Question for Supporters of New WotP High School

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
So, what about looking at a model like St. John's HS? They have a general ed program, an honors program, and a well-funded, well-regarded program for students with learning disabilities. Could people imagine a Roosevelt that, along with whatever program attracts new students, is also a model/magnet for special education?

This is a great idea. The area is also full of St. John's alums who we might be able to get behind such an effort.

One advantage of an under-enrolled school is that the current students don't need to be displaced to make room for new students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I have first-hand knowledge that it is now too late to relocate Ellington to a different location (which could have saved its students thousands of commute hours/year. That's another DCPS missed trains). So for the purpose of this thread I suggest that we keep it off the list.

That is a shame, I heard on WAMU today that the huge SW waterfront development where construction is about to start will include a new 6000 seat performance theater. Together with the Arena Stage complex down Maine Ave,, that vibrant area will soon be a second major arts venue. The present Jefferson middle school site could be rebuilt as a new Ellington, steps from the Metro (including the central L'Enfant transfer hub) and synergistically part of this new arts area. Best of all, it would have been more accessible to more of its students than the Georgetown site. The "C" in DCPS sure doesn't stand for "creative" thinking!

That's a really great idea!!

PLEASE abandon the idea of moving Ellington, the re-do of Ellington as a top performing arts school is a done deal, shovel in the ground as soon as they get design approval. This thread should focus on the most viable strategy to provide a good HS east of the park. I think a test-in high school would be the trick to making such a school evolve the fastest, but it's going to be near-impossible politically, unless.....we think outside the box. For example, find out how SWW developed as a test-in school. Did the fact that it takes on a large number of foreign exchange students every year (through the State Dept.) have something to do with how that was finessed? Ellington is an application school because of its magnet for the arts. What could this new school offer that could only be done via an application process of some kind? Maybe this is an AP-oriented school (a la BasisDC)? Maybe this is a serious STEM school where there might be a tie-in to NIH or Walter Reed, or even to the health sciences facility that would be going into the old Walter Reed campus between Georgia and 16th Streets? Maybe this is foreign service/international magnet connected to the large State Dept. presence on the old Walter Reed campus? Maybe this is a law/social justice campus with ties to Howard U? Maybe this is a design/urban planning/sustainability magnet with ties to Catholic U and/or UMd.?



I get that you're protecting your turf, I really do. But Ellington is NOT a done deal. Stop trying to puff out your chest in a feeble attempt to intimidate.

i don't know why Ellington families and supporters wouldn't jump immediately on an idea that would provide larger, better facilities, centrally located for better student access and where other arts centers are a block or two away in what will be one of the most interesting areas of our city. No one is talking about throwing Ellington out of its building for a restored Western High School unless and until a superior facility were built. I hope that you're not just opposing more creative solutions in knee-jerk fashion, believeing that there is some nefarious purpose -- no doubt part of "The Plan" that Marion Barry often darkly hints at -- to move Ellington out of Georgetown.

[Anonymous]

It is baffling to me why everything else in the world is apparently on the table in these boundary and student assignment discussions, but somehow the the Ellington issue is untouchable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is baffling to me why everything else in the world is apparently on the table in these boundary and student assignment discussions, but somehow the the Ellington issue is untouchable.

No reason to be baffled: Ellington is not untouchable despite what it's boosters may say. It is on the table.

I doubt anything will happen despite it being the case that Ellington IS the solution to WOTP HS growth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is baffling to me why everything else in the world is apparently on the table in these boundary and student assignment discussions, but somehow the the Ellington issue is untouchable.

No reason to be baffled: Ellington is not untouchable despite what it's boosters may say. It is on the table.

I doubt anything will happen despite it being the case that Ellington IS the solution to WOTP HS growth.

Jack Evans started making that point two years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is baffling to me why everything else in the world is apparently on the table in these boundary and student assignment discussions, but somehow the the Ellington issue is untouchable.

