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[quote=Anonymous]My understanding of the boundary revision process was that it was intended to do a number of things. Relieving overcrowding at Deal and Wilson is definitely one of them, and given that Wilson pulls from all over the city, I think it's a valid issue, rather than simply a Ward 3 problem.

Other things I understood this process to address:

1. Homes that, by virtue of other elementary schools being closed in previous years without a boundary redraw, were eligible for multiple schools - Columbia Heights families who were, for example, considered in bounds for Tubman, Cooke and Garrison, as a result of the Meyer closure.

I do believe that that has been addressed by this proposal - those families (at least the ones that I know) are now only assigned to one school under the proposal.

2. Dismantling the Education Campuses, which are unpopular and deemed not effective/safe/whatever. Removing grades 6-8 from several schools was going to cause issues no matter where those kids were sent, but different issues. If the kids were bounced to other area middle school campuses, the outcry is that those middle schools are garbage (we're in bounds for Tubman/CHEC/Cardozo, so I'm sympathetic). If the kids are assigned to Unicorn, the outcry is that Unicorn doesn't exist. If the kids are reassigned to Deal, the outcry is about overcrowding.

But at the end of the day, those kids have to go somewhere. I don't think all those concerns are addressed by this proposal.

At the end of the day, I think the smarter way to go about the proposal would have been to start work, immediately, on the new middle schools. Build them, focus on community engagement and participation. Less talk about overcrowding and current test score issues and more talk about what programs parents and students want. I think that Jeff did a really good job of starting a lot of those conversations re: MacFarland/Roosevelt, and I was sad to see that taken less seriously than I thought it deserved.

Just my 2 cents.[/quote]

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