Reply to Mayor Bowser to Make Education Policy and Personnel Announcement

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Reply to "Mayor Bowser to Make Education Policy and Personnel Announcement - Boundary Decision?"

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[quote=arowe]I think we have an opportunity to work with DME Niles, Chancellor Henderson, Mayor Bowser, CM Grosso and others to make the school at MacFarland a good middle school.

The grandfathering set out here allows folks breathing room to want to engage. It's absolutely right, as many want to say, that we have a system of choice. Until a school is full at a given grade, parents basically get to choose that school, and people have absolutely made their choices to this point.

What changes that?  You work to make a school a good choice.

I really believe that DME Niles, having brought EL Haynes to where it is, can tell when the mix is right to draw people or not to a school. We won't just accept the ordinary.  Mayor Bowser is looking for achievements and ones at home.  Chancellor Henderson wants success, though I hope DCPS has the capacity and fervor to tackle this school with the same spirit as a band of charter founders.  Many new schools have succeeded in DC. DCPS is rolling out Brookland MS, and it's great to have lessons learned from that.

There are some points of engagement. The FAQ says that MacFarland is expected to open school year 2017 or 2018 depending on modernizations. That's a powerful though brief statement. It's budget season and we're expecting to have the Mayor drop something for our new Education Committee chairman.  Get ready to get in there on funding, design, content, leadership.

It was stated today that the plans aren't changing otherwise.  The Implementation Plans said that " By April 2015, DCPS and the Mayor’s Office will propose a schedule for the sequence of middle school openings along with relevant costs and other considerations. " Further that "To ensure a successful opening of MacFarland MS, DCPS will partner with the school community to focus on outreach and recruitment. Another important focus of this group will be to help
families transition from the education campus model to a standalone MS."

Our leaders want to succeed and partner with us and have made promises about this school. I think it will be a lot of work for a lot of people, and I've wished we were further along toward making this happen than we are now.  So hopefully lots of us will get in there and help and fears about foreclosed choices won't hold us back.[/quote]

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