Murch- Getting screwed again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And then when you think about what DCPS has sunk into Ellington and Dunbar, you come to the conclusion that Bowser and DCPS hate young non-poor children.

Most of those decisions predate Bowser; it's the old "Chocolate City" Democrat machine in action. Now personified in Bowser.

What would it take for a more capable and inclusive leader to win DC's Democratic primary next time?

Bowser was on the Council, so she is not blameless.

I think Catania would have been more capable and inclusive.

But he was running as an Independent. We need someone able to win the Democratic primary.

Or, as some PPs pointed earlier, a good lawsuit against the city.

No taxation without representation.

The Democrat party is a machine in DC. That is the problem. No jurisdiction so lopsided in representation is ever without corruption, and DC has been legendarily bad for decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:This is outrageous. There is no other word for it. I think we should try to help Murch out here.

If you follow the link in the first post of this thread, there is a request to contact Mayor Bowser and Deputy Mayor for Education Jennifer Niles to request additional funding. Connect information in here:

http://murchschool.org/contact-information-for-city-leadership/

and a sample letter is here:

http://murchschool.org/sample-letter-to-mayor-bowser-on-underfunding-of-murch-modernization/
(put this in your own words)

I know that it is easy to write Murch off as a rich, self-absorbed WotP school, but that is really not the case. I think all of us who value quality eduction should take a minute to contact Bowser and Niles on Murch's behalf. I'd also add Council Member David Grosso to the list.

It is, Jeff. I understand the concern, but it nonetheless looks highly localized to upper NW. Did you feel the need to mobilize when DCI had several times that amount of money erased from their budget?

Yes, absolutely.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:This is outrageous. There is no other word for it. I think we should try to help Murch out here.

If you follow the link in the first post of this thread, there is a request to contact Mayor Bowser and Deputy Mayor for Education Jennifer Niles to request additional funding. Connect information in here:

http://murchschool.org/contact-information-for-city-leadership/

and a sample letter is here:

http://murchschool.org/sample-letter-to-mayor-bowser-on-underfunding-of-murch-modernization/
(put this in your own words)

I know that it is easy to write Murch off as a rich, self-absorbed WotP school, but that is really not the case. I think all of us who value quality eduction should take a minute to contact Bowser and Niles on Murch's behalf. I'd also add Council Member David Grosso to the list.

It is, Jeff. I understand the concern, but it nonetheless looks highly localized to upper NW. Did you feel the need to mobilize when DCI had several times that amount of money erased from their budget?

Really? You want to turn this into a charter vs. DCPS battle? What a perfect example of crabs in a bucket thinking.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:This is outrageous. There is no other word for it. I think we should try to help Murch out here.

If you follow the link in the first post of this thread, there is a request to contact Mayor Bowser and Deputy Mayor for Education Jennifer Niles to request additional funding. Connect information in here:

http://murchschool.org/contact-information-for-city-leadership/

and a sample letter is here:

http://murchschool.org/sample-letter-to-mayor-bowser-on-underfunding-of-murch-modernization/
(put this in your own words)

I know that it is easy to write Murch off as a rich, self-absorbed WotP school, but that is really not the case. I think all of us who value quality eduction should take a minute to contact Bowser and Niles on Murch's behalf. I'd also add Council Member David Grosso to the list.

It is, Jeff. I understand the concern, but it nonetheless looks highly localized to upper NW. Did you feel the need to mobilize when DCI had several times that amount of money erased from their budget?

Really? You want to turn this into a charter vs. DCPS battle? What a perfect example of crabs in a bucket thinking.

Welcome to DCUM, Jeff

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll write too - but my unsolicited advice is that everyone keep Ellington and the other over budget schools out of it.

$10 million is not that much money to find in the city budget. It isn't on the Murch parents to find where the money needs to come from -- make a lot of noise and demand that they provide enough funding to bring the facility up to the norm.

