Mary Cheh's letter about school boundaries

[Anonymous]

But if the kids from Eaton and Hearst "get flushed" Deal gets a lot closer to the "all-white middle school". "Flushing" those particular schools plays right into the "all white" school that you describe. JKLM (and Mary Cheh) are probably strategizing to offer up those exact Ward 3 schools as some sort of bogus concession when it is exactly what they want to happen. Not enough Ward 3 parents in those schools for Mary Cheh to care about them but that may not be well known throughout the system. To the EOTP schools, they seem like two more upper NW ward 3 schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
But if the kids from Eaton and Hearst "get flushed" Deal gets a lot closer to the "all-white middle school". "Flushing" those particular schools plays right into the "all white" school that you describe. JKLM (and Mary Cheh) are probably strategizing to offer up those exact Ward 3 schools as some sort of bogus concession when it is exactly what they want to happen. Not enough Ward 3 parents in those schools for Mary Cheh to care about them but that may not be well known throughout the system. To the EOTP schools, they seem like two more upper NW ward 3 schools.

Good point. But the starting point is more obvious: no more OB students at overcrowded schools, more/ better schools where those OB students live. The rest is demagogy.

[Anonymous]

Hearst is about to begin their renovations.....that neighborhood alone will never fill it to capacity. I guess the plan will be the OOB kids will just go to their neighborhood Middle and that will free up space at Deal and then Deal will hold a lottery if they have extra space. I guess that will work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Cheh is setting up a study to tell us all what we already know - that the system we have of sending as many kids as possible to the too-few successful middle schools from all corners of the District is not a great long-term strategy.

Then, study in hand, she can move forward toward rationalizing the boundaries in a way that best suits her Ward, pointing toward the study, not her Ward's preferences, as justification. This ain't new. Anybody here ever work on the Hill?

Perhaps this is a move toward a more rational, logical policy for the District, but I doubt it is best for the kids at the time it is implemented. I know Ms. Cheh might feel sorry for the kids who don't get to go to high-functioning middle schools, but in the end she is looking out for the Ward she represents.

My alternative is this: once there's a comparably successful middle school for kids to attend, you can change the feeder patterns. Until then, we continue with the ugly-looking system we've got. Keep the pressure on the west-of-the-Park wards to have them participate in development of a better system. Don't just allow them to opt into their own self-contained school ecosystem.

You don't understand Mary Cheh. She is absolutely terrified, frozen to the point of paralysis, of doing anything that might be seen as advocating for her ward. More likely is an outcome where she bends over backwards and agrees to something that makes no sense at all to avoid any appearance of disadvantaging the rest of the city. I think we're more likely to see southern Ward 3 moved out of Deal (and Wilson) than any areas EOTP.

That would be "a good thing."

...and why would this be a good thing?

And which high school would "southern Ward 3" attend?

[Anonymous]

What I would like to to see is for all council members to put on the table their priority of criteria for school districting.

We are all speaking in a lot of code. Many people seem to believe their kids can only benefit from a like minded, generally racially the same, high achieving cohort and thus those kids should be from that neighborhood. None of us say yes I want my kids to go to school with struggling kids, but how we define success, secretly in most of our hearts are people like us.

But if you are a policy maker you need to think more broadly, that needs to be stated. A little bravery and thought in our politicians would be appreciated.