Attn Maury parents

[Anonymous]

As if DCPS cares about the results of its surveys. Fool me once shame on you ...

[Anonymous]

People will not invest. You are delusional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I wish someone would run the ## and figure out how many IB students are not attending Miner. If the whole neighborhood just enrolls in a Maury/Miner cluster, then we'll have a great, diverse, urban school. People should not be so scared of change. At the same time I think if this is DCPS's solution they need to sweeten the pot somehow, perhaps with a dual language program or a Reggio ECE program.

If it's such a fantastic idea why would they need to sweeten the deal

Because people are scared of the unknown, and any incentive to get them to walk in the door is a good thing.

Please, this is our neighborhood school we're talking about. Let's not make this about scoring cheap points. The fact is that a cluster could work very well if people put aside their fears and their need to control everything.

That won't happen. Look at Watkins. A large OOB population is going to keep in-bounds families away. The reason Brent and Maury flipped is in large part because of their small size, so they didn't need a lot of buy in to create a majority IB school. By creating a Maury/Minor mega-school all you're doing is screwing in-bounds Maury families.

For the record I'm an IB Maury family and I don't think in these terms. I don't think I have a vested right in my school, and I don't think sharing resources with another neighborhood school is being "screwed." If my neighbors are so dog in the manger that they'll refuse to enroll ... well who's screwing whom?

Well then you are foolish. Your home value is absolutely tied to the fact that you are inbounds for one of the two elementary schools on the Hill that people consider to be acceptable.

DP. I think you are narrowly focused on home value, which is silly as a response to OP's hyperventilating information. The PP above you is more concerned about the stability of schooling for her children, and seems to think that sharing the resources is good for the other kids in the community.

Exactly. While I would be bummed if my housing value went down, that's a risk I knew I was taking when I bought where I did. I also think that everyone concerned about real estate would have even more of an interest in making whatever solution is put into place work. I'm not wild about the way this is being floated because the response is predictable; but I don't think there's anything magical about Maury and I think we can do fine in a cluster if everyone invests.

(I should add - on reading the PP above about housing values and school zone, I agree that they don't seem to be influenced all that much by boundaries, at least not in a way that knocks more than a few %% off my house, which is always going to be on a great block.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People will not invest. You are delusional.

Why so small minded an apocalyptic? Geez. Just look how excited people were about opening up Van Ness. I'm not sure that a Maury/Miner cluster would be all that different. It's frankly a very unattractive and close minded attitude. And anyway, I think a large percentage of our neighbors will end up going; it's not like we can pick up and move like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually think the combined ECE grades would work fine and would have the added benefit of all/most Maury families getting access to PK, which only siblings get right now. Also, Maury families: keep in mind that the alternative will likely involve scrapping your PK all together eventually...

Obviously the question is whether the Cluster would destroy the upper grades at Maury, since those grades don't work at Miner at all at the moment.

It's obvious it will destroy maury. Do you think upper elementary Maury teachers with effective ratings are going to waste their time trying to teach miner kids? No. The good teachers will leave and have their choice of other schools that aren't being actively undermined by DCPS

.

You are a real piece of work.

[Anonymous]

Van Ness was an unusual situation with a school rebuilding out from scratch. It gives gentrifiers pause when the see and hear 5th-graders around the school they are considering for their 3 year olds. And with a cluster, it still give them pause when the upper school is so large and their 6year olds will be there Roth the same big bad 12 year old.

BTDT as a former Cluster parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People will not invest. You are delusional.

And you know nothing about Maury's history. The school was on the verge of being closed about 10 years ago until a few white IB families decided to 'invest' in their IB school. Some of those same families are now 'investing' in Eliot-Hine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People will not invest. You are delusional.

And you know nothing about Maury's history. The school was on the verge of being closed about 10 years ago until a few white IB families decided to 'invest' in their IB school. Some of those same families are now 'investing' in Eliot-Hine.

Exactly. Maury is a small, active community. That means we can get together and all decide to make a cluster work if that's what the decision is. (Not saying that I think this is the best outcome; just that we can make it work.)

