Reply to Different school cultures and curriculums at the upper NW IB ESs?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You speak as if you are saying something of meaning. You're not.

I'm fully aware of the current OOB% at every school in DC. That's not as relevant as the trend. Most people looking into Hardy are not looking into it for today, but for a few years down the line. So "today" may have little in common with that time. 
[/quote]

The trend is that Hardy has a troubled past.

The history of Hardy is intimately tied to the history of segregation in DC. The building that is Hardy today was known as Gordon Junior High School until 1978. From "A Brief History of Burleith" (http://www.burleith.org/history.html):

[quote]During the early and mid-1960s, Gordon was held up as a model of successful integration, with an enrollment of 800 fluctuating between 60 percent white and 60 percent black for almost ten years. In 1966 there was a proposal to make both Gordon Junior High and Western High model schools.

However, after Judge Wright's 1967 order, the character of Gordon changed. Almost all ability grouping stopped and students of third grade level ability were in the same classes as students of 12th grade level ability. Discipline became a problem. During the mid-1970s the school's stage curtains were set ablaze and were never replaced. A tear gas grenade was set off, and the cafeteria furniture was burned. When several teachers were assaulted, the teachers staged a one-day sick-out demanding tighter discipline.

By 1978, one report said, enrollment had dropped to 261 students, of which only 13 were white, and "the school which lost its neighborhood children and became a troubled center for inner city problems, closed after 50 years." [/quote]

The reference to "Judge Wright's 1967 order" refers to Hobson vs. Hansen, which was the court case which ended segregation in practice. At that time Gordon was fed by Mann, Hearst, Key, Hyde, Stoddert, and two elementary schools which no longer exist, Fillmore and Hardy.  Following Hobson v. Hansen, Deal was redistricted to include Mann and Hearst, and the Hobson backers went back to court. In 1970 Judge Write ordered the redistricting reversed, and writing that:
[quote]any action by the Board itself which further imperils the integrated status of one of the few remaining District schools where real integration is possible ... must be treated by this court as a violation of its 1967 decree.[/quote]

(see http://www.leagle.com/decision/19701040320FSupp720_1890)

This ruling has governed DCPS ever since, that no redistricting can reduce the diversity of an integrated school. Note that intent is not a consideration, just the outcome.

By 1972 Gordon had become 90% out of boundary and most of the feeder schools had lost significant numbers of students. It's no coincidence that many of the private schools in DC were founded between 1967 and 1972. That year DCPS closed Fillmore and converted Hardy Elementary -- which is on Q Street between MacArthur and Foxhall -- into Hardy Middle School, which had Mann, Key, Hyde and Stoddert as feeders. (I guess it was OK to create new schools that reduced diversity, just not do it through redistricting).

In 1978 Gordon Jr. High closed.

In 1996, Gordon Jr. High was reopened under the name Hardy Middle School with the students from the old Hardy Middle School. The old Hardy building was leased to a private school.

From 2005 to 2008, Hardy closed at the Burleith location for renovations and relocated to Hamilton Education Center near Gallaudet. The Hardy feeder schools effectively had no in-boundary school during this time, but it wasn't a big problem. It was not difficult to get into Deal out of boundary and just about every in-boundary kid who stayed in DCPS went to Deal rather than commute across the city. As late as 2009 Deal was actively recruiting kids who were in-boundary for Hardy and pretty much everyone who applied in the spring 2009 OOB lottery at Deal got in. In addition charter schools were just starting to come on the scene and many in-boundary kids went to charters.

In 2010 everything changed. Enrollment surged at Deal. In the spring 2010 OOB lottery there were zero spots at Deal. This had a ripple effect on the charters and it became a lot harder to get into charters. The in-boundary families found themselves with their customary options closed off and an in-boundary school that wasn't really an in-boundary school.

In December 2010, Michelle Rhee announced she was reassigning the Hardy principal, due to pressure from in-boundary parents. Controversy erupted. Since June 2011 Hardy has had five principals.

Which brings us today. Hardy is at 11% in-boundary, which is about where it's been since it reopened in 2008. There's a new principal this fall. It's really too early to be talking about what the trend is.[/quote]

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