Reply to Committee on overcrowding in the Wilson feeder pattern

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The solution isn't just to cut out the east of the park neighborhoods (it's not fair to them - they bought their houses in reliance on the Deal/Wilson right, just like you). And besides, they are a very small portion of the deal/Wilson enrollment.
The only way to create a second (or third) "good" DCPS neighborhood hs option is to split the current wealthy white deal/Wilson population more equally with another feeder pattern.  For example, rezone half of Wilson (upper ward 4), including Lafayette, into Coolidge.  That will become a high performing high school from day 1.  The rich white kids from WOTP won't suffer, and the less advantaged eotp families will finally have a decent chance.
Then, leave the NW neighborhoods south of there, that also traditionally fed into Wilson, at Wilson, and make Roosevelt a magnet/specialty foreign language school that is attractive to the whole city, including students from Adams, Bancroft and Oyster.
Building nice buildings is not enough, and arbitrarily removing families' right to attend Wilson and Deal is unfair unless you give them an equally good option. For this you need socioeconomic and racial diversity to increase the good options for more families.[/quote]

There is not enough space at Coolidge for Lafayette. [/quote]

One option would be to send Shepherd there instead. I'd rather see both schools go on to Coolidge together. It's true that New North will be close to capacity quickly if as many kids go there as currently go to grades 6-8 at the feeder ECs. But there is still a ton of room in the high school space that could be turned into an 8th grade wing or used for the self-contained special ed classes or other functions.

Once the middle and high school get close to capacity, take one of the schools that feeds into Coolidge and renovate it into a standalone middle school, adjusting the other elementary boundaries accordingly. This would be part of a wholesale boundary evaluation of the Coolidge and Roosevelt feeder zones, including possibly giving Height its own boundary or using it for a different purpose depending on what the needs are at the time. By that point, the leases on Paul, Cap City, and Friendship Online (which has a building next to Brightwood EC) will also be coming up, allowing DCPS more options in the neighborhood.

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