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I cannot believe this. And our only representative is the worthless Charles Allen. The same guy who has never done a thing but make the Hill a totally worse place to live.

I don't have particularly strong feelings about Charles Allen but in my experience he is a nice guy who shows up and is very receptive to constituents' complaints. He is also on the right side of most local issues I care about. But I see a comment with almost this exact phrasing every time his name comes up here. Are you a political rival or something? It's really strange.

I think by and large Charles Allen is a nice guy. But in this city, you unfortunately need a representative who will shamelessly lobby and fight for what's best your ward, or else the city bureaucracy will run roughshod over your neighborhood. Just look at what they're doing to Maury and the craziness with Watkins relocation. Or the state of 17th street. For comparison, there is no way that Mary Cheh would stand for this craziness in ward 3

Sorry, Charlie. Were you sleeping when they rezoned several schools away from Deal?

I like the proposal.

Actually there was only one school zoned away from Deal (Eaton) and even that school previously had access to Hardy and Deal. Also, atvtge time Eaton was 30% IB so yes they were "collateral damage." The neighborhood (Crestwood and parts of 16th St Heights) suffered when they established high school pyramids. The only way that could have been prevented would have been to rezone those neighborhoods to Deal/Wilson feeder otherwise they would have needed to zone West and Powell INTO Deal. So yes, they suffered (not Cheh's area) because they had neighborhood rights and not elementary feeder rights. Oyster/Adams is also complicated.

I say that to say Chef didn't allow several of her schools to be rezoned, she kind of slowed Eaton to be collateral damage.

[Anonymous]

Could" sweeten the deal" by giving all Cluster attendees guaranteed PK3/PK4 like Miner currently has...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems that the DCPS is proposing to merge Maury and Miner together because the construction budget for Maury is not large enough to service the current boundary.

Here's why this is crazy:

1. DCPS just redrew the boundary 2 years ago for Maury and made it bigger. Now apparently it's too big. So this is a mistake of DCPS' own making
2. Everyone here knows the modernization budgets in this city are crazy but I've never heard of them merging 2 school buildings because of a tight construction budget. This is the same DCPS that has spent over $200 million on Duke Ellington, which has fewer kids than Maury and enrolls Maryland students!! So WHY DONT THEY ASK THE CITY FOR MORE MONEY INSTEAD
3. This seems like a thinly veiled attempt to salvage Miner, which has abysmal performance. But combining 1 good school & 1 bad school together =/= 1 successful school
4. I strongly doubt Miner parents want to be inundated with Maury families and I know for a fact that Maury parents don't want their kids to go to Miner

DCPS is asking parents to complete this survey. If you think this is crazy (or maybe you think it's great, IDK), I encourage you to take the survey:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdq-Y8TRjflX9ySc8x2ipkqgHOT8EafXNjKqQ1UKHxzlpTydg/viewform

I don't know where I come out on this issue but OP's "argument" is just silly, self involved and a tad bit racist and classist. Let's examine, shall we?

1. And??? what exactly is her point? Yes, the original decision was made by DCPS. And let's assume for the sake of argument that the boundaries were too big and it created a problem. There is a problem, so now it has to be solved. OP's post doesn't propose another outcome, it just says that DCPS created it. So because they created it they cannot or should not solve it? Your argument is what I would expect from a pre-teen or teen.
2. Money doesn't equal land. Unless, of course, you want them to annex the houses on the block. Also, the fact that there were silly cost oveerruns and excessive spending elsewhere doesn't mean they should repeat the behavior. That's a child's response. As a taxpayer I would like to see excessive spending stopped, not perpetuated. Although I am guessing that OP would argue that DCPS should overspend on Maury so they get theirs, but then stop such irresponsible spending. That argument would be consistent with the self involved and juvenile "logic" in the rest of OP's post.
3. "Salvage Miner"? Wow (and I don't live near there and my kids don't go there so I do not have a horse in this race), but wow! It doesn't need salvaging. It's not where Maury or Brent or LT are, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have the right to exist. As to your second thought here, yes, there is no denying that part of the solution here is to try and solve an overcrowding issue with an action that also might benefit another school. But that's actually a smart approach. As to your little equation, um, the data suggests that these types of actions actually do work. You have the right to take issue with the data, but your silly equation just makes you look ignorant for not even understanding that such data exists.
4. This was my favorite of the four generally ignorant and angry statements. Please tell us why Miner families wouldn't want to be "inundated with Maury families". Are you all too well spoken? Rich? Educated? White? What's the subtext here, please tell us all high and mighty. I bet that Miner families would love to have engaged parents and high performing kids join their school. Whether they would want you coming along with your kids is a horse of a different color altogether.

