MacFarland Middle & Roosevelt High - Status?

[Anonymous]

What's different about the MacFarland that will open in 2017 as a neighborhood option and the MacFarland that closed in 2013 (?) due to underenrollment? Seems like there are even more charter schools now drawing students away from MacFarland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's different about the MacFarland that will open in 2017 as a neighborhood option and the MacFarland that closed in 2013 (?) due to underenrollment? Seems like there are even more charter schools now drawing students away from MacFarland.

It's going to have a dual language track -- that didn't exist before.

They are starting the school with that -- 62 6th graders admitted for that next fall, before the rest of the school opens.

[Anonymous]

Article on the closing of Roosevelt, with discussion of MacFarland and the surrounding neighborhood -- http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/45392/rough-ride-roosevelt-high-school/

Only 7% of the public school children from MacFarland's boundary were actually attending MacFarland.

Finally, some families simply cheat by listing a relative’s address or even renting a basement apartment in boundary for Deal and Wilson, says Jeff Steele, who founded and runs DC Urban Moms and Dads, the leading online discussion forum for local school issues. “Drawing school boundaries isn’t just like drawing voting boundaries,” says Steele, whose lives not far from Roosevelt but whose children attend Deal and a charter school. “If they told me to vote somewhere else, I would. If they told us, ‘Go to Roosevelt,’ we just wouldn’t go.”

The abundance of options for D.C. families highlights “the benefit and the cost of choice,” says Cathy Reilly, a Ward 4 resident and executive director of the Senior High Alliance of Parents, Principals, and Educators, an education advocacy coalition that’s met monthly since 1998. “We’ve adopted a philosophy of, ‘If you don’t like it, leave.’ When I was growing up, it was, ‘If you don’t like it, how can you make it better?’”

She adds, “I have the right to go to Deal and Wilson, and I live less than a mile from Roosevelt.” This system has likely been a boon for neighborhoods like 16th Street Heights, attracting families who wanted to send their kids to those west-of-the-park schools, but a curse for Roosevelt, depriving it of needed students. The area whose residents are entitled to attend Wilson now consumes nearly half the city, and Wilson’s enrollment tops 1,700 students. Roosevelt’s enrollment is barely a quarter of that.

In the words of one person from the article, how can we shift from an attitude of "If you don’t like it, leave," back to an attitude of "If you don’t like it, how can you make it better?"? Or have most people just decided it's DCPS's responsibility to make things better, and we'll just abandon DCPS until after the schools somehow transform without us?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's different about the MacFarland that will open in 2017 as a neighborhood option and the MacFarland that closed in 2013 (?) due to underenrollment? Seems like there are even more charter schools now drawing students away from MacFarland.

It's going to have a dual language track -- that didn't exist before.

They are starting the school with that -- 62 6th graders admitted for that next fall, before the rest of the school opens.

So if MacFarland can attract roughly 65 students in 6th, 7th, and 8th to a dual language program, that's a little less than 200 dual language students. How many additional students do people expect to come from the neighborhood feeders? The school's capacity is 610, IIRC. Surely 400 more won't come from the neighborhood feeders, will they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's different about the MacFarland that will open in 2017 as a neighborhood option and the MacFarland that closed in 2013 (?) due to underenrollment? Seems like there are even more charter schools now drawing students away from MacFarland.

It's going to have a dual language track -- that didn't exist before.

They are starting the school with that -- 62 6th graders admitted for that next fall, before the rest of the school opens.

So if MacFarland can attract roughly 65 students in 6th, 7th, and 8th to a dual language program, that's a little less than 200 dual language students. How many additional students do people expect to come from the neighborhood feeders? The school's capacity is 610, IIRC. Surely 400 more won't come from the neighborhood feeders, will they?

There are 6 neighborhood feeders - so if 20-22 come from each, in addition to the dual language students, they would be fully enrolled.

IT's not like they will be able to stay at the ECs and there are only so many charter middle school seats available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's different about the MacFarland that will open in 2017 as a neighborhood option and the MacFarland that closed in 2013 (?) due to underenrollment? Seems like there are even more charter schools now drawing students away from MacFarland.

It's going to have a dual language track -- that didn't exist before.

They are starting the school with that -- 62 6th graders admitted for that next fall, before the rest of the school opens.

So if MacFarland can attract roughly 65 students in 6th, 7th, and 8th to a dual language program, that's a little less than 200 dual language students. How many additional students do people expect to come from the neighborhood feeders? The school's capacity is 610, IIRC. Surely 400 more won't come from the neighborhood feeders, will they?

