New school(s) in Ward 3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any instance in DCPS of a school that serves only grades 3-5? Pros, cons?

Moco has some.

people dislike them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any instance in DCPS of a school that serves only grades 3-5? Pros, cons?

Moco has some.

people dislike them.

Not exactly the same, but Watkins is split into PK3-K and 1-5; the only people who like it are folks who live near Peabody and don’t plan to send their kid to Watkins anyway. Not sure if if NW has the same issue, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they lost kids to private at the changeover year that otherwise would have stayed until MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the Foxhall site, DCPS is proposing an elementary school, either PK-5 or 3-5. If it is PK-5 boundaries will be redrawn at Key, Stoddert and Mann to create boundaries for the new school. If it is 3-5 no boundaries will be changed, but Key and Mann will send their older kids to Foxhall.

At MacArthur (former GDS) DCPS is proposing either creating a new high school or a new middle school.

If a new high school is created, it might be at MacArthur, or the current Hardy Middle School might be moved to MacArthur and the Wisconsin Avenue building would be used as the new high school building. DCPS has proposed that the new building could either be a 9-12 high school that would be fed only by Hardy (with Hardy no longer feeding Wilson) or it could house the entire 9th grade for Wilson.

If a new middle school is created, it would become another middle school feeding Wilson. The new school would probably take most of the current Hardy feeders and some Deal feeders would move to Hardy.

PP here, I said Key and Mann but it's Key and Stoddert that would feed a 3-5 elementary.

What does the timeline look like on all these changes? When should we expect to hear the final decision?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the Foxhall site, DCPS is proposing an elementary school, either PK-5 or 3-5. If it is PK-5 boundaries will be redrawn at Key, Stoddert and Mann to create boundaries for the new school. If it is 3-5 no boundaries will be changed, but Key and Mann will send their older kids to Foxhall.

At MacArthur (former GDS) DCPS is proposing either creating a new high school or a new middle school.

If a new high school is created, it might be at MacArthur, or the current Hardy Middle School might be moved to MacArthur and the Wisconsin Avenue building would be used as the new high school building. DCPS has proposed that the new building could either be a 9-12 high school that would be fed only by Hardy (with Hardy no longer feeding Wilson) or it could house the entire 9th grade for Wilson.

If a new middle school is created, it would become another middle school feeding Wilson. The new school would probably take most of the current Hardy feeders and some Deal feeders would move to Hardy.

PP here, I said Key and Mann but it's Key and Stoddert that would feed a 3-5 elementary.

What does the timeline look like on all these changes? When should we expect to hear the final decision?

Decision will be in May. GDS will reopen fall of 2022 and Foxhall will open Fall of 2024.

[Anonymous]

So what happens to course offerings etc. if GDS becomes a new high school, with Hardy feeding into it? One of the attractive (such as it is) features of Wilson is the extensive set of AP classes and academies, especially AP Physics C, Calc BC etc. I wonder if these would be offered in the new high school. We have a 6th grader at Hardy now and we have to seriously to consider what our high school path will be.

[Anonymous]

Will the new high school have AP for all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any instance in DCPS of a school that serves only grades 3-5? Pros, cons?

The transportation impact is a lot greater than a traditional elementary school because you're pulling from a bigger area, so people are traveling further and fewer people are within walking distance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what happens to course offerings etc. if GDS becomes a new high school, with Hardy feeding into it? One of the attractive (such as it is) features of Wilson is the extensive set of AP classes and academies, especially AP Physics C, Calc BC etc. I wonder if these would be offered in the new high school. We have a 6th grader at Hardy now and we have to seriously to consider what our high school path will be.

I am sure those advanced AP classes will soon be on the chopping block because equity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whatever the decision is, DCPS has already made up its mind and we will be informed after the kabuki theater is done. The parent/community meetings are simply performative (which is humorous in itself to observe, once you understand). Their paramount concern has always been access of OOB to Ward 3 schools, so the fun part is speculating how they intend to accomplish that goal while building two new schools in such a small patch of neighborhood with one main access road (Reservoir) which is always backed up due to hospital traffic.

+1. This is why I stopped attending any of these “meetings.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any instance in DCPS of a school that serves only grades 3-5? Pros, cons?

Moco has some.

people dislike them.

Not exactly the same, but Watkins is split into PK3-K and 1-5; the only people who like it are folks who live near Peabody and don’t plan to send their kid to Watkins anyway. Not sure if if NW has the same issue, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they lost kids to private at the changeover year that otherwise would have stayed until MS.

It makes sense that DCPS would lose more students this way. It's just too many transitions to new schools, and people leave at transition grades. Although we're at a different Deal/Wilson feeder, I wouldn't want this for other DCPS families.

I'm extremely opposed to a 9th grade center for this and other reasons. It adds a whole other transition for just one year, so kids are transitioning to 4 schools in 5 years. That's just too hard on many kids. Also, a 9th grade center would lose integration with the amenities of the larger Wilson HS, lose economies of scale (i.e. would need a whole extra set of specials teachers, SPED support staff, etc.), lose the ability for kids to be placed into higher grades math class (i.e. a 9th grader taking 10th grade math courses), and many other issues. The school wouldn't be large enough to get the funding to replicate Wilson's offerings, no matter what DCPS might promise. Plus now families with 2-3 kids have a whole extra set of logistics with an additional school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any instance in DCPS of a school that serves only grades 3-5? Pros, cons?

