Class Size at DCPS Brent Elementary in Capitol Hill

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great, please tell us how that would work. Give us a rough idea of where the City should be drawing these new school boundaries.

As was pointed out pages ago, the several DCPS elementary schools in the catchment areas bordering Brent's are also getting crowded.

As far as I can tell, as the Cap Hill baby boom fails to abate, DCPS needs to do the following, or some combo of the following...

open one or two new Ward 6 elementary schools
pony up to expand existing crowded facilities substantially
cynically let conditions in the most crowded schools deteriorate to the point that fewer parents enroll

is tyler over-crowded?

Tyler has the highest enrollment of Hill schools in one building, I believe. 525. The capacity is about 540 max, I think.

that doesn't make it over enrolled. in the last facility analysis (2016) it rated as 91% ? 96% utilized (4 of 5 in rubric).

I didn't say it was over enrolled, only that it's enrollment is close to what its capacity is so little room for expansion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great, please tell us how that would work. Give us a rough idea of where the City should be drawing these new school boundaries.

As was pointed out pages ago, the several DCPS elementary schools in the catchment areas bordering Brent's are also getting crowded.

As far as I can tell, as the Cap Hill baby boom fails to abate, DCPS needs to do the following, or some combo of the following...

open one or two new Ward 6 elementary schools
pony up to expand existing crowded facilities substantially
cynically let conditions in the most crowded schools deteriorate to the point that fewer parents enroll

is tyler over-crowded?

Tyler has the highest enrollment of Hill schools in one building, I believe. 525. The capacity is about 540 max, I think.

that doesn't make it over enrolled. in the last facility analysis (2016) it rated as 91% ? 96% utilized (4 of 5 in rubric).

I didn't say it was over enrolled, only that it's enrollment is close to what its capacity is so little room for expansion.

but expansion is unnecessary if space is aligned with utilization. In the facilities rubric the upper fifth includes a range of 97-125% capacity. Tyler has no pressing expansion need.

[Anonymous]

So what does Brent have - 2 PreK3 and 2 PreK 4 classes?

Cut down to 1 PreK 4 class and move along.

Take the PreK3 classrooms (smaller footprint) and make it the 5th grade class room since that grade is the smallest.

Take the shuffle everything to accommodate the another class where needed.

Stop taking OOB and do not take OOB siblings. When families move OOB - do not let them re-enroll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great, please tell us how that would work. Give us a rough idea of where the City should be drawing these new school boundaries.

As was pointed out pages ago, the several DCPS elementary schools in the catchment areas bordering Brent's are also getting crowded.

As far as I can tell, as the Cap Hill baby boom fails to abate, DCPS needs to do the following, or some combo of the following...

open one or two new Ward 6 elementary schools
pony up to expand existing crowded facilities substantially
cynically let conditions in the most crowded schools deteriorate to the point that fewer parents enroll

Here are the schools on/near Capitol Hill with excess capacity, based on the 2017-8 OSSE enrollment stats and the capacity from the 2016-7 DCPS utilization study:

Browne, Walker-Jones, Miner, Savoy, Tyler, Payne, CHM@L. Based on that, here are few suggestions:

1. Remove middle school from CHM@L and instantly create space for several additional ECE classrooms on the Hill.

2. Move bilingual program at Tyler to one of the extremely underenrolled schools (I'd suggest Walker-Jones, which is more centrally located than Browne) and make it a citywide magnet with no boundary. Give existing Tyler bilingual students and their siblings preference for the dual language program at Walker Jones. Then shrink Brent's boundaries, sending some of its students to Tyler. Alternately, cluster Brent and Tyler, making one of them all bilingual and one not; allow parents to rank which one they'd prefer.

3. Shrink Maury's boundaries, sending more students to Miner and Payne.

Let's see what else we can suggest to improve life on the Hill. How about impeach Trump and put a Democrat in the WH, say, next week. How about a strong white Republican mayor in four years while we're at it?

None of this has any chance at all of seeing the light of day (thankfully). Exactly zero chance. Totally impractical and impossible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what does Brent have - 2 PreK3 and 2 PreK 4 classes?

Cut down to 1 PreK 4 class and move along.

Take the PreK3 classrooms (smaller footprint) and make it the 5th grade class room since that grade is the smallest.

Take the shuffle everything to accommodate the another class where needed.

Stop taking OOB and do not take OOB siblings. When families move OOB - do not let them re-enroll.

Brent has no PreK3 or PreK4 classes, only blended ECE classes.

Right tell Principal L. Tell the LSAT. Make it happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what does Brent have - 2 PreK3 and 2 PreK 4 classes?

Cut down to 1 PreK 4 class and move along.

Take the PreK3 classrooms (smaller footprint) and make it the 5th grade class room since that grade is the smallest.

