Letter from Cancellor re moving schools - opps - I got caught moving my kid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: OOB is the symptom, not the problem. If everyone had a decent IB school people could go wherever they wanted OOB and nobody would care.

True, true. Strong schools build strong neighborhoods build strong schools build strong neighborhoods. Charter schools are no panacea.
So.
What will it take to improve the Dunbars and Roosevelts and Ballous? We need a mayor, chancellor, & DME with the brilliance and integrity to pull that off.

Significant economic growth that creates good paying jobs for working-class people and affordable quality child care so people can keep those jobs.

Reductions in crime, and consequently the numbers of children suffering from trauma.

Comprehensive prenatal care for all women, more children born healthy and at full-birth weight.

If we had a city with a healthy population and fewer children experiencing trauma, then we wouldn't need such drastic measures in the schools.

But until we have a city filled with children who are truly ready to learn, we're gonna keep having the same problems.

Except that growth has not been equitable and projects to further exacerbate income inequality. Working poor suffer disproportionately from high housing costs. Hell, many teachers can't afford to live in DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: OOB is the symptom, not the problem. If everyone had a decent IB school people could go wherever they wanted OOB and nobody would care.

True, true. Strong schools build strong neighborhoods build strong schools build strong neighborhoods. Charter schools are no panacea.
So.
What will it take to improve the Dunbars and Roosevelts and Ballous? We need a mayor, chancellor, & DME with the brilliance and integrity to pull that off.

Significant economic growth that creates good paying jobs for working-class people and affordable quality child care so people can keep those jobs.

Reductions in crime, and consequently the numbers of children suffering from trauma.

Comprehensive prenatal care for all women, more children born healthy and at full-birth weight.

If we had a city with a healthy population and fewer children experiencing trauma, then we wouldn't need such drastic measures in the schools.

But until we have a city filled with children who are truly ready to learn, we're gonna keep having the same problems.

Except that growth has not been equitable and projects to further exacerbate income inequality. Working poor suffer disproportionately from high housing costs. Hell, many teachers can't afford to live in DC

Agree - let's add affordable housing to the mix.

But my broader point is that this isn't an education problem -- it's much bigger and harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Besides, I'm not sure dcps teachers understand how hard the parent community took this

The level of anger clearly took the Council by surprise. On Fri/Sat you could tell that Grosso thought this would blow over. He did a complete reversal. I do admire him for responding to what the voters want, but his original posturing shows how much he doesn't get it.

Actually, his original posturing showed how much he DOES get that it's worse for DCPS students and teachers for him to go right now, in the middle of the school year.

But it's true, the explosion in voices of the parents was super loud and that was not going to blow over. It's too bad they couldn't figure out how to keep him and explain he was gone after the SY ended but would finish the good changes he started until then.

He doesn't get why the parents would be so furious. He thinks it's just a bunch of cranky whiners. He didn't understand that the snowball would keep picking up speed daily until June. That idiotic "hmmm" tweet showed his true colors.

Day-to-day there would be nothing that Wilson could accomplish between now and the end of the year as a lame duck.

What was the "hmmm" tweet? (I searched, but can't find)

Here you go. https://twitter.com/cmdgrosso/status/964977066507685888

[Anonymous]

This thread is closing in on 1000 posts if a few days. Hopefully the incident has opened some of the politicians eyes that the school issues are more of a powder keg than they had realized.

[Anonymous]

All of this falls at the feet of the Mayor. Frankly she has made it clear she has no vision for education. Yet somehow she is going to move forward unopposed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of this falls at the feet of the Mayor. Frankly she has made it clear she has no vision for education. Yet somehow she is going to move forward unopposed.

No one wants to be mayor. I can't imagine who would want to be the chancellor of education in DC either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of this falls at the feet of the Mayor. Frankly she has made it clear she has no vision for education. Yet somehow she is going to move forward unopposed.

I am not a fan of Bowser. I live in Ward 4 and thought she was bad at the job of being my council member and I didn't vote for her for mayor and had the pleasure of telling her that it was because of how stupid she sounded with "Deal For All" when she came to my door before the election.

