School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is pure stupidity to have a principal split among two physical locations. It doesn't work for Oyster and it won't work here.

+1000

Also, it was a failure for that short spell at Hyde / hardy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is pure stupidity to have a principal split among two physical locations. It doesn't work for Oyster and it won't work here.

+1000

Also, it was a failure for that short spell at Hyde / hardy

DCPS is known for not looking at previous examples of poor ideas that don't work and then NOT repeating them. Now they say the K-8 model has not worked- not good for MS- too small and can't offer enough options- and this is exactly the model they have set up at FS. Classic DCPS incompetence.

[Anonymous]

Agreed that this is grossly incompetent, but is Henderson driving this policy?

[Anonymous]

She's the one who ultimately made the call about the merger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She's the one who ultimately made the call about the merger.

One of the reasons I would happily vote for any mayoral candidate that says they will ditch her ASAP.

Any leader of a large school district that thinks stretching a principal across two schools is a good fix obviously is not bright enough to lead said school district.

[Anonymous]

+1000

[Anonymous]

Funny--I thought that the merger (or affiliation) between two horribly different schools would benefit the high school most of all because they get more space. The high school was bursting at the seams and Francis-Stevens has empty FLOORS, fields--I think there's a dance studio--and it's near a public swimming pool and tennis courts which are crying out to be used by high school students.
And frankly anything would help Francis-Stevens. Anything. They got rid of the old principal and many of the teachers (I heard 90 percent). Eventually, and I hope this is SOON, they'll realize that one person, no matter how talented and hard-working, should not run two schools. And they'll find a principal for the elementary and middle schools and FS will sink or swim.
But the high school should continue to be strong, with a second campus (it's not that far away--it's walkable).
Let's give it a few years.
I live in the neighborhood and pray that F-S becomes a decent school. I've seen wave after wave of parents enroll their kids and then withdraw them after a maximum of 2 years.
I'm hoping that F-S grows stronger, and the Washington Post will write an article bemoaning the fact that OOB kids can no longer depend on getting a slot in the school. That's the only time the Post will write about the school--when it starts to improve. Fingers crossed.

[Anonymous]

The HS is not walkable and there is no room at FS for a full grade. A joint task force from both schools analyzed sending HS kids to the FS campus and could find no way to make it work logistically without a lot of negative impact to the HS students. Dcps chooses to ignore that fact. There are no fields either at FS. The notion that it offers the HS tons of amenities is not accurate. They could have tried to improve FS without disrupting a HS. Why should the HS be sacrificed?

[Anonymous]

Why don't they close SWW@F/S and move those IB kids to Hyde-Addison? Hyde has trouble attracting kids from the neighborhood. The West End/DuPont neighborhoods are very close.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know whether any of the mayoral candidates have weighed in on this issue? Anyone know what the future would hold for Henderson if anyone other than Gray were to be elected? Who do you think would be better for DCPS, Bowser, Gray or Catania?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don't they close SWW@F/S and move those IB kids to Hyde-Addison? Hyde has trouble attracting kids from the neighborhood. The West End/DuPont neighborhoods are very close.

Why you don't share up? Hyde doesn't have trouble attracting kids from the neighborhood. and it would be a waste to close SWW@F/S.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't they close SWW@F/S and move those IB kids to Hyde-Addison? Hyde has trouble attracting kids from the neighborhood. The West End/DuPont neighborhoods are very close.

Why you don't share up? Hyde doesn't have trouble attracting kids from the neighborhood. and it would be a waste to close SWW@F/S.

Really? Where is the mystery? Hyde-Addison has 38% IB and SWW @ FS has 28% IB. Really? We're not talking 80-90% IB for either school. SWW@FS is within walking distance of Hyde and a short Circulator ride.

As a side note, it doesn't make sense to me that Hyde -Addison is going through an expansion when it can't attract IB families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The HS is not walkable and there is no room at FS for a full grade. A joint task force from both schools analyzed sending HS kids to the FS campus and could find no way to make it work logistically without a lot of negative impact to the HS students. Dcps chooses to ignore that fact. There are no fields either at FS. The notion that it offers the HS tons of amenities is not accurate. They could have tried to improve FS without disrupting a HS. Why should the HS be sacrificed?

I generally agree but I question the bolded part. There's a huge field there. It's managed by DPR but the school could easily use it. It's where the SWW soccer team practices, which they did even before the merger. So I guess FS didn't bring anything that SWW didn't already have.

It's in lousy shape too.

[Anonymous]

The field is used by the neighborhood as a dog park- even when the students practice on it. SWW used the field long before the merger. PP is correct. The field is DPR, not FS.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know how enrollment is going at FS? Are they increasing their IB population? I understand they love the new principal and SWWHS now hates him, is there a move a foot to get him full-time at FS?