Perhaps not right away, but if it takes off well, I'd expect some to enroll who were previously in charter schools, some OOB who like their other options less. And growing numbers from the feeder schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Article on the closing of Roosevelt, with discussion of MacFarland and the surrounding neighborhood -- http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/45392/rough-ride-roosevelt-high-school/

Only 7% of the public school children from MacFarland's boundary were actually attending MacFarland.

Finally, some families simply cheat by listing a relative’s address or even renting a basement apartment in boundary for Deal and Wilson, says Jeff Steele, who founded and runs DC Urban Moms and Dads, the leading online discussion forum for local school issues. “Drawing school boundaries isn’t just like drawing voting boundaries,” says Steele, whose lives not far from Roosevelt but whose children attend Deal and a charter school. “If they told me to vote somewhere else, I would. If they told us, ‘Go to Roosevelt,’ we just wouldn’t go.”

The abundance of options for D.C. families highlights “the benefit and the cost of choice,” says Cathy Reilly, a Ward 4 resident and executive director of the Senior High Alliance of Parents, Principals, and Educators, an education advocacy coalition that’s met monthly since 1998. “We’ve adopted a philosophy of, ‘If you don’t like it, leave.’ When I was growing up, it was, ‘If you don’t like it, how can you make it better?’”

She adds, “I have the right to go to Deal and Wilson, and I live less than a mile from Roosevelt.” This system has likely been a boon for neighborhoods like 16th Street Heights, attracting families who wanted to send their kids to those west-of-the-park schools, but a curse for Roosevelt, depriving it of needed students. The area whose residents are entitled to attend Wilson now consumes nearly half the city, and Wilson’s enrollment tops 1,700 students. Roosevelt’s enrollment is barely a quarter of that.

In the words of one person from the article, how can we shift from an attitude of "If you don’t like it, leave," back to an attitude of "If you don’t like it, how can you make it better?"? Or have most people just decided it's DCPS's responsibility to make things better, and we'll just abandon DCPS until after the schools somehow transform without us?

I miss Catania

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's different about the MacFarland that will open in 2017 as a neighborhood option and the MacFarland that closed in 2013 (?) due to underenrollment? Seems like there are even more charter schools now drawing students away from MacFarland.

It's going to have a dual language track -- that didn't exist before.

They are starting the school with that -- 62 6th graders admitted for that next fall, before the rest of the school opens.

So if MacFarland can attract roughly 65 students in 6th, 7th, and 8th to a dual language program, that's a little less than 200 dual language students. How many additional students do people expect to come from the neighborhood feeders? The school's capacity is 610, IIRC. Surely 400 more won't come from the neighborhood feeders, will they?

Yes, they will. That batch of schools doesn't get talked about here and it is hard to disaggregate the enrollment data because three(?) of the feeders are EC's, but there are more than enough kids to fill MacFarland, assuming that DCPS doesn't completely drop the ball. Most of the kids that are overstuffing Deal and Wilson live in this area as well. Peel off a few families here and there that might seek an alternative to the mega-school concept and then the whole enterprise becomes useful to everyone. The odds are still pretty long, but at least there is something like a road map in place.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Article on the closing of Roosevelt, with discussion of MacFarland and the surrounding neighborhood -- http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/45392/rough-ride-roosevelt-high-school/

Only 7% of the public school children from MacFarland's boundary were actually attending MacFarland.

Finally, some families simply cheat by listing a relative’s address or even renting a basement apartment in boundary for Deal and Wilson, says Jeff Steele, who founded and runs DC Urban Moms and Dads, the leading online discussion forum for local school issues. “Drawing school boundaries isn’t just like drawing voting boundaries,” says Steele, whose lives not far from Roosevelt but whose children attend Deal and a charter school. “If they told me to vote somewhere else, I would. If they told us, ‘Go to Roosevelt,’ we just wouldn’t go.”

In the words of one person from the article, how can we shift from an attitude of "If you don’t like it, leave," back to an attitude of "If you don’t like it, how can you make it better?"? Or have most people just decided it's DCPS's responsibility to make things better, and we'll just abandon DCPS until after the schools somehow transform without us?

That article was published over two years ago. In case anyone is wondering, we were reassigned to Roosevelt and don't have plans for our kids to attend (one is already at Wilson and the other in the Wilson feeder path). I don't think anyone in the neighborhood will be attending for the foreseeable future. MacFarland may fare somewhat better, but that remains to be seen.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Article on the closing of Roosevelt, with discussion of MacFarland and the surrounding neighborhood -- http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/45392/rough-ride-roosevelt-high-school/

Only 7% of the public school children from MacFarland's boundary were actually attending MacFarland.

