When will Hardy Middle School be as attractive as Deal Middle School?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uh, lots of kids at Deal get cut after tryouts for sports cause there are not enough spots for interested students. For high school I understand that but in middle school most students should be accommodated If they have the interest. Just too many kids. And if my athletic Hardy kid wants to play a sport that is not offered at Hardy he will try out for the deal team because that is permissible. And I would add that school sports are not the gold standard anymore. It's all about leagues and travel teams now. And finally, the mayor and chancellor made a big deal about how they were investing in all middle schools this upcoming school year to increase sport offerings. Anyway, not sure sports is the best argument why Deal is great and Hardy is not.

Then you would think that Hardy would expand its sports offerings to compete with Deal in these circumstances.

Not.

The year I spent listening to the Hardy principal when our DC was an IB feeder 5th grader, and then as the smiling head-nodding "current parent" to other IB feeder 5th grade parents, she just kept comparing the Hardy schedule, size, clubs etc to Deal. She is an excellent sales person. In reality we were experiencing horrible mediocrity and expectations to rise to... mediocrity. The only exception is that Hardy has just as many (may even have had more) District-wide overall and division science fair winners as Deal even though the student body is far smaller. Of course I never actually heard that from the principal herself or read about it in her endless self-absorbed "Middle School Moments" (usually about her sons who attend a private boys school - the last one was about buying her son's last blue blazer and tuxedo for prom - how many Hardy families will be BUYING a tuxedo for their 17yo?!). Anyway, there is a mile-long list of reasons why sports cannot be added or clubs or courses. The school finally added a student council midway through this academic year and a new 7th grade English teacher who started in January is organizing a play for the first time. Maybe a yearbook or student newspaper might happen at some point (or...not).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uh, lots of kids at Deal get cut after tryouts for sports cause there are not enough spots for interested students. For high school I understand that but in middle school most students should be accommodated If they have the interest. Just too many kids. And if my athletic Hardy kid wants to play a sport that is not offered at Hardy he will try out for the deal team because that is permissible. And I would add that school sports are not the gold standard anymore. It's all about leagues and travel teams now. And finally, the mayor and chancellor made a big deal about how they were investing in all middle schools this upcoming school year to increase sport offerings. Anyway, not sure sports is the best argument why Deal is great and Hardy is not.

Then you would think that Hardy would expand its sports offerings to compete with Deal in these circumstances.

Not.

The year I spent listening to the Hardy principal when our DC was an IB feeder 5th grader, and then as the smiling head-nodding "current parent" to other IB feeder 5th grade parents, she just kept comparing the Hardy schedule, size, clubs etc to Deal. She is an excellent sales person. In reality we were experiencing horrible mediocrity and expectations to rise to... mediocrity. The only exception is that Hardy has just as many (may even have had more) District-wide overall and division science fair winners as Deal even though the student body is far smaller. Of course I never actually heard that from the principal herself or read about it in her endless self-absorbed "Middle School Moments" (usually about her sons who attend a private boys school - the last one was about buying her son's last blue blazer and tuxedo for prom - how many Hardy families will be BUYING a tuxedo for their 17yo?!). Anyway, there is a mile-long list of reasons why sports cannot be added or clubs or courses. The school finally added a student council midway through this academic year and a new 7th grade English teacher who started in January is organizing a play for the first time. Maybe a yearbook or student newspaper might happen at some point (or...not).

^^^Meant to clarify - mile-long list of reasons/EXCUSES why clubs and sports are not added. And principal comparing Hardy to deal in a way that totally tried to disparage Deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just saw a letter that Jenny Niles sent to Mary Cheh about Ward 3 crowding. There's a lot of good stuff in it, I'll probably post on it in detail later, but it did have population figures from the Office of Planning.

Ward 3, Under-18 Population:
2010 (1) 8,629
2015 (2) 11,419
2020 (3) 12,727
2025 (3) 14,026

(1) Actual from the 2010 census
(2) Estimate from the US Census
(3) Office of Planning projection

These are the 2017 projections. Note that past projections have under-estimated the growth of the school-age population in Ward 3.

