GDS Incoming 9th Grade to be much smaller

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is insane. GDS is already the most sought-after top independent in DC.

That’s definitely not the case for me. No on-campus lunch for high schoolers, and a 10 college application cap was a deal breaker. It’s a hard pass on GDS for my family. Y’all can fight over those seats if you like…

For most GDS students, the 10-college/univ cap is beside the point. They have their choice of great schools, often multiple Ivies.

You can only apply to 10 schools?

Yes, but apparently this fact isn’t widely known. I’ve spoken to a few parents of GDS middle schoolers who were unaware of this policy—surprising!

Then they are willfully ignorant. I know about it through friends with kids at GDS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If GDS needs a revenue stream, when will they develop the mixed-use, PUD plan on the Wisconsin Avenue that GDS owns. That area could use more vibrantization.

Tell that to the ANC, which wouldn't approve gds's development plans.

Actually, it as a Bowser crony who lives across Wisconsin Ave who killed the great plan for the redevelopment of the former Marten's site.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does the ANC derive the authority to ask for/enforce this cap?

The cap was part of the zoning order with the permit application when the GDS high school, and later the full school, moved into the neighborhood. The cap is the cap and it is there for safety reasons, ie fire marshall/building codes etc - so if GDS was in violation, it isn't necessarily for neighborhood traffic that is an issue, but rather how many people (staff, faculty, students) are in the space physically.

And if I were a member of the GDS community, I would be concerned that the school wasn't managing this properly.

The ANC is not the bad guy here.

The ANC isn't the bad guy because enforcing a neighborhood agreement is reasonable, but it's not for fire safety reasons. The agreement contemplates the cap increasing over time, which wouldn't be possible if it was truly related to safety (and the anc has nothing to do with fire safety).

As someone who lives at 41st and Ellicott, it would great if GDS parents stopped dropping off on our corner. They pull up, idle to say goodbye or whatever and meanwhile cars are to pass and then yup there’s another GDS car. And yes, it’s GDS parents. The cars have the magnets and the kids get out and walk west on Ellicott.

Yup and get over it. We drop our kids off. We go to work. We pay taxes. We even live in these neighborhoods. Stop being such a tatle tale. Does it really bother you that much or are you just jealous your kid has to walk to Jackson Reed and get a public education.

You don't have the right to block other cars on a public street causing inconvenience to them so you can avoid drop off on school property. As it is an issue, you can count on the ANC bringing it back to the school, which will likely force GDS staff to stand on that corner to ensure selfish people like you don't drop your snowflakes off instead of actually going through the car pool line as you signed up for as part of your enrollment contract.

[Anonymous]

I am not a current GDS family, but I suspect people are dropping off blocks from the school because the school has a carpool policy that prohibits you from dropping off just one kid (this was an attempt to reduce the traffic and make the neighborhood a little less congested). We learned about this in the admissions process. That said, it sounds like parents have found workarounds/loopholes to avoid the rule - which is essentially making the congestion worse because now people are just stopping blocks from the school and making several choke points. Sounds like bad carpool process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does the ANC derive the authority to ask for/enforce this cap?

The cap was part of the zoning order with the permit application when the GDS high school, and later the full school, moved into the neighborhood. The cap is the cap and it is there for safety reasons, ie fire marshall/building codes etc - so if GDS was in violation, it isn't necessarily for neighborhood traffic that is an issue, but rather how many people (staff, faculty, students) are in the space physically.

And if I were a member of the GDS community, I would be concerned that the school wasn't managing this properly.

The ANC is not the bad guy here.

The ANC isn't the bad guy because enforcing a neighborhood agreement is reasonable, but it's not for fire safety reasons. The agreement contemplates the cap increasing over time, which wouldn't be possible if it was truly related to safety (and the anc has nothing to do with fire safety).

As someone who lives at 41st and Ellicott, it would great if GDS parents stopped dropping off on our corner. They pull up, idle to say goodbye or whatever and meanwhile cars are to pass and then yup there’s another GDS car. And yes, it’s GDS parents. The cars have the magnets and the kids get out and walk west on Ellicott.

