ludlow-taylor

[Anonymous]

But where are the upper-middle-class families planning to send their kids to E-H? You know white parents who are definitely willing to let their children be the guinea pigs? I don't, and the Hill has gentrified to the point that it's on the verge of becoming majority upper-middle-class. So what's the relevance of E-H being "the last MS standing" in the absence of major policy changes (namely test-in academic magnet programs within the school)? Or closing E-H down and reopening it as a Hill-only school? Remodeling is beside the point - Eastern has done that on a grand scale without attracting white families. As things stand, E-H will surely remain one of the Anacostia transplant schools, just one with more students. How will that benefit those of us paying property tax on expensive Hill homes?

[Anonymous]

Call it Stuart Hobson at EH maybe? But that's a mouthful!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But where are the upper-middle-class families planning to send their kids to E-H? You know white parents who are definitely willing to let their children be the guinea pigs? I don't, and the Hill has gentrified to the point that it's on the verge of becoming majority upper-middle-class. So what's the relevance of E-H being "the last MS standing" in the absence of major policy changes (namely test-in academic magnet programs within the school)? Or closing E-H down and reopening it as a Hill-only school? Remodeling is beside the point - Eastern has done that on a grand scale without attracting white families. As things stand, E-H will surely remain one of the Anacostia transplant schools, just one with more students. How will that benefit those of us paying property tax on expensive Hill homes?

You know your dilemma is not unique. If there are so many children of MS age on the Hill (those in your SES bracket), why are you all not banding together and going to the school as cohort? Then, there won't be any "guinea pigs" as you put it. I think this a class thing - pure and simple. We suffer from this too over in NW. That's why so many of us are clamoring to get into an overcrowded Deal.

Well, I decided that my DC will be a guinea pig at Hardy. I toured the school, talked to parents and the principal. I think we'll all survive and likely thrive there. I think, just as Hill parents were able to transform the elementary schools, you could, as a block, do the same at your middle schools. We don't all want to pay for private schools or move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Watkins does not have an accelerated learning program. Talk to Watkins parents and you'll hear them fret about their above grade level child not being challenged.

I know that this is a LT thread, but what's the deal with the Watkins AL program parents talk about then? It's fiction? Just the other day, a mom told me that her 3rd grader was receiving advanced math instruction at Watkins. They don't have some sort of pullout group system, and a part-time gifted coordinator? I'm not in the loop on CH AL programs, but I've heard this quite a few times. I've also heard this about Brent. Or is it fiction there, too?

Watkins parent here, IB for LT. There is definitely accelerated math instruction this year. No gifted coordinator, but using the Math Resource teacher and some grant programming, I think. Don't know much about the history of TAG programming in the Cluster but I've seen a lot of differentiated instruction this year. My kid is the top reader in his class and has been very challenged, made huge progress this year.

So, how about sending the now homeless SWS program to take over LT? The shared Reggio curriculum makes it a good fit, keeps SWS on the Hill, would attract in-bounds families in droves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But where are the upper-middle-class families planning to send their kids to E-H? You know white parents who are definitely willing to let their children be the guinea pigs? I don't, and the Hill has gentrified to the point that it's on the verge of becoming majority upper-middle-class. So what's the relevance of E-H being "the last MS standing" in the absence of major policy changes (namely test-in academic magnet programs within the school)? Or closing E-H down and reopening it as a Hill-only school? Remodeling is beside the point - Eastern has done that on a grand scale without attracting white families. As things stand, E-H will surely remain one of the Anacostia transplant schools, just one with more students. How will that benefit those of us paying property tax on expensive Hill homes?

You know your dilemma is not unique. If there are so many children of MS age on the Hill (those in your SES bracket), why are you all not banding together and going to the school as cohort? Then, there won't be any "guinea pigs" as you put it. I think this a class thing - pure and simple. We suffer from this too over in NW. That's why so many of us are clamoring to get into an overcrowded Deal.

Well, I decided that my DC will be a guinea pig at Hardy. I toured the school, talked to parents and the principal. I think we'll all survive and likely thrive there. I think, just as Hill parents were able to transform the elementary schools, you could, as a block, do the same at your middle schools. We don't all want to pay for private schools or move.

