Middle and high school on Capitol Hill

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Build on it easily = pie in the sky.

CHPSPO's harebrained approach to MS reform in Ward 6 brings US policy toward Cuba to mind. The Cluster hasn't come close to achieving its stated goals for 30 years. US Cuba policy failed to achieve its own goals for twice that long, but remained in force because a small, highly vocal, well-resourced, politically connected minority in a swing state pushed the right political levers in DC. How much longer do we have to tolerate the hackneyed, failing Cluster arrangement? 30 more years?

What I hate about the loud sucking sound the splashy Hobson renovation has brought to the Hill is the fantastic waste of local human resources it represents. Year after year, DCPS is tossing serious PTA capacity incubated at Brent, SWS and Maury out the window to advance a narrow political agenda advanced by a small group of misguided and myopic bleeding hearts. Harness the savvy at a single Ward 6 middle school where appropriate (but flexible) academic streaming is embraced and everybody would win, mainly because the kick-ass PTA graduates of several largely parent-built elementary feeder schools would ensure that the next school up the chain works. Lower capacity Hill PTAs that are gaining ground, including those at Tyler, JO Wilson, Ludlow and and even Payne would also accrue the benefit, gaining momentum in building capacity knowing that the road ahead was opened-ended.

The Hobson families I know who crack Walls pay through the nose for tutors. We can do better.

how do parents build a school? What is "capacity"? Maybe they should take all their capacity and open charter schools.

also if they have all that capacity to build schools they would have figured out a middle school solution. sounds like smoke and mirrors and a lot of yard sales. they can't simultaneously be so amazing and so helpless.

Parents prevented the Maury site from being auctioned off to a developer ten years ago. Brent parents got an awful principal canned, found one they could work with, got the building renovated and took the school population from 0% in-boundary (yes, 0%) to nearly 60% in a little over a decade.

There are already enough charter schools Hill parents can't necessarily use - lottery luck only gets you so far. Yes they can be amazing and relatively helpless, because elementary and middle school are different kettles of fish on the Hill. This is due to a combination of boneheaded feeder arrangements DCPS won't modify to permit a critical mass of strong students to form at any one by-right middle school, and longstanding DCPS resistance to academic tracking. Think peasants in the Middle Ages using ropes to try to dislodge a big boulder from a field. Instead of pulling together, they pull in different directions and the boulder stays.

they don't sound all that amazing if they can't get it together to form a basic advocacy organization for their common interests. I know that Hill parents like to think of themselves as very effective but when push comes to shove they are crappy organizers and crappy strategists.

[Anonymous]

Yea, there's something to this view, but that's not the whole story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the idea is that feeding sws, Brent and Maury to a common middle school ( along with other elementaries ) is gerrymandering.

However the biggest gerrymander EVER is the weird, diagonal swath across Capitol Hill that formed the Capitol Hill Cluster School SO THAT people like pp could AVOID going to middle school with anyone other than Watkins graduates. J.O. Wilson and LT were added as feeder schools in only the last 5-6 years. This is what PP and his/her kids benefited from and now enrages him/her about others

Hyperbole much? The boundary travels east/west to accomodate ECE at Peabody. If Peabody went away you'd see some of its boundary absorbed by Brent, Ludlow Taylor and Watkins. As it stands, K is compulsory and children IB for Watkins require an IB K option.

The weider boundary is the eastern portion of Watkins which surgically carves itself around Payne

No, the whole boundary is a hot mess.

-Inbounds for the cluster

But a Clevland Park parent IB for Eaton is just supposed to swallow that while Shepherd and Bancroft keep their Deal feed

Got -- Cluster is the snowflake of DCPS boundaries

Eaton was already dual feeder to both. Shepherd and Bancroft do not have other middle school alternative. The boundary was years before Macfarland reopened.

Please ... Find one Eaton family that turned down Deal

[Anonymous]

There should be a strategy to turn Eastern into the next Wilson. Isn't that a common goal for Capitol Hill parents and DCPS. Wilson is majority AA and frankly not all that great but white parents are comfortable sending their kids there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the idea is that feeding sws, Brent and Maury to a common middle school ( along with other elementaries ) is gerrymandering.

