s/o: DCPS boundary and assignment rules that really need to change

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live a couple blocks from Wells/Coolidge and take the kids to Lafayette to ride bikes. Even on the weekends with no traffic it's not close and there wouldn't be any reasonable metro option.

Are middle schools and high schools across the city that far from people's homes or are you just trying to be upsetting to Lafayette parents.

I think Wells/Coolidge will be appealing to those of us in the neighborhood overtime and like the idea of peers living close by.

I'm a Lafayette parent, and I agree that Wells sounds like it could be an appealing option for MS given the size of Deal. But I am also concerned with exactly the point you raised. My child could walk to Deal from our home and easily take a city bus. But getting to Wells would be a long distance, and you can't walk/ride bike...Military is the only viable through road and it doesn't have sidewalks in some sections across the park.

(And I will just stop the trolls in their tracks...No, Lafayette parents aren't all so rich that they can afford a nanny to chauffeur their middle school students. Sometimes the hyperbole about the obscene wealth in the NW makes me chuckle.)

Dedicated WMATA bus. Shepherd kids have been doing reverse commute for 20+ years with no issues. Sherrill road is another avenue.

They won't do one for the Wells students in Brightwood.

It drives me NUTS that the city has supported a "Deal bus" for years and years to facilitate travel for a certain group of kids to the most crowded middle school in the city, but that the line for the entire rest of the city is that there is no school-based public transportation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that kids shouldn't get to stay in schools (past the end of the year) if they move OOB in ES & MS, but I don't think it should apply in HS. Forcing a kid to move mid-HS is too disruptive to their education and their college prospects.

Keep in mind that any child who moves or becomes homeless is allowed to stay in the school they were enrolled in. It's a federal law, which is in place to reduce the trauma on children who are experiencing homelessness. There is a not insignificant number of students in this position in DC.

The other thing to remember is that some of the OOB students in the Wilson feeder path are students with special needs who are assigned there by the central office. They aren't going anywhere either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live a couple blocks from Wells/Coolidge and take the kids to Lafayette to ride bikes. Even on the weekends with no traffic it's not close and there wouldn't be any reasonable metro option.

Are middle schools and high schools across the city that far from people's homes or are you just trying to be upsetting to Lafayette parents.

I think Wells/Coolidge will be appealing to those of us in the neighborhood overtime and like the idea of peers living close by.

I'm a Lafayette parent, and I agree that Wells sounds like it could be an appealing option for MS given the size of Deal. But I am also concerned with exactly the point you raised. My child could walk to Deal from our home and easily take a city bus. But getting to Wells would be a long distance, and you can't walk/ride bike...Military is the only viable through road and it doesn't have sidewalks in some sections across the park.

(And I will just stop the trolls in their tracks...No, Lafayette parents aren't all so rich that they can afford a nanny to chauffeur their middle school students. Sometimes the hyperbole about the obscene wealth in the NW makes me chuckle.)

Dedicated WMATA bus. Shepherd kids have been doing reverse commute for 20+ years with no issues. Sherrill road is another avenue.

They won't do one for the Wells students in Brightwood.

It’s 1.0 mile from Brightwood. Middle/high school students can cross Georgia Ave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live a couple blocks from Wells/Coolidge and take the kids to Lafayette to ride bikes. Even on the weekends with no traffic it's not close and there wouldn't be any reasonable metro option.

Are middle schools and high schools across the city that far from people's homes or are you just trying to be upsetting to Lafayette parents.

I think Wells/Coolidge will be appealing to those of us in the neighborhood overtime and like the idea of peers living close by.

I'm a Lafayette parent, and I agree that Wells sounds like it could be an appealing option for MS given the size of Deal. But I am also concerned with exactly the point you raised. My child could walk to Deal from our home and easily take a city bus. But getting to Wells would be a long distance, and you can't walk/ride bike...Military is the only viable through road and it doesn't have sidewalks in some sections across the park.

(And I will just stop the trolls in their tracks...No, Lafayette parents aren't all so rich that they can afford a nanny to chauffeur their middle school students. Sometimes the hyperbole about the obscene wealth in the NW makes me chuckle.)

Dedicated WMATA bus. Shepherd kids have been doing reverse commute for 20+ years with no issues. Sherrill road is another avenue.

They won't do one for the Wells students in Brightwood.

It drives me NUTS that the city has supported a "Deal bus" for years and years to facilitate travel for a certain group of kids to the most crowded middle school in the city, but that the line for the entire rest of the city is that there is no school-based public transportation.

You should probably learn the history of this before giving your opinion. When Paul closed there was no option for Shepherd students as Shepherd was K-5 and wasn’t large enough to expand. It was a necessity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Better and more centralized residency verification, more enforcement for people who lie about living OOB or in DC at all, and better and more centralized record-keeping about who got in IB and who was OOB to help with the feeder school issue.

