Hardy for 6th & Deal for 7th & 8th? DCPS Survey on Changing Feeder Pattern

[Anonymous]

I just completed the recent DCPS survey that asked parents' opinions on DCPS re-configuring the Ward 3 middle school grades so that Hardy would become the 6th grade location and Deal would house only 7th and 8th graders. Apparently this is considered a potential solution for easing the coming storm of (more) overcrowding in the Deal-Wilson feeder pattern. It wasn't clear how this would ease any crowding at Wilson, as it would arguably open up more middle school spaces that would then feed to Wilson at 9th grade. Does anyone know if DCPS intends to do this (clearly it's under consideration) and what the timeline would be in terms of the school year that this would be implemented?

[Anonymous]

What it would do would be to fill spaces at Hardy-- which would reduce OOB slots and thus reduce enrollment at Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Background on these 2 threads - this is just one plan under consideration. No more or less likely to move forward at this point than anything else.

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/225/640148.page#10970164

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/640142.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What it would do would be to fill spaces at Hardy-- which would reduce OOB slots and thus reduce enrollment at Wilson.

I suspect it would also boost a lot of enrollment from IB Hardy families.

[Anonymous]

I'm confused. So all students IB for Hardy and Deal would go to 6th at Hardy and then 7th and 8th at Deal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused. So all students IB for Hardy and Deal would go to 6th at Hardy and then 7th and 8th at Deal?

Yep.

[Anonymous]

I like it! If there were enough space, I'd love to see 6th and 7th at Hardy and then 8th and 9th at Deal. I went to a school district where junior high was 7-9 grade and high school was 10-12 and I really liked it, except for varsity sports. But Deal and Wilson are close enough to each other to work out the sports thing, and even for kids to take advanced classes at the high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like it! If there were enough space, I'd love to see 6th and 7th at Hardy and then 8th and 9th at Deal. I went to a school district where junior high was 7-9 grade and high school was 10-12 and I really liked it, except for varsity sports. But Deal and Wilson are close enough to each other to work out the sports thing, and even for kids to take advanced classes at the high school.

Back in the day advanced Hardy students took advanced math or other classes at Ellilngton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like it! If there were enough space, I'd love to see 6th and 7th at Hardy and then 8th and 9th at Deal. I went to a school district where junior high was 7-9 grade and high school was 10-12 and I really liked it, except for varsity sports. But Deal and Wilson are close enough to each other to work out the sports thing, and even for kids to take advanced classes at the high school.

Prob is, it still is shutting out oobs...which is a no go.

[Anonymous]

On another thread, someone recommended having Hardy be a small 6-12 school. I'd love to see that, with families in the current Wilson boundary having a choice of whether they'd go to Deal/Wilson or Hardy (my family, at least, would choose a quality, small 6-12 school over Deal/Wilson).

[Anonymous]

PP, same here. Have no interest in Wilson because its size. They have literally taken everybody in and found them a chair to sit on.
We will go private or move. Hardy and Deal are fine which every way they want to do it.

[Anonymous]

do you have the link to the survey?

Is this the Wilson Feeder overcrowding one?

There some folks on that committee who have been floating this idea.

I originally thought no one currently at Deal would be willing to go to another campus for a year - but there seems to be a growing number of interested folks to alleviate the over-crowding and big class size issues.

[[ The Hardy 6-12 small school idea would not be feasible b/s DCPS is not going to invest in building HS capacity for such a small number. ]]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:do you have the link to the survey?

Is this the Wilson Feeder overcrowding one?

There some folks on that committee who have been floating this idea.

I originally thought no one currently at Deal would be willing to go to another campus for a year - but there seems to be a growing number of interested folks to alleviate the over-crowding and big class size issues.

[[ The Hardy 6-12 small school idea would not be feasible b/s DCPS is not going to invest in building HS capacity for such a small number. ]]

Yes, the Wilson Feeder survey. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ipTNuOvk5_t4UrFuYIsfEpefhZfF0EpFUOrq_0au6U8/viewform?edit_requested=true

[Anonymous]

I hate the idea. My kid doesn't transition well and with that plan he'd have to go to three different schools in three years and then another new school two years later. No way. Plus, they walk to school now and getting to Hardy will be a PITA and major change in our lifestyle. Avoiding that is why we live here.

A 6-12 school would be a much better plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:do you have the link to the survey?

Is this the Wilson Feeder overcrowding one?

There some folks on that committee who have been floating this idea.

I originally thought no one currently at Deal would be willing to go to another campus for a year - but there seems to be a growing number of interested folks to alleviate the over-crowding and big class size issues.

[[ The Hardy 6-12 small school idea would not be feasible b/s DCPS is not going to invest in building HS capacity for such a small number. ]]

That just doesn't ring true. It would be the same size ad tons of other DCPS schools.