This is good advice. This is an issue of common sense. I would say it's an issue of fairness, but it is much more basic than that even. In what world does it make sense to renovate a school and not provide a cafeteria, downsize the library, and turn a playground into a parking lot? This is a clear case of being penny wise but pound foolish. There is no need to pit Murch against any other school. This is a case in which good fiscal management requires spending a bit more money.

Devil's advocate here, but don't most charters get by without a dedicated cafeteria? They have a combination gym/cafeteria in a multi-purpose room or all-purpose room configuration. Not all of them have two playgrounds either, or extra-large libraries in an age when so many materials are online. I'm not saying this is ideal, but some very good schools have been making do with less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does no cafeteria mean no gym? Or does Murch want separate gym and separate cafeteria?

They have a gym now and no cafeteria. That's why the kids get hot lunch from a tray in the hallway and eat in their classrooms. The gym is used for PE all day long every day. You have to look a the logistical programming requirements for running an elementary school with 700+ students. Yes, a school that big needs a gym and a cafeteria, otherwise you either cut PE or eat in classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does no cafeteria mean no gym? Or does Murch want separate gym and separate cafeteria?

They have a gym now and no cafeteria. That's why the kids get hot lunch from a tray in the hallway and eat in their classrooms. The gym is used for PE all day long every day. You have to look a the logistical programming requirements for running an elementary school with 700+ students. Yes, a school that big needs a gym and a cafeteria, otherwise you either cut PE or eat in classrooms.

Your privilege shows.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand the logic of spending $$ to renovate a school but then cut corners and not do it right - ie, enough space for a cafeteria, play space, etc. That decision is so illogical and a waste of money. Budget a little more, do it right the first time and save problems down the road. Why is this so hard for DC to understand? So frustrated...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does no cafeteria mean no gym? Or does Murch want separate gym and separate cafeteria?

They have a gym now and no cafeteria. That's why the kids get hot lunch from a tray in the hallway and eat in their classrooms. The gym is used for PE all day long every day. You have to look a the logistical programming requirements for running an elementary school with 700+ students. Yes, a school that big needs a gym and a cafeteria, otherwise you either cut PE or eat in classrooms.

Your privilege shows.

I'm just looking at DCPS's ed specs. My kids won't go there - -too old.

[Anonymous]

your kids or the ed specs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher parking is required by the union contract. The Murch site is not big enough to provide it without going underground. Going underground is expensive -- hence the latest DGS/DCPS effort not to do so at the expense of all of the facilities planned to go underground. Please lets keep focused on how the larger community can help current and future Murch families ensure that the renovation is one that includes common sense elements: a cafeteria, a gym that can actually accommodate the whole school, a modern library and a playground where 7 grades can play and exercise safely. Doesn't seem like a lot to ask -- and yet.... We could certainly use the support of any DC resident that is similarly seeking renovation or has completed or is nearing completion of the process.

The parking is a zoning requirement and the design provides the barest minimum parking required by zoning. The teacher's contract has nothing to do with it.

You both are right. But notice that DCPS did not say they are getting rid of the parking. DCPS doesn't care about the teacher contract but they don't want to hassle with a zoning variance, which calls for 45-55 spaces for a building this size. They are simply not putting it as far underground as the feasibility study concluded was the only way to fit a school with this large of an enrollment on such a small site. Remember, the city can't build on one third of the Murch site because it is National Park Service land, part of Fort Reno. The only thing that can go on that large swath of the property is play space. The addition will go where the current soccer field & basketball courts & trailers are. The parking is supposed to go under the addition.

It does seem kinda nuts that DCPS has let Murch get as large as it has. They should drastically throttle back any OOB enrollment as those student graduate and then shift more of the local school population to Hardy. This would have the effect of flipping Hardy overnight to a majority IB/neighborhood school, which the community would welcome. A win-win.

10% at-risk set aside is going to affect both Murch and Hearst. You will probably be wishing you had the former OOB families back soon enough.

Is that at risk set aside even being put into place? Not sure anyone understands the logistics of that.

