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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP we need more than just a "neighborhood school"-- we need an EXCELLENT middle school option.  McFarland is probably two decades away from being that.  Brookland failed to attract any white/high SES kids, failed to deliver the things that parents kept asking for etc.  Its nice that McFarland that has dual language but the feeders to McFarland all have poorly scoring students in the upper grades. The current feeders have more high SES kids in PK but they are still bolting by K for charters or moving. A school really is only as good as its feeders in DCPS.[/quote]

Well, I agree with you that a school is only as good as its feeders.  The problem MacFarland and every other school besides Deal will face is that most parents won't want to be the first ones to commit.  Parents from strong elementary schools would rather drive across town and stuff their children into a hive of 100 overcrowded trailers spread across the fields near Deal, than take a chance on some unknown school like MacFarland.  DCPS can offer salaries of $200,000 per teacher to hire the absolute best in the nation, can present the absolute best curriculum, and can drive classroom ratios down to 10:1 ... but if only a few poorly scoring students show up, the school will struggle.  And once the public sees those low proficiency scores, no one will want to send kids there.  It will fail.  A "build it an they will come" approach, where DCPS just hopes that strong students show up, is a recipe for failure.

I know it's an incredibly unpopular viewpoint, but I think DCPS should throw all sorts of incredible resources at MacFarland, but should NOT take a "build it an they will come" approach that hopes for slow growth.  Instead, DCPS should eliminate the seven-year grandfathering period for its boundary changes, and in fact should carve Bancroft and Shepherd elementary schools out of Deal.  By funneling Powell, Shepherd, and Bancroft all to MacFarland, DCPS is starting MacFarland off with strong feeders.

Yes, the mayor will face lots of angry constituent calls.  Yes, several families will threaten to leave DCPS for charters or private schools.  But even if 20% of those families make good on their threats, that leaves 80% starting MacFarland off on the right foot.  But with a strong group of feeder students coming from those neighborhoods, the school will almost immediately boast strong proficiency scores.  With the higher proficiency scores that come from the strong feeders, coupled with the influx of resources from DCPS, MacFarland has a good chance to spiral upward and develop a reputation as a strong middle school.  DCPS and the families who involuntarily pioneered the school will be hailed as heroes.

I know my proposed approach will never happen.  Most people are too self-interested, and so the neighborhoods affected will fight tooth and nail against this.  It will be a classic NIMBY issue where people oppose the new school.  And Mayor Bowser it too beholden to her Ward 4 support to do anything that might piss them off.  But if she had the courage to do something big, this IMHO is how to give MacFarland the best chance of success.[/quote]

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