That disclaimer aside, I don't think anyone could have anticipated what an idiotic blunder Wilson made with the transfer. He could have been better than every chancellor in the country combined and he'd still have to go after what he did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of this falls at the feet of the Mayor. Frankly she has made it clear she has no vision for education. Yet somehow she is going to move forward unopposed.

I am not a fan of Bowser. I live in Ward 4 and thought she was bad at the job of being my council member and I didn't vote for her for mayor and had the pleasure of telling her that it was because of how stupid she sounded with "Deal For All" when she came to my door before the election.

That disclaimer aside, I don't think anyone could have anticipated what an idiotic blunder Wilson made with the transfer. He could have been better than every chancellor in the country combined and he'd still have to go after what he did.

But there were strong clues that he wasn't the best chancellor in the country. Successful ones want the ability to control their own fate, which she does not allow in a meaningful way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school buildings need to be renovated regaless of their enrollment or program offerings people.

Next...

+1 Even some top performing schools have dealt with barely functioning HVAC and rodent infestations. No schools should have those issues.

Have you been in Ballou HS recently? I was there with DS a couple of weeks ago, and his comment was "this is the most beautiful school I have ever seen." That's wonderful for the kids that do attend, but if the school is largely empty due to truancy and if there are gangs of kids wandering around kicking disabled students to death, then no, the priority isn't creating a beautiful sparkling new school with college level athletic facilities. The priority is safety and addressing student needs.

You can fix HVAC and deal with rodents without spending hundreds of millions of dollars that could be better used serving students directly and keeping them safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So reallocate the funding, earmarking far more for programming and none for pointless Taj Mahal renovations creating fancy buildings that sit mostly empty (e.g. Dunbar HS) for years after the remodeling is done, and/or mainly attract OOB families (Eastern HS). DCPS is about to embark on a wave of renovating mostly empty MS buildings (Eliot Hine, Jefferson) that will stay that way for a generation because they can't begin to compete with Tier 1 charters.

I found it interesting to watch Ward 6 parents turn the tide in Wilson's ouster. Without Allen on board, it wouldn't have happened. Robert White's voice wasn't heard until another member of the CC Comm on Ed joined him, putting pressure on Grosso to dump Wilson.

Ward 6 parents wouldn't have been pushing to can Wilson if DCPS had worked with them to create a Deal-like pan Ward 6 middle school back in 2014, probably on the spacious Eliot-Hine grounds. It was obvious to many of us on the Hill, at least those who've been in the neighborhood for a long time, that pumping 40 million into Staurt Hobson would set the stage for a political backlash. When I moved to the Hill 15 years ago, Ward 6 parents willing to schlep their kids to Deal and Wilson could use those schools. That ship has long since sailed and high SES Ward 6 parents are fit to be tied.

A city just can't function properly with only one by-right HS most IB parents are OK with.

News flash the majority of DCPS students are poor and black. It really doesn't matter what you think. That's simply the reality. If you actually want to make a difference in DC go to your neighborhood school and mentor/volunteer/donate to the vast majority of schools/areas that are worse off than the hill and Ward 3

I understand that the city doesn't really care about Ward 6 but I have always agreed with this. Instead of a "Deal for all" how about creating one more Deal that will become a magnet for other parts of the city as well. A Ward 6 MS that is 60 to 70% IB is a huge win.

The numbers to do this are not as outrageous as some may think. Just look at the total enrollment of Deal feeders in relation to the Cap Hill Ward 6 schools. Keep in mind that every single Hill school offers PK3 unlike the Deal feeders, reducing the number by 430 seats. That's a difference ~750 seats between Deal feeders and all of the Eliot Hine, Jefferson and Stuart Hobson feeders. That could compromise a comprehensive MS funded by reallocating the existing MS portfolio.

