Reply to Shaw Middle School -- what's the plan?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]And SWW Middle school IS decent, though tiny. There is no world in which a Shaw Middle would definitely be better, such that you could count on Ross families choosing to attend. [/quote]

You need to think about it more broadly.  Some people try to help their middle school for the sake of all the kids, even if they're not planning to enroll their own child.  And the quality of the middle school affects the feeder elementaries.  I am only a preschool mom and I don't know much, but I do understand that middle school is a major reason for our attrition.  If Shaw Middle happened and did well enough that people had some hope for it, that would help Seaton retain kids better and become a better school than it is now.  Which would in turn help the middle school.  Maybe I send my own kid to Shaw middle, maybe I don't, but an improved middle school would benefit Seaton in the long run regardless.  [/quote]

Why must it be [i]Shaw[/i] middle? Cardozo has the same students feeding to it.

There are not enough kids to fill both buildings. DCPS is being smart to give the old Shaw space to Banneker -- a school that desperately needs upgraded facilities which serves students city-wide. Perhaps even your preschooler someday.

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Because Banneker can use the building it has, it just needs a swing space during renovations.  Shaw Middle is a good idea because it will be better for middle school kids to be separate from the high school.  It's more age-appropriate and they will get more attention focused to their age group needs.  Also, it's closer to the feeder schools and the metro.[/quote]

There are not enough kids to fill both a Shaw MS and Cardozo.

McKinley MS and HS students share a building, but never cross paths. Same will be the case with North Middle and Coolidge once renovated.

Banneker's building is too small to be a modern high school; it is the highest performing high school in the city. It needs a world class space. [/quote]

It's not about whether the kids mingle with each other.  [b]It's about having its own principal rather than a constant churn of APs.  It's about the middle school getting dedicated care and attention, which doesn't happen if a middle school is in the shadow of its high school.  [/b]

Look at the plans for Coolidge-- lots of care and attention went into that (unrealistic though it may be).  Is there any plan for the middle school other than moving into a combined building?  Not that I know of!  (Yet we are supposed to believe that the high school will be awesome even though its middle school feeder is low-performing).  [/quote]

I don't think people care about this as much as you'd expect. After all, Francis-Stevens middle school shares a principal with a whole PK3-5 elementary program AND a high school that has completely different admissions standards and is located a mile away, and people seem to be increasingly willing to try it. I'd love to see Francis-Stevens stop having a middle school so it can take more elementary kids and get its own principal. Then all the kids from the now-bigger F-S elementary, plus Cleveland (except kids in the dual language program who want to go to MacFarland), Garrison, Ross, Seaton, and Thomson would go to Cardozo.  Even though some kid would undoubtedly peel off I think that's a big enough set of feeders to get a decently-sized middle school, able to do things like field sports teams and host clubs and offer more than one foreign language and have some tracked classes.[/quote]

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