Reply to Revised Boundary Recommendations to be released on or about June 13

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Reply to "Revised Boundary Recommendations to be released on or about June 13"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Really I wouldn't be complaining at all. Sometimes it is better to do no harm than to act without a clear goal, plan, or support.

Who gave the DME this assignment? If the DME wants to keep busy in her final months she can work on a recommendation to the new administration for improving the quality of schools, not just changing boundaries without a plan based on limited data, poor assumptions and no indicators for what success should look like. This is why families city-wide are up in arms.

DCPS (specifically the DME Abigail Smith), what was the goal of this exercise? Yes, I participated in several of the focus groups asked the question and never got an answer beyond "well boundaries haven't changed in 40 years, so we are making changes," for the sake of change. Never a good reason for me particularly when looking at educational reform, where you need empirical evidence, pilots, and a long-term horizon on how modifications impact long-term outcomes for children.

The proposals were in a word radical to shake things up so that families would be softened up. Abolish neighborhood schools and create a city-wide lottery at all grades (the most radical); lose predictability through choice sets (so people don't know which school their child would actually attend); or keep a predictable elementary school, with strangely redrawn boundaries in several neighborhoods throughout the city, but lotteries for all high schools. In my experience following these discussions it seems that nobody really likes these proposals, the strongest endorsement I have heard is "that something needs to be done," or "at least they are trying to do something." The city-wide parents who don't like the proposals and boundaries have written letters, signed petitions, and started protesting on the street. The reaction has been so strong in my neighborhood that many parents have gone beyond list-serves and are organizing door-to-door and sending fliers.

For green development and creating sustainable schools proximity is important. The initial proposals A,B, and C removed proximity preference and the proposed boundary redrawing did not consider proximity to schools. Note that there is even one proposal (C) that actually gives a preference to teachers, but not neighbors.

This process is not credible, has no mandate and is ignoring the voices of families and children. [/quote]

good points -- the boundary issue is being used like other  school issues (e.g., low scores dwindling population in some schools, poor middle school options) to  shake up the system and specifically to shake up neighborhood schools to make way for more charters.  It s the shock doctrine applied to public schools.  New Orleans had a natural disaster to move things along.   DCPS has "school reform" and boundary changes.[/quote]

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