How can DCPS increase the population of already large and overcrowded Murch by another 10% (or slightly less when you do the math)? It makes no sense. The only way to solve the problem and keep enrollment relatively stable is to kick neighborhood families out of the school.

Yes, which they hope will have the ripple effect of kicking high-performing students into lower-performing schools and raising the overall levels of those schools. Force Murch students into Shepherd and Hearst (both high OOB) but at least dangle Deal in front of them. Force them into Eaton, and drive up the value of Hardy. It will force more high SES or at least ambitious families into other schools.

Trying to rezone McFarland/Roosevelt didn't work. Defunding renovations at WOTP schools is a much quieter way to accomplish the same goal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They really needed to adjust the boundaries in Ward 3 during the last review, both Murch and Janney are suffering because of it.

Exactly. Boundary adjustments were politically untenable. So, just make the school unattractive and unable to fulfill its obligations. FORCE the families out, since they didn't agree to go quietly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd be a little more sympathetic if the request were for equity for ALL schools getting the shaft by DCPS / DGS renovations. There are other schools similarly (or more) deserving than Murch that aren't getting renovated for years. And the more funding that gets diverted to Murch, the less will be there for our schools.
I'd be happy to support a pledge for increasing renovation funding overall so that we don't have to make dumb decisions with the Murch renovation and other high priority schools can be moved up (and done correctly).

Oh come on, that's really unfair. Have you seen Murch? It probably should have been one of the first schools to be renovated, and I'm not a Murch parent. It bodes unwell for the entire system. Now that DGS/DCPS has been doing renovations for the past 10 years, they should know the drill.

I will be sending something out to Bowser et al. on behalf of the community tomorrow.

Murch has been waiting patiently in line while schools all over the city have been renovated, some at least twice. Then it watches as DCPS says they have to go back to the drawing board and chop away because another school has incurred 100% cost overruns. Murch is hopelessly overcrowded for its present building. I appreciate that there are other schools that are also still waiting, but some of them have excess capacity. Having waited its turn (actually, well beyond it's turn), Murch now shouldn't have to sacrifice further because Bowser has spent the cupboard bare or based on some egalitarian notion of shared misery.

What makes you so sure it's egalitarian instead of tactical?

[Anonymous]

Bancroft parent here. I feel your pain as Bancroft is also very unsafe and crowded and its modernization has been delayed many times. I hope that the same doesn't happen with Bancroft's plan. I have written a letter to Bowser / Niles - all of this jerking around is absolutely crazy.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:This is outrageous. There is no other word for it. I think we should try to help Murch out here.

If you follow the link in the first post of this thread, there is a request to contact Mayor Bowser and Deputy Mayor for Education Jennifer Niles to request additional funding. Connect information in here:

http://murchschool.org/contact-information-for-city-leadership/

and a sample letter is here:

http://murchschool.org/sample-letter-to-mayor-bowser-on-underfunding-of-murch-modernization/
(put this in your own words)

I know that it is easy to write Murch off as a rich, self-absorbed WotP school, but that is really not the case. I think all of us who value quality eduction should take a minute to contact Bowser and Niles on Murch's behalf. I'd also add Council Member David Grosso to the list.

It is, Jeff. I understand the concern, but it nonetheless looks highly localized to upper NW. Did you feel the need to mobilize when DCI had several times that amount of money erased from their budget?

Really? You want to turn this into a charter vs. DCPS battle? What a perfect example of crabs in a bucket thinking.

I don't, actually. I just can't help noticing the difference in angst in this particular case. Nonetheless, I do feel very badly for the Murch community.

I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist either, but because I'm not blind it's difficult to avoid noticing the difference in how some schools (Roosevelt, Ellington) have had their cost overruns treated in comparison to Murch. Roosevelt's cost overruns are likely to met with the same success as Eastern's or Brookland Middle's - very little. High SES families don't want to go there if they have a choice.

Not expanding Murch is way of making sure that some of them don't have a choice.