Funding for Coolidge

[jsteele]

I guess I haven't been paying attention, but I just learned that Coolidge has been budgeted nearly $160 million for its renovation. That will likely be delayed because Chairman Mendelson is in the process of taking that money to use for the homeless shelters. But, the funds are supposed to be restored for Coolidge next year.

Coolidge currently has 400 students according to profiles.dcps.dc.gov. As we have been discussion on this forum, Murch (620 students) and Shepherd (318 students) are struggling for funds to complete their renovations. I know that it is supposed to be some sort of political third rail, but wouldn't it make sense to mothball Coolidge and send its students to newly-renovated Roosevelt until the space is actually needed?

[Anonymous]

Coolidge neighbor. I'd be all for that (lease the building to a charter).

What's at play: strong Coolidge alumni network want it revitalized.

A cohort of younger parents in Takoma and Brightwood have been pushing for dividing Coolidge into half high school, half North middle.

Any of the above makes more sense to me than building another comprehensive high school without the demand to support it.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:I guess I haven't been paying attention, but I just learned that Coolidge has been budgeted nearly $160 million for its renovation. That will likely be delayed because Chairman Mendelson is in the process of taking that money to use for the homeless shelters. But, the funds are supposed to be restored for Coolidge next year.

Coolidge currently has 400 students according to profiles.dcps.dc.gov. As we have been discussion on this forum, Murch (620 students) and Shepherd (318 students) are struggling for funds to complete their renovations. I know that it is supposed to be some sort of political third rail, but wouldn't it make sense to mothball Coolidge and send its students to newly-renovated Roosevelt until the space is actually needed?

I said this to a parent at Powell's carnival this past weekend. In my earlier years of attending DCPS, I know there were turf wars between the two schools.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:I guess I haven't been paying attention, but I just learned that Coolidge has been budgeted nearly $160 million for its renovation. That will likely be delayed because Chairman Mendelson is in the process of taking that money to use for the homeless shelters. But, the funds are supposed to be restored for Coolidge next year.

Coolidge currently has 400 students according to profiles.dcps.dc.gov. As we have been discussion on this forum, Murch (620 students) and Shepherd (318 students) are struggling for funds to complete their renovations. I know that it is supposed to be some sort of political third rail, but wouldn't it make sense to mothball Coolidge and send its students to newly-renovated Roosevelt until the space is actually needed?

Anything makes more sense than having 4 comprehensive high schools that are all half full, each costing at least $120 million, along the Georgia Avenue corridor- Dunbar, Cardozo, Roosevelt, Coolidge. Meanwhile, DCPS schools with much larger enrollments get their renovations pushed back. And charters with 1,000 kids on their waitlists try to do renovations on a $15-20 million budget.

It's quite the system we've created here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Coolidge neighbor. I'd be all for that (lease the building to a charter).

What's at play: strong Coolidge alumni network want it revitalized.

A cohort of younger parents in Takoma and Brightwood have been pushing for dividing Coolidge into half high school, half North middle.

Any of the above makes more sense to me than building another comprehensive high school without the demand to support it.

That seems like a really good idea, and there would still be some capacity to grow over the next 10-15 years.

[Anonymous]

If Cardozo is any indication, people are hesitant to send their 11 year old 6th graders to a school that's shared with 19 year old high school seniors. I'm not sure if that's the model that will work at Coolidge.

Leasing to a charter makes sense if it's a short enough lease that DCPS can get it back when it's needed and if the charter will pay to fix it up a little in the meantime. But opening a charter there makes it harder to get DCPS enrollment in the neighborhood up to a level where you ever need a DCPS high school.

I do think that combining Coolidge and Roosevelt makes sense until there's more enrollment in grades 9-12.

A big reason that even Grosso supported taking the Coolidge funding for shelters is that Coolidge's design process isn't done yet. It makes a lot of sense to keep paying for design but start building until it's finished.

[Anonymous]

What I don't get is that the council somehow added to the overall capital budget to do this, but had previously told other schools that wanted modernization that there wasn't enough money to do this (debt cap and all).
Now, all of a sudden, Grosso and Mendelson found a way to "enhance" the capital budget.
Well how about "enhancing" it some more to modernize more schools sooner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Cardozo is any indication, people are hesitant to send their 11 year old 6th graders to a school that's shared with 19 year old high school seniors. I'm not sure if that's the model that will work at Coolidge.

I'm IB for Cardozo and have to admit I'd be pretty leery of this myself, but if the building was set up smartly and start/finish times were effectively staggered it could work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Leasing to a charter makes sense if it's a short enough lease that DCPS can get it back when it's needed and if the charter will pay to fix it up a little in the meantime.

It needs more than a little fixing up - a charter would probably need a 20-year lease to make the finances work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Cardozo is any indication, people are hesitant to send their 11 year old 6th graders to a school that's shared with 19 year old high school seniors. I'm not sure if that's the model that will work at Coolidge.

I'm IB for Cardozo and have to admit I'd be pretty leery of this myself, but if the building was set up smartly and start/finish times were effectively staggered it could work.

If DCPS is having this debate, that is definitely a reason to postpone renovation until it gets worked out--it makes no sense to start the renovation and get locked in to a completely 9-12 model if what the community wants/needs is a small 6-8 and a small 9-12 separated but under one roof. I like the idea of making Coolidge both the New North MS and a HS if they can be really separate.

But I'd also be ok with combining Coolidge and Roosevelt for a couple years, and starting Coolidge's renovation in FY 2018.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Cardozo is any indication, people are hesitant to send their 11 year old 6th graders to a school that's shared with 19 year old high school seniors. I'm not sure if that's the model that will work at Coolidge.

I'm IB for Cardozo and have to admit I'd be pretty leery of this myself, but if the building was set up smartly and start/finish times were effectively staggered it could work.

If DCPS is having this debate, that is definitely a reason to postpone renovation until it gets worked out--it makes no sense to start the renovation and get locked in to a completely 9-12 model if what the community wants/needs is a small 6-8 and a small 9-12 separated but under one roof. I like the idea of making Coolidge both the New North MS and a HS if they can be really separate.

But I'd also be ok with combining Coolidge and Roosevelt for a couple years, and starting Coolidge's renovation in FY 2018.

FWIW DCPS is NOT on board with a combined middle / high school for Coolidge. While there isn't a design, their plans so far are for a renovated, big, comprehensive high school.

[Anonymous]

$160 million? Why is it so expensive? Is there underground parking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$160 million? Why is it so expensive? Is there underground parking?

That's pretty typical for the high schools ...

[Anonymous]

I find it really interesting how often over the last decade I've read and heard that Dcps makes decisions to spend hundreds of millions on half empty schools because of the squeaky wheel alumni. I loved my high school but I don't expect it to remain the same or even continue to exist. I get having fond memories and all that, but perhaps back off and allow the city to change in ways that make the most sense, not demand that we stay stuck in the past based on some weird obsession with nostalgia. Why do our elects officials allow people who haven't been students in decades to dictate our school planning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it really interesting how often over the last decade I've read and heard that Dcps makes decisions to spend hundreds of millions on half empty schools because of the squeaky wheel alumni. I loved my high school but I don't expect it to remain the same or even continue to exist. I get having fond memories and all that, but perhaps back off and allow the city to change in ways that make the most sense, not demand that we stay stuck in the past based on some weird obsession with nostalgia. Why do our elects officials allow people who haven't been students in decades to dictate our school planning?

Optics