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Maury Capitol Hill
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Anonymous
Yes, but it helps if parents aren't projecting things on to kids that aren't actually the case. |
Anonymous
Ok. Maybe we can poll the kids on if they should serve ice cream for lunch every day too. |
Anonymous
Am I imaging the homicides? |
Anonymous
This is a country wide issue, specially for high cost areas. |
Anonymous
I think the point is that the parents complaining that Miner is in a neighborhood that is too dangerous to send their kids are being disingenuous when many of them likely take their kids to places like RFK, H Street, etc. which are located in areas similar to where Miner is, or require traveling through such place to get to them. Also, I'm somewhat surprised to hear several people who are presumably Maury parents say they've never been to Rosedale pool or library despite living in the neighborhood for years. Rosedale pool is nice and is definitely the most convenient pool for this area. It's extremely easy to bike too (TONs of bikeshare docks there plus I always see lots of cargo bikes as well). It's also easy to park at. And the library is tiny but has some of the nicest staff I've ever encountered, and it's closer than the NE or SE libraries. Maybe one impact of combining Maury and Miner would be to help Maury families see that they are not a little island but actually part of a broader neighborhood with a lot to offer, and that it's not actually scary or dangerous to participate in those parts of the neighborhood. Some of these comments really make it sound like a lot of Maury families live in a little bubble where even going four blocks in what they view as the "wrong" direction is unacceptable. I cannot imagine living in this area and having that attitude. Why not just move to the suburbs then, where you don't have to pretend that stuff like the Starburst intersection or the Rosedale pool doesn't exist right next to where you live? Why live on Capitol Hill and then construct all these imaginary boundaries between yourself and your neighbors out of fear? |
Anonymous
Former Cluster parent here. The problem with Peabody and Watkins is almost entirely due to (1) two completely incompetent and divisive principals in a row (Bell and Berkowitz), (2) a total lack of support of IB families by the Mayor and DCPS (canceling the shuttle, which was guaranteed by the city when the schools were clustered; be warned, Maury and Miner - the city will NOT keep its promises if you are clustered), and (3) the performative equity movement, led by a few very loud and obnoxious parents who don’t actually understand what DEI is, but OF COURSE think they know best. There’s not actually a desire by anyone on the “Equity Team” (a full list of participants has NEVER been made public, btw) for inclusion of all and varying opinions (Karen Pence is the perfect example of that - stop minimizing and denying families’ actual disappointing experiences and efforts to improve the school!). So many voices are intentionally silenced in the name of Community. And yet the ENTIRE Community (IB and OOB) is dissatisfied - as evidenced by the atrocious retention (and this thread). Both recent principals drove off nearly all of the most talented staff (though, some rock star teachers have remained committed to the school, thank goodness, and everyone is grateful for them). Would most people stay and work for someone who you could run circles around if you were in that same role? DCPS sends the least inspiring and least competent “leaders” to the Cluster. These folks can’t even get the basics right, let alone inspire teachers and students. And they can’t hire competent staff to save their lives. (The director of logistics is a complete waste of a very high salary, as an example.) No one decent wants to work for bad leaders. The only good thing about the Capitol Hill Cluster School is Stuart-Hobson, which is truly a gem of a MS. It is full of dedicated teachers and staff, students who are eager to learn and feel loved there, and a highly competent admin team. But very few parents (and students) want to learn to tolerate Peabody and Watkins while they wait for SH. It’s just not worth the hassle, especially when winning lottery seats in nearby schools is a real option. At this point, the city should abandon the cluster experiment, not try more of them. This kind of social engineering is destined for failure because it’s completely dependent on competent leadership and city-wide supports, and DC is offering none of that. |
Anonymous
The homicides are clearly a huge, tragic problem, but it's not helpful to bring crime up in the context of the boundary discussion. Students will continue to attend Miner regardless of the outcome of this process and they all deserve a safe environment and commute. |
Anonymous
