Anonymous wrote:I'm starting to do some math on the new boundaries and the various feeder arrangements. I'm not sure though if I'm thinking about this the right way though. I started with Deal first, because it's such a source of controversy. Here's what I see ...
Deal capacity: 1200 (grades 6, 7, 8)
Capacity of Deal's proposed new feeders: Bancroft (563), Hearst (325), Janney (570), Lafayette (516), Murch (488), Shepherd (342) (all grades K-5?)
Assumptions:
(1) Each of the feeders will be filled to capacity. Most are filled already, and I'm guessing that with the boundary changes, many more OOB students will apply to fill up remaining capacity, in hopes of getting access to Deal.
(2) The spread of students is roughly even across the grades. In other words, if Murch has 488 students across six grades, that's about 81 students per grade.
Are those valid assumptions? Help me out here.
If my assumptions are right, then the collective feeders will be putting 1400 students into Deal each year. That's 200 more than capacity. That's not including the 20+% growth projected for the Deal boundary area. That's not including the extra 10% OOB set aside seats at Deal that the proposal calls for (120 seats). I get that some number of students may switch to private school after elementary, but will it really be that many?
If my back-of-envelope math is correct, it seems the proposal will quickly put Deal well over capacity. Since I'd expect the DME's proposal to actually work mathematically, I'm think I must be missing something. What is it? Where will all those elementary students go besides Deal?
Any help appreciated.
Some of those schools have 6 grades and some have 7. None have just 5. Also, there will always be kids who peel off to go to other programs at Middle School. Let's assume that the average feeder has the equivalent of 6th grade, so that Deal with 3 grades have to hold 1/2 the kids of the feeders. Then let's assume that 90% of the students stay. That's 1032 kids. Add in 120 for the 10% new OOB and you're still below 1200.
On top of that, Deal is a huge building. I spend a lot of time in an MCPS middle school with a population that's the same size and it's much smaller. While 1200 may be the official capacity, it's not going to be suddenly swamped at 1300 or 1400. Yes, it might need a few trailers, but I think that almost every parent in DC would choose Deal with 1 or 2 classes in a trailer over any other DCPS middle school choice.