Reply to New DCPS school on former Georgetown Day site will be a high school

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Reply to "New DCPS school on former Georgetown Day site will be a high school"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So, what's the next step? Does the fact that the Chancellor announced plans for those two schools in a letter constitute notice to families? When should we hear about grandfathering policies, any formal venue for Hardy families to be heard? Where is the website that will reveal the planning for the physical campuses? How will the boundaries be redrawn to allow for the Foxhall Elementary School. Such typical DCPS process. Make a big, crazy-making announcement without any detail and then just keep mum.

The way the name change at Wilson HS was "announced" was such a thud...a nothingburger. There should have been a big sign unveiling, tshirts and other merch should have been handed out to the students and staff. Instead, I continue to receive emails with "Wilson" all over them but with Reed-Jackson included in the text too. For all the money they spend on crap, couldn't some decent PR firm have been given this contract?  Sigh. [/quote]

Nope. I think us Hardy families just get to accept this or leave. Be happy with the half baked high school! Why would you care about established programs and academics or leadership or anything else?!? What, this would have changed your behavior for the upcoming school year if you’d known before the lottery or private school application deadlines passed? Tough luck! [/quote]

Nonsense. This is a very, very good thing. This HS will be stellar the day it opens. There will be some growing pains, but nothing that will get in the way of a superb academic environment. It will quickly be overcrowded.

I and the other Hardy parents I know are excited about this. [/quote]

I'm happy you're thrilled and that your child is already at Hardy, which means you're good with the whole "add one grade at a time" experience for your child. Not me. I expect grandfathering policies that will allow Hardy families to pick between the new high school and Wilson for the first three years. Giving my child what I deem as a normal, full high school experience with four grades, sports, extra curriculars, etc. is important to us. For others, I get that they might like the idea of a small school populated with just one grade of students, then two, then three. I also don't want my child attending class for the first year when there is an onsite addition going on. Nor do I want to learn at the 11th hour that they'll suddenly be in a swing space God knows where for a year or two. Five or six years from now, I'd probably be happy to send my child to the new high school. But not now. [/quote]

So how do you propose that the city open new schools?[/quote]

Open the new school one grade at a time, understanding that the ONE feeder school that DCPS has designated/forced will give families the option of selecting Wilson or MacArthur for the first three grades/years. After that Hardy feeds to MacArthur (although younger siblings of Hardy/Wilson kids will get preference in the lottery). And no jumping back and forth. If you selected Wilson, you don't get to jump to MacArthur the next year unless it's through the lottery. And for those first three years, there will be more opportunity for non-Hardy kids to lottery in to fill up those first few grades, thus establishing some sibling preference for their younger siblings too. [/quote]

And very few would opt-in to the new school. This is not a reasonable way to fill a new, remotely located high school.

It’s unfortunate that you assumed that your school boundaries would never change when you bought your home, but sometimes these things do happen.[/quote]

Every single one of the many meetings I participated on relating to Foxhall and MacArthur over the last 18 months emphasized that there would be grandfathering. And while not all the Hardy kids would opt in, I’m sure plenty will, plus lots of Wilson kids would likely want to switch. I think it comes down to  whether a family is comfortable with a big established school (Wilson) or would prefer a smaller school. Different kids thrive in different environments [/quote]

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