Maury Capitol Hill

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, this is a really hard and hurtful thread to read as a Watkins parent. My child is thriving at Watkins. I’m happy to talk to anyone about the many great things going on at Watkins. Karen Pence, [e-mail].

Karen, mom of a first grader, has entered the chat.

Isn’t Mike Pence’s wife named Karen?

I’m very confused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, this is a really hard and hurtful thread to read as a Watkins parent. My child is thriving at Watkins. I’m happy to talk to anyone about the many great things going on at Watkins. Karen Pence, [e-mail].

Karen, mom of a first grader, has entered the chat.

Isn’t Mike Pence’s wife named Karen?

I’m very confused.

Yes, but this is another Karen. It’s her (or at least a) real email address, because she posts on MOTH a lot. In fairness, I think she’s actually a second grade parent.

[Anonymous]

There was a Miner parent in the Q&A tonight who said the Maury townhall commentary was "hurtful," and I didn't really understand that either. I feel like the commentary I've heard has been frank about the challenges Miner has faced -- none of which are the fault of its students -- and the challenges that people think would face the proposed cluster, but I haven't seen anything derogatory about Miner students or families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was a Miner parent in the Q&A tonight who said the Maury townhall commentary was "hurtful," and I didn't really understand that either. I feel like the commentary I've heard has been frank about the challenges Miner has faced -- none of which are the fault of its students -- and the challenges that people think would face the proposed cluster, but I haven't seen anything derogatory about Miner students or families.

I feel the same way, though I think some of it comes from feeling like the Maury community is “rejecting” partnering with Miner, but that’s not the overriding message I’ve been hearing at all. And I feel sad that this is how it’s being taken. I’ve tried to be really involved about listening to this plan and the reasoning but I just cannot get over the lack of detail on implementation, nor the stress it will likely personally bring me if we have kids in multiple schools.

And from other parents, I’m hearing the same concerns about total lack of detail on a pretty big plan and increased stress about commutes/drop off— on top of some people feeling exasperated that they may literally live outside one school but won’t even get to go there for half of elementary school.

[Anonymous]

I live near Peabody. I am well aware of the contempt that a lot of my neighbors have for Watkins. And it makes me really sad. I believe strongly in what Watkins is trying to be in the world—an integrated school in every sense of the word, committed to every student succeeding. Watkins, on its best days, is a school where every parent is committed to the success of every kid in the school. That is what animates me and the value that I want to model to my kid. Does Watkins fail in that goal sometimes? Yes. Does it have problems? Yes. Is it trying to do the right thing in a city where an extraordinary number of kids are facing unimaginable circumstances? Yes. I am extraordinarily grateful to have the privilege to send my kid there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a Miner parent in the Q&A tonight who said the Maury townhall commentary was "hurtful," and I didn't really understand that either. I feel like the commentary I've heard has been frank about the challenges Miner has faced -- none of which are the fault of its students -- and the challenges that people think would face the proposed cluster, but I haven't seen anything derogatory about Miner students or families.

I feel the same way, though I think some of it comes from feeling like the Maury community is “rejecting” partnering with Miner, but that’s not the overriding message I’ve been hearing at all. And I feel sad that this is how it’s being taken. I’ve tried to be really involved about listening to this plan and the reasoning but I just cannot get over the lack of detail on implementation, nor the stress it will likely personally bring me if we have kids in multiple schools.

And from other parents, I’m hearing the same concerns about total lack of detail on a pretty big plan and increased stress about commutes/drop off— on top of some people feeling exasperated that they may literally live outside one school but won’t even get to go there for half of elementary school.

Oh and wanted to add that I really fear what could happen if staff weren’t on board. I’d hate to lose some amazing teachers and administrators. That was a question asked tonight (apparently when this idea was floated before, staff were told they’d need to reapply for their jobs?!) but they had no real answer to that. With so many dc teachers already leaving the classroom, I’d hate to see more go— IF they aren’t on board. I really have no idea and find that concerning.

[Anonymous]

And yes, I am really Karen Pence, and I had the name first! And if you want anecdotes about getting the former Second Lady’s mail, I can add that to the discussion as well. And yes, my child is a third grader.

And since I have never posted on this forum before and ended up here by accident, I don’t know how to reply to a previous thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the recommendations of the DME don’t go to the Council?

The recommendations go to the Mayor, who is in charge of DCPS (through a school chancellor she appoints and who serves at her pleasure). The council has no governing authority over DCPS.

The mayor can order adoption of the DME's recommendations or not.

Won't stop the usual suspects from continuing to blame Charles Allen

Charles Allen certainly could very publicly lobby for DME/the mayor to heed any community consensus that emerges (though of course there is the possibility that the consensus of two school communities will diverge), or at least lobby for a different process that acknowledges community concerns with how fast this process seems, how ill-thought out the logistics are, and other process problems (not least, that Miner still has not been given a school meeting).