Hearst Elementary School 312
Janney 722
Murch Elementary School @ UDC 572
Shepherd 361
Lafayette 761
Bancroft 530
Total - 3258


Brent 404
Watkins/Peabody 745
Maury 387
Ludlow Taylor 373
Tyler 514
Payne 300
Miner 384
JO Wilson 495
SWS 307
Amidon Bowen 350
Van Ness 171
Total - 4430 ( - 430 PK3 = effective total of 4000)

If there was any vision for making this work DC would have earmarked Reservation 13 for a planning a comprehensive MS on the site (they could call it "Deal East"). DCPS would benefit by retaining more students in its system because it would both serve its immediate community and likely offer additional capacity for OOB students, especially from Wards 7 and 8 who might otherwise seek out charters. Feeder pattern would be similar to Eastern feed which is where all of these schools already feed. Kelly, Browne and McFarland stay in Eastern feed. Big enough school to justify comprehensive MS with IB, STEM, sports, language, etc. Good Metro and bus access to Res 13 from anywhere in Ward 6 and beyond and more accessible than many charter alternatives.

There you have it - Deal for more if not all! (you're welcome )

[Anonymous]

Took 66 pages - but we've successfully spawned yet another capitol hill middle school thread. Congrats!

[Anonymous]

Has anyone seen this? Wilson revealed why he pulled his daughter out of Ellington. He made a decision as a parent, and not as the Chancellor.


"When asked why he broke the policy that he helped write and sign, Wilson discussed his daughter’s struggles.

“My daughter was struggling socially and emotionally, engaging in behavior we had never seen before, certainly affecting her health.” said Wilson. “Not eating, not coming out of her room and expressing real anxiety around going to school. I want folks to understand that as a parent, I certainly had tunnel vision, and as a chancellor, my focus was really trying to make sure that my wife was able to get the help she needed to transfer our daughter and to do it in a way that we were trying to do it correctly. It’s clear we got it wrong.”


http://amp.fox5dc.com/news/local-news/exclusive-dcps-chancellor-speaks-out-on-school-transfer-scandal-i-made-the-wrong-decision?__twitter_impression=true

[Anonymous]

Right, renovate the buildings and open branches of Tier I charters in them. Don't leave DCPS real estate snazzy and 2/3 empty because "if you build it they will come..." They aren't coming. This is a false narrative gutting city coffers more with every new administration.

Antwan Wilson didn't seem to get it any better than Henderson. Find a chancellor who does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone seen this? Wilson revealed why he pulled his daughter out of Ellington. He made a decision as a parent, and not as the Chancellor.


"When asked why he broke the policy that he helped write and sign, Wilson discussed his daughter’s struggles.

“My daughter was struggling socially and emotionally, engaging in behavior we had never seen before, certainly affecting her health.” said Wilson. “Not eating, not coming out of her room and expressing real anxiety around going to school. I want folks to understand that as a parent, I certainly had tunnel vision, and as a chancellor, my focus was really trying to make sure that my wife was able to get the help she needed to transfer our daughter and to do it in a way that we were trying to do it correctly. It’s clear we got it wrong.”


http://amp.fox5dc.com/news/local-news/exclusive-dcps-chancellor-speaks-out-on-school-transfer-scandal-i-made-the-wrong-decision?__twitter_impression=true

Yes, we saw that and discussed it at length about 30 pages ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone seen this? Wilson revealed why he pulled his daughter out of Ellington. He made a decision as a parent, and not as the Chancellor.


"When asked why he broke the policy that he helped write and sign, Wilson discussed his daughter’s struggles.

“My daughter was struggling socially and emotionally, engaging in behavior we had never seen before, certainly affecting her health.” said Wilson. “Not eating, not coming out of her room and expressing real anxiety around going to school. I want folks to understand that as a parent, I certainly had tunnel vision, and as a chancellor, my focus was really trying to make sure that my wife was able to get the help she needed to transfer our daughter and to do it in a way that we were trying to do it correctly. It’s clear we got it wrong.”


http://amp.fox5dc.com/news/local-news/exclusive-dcps-chancellor-speaks-out-on-school-transfer-scandal-i-made-the-wrong-decision?__twitter_impression=true

This has been discussed (and torn apart) for several pages earlier in the thread.