Petition to keep School-Within-School (SWS) a true neighborhood school!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:C'mon now how long can young gentrifiers stay young? This has been going on for atleast 10 years and not a single nary budge. Really, how hard is it to have Eliot-Hine retooled but what has DCPS done but ignore the gentrifiers outcry and kept it the same.

Sure you buy a house in Ward 6 but theres a family moving into the projects of Ward 6 everyday. The gentrifiers move in and have a baby and there is the project family moving with 3 to 4 school age children.

So who does DCPS turn to at the moment, it is not rocket science, people? A school system that has a majority of AA will be the primary focus for the future because the past has shown that our gentrifiers will never catch-up.

It is not that the city doesn't cares but they are not concern because gentrifiers are replacing gentrifiers.

I think the city cares deeply about gentrifiers. They may have fewer kids, but they provide lots more tax revenue!

The city also knows that gentrifiers will literally go out of their way (while staying in DC) to improve their kids' education. They will trek to a distant OB school or charter they get into or even move closer once they get in!

So knowing that the city supports more charters (see today's Emma Brown article), why would the city do anything right now to make neighborhood schools more attractive to parents?

The city sure does care about gentrifiers, and no they are not just replacing other gentrifiers. It wasn't too long ago that Adams Morgan was considered a bad neighborhood for families, edgy for young people moving to DC for internships. Fast forward 10 or 12 years and now there are gentrifiers in places no gentrifier had previously even heard of: Shaw, Bloomingdale, Brookland, Petworth, Eckington, Navy Yards... Dog parks, and bike lanes, and streetcars, oh my!

Don't forget armies of strollers! You can barely walk down the street without getting clipped muliple times by $1K+ quadruple strollers

[Anonymous]

What's so interesting about this debate is that in truth we are talking about just a few slots in elementary school. There are so many sibling slots already, very few people will get into the early grades without a sibling preference. But in reading arguments on both sides is clear that the real problem is that there are too few spaces on the Hill for high quality education. And when you get beyond the elementary level, there are just none.

For those of us who like living on the Hill it is distressing to think that the best public school option is Stuart Hobson, which has a number of major problems and is still closed to graduates from Brent, Tyler, Maury, and likely SWS. And the DCPS treatment of SWS (moving it out of the Cluster with really poor communication, changing it from a neighborhood school to a citywide school) is distressing. If it can't figure this out, I'm very worried about middle school and beyond.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's so interesting about this debate is that in truth we are talking about just a few slots in elementary school. There are so many sibling slots already, very few people will get into the early grades without a sibling preference. But in reading arguments on both sides is clear that the real problem is that there are too few spaces on the Hill for high quality education. And when you get beyond the elementary level, there are just none.

For those of us who like living on the Hill it is distressing to think that the best public school option is Stuart Hobson, which has a number of major problems and is still closed to graduates from Brent, Tyler, Maury, and likely SWS. And the DCPS treatment of SWS (moving it out of the Cluster with really poor communication, changing it from a neighborhood school to a citywide school) is distressing. If it can't figure this out, I'm very worried about middle school and beyond.

The REAL problem is that there are too few spaces in good schools, elementary and other, across the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so interesting about this debate is that in truth we are talking about just a few slots in elementary school. There are so many sibling slots already, very few people will get into the early grades without a sibling preference. But in reading arguments on both sides is clear that the real problem is that there are too few spaces on the Hill for high quality education. And when you get beyond the elementary level, there are just none.

For those of us who like living on the Hill it is distressing to think that the best public school option is Stuart Hobson, which has a number of major problems and is still closed to graduates from Brent, Tyler, Maury, and likely SWS. And the DCPS treatment of SWS (moving it out of the Cluster with really poor communication, changing it from a neighborhood school to a citywide school) is distressing. If it can't figure this out, I'm very worried about middle school and beyond.

The REAL problem is that there are too few spaces in good schools, elementary and other, across the city.

YES. Exactly.

[Anonymous]

The real problem on the Hill is that most of the students in our schools still don't live on the Hill. We need a new Ward 6 DC City Council Member with the moxie to fight for Hill DCPS schools for neighborhood kids. Our close proximity to Wards 7 and 8 should no longer mean that most of our elementary schools do not primarily serve our neighborhoods. Neighborhoods over the river should be encouraged to opt for KIPP, SEED other charters, whatever, not Hill DCPS schools for their children.

The fight over SWS' status hinges on the problem of too few true neighborhood schools on the Hill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rember when SWS made up their own admittance rules? Like OOB siblings could reserve spots then the IB kids got to fight for the left overs?

Those were the days.

Remember when SWS shared a building with the rest of Peabody, and you had 3 floors of black and brown children and then a penthouse full of white children where even the walls were pale?

You mean like Tyler SI now? And please explain to this board what prevented anyone of color from enrolling in SWS (or Tyler SI today). Is/was there race based admission? You really seem to have a nuanced perspective on this. Please share your many insights.

Or is this is the kind of pointless snide and passive aggressive banter synomous with DCUM

I am curious - anyone have an explanation for why SWS was predominantly white? Odd, given the equal opportunity to enroll (back in the day). Same question for Tyler Si. What's up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so interesting about this debate is that in truth we are talking about just a few slots in elementary school. There are so many sibling slots already, very few people will get into the early grades without a sibling preference. But in reading arguments on both sides is clear that the real problem is that there are too few spaces on the Hill for high quality education. And when you get beyond the elementary level, there are just none.