They have said multiple times, and Paul Kihn repeated tonight that they reached out to all schools at the same time over a month ago. They are also holding meetings with schools in other wards, and have had other meetings with school leaders ahead of community meetings (https://dme.dc.gov/node/1688576). Payne has not had their meeting yet, nor has Tyler. Obviously the Maury/Miner topic has people more emotional, but it does not seem like an intentional slight.

It may not be an intentional slight -- I certainly don't think DME cares about Maury parents more than Miner parents or anything like that -- but it is pretty bizarre in the context of this boundary study. The study launched back in March and the final town halls are December 12-14. I cannot understand why a proposal that would so profoundly impact two school communities (and that no one, as far as I can tell, has been asking for) was not brought to us much earlier in the process. As it is, the Advisory Committee will meet tomorrow for the last time before the final town halls without the benefit of DME having even talked to Miner yet.

Advisory Committee member here. Yes, we began meeting before summer, you can see what was discussed at each meeting here https://dme.dc.gov/page/2023-advisory-committee-student-assignment-meetings. There was a lot of work we did in late spring and early fall before these scenarios were drafted and school meetings were scheduled last month. There were several rounds of town halls to help give feedback and provide input along the way. One in May, and one in September. You can watch previous townhalls here, https://dme.dc.gov/page/dc-public-education-boundary-and-student-assignment-study-2023-town-halls. For those of you reading this thread, I do recommend spreading the word about the townhalls next week.

[Anonymous]

This whole proposal seems so backwards to me. Maury is a nice school, and there are a lot of things I really like about it (one being the neighborhood/community feel), but frankly the academic rigor and enrichment is not up to the standard of the average school in the nearby suburban district my sister's kids live in. I can't understand why this focus on "averaging out" Maury and Miner when the school system would be much better served by focusing on ways to tangibly improve all of the schools (both Maury and Miner included).

[Anonymous]

Thanks - this is an important and nuanced question and I don’t know the answer. It may be that the original principle that guided the formation of the Cluster (trying to create an integrated school community that shares resources instead of hoarding them) no longer works as well given the current geographic configuration of Capitol Hill and given the ability of families to exercise proximity preference and leave the Cluster. It may be that a system that gave priority to at-risk students would work better. I haven’t looked hard enough at the data to give a good answer.

quote=Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, this is a really hard and hurtful thread to read as a Watkins parent. My child is thriving at Watkins. I’m happy to talk to anyone about the many great things going on at Watkins. Karen Pence, [e-mail].

I am sure that many kids are having wonderful experiences at Watkins, and I'm sorry you've been hurt by this thread. Thank you for reaching out. I'm curious -- are there ways that you think the clustering itself is a boon to your experience, or do you think your experience would be at least as good if Watkins began in PK3? Aside from any other issue, I'm one of the ones really stuck on the logistics/commute issues and have been having a hard time understanding the positives of this solution (which would really complicate pick-up and drop-off and significantly lengthen commutes for my family) versus others such as at-risk set asides for lottery seats.

[Anonymous]

Has there been any solid information about what grade breakdown would be for a Maury/Miner cluster? I thought I saw pk3-2 and 3-5 on one email but maybe I was mistaken. This seems like a strange breakdown given how many kids leave for 5th grade. How can people support or oppose something where none of this key information, including facilities changes, staffing concerns, etc. have been considered?

This feels like anxious fixing to me, when slower, more thoughtful planning is the only way to pull this off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a Miner parent in the Q&A tonight who said the Maury townhall commentary was "hurtful," and I didn't really understand that either. I feel like the commentary I've heard has been frank about the challenges Miner has faced -- none of which are the fault of its students -- and the challenges that people think would face the proposed cluster, but I haven't seen anything derogatory about Miner students or families.

I feel the same way, though I think some of it comes from feeling like the Maury community is “rejecting” partnering with Miner, but that’s not the overriding message I’ve been hearing at all. And I feel sad that this is how it’s being taken. I’ve tried to be really involved about listening to this plan and the reasoning but I just cannot get over the lack of detail on implementation, nor the stress it will likely personally bring me if we have kids in multiple schools.

And from other parents, I’m hearing the same concerns about total lack of detail on a pretty big plan and increased stress about commutes/drop off— on top of some people feeling exasperated that they may literally live outside one school but won’t even get to go there for half of elementary school.