Why then does DCPS not reduce out of boundary school enrollment in Ward 3 schools? DC politics??

So we're not seeing a blip.

Why then does DCPS not reduce out of boundary school enrollment in Ward 3 schools? DC politics??

In a word? Yes.

In another? Duh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Agreed. Deal is a good school, not a great school and at some point (which I think happened about 200 students ago) the law of diminishing returns kicks in. Having a middle school with 1500+ kids is not ideal. At first, the big student body works because it yields lots of per-pupil $ which means you can have all sorts of clubs and electives and sports and activities. Great. But then you also have the problems that really big schools have. The team model that Deal uses to try and make a big school feel small it admirable and creative but it's still a gargantuan school where the staff can't possibly know ever kid. In middle school, I think that is precisely the time when children need to know that they are known.

I just looked up the enrollment forecasts for MoCo middle schools for 17-18 and Westland and Pyle are both over 1500. Hardy is our MS and friends and DH keep saying we should rent a house in Bethesda for the MS years. I agree that DCPS is sliding backwards and the days of a Fenty-like mayor trying to make DC a viable alternative to MoCo are over and likely will never return. But i can't see that such a huge school size anywhere will help with the problems we have seen with Hardy and a teach-to-the-middle mentality. And my ES-age kids have been commenting on the endless drilling by their teachers for PARCC / the school is anxious to keeps its high scores. (I would not be be surprised to see some of the local real estate agents underwriting the math club aimed at coaching kids who scored 4s who could reach a 5 with extra tutoring. Houses in our 'hood have multiple offers after one day - but then their kids have to face Hardy.)

It wasn't Fenty who cared about the schools, it was the Chair of the Education Committee - David Catania. DC is still racist and voted Bowwow Mayor (well, she did have the D next to her name and many people only vote reflexively). Catania was an Independent. He was much better on schools (Bowwow is already raping the schools with her new budget), but he's gay and white and couldn't win against the DC machine. As a result, the schools are going downhill. We got what we deserved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uh, lots of kids at Deal get cut after tryouts for sports cause there are not enough spots for interested students. For high school I understand that but in middle school most students should be accommodated If they have the interest. Just too many kids. And if my athletic Hardy kid wants to play a sport that is not offered at Hardy he will try out for the deal team because that is permissible. And I would add that school sports are not the gold standard anymore. It's all about leagues and travel teams now. And finally, the mayor and chancellor made a big deal about how they were investing in all middle schools this upcoming school year to increase sport offerings. Anyway, not sure sports is the best argument why Deal is great and Hardy is not.

Then you would think that Hardy would expand its sports offerings to compete with Deal in these circumstances.

Not.

The year I spent listening to the Hardy principal when our DC was an IB feeder 5th grader, and then as the smiling head-nodding "current parent" to other IB feeder 5th grade parents, she just kept comparing the Hardy schedule, size, clubs etc to Deal. She is an excellent sales person. In reality we were experiencing horrible mediocrity and expectations to rise to... mediocrity. The only exception is that Hardy has just as many (may even have had more) District-wide overall and division science fair winners as Deal even though the student body is far smaller. Of course I never actually heard that from the principal herself or read about it in her endless self-absorbed "Middle School Moments" (usually about her sons who attend a private boys school - the last one was about buying her son's last blue blazer and tuxedo for prom - how many Hardy families will be BUYING a tuxedo for their 17yo?!). Anyway, there is a mile-long list of reasons why sports cannot be added or clubs or courses. The school finally added a student council midway through this academic year and a new 7th grade English teacher who started in January is organizing a play for the first time. Maybe a yearbook or student newspaper might happen at some point (or...not).

The part about the play is really sad. Hardy has a kick-ass theater, a lot of schools would kill for it. I had no idea they didn't use it for plays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uh, lots of kids at Deal get cut after tryouts for sports cause there are not enough spots for interested students. For high school I understand that but in middle school most students should be accommodated If they have the interest. Just too many kids. And if my athletic Hardy kid wants to play a sport that is not offered at Hardy he will try out for the deal team because that is permissible. And I would add that school sports are not the gold standard anymore. It's all about leagues and travel teams now. And finally, the mayor and chancellor made a big deal about how they were investing in all middle schools this upcoming school year to increase sport offerings. Anyway, not sure sports is the best argument why Deal is great and Hardy is not.

