Feedback on Eaton Elementary School in Cleveland Park, NW

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're OOB at Eaton, as are 5 other families within a one block radius of my MT Pleasant home. We participate in all Eaton functions, donate fully to the HSA, and have regular playdates - both at our house and IB Eaton families' houses.

DH and I both have multiple advanced degrees and work in interesting, rewarding fields.

And - bonus! - we're white! It chaps my hide that we're considered - by some - to be "undesirable" at Hardy. At the same time it makes me laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of the code words used on DCUM.

I can see making a slight argument for a more community feel school - all things being equal, I'd chose a community school over a higher OOB population school, too. But all things aren't equal. And all things aren't even as many so called experts on DCUM think they are.

It's probably not as easy to get to Eaton compared to when Klingle Rd was open!

Yeah when I was there when Klingon was open there were tons of kids from mt pl columbia heights, and petworth - back when very few white people lived on those areas. It's easy to get there for play dates etc from CP. Though as we got older the crack war got worse and everyone preferred to come play at my house because we could play outside safely. We went from playing on the streets and sidewalks east of the park to being told we had to stay inside....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eaton was fully renovated in the early 80s, not fifty years ago.

If that's true, then Marion Barry must have managed the construction himself because it has not worn well at all. The common spaces in particular are tired, dark and uninviting. Janney has had like three renovations in 10 years, Mann and Hearst are new, Lafayette and Murch are in process. And what about Eaton?

The eaton hsa raised the money and paid for it.

Wow! You're saying that the HSA had to self-finance the renovations to Eaton 35 years ago?! DC sure was a sorry "Dysfunctional City" back then. If true, therefore Eaton has gotten virtually no taxpayer support for capital improvements in many decades. How does it get a modest piece of the pie now?

That's how it was explained to me as a student. Whenever a kid disrespected the property we'd get a lecture from there a her on how hard the hsa moms worked to raise money for renovations.

It was almost the same with the playground. John Eaton used to have terrible little playground, all asphalt. The HSA expected it would take years for them to raise the money themselves for a better playground, because DCPS wouldn't give Eaton any money. When parents read that H. Mann was getting several hundred thousand dollars from the DC government for a second playground re-do, Eaton finally got some extra funding (from the council) for its playground.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're OOB at Eaton, as are 5 other families within a one block radius of my MT Pleasant home. We participate in all Eaton functions, donate fully to the HSA, and have regular playdates - both at our house and IB Eaton families' houses.

DH and I both have multiple advanced degrees and work in interesting, rewarding fields.

And - bonus! - we're white! It chaps my hide that we're considered - by some - to be "undesirable" at Hardy. At the same time it makes me laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of the code words used on DCUM.

I can see making a slight argument for a more community feel school - all things being equal, I'd chose a community school over a higher OOB population school, too. But all things aren't equal. And all things aren't even as many so called experts on DCUM think they are.

It's probably not as easy to get to Eaton compared to when Klingle Rd was open!

Yeah when I was there when Klingon was open there were tons of kids from mt pl columbia heights, and petworth - back when very few white people lived on those areas. It's easy to get there for play dates etc from CP. Though as we got older the crack war got worse and everyone preferred to come play at my house because we could play outside safely. We went from playing on the streets and sidewalks east of the park to being told we had to stay inside....

Klingon.

Back in the day, Klingle was sometimes called the "East-West (School) Highway" because it was a quick and necessary way for EOTP families to get to DCPS schools and independent schools WOTP.

Now instead of a road, it will be a bikepath, reflecting the changing views of priorities of DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eaton was fully renovated in the early 80s, not fifty years ago.

If that's true, then Marion Barry must have managed the construction himself because it has not worn well at all. The common spaces in particular are tired, dark and uninviting. Janney has had like three renovations in 10 years, Mann and Hearst are new, Lafayette and Murch are in process. And what about Eaton?

The eaton hsa raised the money and paid for it.

Wow! You're saying that the HSA had to self-finance the renovations to Eaton 35 years ago?! DC sure was a sorry "Dysfunctional City" back then. If true, therefore Eaton has gotten virtually no taxpayer support for capital improvements in many decades. How does it get a modest piece of the pie now?

That's how it was explained to me as a student. Whenever a kid disrespected the property we'd get a lecture from there a her on how hard the hsa moms worked to raise money for renovations.

I'm not sure why it is, but when our boys attended Eaton, it seemed that the school LSRT, HSA and admin seemed a little mousy, almost afraid to push DCPS too aggressively for funds or additional support. Hopefully, that's changed since we "graduated." As other schools' experiences (and resources) demonstrate, in DC as in life, the squeaky wheel usually gets the grease.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hmm, based on these posts maybe OOB isn't code word for brown or poor, maybe it really is about you can't afford to live in my neighborhood (which is why op isn't bothered about being the unwanted OOB at Stoddard because she does feel she lives in the neighborhood). We lived in a crappy 2 bedroom condo IB for Eaton, and I can tell you people in my neighborhood knew we couldn't "really" afford to live there and treated us accordingly though we are white and hyper-educated with kids likely to do well when testing comes around in 3rd grade.