Seems like it's people who went through a difficult process to get that renovation to happen & the protests of "impossibility" are from people who are highly invested in not wanting anything reopened - (BTW I understand the Arena stage thing was hugely unpopular within the Ellington community vs. the various partnerships & new performance space they'll be getting at the school) -- but we're entering a new world where it seems like EVERYTHING is on the table and up for discussion.

[Anonymous]

could be that the idea of a New Roosevelt negates the appeal of moving Ellington?

[Anonymous]

I'm not willing to spend on a new WOTP high school because that is not where the students sufficient to build a second high school live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not willing to spend on a new WOTP high school because that is not where the students sufficient to build a second high school live.

Umm, you're wrong. Well, you're partly right. If we eliminate OOB feeder rights, then there's probably not a need for a new WOTP HS.

The need for another WOTP HS is because most people assume (and perhaps desire) the retention of OOB feeder rights and access for large swaths of the city currently cleaved from the Wilson catchment basin under the proposals.

[Anonymous]

Can I just say that I wouldn't wish to send my kid to any school in the current Ellington building any more than I would wish to send her to Hardy because neither is Metro-accessible? Good urban transit planning is really missing from most of the school-shifting discussions!! As a city, we really need to be moving destinations into areas that are well-supported by mass transit. Bus service into Georgetown/Glover Park is improving but still runs too infrequently to be a good option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not willing to spend on a new WOTP high school because that is not where the students sufficient to build a second high school live.

You do realize the logical response to this stupid assertion, right: I'm not willing to spend on your school either. And let's throw our chips on the table, who provides more funds for spending, you or me? This is a stupid position to take and we're fortunate that such short-sighted people are not making decision about where to spend. (Ignoring the fact that if you are able to look at data and trends, the need for another WOTP HS is blatantly apparent.)

Want to talk about waste and sufficient numbers of students? Let's talk about Ballou, Roosevelt and Dunbar. You don't have a leg to stand on.

[jsteele]

Could we please keep this thread focused on Roosevelt? Maybe start another thread to discuss Ellington and a new WotP HS?

[Anonymous]

Jeff is right. The emphasis should be on how best to create a EOTP general admission (or DC-CAS proficient admission) HS in the mid-city area (and by that I mean the area west of north capitol and east of Rock Creek) that would attract families who currently would not consider sending their kids to any of the under-performing HS (Dunbar, Cardozo, CHEC, Coolidge, Roosevelt). The discussion shifted to how to transform Roosevelt because it is currently undergoing a modernization and has a MS facility (MacFarland) beside it which could also be converted into a test-in or DC CAS proficient MS model.

The thing is, you have a lot of EOTP families currently using charters who may not be interested in some of the charter models (e.g., expeditionary) through the HS years---or they simply may want their kids to have more of a typical HS experience in terms of extracurriculars and sports than most charters are able to provide at the HS level. Currently those families go to private, Walls, Banneker or Wilson. They do not go to any of the general EOTP high schools. A resuscitated Roosevelt would offer those families another option for HS.

DCPS could much more easily tackle the rehaul of one MS/HS combination in terms of recruiting parents, ramping up faculty/staff and currculum than it could achieve the DME's grandiose visions of multiple, all-new MS being created simultaneously.

The perfect should not be the enemy of the good.

[Anonymous]

Changing the status of Ellington is under discussion simply because no one currently in-bounds for Wilson would consider narrowly re-drawing Wilson's boundaries closer to Wilson's neighborhood. Wilson's overcrowding problems would be solved, for example, if its eastern boundary ended at Connecticut Avenue. Then, everyone east of Connecticut avenue that had formerly been bound for Wilson, would go to Roosevelt.

The effect would be grand: A lot of high-SES kids from Cleveland Park and Adams-Morgan areas would go to Roosevelt and immediately increase the overall academic achievement there. Ellington would be left alone. Voila.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know any active Roosevelt alumni or stakeholders? If they could buy into this, we could draw up a one or two page proposal and pelt the DME twitter and email with it.