Reply to Why is the Foxhall Community Citizens Association scared of public school children?

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "Why is the Foxhall Community Citizens Association scared of public school children?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

DCPS families who live in Foxhall and the Palisades understand your concern and will advocate on behalf of Stoddert families that no part of Glover Park is re-zoned to Foxhall ES. It would set a horrible precedent for DCPS that none of us have any interest in seeing happen.

But if you view Frumin's proposals as a "win" for you and your neighbors, I do believe you are mistaken. I'll explain why below.

[u]Demographics[/u]
The number of families in Ward 3 - and particularly in the Mann / Key / Stoddert catchment area - is ballooning. The CWG process documented that thoroughly, so I won't revisit it. With the announcement of the opening of MacArthur Blvd (whether it is a 500, 700, or 1,000 student school), the balloon will further inflate. There are hundreds of low-rent apartments along MacArthur Blvd. that are either empty or inhabited by couples or singles. The demographics of these buildings will change very quickly. In addition, further developments along the MacArthur Blvd. corridor will add further density (a key objective of Mayor Bowser). In sum, it's not unreasonable to expect hundreds of DCPS families to relocate to Foxhall and the Palisades in the coming years.

[u]Existing Elementary School Infrastructure[/u]
A good portion of the families moving in to the neighborhood will bring with them elementary school children. Key, Mann, and Stoddert are full to breaking point and have limited room to expand (Key has absolutely none), at least not without expensive, time-consuming, and massively disruptive renovations (a la Hyde-Addison's "swing" to Cardozo, which actually left them without sufficient space for PK3 just three years after they returned to Georgetown). Absent another property, the easiest option for DCPS to address this problem is to jig around with the boundaries. So, instead of Glover Park families being sent to Foxhall ES, they may end up at Hyde-Addison ES or somewhere else even further afield. In short, there are no easy options here.

[u]Foxhall ES and Overcrowding at Key / Mann / Stoddert [/u]
At scale, Foxhall ES relieves the demographic pressures in the Mann / Key / Stoddert catchment area and addresses the overcrowding issues at each of these schools. Foxhall ES doesn't need to take students from Glover Park to help address overcrowding at Stoddert as Foxhall ES will absorb OOB students that would otherwise attend Stoddert ES. It will also obviates the need for other "solutions" to the overcrowding problem that would likely prove much more frustrating for current and future Mann / Key / Stoddert parents than a sensible redrawing of the existing boundaries.

[u]Frumin's "Ideas"[/u]
After many exhaustive and exhausting months of reviewing demographic projections, existing facilities, and alternative options and soliciting community feedback etc. etc. etc., the CWG proposed Foxhall ES. DCPS endorsed this and a few weeks ago, Mayor Bowser did too. The plan isn't perfect, but it is the only realistic one that exists to address over-crowding in the Mann / Key / Stoddert catchment area. Frumin is proposing to put this all on ice while he explores alternatives that already have been thoroughly explored and proved to be infeasible. Many of us have seen this movie before (a la the Lafayette ES Pre-K debacle). Frumin's negotiations with LAB will come to naught; the mayor will pull the funding for Foxhall ES on account of the Ward 3 councilmember not wanting it; the FCCA will be overjoyed; Key, Mann, and Stoddert get progressively more overcrowded; DCPS and the respective school communities will struggle in vain to find other solutions that don't exist and the great schools we now know and love will cease to exist.

[u]The Bigger Picture[/u]
I get that you think Frumin's proposals will solve your current problem and maybe they will, at least in the short-term. But you should see the bigger picture for what it is. Why endorse a candidate that pitches "ideas" that he either knows or should know won't work and which, if pursued, will only create bigger problems for the constituents he seeks to represent? It's commendable of candidates to lay out details rather than just speaking in generalities, but those details by themselves shouldn't be a reason to support a candidate - particularly if the details they provide make no sense. [/quote]

(I'm the previous GP poster, if it weren't obvious)
This is all very interesting, and a very credible response.  I'm glad you say Foxhall/Palisades DCPS families will try to prevent the screwing over of Glover Park, but that will require trust; and I'm skeptical.  I think you can see where my skepticism comes from: there was an entire process where Glover Park was ignored by CWG/DCPS/Cheh, and no one spoke up then.  Where were these objections during the CWG process?  Why didn't these families ask DCPS not to put forth, and defend, and justify the boundary?  Where were they talking to Cheh, when Glover Park entreaties received absolute disregard?  Without trust, the question is whether Frumin's plan for a smaller school at Foxhall and the possibility of ending up with no school is better than the status quo.  Self-interestedly, I'd likely prefer sending my child to Stoddert (and MacArthur HS) than having to move because of these shenanigans.

(Slight note: Hyde-Addison isn't further afield than the Foxhall school.  It's actually closer (or nearly the same) to that section of southern Glover Park than Foxhall!  This is yet more gritting teeth with DCPS, and the reason they list the distance from Glover Park to Foxhall as the hike through the park rather than on roads children can walk!  This was brought up so many times with the CWG and DCPS...)