Correct. It’s DCPS not PGPS!

Run a data match of the DCPS and all city employees payroll addresses against the school enrollment addresses. They've caught so many teachers this year, I think maybe they've done this already.

This x100! I think it should be a firing offense too. They are going against ethical behavior and stealing from their employer by getting free services & goods for their family by providing false information to their employer.

Absolutely agree. I work for the DC government and the number of people that live in MD and send kids to DC schools using a grandparent or aunt's address is astronomical. It's so ubiquitous that people just talk about it openly like it's nothing. I get the rationale (family has lived in the District for generations and are getting pushed out by gentrification, so they're still "DC people" even if they don't live in DC proper anymore), but it makes me SO MAD as someone who actually resides here and is competing against MD residents in the lottery every year. A lot of low income families are transient and move in and out of the District frequently, but just as many haven't lived in DC for years and don't ever plan on moving back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that kids shouldn't get to stay in schools (past the end of the year) if they move OOB in ES & MS, but I don't think it should apply in HS. Forcing a kid to move mid-HS is too disruptive to their education and their college prospects.

Keep in mind that any child who moves or becomes homeless is allowed to stay in the school they were enrolled in. It's a federal law, which is in place to reduce the trauma on children who are experiencing homelessness. There is a not insignificant number of students in this position in DC.

The other thing to remember is that some of the OOB students in the Wilson feeder path are students with special needs who are assigned there by the central office. They aren't going anywhere either.

I know the above and that's great. But things happen that don't necessarily literally lead to homelessness where I don't think -- e.g., divorcing -- parents should have to choose between now-unaffordable housing and possibly destroying their kid's path to college. I think HS is a unique time -- particularly for kids looking for elite colleges or for scholarships of various descripts -- where switching schools could have a really out-sized effect on the child's future b/c curriculum paths don't match up well, leadership or even participation opportunities in various activities/sports could be lost, etc. I don't think the number of kids this effects is so large that the harm to the school from intentional quasi-fraud along these lines (i.e., moving IB for a year or less) outweighs the harm to the kids that fall into this bucket. Just my two cents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Push all you want, you won't be heard. Back in 2013-14, some of us on Cap Hill spend a good deal of time and energy pushing for a Pan Ward 6 middle school, perhaps with two campus, one at Stuart Hobson, the other at Eliot-Hine. There was broad support for our proposal at the grassroots, but were totally ignored by Ward 6 and DCPS. As a result, most of the 4th graders at the majority IB DCPS elementary schools in Ward 6 don't return for 5th grade. The families run to Washington Latin or BASIS to get on viable a 5th-12th grade track. The politicians don't, and never did, give a damn. That's the sad reality of the situation.

Yup. That's it, that's all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SWW@FS and Ross must feed to the new Shaw Middle as originally planned. That would cut down on crowding at SWW@FS and set Shaw up for success.

Call upper NW's bluff on overcrowding and cut their PK4 waay back-- only enough to provide inclusion classes for special ed students and the at-risk kids who live IB.

I love this idea. I paid for private preschool because I thought DCPS PreK was for only low income families, like a Head Start program. I could not believe they opened it up to wealthy families. If you live in a $1M house, you can afford PreK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that kids shouldn't get to stay in schools (past the end of the year) if they move OOB in ES & MS, but I don't think it should apply in HS. Forcing a kid to move mid-HS is too disruptive to their education and their college prospects.

Keep in mind that any child who moves or becomes homeless is allowed to stay in the school they were enrolled in. It's a federal law, which is in place to reduce the trauma on children who are experiencing homelessness. There is a not insignificant number of students in this position in DC.

The other thing to remember is that some of the OOB students in the Wilson feeder path are students with special needs who are assigned there by the central office. They aren't going anywhere either.

I know the above and that's great. But things happen that don't necessarily literally lead to homelessness where I don't think -- e.g., divorcing -- parents should have to choose between now-unaffordable housing and possibly destroying their kid's path to college. I think HS is a unique time -- particularly for kids looking for elite colleges or for scholarships of various descripts -- where switching schools could have a really out-sized effect on the child's future b/c curriculum paths don't match up well, leadership or even participation opportunities in various activities/sports could be lost, etc. I don't think the number of kids this effects is so large that the harm to the school from intentional quasi-fraud along these lines (i.e., moving IB for a year or less) outweighs the harm to the kids that fall into this bucket. Just my two cents.

FYI - 5500 DC students were homeless in 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/in-dc-5500-students-are-homeless-the-city-is-helping-some-of-them-take-their-first-steps-to-college/2019/07/17/f807905e-a3f5-11e9-b732-41a79c2551bf_story.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Push all you want, you won't be heard. Back in 2013-14, some of us on Cap Hill spend a good deal of time and energy pushing for a Pan Ward 6 middle school, perhaps with two campus, one at Stuart Hobson, the other at Eliot-Hine. There was broad support for our proposal at the grassroots, but were totally ignored by Ward 6 and DCPS. As a result, most of the 4th graders at the majority IB DCPS elementary schools in Ward 6 don't return for 5th grade. The families run to Washington Latin or BASIS to get on viable a 5th-12th grade track. The politicians don't, and never did, give a damn. That's the sad reality of the situation.

