Shaw middle school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No rush to build a new school during a recession. By the time Cardozo is at capacity, Howard Middle School may be closed, boundaries might be redrawn, the Banneker site may be available, etc. We should deal with the boundary and feeder process first (are you planning a school with 2.5 feeders--Garrison/Seaton/Cleveland English--or the SWW feeders too? Seems like the sort of thing you should decide in advance), rebuild DC's rainy day fund, and then think about a new middle school building.

In the meantime, get Cardozo a separate middle school principal, offer honors math and English classes for anyone who gets a 4 or 5 on PARCC (even if the classes are small), get the school and its feeders to interact more, and achieve more community buy-in. If few people are sending their kids there, there's no need for a bigger building because it's not going to reach capacity as fast as DCPS predicts.

Howard Middle's building is owned by Howard, not by the city.

The old Banneker site is the one they are looking to use now. The site review was of Banneker and Garnet-Patterson.

The idea is 2.5 feeders because Ross and Thomson will never give up their SWW rights now that they have them. But it's 2.5 feeders plus all IB kids, so there could be any number of kids who have the right to attend.

If the school improves and more people send their kids there, that will only hasten the overcrowding.

[Anonymous]

It's stupid to build a whole middle school for 2.5 elementary schools that aren't even that big (and give me a break on ib families; if they picked charters or oob for es they aren't switching back for ms). Either combine sww Ms and Cardozo MS into one new middle school, or leave them where they are, or stop having a Cardozo MS at all and send the kids to McKinley Ms. But it doesn't make sense to build a new school until the feeder pattern is determined.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's stupid to build a whole middle school for 2.5 elementary schools that aren't even that big (and give me a break on ib families; if they picked charters or oob for es they aren't switching back for ms). Either combine sww Ms and Cardozo MS into one new middle school, or leave them where they are, or stop having a Cardozo MS at all and send the kids to McKinley Ms. But it doesn't make sense to build a new school until the feeder pattern is determined.

McKinley Middle is not big enough to take in Cardozo MS's current enrollment.

2.5 feeders is a normal amount. McKinley has only two. Brookland has 3.

[Anonymous]

This is why a new MS is needed for the 7 schools involved: 2 MS and 5 ES. Pooling resources is why it would be a success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why a new MS is needed for the 7 schools involved: 2 MS and 5 ES. Pooling resources is why it would be a success.

Where would a school that big be located? That is the issue here. In 10 years all 7 schools are projected to grow and it adds up to a lot.

[Anonymous]

Garnet-Patterson is my preference over the old Banneker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why a new MS is needed for the 7 schools involved: 2 MS and 5 ES. Pooling resources is why it would be a success.

What do you mean by “involved”? This seems to be something some parents at Garrison and Cleveland want. But is anyone at Ross, F-S, or Thomson even interested? I just don’t see it happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why a new MS is needed for the 7 schools involved: 2 MS and 5 ES. Pooling resources is why it would be a success.

What do you mean by “involved”? This seems to be something some parents at Garrison and Cleveland want. But is anyone at Ross, F-S, or Thomson even interested? I just don’t see it happening.

They are "involved" in that the city's official plan is for Ross and Thomson to return to the new middle school when it is built. Of course they will resist it, but it may happen over their objections. SWW@FS middle will also reach capacity and there may be a desire to put these feeders out to free up space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why a new MS is needed for the 7 schools involved: 2 MS and 5 ES. Pooling resources is why it would be a success.

What do you mean by “involved”? This seems to be something some parents at Garrison and Cleveland want. But is anyone at Ross, F-S, or Thomson even interested? I just don’t see it happening.

They are "involved" in that the city's official plan is for Ross and Thomson to return to the new middle school when it is built. Of course they will resist it, but it may happen over their objections. SWW@FS middle will also reach capacity and there may be a desire to put these feeders out to free up space.

+1. In DCPS, you may find yourself "involved" even if there's nothing you are asking to change.

[Anonymous]

Garnett-Patterson is surrounded by concrete and traffic. I'd much rather have kids at the old Banneker.

[Anonymous]

The last boundary study stated that the FS@SWW feed was only in place for Ross and Thomson until a new MS was built.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No rush to build a new school during a recession. By the time Cardozo is at capacity, Howard Middle School may be closed, boundaries might be redrawn, the Banneker site may be available, etc. We should deal with the boundary and feeder process first (are you planning a school with 2.5 feeders--Garrison/Seaton/Cleveland English--or the SWW feeders too? Seems like the sort of thing you should decide in advance), rebuild DC's rainy day fund, and then think about a new middle school building.