Then you would think that Hardy would expand its sports offerings to compete with Deal in these circumstances.

Not.

The year I spent listening to the Hardy principal when our DC was an IB feeder 5th grader, and then as the smiling head-nodding "current parent" to other IB feeder 5th grade parents, she just kept comparing the Hardy schedule, size, clubs etc to Deal. She is an excellent sales person. In reality we were experiencing horrible mediocrity and expectations to rise to... mediocrity. The only exception is that Hardy has just as many (may even have had more) District-wide overall and division science fair winners as Deal even though the student body is far smaller. Of course I never actually heard that from the principal herself or read about it in her endless self-absorbed "Middle School Moments" (usually about her sons who attend a private boys school - the last one was about buying her son's last blue blazer and tuxedo for prom - how many Hardy families will be BUYING a tuxedo for their 17yo?!). Anyway, there is a mile-long list of reasons why sports cannot be added or clubs or courses. The school finally added a student council midway through this academic year and a new 7th grade English teacher who started in January is organizing a play for the first time. Maybe a yearbook or student newspaper might happen at some point (or...not).

The part about the play is really sad. Hardy has a kick-ass theater, a lot of schools would kill for it. I had no idea they didn't use it for plays.

I can see a middle school not having a newspaper, but not having a yearbook? That's a little sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uh, lots of kids at Deal get cut after tryouts for sports cause there are not enough spots for interested students. For high school I understand that but in middle school most students should be accommodated If they have the interest. Just too many kids. And if my athletic Hardy kid wants to play a sport that is not offered at Hardy he will try out for the deal team because that is permissible. And I would add that school sports are not the gold standard anymore. It's all about leagues and travel teams now. And finally, the mayor and chancellor made a big deal about how they were investing in all middle schools this upcoming school year to increase sport offerings. Anyway, not sure sports is the best argument why Deal is great and Hardy is not.

Then you would think that Hardy would expand its sports offerings to compete with Deal in these circumstances.

Not.

The year I spent listening to the Hardy principal when our DC was an IB feeder 5th grader, and then as the smiling head-nodding "current parent" to other IB feeder 5th grade parents, she just kept comparing the Hardy schedule, size, clubs etc to Deal. She is an excellent sales person. In reality we were experiencing horrible mediocrity and expectations to rise to... mediocrity. The only exception is that Hardy has just as many (may even have had more) District-wide overall and division science fair winners as Deal even though the student body is far smaller. Of course I never actually heard that from the principal herself or read about it in her endless self-absorbed "Middle School Moments" (usually about her sons who attend a private boys school - the last one was about buying her son's last blue blazer and tuxedo for prom - how many Hardy families will be BUYING a tuxedo for their 17yo?!). Anyway, there is a mile-long list of reasons why sports cannot be added or clubs or courses. The school finally added a student council midway through this academic year and a new 7th grade English teacher who started in January is organizing a play for the first time. Maybe a yearbook or student newspaper might happen at some point (or...not).

The part about the play is really sad. Hardy has a kick-ass theater, a lot of schools would kill for it. I had no idea they didn't use it for plays.

I can see a middle school not having a newspaper, but not having a yearbook? That's a little sad.

My view is the opposite, if forced to choose. A school newspaper is a great opportunity for kids, including for improving writing skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uh, lots of kids at Deal get cut after tryouts for sports cause there are not enough spots for interested students. For high school I understand that but in middle school most students should be accommodated If they have the interest. Just too many kids. And if my athletic Hardy kid wants to play a sport that is not offered at Hardy he will try out for the deal team because that is permissible. And I would add that school sports are not the gold standard anymore. It's all about leagues and travel teams now. And finally, the mayor and chancellor made a big deal about how they were investing in all middle schools this upcoming school year to increase sport offerings. Anyway, not sure sports is the best argument why Deal is great and Hardy is not.

Then you would think that Hardy would expand its sports offerings to compete with Deal in these circumstances.

Not.

