Reply to how to address the under enrollment at Brookland Middle School

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DC could help Brookland MS enrollment by allowing/encouraging the construction of more townhouses and 3+ bedroom apartments in the catchment area.

In the short-term, they could locate more special ed programs there, moving them out of more crowded schools.

They could also offer programs that other middle schools don't have--what if they teamed up with the National Guard to have a middle school JROTC, to feed into Dunbar's program? That would provide some nice continuity through the feeder pattern.

Somehow I don't think any of this is what most DCUM families want (I don't think most families care about the size of the school, given the huge popularity of both Ross and Janney), but these ideas would definitely raise enrollment.[/quote]

Market Forces just means longer lines at the grocery store to you, right?[/quote]

If you want to address under-enrollment, the trick is to get more kids to enroll. OP didn't specify that she wanted rich kids to apply. The baby boom in DC is largely concentrated east of the River, with a bit near Petworth and Brightwood. The middle school-aged population is even more clustered in poorer areas of the city.  So if the goal is to attract families of middle schoolers, it makes sense to look at the folks who are open to considering DCPS middle school and make BMS attractive to them. Or to use the excess capacity of the school for city-wide programs such as special education. The school is brand new and thus should be fully ADA accessible, fairly centrally located, and next to a beautiful rec center and swimming pool that would be great for therapeutic activities. [/quote]

DCPS has been expecting that "you have no other option but us" logic to work in its favor for 40 years.  Hasn't it lost lost enrollment by a couple hundred thousand students?

I'd rather send my child to a cramped facility like DCI with math options and languages and high expectations like IB, than an ADA compliant facility with nothing else to offer except for low standards.  I really don't see other higher SES families feeling differently, which is why charters will keep winning.  It's not that I personally care about charters, but it's been impossible for families live outside of upper NW beyond elementary for decades.  The academic standards are awful.  It's insulting that people are supposed to be fooled by a new building.  The programming isn't there.  DCPS's excuse for the lack of programming is that it can't afford to provide it to a small cohort (i.e., 5 out of 50 6th graders).  Yet, it won't offer test-in either.

Guess why those 5 families will be leaving DCPS?[/quote]

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