In the meantime, get Cardozo a separate middle school principal, offer honors math and English classes for anyone who gets a 4 or 5 on PARCC (even if the classes are small), get the school and its feeders to interact more, and achieve more community buy-in. If few people are sending their kids there, there's no need for a bigger building because it's not going to reach capacity as fast as DCPS predicts.

Why does it always come back to offering honors classes? Tracking (that's what honors is) is just a way to perpetuate segregation within a school so white parents feel better about sending their kids there. And despite it being the thing people keep asking for, it's terrible for equity and learning which is why our best schools (e.g., Deal MS) don't do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No rush to build a new school during a recession. By the time Cardozo is at capacity, Howard Middle School may be closed, boundaries might be redrawn, the Banneker site may be available, etc. We should deal with the boundary and feeder process first (are you planning a school with 2.5 feeders--Garrison/Seaton/Cleveland English--or the SWW feeders too? Seems like the sort of thing you should decide in advance), rebuild DC's rainy day fund, and then think about a new middle school building.

In the meantime, get Cardozo a separate middle school principal, offer honors math and English classes for anyone who gets a 4 or 5 on PARCC (even if the classes are small), get the school and its feeders to interact more, and achieve more community buy-in. If few people are sending their kids there, there's no need for a bigger building because it's not going to reach capacity as fast as DCPS predicts.

Why does it always come back to offering honors classes? Tracking (that's what honors is) is just a way to perpetuate segregation within a school so white parents feel better about sending their kids there. And despite it being the thing people keep asking for, it's terrible for equity and learning which is why our best schools (e.g., Deal MS) don't do it.

It doesn't have to be an "honors track" in my view, personally. But I do want my child, and every child, to have instruction that is appropriate to her level in each subject, whatever that may be. And I'd like a straight answer from DCPS about how exactly that's going to happen in a school where the vast majority of students are well below grade level. Deal doesn't do it because Deal doesn't have that problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No rush to build a new school during a recession. By the time Cardozo is at capacity, Howard Middle School may be closed, boundaries might be redrawn, the Banneker site may be available, etc. We should deal with the boundary and feeder process first (are you planning a school with 2.5 feeders--Garrison/Seaton/Cleveland English--or the SWW feeders too? Seems like the sort of thing you should decide in advance), rebuild DC's rainy day fund, and then think about a new middle school building.

In the meantime, get Cardozo a separate middle school principal, offer honors math and English classes for anyone who gets a 4 or 5 on PARCC (even if the classes are small), get the school and its feeders to interact more, and achieve more community buy-in. If few people are sending their kids there, there's no need for a bigger building because it's not going to reach capacity as fast as DCPS predicts.

Why does it always come back to offering honors classes? Tracking (that's what honors is) is just a way to perpetuate segregation within a school so white parents feel better about sending their kids there. And despite it being the thing people keep asking for, it's terrible for equity and learning which is why our best schools (e.g., Deal MS) don't do it.

Because it's the only way to have a classroom that is on grade level (that's what counts as "honors" in these schools, let's be real), and isn't constantly disrupted by problem behaviors. You can't scold or shame or philosophize parents into putting their children into an educational context that's as bad as what DCPS is providing. You can try, but it won't work. There's no substitute for DCPS actually providing quality, so focus on getting to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No rush to build a new school during a recession. By the time Cardozo is at capacity, Howard Middle School may be closed, boundaries might be redrawn, the Banneker site may be available, etc. We should deal with the boundary and feeder process first (are you planning a school with 2.5 feeders--Garrison/Seaton/Cleveland English--or the SWW feeders too? Seems like the sort of thing you should decide in advance), rebuild DC's rainy day fund, and then think about a new middle school building.

In the meantime, get Cardozo a separate middle school principal, offer honors math and English classes for anyone who gets a 4 or 5 on PARCC (even if the classes are small), get the school and its feeders to interact more, and achieve more community buy-in. If few people are sending their kids there, there's no need for a bigger building because it's not going to reach capacity as fast as DCPS predicts.

Why does it always come back to offering honors classes? Tracking (that's what honors is) is just a way to perpetuate segregation within a school so white parents feel better about sending their kids there. And despite it being the thing people keep asking for, it's terrible for equity and learning which is why our best schools (e.g., Deal MS) don't do it.

Because it's the only way to have a classroom that is on grade level (that's what counts as "honors" in these schools, let's be real), and isn't constantly disrupted by problem behaviors. You can't scold or shame or philosophize parents into putting their children into an educational context that's as bad as what DCPS is providing. You can try, but it won't work. There's no substitute for DCPS actually providing quality, so focus on getting to that.

It’s amazing to see the continued assumptions about “behavior problems” in “these schools” not based on firsthand knowledge. You assume kids are disrupting classes and that the curriculum/instruction is not rigorous based on what, exactly? The lower test scores? Come on, now.