The year I spent listening to the Hardy principal when our DC was an IB feeder 5th grader, and then as the smiling head-nodding "current parent" to other IB feeder 5th grade parents, she just kept comparing the Hardy schedule, size, clubs etc to Deal. She is an excellent sales person. In reality we were experiencing horrible mediocrity and expectations to rise to... mediocrity. The only exception is that Hardy has just as many (may even have had more) District-wide overall and division science fair winners as Deal even though the student body is far smaller. Of course I never actually heard that from the principal herself or read about it in her endless self-absorbed "Middle School Moments" (usually about her sons who attend a private boys school - the last one was about buying her son's last blue blazer and tuxedo for prom - how many Hardy families will be BUYING a tuxedo for their 17yo?!). Anyway, there is a mile-long list of reasons why sports cannot be added or clubs or courses. The school finally added a student council midway through this academic year and a new 7th grade English teacher who started in January is organizing a play for the first time. Maybe a yearbook or student newspaper might happen at some point (or...not).

The part about the play is really sad. Hardy has a kick-ass theater, a lot of schools would kill for it. I had no idea they didn't use it for plays.

The question then is whether Hardy would truly enhance its athletic program if it got usage rights to the Jelleff field. Or is Jelleff just an excuse?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uh, lots of kids at Deal get cut after tryouts for sports cause there are not enough spots for interested students. For high school I understand that but in middle school most students should be accommodated If they have the interest. Just too many kids. And if my athletic Hardy kid wants to play a sport that is not offered at Hardy he will try out for the deal team because that is permissible. And I would add that school sports are not the gold standard anymore. It's all about leagues and travel teams now. And finally, the mayor and chancellor made a big deal about how they were investing in all middle schools this upcoming school year to increase sport offerings. Anyway, not sure sports is the best argument why Deal is great and Hardy is not.

Then you would think that Hardy would expand its sports offerings to compete with Deal in these circumstances.

Not.

The year I spent listening to the Hardy principal when our DC was an IB feeder 5th grader, and then as the smiling head-nodding "current parent" to other IB feeder 5th grade parents, she just kept comparing the Hardy schedule, size, clubs etc to Deal. She is an excellent sales person. In reality we were experiencing horrible mediocrity and expectations to rise to... mediocrity. The only exception is that Hardy has just as many (may even have had more) District-wide overall and division science fair winners as Deal even though the student body is far smaller. Of course I never actually heard that from the principal herself or read about it in her endless self-absorbed "Middle School Moments" (usually about her sons who attend a private boys school - the last one was about buying her son's last blue blazer and tuxedo for prom - how many Hardy families will be BUYING a tuxedo for their 17yo?!). Anyway, there is a mile-long list of reasons why sports cannot be added or clubs or courses. The school finally added a student council midway through this academic year and a new 7th grade English teacher who started in January is organizing a play for the first time. Maybe a yearbook or student newspaper might happen at some point (or...not).

The science fair highlights one of the huge drawbacks of Deal's size: for every such event or competition, Deal is only allowed to send the same number of kids as every other school, even though Deal is the size of 4 or 5 of them. So if a school can send 4 kids to an event, you have a 1:25 chance at Hardy and a 1:125 chance at Deal. Same with sports teams. The coaches say they could field 2 or 3 competitive teams, but are only allowed to have one. This city is unbalanced and it is hurting kids everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uh, lots of kids at Deal get cut after tryouts for sports cause there are not enough spots for interested students. For high school I understand that but in middle school most students should be accommodated If they have the interest. Just too many kids. And if my athletic Hardy kid wants to play a sport that is not offered at Hardy he will try out for the deal team because that is permissible. And I would add that school sports are not the gold standard anymore. It's all about leagues and travel teams now. And finally, the mayor and chancellor made a big deal about how they were investing in all middle schools this upcoming school year to increase sport offerings. Anyway, not sure sports is the best argument why Deal is great and Hardy is not.

Then you would think that Hardy would expand its sports offerings to compete with Deal in these circumstances.

Not.

