H.D. Cooke...thoughts?

[Anonymous]

OK. We get it, there is a lot of crime near H.D. COoke. There is not space in JKLMO OOB for all the Adam's Morgan kids. So, some of us are going to have to send our kids to Cooke or move or something. Lets be constructive. No one wants to put their kids at risk, but those of us in the neighborhood already choose to live here, near this crime. We have a chance to make this a nice neighborhood school for our kids. Lets go to the open house on Thursday. As ask the principal about the crime and guns on school grounds, etc. Ask what she is planning to do. If we make enough noise, I bet they'll have a cop or two on the corner during dismissal time. The schools itself sounds like a warm, safe environment for the kids. I'm not worried about test scores in the older grade (and the testing does not start until 3rd), the new principal, new building, new neighborhood interest is only a year old.

Yes, I'm scared of the 1-7 gang, but realistically, even if we get into JKLMO, my child is probably more likely to die in a car accident driving across the park than from a 1-7 gang bullet.

[Anonymous]

FYI - The below was posted by the administrator on the "Crime Thread". Don't take this stuff to seriously, check it out for yourself:

Anonymous wrote:
i think there is one poster posting all of those articles and stories. and if you look, many of those stories are dated years and years ago. this poster strikes me as kind of alarmist, frankly. i am not sure what her motivation is, but i do not share her impressions of this area.



This appears to be a correct assumption. There is a poster who has been all over the school threads with posts about crime. Those posts include 10 consecutive posts in this thread alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't take this stuff to seriously, check it out for yourself:

Anonymous wrote:
i think there is one poster posting all of those articles and stories.

Are you suggesting that the links are fabricated?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't take this stuff to seriously, check it out for yourself:

Anonymous wrote:
i think there is one poster posting all of those articles and stories.

Are you suggesting that the links are fabricated?

huh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't take this stuff to seriously, check it out for yourself:

Anonymous wrote:
i think there is one poster posting all of those articles and stories.

Are you suggesting that the links are fabricated?

huh?

I think PP's point here is that it may very well be one person posting multiple links with scary news, but that doesn't mean those links aren't real or valid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't take this stuff to seriously, check it out for yourself:

Anonymous wrote:
i think there is one poster posting all of those articles and stories.

Are you suggesting that the links are fabricated?

huh?

I think PP's point here is that it may very well be one person posting multiple links with scary news, but that doesn't mean those links aren't real or valid.

or current.

[Anonymous]

I think it's largely unhelpful fearmongering. Do any of us in Adams Morgan think it doesn't have crime? Way more than I'd prefer, for sure. But we can't all afford to move out, nor do we all want to.

[Anonymous]

Again, I'm not trying to put words in her mouth but I think her use of crime story links - even if they are two years old - is to put some context to the immediate surroundings of the school. Two years isn't really a long time when it comes to changing crime patterns.

She never said she wanted to move out of Adams Morgan (or that you should move out of Adams Morgan). She seems to be providing evidence that crime around 17th & Euclid is inordinately high. It's easy to call something "fearmongering" when it fails to validate a choice you've already made. But someone who hasn't made that choice and is looking for more information - may very well want to know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Again, I'm not trying to put words in her mouth but I think her use of crime story links - even if they are two years old - is to put some context to the immediate surroundings of the school. Two years isn't really a long time when it comes to changing crime patterns.

She never said she wanted to move out of Adams Morgan (or that you should move out of Adams Morgan). She seems to be providing evidence that crime around 17th & Euclid is inordinately high. It's easy to call something "fearmongering" when it fails to validate a choice you've already made. But someone who hasn't made that choice and is looking for more information - may very well want to know.

No, I don't think you're trying to put words in her mouth. I think you ARE our linky-lou crime poster. You made your point about Adams Morgan crime, and to just keep harping on it now is, yes, feamongering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again, I'm not trying to put words in her mouth but I think her use of crime story links - even if they are two years old - is to put some context to the immediate surroundings of the school. Two years isn't really a long time when it comes to changing crime patterns.

She never said she wanted to move out of Adams Morgan (or that you should move out of Adams Morgan). She seems to be providing evidence that crime around 17th & Euclid is inordinately high. It's easy to call something "fearmongering" when it fails to validate a choice you've already made. But someone who hasn't made that choice and is looking for more information - may very well want to know.