We were in a similar circumstance and but the supposed attitude you mention was not our experience at all. The real point is that there is more economic diversity within the Eaton boundary area than people may realize.

The people who live right around Eaton understand that there are many rental apartments along the avenues. They've been there since the 1920s, so this isn't news to anyone who lives in the general area. It's also not newsworthy that rent for a 1-bed + den apartment on Connecticut is less than the mortgage payment for $4.5 million Victorian on Newark St.

well, just try to get a playdate for your three year old at Macomb playground. I'd be standing with two other moms talking about our babies/toddler, we all just met each other and went through the oh where do you live routine. Then I'd go follow my three year old for five minutes and come back to hear the tail ends of a playdate established by the other two. And it's not me, because now that we live elsewhere playdates just fall from the trees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hmm, based on these posts maybe OOB isn't code word for brown or poor, maybe it really is about you can't afford to live in my neighborhood (which is why op isn't bothered about being the unwanted OOB at Stoddard because she does feel she lives in the neighborhood). We lived in a crappy 2 bedroom condo IB for Eaton, and I can tell you people in my neighborhood knew we couldn't "really" afford to live there and treated us accordingly though we are white and hyper-educated with kids likely to do well when testing comes around in 3rd grade.

We were in a similar circumstance and but the supposed attitude you mention was not our experience at all. The real point is that there is more economic diversity within the Eaton boundary area than people may realize.

The people who live right around Eaton understand that there are many rental apartments along the avenues. They've been there since the 1920s, so this isn't news to anyone who lives in the general area. It's also not newsworthy that rent for a 1-bed + den apartment on Connecticut is less than the mortgage payment for $4.5 million Victorian on Newark St.

well, just try to get a playdate for your three year old at Macomb playground. I'd be standing with two other moms talking about our babies/toddler, we all just met each other and went through the oh where do you live routine. Then I'd go follow my three year old for five minutes and come back to hear the tail ends of a playdate established by the other two. And it's not me, because now that we live elsewhere playdates just fall from the trees.

i am sure the IBers at Eaton would have been lovely to us (whether they lived in Victorians or apartments) because that is a self-selecting population, but we never made it that long.

Here's one difference, at Halloween, as candy was handed out to my very slow going 2 year old, I can't tell you how many people asked "Do you live in the neighborhood." Never was this asked, not once, in my new neighborhood. It is just a mindset difference. Perhaps some of it is feeling we overstretched ourselves for this mediocre house in a good neighborhood and it isn't fair that others get the same school or neighborhood etc without the sacrifice. Or perhaps it is true snobbery.

Glad you had a better experience in CP.

[Anonymous]

Did it ever occur to you that people want to know the little kids in the neighborhood? That's not snobbery, that's trying to get to know your neighbors.

Speaking of Halloween, Eaton for many years used to sponsor a Halloween parade that wound through Cleveland Park and attracted a lot of kids, some school age, some younger, and kids from Eaton and a variety of schools. Everyone wound up at the end at Macomb Playground. Then, for some reason, Eaton cancelled the parade, wanting to keep it to just an Eaton, rather than a community, event. That left a lot of community residents scratching their heads, to cancel something traditional that built connections between Eaton and the neighborhood. Fortunately, the Friends of Macomb Playground have picked up the parade.

[Anonymous]

Did the community reach out to Eaton about the parade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Did it ever occur to you that people want to know the little kids in the neighborhood? That's not snobbery, that's trying to get to know your neighbors.

Speaking of Halloween, Eaton for many years used to sponsor a Halloween parade that wound through Cleveland Park and attracted a lot of kids, some school age, some younger, and kids from Eaton and a variety of schools. Everyone wound up at the end at Macomb Playground. Then, for some reason, Eaton cancelled the parade, wanting to keep it to just an Eaton, rather than a community, event. That left a lot of community residents scratching their heads, to cancel something traditional that built connections between Eaton and the neighborhood. Fortunately, the Friends of Macomb Playground have picked up the parade.

+1. Some folks are just paranoid. On top of being free-riders

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A community is also the people who slog through nighttime ANC, local association and DC commission meetings, because they get the connections between what happens in a community and the neighborhood school. These connected issues can be negative -- like the traffic impact of nearby development on the the safety of kids walking to school -- or positive -- like pressuring DDOT to put in traffic calming to enhance student safety or getting Urban Forestry to plant street trees to shade a playground. These are some of the synergies that result from a strong neighborhood-school orientation.

This. Are the OOB people attending the ANC meetings? Are they negotiating with the dog owners over who should have use to the park and at what time? Are they considering what the impact of a proposed change in traffic flow will do to the local shops and parking? It's not all about making the school better - it's about the school helping to make the community better.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A community is also the people who slog through nighttime ANC, local association and DC commission meetings, because they get the connections between what happens in a community and the neighborhood school. These connected issues can be negative -- like the traffic impact of nearby development on the the safety of kids walking to school -- or positive -- like pressuring DDOT to put in traffic calming to enhance student safety or getting Urban Forestry to plant street trees to shade a playground. These are some of the synergies that result from a strong neighborhood-school orientation.