The year I spent listening to the Hardy principal when our DC was an IB feeder 5th grader, and then as the smiling head-nodding "current parent" to other IB feeder 5th grade parents, she just kept comparing the Hardy schedule, size, clubs etc to Deal. She is an excellent sales person. In reality we were experiencing horrible mediocrity and expectations to rise to... mediocrity. The only exception is that Hardy has just as many (may even have had more) District-wide overall and division science fair winners as Deal even though the student body is far smaller. Of course I never actually heard that from the principal herself or read about it in her endless self-absorbed "Middle School Moments" (usually about her sons who attend a private boys school - the last one was about buying her son's last blue blazer and tuxedo for prom - how many Hardy families will be BUYING a tuxedo for their 17yo?!). Anyway, there is a mile-long list of reasons why sports cannot be added or clubs or courses. The school finally added a student council midway through this academic year and a new 7th grade English teacher who started in January is organizing a play for the first time. Maybe a yearbook or student newspaper might happen at some point (or...not).

The science fair highlights one of the huge drawbacks of Deal's size: for every such event or competition, Deal is only allowed to send the same number of kids as every other school, even though Deal is the size of 4 or 5 of them. So if a school can send 4 kids to an event, you have a 1:25 chance at Hardy and a 1:125 chance at Deal. Same with sports teams. The coaches say they could field 2 or 3 competitive teams, but are only allowed to have one. This city is unbalanced and it is hurting kids everywhere.

I recently heard that Deal has three baseball teams. Is that accurate? I was under the impression that this meant three school teams, but perhaps I misunderstood and the person who told me meant there are three Little League teams of deal kids?

[Anonymous]

Hardy is gradually moving forward with sports. About 3 years ago, the primary boys fall sport was football -- there was no soccer team. That changed a couple years ago and there's now a soccer team. I can see parents previously having crossing off Hardy as an option simply because there was no soccer option -- soccer is a big deal in some families and with some kids. Adding soccer as a regular sport should help with enrollment.

By the way, Hardy does have a field on their large campus and they have a relatively new track around that field, plus an indoor gym, so it's not as though they have nothing. Presumably, the Jelleff field is under the DC parks and recreation umbrella, not DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uh, lots of kids at Deal get cut after tryouts for sports cause there are not enough spots for interested students. For high school I understand that but in middle school most students should be accommodated If they have the interest. Just too many kids. And if my athletic Hardy kid wants to play a sport that is not offered at Hardy he will try out for the deal team because that is permissible. And I would add that school sports are not the gold standard anymore. It's all about leagues and travel teams now. And finally, the mayor and chancellor made a big deal about how they were investing in all middle schools this upcoming school year to increase sport offerings. Anyway, not sure sports is the best argument why Deal is great and Hardy is not.

Then you would think that Hardy would expand its sports offerings to compete with Deal in these circumstances.

Not.

The year I spent listening to the Hardy principal when our DC was an IB feeder 5th grader, and then as the smiling head-nodding "current parent" to other IB feeder 5th grade parents, she just kept comparing the Hardy schedule, size, clubs etc to Deal. She is an excellent sales person. In reality we were experiencing horrible mediocrity and expectations to rise to... mediocrity. The only exception is that Hardy has just as many (may even have had more) District-wide overall and division science fair winners as Deal even though the student body is far smaller. Of course I never actually heard that from the principal herself or read about it in her endless self-absorbed "Middle School Moments" (usually about her sons who attend a private boys school - the last one was about buying her son's last blue blazer and tuxedo for prom - how many Hardy families will be BUYING a tuxedo for their 17yo?!). Anyway, there is a mile-long list of reasons why sports cannot be added or clubs or courses. The school finally added a student council midway through this academic year and a new 7th grade English teacher who started in January is organizing a play for the first time. Maybe a yearbook or student newspaper might happen at some point (or...not).

The science fair highlights one of the huge drawbacks of Deal's size: for every such event or competition, Deal is only allowed to send the same number of kids as every other school, even though Deal is the size of 4 or 5 of them. So if a school can send 4 kids to an event, you have a 1:25 chance at Hardy and a 1:125 chance at Deal. Same with sports teams. The coaches say they could field 2 or 3 competitive teams, but are only allowed to have one. This city is unbalanced and it is hurting kids everywhere.