No, I don't think you're trying to put words in her mouth. I think you ARE our linky-lou crime poster. You made your point about Adams Morgan crime, and to just keep harping on it now is, yes, feamongering.

Nice attempt to discredit me just because you don't like what I'm saying. That's emerging as a pattern with you.

You won't like this, but NO. I am not the "linky-lou crime poster" and furthermore I encourage you to ask J Steele to double-check the IP address. For the record, unlike the PP I used to live in Adams Morgan (and I loved it!). I now live farther east, as there's no way I could have afforded to buy the house I was renting (though if I could have, I would still be there today).

You call her POV "fearmongering" but I suspect she would call your actions "white-washing." You seem to be suggesting the crime issue is negligible whereas she seems to find it an urgent and immediate danger. Personally, I believe the truth to lie in the middle ground, but I don't have a dog in this fight. I still like the neighborhood (though I no longer live there) and I don't have a child at this school.

She's not wrong just because she said something you don't want to hear. She doesn't have to validate your decisions in order to post here. Finally, people asking about the school may very well want to hear what she has to say.

[Anonymous]

I hate jumping on the board and seeing the COoke thread near the top, with three pages added since my last visit. Rather than one or two posters looking for validation that they made an ok choice sending their child to Cooke, I'm reading one freaked out poster who needs validation that Cooke is this insanely dangerous place that they were smart to avoid.

I guess I do have a stake in this, my child is at Cooke. And after school, her nanny along with many other children and childcare providers stay after and play in the schoolyard. And on the day I get off work early and do pick up, I usually then walk down 17th with my two kids down to Harris Teeter and them home again along - gasp - Columbia.

Are we the crazy ones? I've never thought of myself as particularly risky or daring - quite the opposite. Are we lucky? I don't know. I want to live in a safe place. I want to live my life alert but not fearful. I see a lot of kids in this neighborhood, with parents and/or nannies out and about. But it's not as dangerous on a daily basis as one poster might have you think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again, I'm not trying to put words in her mouth but I think her use of crime story links - even if they are two years old - is to put some context to the immediate surroundings of the school. Two years isn't really a long time when it comes to changing crime patterns.

She never said she wanted to move out of Adams Morgan (or that you should move out of Adams Morgan). She seems to be providing evidence that crime around 17th & Euclid is inordinately high. It's easy to call something "fearmongering" when it fails to validate a choice you've already made. But someone who hasn't made that choice and is looking for more information - may very well want to know.

No, I don't think you're trying to put words in her mouth. I think you ARE our linky-lou crime poster. You made your point about Adams Morgan crime, and to just keep harping on it now is, yes, feamongering.

Nice attempt to discredit me just because you don't like what I'm saying. That's emerging as a pattern with you.

You won't like this, but NO. I am not the "linky-lou crime poster" and furthermore I encourage you to ask J Steele to double-check the IP address. For the record, unlike the PP I used to live in Adams Morgan (and I loved it!). I now live farther east, as there's no way I could have afforded to buy the house I was renting (though if I could have, I would still be there today).

You call her POV "fearmongering" but I suspect she would call your actions "white-washing." You seem to be suggesting the crime issue is negligible whereas she seems to find it an urgent and immediate danger. Personally, I believe the truth to lie in the middle ground, but I don't have a dog in this fight. I still like the neighborhood (though I no longer live there) and I don't have a child at this school.

She's not wrong just because she said something you don't want to hear. She doesn't have to validate your decisions in order to post here. Finally, people asking about the school may very well want to hear what she has to say.

Not sure where you get the notion that you're debating with only one person. I haven't discussed my decisions on this thread and certainly haven't asked you to approve of them.

Nobody here said "the crime issue is negligible," nor does anyone imply it by refusing to panic. You're responding to words that simply aren't there. What I said is that most of us here, in the Cooke thread, are aware of the crime problem in Adams Morgan and are trying to make the best decision for our families in light of that. It's not like there are dozens of families applying OOB for Cooke who have no idea.

I live in the neighborhood. I read the paper, the various neighborhood and MPD listservs and blogs. I'm well aware of the crime stats. What I don't know - and would prefer to get back to - is the quality of the education at H.D. Cooke.

