Reply to Brent to Watkins to Hobson

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[quote=Anonymous]Apparently a group of Brent families with kids in fourth grade are being courted to attend Stuart Hobson (via Watkins) by Hobson’s Principal Clemens.

One can‘t fault the parents looking out or their kids’ best interests, but I have a problem with the continuing DCPS dysfunction this machination represents, specifically, the undermining of Jefferson.  The city just went through a massive student assignment process intended to “improve clarity, predictability, and equitable access to high quality schools.”  The purported Brent-Watkins-Hobson arrangement flies in the face of this process and the policy it created.  It reeks of side-deals and favoritism, and it sends the message to Brent parents and others in the Jefferson feeder pattern that Jefferson is not worth the investment.

Why would the principal of Hobson poach kids from another feeder pattern?  Who would describe this as best practices?  How does this improve clarity, predictability and equity?  How does Jefferson become a viable Brent feeder when Clemens actively discourages / enables Brent parents from enrolling their kids in Jefferson?

Yeah, it is unlikely the Brent students recruited by Hobson would enroll in Jefferson if they didn't have the Hobson option.  But the message to the larger Brent community (and other Jefferson feeders) is loud and clear, attending Jefferson is a bridge too far.

I am not clear if the Brent kids would gain spots at Watkins legitimately, or if an extra-lottery arrangement has been offered.  Perhaps it is legitimate, and this situation is more about Hobson’s principal simply explaining to the families how it might work.  But that is not what the word on the street is, and my reading of the data for the lottery from last year indicates that Watkins had more demand than spots for fifth grade.  If there is a wink and nod going on here, it makes the situation even more problematic.

These sorts of arrangements relieve short-term pressure, but in the long run they delay the day that DCPS becomes fully a fully functional system.[/quote]

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