Frumin has enough experience, I trust he'd be willing to settle for half a loaf.  Is your argument against a smaller Foxhall school that more space will be needed there after families come to the Palisades?  That's definitely valid, and leads me to at least think a larger school might be filled without needing to import Glover Park when the school opens.

Overall, DCPS's lack of planning (they never had too many students like this) is the problem.  I hope there's space for more schools because they will be needed. [/quote]

I wasn't on the CWG but I would presume (or at least like to presume) that the map was never intended to propose intended boundaries but rather to demonstrate a school of that size could be supported by the current demographics (even without an OOB enrolment). Those who served on the CWG should speak up, but I imagine that GP families' concerns about the map weren't given due attention because the boundaries on that example weren't ever intended to be taken that seriously. It's inconceivable that blocks so close to Stoddert would be shut out of the neighborhood school and it would be a shame if there are families that are opposing Foxhall ES for that reason and that reason only.

I don't think any self-interested person who currently lives in the Foxhall or Palisades would particularly mind a smaller Foxhall ES. A 300 student school (vs. a 550 student school) is not going to adversely affect anyone locally, at least not in the short-term. But I'm not sure Frumin is proposing exactly that. By my read, he is campaigning on finding an alternative to new construction beside Old Hardy and, in particular, DCPS recouping the Old Hardy building (and if this is wrong, I presume he will correct me). This is something that nearly everyone would prefer if it could be done. But it is something that nearly everyone - Cheh, the PCA, Keep Old Hardy Public etc. - tried to make happen and couldn't. Frumin hasn't explained - to be the best of my knowledge - why he thinks he could pull it off when those others couldn't. Whoever is elected should certainly try, but it would be an absolute disaster were we to forgo the proposed project (and even a smaller building next to Old Hardy) for that Hail Mary. If the Mayor pulls the funding for Foxhall ES in response to what she perceives as NIMBYism or whatever on behalf of the local community, the Hardy feeder pattern is in deep shit.

But if we are serious about relieving overcrowding at Key, Mann and Stoddert and if families in Ward 3 are ever going to have a hope of getting the guaranteed access to Pre-K that the rest of the city enjoys, you need as a large a Foxhall ES as the city will fund. Access to WoTP schools of OOB students is a political imperative (and one that isn't going away whoever is elected mayor) and, when space constraints bind, DCPS directs WoTP schools to first cut Pre-K classrooms for IBs and then overcrowd the upper grades before cutting OOB slots. This is exactly what just happened at Hyde-Addison ES (PK3 was cut for IBs to add a third K classroom filled with OOBs). People concerned about the aesthetics of Foxhall Village and/or who don't want public school kids around their neighborhood don't want the new construction. But anyone else who cares about access to Pre-K and/or overcrowding in Ward 3 schools should absolutely be advocating for a 550 capacity Foxhall ES.

There is a whole lot that the mayor and DCPS does that causes me to gnash my teeth. But that's the context we have to optimize within.   [/quote]

I was on the CWG, and I agree with almost everything you said.

"I wasn't on the CWG but I would presume (or at least like to presume) that the map was never intended to propose intended boundaries but rather to demonstrate a school of that size could be supported by the current demographics (even without an OOB enrolment)."

Bingo. What they were trying to demonstrate was that were enough existing DCPS students within a mile of the school to fill it.

"I imagine that GP families' concerns about the map weren't given due attention because the boundaries on that example weren't ever intended to be taken that seriously."  More specifically, the DCPS representatives kept saying, "this isn't the actual map, it's just an example." But the Stoddert reps refused to hear it.

"Whoever is elected should certainly try, but it would be an absolute disaster were we to forgo the proposed project (and even a smaller building next to Old Hardy) for that Hail Mary. If the Mayor pulls the funding for Foxhall ES in response to what she perceives as NIMBYism or whatever on behalf of the local community, the Hardy feeder pattern is in deep shit."  This is exactly the problem I have with what Frumin is saying. He gives the mayor an out to not build a new school, which she doesn't really want to do and is only doing to cover up what happened with Old Hardy.

"But if we are serious about relieving overcrowding at Key, Mann and Stoddert and if families in Ward 3 are ever going to have a hope of getting the guaranteed access to Pre-K that the rest of the city enjoys, you need as a large a Foxhall ES as the city will fund. " Agree completely.

"Access to WoTP schools of OOB students is a political imperative (and one that isn't going away whoever is elected mayor)." Yep, nailed it.

" But anyone else who cares about access to Pre-K and/or overcrowding in Ward 3 schools should absolutely be advocating for a 550 capacity Foxhall ES. " This.

Now let add one more tidbit. At the first CWG meeting, we were asked to keep our discussions in the working group and off of social media. What was frustrating was there were two groups that essentially refused to engage in the process, refused to believe what knowledgeable people in the working group told them, refused to learn the facts themselves, and flew immediately onto social media spreading misinformation about the working group and what was being discussed. And that was the Stoddert reps and the Foxhall reps. [/quote]

I was also on the CWG. This is accurate. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics