Reply to Ward 2/3 High School proposal in the NW Current

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]But why would you assume a new school in NW will be a good school, and a revitalized school EotP will be a bad school?  Whatever might make the new NW school good can surely be replicated at an EotP school, can't it?[/quote]
I would not assume that, but others here do. It's a shorthand version of the old "White is right" line of thinking. I'm all in favor of building strong, sustainable schools close to where kids live, and in this city that means 80% EOTP.[/quote]
I understand your line of thinking -- that some people would rather build a new school and commute to it, just because they think more white students must yield a better school -- but I'm seriously doubting their view is quite so simple. I'm hoping to get someone who is an advocate of a new WotP school to explain how she views it in her own words.[/quote]

No, Jeff is being dense. He still denies that the numbers dictate the need for either (a) reduced OOB access to Wilson or (b) a new HS in the area so that some of the current IB Wilson students (in the pipeline) can be diverted elsewhere. He sometimes appears to support a modified version of (a) in which the reduced access is voluntary due to improvements at Roosevelt. I'd like to see this, too, but one must plan for the possibility these improvements don't merit the voluntary take-up needed to alleviate looming overcrowding.

He's doing even less forecasting than DCPS, which is frightening. Look at the number. Look at the trends. The need will be there shortly, if it isn't there already. [/quote]
10:00 here.  I am having trouble following your line of reasoning.  Instead of pooping on what you think Jeff believes, can you tell me what YOU believe?  Are you an advocate for a new WotP high school?  If so, then why?[/quote]

You're asking me (not previous posters), so I'll reply.

I look at the current enrollment numbers, combine them with population and student projections (which, historically, have been far too conservative about growth in upper NW), and I see a looming capacity issue at Wilson. Judging by how quickly Deal turned-around, the problem is only a few years away. In short, I don't believe that Wilson-as-currently-constructed can accommodate all of the students who currently have "rights" to it.

There are several solutions:
1) Build capacity at Wilson. The problem here is that Wilson is already a fairly large school as far as the optimal-size-literature goes, or so I'm told. (I haven't read these studies myself, so this stance could be completely wrong.)
2) Remove students currently having "right" to Wilson. This can take a few forms:
2a) Remove OOB rights. While this will solve the problem today, and for the next few years, I don't believe it will be a long-term solution as Hardy flips from OOB to IB over the next half-decade (like Deal before it). Plus, there are still tons of areas with "by right" access to Wilson; Wilson's catchment basin is absurd, extending from lower SW all the way up through Shepard Park in the far top EOTP. It's, literally, like half of the city. 
2b) Shrink the catchment basin boundaries for Wilson, cleaving off areas EOTP and the SW. This would leave Wilson as, basically, the by-right high school for WOTP. 
2c), similar to (2b), remove feeder schools, like Hardy. 
Both 2b and 2c require finding another place to house these displaced students. For 2b, that would be at other existing schools. Since most of the students removed under 2b are already closer to another HS than Wilson, this seems logical. These other HSs, however, are not currently of the same quality as Wilson, so I'm hesitant to send these students to a failing school. For 2c, this would require creating a new HS. It is entirely unreasonable to force students to trek across the city for their by-right HS. If they chose to do so for one reason or another, fine. But you cannot make their neighborhood HS be far away. Period.

So, because I believe that 2a -- removing OOB "rights" -- would be politically unpalatable, and because I believe that students shouldn't be relegated from a good school to a failing school (2b), I'm left to support 2c as a last resort. Implicit in this support is that I believe the new HS created in NWNW would be good and not suffer from the same problem as 2b. That is, I don't believe that moving students currently IB for Wilson to a newly created NW HS would be equivalent to sending them to Cardozo or Roosevelt-as-of-now. Furthermore, looking at the numbers and projections, I would expect this school to be largely filled with IB students. (This is where I differ most with Jeff. He seems to deny -- or, perhaps, hasn't consulted the projections and looked at the recent trends -- that there would be sufficient mass/need for another HS for these students. I'm confident that he's wrong.)

Really, 2c is the worst option. 1 and 2a are so much easier. And 2b is easier too. But, reality leads me to suspect 2c is the most viable option going-forward. I am reluctant in reaching this conclusion. (I personally asked DME to make a public statement supporting option (1). She declined, saying that she believed 2b was a better solution and that with 2b, 1 is no longer needed.)

Does that explain my reasoning better? Feel free to ask additional questions; I'll chime in as available. 
[/quote]

Very well set forth.  However, 2c is not a viable option, because if Hardy is removed from Wilson, then you are removing families living in Palisades, Kent, Spring Valley, Woodley Park, Georgetown and potentially Cleveland Park from Wilson.  Then the only viable alternative that these families will accept is a new high school reasonably close to their neighborhoods.  [/quote]

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