Why is the overcrowding issue so complex?
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Anonymous
Principals have say in who gets hired for their schools, and the principal’s management ability matters in whether teachers accept and whether they stay for the long haul. That’s why principals matter tremendously. A good principal can recruit and retain good teachers. Happy, motivated, and supported teachers make a strong school. I don’t know how principals are assigned, though obviously you can’t make anyone stay somewhere they really don’t want to be. |
Anonymous
Teachers and principals are hired through one system, yes. They are offered jobs and can choose whether to accept. They are very seldom force-placed over their own objections, and they can quit if they want. |
Anonymous
Principals are done through a process that feels like speed dating but really the central office tends to get what it wants. Candidates can indicate interest in schools, and schools form panels of teachers and parents to interview the candidates. If a school really dislikes someone, downtown is unlikely to force it on them. If a school doesn't match with anyone they get an interim principal or the AP is in charge for a year. The "it's all the same system" argument just doesn't hold water. Downtown has a lot of discretion and tends to exercise it more generously towards the Wilson pyramid and certain other favorites. That unfairness is part of why the system is dysfunctional, and it is the reason it doesn't seem so bad if you live in Ward 3. See? |
Anonymous
Its not "unfair" to give higher performing people -or schools more autonomy. Its good leadership. |
Anonymous
It's not just more autonomy. It's sometimes straight up more money. Better principals. More care and attention from downtown staff. Lots of things. |
Anonymous
Exactly but people don't want to realize their own privilege. I mean just the fact that the majority of students are low SES really does make a difference. There's tons of evidence that tells us low SES parents have less time or spend less time on their child's education and less time as they grow, putting them at a disadvantage even as early as PK. Their children also have a much high truancy rate, and truancy means less learning. Low SES schools need the best too, besides the schools needing to be fixed, and hospitals, and affordable but not fake (7eleven, fast food) food. |
Anonymous
| Show me hard numbers proving DCPS gives more money to schools WOTP. |
Anonymous
It is totally untrue that WOTP schools get more money from DCPS. In fact, the opposite is true- they get less per pupil funding. That may be as it should be (fewer at risk kids, not Title I etc), but it’s totally false to say it gets more resources from DCPS. |
Anonymous
| the fundamental difference is that the schools full of students are full of money. Where the numbers aren't there the offerings decline in a vicious cycle. No charters in far NW, every seat is filled, so every position on staff is filled. In 5-7 other wards, where enrollment is uncertain, principals can't be sure to keep their school psychologist year to year. Their librarians or art teachers. Principals can't make promises to families or staff and staff move away from that uncertainty. |
Anonymous
+100 I sat through every meeting back in 2014 when the last boundary review process took place. The UMC whites would grumble a little and try and raise the idea of ceasing feeder rights for OOB kids and the pushback was immediate and forceful. Hell knows no fury like a DC grandma whose grandkids' school access is threatened. Good luck with that. The mayor will never touch OOB feeder rights. |
Anonymous
You are underestimating the rest of the city - there are many middle class and UMC families living EOTP (many families of color) living in the string of neighborhoods just east of Rock Creek Park many of whom have been living in those neighborhoods for decades and those numbers have been dramatically boosted by gentrification. But close to none of those folks are attending DCPS facilities EOTP and are finding their way into Deal/Wilson, charters or in some cases privates. It is worth adding that the two schools everyone are clamoring for up until about 5 years ago in fact had a cohort of low income students but that is no longer the case as the paths to Deal/Wilson have narrowed. We are not talking moving kids from Crestwood to Anacostia - we are talking about moving them to schools closer to their own neighborhoods. The math actually isn't that hard and is getting easier by the year. |
Anonymous
So you are saying central office is racist. They very well might be although I have a good friend who works there and she says that the overall sentiment at Central is very much anti-Wilson. It is talked about disparagingly as the so-called white annoying school. In general Central likes compliant parent communities who don’t question their decisions |
Anonymous
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yes, I would absolutely do it.
The interesting question is what we should do about the high schools EOTP. People roll their eyes but there are interesting ideas. For example, Coolidge is perpetually underenrolled and its catchment has a very household income. Basically, if there was no Coolidge, no one would build a high school where it is. Why not make it a big draw? Early college is one program there - why not make that the core focus? For all the greatness of Wilson, supposedly, it has a mix of good and bad students. Make Coolidge a draw for good students and it will change the game. |
jsteele
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Just so you know, Roosevelt is the assigned high school for Crestwood and MacFarland is its assigned middle school. Crestwood kids are still grandfathered into Deal for two more years and going to Deal provides a path to Wilson. Already several neighborhood kids attend the assigned elementary schools (Powell and West). So, while this ship may not have sailed, it is in the process of leaving the shore. |
Anonymous
Recall that several years ago, the longtime principal at Janney moved to become principal of a Brookland MS. Somehow her experience at Janney did not translate to bringing that kind of success to this MS- I am only a casual observer, so others may have more facts. I suspect the high SES community is a big difference. And then that principal left the MS to become principal of Brent- similar profile to Janney. |