Are you talking about the homicides at Miner or Watkins? Oh, wait. You're talking about the homicides in the neighborhood where YOU also live, but for some reason you've assigned them as impacting the poorer, blacker schools you don't want your kids to attend, as though you don't also live just blocks from where those homicides occur. |
Anonymous
I'm IB for Maury and am one of the ones who has never been to Rosedale pool or library; this wasn't a deliberate decision, I'm just much loser to the NE library and the Rumsey pool. I don't see why it's "offensive" to point out that the area around the starburst is unsafe. It is a fact, and it is a fact that there is a difference between the vicinity around each of the schools -- they are literally different colors on the DC crime heat map. That's not to say that the area around Miner is a "war zone." But I do think crime has become unacceptably high around the Maury boundary, and I think (and it is borne out by the data) that crime is even more unacceptably high around Miner. I don't think it does anyone any good to pretend these problems don't exist; on the contrary, people should be demanding that the city do more to address these problems -- especially around the starburst. All kids deserve to live and go to school in a safe environment. I'll support anything and everything the city does to lower crime, in my school boundary or not. But as things are, I certainly would be nervous commuting, alone or with my kids, in the dark around a (factually) higher crime area, and it's silly to expect people to pretend otherwise. |
Anonymous
You should. I'd bet you'd be surprised at how many kids would say this would be a bad idea. |
Anonymous
Students absolutely all deserve a safe environment and commute 100%. Crime is too high all around capitol hill tbh. It seems to me that a cluster would likely result in increased commutes. Kids IB for miner would be going to maury, and kids ib for maury would be going to miner, and families with two kids are maybe having to go to both. I don't know if there would be a way to do it, but i wonder if there are studies that could be done on how much that extra time commuting would increase crimes on commuting parents/kids in either boundary. it seems like a longer walking commute would make you more vulnerable and if youre having to take a car now you might be vulnerable to carjacking where you werent before when you were just walking. i would be interested to see data like this before being asked to decide if this idea is feasible. Also i have been wondering how much more people would need to or choose to drive their kids to school. I think the streets around the schools are already too dangerous in the mornings with the kids walking and all the cars driving in. I'd like to see a study or data on things like this. seems like they need to look into a lot more things before they even present ideas like this. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
Are there homicides happening inside schools or on the playgrounds? If they are outside the school, would something like DC Safe Passage work? https://safepassage.dc.gov/page/safe-passage-priority-areas-2023-2024 I see that Safe Passage is operating for Deal and Jackson-Reed; if those schools need Safe Passage, why can't Miner qualify? |
Anonymous
Alternatively, I wonder if more intermixing of the community between Maury and Miner boundaries would decrease crime, as it would get people more invested in and involved in the broader community, including the parts of their neighborhood Maury parents currently avoid. The crime in this neighborhood is committed by a small group of people and the vast majority of people, including the vast majority of families at Miner are not committing crimes and actively want the crime to stop. Increasing connections among community members by sending their kids to school together, and just getting more people walking through more parts of the neighborhood and interacting with more of their neighbors, including the ones from other racial and socioeconomic groups, is JUST the kind of behavior that tends to make neighborhoods less susceptible to crime. Safe neighborhoods tend to be ones with strong community ties, people who recognize each other and have shared interests, and plenty of people out and about providing witnesses and support to someone who might be in trouble, all of which serve as natural deterrents to crime. |
Anonymous
Miner. Here is a sample: https://www.dcnewsnow.com/news/local-news/washington-dc/man-found-shot-near-elementary-school-in-northeast-dc/ https://wjla.com/news/crime/dc-police-man-juvenile-shot-near-elementary-school-in-northeast https://wtop.com/dc/2019/10/2-men-fatally-shot-near-elementary-school-in-northeast-dc/ https://www.hillnow.com/2016/05/24/man-shot-near-miner-elementary-school/ This was the only recent one near Maury and it occurred at 2:50 am: https://www.hillrag.com/2022/09/02/police-seek-vehicle-linked-to-monday-shooting-near-maury/ If you live on the Hill, you know that just a few blocks can mean a big difference in crime. |