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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm on the Coolidge Community Working Group (they combined the facilities and curriculum SITs into one group). I'm also "that Whittier mom." Some clarification:

Feasibility study starts at the end of the month. All that is left in the capital budget for FY17 (after the first Council vote on Tuesday) is $15 million for the FS and design. Construction budget was all moved to FYs 18 & 19. Construction should start close to on schedule in mid-2017, with an ambitious plan to finish in 2019.

The school is built for 1100 but has ~390 students enrolled, mostly OOB. P[b]rojections from Office of Planning and DCPS Planning expect 800 enrolled in a decade based on neighborhood growth and the new curriculum at the school.
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The plan right now is for a comprehensive high school with some special tracks. The building will be split, with some other function in part of it. A middle school is one of the options, and the most popular based on the CWG members, parents, and feeder school staff I've talked to. Also on the table are young adult (18-24) programming or a nonprofit partner that supports the school.

Whittier's middle school is way too small to offer any extras (one class per grade). But if you combine LaSalle, Whittier, Brightwood, and Takoma, we'd have a critical mass for an appropriate middle school. Frankly I'd rather have my eventual 11-year-old sharing a roof with teenagers than I like having my 5-year-old in a building with 13-year-olds. [/quote]

Can you elaborate more on the expectation here? What study/data are they looking at?[/quote]

I don't have it written in the papers from our last meeting, but Brightwood and Takoma are two of the fastest growing neighborhoods for families in the city. Obviously they are also optimistic about retaining those families into middle and high school.[/quote]

I don't know any Brightwood families that send their kids IB. Even if new families with 3 years olds have a chance of staying, you're looking at 10-12 years later. Even that is not realistic as most people only move into Brightwood and Takoma after they secured a charter spot.[/quote]

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