The transportation impact is a lot greater than a traditional elementary school because you're pulling from a bigger area, so people are traveling further and fewer people are within walking distance.

+1 this will be an additional hardship for those of us who will already be traveling quite a distance to get to Hardy. We will make it work if we have to, but are also considering a switch to a Deal feeder if this goes through. I wonder how much people like us will serve to work against the crowd alleviation. Deal & Wilson may just get MORE crowded as Hardy folks flock over there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any instance in DCPS of a school that serves only grades 3-5? Pros, cons?

The transportation impact is a lot greater than a traditional elementary school because you're pulling from a bigger area, so people are traveling further and fewer people are within walking distance.

+1 this will be an additional hardship for those of us who will already be traveling quite a distance to get to Hardy. We will make it work if we have to, but are also considering a switch to a Deal feeder if this goes through. I wonder how much people like us will serve to work against the crowd alleviation. Deal & Wilson may just get MORE crowded as Hardy folks flock over there?

I don't follow the logic here. Anyone willing to travel a long distance to Hardy isn't going to have a problem sucking up the extra time to travel to a new HS/MS off MacArthur. IMO, the main burden resulting from building a big school over at MacArthur is not on the parents/caregivers, but on the road itself (Reservoir), which is a one-laner each way. And for anyone who might bring up M street as a main artery, don't even go there, you fool.

DCPS would do better giving the old GDS site to the City for affordable housing construction, and instead building a "New Western" over at the Jelleff property, IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any instance in DCPS of a school that serves only grades 3-5? Pros, cons?

The transportation impact is a lot greater than a traditional elementary school because you're pulling from a bigger area, so people are traveling further and fewer people are within walking distance.

+1 this will be an additional hardship for those of us who will already be traveling quite a distance to get to Hardy. We will make it work if we have to, but are also considering a switch to a Deal feeder if this goes through. I wonder how much people like us will serve to work against the crowd alleviation. Deal & Wilson may just get MORE crowded as Hardy folks flock over there?

I don't follow the logic here. Anyone willing to travel a long distance to Hardy isn't going to have a problem sucking up the extra time to travel to a new HS/MS off MacArthur. IMO, the main burden resulting from building a big school over at MacArthur is not on the parents/caregivers, but on the road itself (Reservoir), which is a one-laner each way. And for anyone who might bring up M street as a main artery, don't even go there, you fool.

DCPS would do better giving the old GDS site to the City for affordable housing construction, and instead building a "New Western" over at the Jelleff property, IMO.

I am a person who is telling you that I am going to have a problem "sucking it up"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love how such an impactful decision re: schools for Wards 2 and 3 means that dcps will have just one meeting with each impacted school, and that's it.

This tells me they've already made their decision and all this is wasted time for theatric purposes only.

My vote would be a second high school. Preferably make current Hardy MS a high school since it's on Wisconsin Ave and easier bus access.

Yeah, I'm sure the decisions have already been made. Though Hardy MS seems too small to be a HS. The space is just too small. But I agree, there needs to be a new Western HS. I wish they'd just had the foresight for the Duke Ellington site. But then again, DCPS isn't made up of the best and brightest...

I think the bigger issue is kids who walk to school will now be driven (Glover Park to Foxhall can be 2 mi+, due to the lack of east-west connections). There is going to be such a mess. Most of these students will be closer to Hyde (which honestly makes much more sense).

A high school at Hardy’s space would be a mini school only. It doesn’t have the fields or the space to accommodate a robust high school offering a variety of sports and a curriculum with the same caliber of course choices as Wilson. What a joke that would be to have when losing the Wilson feed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love how such an impactful decision re: schools for Wards 2 and 3 means that dcps will have just one meeting with each impacted school, and that's it.

This tells me they've already made their decision and all this is wasted time for theatric purposes only.

My vote would be a second high school. Preferably make current Hardy MS a high school since it's on Wisconsin Ave and easier bus access.

Yeah, I'm sure the decisions have already been made. Though Hardy MS seems too small to be a HS. The space is just too small. But I agree, there needs to be a new Western HS. I wish they'd just had the foresight for the Duke Ellington site. But then again, DCPS isn't made up of the best and brightest...

I think the bigger issue is kids who walk to school will now be driven (Glover Park to Foxhall can be 2 mi+, due to the lack of east-west connections). There is going to be such a mess. Most of these students will be closer to Hyde (which honestly makes much more sense).

A high school at Hardy’s space would be a mini school only. It doesn’t have the fields or the space to accommodate a robust high school offering a variety of sports and a curriculum with the same caliber of course choices as Wilson. What a joke that would be to have when losing the Wilson feed.

Jelleff, across the street. Plus, if they really wanted to spend some money, they could dig out a parking lot under the current lot and create a big sports playing field on top. Even better, the new Western could share classrooms with the always-underused Duke Ellington building and create a really awesome campus incorporating the already impressive magnet arts and music program.