Rezoning Lafayette ?

[Anonymous]

Were thinking of buying in Lafayette land - so in Chevy Chase. We want to be zoned for Deal and Wilson. We see many recent threads stating that Lafayette will be rezoned for Coolidge. How likely is that ? We weren’t around for the last city rezoning discussion and we understand that the next one is in 2022.

[Anonymous]

It is certainly a possibility. However, depending on how old your kids are they may be grandfathered in (the older they are the more likely this is) or you could move before middle school (the younger they are the more likely that is).

There are lots of possibilities--one is that high schools no longer have boundaries so no matter where you live you aren't guaranteed Wilson. If that happens, you might as well live where you like the housing and commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is certainly a possibility. However, depending on how old your kids are they may be grandfathered in (the older they are the more likely this is) or you could move before middle school (the younger they are the more likely that is).

There are lots of possibilities--one is that high schools no longer have boundaries so no matter where you live you aren't guaranteed Wilson. If that happens, you might as well live where you like the housing and commute.

Is that really still on the table?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is certainly a possibility. However, depending on how old your kids are they may be grandfathered in (the older they are the more likely this is) or you could move before middle school (the younger they are the more likely that is).

There are lots of possibilities--one is that high schools no longer have boundaries so no matter where you live you aren't guaranteed Wilson. If that happens, you might as well live where you like the housing and commute.

Is that really still on the table?

Nah.

[Anonymous]

Any news on when DME/DCPS will kick of the boundary process?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any news on when DME/DCPS will kick of the boundary process?

Supposed to start again in 2022. The last one took a long time to complete.

[Anonymous]

Moving Lafayette is probably never going to happen but if you look at a map of DC and where DCPS has seats it is the simplest solution to overcrowding at Deal/Wilson.

All of the other solutions are far more complicated and impact far more people involving greater travel times.

But most likely the overcrowding issues at Deal and Wilson will never be taken on - it really would not surprise me if Wilson has 3000 students by 2025 which is more students than the next 5 largest High Schools in DC combined.

[Anonymous]

I don't know if there is political will to rezone Lafayette out. But if you wouldn't buy in Shepherd Park because you think it will be zoned out, I think that Lafayette is at about the same level of risk. They'll either not move any elementary schools out of the Deal/Wilson pyramid or they'll move both of those schools at once, is my guess.

[Anonymous]

They're not moving Shepherd out without also moving a WOTP elementary out, and Lafayette is the only one that makes any sense. They're not moving Murch or Janney out when many of those kids can literally walk across the street to Deal/Wilson.

As far as political will, when have WOTP parents ever had much true political pull in this city? And I'm going to guess the new Ward 4 council member would be all for moving Lafayette kids to a MS/HS across the park. But hey, Ward 4 voted for her. Enjoy the result.

All-lottery doesn't make sense on a number of levels: There aren't enough high-performing kids in the city to truly achieve the balance needed, and sprinkling those kids all over the place won't do much. There's also the matter of transportation, which, considering WMATA's very dire straits, would be a massive issue.

Moving Lafayette and Shepherd as a group to EOTP MS/HS would give those schools a sizable high-achieving cohort all at once. Of course, if it does happen, it likely will not affect anyone commenting here now: The changes won't kick in until 2024 at the earliest and almost certainly will contain a grandfather clause keeping all current Lafayette kids inbounds for Deal/Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Do yourself a favor and head for Bethesda. Or, be prepared to pay private.

Buying IB for Janney or Murch is probably a safer bet if you want Deal and Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They're not moving Shepherd out without also moving a WOTP elementary out, and Lafayette is the only one that makes any sense. They're not moving Murch or Janney out when many of those kids can literally walk across the street to Deal/Wilson.

As far as political will, when have WOTP parents ever had much true political pull in this city? And I'm going to guess the new Ward 4 council member would be all for moving Lafayette kids to a MS/HS across the park. But hey, Ward 4 voted for her. Enjoy the result.

All-lottery doesn't make sense on a number of levels: There aren't enough high-performing kids in the city to truly achieve the balance needed, and sprinkling those kids all over the place won't do much. There's also the matter of transportation, which, considering WMATA's very dire straits, would be a massive issue.

Moving Lafayette and Shepherd as a group to EOTP MS/HS would give those schools a sizable high-achieving cohort all at once. Of course, if it does happen, it likely will not affect anyone commenting here now: The changes won't kick in until 2024 at the earliest and almost certainly will contain a grandfather clause keeping all current Lafayette kids inbounds for Deal/Wilson.

Yup - in fact if it was just those 2 ES it would give you a higher performing cohort than the remaining cohort at Deal.

[Anonymous]

There will be a lot of other options on the table when the time comes, and the chances of Lafayette or Shepherd actually being rezoned as very small. There are other strategies for reducing the enrollment that do not involve dramatic boundary changes or reducing OOB spaces, some were discussed at great length last time. You should buy the house you like in the community you like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There will be a lot of other options on the table when the time comes, and the chances of Lafayette or Shepherd actually being rezoned as very small. There are other strategies for reducing the enrollment that do not involve dramatic boundary changes or reducing OOB spaces, some were discussed at great length last time. You should buy the house you like in the community you like.

Such as?

[Anonymous]

Rezoning is always a possibility, no matter where you buy in DC. A few things to keep in mind though:

If DCPS moves Lafayette out of the Deal Wilson feeder pattern, then there has to be a middle and high school large enough to take them.

DCPS doesn't care about WOTP convenience. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if they moved Janney or Murch out of the feeder pattern despite proximity and left Shepherd, Lafayette, and Bancroft in. The #1 DCPS goal is to close the achievement gap.

There's some current hysteria by a group of perpetually outraged Lafayette parents regarding moving PK to EOTP as opposed to reducing it. They're convinced this is a nefarious plot to slowly physically move them out of the feeder pattern and let a bunch of brown OOB kids into their exclusive school. Despite the fact that many of them don't even have rising PK kids, they would rather Lafayette do away with PK than risk DCPS quietly picking up their homes and moving them east of the park in the middle of the night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're not moving Shepherd out without also moving a WOTP elementary out, and Lafayette is the only one that makes any sense. They're not moving Murch or Janney out when many of those kids can literally walk across the street to Deal/Wilson.

As far as political will, when have WOTP parents ever had much true political pull in this city? And I'm going to guess the new Ward 4 council member would be all for moving Lafayette kids to a MS/HS across the park. But hey, Ward 4 voted for her. Enjoy the result.

All-lottery doesn't make sense on a number of levels: There aren't enough high-performing kids in the city to truly achieve the balance needed, and sprinkling those kids all over the place won't do much. There's also the matter of transportation, which, considering WMATA's very dire straits, would be a massive issue.

Moving Lafayette and Shepherd as a group to EOTP MS/HS would give those schools a sizable high-achieving cohort all at once. Of course, if it does happen, it likely will not affect anyone commenting here now: The changes won't kick in until 2024 at the earliest and almost certainly will contain a grandfather clause keeping all current Lafayette kids inbounds for Deal/Wilson.

Yup - in fact if it was just those 2 ES it would give you a higher performing cohort than the remaining cohort at Deal.

My kids will be past middle school age by the time any boundary changes are made, but I would have happily chosen a smaller middle school with Lafayette, Shepard, and another school (Bancroft?) over Deal. We lotteried unsuccessfully for Hardy. Deal is just too big for many kids.