Murch- Getting screwed again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Leave the race/income obsessed PP alone -- she won't be satisfied unless her slide rule says the "poor" schools and the "rich" schools have equally divided fruit.

PP here. I would be satisfied if Ward 3 parents stopped trying to pretend their schools were somehow getting discriminated against in favor of poor children. But yes, equitable distribution of modernization funds would be nice. I will take an underground parking lot too, please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Leave the race/income obsessed PP alone -- she won't be satisfied unless her slide rule says the "poor" schools and the "rich" schools have equally divided fruit.

PP here. I would be satisfied if Ward 3 parents stopped trying to pretend their schools were somehow getting discriminated against in favor of poor children. But yes, equitable distribution of modernization funds would be nice. I will take an underground parking lot too, please.

I think the feeling is that the modernization of funds needs to meet the needs kids in the schools -- all the kids. There appears to be a double standard for projects like Duke Ellington that smack of cronyism and corruption. So while DE educates 300 kids and gets $200 million in funding and Dunbar educats 600 and went 33% over budget to $122 million, Murch kids are still in rat-infested classrooms and leaking trailers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll also point out that none of the 9 recently completed DGS projects were in ward 3.

That's because most of these projects were finished years ago. There a very few Ward 3 schools left to modernize

You mean like Murch (1920) or Lafayette (1970)? Yes. They are super modern!

Lafayette's in Ward 4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll also point out that none of the 9 recently completed DGS projects were in ward 3.

That's because most of these projects were finished years ago. There a very few Ward 3 schools left to modernize

You mean like Murch (1920) or Lafayette (1970)? Yes. They are super modern!

Lafayette's in Ward 4.

Technically, yes. But in reality, they are much more like a Ward 3 school than anything else in Ward 4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And then when you think about what DCPS has sunk into Ellington and Dunbar, you come to the conclusion that Bowser and DCPS hate young non-poor children.

I am always amazed by the way Ward 3 parents are able to look at a feast of educational resources and somehow find a way to make it look like they are being screwed in favor of poor kids.

Don't compare yourself to a high school. Find me another elementary school from a poor neighborhood that had a more expensive modernization than yours. Then you can complain.

Murch has already had its funding increased once, and will likely get more: The project is at $68 million now and will probably end up closer to $80 million. This is a very, very large project in terms of elementary schools. The most expensive elementary modernization I have seen in my Ward (Ward One), cost 60 million. My own child's school started with 20 million and has had our project decreased to $17 million. We have never had an underground parking lot in our plan, even though we have to share a neighboring park with a charter for play space so our teachers can park on the school lot.

City-wide, Ward 3 consistently comes out on top in the modernization fight. Only one elementary school in the Wilson feeder pattern, Eaton, will still be waiting for modernization as of 2017 (11 will have been modernized). By contrast, in the Woodson High School feeder pattern, none of the elementary schools will be fully modernized as of 2017. Four schools (Burrville, Drew, Nalle, and Thomas) will have been partially modernized, and four schools (Aiton, CW Harris, Houston, and Smothers) will not have been touched.

I'm sure you are all making great sacrifices by sending your children to public school instead of checking out to private, and want the rest of us be appreciative, and I'm sure many of you are not jerks, but it's very hard not to choke on my lunch when I read comments like this. Quite down and eat your rich-people cake without complaining so much.

1. Name a school in the rest of the city that has as many kids as the biggest elementary schools in Ward 3. Or middle school or high school for that matter.
2. The majority of kids who attend DCPS schools in Ward 3 don't live in Ward 3. Ward 3 hosts education for the entire city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Leave the race/income obsessed PP alone -- she won't be satisfied unless her slide rule says the "poor" schools and the "rich" schools have equally divided fruit.

PP here. I would be satisfied if Ward 3 parents stopped trying to pretend their schools were somehow getting discriminated against in favor of poor children. But yes, equitable distribution of modernization funds would be nice. I will take an underground parking lot too, please.

But why do you need an underground lot? Is your ES at 150% capacity AND sitting on a too-small parcel of land that is partially owned by the National Park Service? Murch doesn't want underground parking for fun or because it's fancy--Murch NEEDS underground parking to shoe-horn a school big enough to accommodate twice as many kids as it was originally built for without losing every square inch of open space.