Agree. I’m a Maury parent and I’ve been in a LOT of conversations with Maury folks about this over the past two weeks and I simply have not heard Maury parents “rejecting” Miner or being snooty about it or any of the accusations that are being levied. If Miner parents feel that way, that is awful and I empathize with them. But the blame lies with DME for rolling this out in a way that feels like Maury is the only voice that matters, not on Maury parents who I have not heard express hurtful sentiments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We can safely assume that Charles Allen will support ruining Maury.

Did you even attend the meeting? I have been very vocally, openly critical of Charles for plenty of things in the past, including to his face at town halls and office hours, but he literally opened the meeting by saying he did not support the proposal and had not heard the data that would justify it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a Miner parent in the Q&A tonight who said the Maury townhall commentary was "hurtful," and I didn't really understand that either. I feel like the commentary I've heard has been frank about the challenges Miner has faced -- none of which are the fault of its students -- and the challenges that people think would face the proposed cluster, but I haven't seen anything derogatory about Miner students or families.

I feel the same way, though I think some of it comes from feeling like the Maury community is “rejecting” partnering with Miner, but that’s not the overriding message I’ve been hearing at all. And I feel sad that this is how it’s being taken. I’ve tried to be really involved about listening to this plan and the reasoning but I just cannot get over the lack of detail on implementation, nor the stress it will likely personally bring me if we have kids in multiple schools.

And from other parents, I’m hearing the same concerns about total lack of detail on a pretty big plan and increased stress about commutes/drop off— on top of some people feeling exasperated that they may literally live outside one school but won’t even get to go there for half of elementary school.

Agree. I’m a Maury parent and I’ve been in a LOT of conversations with Maury folks about this over the past two weeks and I simply have not heard Maury parents “rejecting” Miner or being snooty about it or any of the accusations that are being levied. If Miner parents feel that way, that is awful and I empathize with them. But the blame lies with DME for rolling this out in a way that feels like Maury is the only voice that matters, not on Maury parents who I have not heard express hurtful sentiments.

It may not have been you saying these things , but the way some people on here, at last night's meeting, and in the Maury meeting were talking was not welcoming at all. Obsessing over test scores and what would happen if some of the at risk students at Miner interacted and learned with your Maury kids was talked about at length. Threatening to move rather than walk three blocks to their school in such a horrible neighborhood (when many already do this for ECE). Focusing on time commuting to new drop offs, while saying they will leave to enter the lottery of a school which is even further away. Just to name a few, but it is naive to think those things would not be at least a little hurtful to the school down the street

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a Miner parent in the Q&A tonight who said the Maury townhall commentary was "hurtful," and I didn't really understand that either. I feel like the commentary I've heard has been frank about the challenges Miner has faced -- none of which are the fault of its students -- and the challenges that people think would face the proposed cluster, but I haven't seen anything derogatory about Miner students or families.

I feel the same way, though I think some of it comes from feeling like the Maury community is “rejecting” partnering with Miner, but that’s not the overriding message I’ve been hearing at all. And I feel sad that this is how it’s being taken. I’ve tried to be really involved about listening to this plan and the reasoning but I just cannot get over the lack of detail on implementation, nor the stress it will likely personally bring me if we have kids in multiple schools.

And from other parents, I’m hearing the same concerns about total lack of detail on a pretty big plan and increased stress about commutes/drop off— on top of some people feeling exasperated that they may literally live outside one school but won’t even get to go there for half of elementary school.

Agree. I’m a Maury parent and I’ve been in a LOT of conversations with Maury folks about this over the past two weeks and I simply have not heard Maury parents “rejecting” Miner or being snooty about it or any of the accusations that are being levied. If Miner parents feel that way, that is awful and I empathize with them. But the blame lies with DME for rolling this out in a way that feels like Maury is the only voice that matters, not on Maury parents who I have not heard express hurtful sentiments.

It may not have been you saying these things , but the way some people on here, at last night's meeting, and in the Maury meeting were talking was not welcoming at all. Obsessing over test scores and what would happen if some of the at risk students at Miner interacted and learned with your Maury kids was talked about at length. Threatening to move rather than walk three blocks to their school in such a horrible neighborhood (when many already do this for ECE). Focusing on time commuting to new drop offs, while saying they will leave to enter the lottery of a school which is even further away. Just to name a few, but it is naive to think those things would not be at least a little hurtful to the school down the street

It’s not 3 blocks. And there is a BIG safety difference between walking to Maury in the dark and walking to Miner. Commuting to Miner requires transiting the Starburst area, which just had it’s I think third shooting murder this week just since school started. Plus additional murders in the immediate blocks around Miner. If I had an ECE child now I definitely would have lotteried for a safer location.

You know who is to blame for that? DC and the USAO, which has let crime get out of control. For the sake of the Miner kids they need to fix it. You can’t expect those of us who don’t live on high crime blocks to go there willingly.