This. Are the OOB people attending the ANC meetings? Are they negotiating with the dog owners over who should have use to the park and at what time? Are they considering what the impact of a proposed change in traffic flow will do to the local shops and parking? It's not all about making the school better - it's about the school helping to make the community better.

This is a nice theoretical discussion of the role of neighborhood schools, but has very little bearing on the reality of Hearst and Eaton. There is nothing preventing additional inbound families from attending either school. If OOB students were eliminated, enrollment would not necessarily increase and could very well remain more or less where it is. I have a hard time believing that there are long lines of inbound families who are refusing to enroll their children simply because some of the current families are not involved in negotiations with dog owners. Would these schools be better at building communities if they were half their size? Could schools that small even be justified? Maybe DCPS could redistrict some Murch or Janney families, but we just saw how well that idea was received.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A community is also the people who slog through nighttime ANC, local association and DC commission meetings, because they get the connections between what happens in a community and the neighborhood school. These connected issues can be negative -- like the traffic impact of nearby development on the the safety of kids walking to school -- or positive -- like pressuring DDOT to put in traffic calming to enhance student safety or getting Urban Forestry to plant street trees to shade a playground. These are some of the synergies that result from a strong neighborhood-school orientation.

This. Are the OOB people attending the ANC meetings? Are they negotiating with the dog owners over who should have use to the park and at what time? Are they considering what the impact of a proposed change in traffic flow will do to the local shops and parking? It's not all about making the school better - it's about the school helping to make the community better.

This is a nice theoretical discussion of the role of neighborhood schools, but has very little bearing on the reality of Hearst and Eaton. There is nothing preventing additional inbound families from attending either school. If OOB students were eliminated, enrollment would not necessarily increase and could very well remain more or less where it is. I have a hard time believing that there are long lines of inbound families who are refusing to enroll their children simply because some of the current families are not involved in negotiations with dog owners. Would these schools be better at building communities if they were half their size? Could schools that small even be justified? Maybe DCPS could redistrict some Murch or Janney families, but we just saw how well that idea was received.

PP here, the bolded is true. Personally, I have no issue with OOB kids filling slots others don't want. What I am trying to explain is that there is a real value to the concept of a "neighborhood school." It's a tangible thing and a trait that is desirable to some. I don't actually even think this is what OP is really caring about; I think she believes that a high OOB rate=lots of poor, low performing students. We've already been around the block on that and it's just not the case at Eaton or Hearst.

I do contend that if the IB population spikes up suddenly (I don't see this happening at Eaton, maybe more likely at Hearst) there will need to be a shift in the perception that these are not neighborhood schools- because they ultimately could become so. And yes, to some people that is a major plus for many people looking to move or who aren't happy at their expensive private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A community is also the people who slog through nighttime ANC, local association and DC commission meetings, because they get the connections between what happens in a community and the neighborhood school. These connected issues can be negative -- like the traffic impact of nearby development on the the safety of kids walking to school -- or positive -- like pressuring DDOT to put in traffic calming to enhance student safety or getting Urban Forestry to plant street trees to shade a playground. These are some of the synergies that result from a strong neighborhood-school orientation.

This. Are the OOB people attending the ANC meetings? Are they negotiating with the dog owners over who should have use to the park and at what time? Are they considering what the impact of a proposed change in traffic flow will do to the local shops and parking? It's not all about making the school better - it's about the school helping to make the community better.

Well, I'm sure the hell not doing that at my IB school, and most of the IB parents there are also not doing that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A community is also the people who slog through nighttime ANC, local association and DC commission meetings, because they get the connections between what happens in a community and the neighborhood school. These connected issues can be negative -- like the traffic impact of nearby development on the the safety of kids walking to school -- or positive -- like pressuring DDOT to put in traffic calming to enhance student safety or getting Urban Forestry to plant street trees to shade a playground. These are some of the synergies that result from a strong neighborhood-school orientation.

This. Are the OOB people attending the ANC meetings? Are they negotiating with the dog owners over who should have use to the park and at what time? Are they considering what the impact of a proposed change in traffic flow will do to the local shops and parking? It's not all about making the school better - it's about the school helping to make the community better.

Well, I'm sure the hell not doing that at my IB school, and most of the IB parents there are also not doing that.

How would you know if you don't attend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A community is also the people who slog through nighttime ANC, local association and DC commission meetings, because they get the connections between what happens in a community and the neighborhood school. These connected issues can be negative -- like the traffic impact of nearby development on the the safety of kids walking to school -- or positive -- like pressuring DDOT to put in traffic calming to enhance student safety or getting Urban Forestry to plant street trees to shade a playground. These are some of the synergies that result from a strong neighborhood-school orientation.

This. Are the OOB people attending the ANC meetings? Are they negotiating with the dog owners over who should have use to the park and at what time? Are they considering what the impact of a proposed change in traffic flow will do to the local shops and parking? It's not all about making the school better - it's about the school helping to make the community better.

Well, I'm sure the hell not doing that at my IB school, and most of the IB parents there are also not doing that.

How would you know if you don't attend?

I cannot even believe that we are now somehow connecting school quality with the amount of IB parents who attend ANC meetings to discuss when dogs can use parks.