Drop off on that side of Wisconsin is explicitly allowed under the agreement with the ANC.

Families are dropping off on 41st St. which is not allowed.

That's not what the map says.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does the ANC derive the authority to ask for/enforce this cap?

The cap was part of the zoning order with the permit application when the GDS high school, and later the full school, moved into the neighborhood. The cap is the cap and it is there for safety reasons, ie fire marshall/building codes etc - so if GDS was in violation, it isn't necessarily for neighborhood traffic that is an issue, but rather how many people (staff, faculty, students) are in the space physically.

And if I were a member of the GDS community, I would be concerned that the school wasn't managing this properly.

The ANC is not the bad guy here.

The ANC isn't the bad guy because enforcing a neighborhood agreement is reasonable, but it's not for fire safety reasons. The agreement contemplates the cap increasing over time, which wouldn't be possible if it was truly related to safety (and the anc has nothing to do with fire safety).

As someone who lives at 41st and Ellicott, it would great if GDS parents stopped dropping off on our corner. They pull up, idle to say goodbye or whatever and meanwhile cars are to pass and then yup there’s another GDS car. And yes, it’s GDS parents. The cars have the magnets and the kids get out and walk west on Ellicott.

Yup and get over it. We drop our kids off. We go to work. We pay taxes. We even live in these neighborhoods. Stop being such a tatle tale. Does it really bother you that much or are you just jealous your kid has to walk to Jackson Reed and get a public education.

You don't have the right to block other cars on a public street causing inconvenience to them so you can avoid drop off on school property. As it is an issue, you can count on the ANC bringing it back to the school, which will likely force GDS staff to stand on that corner to ensure selfish people like you don't drop your snowflakes off instead of actually going through the car pool line as you signed up for as part of your enrollment contract.

Parents who violate the GDS transportation commitments to the BZA and the community might want to consider removing the grasshopper stickers from their vehicles! It doesn't reflect well on the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does the ANC derive the authority to ask for/enforce this cap?

The cap was part of the zoning order with the permit application when the GDS high school, and later the full school, moved into the neighborhood. The cap is the cap and it is there for safety reasons, ie fire marshall/building codes etc - so if GDS was in violation, it isn't necessarily for neighborhood traffic that is an issue, but rather how many people (staff, faculty, students) are in the space physically.

And if I were a member of the GDS community, I would be concerned that the school wasn't managing this properly.

The ANC is not the bad guy here.

The ANC isn't the bad guy because enforcing a neighborhood agreement is reasonable, but it's not for fire safety reasons. The agreement contemplates the cap increasing over time, which wouldn't be possible if it was truly related to safety (and the anc has nothing to do with fire safety).

As someone who lives at 41st and Ellicott, it would great if GDS parents stopped dropping off on our corner. They pull up, idle to say goodbye or whatever and meanwhile cars are to pass and then yup there’s another GDS car. And yes, it’s GDS parents. The cars have the magnets and the kids get out and walk west on Ellicott.

Yup and get over it. We drop our kids off. We go to work. We pay taxes. We even live in these neighborhoods. Stop being such a tatle tale. Does it really bother you that much or are you just jealous your kid has to walk to Jackson Reed and get a public education.

You realize your kids don’t love you and won’t come visit you in the home, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does the ANC derive the authority to ask for/enforce this cap?

The cap was part of the zoning order with the permit application when the GDS high school, and later the full school, moved into the neighborhood. The cap is the cap and it is there for safety reasons, ie fire marshall/building codes etc - so if GDS was in violation, it isn't necessarily for neighborhood traffic that is an issue, but rather how many people (staff, faculty, students) are in the space physically.

And if I were a member of the GDS community, I would be concerned that the school wasn't managing this properly.

The ANC is not the bad guy here.

The ANC isn't the bad guy because enforcing a neighborhood agreement is reasonable, but it's not for fire safety reasons. The agreement contemplates the cap increasing over time, which wouldn't be possible if it was truly related to safety (and the anc has nothing to do with fire safety).