For those of us who like living on the Hill it is distressing to think that the best public school option is Stuart Hobson, which has a number of major problems and is still closed to graduates from Brent, Tyler, Maury, and likely SWS. And the DCPS treatment of SWS (moving it out of the Cluster with really poor communication, changing it from a neighborhood school to a citywide school) is distressing. If it can't figure this out, I'm very worried about middle school and beyond.

The REAL problem is that there are too few spaces in good schools, elementary and other, across the city.

YES. Exactly.

Uh, no, the REAL problem is there are NO good middle school options. (I guess some like Deal, but that just seems way too big - not ideal at all).

[Anonymous]

Both problems are real - most Hill elementary schools serving many more Ward 7 and 8 kids than Hill kids AND bleak neighborhood middle school options. A city-wide lottery for SWS will help a few families off the Hill without fixing either problem. Nothing to get excited about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both problems are real - most Hill elementary schools serving many more Ward 7 and 8 kids than Hill kids AND bleak neighborhood middle school options. A city-wide lottery for SWS will help a few families off the Hill without fixing either problem. Nothing to get excited about.

True enough. But cutting the heart out of the Ludlow Taylor catchment isn't the solution, either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so interesting about this debate is that in truth we are talking about just a few slots in elementary school. There are so many sibling slots already, very few people will get into the early grades without a sibling preference. But in reading arguments on both sides is clear that the real problem is that there are too few spaces on the Hill for high quality education. And when you get beyond the elementary level, there are just none.

For those of us who like living on the Hill it is distressing to think that the best public school option is Stuart Hobson, which has a number of major problems and is still closed to graduates from Brent, Tyler, Maury, and likely SWS. And the DCPS treatment of SWS (moving it out of the Cluster with really poor communication, changing it from a neighborhood school to a citywide school) is distressing. If it can't figure this out, I'm very worried about middle school and beyond.

The REAL problem is that there are too few spaces in good schools, elementary and other, across the city.

DCPS is not as clueless as it appears to be -- if you consider that the gaol is to turn the whole system to charter - including neighborhood charters, as per the mayors recent speech on continuing the "revolution" in DC schools.

Could be they are making life difficult for engaged parents now so that any easing up in the future will make people grateful -- even if it means turning neighborhood schools (which aren't serving the neighborhoods anyhow) into charters.

Perhaps the only way to alter this fate is if DC gov saw a trend of young High SES parents actually leaving the city, or if these Hill parents put up an active fight to have good access to their neighborhood schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so interesting about this debate is that in truth we are talking about just a few slots in elementary school. There are so many sibling slots already, very few people will get into the early grades without a sibling preference. But in reading arguments on both sides is clear that the real problem is that there are too few spaces on the Hill for high quality education. And when you get beyond the elementary level, there are just none.

For those of us who like living on the Hill it is distressing to think that the best public school option is Stuart Hobson, which has a number of major problems and is still closed to graduates from Brent, Tyler, Maury, and likely SWS. And the DCPS treatment of SWS (moving it out of the Cluster with really poor communication, changing it from a neighborhood school to a citywide school) is distressing. If it can't figure this out, I'm very worried about middle school and beyond.

The REAL problem is that there are too few spaces in good schools, elementary and other, across the city.

Which is why DC needs to again get serious about school reforms.

[Anonymous]

That is why Ward boundaries and school boundaries will never show racial equality. Here we go with this crap about the Hill schools, they were the Hill schools when the Hill was majority black. So why all of sudden whites move in and now the Hill schools are exclusive.

[Anonymous]

How exactly are they "exclusive". What specific policy change can you point to that makes them "exclusive"?

Or, is it instead just incidental to changing demographics and you are still living in the past and are not accepting the fact that the neighborhood changed, and got a lot more diverse with a lot more whites and other races?

I've been seeing that in many parts of the city, as areas traditionally exclusively AA become more diverse, on the street you will see some of the AAs even asking out loud if the white folks walking around are tourists or if they are lost, not realizing they now live there, and continue to move there in greater and greater numbers.

Like it or not: Dog parks and Whole Foods, coming soon to a neighborhood near you.

[Anonymous]

and like it or not, white folks, if you want good neighborhood schools for your kids, you're going to have to fight for them.

THe DC government wants your tax dollars, but they also want more charter schools and there's good reason, given parents' willingness to jump to the tune of the whims of Henderson and Gray so far, that DC will have its way unless you start putting up a real fuss.

[Anonymous]

12:13, you know good and darn well, that living in the past is what gets whites in trouble more than blacks e.g., Paula Deen.

By you stating something as traditional parts of the city as exclusively AA does not connect to what I was saying.

It was whites who wanted these neighborhood schools and thus the exclusivity begins. So, to live in the past then neighborly you would know that whites could not hold onto schools with neighborhood populations solely, so that's how boundaries became more prevalent.

Now, if the school system would have went with notion of using Capitol Hill neighborhoods (10 neighborhood blocks) to populate a school then we wouldn't need Eastern now would we?