That doesn't really bolster your argument though if the class sizes are also intolerably large it might but a new school to deal with just 6 trailers is not a compelling argument. Now if it was relieving 6 trailers at Key and another 6 at Stoddert that would change things but someone keeps insisting Stoddert does not factor into filling this school. |
Meant to ask what is the PK situation at Key? If Key has a full slate of PK classes and could solve the trailer problem by reducing a class or two (as other schools have done) that also undermines the case for the sensibility of this new school. |
No. It could be. But it won't. Please go back 5 pages of wherever this was discussed. |
No PK3. No school west of the park has PK3. Key has a couple of PK4 classes that are heavily oversubscribed. |
Since PK4 is not universal I believe DC limits all of them to 20 kids so they should not be heavily oversubscribed. But Key could gain back a couple of classrooms if they dropped PK - I presume Key's enrollment has dropped under Covid too? |
Instead, Key actually increased PK4 volume this year, and heavily advertised third PK4 class, and is enrolling 58 PK4 students instead of 40, like they used to. |
So they have 5 trailers and 3 PK4 classes. So we are getting a new ES so Key won't need 2 trailers? |
What schools have dropped PK4? Not Janney. Not Lafayette. Not Stoddert. Why would be an acceptable solution for overcrowding at Key when it is not at the other NW schools? PK4 is de facto guaranteed in most of the city due to schools having sufficient space to accommodate their IBs. This is not the case in Ward 3. If enrollment is still down due to COVID in 2026-7 when Foxhall ES is scheduled to open, DCPS will have had other problems. Suffice to say, it wouldn’t be wise for the city to plan on the basis of those kind of wild hypotheticals. Anyway, this is degenerating into a Key vs. Stoddert / Janney / Lafayette overcrowding pissing match, which is stupid. It’s not that all schools don’t have overcrowding issues. The point is that the city has a viable plan to relieve overcrowding in part of Ward 3. This will have a domino effect in relieving overcrowding across the Ward (and in absorbing pressures for Ward 3 schools to have OOB spots). It does not preclude investments in other schools to help them deal with their issues - hence the $20.5 million allocation for Stoddert. But if the Foxhall NIMBYs are successful in blocking this school, the NIMBYs elsewhere will certainly draw succor. |
Actually in response to overcrowding other ES have reduced their PK4 offerings because it is not universal. Key apparently has done the opposite and added a PK4 class. The only way there is domino effect is if students from other ES get moved to this new school or Key. But that important detail is unanswered. Hence parents in Glover Park looking at this new school with a great deal of concern. The NIMBY's can go pound sand - their objections are not a reason to not move forward with this school. |
I believe the DME is meeting with ANC3B next week. He should be asked about whether GP students will be mapped to FES. In any case, the domino effect can well happen without it. Some portion of Mann goes to Foxhall, some portion of Stoddert goes to Mann, and so on. |
Do you consider MacArthur Boulevard part of the area? Because last night the ANC discussed a 17-unit development on MacArthur at Q. That whole area is zoned for mid-rise apartment buildings and could be much higher density. And good schools draw families, even with the existing housing stock there could be many more students. |
The Crowding Working Group recommended two elementary schools west of Rock Creek, one toward the north and one toward the south. Foxhal is the southern one, a northern one is still needed too. |
No of course they didn’t consider that. Because the notion that there could be additional densification within the existing zoning regulations (as well as a change in residential composition in response to the new schools) doesn’t confirm to the narratives that the NIMBYs and their allies wish to project. |
I was surprised to learn (through the Ward 3 candidate debates and the ANC redistricting task force meetings) that over 60% of the residents of Ward 3 live in apartments. They certainly get short shrift in public policy discussions. |
17 units? Seriously? There are two projects across the street from each other on WI Ave delivering 1000 units and there are numerous other lots on Wisconsin that are going to get new housing. The whole of MacArthur is zoned for moderate density which is not mid-rise buildings - usually you get what you already have which is 3-4 stories. But what lots are undeveloped? |