Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blair shouldn’t have extra set asides for their magnet because that is unfair to the other schools in the region. The number of seats for each school should be proportional to the school’s population.

I don't think framing this as anti-Blair is the right move, but I do think we should fight to make sure that local set-asides don't translate into a disproportionate number of kids attending from the host school. It is ridiculous to give BCC or Whitman or WJ kids a leg up over DCC kids for magnets.

But Blair shouldn’t get more seats than Einstein or Northwood just bc it’s the home school. None of the schools should have local set aside as for their programs.

Yes, I agree with you, I am just saying there is zero reason to frame it as an anti-Blair thing.

(Also I personally think it is okay to have local set-asides that are exactly equal to their share of the student population, so that for example Wheaton or Kennedy kids don't get blocked out of their home magnets by WJ and Woodward kids if their magnets are viewed as desirable. I don't think students from the host school should get any extra seats, but I am okay with making sure they get their fair share of seats, even if their scores are a little below those from other schools in the region.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blair shouldn’t have extra set asides for their magnet because that is unfair to the other schools in the region. The number of seats for each school should be proportional to the school’s population.

I don't think framing this as anti-Blair is the right move, but I do think we should fight to make sure that local set-asides don't translate into a disproportionate number of kids attending from the host school. It is ridiculous to give BCC or Whitman or WJ kids a leg up over DCC kids for magnets.

But Blair shouldn’t get more seats than Einstein or Northwood just bc it’s the home school. None of the schools should have local set aside as for their programs.

Anonymous wrote:Blair shouldn’t have extra set asides for their magnet because that is unfair to the other schools in the region. The number of seats for each school should be proportional to the school’s population.

I don't think framing this as anti-Blair is the right move, but I do think we should fight to make sure that local set-asides don't translate into a disproportionate number of kids attending from the host school. It is ridiculous to give BCC or Whitman or WJ kids a leg up over DCC kids for magnets.

I mean, without Wheaton or Kennedy.

We should oppose being in a region with BCC and Whitman. Let them be in their own region and we can have our own.

Anonymous wrote:Is closing SSIMS something we can oppose? I realize there are issues with the space, but I am really against this area losing a middle school.

I agree with you completely.

Blair shouldn’t have extra set asides for their magnet because that is unfair to the other schools in the region. The number of seats for each school should be proportional to the school’s population.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Performing arts, especially theater, criteria program to Northwood.

This NEVER should have been changed and we will fight for it.

Why? Northwood’s theatre program is about on the same level as Blair’s — kind of like fast food: not terrible, not gourmet, just decent.

Completely false and just ignorant.

Anonymous wrote:Performing arts, especially theater, criteria program to Northwood.

This NEVER should have been changed and we will fight for it.

Why? Northwood’s theatre program is about on the same level as Blair’s — kind of like fast food: not terrible, not gourmet, just decent.

Anonymous wrote:Performing arts, especially theater, criteria program to Northwood.

This NEVER should have been changed and we will fight for it.

See this is why this whole thing sucks -Einstein needs that program to remain viable.

The board has actual middle class families fighting over non-academic programs in a zero sum game while rich families know their schools will be fine and get all the academic programs. It’s gross.

Performing arts, especially theater, criteria program to Northwood.

This NEVER should have been changed and we will fight for it.

I don't think we should fight to keep the DCC. I think the writing is on the wall on that one.

However it does seem the regional program model will simply reproduce the issues with the DCC (e.g. white flight from Kennedy) on a countywide scale.

I think we should fight for a regional program model that centers equity. As councilmember Natalia Fani-Gonzalez aptly stated, the proposed model is about equality, not equity, and it doesn't even achieve that because it does not create equal access to coursework for every child. Most will not get into their preferred program. The wealthy schools will keep their wealth of course work and siphon off the well resourced students that are able to travel to further schools. The rich kids are not going to travel to a low income school to access advanced coursework because they already have it at their home schools. Students will be traveling one way and not in a way that reduces segregation. In fact quite the opposite.

Is closing SSIMS something we can oppose? I realize there are issues with the space, but I am really against this area losing a middle school.

Whitman having humanities and Law is comical. All of it should go to Northwood.

There is so much going on right now that it's hard to process and prioritize. Can we figure out some items that families across the DCC could come together to lobby for that are best for our area as a whole, rather than only narrowly focusing on what most benefits our individual community or school and fighting amongst ourselves (not that folks can't also do additional school and/or community-specific advocacy)? Some of these may be things that are not our top picks personally, but that we could all try to get behind and support for the greater good of kids and schools in our area. Or are there not enough things we agree on?

Obviously folks here are not representative of all DCC parents, but I thought it might be interesting to see if we can come up with some things most of us agree on, and then we could share them outwards to others in the DCC, our PTAs, etc, for further discussion.

What would the list be, though? Here are some initial ideas, but I am just one person and this is intended to be a starting point rather than definitive in any way-- don't hesitate to shoot any of these down if you disagree and/or propose other suggestions to add to the list:

- Don't leave any DCC schools overcrowded while WJ + Woodward are 600-1000 seats underutilized-- change the boundary options to fix that
- Or if they won't change the boundary options, support option D, the only one with all schools basically at or under capacity except Wheaton (and Wheaton overutilization only around 350 rather than 600 in the other 3 options)
- Have a fair distribution of split articulation, not 6-8 DCC elementary schools split to MS in all options vs only 1 among WJ/Woodward/BCC/Whitman combined (except option D which has 2)
- Don't reassign kids between SSIMS, Sligo, and Eastern MS now and then change them a second time 3 years later after SSIMS closes-- keep the assignments the same for now
- Slow down the regional program changes for at least a year, and gather community feedback first
- Humanities magnet to Northwood (or at least not at Whitman)
- I honestly don't know if "save the DCC"/"make the new regions into consortia like the DCC" even makes sense to go on this list, but throwing it out there for reactions...

Thoughts? Additions? Changes?