Park kids that go private and charter, they are not ones that skipped Deal and will now go to only Wilson. |
But with the new boundaries, everyone in Shepherd Park--regardless of the middle school they attend--will have the right to go to Wilson. Before, it was only the ones who got in through the Deal feed. |
wasn't doubting that assertion -- just the source provided to support it |
your above bolded option was the only way to get into any WOTP school until Rhee changed the law in 2009 - you used to have to lottery into ES, MS and HS if you were OOB. These rights have existed for so few years I will never understand why the boundary folks lacked the political guts to abolish or just grandfather them. Wilson overcrowding problem solved, presto! |
Is this true? Many of these schools have few OOB kids in the lower grades. |
It's kind of true. It was a different world in 2009. There was no centralized lottery, each school ran its own lottery and waitlist, with little oversight from downtown. Just about every school in DCPS was underenrolled, even Deal and Wilson. It all really revolved around Deal. When Deal hit capacity it happened suddenly. One year Melissa Kim was recruiting OOB students, the next year she's turning them away. When the door started closing there was a lot of angst, and Michelle Rhee panicked. |
Yes, but kids leave in the upper grades and OOB kids fill the seats. That's how they get in to Deal, Hardy, and Adams--and from there they now have rights to Wilson. This year, here's how many OOB seats for 4th and 5th grade were offered at a selection of schools: Bancroft: 10 Eaton: 4 Hearst: 6 Hyde: 0 Janney: 0 Key: 6 Lafayette: 0 Mann: 9 Murch: 10 Oyster: 9 Shepherd: 5 Stoddert: 0 So that's 60 kids who will have a right to Wilson in a few years in addition to those who got OOB seats in earlier grades. Of course, some might live IB for Wilson and just be choosing other schools in the feeder pattern, and some will move into the area when their kids are in high school, but it's not nothing. |
| I taught a Constitution in the Classroom class at SH and would be horrified to send my kids there. The kids were unruly and wouldn't listen to the teacher. I could not imagine trying to learn in that environment. But I guess that's why I live in NoVa. |
How long ago was this? That's key. |
and was it honors or mainstream? |
A year ago, and I'm not sure. |