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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If the Hill middle schools improved, they woudl suddenly become overcrowded. People would stop trucking to faraway charters and Deal/Hardy. They would have to stop admitting OOB students. The net effect would be a much whiter and higher-income student body and the OOB kids would probably end up at worse schools (or maybe at okayish charters).

If they consolidated high-performing kids in one middle school, it would be so overcrowded that they would have to de-consolidate it after a few years. It's not a workable plan politically or logistically.

What can be done? Work on your elementary school's upper grade offering so that the middle schools of the city are receiving kids as well-prepared as possible. If you're at a feeder or attend a middle school, push for higher quality but with an understanding of the complex and sensitive politics and the budget constraints. This isn't an easy problem.[/quote]

That's not necessarily true. If well designed, consolidating the Hill into one or two MS could raise standards while also avoiding over-enrollment.[/quote]

No, because the Hill elementaries would increase in size and feed more kids up. They would probably need to carve out a new elementary.[/quote]

Just like has happened in UNW?

I'm just baffled by the idea that we shouldn't improve schools because then people would use them. Like, seriously, what? Do you hear yourself? Even if you're just saying this is someone else's argument, treating it as a remotely rational argument is insane.[/quote]

I'm not saying we shouldn't improve schools FFS. I'm saying it's complicated if you plan more than 5 years in advance. Don't make changes that you'll have to un-do soon thereafter. Take into account not just a higher feeder elementary capture rate, but that IB kids who don't attend feeders will also want to come, and people who don't live on the Hill might move there or stay for middle school when they otherwise wouldn't. It has to be an improvement plan that works for the medium term, [b]that is realistically politically feasible[/b], and that takes into account budget limitations.[/quote]

Whenever someone says that, it always sounds like code for DCPS just doesn't really like Capitol Hill and we can't have nice things.[/quote]

That's really not it. But if "nice things" means "we get what we want for our kids even though it increases racial and income segregation", is that really a nice thing?[/quote]

Those are your ugly words, not mine. All else equal, why aren't better schools better for ALL kids? Just look at Deal, which benefits a wide range of students, and much more so than any of the MS on the Hill.[/quote]

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