However the biggest gerrymander EVER is the weird, diagonal swath across Capitol Hill that formed the Capitol Hill Cluster School SO THAT people like pp could AVOID going to middle school with anyone other than Watkins graduates. J.O. Wilson and LT were added as feeder schools in only the last 5-6 years. This is what PP and his/her kids benefited from and now enrages him/her about others

Hyperbole much? The boundary travels east/west to accomodate ECE at Peabody. If Peabody went away you'd see some of its boundary absorbed by Brent, Ludlow Taylor and Watkins. As it stands, K is compulsory and children IB for Watkins require an IB K option.

The weider boundary is the eastern portion of Watkins which surgically carves itself around Payne

No, the whole boundary is a hot mess.

-Inbounds for the cluster

But a Clevland Park parent IB for Eaton is just supposed to swallow that while Shepherd and Bancroft keep their Deal feed

Got -- Cluster is the snowflake of DCPS boundaries

Eaton was already dual feeder to both. Shepherd and Bancroft do not have other middle school alternative. The boundary was years before Macfarland reopened.

Please ... Find one Eaton family that turned down Deal

You're going to ignore the other more important part? Eyeroll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There should be a strategy to turn Eastern into the next Wilson. Isn't that a common goal for Capitol Hill parents and DCPS. Wilson is majority AA and frankly not all that great but white parents are comfortable sending their kids there.

Totally agree but I think it starts with Middle Schools. Wilson has 2 MS and 1 EC that feeds into it, Eastern has 4 MS (it looks like "some" students come from Kelly Miller but I will admit I'm not sure how that works), CHM, and 1 EC. Just a totally different ball of wax. It can be done, it will just be a longer and harder road than they had in NW. That being said, I think there is a decent chance my 1st G goes to our non-SH by right MS. If that happens, I think Eastern is on the table.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the idea is that feeding sws, Brent and Maury to a common middle school ( along with other elementaries ) is gerrymandering.

However the biggest gerrymander EVER is the weird, diagonal swath across Capitol Hill that formed the Capitol Hill Cluster School SO THAT people like pp could AVOID going to middle school with anyone other than Watkins graduates. J.O. Wilson and LT were added as feeder schools in only the last 5-6 years. This is what PP and his/her kids benefited from and now enrages him/her about others

Hyperbole much? The boundary travels east/west to accomodate ECE at Peabody. If Peabody went away you'd see some of its boundary absorbed by Brent, Ludlow Taylor and Watkins. As it stands, K is compulsory and children IB for Watkins require an IB K option.

The weider boundary is the eastern portion of Watkins which surgically carves itself around Payne

No, the whole boundary is a hot mess.

-Inbounds for the cluster

But a Clevland Park parent IB for Eaton is just supposed to swallow that while Shepherd and Bancroft keep their Deal feed

Got -- Cluster is the snowflake of DCPS boundaries

Eaton was already dual feeder to both. Shepherd and Bancroft do not have other middle school alternative. The boundary was years before Macfarland reopened.

Please ... Find one Eaton family that turned down Deal

You're going to ignore the other more important part? Eyeroll.

sure they have other options that would have required multi-year planning -- let's not forget that McFarland DID reopen this year and they could have planned to move the feed for SY16-17 if it wasn't a total non-starter with the communities impacted.

The eastern flank of Cluster boundary is no worse than the Mt Pleasant/Crestwood carve out in Deal. Much of the eastern portion of the Cluster contains no housing (Congressional Cemetary/ DC Jail)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There should be a strategy to turn Eastern into the next Wilson. Isn't that a common goal for Capitol Hill parents and DCPS. Wilson is majority AA and frankly not all that great but white parents are comfortable sending their kids there.

Wilson is more mixed demographically now.

33% economically disadvantaged and

AA - 39%
White -- 28%
Latino -- 22%
Asian -- 6%
Multi -- 4%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the idea is that feeding sws, Brent and Maury to a common middle school ( along with other elementaries ) is gerrymandering.

However the biggest gerrymander EVER is the weird, diagonal swath across Capitol Hill that formed the Capitol Hill Cluster School SO THAT people like pp could AVOID going to middle school with anyone other than Watkins graduates. J.O. Wilson and LT were added as feeder schools in only the last 5-6 years. This is what PP and his/her kids benefited from and now enrages him/her about others

Hyperbole much? The boundary travels east/west to accomodate ECE at Peabody. If Peabody went away you'd see some of its boundary absorbed by Brent, Ludlow Taylor and Watkins. As it stands, K is compulsory and children IB for Watkins require an IB K option.