Have you toured EH? Very, very, very different than Hardy from kids to parents to principal. When SH is a better option and IB parents are still choosing other schools you know the problem is much bigger. At Hardy you will see lots of Hill kids. They have gotten in, are helping to change that school AND getting into Wilson. EH/SH still have problems because they still lead to no where. You are going to see it at Brent. The pioneer kids are getting old enough for MS. They aren't heading to Jefferson, they can't get into SH so they are heading to NW. As more of the parents of younger students realize they have no place to go they are going to be jumping earlier and earlier. Lots of the 4th and 5th graders (rising) at Brent and Maury are sitting on waitlists all over the city trying to get out. Nothing to do with those schools but with the pressure the parents eel to get out when they can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or closing E-H down and reopening it as a Hill-only school? Remodeling is beside the point - Eastern has done that on a grand scale without attracting white families. As things stand, E-H will surely remain one of the Anacostia transplant schools, just one with more students. How will that benefit those of us paying property tax on expensive Hill homes?

Why would DCPS ever want to do that? Out of boundary students are the only thing that kept Ludlow-Taylor and Elliot open over the past decade. Now that you've spent a large sum of money on a CH townhouse, DCPS should kick those families out? In boundary parents already have first dibs on their neightborhood schools and if they wanted could certainly become a significant population at the school.

I would be more sympathetic to in boundary complaints if they focused on the level of the schools academic offerings, or the academic readiness of their cohort. But arguing that kids from the other side of the river should attend is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

What's clear is that something has to give on the Hill for middle school. Deal, Hardy, Latin and Basis can't be the only options in town - it's just not feasible for the numbers of kids here.

It seems logical that S-H or E-H MUST eventually reach the tipping point with neighborhood families. I know everyone is saying that L-T families are moving out for better school options, but there are more and more families moving in all the time. Where the hell are all these people going to send their kids for MS? It just doesn't make sense.

[Anonymous]

actually, it's going to have to be the other way around. EH has capacity for 800 kids but currently has around 250, i believe. and it's been recently renovated. EH is going to be the last middle school standing once it absorbs jefferson (93 kids!!) and SH.

wait--wait--wait. So Jefferson is getting shut down-- and JEfferson kids will go to E-H instead? When is this happening??? what will happen to Jefferson? maybe a DCPS magnet International Bacch. middle school?

please, o please, o please!

signed,

very interested Brent parent

[Anonymous]

So, how about sending the now homeless SWS program to take over LT? The shared Reggio curriculum makes it a good fit, keeps SWS on the Hill, would attract in-bounds families in droves.

That's a very good idea. Don't know why nobody else has suggested it. Tell Tommy Wells' office why don't you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
what will happen to Jefferson? maybe a DCPS magnet International Bacch. middle school?

please, o please, o please!

The DCPS IB MS will be in Ward 5 next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or closing E-H down and reopening it as a Hill-only school? Remodeling is beside the point - Eastern has done that on a grand scale without attracting white families. As things stand, E-H will surely remain one of the Anacostia transplant schools, just one with more students. How will that benefit those of us paying property tax on expensive Hill homes?

Why would DCPS ever want to do that? Out of boundary students are the only thing that kept Ludlow-Taylor and Elliot open over the past decade. Now that you've spent a large sum of money on a CH townhouse, DCPS should kick those families out? In boundary parents already have first dibs on their neightborhood schools and if they wanted could certainly become a significant population at the school.

I would be more sympathetic to in boundary complaints if they focused on the level of the schools academic offerings, or the academic readiness of their cohort. But arguing that kids from the other side of the river should attend is ridiculous.

You mean that arguing that kids from the other side of the river should NOT attend? No, not ridiculous, it's life in the city. For example, the other day several squad cars were parked in front of SH late in the day. When I asked a kid coming out of the school what was going on, he shrugged and said "Oh, just some 8th grade boys from Anacostia fighting with knives. It's happened before." Hill families deserve schools they are comfortable with for their hefty property tax payments, so compromise should be the order of the day. DCPS wouldn't want to do this of course, far more convenient for the city to grab our tax dollars to provide education mainly for other people's children.