Yup. That's it, that's all.

The city isn't run for rich white racist people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that kids shouldn't get to stay in schools (past the end of the year) if they move OOB in ES & MS, but I don't think it should apply in HS. Forcing a kid to move mid-HS is too disruptive to their education and their college prospects.

Keep in mind that any child who moves or becomes homeless is allowed to stay in the school they were enrolled in. It's a federal law, which is in place to reduce the trauma on children who are experiencing homelessness. There is a not insignificant number of students in this position in DC.

The other thing to remember is that some of the OOB students in the Wilson feeder path are students with special needs who are assigned there by the central office. They aren't going anywhere either.

I know the above and that's great. But things happen that don't necessarily literally lead to homelessness where I don't think -- e.g., divorcing -- parents should have to choose between now-unaffordable housing and possibly destroying their kid's path to college. I think HS is a unique time -- particularly for kids looking for elite colleges or for scholarships of various descripts -- where switching schools could have a really out-sized effect on the child's future b/c curriculum paths don't match up well, leadership or even participation opportunities in various activities/sports could be lost, etc. I don't think the number of kids this effects is so large that the harm to the school from intentional quasi-fraud along these lines (i.e., moving IB for a year or less) outweighs the harm to the kids that fall into this bucket. Just my two cents.

FYI - 5500 DC students were homeless in 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/in-dc-5500-students-are-homeless-the-city-is-helping-some-of-them-take-their-first-steps-to-college/2019/07/17/f807905e-a3f5-11e9-b732-41a79c2551bf_story.html

Not sure what this is in response to. I completely agree with the currently policy for homeless children, SN placements, etc. I’m talking about an additional maintenance of the current stay-at-school-through-terminal-grade policy for all HSers.

[Anonymous]

“

End rule that getting in to an elementary school or middle school OOB gives you the right to continue on to its destination middle/high school. It just gets you through the terminal grade at the school you got into. There could be a destination school preference in the middle and high school lotteries, but I’d rather not”

I actually mentioned this to the Chancellor at the back to school block party at Roosevelt and he indicated they are exploring all options. Whatever that meant, but at least it’s on his mind or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SWW@FS and Ross must feed to the new Shaw Middle as originally planned. That would cut down on crowding at SWW@FS and set Shaw up for success.

Call upper NW's bluff on overcrowding and cut their PK4 waay back-- only enough to provide inclusion classes for special ed students and the at-risk kids who live IB.

I love this idea. I paid for private preschool because I thought DCPS PreK was for only low income families, like a Head Start program. I could not believe they opened it up to wealthy families. If you live in a $1M house, you can afford PreK.

But it's not for low income families. It's universal PreK. It's for everyone. And when we all use the services that are for everyone, we get better services. If rich people opt out, the services decline, and you see (a) the folks who have social capital and time don't fight for them, and (b) the quality declines because we provide Only Enough for The Deserving Poor.

I want the people who live in million dollar houses to be invested in public infrastructure, like education, and transportation, and clean water.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Set aside spots at DCI for DCPS bilingual feeders. Why should DCPS dual language kids have no shot at a better bilingual middle school Its incredibally unfair that a kid who got lucky in PK3 in MV gets to coast all the way through high school in bilingual charters.
Create a true test in magnet middle school

Disagree. DCI is a charter. DCPS runs bilingual programs at MacFarland and Roosevelt and should work at making those better. There aren't enough seats at DCI for the students graduating from its feeder schools already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SWW@FS and Ross must feed to the new Shaw Middle as originally planned. That would cut down on crowding at SWW@FS and set Shaw up for success.

Call upper NW's bluff on overcrowding and cut their PK4 waay back-- only enough to provide inclusion classes for special ed students and the at-risk kids who live IB.

I love this idea. I paid for private preschool because I thought DCPS PreK was for only low income families, like a Head Start program. I could not believe they opened it up to wealthy families. If you live in a $1M house, you can afford PreK.

But it's not for low income families. It's universal PreK. It's for everyone. And when we all use the services that are for everyone, we get better services. If rich people opt out, the services decline, and you see (a) the folks who have social capital and time don't fight for them, and (b) the quality declines because we provide Only Enough for The Deserving Poor.

I want the people who live in million dollar houses to be invested in public infrastructure, like education, and transportation, and clean water.

As I said, when my kids were PreK aged I didn’t realize it was universal. I am very invested in public infrastructure but my kids didn’t go public for PreK. They go public now. While I am invested, I am not sure lower income residents in DC want me fighting for them.