Reply to Shaw Middle School -- what's the plan?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]-- DCPS failed our students by closing Shaw Junior High School and not investing in the building in the first place.  Please remember the school couldn't attract in-boundary or out-of-boundary students to a downtown location. (Some schools like Hardy were never in danger of closing and had a number of  students from out-of-boundary.) Then, they failed the students when they moved the school to another location and without the leadership of an amazing principal couldn't keep momentum going, even with all those strange educational '"reform" attempts, like paying students to study.  I think focusing on the "data" here is extremely misleading and its forgetting the narrative.  This new middle school would be a resource for the entire city and would probably be very attractive to parents commuting downtown and current neighborhood students.
-- Now DCPS continues to fail our students in mid-city.  Every year I talk to mothers and fathers about their choices for school after 5th.  Many scramble at the last minute because they don't speak English, don't have a good handle on the feeder systems (which is complicated), and have to really work at researching and finding a quality spot for their kids with both parents working and some with two jobs.  Some of the mid-city schools don't have strong PTAs to advocate for the families and haven't been aware of advocacy efforts.  At the end of school year, I always ask the kids where they are going and many don't know.
-- From Thomson, some do go Francis Stevens but its not an option for everyone.  I met an old student yesterday that transfers twice on the bus and walks 15 minutes to get to FS alone.  It broke my heart.  Why should these kids travel so much at such a young impressionable age?  Personally, I don't think Francis Steven is a great option for my children.  It would also be a rough commute,  but I want them to have exposure to clubs, sports, and music on a scale that is available at other large middle schools.   With all of our children carved up to all these different schools, our resources are being spread out and not utilized effectively.
[b]-- I don't hear calls for a huge state-of-the-art campus at 140 million.  Give us a start.  Put up trailers and let us start a Shaw Middle School with three 6th grade classes and let us build it.  Just do something!  Lock people in a room and make something happen that has a path for anther potentially amazing middle school.  
-- These are kids, not data points.  Let's try and start working for all middle schools to be great, accessible, and that will improve our community.  Please do not give us more condos!!!!!!![/b][/quote]

Actually, there is a petition circulating asking for a 700 person middle school. I haven’t seen anyone asking for trailers.

The proposal is to put a high school—one of the best in the city—on the former Shaw site and expand it to serve 300 more students. At present, condos are not on the table.[/quote]

The petition that is being circulated absolutely does not ask for a 700 person middle school. In fact, here is the actual language of the petition, which can be found here https://www.change.org/p/mayor-bowser-save-shaw-middle-school:

"I support a new middle school on the old Shaw Junior High School site and renovating and expanding the existing historic Banneker High School building. Both schools and neighborhoods deserve nothing less.

We’ve been waiting a decade for DC Public Schools to keep its promises and build a new middle school. By 2022, there will be 584 middle school aged children attending public school in our neighborhoods. These children and their families need a middle school. (Data from DC Auditor Enrollment Dashboard)

“The $143 million in the District’s capital improvement plan for Banneker HS could fully modernize the Euclid Street facility for 700 students AND provide a modern middle school at the Shaw site for families. This option is educationally sound for Banneker and Shaw families. It can be implemented the quickest, and is the most fiscally and environmentally responsible.” —21st Century School Fund blog post"

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