I recently heard that Deal has three baseball teams. Is that accurate? I was under the impression that this meant three school teams, but perhaps I misunderstood and the person who told me meant there are three Little League teams of deal kids?

Yes there are 3 at Deal - baseball squads A, B and C. That means ~45-54 kids can play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't comment on Hardy but Deal seems to be past the tipping point. It's like survival of the fittest to find a seat at lunch because the cafeteria now has to hold hundreds more students than it was planned for. Some classes are well past 30 students in size. The sports teams are either so competitive to get a spot that many talented kids are cut or the are so poorly organized that its just a frustrating experience. Parents are actively discouraged from scheduling a conference with teachers on conference day because the teachers don't have the bandwidth to meet with all of the parents. Many of the student computers are broken and have not been repaired or replaced. Some of the teachers are good and the curriculum is moderately rigorous (a debatable issue) but the place is really showing the wear and tear of the overcrowding. I don't believe Deal students today have the same experience students did 4-5 years ago.

Hardy parent here. My 7th grader's science, honors math and honors English all have more than 30 students. Social Studies high 20s. Try understanding that when the school is actually underenrolled. Last week DC also had one substitute each day - same substitute, different subject. It was actually an improvement as there have been numerous days with no substitute coverage all so the kids were unsupervised until the gym teacher or an admin stepped in.

These are symptoms of poor management and a lack of leadership and it is time for everyone to thank the principal for getting the school to this point and find a new leader. Our ES has been increasing its IB election to Hardy the last several years, and it looks like a big drop-off for 6th grade

The problem is that DCPS is highly resistant to segregation based on academic competence (colloquially known as "tracking"), combined with an almost singular infatuation with the concept of "equity" (in their world, "equity" means providing as much money as possible to low-income students). So, the prospect of adding honors classes to create several class sizes of 16-or-so (in the first year of the added class(es) anyway) would be truly immoral to them. Of course, most other school districts throughout the United States have "excellence" as one of many stated structural goals ("equity" as defined here being one strong goal as well), but you are just not going to find,in practice, academic excellence as a goal here.

You must be new to DC. Here, "equity," "inclusion" and diversity will always come before academic excellence and overall rigor.

Actually, it took me several years of observation for me to figure this out. These are value-embedded words that mean different things to different citizens. The words are associated with positive value, but because they are subject to interpretation, they "should" not be used in conjunction with the agency's policy or its structural goals. Yet, DCPS (and numerous nonprofit political activist groups) use them to accomplish specific goals. The arguments used by DCPS to support its programmatic decisions really confused me until I realized that they (perhaps intentionally?) use these words with subjective meaning, without explaining exactly what they are doing with them. It is a mistake to impute too much incompetence to DCPS once you realize that there is an ideological agenda embedded in what they are doing as a government agency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

By the way, Hardy does have a field on their large campus and they have a relatively new track around that field, plus an indoor gym, so it's not as though they have nothing. Presumably, the Jelleff field is under the DC parks and recreation umbrella, not DCPS.

Go into Google Maps and look at an aerial photo. The Hardy field is about twice the size of a tennis court. Jelleff is about six times bigger and the Deal field probably eight times.

As for Jelleff being run by DPR: DCPS and DPR co-locate all the time. Just off the top of my head, Hearst, Shepherd, Stoddert are all schools that share a site with DPR rec centers. DPR regulations say that DCPS use has higher priority than any other group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hardy is gradually moving forward with sports. About 3 years ago, the primary boys fall sport was football -- there was no soccer team. That changed a couple years ago and there's now a soccer team. I can see parents previously having crossing off Hardy as an option simply because there was no soccer option -- soccer is a big deal in some families and with some kids. Adding soccer as a regular sport should help with enrollment.

By the way, Hardy does have a field on their large campus and they have a relatively new track around that field, plus an indoor gym, so it's not as though they have nothing. Presumably, the Jelleff field is under the DC parks and recreation umbrella, not DCPS.

You mean the mini field at Hardy? I think that the little kids turf field at Hearst E.S. is bigger. It seems that DCPS/Hardy boosters are using the Trumpian method of measuring size.