Using Ellington to alleviate overcrowding

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Might be helpful to know that while the school had little final say in the matter, Ellington's recommendation was to build from ground up at that field. Much cheaper than the reno. It was not approved and was fought mostly by neighbors who wanted green space. Does not bode well for a new school in that location.

Why would Ellington want a site that is even farther from the bus line than their current location? With this new fact that Ellington actually sought a new building on s greenfield site, why then didn’t the school choose a more central transit-accessible site in the city?’

[Anonymous]

It's two blocks. Not exactly difficult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's two blocks. Not exactly difficult.

Right. But if they wanted to build a new building on another site, why Burleith? No Metro, so-so bus service and certainly not central to the District and most of their students. If they were ready to vacate Western HS, then why-not go to a better location for the school? Makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Might be helpful to know that while the school had little final say in the matter, Ellington's recommendation was to build from ground up at that field. Much cheaper than the reno. It was not approved and was fought mostly by neighbors who wanted green space. Does not bode well for a new school in that location.

Boy, "green space" is really turning into the all-purpose NIMBY rationale for opposing anything new.

There's an acute shortage of green space that is suitable for athletics, particularly west of RCP. Just look at this piss-pathetic field that Hardy uses. Jeleff Rec Center across the street is largely unavailable due to contractual relationships with private schools like Maret.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's two blocks. Not exactly difficult.

Right. But if they wanted to build a new building on another site, why Burleith? No Metro, so-so bus service and certainly not central to the District and most of their students. If they were ready to vacate Western HS, then why-not go to a better location for the school? Makes no sense.

Do you know how many years have passed since this was settled? It began back when Gray was mayor in 2012-13. Jack Evans was deeply involved, the neighborhood had tons of conditions and didn't like the idea of a build.

There is no going back. The building was renovated as an arts high school and works beautifully for that. There is no reason to now toss out that investment and start over. It would require re-renovating the Ellington Building and creating something new from scratch.

Let. It. Go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's two blocks. Not exactly difficult.

Right. But if they wanted to build a new building on another site, why Burleith? No Metro, so-so bus service and certainly not central to the District and most of their students. If they were ready to vacate Western HS, then why-not go to a better location for the school? Makes no sense.

It’s simple. PG parents and their friends crave the “prestige” of a “Georgetown” location for their kids’s school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's two blocks. Not exactly difficult.

Right. But if they wanted to build a new building on another site, why Burleith? No Metro, so-so bus service and certainly not central to the District and most of their students. If they were ready to vacate Western HS, then why-not go to a better location for the school? Makes no sense.

Again, you are missing the point. This was an answer to building a new school at that location and neighborhood resistance, not about an Ellington alternative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's two blocks. Not exactly difficult.

Right. But if they wanted to build a new building on another site, why Burleith? No Metro, so-so bus service and certainly not central to the District and most of their students. If they were ready to vacate Western HS, then why-not go to a better location for the school? Makes no sense.

Again, you are missing the point. This was an answer to building a new school at that location and neighborhood resistance, not about an Ellington alternative.

As a resident of Burleith, I can tell you that those who led the resistance against Ellington a decade ago are quickly aging out of the community. They are being replaced by new families who understand the need for more education facilities on the west side of town. With Jack Evans not running for re-election, the stodgy “anti-everything” attitude will be changing very quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's two blocks. Not exactly difficult.

Right. But if they wanted to build a new building on another site, why Burleith? No Metro, so-so bus service and certainly not central to the District and most of their students. If they were ready to vacate Western HS, then why-not go to a better location for the school? Makes no sense.

Again, you are missing the point. This was an answer to building a new school at that location and neighborhood resistance, not about an Ellington alternative.

As a resident of Burleith, I can tell you that those who led the resistance against Ellington a decade ago are quickly aging out of the community. They are being replaced by new families who understand the need for more education facilities on the west side of town. With Jack Evans not running for re-election, the stodgy “anti-everything” attitude will be changing very quickly.

We would love to see more educational faculties on the west side of town. Better yet ones that actually serve the west side of town, like a new high school. Ellington is fine, but Burleith is not on the Metro and is kind of an inconvenient location for a school that draws few students from the local area but rather from the eastern half of the city (and Maryland, apparently). Ellington on the hill now is basically a done deal. The illogical thing is that Ellington didn't want to stay in the building, but rather wanted a new building. But instead of building it in a more central spot, Ellington wanted to stay in Burleith.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's two blocks. Not exactly difficult.