As someone who lives at 41st and Ellicott, it would great if GDS parents stopped dropping off on our corner. They pull up, idle to say goodbye or whatever and meanwhile cars are to pass and then yup there’s another GDS car. And yes, it’s GDS parents. The cars have the magnets and the kids get out and walk west on Ellicott.

Drop off on that side of Wisconsin is explicitly allowed under the agreement with the ANC.

Families are dropping off on 41st St. which is not allowed.

It's allowed. Look at the map.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does the ANC derive the authority to ask for/enforce this cap?

The cap was part of the zoning order with the permit application when the GDS high school, and later the full school, moved into the neighborhood. The cap is the cap and it is there for safety reasons, ie fire marshall/building codes etc - so if GDS was in violation, it isn't necessarily for neighborhood traffic that is an issue, but rather how many people (staff, faculty, students) are in the space physically.

And if I were a member of the GDS community, I would be concerned that the school wasn't managing this properly.

The ANC is not the bad guy here.

It’s not there for fire safety reasons. Carpool lines are not plugging up for hydrants or resi blocks. They are on campus winding around 1.

If GDS signed a voluntary agreement with the ANC(which is different vs the zoning agreement) and choose to ignore it. GDS’s leadership is at fault. The HOS admits that many of the GDS parents do not use the agreed to drop offline and he refuses to police those parents. This “dispute” shows the incompetence of the school administration given that the ANC agreement is tied to the Zoning Agreement’s cap size increase. All the school had to do was count cars at the drop offline, report it the ANC and remove the parents who can not comply.

I have never heard of a school giving the finger to the community, ANC, zoning board, DC Department of a Transportation, etc. It is bizarre behavior for a HOS or school administration. No other school has this self caused problem. The HOS needs to step up and show the bad actor parents the door. GDS has a waiting list.

All false.

Go generate falsities somewhere else ANC volunteer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does the ANC derive the authority to ask for/enforce this cap?

The school and ANC have an official agreement in place. Kinda crummy that the school was ignoring it. Will tuition need to increase substantially to compensate for lower enrollment numbers?

The school was NOT ignoring it. It was based on an estimate of annual attrition that turned out to be wrong when fewer families left the school than in the past.

yes attrition and yield model were wrong last two years (as they were almost at every private school and many colleges). And the prior CFO forgot to report to the ANC the numbers. He left last summer and the error in not reporting was discovered. And then the ANC went to DEFCON-5 and got very nasty w/ GDS at that now comical meeting where the ANC embarrassed themselves.

GDS is either incompetent or willful negligent…most likely both. All the other schools face these same issues and agreements but are able to live by the spirit and letter of their agreements. GDS need to clean house starting with the HoS and working your way down to the parents who refuse to abide by the term and conditions(including parking and drop off) of the school contract.

Getting your yield right is a basic competency of a private school. If you get it wrong a few years in a row you should get fired.

Try again ANC rep, your nasty tone and falsities keep giving away your true colors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does the ANC derive the authority to ask for/enforce this cap?

The cap was part of the zoning order with the permit application when the GDS high school, and later the full school, moved into the neighborhood. The cap is the cap and it is there for safety reasons, ie fire marshall/building codes etc - so if GDS was in violation, it isn't necessarily for neighborhood traffic that is an issue, but rather how many people (staff, faculty, students) are in the space physically.

And if I were a member of the GDS community, I would be concerned that the school wasn't managing this properly.

The ANC is not the bad guy here.

The ANC isn't the bad guy because enforcing a neighborhood agreement is reasonable, but it's not for fire safety reasons. The agreement contemplates the cap increasing over time, which wouldn't be possible if it was truly related to safety (and the anc has nothing to do with fire safety).

As someone who lives at 41st and Ellicott, it would great if GDS parents stopped dropping off on our corner. They pull up, idle to say goodbye or whatever and meanwhile cars are to pass and then yup there’s another GDS car. And yes, it’s GDS parents. The cars have the magnets and the kids get out and walk west on Ellicott.

