Reply to Janney third grade parents--what do you think of the giant class sizes?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why should DCPS buy another site in pricy Upper Northwest, when two well-regarded schools, Hearst and Eaton, are at least 60 percent OOB ?  Instead of overcrowding Janney and Mann, just tweak some boundaries and Hearst and Eaton schools become overwhelming IB.  I know that this would  get some folks EOTP bent out of shape, but it seems ludicrous to be talking about a building new elementary school WOTP when nearby good schools in "small neighborhoods" are filling their excess capacity by kids schlepping across the city.[/quote]
Tweaking the boundaries is difficult because people outside of Upper NW will be unhappy, and unhappy parents vote against incumbent politicians.  I see three logical choices ...

1. Improve other schools around the city, making them just as attractive as the Upper NW schools, so parents will voluntarily leave the Upper NW schools, thereby eliminating overcrowding.  This is a great option in theory, but I think it's completely impractical to the point of being almost impossible.  Sure, DCPS can throw lots of money at a school to make it look pretty, and can hire lots of teachers to help the students.  But what makes a school attractive to parents are numbers like test score proficiency, graduation rates, and low numbers of discipline problems.  For other schools to improve, they need to attract students who will boost those numbers.  But those numbers won't improve until those students arrive.  It's a Catch-22 which prevents improvement, or at least makes improvement very slow and difficult.

2. Shrink the boundaries around overcrowded schools (and the corresponding feeder boundaries) to get the schools down to their rated capacity.  As a practical matter, it seems that if you move the boundary line, many people losing access to the Upper NW schools will be redirected to other schools EOTP, which seems to fit with DCPS's plan for improving those EOTP schools.  Even better, as more proficient students get shifted from the Deal cluster to other EOTP schools, those EOTP schools may well see increases in their proficiency scores and other numbers, which will attract more families.  Seems like a win-win.  Where that plan runs into trouble is all the angry parents who would prefer their children have easy access to Deal/Wilson, rather than facing unproven EOTP schools.  Politicians do not want their constituents to be unhappy, especially vocal constituents.  People losing access to schools will tend to complain more than people suffering overcrowded schools.  Therefore, this approach is unlikely to work because of constituent complaints and political pressure.

3. Put even more schools in Upper NW.  IMHO, this is the dumbest approach, because it means DCPS is spending money on new facilities and transporting students across town, while ignoring all the facilities it already has.  It's ridiculous and inefficient to keep cramming more students into Upper NW schools, just so parents can feel they are sending their kids to the schools with the highest test scores.  It leads to a "tragedy of the commons" situation, because those schools will suffer as they get overcrowded, and all families suffer the additional commuter burden.  But it's politically the most expedient, because it's just more money, and less sacrifice.  The cost gets spread thinly across all those paying taxes, so no one will complain too loudly.

When I first started looking at DCPS and the boundary problems, I thought the best solution was #2 on the list.  But now, I've realized that's just impossible because human nature will cause people to resist any change like that.  I applaud the efforts to improve MacFarland, but I don't think they will change anything unless DCPS and the Mayor show the political willpower needed to block families in the MacFarland area from choosing Deal.  So now, I think the only viable solution is #3 -- just build more schools in Upper NW.  People will complain about all the money flowing to Upper NW, but if that's where the families from other parts of the city want their children to attend school, then that's the only way to relieve overcrowding.  Seems like DCPS needs 1 new high school, 1 new middle school, and 1 new elementary school.[/quote]

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