[Anonymous]

I think it is fair to say that everyone who is considering Cooke already lives in the neighborhood. I don't think anyone inboundary for Murch is considering a drive east across the park to go to Cooke (though, IMHO if Rhee really wanted to fix the DCPS that is exactly what people would be thinking about).

So, Crime-Posting Mom - we know there is crime in our neighborhood and we all know about the 17 Gang (we also know that the Euclid St Market has been closed for while, which apparently you do not). It is OUR neighborhood.

I think what people here are trying to learn is: are other parents in the neighborhood thinking about Cooke as a viable option (maybe as only option, maybe as an alternative to private if OOB/Charter lotteries don't work out, maybe as an alternative to moving in the next few years, maybe as an alternative to paying $10,000 a year for daycare, whatever it is). Rehashing the crime issue is educating no one. You made your point and I'm sure everyone on the west side of the park is now feeling even more smug and satisfied about their real estate choices. But, those of us who live here are not exactly learning anything from your posts -- we play on that play ground, we walk past the school many times a week.

Others have given first hand accounts about of actual experience at the school. You have no child at the school and you don't plan to send a child to the school. Its time to let those who are at the school or considering the school have their say. If you want to be helpful, start a new thread to give advice to Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights Parents on where they can send their kids to school that is safe, provides a decent education. You have obviously figured it out. Please enlighten us instead of trying to frighten us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is fair to say that everyone who is considering Cooke already lives in the neighborhood. I don't think anyone inboundary for Murch is considering a drive east across the park to go to Cooke (though, IMHO if Rhee really wanted to fix the DCPS that is exactly what people would be thinking about).

So, Crime-Posting Mom - we know there is crime in our neighborhood and we all know about the 17 Gang (we also know that the Euclid St Market has been closed for while, which apparently you do not). It is OUR neighborhood.

I think what people here are trying to learn is: are other parents in the neighborhood thinking about Cooke as a viable option (maybe as only option, maybe as an alternative to private if OOB/Charter lotteries don't work out, maybe as an alternative to moving in the next few years, maybe as an alternative to paying $10,000 a year for daycare, whatever it is). Rehashing the crime issue is educating no one. You made your point and I'm sure everyone on the west side of the park is now feeling even more smug and satisfied about their real estate choices. But, those of us who live here are not exactly learning anything from your posts -- we play on that play ground, we walk past the school many times a week.

Others have given first hand accounts about of actual experience at the school. You have no child at the school and you don't plan to send a child to the school. Its time to let those who are at the school or considering the school have their say. If you want to be helpful, start a new thread to give advice to Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights Parents on where they can send their kids to school that is safe, provides a decent education. You have obviously figured it out. Please enlighten us instead of trying to frighten us.

great post. just one minor point--since Cooke offers PS-3 classes, folks who are inbounds for Murch et al *might* be considering it for a preschool year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is fair to say that everyone who is considering Cooke already lives in the neighborhood. I don't think anyone inboundary for Murch is considering a drive east across the park to go to Cooke (though, IMHO if Rhee really wanted to fix the DCPS that is exactly what people would be thinking about).

So, Crime-Posting Mom - we know there is crime in our neighborhood and we all know about the 17 Gang (we also know that the Euclid St Market has been closed for while, which apparently you do not). It is OUR neighborhood.

I think what people here are trying to learn is: are other parents in the neighborhood thinking about Cooke as a viable option (maybe as only option, maybe as an alternative to private if OOB/Charter lotteries don't work out, maybe as an alternative to moving in the next few years, maybe as an alternative to paying $10,000 a year for daycare, whatever it is). Rehashing the crime issue is educating no one. You made your point and I'm sure everyone on the west side of the park is now feeling even more smug and satisfied about their real estate choices. But, those of us who live here are not exactly learning anything from your posts -- we play on that play ground, we walk past the school many times a week.

Others have given first hand accounts about of actual experience at the school. You have no child at the school and you don't plan to send a child to the school. Its time to let those who are at the school or considering the school have their say. If you want to be helpful, start a new thread to give advice to Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights Parents on where they can send their kids to school that is safe, provides a decent education. You have obviously figured it out. Please enlighten us instead of trying to frighten us.

great post. just one minor point--since Cooke offers PS-3 classes, folks who are inbounds for Murch et al *might* be considering it for a preschool year.

or even a pre-k year for that matter. since pre-k is hard to come by in a Murch-like school and Cooke has lots of spots.