Reply to Please explain relevance of "OOB crowding" to the DCPS boundary review process

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[quote=Anonymous]Hi all,

I have been reading several DCUM threads about the upcoming DCPS boundary changes. I know, I know, I should get another hobby  :)

There is one thing that keeps coming up that is making me very confused.

A lot of people cite out of boundary (OOB) students as a factor in over-crowding at, for example, Wilson (47% OOB).

But then in the next sentence, those posters propose "shrinking the boundaries" of Wilson.

If I understand this correctly, the 47% OOB students at Wilson do NOT come from within the Wilson boundary lines shown here:

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/16725/wilson-high-drawbridge-to-students-east-of-park-is-going-up/

They must therefore come from Ward 7, Ward 8, Cap Hill, central city, eastern end of the city, maybe even PG county if parents managed to move away and keep kids there, etc.

So what I don't understand at all is, why would it be necessary to shrink the boundaries and deny access to Wilson for neighborhoods such as South West, Dupont, Mt Pleasant, Crestwood, as some posters suggest?

Wouldn't it be simpler and more fair to just eliminate or reduce the OOB admission? It is unfair to shrink the boundary lines because people moved there knowing it was in-bounds. But it is totally reasonable to cut off anyone outside the boundary lines because they could not have reasonably expected as-of-right admission to Wilson. So for example, Dupont should maintain access but Anacostia could be cut-off.

So can someone please explain why it is necessary to shrink boundaries? Why not just end or reduce OOB admissions?

And yes, I see that the article I linked to says Wilson stopped accepting OOB in 2012, but again I am confused, because it seems that when an OOB student goes to an Wilson IB elementary, they magically become IB for Wilson, which again does not make sense to me. If you manage to get OOB for an elementary, great, but shouldn't you have to try your luck again for MS and HS? Why should you get 12 guaranteed years of education in NW DC while owning a house in Cap Hill, Brookland or Anacostia???

Thanks for your help!

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