Right. But if they wanted to build a new building on another site, why Burleith? No Metro, so-so bus service and certainly not central to the District and most of their students. If they were ready to vacate Western HS, then why-not go to a better location for the school? Makes no sense.

Again, you are missing the point. This was an answer to building a new school at that location and neighborhood resistance, not about an Ellington alternative.

As a resident of Burleith, I can tell you that those who led the resistance against Ellington a decade ago are quickly aging out of the community. They are being replaced by new families who understand the need for more education facilities on the west side of town. With Jack Evans not running for re-election, the stodgy “anti-everything” attitude will be changing very quickly.

We would love to see more educational faculties on the west side of town. Better yet ones that actually serve the west side of town, like a new high school. Ellington is fine, but Burleith is not on the Metro and is kind of an inconvenient location for a school that draws few students from the local area but rather from the eastern half of the city (and Maryland, apparently). Ellington on the hill now is basically a done deal. The illogical thing is that Ellington didn't want to stay in the building, but rather wanted a new building. But instead of building it in a more central spot, Ellington wanted to stay in Burleith.

It is not Ellington's fault that few students in the immediate area want to attend a performing arts high school. Students and families figure out how to get there, and make sacrifices to do it, because they want the programming. Same with Banneker, which is equally inaccessible.

In NYC kids commute as much as 90 minutes to reach high performing magnet high schools. Attending a high school in one's neighborhood is not as important for many residents as is attending a good high school.

[Anonymous]

I love how crazy the existence of Ellington drives a certain kind of white person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love how crazy the existence of Ellington drives a certain kind of white person.

To go back to the original question, yes, if Ellington removes all of the out-of-state students who attend transparently or illegally, there will be a lot of spaces freed up in the building for DC kids. Either admit them to the Ellington program, or run a side-by-side magnet academic program, or just use it as a reliever for Wilson HS. Any of these alternatives would serve more District students better than today's status quo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's two blocks. Not exactly difficult.

Right. But if they wanted to build a new building on another site, why Burleith? No Metro, so-so bus service and certainly not central to the District and most of their students. If they were ready to vacate Western HS, then why-not go to a better location for the school? Makes no sense.

Again, you are missing the point. This was an answer to building a new school at that location and neighborhood resistance, not about an Ellington alternative.

As a resident of Burleith, I can tell you that those who led the resistance against Ellington a decade ago are quickly aging out of the community. They are being replaced by new families who understand the need for more education facilities on the west side of town. With Jack Evans not running for re-election, the stodgy “anti-everything” attitude will be changing very quickly.

We would love to see more educational faculties on the west side of town. Better yet ones that actually serve the west side of town, like a new high school. Ellington is fine, but Burleith is not on the Metro and is kind of an inconvenient location for a school that draws few students from the local area but rather from the eastern half of the city (and Maryland, apparently). Ellington on the hill now is basically a done deal. The illogical thing is that Ellington didn't want to stay in the building, but rather wanted a new building. But instead of building it in a more central spot, Ellington wanted to stay in Burleith.

It is not Ellington's fault that few students in the immediate area want to attend a performing arts high school. Students and families figure out how to get there, and make sacrifices to do it, because they want the programming. Same with Banneker, which is equally inaccessible.

In NYC kids commute as much as 90 minutes to reach high performing magnet high schools. Attending a high school in one's neighborhood is not as important for many residents as is attending a good high school.

In fact, there was a recent posting by a prospective parent that provided powerful evidence that Ellington may be discriminating in admission on the basis of race and location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love how crazy the existence of Ellington drives a certain kind of white person.

Nailed it.

[Anonymous]

Yes, Ellington is not on a metro line. It's not the only school like that. But Ellington is on the 30s busline and many of those buses run across the city. My kid used to take that bus from Southeast when she attended Ellington. Also it's a 30 minute walk from the Dupont Circle Metro Station and a 14 minute bus ride directly from the metro.

Seriously, I get so tired of DCUM posters acting like they're sooooo concerned about the poor students not having a metro station near their school. Be honest. Most of you don't give a flying f. You just think black students shouldn't have a nice facility on the edge of Georgetown in a safe neighborhood.