The weider boundary is the eastern portion of Watkins which surgically carves itself around Payne

No, the whole boundary is a hot mess.

-Inbounds for the cluster

But a Clevland Park parent IB for Eaton is just supposed to swallow that while Shepherd and Bancroft keep their Deal feed

Got -- Cluster is the snowflake of DCPS boundaries

Eaton was already dual feeder to both. Shepherd and Bancroft do not have other middle school alternative. The boundary was years before Macfarland reopened.

Please ... Find one Eaton family that turned down Deal

You're going to ignore the other more important part? Eyeroll.

sure they have other options that would have required multi-year planning -- let's not forget that McFarland DID reopen this year and they could have planned to move the feed for SY16-17 if it wasn't a total non-starter with the communities impacted.

The eastern flank of Cluster boundary is no worse than the Mt Pleasant/Crestwood carve out in Deal. Much of the eastern portion of the Cluster contains no housing (Congressional Cemetary/ DC Jail)

Macfarland opened to Spanish speaking feeders. Also, Crestwood boundary was done when they stacked by elementary feeder and got rid of residential feeder (rightfully so). Yes, it hurt Crestwood, but only other option to get them to stay would have been to add Powell and West to Deal.

[Anonymous]

Nobody from Tyler has gone on to MacFarland. Program seems to be going nowhere for high SES families. Tyler should obviously feed to Oyster's MS. DCPS sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody from Tyler has gone on to MacFarland. Program seems to be going nowhere for high SES families. Tyler should obviously feed to Oyster's MS. DCPS sucks.

It is year 1...really?

[Anonymous]

Really. Show me the Tyler parents who want to move on to MacFarland. Tyler parents lottery into Mundo Verde like mad in the lower grades, to get on the DCI train, and not because they aren't happy with Tyler. Others move to the Oyster District. DCPC won't even let Tyler kids lottery into MV in the upper grades, although they have the Spanish to succeed there. The badly coordinated and planned cross-sector Spanish immersion landscape wears you out in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really. Show me the Tyler parents who want to move on to MacFarland. Tyler parents lottery into Mundo Verde like mad in the lower grades, to get on the DCI train, and not because they aren't happy with Tyler. Others move to the Oyster District. DCPC won't even let Tyler kids lottery into MV in the upper grades, although they have the Spanish to succeed there. The badly coordinated and planned cross-sector Spanish immersion landscape wears you out in DC.

I think you can't yet say that McFarland offers 'nothing' yet. Give them a chance.

Also it is MV's decision about taking ANYONE in the later grades. They just can't admit kids with spanish skills as a preference.

[Anonymous]

DC Public Charter & DCPS both spend an insane amount of time, money and energy trying to prevent a big cohort of high SES students from becoming the majority outside 15 or 20 schools in the city, almost all of them elementary schools. They'd much rather mindlessly pour money into mostly empty buildings than let this happen. This is why Tyler can't feed into Oyster, and Brent, Maury and SWS can't feed into one MS. They want us to wait 20 years until the demographics are there to build the cohorts. Idiocy.

As for Mundo Verde and other charters not being allowed to let Spanish speakers test in. I call it BS. The DCPCSB could ask the city council to ask Congress to permit them to adapt the LEA arrangements to make this happen. States have already done it for their immersion charter language schools without federal interference.

[Anonymous]

There is not enough kids on Capitol Hill to make Eastern a full comprehensive high school. As for Ward 6...there still is not enough so that is why the school boundary keeps Eastern viable. But with Kipp, Chavez, Friendship and Ron Brown recruiting heavily it would take SES having an abundance of babies. We have Stuart-Hobson, Eliot-Hines, Browne EC, Kelly Miller, Jefferson and those who trickle in from MS charter-schools. Capitol Hill is represented at Eastern with Potomac Gardens meeting that demographic. But let's be honest the number of SES families with incoming 9th graders for 2017 is about 25 kids..
And the 7 applications are scrambling for them too. SES are the minorities that many want but survives without or strides...has anyone take a look at Ballot lately?