Take the shuffle everything to accommodate the another class where needed.

Stop taking OOB and do not take OOB siblings. When families move OOB - do not let them re-enroll.

Brent has no PreK3 or PreK4 classes, only blended ECE classes.

Right tell Principal L. Tell the LSAT. Make it happen.

Aren't there four Lead ECE teachers, so does the configuration of blended PK3/PK4 or two separate really matter? The ECE presumably takes up four classrooms that could be used to relieve crowding in the compulsory grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great, please tell us how that would work. Give us a rough idea of where the City should be drawing these new school boundaries.

As was pointed out pages ago, the several DCPS elementary schools in the catchment areas bordering Brent's are also getting crowded.

As far as I can tell, as the Cap Hill baby boom fails to abate, DCPS needs to do the following, or some combo of the following...

open one or two new Ward 6 elementary schools
pony up to expand existing crowded facilities substantially
cynically let conditions in the most crowded schools deteriorate to the point that fewer parents enroll

Here are the schools on/near Capitol Hill with excess capacity, based on the 2017-8 OSSE enrollment stats and the capacity from the 2016-7 DCPS utilization study:

Browne, Walker-Jones, Miner, Savoy, Tyler, Payne, CHM@L. Based on that, here are few suggestions:

1. Remove middle school from CHM@L and instantly create space for several additional ECE classrooms on the Hill.

2. Move bilingual program at Tyler to one of the extremely underenrolled schools (I'd suggest Walker-Jones, which is more centrally located than Browne) and make it a citywide magnet with no boundary. Give existing Tyler bilingual students and their siblings preference for the dual language program at Walker Jones. Then shrink Brent's boundaries, sending some of its students to Tyler. Alternately, cluster Brent and Tyler, making one of them all bilingual and one not; allow parents to rank which one they'd prefer.

3. Shrink Maury's boundaries, sending more students to Miner and Payne.

Let's see what else we can suggest to improve life on the Hill. How about impeach Trump and put a Democrat in the WH, say, next week. How about a strong white Republican mayor in four years while we're at it?

None of this has any chance at all of seeing the light of day (thankfully). Exactly zero chance. Totally impractical and impossible.

Need more details as to why this is impossible. The only thing that would need to happen is the chancellor's decision to do it. Moving the consolidated Montessori middle school program to Brookland and putting a bilingual program at Walker-Jones instead of Tyler seem like much smaller lifts (with no capital expenditures or council approval needed) than a massive renovation/expansion of Brent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what does Brent have - 2 PreK3 and 2 PreK 4 classes?

Cut down to 1 PreK 4 class and move along.

Take the PreK3 classrooms (smaller footprint) and make it the 5th grade class room since that grade is the smallest.

Take the shuffle everything to accommodate the another class where needed.

Stop taking OOB and do not take OOB siblings. When families move OOB - do not let them re-enroll.

Brent has no PreK3 or PreK4 classes, only blended ECE classes.

Right tell Principal L. Tell the LSAT. Make it happen.

Aren't there four Lead ECE teachers, so does the configuration of blended PK3/PK4 or two separate really matter? The ECE presumably takes up four classrooms that could be used to relieve crowding in the compulsory grades.

If you cut down to one PK4 from four blended PK classes, that would be 17 kids. So Brent would be providing ECE for 17 out of about 60-80 IB kids in cohort each year, all of whom would be siblings. Does any other PK4 in the city operate for such a small percentage of the IB kids? The answer is no. FWIW I’m IB and am in favor of cutting PK4 or even all ECE to accommodate compulsory grades in the small building. But eliminating three out of four of the ECE classes does not make sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what does Brent have - 2 PreK3 and 2 PreK 4 classes?

Cut down to 1 PreK 4 class and move along.

Take the PreK3 classrooms (smaller footprint) and make it the 5th grade class room since that grade is the smallest.

Take the shuffle everything to accommodate the another class where needed.

Stop taking OOB and do not take OOB siblings. When families move OOB - do not let them re-enroll.

Brent has no PreK3 or PreK4 classes, only blended ECE classes.

Right tell Principal L. Tell the LSAT. Make it happen.

Aren't there four Lead ECE teachers, so does the configuration of blended PK3/PK4 or two separate really matter? The ECE presumably takes up four classrooms that could be used to relieve crowding in the compulsory grades.

If you cut down to one PK4 from four blended PK classes, that would be 17 kids. So Brent would be providing ECE for 17 out of about 60-80 IB kids in cohort each year, all of whom would be siblings. Does any other PK4 in the city operate for such a small percentage of the IB kids? The answer is no. FWIW I’m IB and am in favor of cutting PK4 or even all ECE to accommodate compulsory grades in the small building. But eliminating three out of four of the ECE classes does not make sense.

