Reply to HARDY MIDDLE SCHOOL: Record numbers from feeder schools for 2014-2015

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We're IB for Hardy too and are happy to see more IB families signing up. But that does not make us "scared whitey" racists. Please folks. We could care less if a large portion of the school is made up of motivated, respectful OOB students. But we are indeed cheered that our DS may be able to move on to a neighborhood middle school with a group of elementary peers who have grown up together. Who wouldn't want that? That hope does not exclude other students from OOB. Might there be a tipping point at which time there won't be OOB seats available? Sure. But I do think that [b]IB students should be the priority as a quality of life issue for all[/b], commute-wise and neighborhood cohesiveness- wise. Are there racially-segregated neighborhoods, however unfortunate that may be? Yes. But let's integrate though housing policies rather than by shipping kids all around town every day. [b]And let's work toward strong schools in every neighborhood.[/b][/quote]

As with your post, the effort toward strong schools in every neighborhood, is just an afterthought.  It should be the main objective.  I don't think anyone would disagree with anything you've said here, but for the majority of the city, there's no Hardy to fight over.  There's no council member, no DCPS administrator, no mayor nor mayoral candidate promising anything even close to it anywhere else.  My neighborhood middle school has been closed with hardly a peep about re-opening--not even a "hey, we'll think about it if we can get X-Number of families to commit"--let alone private home meetings with concerned parents.  And there are maaaany inbound families, with the same hopes and high expectations that you have--but no one who seems to be listening to our needs.

So we have no choice but to consider other schools in other parts of the city.  And that will continue to happen until this city moves beyond lip service and starts making a real effort at strong schools in [i]every [/i]neighborhood.

It's not an issue of housing policies, because the high number of gentrifiers in wards 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 have really made integration a non-issue.  The issue is that the schools in these areas is still pretty much an afterthought.  If DCPS and the education committee are making concentrated efforts and promises in your neighborhood, then they need to make room for people coming from mine.  [/quote]

Which DCPS MS once served your neighborhood, PP?

Was it shut down due to under-enrollment?  What were the enrollment and the enrollment target for the last few years of operation?  Did IB families flee for charters and OOB spots at other MSs or where there simply not enough families with middle schoolers?   Has gentrification solved the problems that likely led to under-enrollment and closure of your neighborhood school in the first place?

If your IB school reopened this fall and all of the IB middle schoolers enrolled, would you send your DC?  Which would be the likely feeder schools? What is the OOB rate at those feeder schools?  What would the likely FARMs rate be?  What would the DC CAS scores likely be?

Would you still send your DC if, in order to meet a high DCPS enrollment target, 60%, 70% or 80% of the kids were OOB?  Which schools would those OOB kids be fleeing?

You talk of building good neighborhood schools across the city as if all that is required is for DCPS to provide a building, a principal and a few teachers.  The missing ingredient is a critical mass of neighborhood families willing to send their kids to school with the kids of other neighborhood families.  It looks as if the neighborhood families at Hardy are approaching that critical mass, and they deserve the opportunity to be successful.

You'll still have the opportunity to lottery into many other DCPS and charter middle schools.  Better yet, you could rally your neighbors, lobby your ANC and council member, and put pressure on DCPS to re-open your neighborhood school.  Wouldn't you and your neighbors prefer the certainty and cohesion of a strong neighborhood school over taking your chances in the lottery? [/quote]

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