Reply to Overcrowding and lack of space in Ward 3 Schools

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote][b]Shrinking boundaries (i.e., cutting out the 50 kids a year at bancroft and shepherd that attend Deal) is not enough. It will not address over crowding at Eaton, Janney, Mann, Lafayette, and now Hearst.[/b] It will barely throw a stitch at Deal and Wilson. There obviously needs to be a new elementary, new middle and new high school WOTP at the very least. New elementary should primarily pull from Janney and Lafayette.

This. [b]At the rate things are going, Janney will have 1500 kids and Deal will have Janney as its sole feeder school [/b]:)  Clearly the city needs to respond and build schools where the school-aged population is growing. This is assuming that the growth is projected to continue. If this is a temporary demographic bulge (there is evidence of this for Lafeyette), then the best solutiom is probably to ride it out and shrink OOB by attrition which is already happening. We will also see the impacts of the 2014 boundary shrinking that occurred for both Deal and Wilson. Don't forget both Cleveland Park and Woodley Park were removed from Deal and numerous neighborhoods were removed from Wilson.  It was a big reduction for both, Wilson especially, and it takes a few years for the students from those neighborhoods to graduate. They will not be replaced, now that the boundaries have shrunk. [/quote]

Agree with all of this.  Seems that kicking out EOTP feeders would at best be kicking the can down the road for a few more years, and at worse may have a negligible effect on reducing overcrowding.  Parents in overcrowded, majority IB schools like Janney may need to get their heads around revisiting current boundaries.  Similarly, OOB rights to Deal/Wilson may need to be reconsidered.
[/quote]

1. Reduce OOB access for overcrowded schools.  This includes not only new OOB students, but also the feeder rights of enrolled OOB students.

2. Shrink boundaries around overcrowded schools.

Neither step alone will completely solve the overcrowding problem, but I am quite confident that if used in combination, these two steps will solve the overcrowding problem at any school.  The question is not how the problem [i]can[/i] be solved, because we know these two steps are the obvious solution.  The only two real questions are ...

(1) How to implement these steps in the softest way possible to minimize the disruption and frustration that will follow.  We could solve the overcrowding problem before next school year if we really want to.  But that will mean some students would lose access to Deal/Wilson immediately, and that's a hardship.  So the question is how slowly we roll the steps into place to avoid undue hardship.  Grandfather only enrolled students?  Grandfather not-yet-enrolled siblings?  Two years?  Three years?  Five years?  The question boils down to balancing the need of the school to reduce the overcrowding against the desire of some families to avoid changing schools.

(2) Will anyone have the guts to do what needs to be done?  It's much easier for officials at DCPS and the Council and the Mayor to delay this issue.  Everyone will get moderately pissed about overcrowding, and those who have a choice will leave DCPS to avoid the overcrowding.  But if some families lose access to Deal/Wilson to stop the overcrowding, they will be super pissed.  No one wants to be the person who those people hate.  No one wants to be called a racist or segregationist by neighborhoods who will use any argument they can to argue for continued access to Deal/Wilson.  So it's easier for our politicians to ignore the problem and hope some future administration can fix it.  But in the meantime, it just gets worse.  Will any of our leaders be brave enough to do anything?  IMHO, they will act only when the complaints about overcrowding exceed the complaints they will get from families that are forced out of Deal/Wilson.

Personally, I think the solution is obvious and easy.  Implementing that solution is the harder part.  Restricting OOB access isn't too hard because there won't be a clear and united group of people complaining about the change.  But changing boundaries is hard, because whatever elementary feeder neighborhoods lose access will be bitter.  It's the obvious solution, but it's hard.

I predict nothing will happen.  DCPS can't make a change without support from the Mayor and the Council.  Mayor Bowser won't make the hard decision because she needs to protect herself from an election challenge.  The only Council members who really care are from Wards 1, 2, 3, and 4, because those are where the feeder schools for Deal/Wilson are located.  Ward 3 voters are the ones who will benefit when shrinking boundaries alleviate the overcrowding.  But Wards 1, 2, and 4 will be the ones whose elementary schools might lose access.  So that's Councilmembers from three Wards voting against any change, and only one Ward voting for change.  Result = no change.

The only way I can see a chance of change is if Wards 1, 2, and 4 are offered some major incentive in exchange for allowing their elementary schools to be removed from Deal/Wilson.  Maybe the City offers to pour tons of money into a middle and high school program for Wards 1 & 2 in exchange for those Wards agreeing not to fight removal of Deal/Wilson access.  That might work, but I don't think the City has that kind of money.  And if it did, people understandably would want to spend it elsewhere.

I am pessimistic.[/quote]

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