Reply to Why can’t Watkins get traction with Capitol Hill?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][twitter][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]They desperately need to get rid of the Peabody/Watkins configuration.  Watkins should be a PK-3 through 5th grade, with fewer classrooms in each grade, which in turn would help the school.

Peabody could become a special education school or something—ideally the destination for an autism program or something.[/quote]

I think that's a decent idea, regarding Peabody. I do think you'd get pushback from neighborhood families though. Peabody is not only a very solid option for IB families, but it's often an ECE option for families IB for L-T, Brent, and Maury who can't get into those programs at PK. Because Watkins is less desirable to IB families, they usually have more OOB seats available, especially for PK4, as many IB families lottery into charters, SWS, or CHML rather than take a Peabody spot knowing they will want to move before Watkins.

Right now it feels like there is either not quite enough, or just enough, PK spots (via a combo of DCPS, charters, and private options) on the Hill. But it's an area that has consistently seen increases in families with young kids, especially families with young kids who want a public option for PK, over the last 15 years or so, and I don't see that changing. So taking away a current PK option isn't going to go over well.[/quote]

A decent idea going absolutely nowhere.  Have you ever heard a single DC pol discuss changing the status of the Cluster school? It's just not in the plans and presumably never will be.[/quote]

It’s funny. I agree. But I wonder if in 2-3 years it would have been different. Friends on the Hill are just starting to realize how much Watkins is shedding students.[/quote]

You think that DC politicians care that Watkins is shredding students?  Like they care how long the BASIS and Latins' wait lists have become?  Like they care that Stuart Hobson still enrolls more students from Wards 5, 7 and 8 than Ward 6? Like they care that Eastern is majority OOB by a mile?

They don't and won't because high SES Hill parents aren't organized politically and are far too small a slice of the electoral pie to bother with, even within Ward 6. [/quote]

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