Yup and get over it. We drop our kids off. We go to work. We pay taxes. We even live in these neighborhoods. Stop being such a tatle tale. Does it really bother you that much or are you just jealous your kid has to walk to Jackson Reed and get a public education.

Nice impersonation ANC.

Next time instead of posting 6 nasty posts in a row within 5 mins, spread them out a couple hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not a current GDS family, but I suspect people are dropping off blocks from the school because the school has a carpool policy that prohibits you from dropping off just one kid (this was an attempt to reduce the traffic and make the neighborhood a little less congested). We learned about this in the admissions process. That said, it sounds like parents have found workarounds/loopholes to avoid the rule - which is essentially making the congestion worse because now people are just stopping blocks from the school and making several choke points. Sounds like bad carpool process.

Instead of hypothesizing about “choke points all over town”, go look for them and send in your photos.

We live there and drive to other schools and two employers; there isn’t a problem in the morning. Anywhere. And if gds is anything like our 8am start private school, drop offs are super easy and fast. Pick up lines on the other hand, are less of a joy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does the ANC derive the authority to ask for/enforce this cap?

The cap was part of the zoning order with the permit application when the GDS high school, and later the full school, moved into the neighborhood. The cap is the cap and it is there for safety reasons, ie fire marshall/building codes etc - so if GDS was in violation, it isn't necessarily for neighborhood traffic that is an issue, but rather how many people (staff, faculty, students) are in the space physically.

And if I were a member of the GDS community, I would be concerned that the school wasn't managing this properly.

The ANC is not the bad guy here.

It’s not there for fire safety reasons. Carpool lines are not plugging up for hydrants or resi blocks. They are on campus winding around 1.

If GDS signed a voluntary agreement with the ANC(which is different vs the zoning agreement) and choose to ignore it. GDS’s leadership is at fault. The HOS admits that many of the GDS parents do not use the agreed to drop offline and he refuses to police those parents. This “dispute” shows the incompetence of the school administration given that the ANC agreement is tied to the Zoning Agreement’s cap size increase. All the school had to do was count cars at the drop offline, report it the ANC and remove the parents who can not comply.

I have never heard of a school giving the finger to the community, ANC, zoning board, DC Department of a Transportation, etc. It is bizarre behavior for a HOS or school administration. No other school has this self caused problem. The HOS needs to step up and show the bad actor parents the door. GDS has a waiting list.

All false.

Go generate falsities somewhere else ANC volunteer.

Lol sure The quicker the HOS is sacked the quicker this “problem” goes away. He seems to piss everyone off.

[Anonymous]

No he doesn’t. Where do you fabricate this stuff from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what can kids only apply to 10 schools at gds?

Yup - parents of senior. We only found this out in junior year launch meeting with parents. Was never disclosed prior.

UC schools count as one school no matter how many applied to; and UK UCAS schools count as one. UC's have gotten very hard since UCs are uniquely focused on AP courses and weighted GPA and GDS dropped AP courses so current class was basically shut out of UCLA/UCB with one or maybe two exceptions (and those used to be reliable admits 3 years ago)

So those ways around 10 cap dont help as much. Some folks dont want to go to UK schools - though UK/Canada/Ireland very popular this year

No other school in DC/NYC/LA/SF caps at 10. Some cap at 15. 10 is unheard of. Parents in lower grades should complain - many senior parents are complaining now but the complaints last year fell on deaf ears.

In the school's defense, they say that it helps the middle of the pack kid because the top 10-20% of the class doesnt blanket 15 of the to p15 schools. That might have been true 5 years ago but now that apps everywhere have doubled in 3-5 years, GDS 10 cap hasnt kept pace

If you believe this is mostly an odds/lottery ticket game where it's key to have 2-3 safeties (and school insists on 3 safeties for most) and 4 true targets, then you are left w/ 3 reaches. I can easily argue with so many current seniors getting wiped out at targets this year that the old math no longer works

Good luck getting anything but happy horsesh*t from GDS admin and CCO when raising objections to this.