Northwest current article on school boundaries

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like that our house feeds into Hearst. Geographically, it makes sense that we then feed into Deal (four block walking distance). Hardy honestly is attractive to me too. I remember pre Melissa Kim, so many in-bounds people did not automatically send their kids to Deal. It gained in popularity over about three years and a reno. The same could happen with Hardy, which has already had the renovation.

Hearst is not 4 blocks from Deal. Not at all.

[Anonymous]

But our house is. That's the way boundaries work. We are just inside the line for Hearst, and if you removed buildings we could see Deal from our house.

Personally, Janny and Deal are starting to seem somewhat cloistered. Happy with Hearst and quite interested in Hardy. I prefer a bigger OOB population--being stuck with the Tenleyites and nothing but the Tenleyites ...

[Anonymous]

Automatic Oyster to Deal feeding was done away with long ago. For those in-bounds for Deal anyway that choose to attend Oyster for elementary--yes, they would need to be rezoned since it is their neighborhood right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But our house is. That's the way boundaries work. We are just inside the line for Hearst, and if you removed buildings we could see Deal from our house.

Personally, Janny and Deal are starting to seem somewhat cloistered. Happy with Hearst and quite interested in Hardy. I prefer a bigger OOB population--being stuck with the Tenleyites and nothing but the Tenleyites ...

I'm pretty skeptical looking at the map that any house in Hearst is only 4 blocks from Deal. But your main point is true, Hearst is damn close to Deal and many houses are not much farther than 4 blocks (but probably closer to 6-7). (And when the boundaries of Hearst are inevitably expanded to include current Janney and Murch families it probably will be only 4 blocks or less.)

[Anonymous]

Sending Eaton to Hardy would create a strange map unless you were also changing Oyster and Bancroft.

[Anonymous]

The closest Hearst boundary to Deal is still more than 4 blocks away. Frankly if you took buildings away I could see Deal from my house in NE.

Not saying that Hearst shouldn't feed into Deal but rather when tough choices have to be made they are going to need more reasons than the ones you supplied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sending Eaton to Hardy would create a strange map unless you were also changing Oyster and Bancroft.

Woodley Park and South Cleveland Park (south of Porter) should go to Hardy. Bancroft should feed to Lincoln/Cardozo. CHEC is Lincoln and Bell. Lincoln is a neighborhood school. Bell is not, though many from Columbia Heights attend and Lincoln students have admissions preference. Crestwood children are in bounds for West/Powell and should attend MacFarland. If not Crestwood, then at least 14th Street Heights. The boundaries for Deal are ridiculous, and in addition to children coming from 14th Street Heights and Shepherd Park, a far away place that has no connection to Tenleytown there are kids who live in bounds for Stoddert, Key, Mann and Hyde who manage to get into Deal.

Once upon a time this was a non-issue. That was a few short years ago when no one wanted to attend Deal. Now it's Nirvana.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The closest Hearst boundary to Deal is still more than 4 blocks away. Frankly if you took buildings away I could see Deal from my house in NE.

Not saying that Hearst shouldn't feed into Deal but rather when tough choices have to be made they are going to need more reasons than the ones you supplied.

I am IB for Hearst and although I am more than 4 blocks from Deal, I am still significantly closer than many families in Janney, Lafayette, and even Murch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But our house is. That's the way boundaries work. We are just inside the line for Hearst, and if you removed buildings we could see Deal from our house.

Personally, Janny and Deal are starting to seem somewhat cloistered. Happy with Hearst and quite interested in Hardy. I prefer a bigger OOB population--being stuck with the Tenleyites and nothing but the Tenleyites ...

I'm pretty skeptical looking at the map that any house in Hearst is only 4 blocks from Deal. But your main point is true, Hearst is damn close to Deal and many houses are not much farther than 4 blocks (but probably closer to 6-7). (And when the boundaries of Hearst are inevitably expanded to include current Janney and Murch families it probably will be only 4 blocks or less.)

We are closer to Deal than to Hearst--does that put it in perspective?

[Anonymous]

And I probably lump Wilson and Deal together as one 'complex'--so you may be right -5/6 blocks? It's an arms length away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With respect to Oyster, in boundary kids should go to Hardy (at least those in the Woodley Park area) if they don't want to continue in the Spanish immersion program. Those just across the Calvert St. bridge and along the Adams Mill area could be rezoned for another middle school.

You may not realize that the few in-bounds students (from Woodley Park as well as the western parts of Adams Morgan and Mt. Pleasant) who come to Deal after Oyster were once the most academically motivated Oyster kids. They number among Deal's strongest students. Proximity arguments aside, Deal isn't called upon to absorb very many former Oyster kids each year, and those who do come were the cream of the crop.

[Anonymous]

Not pp, but didn't sound like there is any complaint about the academics of Oyster kids, just the overcrowding issue at Deal. How many kids from Oyster tend to leave at 6th grade?

[Anonymous]

Maybe 20? Not very many at all, but they're strong contributors to the Deal community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe 20? Not very many at all, but they're strong contributors to the Deal community.

Those must be old numbers. Nothing close to 20 kids left Oyster for Deal last year - the Adams campus has been improving. It's only been, what, 5 years or so that Oyster took over Adams, so a number of things have been in transition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:oyster can't really even hold its current preK-8 in the two campuses; it will need significant expansion to hold students for 4 more years; there is barely a playground, much less space for high school sports
also the financial issues with such a small class would mean they had few options for AP, etc...

No one is saying Oyster should be a HS. Rather that Oyster students stay there until 8th. The Shepherd, Lafayette, Murch, Janney and Hearst Boundary for Deal makes geographic sense--even with the Reno School expansion.

If a school has to be zoned out of Deal, I don't see the logic of Shepard staying in. It's the most remote geographically from Deal, and east-west transit connections are not great.