Reply to Proposal Implications: Loss of Proximity, Forced to go to Lowest Performing School, Concerns OOB

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Reply to "Proposal Implications: Loss of Proximity, Forced to go to Lowest Performing School, Concerns OOB"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The actual proposed boundary is the first problem. [b]A section of my boundary is being shifted, however an equivalent sized area one block away is being shifted into the overcrowded school. It is literally swamping the same number of blocks for each other (which means no decrease in the number of students) seemingly without any analysis of which families actually live closest to the school.[/b]

The second concern is that basic urban and school planning standards state that a boundary process should start with a simple mile (or half mile) radius around existing schools. This is to make sure that children who live close to the schools are included in the schools that are closest to their homes and are able to walk to schools and support schools as a hub of the neighborhood.

Several current boundaries were drawn in a way that places the boundary for the school at the edge of a neighborhood. A new proposal should ideally correct this. The boundaries were drawn in the 1950s for schools that had been built much earlier (1920s-1930s), and often intentionally included areas in NW for example that were close to Maryland to minimize suburban flight. These were politically driven boundaries not geographically driven ones. Geographically driven boundaries are the norm and have been the planning standard for the last 20 years, particularly with the rise of simple software tools. The bare minimum a proposal by the DME could do is retain a notion of proximity preference if it is not possible to fully correct boundaries. Proximity preference currently exists and has existed DC for decades.

The DME June proposal as it is currently written eliminates proximity preference, by eliminating access to the schools closest to your child's home.

So for you poster 7:31, in the June DME proposal, you could lose access to your school that is 0.7 miles from your home in Colonial Village if there is another school that is 0.99 miles from your home that the DME would like to send you to. You would have no recourse because the proximity preference is no longer a right to attend the school closest to you it is a safeguard that only if you are forced to travel over a mile you would get a preference in an OOB lottery process. A positive right to a school close to home for all elementary school children is standard planning practice and creates sustainable quality neighborhood elementary schools.[/quote]

If you're the OP guess you aren't Murch/Hearst after all because what you describe above doesn't describe the situation there.  Then again neither does the "no public transportation" thing. [/quote]

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