With Hill schools for Hill kids you, could, for example, bus Ward 7 and 8 kids who scored "advanced" on the 5th grade DC-CAS over with minimal controversy. Call it heresy, but I dearly wish that LT and E-H had in fact closed a decade ago. Then we wouldn't be spreading the middle-class cohort so thin around the Hill, leading to far more IB parents feeling comfortable keeping kids in the upper ES grades and MS. There's a fairness issue with local taxpayers paying to educate other mobs of people's children (particulary those who reside in MD) when they want and deserve schools serving their own well. Phase the OOB kids out, don't let them in anymore, do whatever it takes to enable the middle-class families who live here, love the neighborhood and pay the bulk of the property tax (having poured their life savings into homes) to stay in the city and enjoy the hard-earned fruits of their labors. And I say this having worked as a Dem staffer for a dyed-in-the-wool liberal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Hill families deserve schools they are comfortable with for their hefty property tax payments, so compromise should be the order of the day. DCPS wouldn't want to do this of course, far more convenient for the city to grab our tax dollars to provide education mainly for other people's children.

This doesn't sound like a dyed-in-the-wool liberal to me. Providing education for "other people's children" is what public schools are for. Should people without children in DCPS be exempted from paying their "hefty" property taxes?

I like the idea of providing middle school options (languages, IB, science and math) that are desirable. But, oops, those middle school options are going to be in Ward 5 next year, as stated above? Should those schools be made "neighborhood only," as you suggest? Or if Ward 5 can't fill those programs, would you like the option of getting your kid in OOB? What's good for the goose....

[Anonymous]

As more of the parents of younger students realize they have no place to go they are going to be jumping earlier and earlier. Lots of the 4th and 5th graders (rising) at Brent and Maury are sitting on waitlists all over the city trying to get out.

This situation is certainly horribly unfair to IB Brent and Maury families with kids approaching MS age. But I'm not convinced that more and more of the younger students will be jumping ship earlier and earlier, because that hasn't been the experience in NW.

The West of the Park schools have essentially been used as breather time for large groups of upper-middle-class parents to save for MS and HS. It seems that many, if not most, NW parents have not expected to have middle schools they feel good about, at least not until Deal started to improve dramatically several years ago. Instead, they've used ES as time to save their pennies for MS to stay in the city. I hear plenty of Brent and Maury professional parents saying things like, "Well, if I can get my kid to 5th, I'll at least have the cash for parochial MS." We hope that a MS option will pan out for our little one (a much improved SH? Latin? Basis?) but think the same way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As more of the parents of younger students realize they have no place to go they are going to be jumping earlier and earlier. Lots of the 4th and 5th graders (rising) at Brent and Maury are sitting on waitlists all over the city trying to get out.

This situation is certainly horribly unfair to IB Brent and Maury families with kids approaching MS age. But I'm not convinced that more and more of the younger students will be jumping ship earlier and earlier, because that hasn't been the experience in NW.

The West of the Park schools have essentially been used as breather time for large groups of upper-middle-class parents to save for MS and HS. It seems that many, if not most, NW parents have not expected to have middle schools they feel good about, at least not until Deal started to improve dramatically several years ago. Instead, they've used ES as time to save their pennies for MS to stay in the city. I hear plenty of Brent and Maury professional parents saying things like, "Well, if I can get my kid to 5th, I'll at least have the cash for parochial MS." We hope that a MS option will pan out for our little one (a much improved SH? Latin? Basis?) but think the same way.

I posted that bolded statement and I AM an IB Brent parent with kid approaching MS who is sitting on waiting lists -- like all the other parents. Nothing unfair about it. He is in a Basis, just not sure that is what we are doing. Jefferson in 2013? Oh hell no.

[Anonymous]

What is Tommy Wells saying about this? He must be aware of the MS issue. If I were on the Hill, I'd be calling him every day.