Reply to New school(s) in Ward 3

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If a Western met only needs of westernmost HS students how many students would it have? If it was for the rest of DC, why not put it in the middle of the city?[/quote]

As a prior poster correctly noted:  just like Wilson, a HS ought to have a sufficient amount of "whiteness," but not too much.  No one knows really what the optimum amount of whiteness is, but DCPS has made clear that whiteness is a key consideration for them.  This is all assuming that the HS is going to be located somewhere "West" in the city.  We are only having this discussion to begin with because the other "Western" local HS is horribly overcrowded.  There is no need to discuss a new HS in the middle of the city because none of the HSs in the middle or in the east of the city are in any way overcrowded.[/quote]

The problem is that white/asian public HS students in DC are a rare quantity. Their parents have the ability to vote with their fee, their wallets, or their time (i.e. moving to MoCo, paying for privates, navigating the charter system). DCPS wants these students around since they clearly improve the scores, ratings, and outcomes of both the schools, but also may have positive externalities on others.

But this is where we get to the crux of everything, if you have too few of them, the externalities are fleeting; due to the aforementioned ability of the white/asian parents. You do not want to be the only asian/white student. (See Eastern HS) DCPS is trying to figure out how to bus other students in without scaring off too many. But the tricky part is they can't bus in too many. It is a balancing game, nobody know how it will work out.

By putting new schools deep in Ward 3; I think DCPS thinks the only minority students who are willing to make the trek out are the ones with the most committed parents. This means, AA/Hispanic middle class families with involved parents. These students will add diversity, and not cause negative externalities. This may end up make schools look 'diverse' in a politically convenient way.

But what about the students, without involved parents or transportation options in Wards 7/8? Basically, DCPS has determined to reinforce the long-term decline of those schools.

Ward 3 for whites/asians and AA/hispanics with resources (with some charters/magnets for the lucky ones); and a failed school system for the rest. [/quote]

There is this implicit assumption that no poor or middle-income families can afford to live in Ward 3, but that neglects the fact that there are plenty of moderately priced apartment buildings along MacArthur Blvd.. Some of these apartment buildings are now drawing a substantial number of housing voucher recipients (we know this because their neighbors have been complaining about the anti-social behavior of some of the new residents who have moved in there from homeless situations). So, its feasible that DCPS could be envisaging that more low-income families will move into these buildings once this school is built and that other city agencies may even facilitate this. And they are also working on the assumption that, with the new comp plan, there will be more high-density housing built along MacArthur Blvd. and other thoroughfares in the neighborhood.[/quote]

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