Reply to Greater Greater Washington story on school enrollment growth

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Nick, you mean well, but overcrowing is a WOTP issue and I don't think overhauling the whole system for everyone is going to be acceptable EOTP and EOTR.  If you think people in Ward 3 will accept a lottery assignment at Ballou, think again.

The answer IMO is to strengthen the existing schools so that people want to attend, and to consider reopening or expanding spaces that are available, as needed. If Wilson-zoned parents cared more about quality elsewhere, it could happen.  But you seem to assume Ward 3 conditions of overcrowing and no more spaces apply everywhere.  That just isn't true.[/quote]

Nick here.

Today DCPS has 13,000 empty seats so you could argue that any crowding is a policy issue not a facilities issue. But if the projections hold, in eight years those empty seats are going to be gone. This will be a new historic era for DCPS. There may be policy challenges, but there are going to be real facilities issues-- and not just WOTP.

I believe in neighborhood-based schools, for a lot of reasons. But right now nobody at any level of city government is doing the things that will need to be done to keep them a viable option.[/quote]

Nick, you are trying to force a Ward 3 mindset on the rest of the city.  Your own map shows that there is plenty of capacity in many areas.  They will figure it out when the time comes, and re-opening a closed building that DCPS owns is not that difficult, it does not require a 10-year advance plan.

I would encourage you to stick to Ward 3 and not assume an understanding of other areas that you don't actually possess.[/quote]

Why do you think they will figure it out when they have not yet? It takes years to get on the modernization list and once you are on it, you will be on it for 5 years before you step foot in a new building. Not to mention it is clear that the mayor is not really interested in DCPS school based on the funding levels.

Ward 3 is already a problem and other Wards will be joining them soon.[/quote]

Because it just is not that complicated a thing to do.  The politics are complicated.  Construction and freshening up a building are really not.  Modernizing an operating school is harder because it requires more planning and a swing space.  Cleaning up an empty building is much easier.[/quote]

And the construction and freshening up would be free? While swing space would not be an issue, funds still would be. There are schools that are falling apart because they have been touched in decades. There are schools, outside of Ward 3, that are overcrowded that have been fighting for years. You are right, it is the politics that takes time and that will still be the case with currently empty buildings.

The other question I would ask is where are these buildings? If they are not in areas where the projected growth is, then they aren't really that helpful.[/quote]

Meyer is in Pleasant Plains, so it's in the sweet spot of a bunch of red circles.  It's being used as swing space for Hyde-Addison right now, which wouldn't be possible if it were truly in unsafe condition.  I'm not sure about others, but with boundary and feeder adjustments, could work.  Middle and high schools don't have to be extremely close to all of their students.  For example, if they re-opened Emery as a middle school, it could take kids from NoMa and take the load off Stuart-Hobson.  Spingarn could reopen and relieve pressure on Eastern.  Kids in the Stadium and Eastern Market area have shown a willingness to commute to Stokes East End, and would likely do so for the replication of Washington Latin if it were near a metro station EOTR.  Those are just a few examples.

Nobody thinks it would be free, but if there are enough kids that implies an increase in the tax base as well.  Also, DCPS spends money every single year to renovate and re-open schools.  Van Ness, Phelps, Wells Middle, Brookland Middle, McKinley Middle, are just a few recent examples.  They have found the money every year and they can use that same line of the budget for new schools.  What is currently being spent on Coolidge and Wells right now, for example, can be shifted to other projects.[/quote]

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