Again, I do not have kids at Maury or Miner. And the proposed merger deserves a careful and serious consideration. OP's absurd post just isn't that.

I love you. Bravo.

Future Miner parent who would love me some Maury parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People will not invest. You are delusional.

Why so small minded an apocalyptic? Geez. Just look how excited people were about opening up Van Ness. I'm not sure that a Maury/Miner cluster would be all that different. It's frankly a very unattractive and close minded attitude. And anyway, I think a large percentage of our neighbors will end up going; it's not like we can pick up and move like that.

Can mess has less than 100 kids enrolled. It's part of the reason why there's no money for Maury. I would not call it a success. In fact it just shows you what a neighborhood can accomplish if they complain enough

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually think the combined ECE grades would work fine and would have the added benefit of all/most Maury families getting access to PK, which only siblings get right now. Also, Maury families: keep in mind that the alternative will likely involve scrapping your PK all together eventually...

Obviously the question is whether the Cluster would destroy the upper grades at Maury, since those grades don't work at Miner at all at the moment.

It's obvious it will destroy maury. Do you think upper elementary Maury teachers with effective ratings are going to waste their time trying to teach miner kids? No. The good teachers will leave and have their choice of other schools that aren't being actively undermined by DCPS

.

You are a real piece of work.

Sounds pretty prescient to me

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems that the DCPS is proposing to merge Maury and Miner together because the construction budget for Maury is not large enough to service the current boundary.

Here's why this is crazy:

1. DCPS just redrew the boundary 2 years ago for Maury and made it bigger. Now apparently it's too big. So this is a mistake of DCPS' own making
2. Everyone here knows the modernization budgets in this city are crazy but I've never heard of them merging 2 school buildings because of a tight construction budget. This is the same DCPS that has spent over $200 million on Duke Ellington, which has fewer kids than Maury and enrolls Maryland students!! So WHY DONT THEY ASK THE CITY FOR MORE MONEY INSTEAD
3. This seems like a thinly veiled attempt to salvage Miner, which has abysmal performance. But combining 1 good school & 1 bad school together =/= 1 successful school
4. I strongly doubt Miner parents want to be inundated with Maury families and I know for a fact that Maury parents don't want their kids to go to Miner

DCPS is asking parents to complete this survey. If you think this is crazy (or maybe you think it's great, IDK), I encourage you to take the survey:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdq-Y8TRjflX9ySc8x2ipkqgHOT8EafXNjKqQ1UKHxzlpTydg/viewform

Pass the popcorn. This is better than a Trump hatefest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People will not invest. You are delusional.

And you know nothing about Maury's history. The school was on the verge of being closed about 10 years ago until a few white IB families decided to 'invest' in their IB school. Some of those same families are now 'investing' in Eliot-Hine.

Exactly. Maury is a small, active community. That means we can get together and all decide to make a cluster work if that's what the decision is. (Not saying that I think this is the best outcome; just that we can make it work.)

The fact that it's a small community is what has helped it to succeed. And frankly, the fact that Miner is also relatively small will also help it as the neighborhood gentrifies. But you create an almost 800 student mega-school and split it across two campuses and all the progress both schools have made will be lost. This is the reason Watkins has been reducing it's enrollment. Gentrifiers do not like gigantic mostly OOB elementary schools.