Reply to Surplussing the old Hardy School

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[quote=Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]
Focusing solely on the overcrowded elementary school situation avoids any uncomfortable debate over demographics:  no one disagrees that Ward 3 elementaries can't handle the number of new students from the local population.  A new school where Lab currently sits would certainly help.  But there's another problem:  what would the new school's boundaries be?  There are already several DCPS elementaries in close proximity to Lab.  It would make more sense (with geography taken into account) to devote public funds to build more classroom space where those schools already exist.  Though there probably isn't a budget for that, either.  That's why the elementary principals are discussing adding more trailers to their campuses, and no one over at DCPS or the Council is doing anything to create a better solution because it's less headache for them.[/quote]

The four closest elementary schools to the old Hardy building -- Stoddert, Mann, Key and Janney -- have all been significantly expanded in the past 10 years. All are now over capacity and have essentially stopped taking OOB kids. All faced significant neighbor issues when they were expanded. Key and Janney have on-going operational issues with their neighbors about parking and traffic because they are located on side streets that can't handle the traffic they draw.  The Hardy site has frontage on two major thoroughfares, Foxhall and MacArthur, and the third side is a bus route on Q street. It abuts five acres of DC-owned land in the rec center. It is a far better location for a school.

Now think what would happen if Hardy were to become desirable as a middle school. The bleed of kids to charter and private would slow dramatically. It was mentioned upthread that Key is 100 kids at kindergarten and 30 at fifth. With a desirable middle school, it could conceivably be six years of 100 kids, plus 40 in pre-K. That's 640, or about 60% more than are there today.  Where would those kids go?[/quote]

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