I meant in favor *cutting PK3 or even all ECE, obviously.

[Anonymous]

Agreed. Cut all of ECE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what does Brent have - 2 PreK3 and 2 PreK 4 classes?

Cut down to 1 PreK 4 class and move along.

Take the PreK3 classrooms (smaller footprint) and make it the 5th grade class room since that grade is the smallest.

Take the shuffle everything to accommodate the another class where needed.

Stop taking OOB and do not take OOB siblings. When families move OOB - do not let them re-enroll.

Brent has no PreK3 or PreK4 classes, only blended ECE classes.

Right tell Principal L. Tell the LSAT. Make it happen.

Aren't there four Lead ECE teachers, so does the configuration of blended PK3/PK4 or two separate really matter? The ECE presumably takes up four classrooms that could be used to relieve crowding in the compulsory grades.

If you cut down to one PK4 from four blended PK classes, that would be 17 kids. So Brent would be providing ECE for 17 out of about 60-80 IB kids in cohort each year, all of whom would be siblings. Does any other PK4 in the city operate for such a small percentage of the IB kids? The answer is no. FWIW I’m IB and am in favor of cutting PK4 or even all ECE to accommodate compulsory grades in the small building. But eliminating three out of four of the ECE classes does not make sense.

I meant in favor *cutting PK3 or even all ECE, obviously.

It only makes sense as a way of giving in-boundary special needs kids an inclusion preschool environment. But that could be done with just one classroom.

[Anonymous]

Get a new hobby, folks, do something useful perhaps, like a join a parent committee working to help Brent.

[Anonymous]

This

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what does Brent have - 2 PreK3 and 2 PreK 4 classes?

Cut down to 1 PreK 4 class and move along.

Take the PreK3 classrooms (smaller footprint) and make it the 5th grade class room since that grade is the smallest.

Take the shuffle everything to accommodate the another class where needed.

Stop taking OOB and do not take OOB siblings. When families move OOB - do not let them re-enroll.

Brent has no PreK3 or PreK4 classes, only blended ECE classes.

Right tell Principal L. Tell the LSAT. Make it happen.

Aren't there four Lead ECE teachers, so does the configuration of blended PK3/PK4 or two separate really matter? The ECE presumably takes up four classrooms that could be used to relieve crowding in the compulsory grades.

If you cut down to one PK4 from four blended PK classes, that would be 17 kids. So Brent would be providing ECE for 17 out of about 60-80 IB kids in cohort each year, all of whom would be siblings. Does any other PK4 in the city operate for such a small percentage of the IB kids? The answer is no. FWIW I’m IB and am in favor of cutting PK4 or even all ECE to accommodate compulsory grades in the small building. But eliminating three out of four of the ECE classes does not make sense.

I meant in favor *cutting PK3 or even all ECE, obviously.

It only makes sense as a way of giving in-boundary special needs kids an inclusion preschool environment. But that could be done with just one classroom.

Special needs kids will get a Pk3 seat at another school, typically the next closest to their IB (this is how it works in upper NW where there isn't any Pk3). This isn't a reason to keep PK3 in an overcrowded school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great, please tell us how that would work. Give us a rough idea of where the City should be drawing these new school boundaries.

As was pointed out pages ago, the several DCPS elementary schools in the catchment areas bordering Brent's are also getting crowded.

As far as I can tell, as the Cap Hill baby boom fails to abate, DCPS needs to do the following, or some combo of the following...

open one or two new Ward 6 elementary schools
pony up to expand existing crowded facilities substantially
cynically let conditions in the most crowded schools deteriorate to the point that fewer parents enroll

Here are the schools on/near Capitol Hill with excess capacity, based on the 2017-8 OSSE enrollment stats and the capacity from the 2016-7 DCPS utilization study:

Browne, Walker-Jones, Miner, Savoy, Tyler, Payne, CHM@L. Based on that, here are few suggestions:

1. Remove middle school from CHM@L and instantly create space for several additional ECE classrooms on the Hill.

2. Move bilingual program at Tyler to one of the extremely underenrolled schools (I'd suggest Walker-Jones, which is more centrally located than Browne) and make it a citywide magnet with no boundary. Give existing Tyler bilingual students and their siblings preference for the dual language program at Walker Jones. Then shrink Brent's boundaries, sending some of its students to Tyler. Alternately, cluster Brent and Tyler, making one of them all bilingual and one not; allow parents to rank which one they'd prefer.

3. Shrink Maury's boundaries, sending more students to Miner and Payne.

I'd like a Maury-Miner-Payne choice set, with a speciality for each school. Maury = project based/expeditionary STEM; Miner = bilingual Spanish and Mandarin; Payne = arts. How cool would that be?