Reply to Attn Maury parents

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[quote=Anonymous]I'm a Maury parent, and I agree that people who don't live in the vicinity shouldn't really be weighing in on matters that will not actually affect them, and on a topic that they probably haven't thought very deeply about. That said, it's a free country -  for now - and you can weigh in on this Internet survey however you damn well please.

One thing that has been neglected in this pro-cluster conversation – which I initially felt inclined to support as well – is the fact that all of the teachers would have to reapply for their jobs, since it would be a new school. Also the cluster principal wouldn't be either in the Maury principal or the Miner principle – I have been told that neither principal would want that job, because it would create too much tension in the community and would look  like favoritism for either school.  So basically, what you're doing in this union is not simply combining two school populations to fast-track the lower-performing school that is already on the upswing; you'll basically be starting over. Hopefully some of the teachers would stay from both communities, but it's not likely that all would.

This is all neglecting the fact that the Maury school building is in desperate need of renovation and refresh, regardless of whether the schools are combined. A $20 million budget could be increased by 20 million to create an incredible school that would still come in far under the exorbitant budgets that we've seen at schools throughout DCPS.  So what, they'll spend just 20 to get a half assed modernization and a half assed cluster  that undermines the progress of both neighborhood schools? Or, they could increase the budget to 40, make Maury the school it should be and do it right once, and give Miner the time and space to develop into the school that it is growing into it as well. Miner apparently has been working hard to try to develop a language immersion program, and more of that would be welcomed and much appreciated on the hill – not sure why we need to feel like we need to "save" them when they have their own plans in place and have already made some good strides. There is a certain degree of racism in that "white savior" approach as well.

Anyway, there's more to it than just the naive, pie-in-the-sky vision of combining forces – it will require a lot of logistical effort that we can't count on DCPS to effectively and successfully accomplish.

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