Reply to DCPS School Planning Team here -- ask us anything about Roosevelt High School!

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Reply to "DCPS School Planning Team here -- ask us anything about Roosevelt High School!"

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[quote=DCPSschoolplanning][quote=calexander]First of all, I am pleasantly surprised to see your office reaching out for feedback like this. Keep it up.

Secondly, I would like to see a cohesive plan of action regarding Roosevelt's feeder pattern, specifically the status of a new middle school. Mayor-elect Bowser, Chancellor Henderson and the Council need to come together on this issue like city leaders just did for the DC United Soccer stadium.  We have proposals and ideas floating around and several hundred million dollars in capital spending on HS facilities committed, but little to no direction on where the students for the new Roosevelt are going to come from.

Third, I am less than enthusiastic about the "Seal" program that is highlighted in the current proposal.  Here we have a high school themed on international studies and languages, yet it seems like your office is going out of its way to avoid either implementing or emulating the established International Baccalaureate (IB) program. At the Truesdell meeting last month, Ms. Kulkarni stated something to the effect of, "With the Seal program, colleges will know that students are prepared to do college level work."  Well, no they won't...they won't have any idea what a "Seal" means.  Even if IB cannot be enacted right away because of resource limitations, at least model your program on the IB framework (i.e. Diploma programme) so that a future transition is possible.  It seems like a gigantic waste of effort the way it stands now.

Lastly, as the founder of the NW Saturday Academy math and computer science program (www.nwsadc.com), I am obliged to ask about Roosevelt's focus on STEM education and technology implementation.  Is computer science going to be offered in any format?  What about opportunities for students to learn engineering or advanced mathematics?

Again, thank you for reaching out and seeking this feedback.

Regards,

Christopher Alexander
Ward 4 Parent[/quote]

While there are no current plans for MacFarland Middle School, we plan to consider the recommendation to reopen the school within the context of the broader middle school landscape in the district. We should have updates for you in April/May when we engage in the budgeting process for the following year.

For the Seal program, it is actually not uncommon for districts and schools to have global studies seals for their international programs. During last month’s meeting, we actually stated that it’s a signal to colleges that a student has completed “relevant global studies coursework”. Thank you for your suggestion re: IB at Roosevelt – it has been suggested a few times now, and we are exploring the possibility. We do realize however that an IB program is only as strong as its implementation and the rigor of classroom instruction which is a similar story for AP and honors courses at a non-IB school, so we are currently focused on supporting our teachers in improving instruction and believe success in college and career will follow.

For STEM questions, we’ll direct you to the academic proposal here: https://reenvisioningroosevelt.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/december-2014_academic-proposal-for-community-input1.pdf. There will be advanced math and science offerings, as well as enrichment programming – that includes partnerships with community organizations (like yours!). We do not currently have plans to launch an engineering program at Roosevelt, but we will certainly consider your recommendations as we make our career pathways decisions.[/quote]

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