And you are being incredibly disingenuous in suggesting that those of us advocating for Murch are saying we're being discriminated against in favor of poor children. THe only person who has pitted rich kids vs. poor kids on this thread is you, PP.

The Murch community is fully supportive of schools like Marie Reed getting almost as much for a one-year renovation as Murch gets for a two-year renovation...because we believe the Marie Reed renovation is likely funded at the *right* level, while Murch's renovation funding has never been based in reality. You should try reading the letters our SIT and HSA have written and the testimony delivered before the Council--you'll see that the message has always been about ensuring that all schools get the right funding for their renovations. It's expressly NOT about pitting school vs. school.

I'm truly sorry if your school is not getting the support it needs, but please don't take it out on Murch, which has waited for decades for renovation and many times put citywide needs before its own. Please hold DC accountable to doing renovations properly so that they can't get away with this at other schools around the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Leave the race/income obsessed PP alone -- she won't be satisfied unless her slide rule says the "poor" schools and the "rich" schools have equally divided fruit.

PP here. I would be satisfied if Ward 3 parents stopped trying to pretend their schools were somehow getting discriminated against in favor of poor children. But yes, equitable distribution of modernization funds would be nice. I will take an underground parking lot too, please.

But why do you need an underground lot? Is your ES at 150% capacity AND sitting on a too-small parcel of land that is partially owned by the National Park Service? Murch doesn't want underground parking for fun or because it's fancy--Murch NEEDS underground parking to shoe-horn a school big enough to accommodate twice as many kids as it was originally built for without losing every square inch of open space.

And you are being incredibly disingenuous in suggesting that those of us advocating for Murch are saying we're being discriminated against in favor of poor children. THe only person who has pitted rich kids vs. poor kids on this thread is you, PP.

The Murch community is fully supportive of schools like Marie Reed getting almost as much for a one-year renovation as Murch gets for a two-year renovation...because we believe the Marie Reed renovation is likely funded at the *right* level, while Murch's renovation funding has never been based in reality. You should try reading the letters our SIT and HSA have written and the testimony delivered before the Council--you'll see that the message has always been about ensuring that all schools get the right funding for their renovations. It's expressly NOT about pitting school vs. school.

I'm truly sorry if your school is not getting the support it needs, but please don't take it out on Murch, which has waited for decades for renovation and many times put citywide needs before its own. Please hold DC accountable to doing renovations properly so that they can't get away with this at other schools around the city.

Also...Duke Ellington is getting an underground parking lot. Where's the outrage, PP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Leave the race/income obsessed PP alone -- she won't be satisfied unless her slide rule says the "poor" schools and the "rich" schools have equally divided fruit.

PP here. I would be satisfied if Ward 3 parents stopped trying to pretend their schools were somehow getting discriminated against in favor of poor children. But yes, equitable distribution of modernization funds would be nice. I will take an underground parking lot too, please.

But why do you need an underground lot? Is your ES at 150% capacity AND sitting on a too-small parcel of land that is partially owned by the National Park Service? Murch doesn't want underground parking for fun or because it's fancy--Murch NEEDS underground parking to shoe-horn a school big enough to accommodate twice as many kids as it was originally built for without losing every square inch of open space.

And you are being incredibly disingenuous in suggesting that those of us advocating for Murch are saying we're being discriminated against in favor of poor children. THe only person who has pitted rich kids vs. poor kids on this thread is you, PP.

The Murch community is fully supportive of schools like Marie Reed getting almost as much for a one-year renovation as Murch gets for a two-year renovation...because we believe the Marie Reed renovation is likely funded at the *right* level, while Murch's renovation funding has never been based in reality. You should try reading the letters our SIT and HSA have written and the testimony delivered before the Council--you'll see that the message has always been about ensuring that all schools get the right funding for their renovations. It's expressly NOT about pitting school vs. school.

I'm truly sorry if your school is not getting the support it needs, but please don't take it out on Murch, which has waited for decades for renovation and many times put citywide needs before its own. Please hold DC accountable to doing renovations properly so that they can't get away with this at other schools around the city.

Also...Duke Ellington is getting an underground parking lot. Where's the outrage, PP?

