In only a couple of years, GDS's class sizes will all be back to normal. Yeah, this year was brutal for new applicants, and we were very lucky that our daughter was admitted. My understanding is that, particularly for unhooked 9th graders, it was a very difficult year. As the larger classes graduate, though, everything will even out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Comparing this to online GDS numbers by division (below on left) - GDS is only one student over (current from above list in parentheses on right)

1075 total (1076)
275 k-4 (247)
300 5-8 (310)
500 9-12 (519)

Seems like with departure of senior class, they should be able to get back to more typical MS/HS cohort sizes of 75/125 (if divided evenly). Still at expense of LS admissions though.

Based on this, I don't see what the neighborhood is complaining about. GDS was over enrollment for maybe two years and course corrected immediately.

I think GDS had to adjust pretty abruptly last year during admissions to get to this state. They must have accepted almost nobody in lower school grades and cut back severely for 9th grade.

What would be a normal number of 9th graders next year?

Well their website says they have 500 HS students, so I'd assume the general goal is to have 125 per grade. The website also says 300 is MS goal - which would be 75 per grade if spread evenly (not sure if that is a goal - as they may expand over the MS years). The current 8th class is 84 so that'd be about 40 new HS students added to get around 125.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Comparing this to online GDS numbers by division (below on left) - GDS is only one student over (current from above list in parentheses on right)

1075 total (1076)
275 k-4 (247)
300 5-8 (310)
500 9-12 (519)

Seems like with departure of senior class, they should be able to get back to more typical MS/HS cohort sizes of 75/125 (if divided evenly). Still at expense of LS admissions though.

Based on this, I don't see what the neighborhood is complaining about. GDS was over enrollment for maybe two years and course corrected immediately.

I think GDS had to adjust pretty abruptly last year during admissions to get to this state. They must have accepted almost nobody in lower school grades and cut back severely for 9th grade.

What would be a normal number of 9th graders next year?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s PK/K? I thought that program stopped a few years ago, thankfully.

I'm confused by this as well. I thought GDS had a pre-k class and a kindergarten class. PK/K doesn't make any sense.

they have a prek/k class combined of prekers and kindergarteners

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Comparing this to online GDS numbers by division (below on left) - GDS is only one student over (current from above list in parentheses on right)

1075 total (1076)
275 k-4 (247)
300 5-8 (310)
500 9-12 (519)

Seems like with departure of senior class, they should be able to get back to more typical MS/HS cohort sizes of 75/125 (if divided evenly). Still at expense of LS admissions though.

Based on this, I don't see what the neighborhood is complaining about. GDS was over enrollment for maybe two years and course corrected immediately.

I think GDS had to adjust pretty abruptly last year during admissions to get to this state. They must have accepted almost nobody in lower school grades and cut back severely for 9th grade.

Anonymous wrote:Comparing this to online GDS numbers by division (below on left) - GDS is only one student over (current from above list in parentheses on right)

1075 total (1076)
275 k-4 (247)
300 5-8 (310)
500 9-12 (519)

Seems like with departure of senior class, they should be able to get back to more typical MS/HS cohort sizes of 75/125 (if divided evenly). Still at expense of LS admissions though.

Based on this, I don't see what the neighborhood is complaining about. GDS was over enrollment for maybe two years and course corrected immediately.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s PK/K? I thought that program stopped a few years ago, thankfully.

It's probably a typo and meant to be PK

They call it PK/K at GDS. I can't tell you why but that's what it is called. It's really just a pre-K year

Back when we were there, they had three classrooms for those grades. Two were comprised of half PK students and half Kindergarten students, and another was entirely Kindergarten students. Has that changed?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s PK/K? I thought that program stopped a few years ago, thankfully.

It's probably a typo and meant to be PK

They call it PK/K at GDS. I can't tell you why but that's what it is called. It's really just a pre-K year

Anonymous wrote:What’s PK/K? I thought that program stopped a few years ago, thankfully.

It's probably a typo and meant to be PK

Comparing this to online GDS numbers by division (below on left) - GDS is only one student over (current from above list in parentheses on right)

1075 total (1076)
275 k-4 (247)
300 5-8 (310)
500 9-12 (519)

Seems like with departure of senior class, they should be able to get back to more typical MS/HS cohort sizes of 75/125 (if divided evenly). Still at expense of LS admissions though.

Anonymous wrote:What’s PK/K? I thought that program stopped a few years ago, thankfully.

I'm confused by this as well. I thought GDS had a pre-k class and a kindergarten class. PK/K doesn't make any sense.

What’s PK/K? I thought that program stopped a few years ago, thankfully.

Sidestep - What I find interesting is I always thought GDS had bigger HS cohorts than Sidwell - I thought it was more like 150 at GDS but these 11/12 cohorts look similar to our child's Sidwell cohort.

Back on topic - what is the total headcount ceiling required by the zoning agreement?

Anonymous wrote:
You can really see the impact of the reduced 9th grade entry due to the issues w/ the neighborhood. 23 fewer kids in 9th grade than 10th grade classes

2023-2024

PK/K 15
K 40
1st - 41
2nd - 46
3rd - 48
4th - 57
5th - 71
6th - 78
7th - 77
8th - 84
9th - 116
10th - 139
11th - 132
12th - 132

Let’s rephrase that. The issue is with the school not complying with the zoning agreement. This issue is of their own making and this is the plan the school is using to comply with zoning regulations. It’s a pretty basic administrative task and should never have gotten to this point but that is the way the school’s leadership rolls! No one(except a few parents of kids who did not get in) really care. It will be back to normal on 2-3 years.

You can really see the impact of the reduced 9th grade entry due to the issues w/ the neighborhood. 23 fewer kids in 9th grade than 10th grade classes

2023-2024

PK/K 15
K 40
1st - 41
2nd - 46
3rd - 48
4th - 57
5th - 71
6th - 78
7th - 77
8th - 84
9th - 116
10th - 139
11th - 132
12th - 132