Finally, some families simply cheat by listing a relative’s address or even renting a basement apartment in boundary for Deal and Wilson, says Jeff Steele, who founded and runs DC Urban Moms and Dads, the leading online discussion forum for local school issues. “Drawing school boundaries isn’t just like drawing voting boundaries,” says Steele, whose lives not far from Roosevelt but whose children attend Deal and a charter school. “If they told me to vote somewhere else, I would. If they told us, ‘Go to Roosevelt,’ we just wouldn’t go.”

In the words of one person from the article, how can we shift from an attitude of "If you don’t like it, leave," back to an attitude of "If you don’t like it, how can you make it better?"? Or have most people just decided it's DCPS's responsibility to make things better, and we'll just abandon DCPS until after the schools somehow transform without us?

That article was published over two years ago. In case anyone is wondering, we were reassigned to Roosevelt and don't have plans for our kids to attend (one is already at Wilson and the other in the Wilson feeder path). I don't think anyone in the neighborhood will be attending for the foreseeable future. MacFarland may fare somewhat better, but that remains to be seen.

That'd probably be true even if the neighborhood wasn't grandfathered into the Wilson feeder pattern for the foreseeable future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

agreed but that high SES PS enrollment is still not evident past 1st grade at these schools. It will take 10-15 years to have a solid high SES cohort of kids from these feeders who would attend McFarland. Minimum 10-15 years. Look at Cap hill and their middle school delimma. They have multiple options and the parents with options get the eff out by 4th grade to find a charter.

Capitol Hill is a different situation because there are multiple middle schools that spread families out. Cap Hill activists have been asking for years for all of the up and coming schools to feed to one MS. What the Cap Hill parents are asking for is more or less what DCPS is doing with MacFarland, especially the dual language side.

Also I think for the dual language feeders you are underestimating the number of "high SES" parents staying past 1st.

[calexander]

I had a peek inside the new Roosevelt HS atrium for a MacFarland Community Cabinet meeting last night. The small portion of the building that we saw last night is certainly gorgeous. Now, the hard work begins.

A few small updates:

MacFarland has met its enrollment target for the dual language program which will open in August (the full comprehensive MS will open in three years in the renovated MacFarland space).

DCPS has flipped back and forth on this, but the final decision was to co-locate the MacFarland Dual Language students in the Roosevelt building for the next two years. MS and HS students will have classes on different floors and have limited sharing of special rooms (music, art, etc.). The bell schedule is under consideration but has not been finalized.

Incoming parents will decide (soon?) if the school will be uniform or non-uniform.

One last note: the school principals Ms. James and Mr. Sanders are interested in community feedback on "branding" for MacFarland in an effort to promote inclusion among the extremely diverse community. For signage, marketing materials, etc., should the school name be shown as "MacFarland Middle School", "MacFarland Middle School / Escuela Secundaria" or something else? Note: "MacFarland" has to stay.

Have a great weekend!

Christopher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the schools that would be cut out of MacFarland under this plan?

Why would you feed Shepherd there and not Whittier, Brightwood or Takoma - all of which are closer.

They could all feed there. It would be the Alice Deal for that entire area. They key is that I'm crediting Shepherd Bancroft and Powell with being strong feeder schools based on their reputations. They are the ones that will ensure MacFarland has a good base to start, and isn't treated as a school of last resort. Those neighborhoods have strong spirit and bragging rights to activism and diversity, so I think they have the strength to pull it off. The question is whether they have the courage to do it.

Ain't gonna happen. No matter how much you want the Brown folk out of Deal. Sorry. Leave to deal with colored folks. You do live in DC you know.

Quit trying to make everything about race. Try focusing on building a school.

The 50 kids that go to Deal each year from Shepherd (45 of which are OOB) are not going to build a middle school.

Nor would their absence make it majority white. Not saying they should be shifted at all, but people overestimate the white population in DCPS.

[Anonymous]

I am confused. What are we branding for those of us who are not in dual language programs? I have yet to hear what programming exists for us. So, what is the community inclusiveness? I think this needs to be figured out first before any branding can happen. Let's not put the cart before the horse.

[calexander]

Anonymous wrote:I am confused. What are we branding for those of us who are not in dual language programs? I have yet to hear what programming exists for us. So, what is the community inclusiveness? I think this needs to be figured out first before any branding can happen. Let's not put the cart before the horse.

It is confusing. We had to ask them three different ways before I thought I understood the question.

Basically, they want to know how they should refer to the school as they are building it out. They also don't want to have to change it again in a few years.

I am fairly certain they realize they are in a tough spot competitively. Folks have LOTS of options in that neighborhood and they are accustomed to utilizing them. My guess is they want to nail this detail down to help them "tell the story" as they put things together over the next two years.