Reply to Why Does Van Ness Elementary School Not Have a Boundary

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The CSX tunnel project is by no means a done deal.  The pols are still debating its merits.

Even Kaya Henderson can see that there's no point in re-opening Van Ness as another DCPS school withering on the vine in the face of charter competition.  They've got Amidon for that locally.

As long as enough funds to renovate come through, the school culture is dominated by professional parents, good admins and teachers screened by parent hiring panels come in, support for advanced learners is built into the curriculum, and the PTA can afford to pay for inputs the school will need to keep up with others where at least two-thirds of the kids test proficient or advanced (the Waterfront developers will help there), Van Ness will serve the Navy Yard neighborhood well.

Elementary school management isn't rocket science.  
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The pols don't get to decide too much about what CSX does.

No one wants to replicate Amidon's school performance.  But one way to help Amidon is to send some of its most challenging students to Van Ness.  And Henderson just might try it.  If she doesn't, there's a good chance that Amidon will close eventually anyway and all the kids from there will be sent to Van Ness.  Might be better to get half the low-scoring kids now (and raise some of their scores) than get all of them later.

Plus, if you draw a tiny boundary, you will likely end up with either an underpopulated school or (more likely) a school with a high out of boundary population.  Families who live in the Amidon boundary or in Anacostia (two places surrounding Van Ness with bad schools) are going to fill any open spaces.  And don't assume that low-income families are unwilling to transport their kids a mile or two--look at where the kids who go to Eagle Academy on NJ Ave. come from.

EYA sold all their townhouses and is out of the picture. The current developers in SE are building studios and a few 2brs.  They're not too interested in attracting families with good schools...if they were, don't you think they would have spoken out about DME's plan to send the neighborhood to Eastern instead of Wilson? And the Wharf developers aren't going to help with a school that doesn't serve their neighborhood.  
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