Reply to Feedback on Eaton Elementary School in Cleveland Park, NW

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=jsteele][quote=Anonymous][quote=jsteele][quote=Anonymous]
I really can't help but laugh at the irony of the indignation expressed by OOB parents when confronted with the reality that most WOTP parents desire their kid to attend a true neighborhood school.  Because in reality it is the OOB parents who don't think their neighborhood kids are good enough, otherwise why would you not attend your IB school.  See how that works?  On one hand you are saying "we are just like you, so what difference does it make where we live." But your actions are telling how you really feel.  Think we need more honesty here.     [/quote]

I don't understand the point that you are trying to make. It is true that, for whatever reasons, OOB families have decided that their neighborhood schools are not a good fit. I don't think anyone disputes that. There are also plenty of families WOTP who have similarly decided that their neighborhood schools are not the best choice. Lots of factors go into decisions about schools. [b]But, what OOB families get upset about is not the school choices that others make, but rather the belief by some that OOB students are by definition negative factors in a school. [/b]It is particularly strange to suggest that OOB students are a significant downside to a school except when your child is the OOB student. There is a disconnect in thinking that because of your desire for your children to attend a neighborhood school, you are going to avoid your neighborhood school and instead choose a school that is not a neighborhood school. 
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There are 2 draws to WOTP DCPS schools - (1) academic achievement and (2) community centers. Large numbers of OOB kids may, or may not, affect academic achievement. But they absolutely do affect the school as the center of the community. A neighborhood school with 50% OOB kids isn't a neighborhood school.

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That is not necessarily true. If the school's population was cut in half so that only the inbound students remained, would that make it a neighborhood school? It would still be the same number of inbound students. I think the absolute number is more important to community-building then the percentage. I still don't get why the fact that "it is not a neighborhood school" is a reason for going to a school that makes no pretensions at being a neighborhood school. 
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The point is that many/most people like neighborhood schools for the feeling of community they provide, and people, like OP, may be looking for that in a school. Eaton is set up to be a neighborhood school though it is not precisely because it has such a high OOB population. That is a detractor to many people.

And yes, when 50% of the school peels off across the city at 3 pm is does affect the ability of the school to be the center of the community. 50% of the parents have no stake in the area, aren't milling around the school park after pick up and drop off, don't care about neighborhood issues etc. They also are far less likely to be able to attend all the stuff after hours that help make a neighborhood school what it is.

It's fine if you don't consider the neighborhood-ness of a school to be a perk, but many people do.

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I think you are going to start to see a new type of upper NW parent dynamic.  In the old days the ultra liberals stayed and sent their kids to Deal and Wilson with a high tolerance for DCPS mediocrity. The rest of upper NW moved to Bethesda or went private.  It's changing.   Now the parents who would have moved to Bethesda are staying and scraping nickels and dimes together to buy tiny 1940 colonials and many are not going private.  Many are planning to send their kids to Deal and Wilson in a few years, but these parents will not tolerate overcrowding or kids who are unprepared or disruptive.  DCPS needs to get out in front of this because the pipeline will burst in about 5 years.  [/quote]

Well, you may be on to something but I can't help but to chuckle at the whole "will not tolerate" stuff. DCPS will play chicken with those families and win. Those principled parents will ultimately throw in the towel and move after all. They'll fight the good fight to try and alleviate crowding but for most of them it won't be in time for their kids. You'll see official boundary changes at the 10-year mark post DME boundary efforts of 2014. DCPS is trying the "build it and they will come" route with efforts like Brookland Middle led by the former Janney principal, and reopening MacFarland with promises of a quality experience, etc. But it will take time. I sat through just about every public meeting during the DME process and it was crystal clear that efforts to carve out more diverse feeder schools from Deal was not gonna happen. Nor were OOB feeder path rights going to be touched. Real estate is at a premium in DC and the mayors office (and DCPS) know that those parents who "won't tolerate" can leave and be replaced by other educated, wealthy people who might not even have kids, thus saving those tax dollars for other things like stadiums...[/quote]

I think that the increasing intolerance of DC government mediocrity is not limited to Upper NW.  It is spreading across the District.  More and more people are just not interested in the "old DC way" of doing things and won't accept crappy service that formerly was considered good enough for DC. David Catania and certain members of the DC Council get this.  Old style dinosaurs like Vincent Orange and Anita Bonds don't.  [/quote]

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