Reply to Proximity Preference 0.5 mile for charters

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The IB schools must also be more than .5 mile away.  I wonder how many students this applies to.  [/quote]

It applies to a lot of schools in Ward 8. I strongly suspect that's who it will mostly affect.[/quote]

Not sure I get this. Can you explain?[/quote]

There are quite a few charters occupying or very close to DCPSes that have been closed. Students who used to attend those schools (I'm thinking of Mary Church Terrell School on Wheeler Road SE which is closed - students got redistricted to MLK ES, but there are several charters very close to the MCT building, for example). There were a lot of DCPS closed in 2008 and 2013. A lot of those kids ended up at charters in their neighborhoods, which are not as difficult to get into as charters in ward 4.[/quote]

Also the Fort Dupont neighborhood (though Ward 7, not 8) is about a mile away from Anne Beers, it's elementary school.  A new Rocketship will be opening in the neighborhood, so those kids will get preference.[/quote]

Agree. I honestly don't know how I feel about the 0.5 mile number. It seems like if your designated school is 0.3 miles from your house but there's a charter literally across the street, the preference should apply. Given the requirement that the by-right school be more than half a mile away, it seems like the kid living across the street from the charter isn't going to get the preference, which seems silly.[/quote]

It's not silly. The point isn't to make it easier for people to get into the charter across the street from them, it's to make it easier to get into a charter that's closer than their far-away in-bounds school. If it simply applied to any charter that was within walking distance, regardless of where your in-bounds DCPS school was, it would both hurt DCPS enrollment and, worse, make availability of the most desirable charters simply a function of wealth. It's already bad enough that the only people who can easily get into the JKLMM schools are the families who can afford to buy in those neighborhoods. A similar proximity preference for charters would drive up housing prices near schools like Mundo Verde, CMI, LAMB, etc. -- changing the demographics of those schools and of the surrounding neighborhoods. [/quote]

That's right. Walkability preference is getting confused with neighborhood preference. It is meant to cure a specific problem - kids that don't have a walkable neighborhood school.[/quote]

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