Janney also has an underground parking lot. There's more space for the chickens and the organic garden.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And then when you think about what DCPS has sunk into Ellington and Dunbar, you come to the conclusion that Bowser and DCPS hate young non-poor children.

I am always amazed by the way Ward 3 parents are able to look at a feast of educational resources and somehow find a way to make it look like they are being screwed in favor of poor kids.

Don't compare yourself to a high school. Find me another elementary school from a poor neighborhood that had a more expensive modernization than yours. Then you can complain.

Murch has already had its funding increased once, and will likely get more: The project is at $68 million now and will probably end up closer to $80 million. This is a very, very large project in terms of elementary schools. The most expensive elementary modernization I have seen in my Ward (Ward One), cost 60 million. My own child's school started with 20 million and has had our project decreased to $17 million. We have never had an underground parking lot in our plan, even though we have to share a neighboring park with a charter for play space so our teachers can park on the school lot.

City-wide, Ward 3 consistently comes out on top in the modernization fight. Only one elementary school in the Wilson feeder pattern, Eaton, will still be waiting for modernization as of 2017 (11 will have been modernized). By contrast, in the Woodson High School feeder pattern, none of the elementary schools will be fully modernized as of 2017. Four schools (Burrville, Drew, Nalle, and Thomas) will have been partially modernized, and four schools (Aiton, CW Harris, Houston, and Smothers) will not have been touched.

I'm sure you are all making great sacrifices by sending your children to public school instead of checking out to private, and want the rest of us be appreciative, and I'm sure many of you are not jerks, but it's very hard not to choke on my lunch when I read comments like this. Quite down and eat your rich-people cake without complaining so much.

1. Name a school in the rest of the city that has as many kids as the biggest elementary schools in Ward 3. Or middle school or high school for that matter.
2. The majority of kids who attend DCPS schools in Ward 3 don't live in Ward 3. Ward 3 hosts education for the entire city.

A situation that will have to change because Ward 3 schools are seriously overcrowded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll also point out that none of the 9 recently completed DGS projects were in ward 3.

That's because most of these projects were finished years ago. There a very few Ward 3 schools left to modernize

You mean like Murch (1920) or Lafayette (1970)? Yes. They are super modern!

Lafayette's in Ward 4.

Only because that part of Ward 3 was gerrymandered out of the W3 and placed in Ward 4 12 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll also point out that none of the 9 recently completed DGS projects were in ward 3.

That's because most of these projects were finished years ago. There a very few Ward 3 schools left to modernize

Eaton hasn't been updated in nearly 50 years, and with its clout, it will wait until 2070 for some renovation money.

[Anonymous]

Here's where DC's school renovation dollars are going. See the video about the lavish Duke Ellington project.

https://vimeo.com/105009485

I don't think that DCPS will have much to put in a film about Murch!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's where DC's school renovation dollars are going. See the video about the lavish Duke Ellington project.

https://vimeo.com/105009485

I don't think that DCPS will have much to put in a film about Murch!

The Duke Ellington large underground parking garage makes a cameo at 3:40 or so.

Love the performance hall, which looks like it could be at the Kennedy Center. And the rooftop theater and party deck is swee-eet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's where DC's school renovation dollars are going. See the video about the lavish Duke Ellington project.

https://vimeo.com/105009485

I don't think that DCPS will have much to put in a film about Murch!

The Duke Ellington large underground parking garage makes a cameo at 3:40 or so.

Love the performance hall, which looks like it could be at the Kennedy Center. And the rooftop theater and party deck is swee-eet.

Just watched it. Looking at this video and thinking of the children at Murch in filthy conditions with rodents, insects, broken toilets etc. just makes my stomach turn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's where DC's school renovation dollars are going. See the video about the lavish Duke Ellington project.

https://vimeo.com/105009485

I don't think that DCPS will have much to put in a film about Murch!

The Duke Ellington large underground parking garage makes a cameo at 3:40 or so.

Love the performance hall, which looks like it could be at the Kennedy Center. And the rooftop theater and party deck is swee-eet.

Just watched it. Looking at this video and thinking of the children at Murch in filthy conditions with rodents, insects, broken toilets etc. just makes my stomach turn.

And what's Mary Cheh doing to support her ward schools? Or is she too busy with her law school teaching?