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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Amidon is being reconstituted because it's been persistently failing for five years. NCLB demands it, not some gentry. In fact isn't the PTA president an Appletree parent?  Have you been in Amidon lately? Nothing has improved at that school in years. Please don't try to make the case otherwise. [/quote]
Wrong, wrong wrong.

Amidon was one of only a few DCPS schools selected to be reconstituted - not every school in its position was reconstituted (maybe five 30+ candidates were selected).  There are several ways to address NCLB, and reconstitution is the most drastic and expensive.  Gentrifiers AND long-time community residents lobbied Kwame Brown, Tommy Wells, DeShawn Wright, Abigail Smith, Peggy O'Brien, Amanda Alexander, and Mark King; the Chancellor was going to join a meeting, but the budget blew up and she was called away that morning, but she did follow-up via e-mail.  The restructuring of Amidon was directly related to raising its profile, including events hosting Tommy Wells and Sekou Biddle and engaging the surrounding neighborhood.  Getting Target to provide a big grant for the library was another step in garnering attention for of Amidon.

The PTA President has two children enrolled in Amidon.

There is no doubt that Amidon has lots of room for improvement.  But the longest journey begins with a single step.  The kids at Amidon have a superior staff and support services compared with last year, they have a new library and soon a modernized building, the grounds will be improved, the SW community is engaged and partnering (including the $2 billion Waterfront redevelopment) with Amidon.  If you genuinely knew about Amidon and cared for its kids, you wouldn't blithely say that it still sucks like it always has - you are wrong and it is not helpful.  I participate in Amidon events frequently and summary dismissals like yours makes sincere and real efforts to improve Amidon all that more difficult.  You are a nattering nabob of negativism who is making unfounded assertions about a situation you know little about.

One should chart the experiences of children at two schools over the next few years.  First, look at Amidon and Garfield with their almost 100 econ-disadvantaged populations.  Then take a look at both schools in 2015, when Amidon has a somewhat more diverse (economic) population, and Garfield remains more-or-less the same.  I think it is a safe bet that Amidon students will be in a much better place with things getting better each year.  Garfield will remain relatively flat-lined unless something radical happens ((population shift, radical program change, huge $ infusion).[/quote]

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