Reply to Overcrowding and lack of space in Ward 3 Schools

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If Deal and Wilson are 40% and 50% OOB why is anyone even talking about removing any feeders? Sounds like the schooks would be under capacity if they're were no OOB kids. If they removed Eaton from Deal before removing OOB, you know DCPS does not have the will to remove OOB though.[/quote]
You are saying more clearly and directly the thing I was trying to say a couple pages ago.  We all know how to reduce overcrowding (remove OOB first, and then feeder schools if necessary).  The real question is whether anyone in DCPS, or more likely DC government, has the willpower and courage to do it.[/quote]

The answer is no. The political will is not there and won't happen. I attended every meeting of the boundary discussion process a couple years back and the advocates for the OOB system are vocal and persistent.

It's also important to acknowledge that a big part of the overcrowding problem in upper NW schools is that families bail on their inboundary schools and usually do it without reasonable notice. So upper middle class families will leave after 2nd, 3rd or 4th grade in order to claim a private school spot. That's fine. Do what's best for your child, right? But it leaves the DCPS holding the bag and a target enrollment number that the principal is obliged to try and reach. So he/she goes to the waitlist to fill up those classrooms that are now unexpectedly small in order to meet enrollment targets and justify the teacher salary.  Making some sort of blanket statement that OOB practices should be halted is naive and doesn't take reality in to account. Rather than trying to eliminate OOB or middle and high school feeder rights (which I genuinely think are nonstarters), I think a better step would be to implement a "no new OOB students" policy for grades 3rd through 5th at upper NW "desirable" schools and have downtown give those schools a little break in not forcing them to fill those grades to capacity (because doing so grows the Deal and Wilson overcrowding problems as they inherit those kids). You can't blame OOB families for wanting to get their children into a feeder pattern that is attractive. [/quote]

This is probably the most logical answer I have read on this subject.[/quote]

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