Is there any way to reclaim buildings that are leased out to charters? I know politically it would be impossible. But in the case of schools that are closing (Kingsman for example) shouldn't DCPS be able to reclaim it?

Some in use by other city agencies could also be reclaimed.

https://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/FINAL%20Closed%20DCPS%20Facility%20Landscape_as%20of%20August%202019.pdf

Here's my super genius master plan. Re-open Metropolitan AND the old Emery building AND Sharpe as elementary schools. Shift the mid-city boundaries to the west in a domino effect. Cleveland takes part of Garrison's zone. Garrison takes part of Ross' zone. Ross takes a bit of Oyster and SWW@FS. Keep on tweaking your way westward until you run out of steam. Of course, it leaves you with a distressing lack of swing space... Maybe renovate Slater and Langston as swingers?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SWW@FS and Ross must feed to the new Shaw Middle as originally planned. That would cut down on crowding at SWW@FS and set Shaw up for success.

Call upper NW's bluff on overcrowding and cut their PK4 waay back-- only enough to provide inclusion classes for special ed students and the at-risk kids who live IB.

How does that help? All those kids show up at K then. Same problem.

Because they can use the classrooms for an additional K and an additional 1st. Or whatever they think is best.

Anonymous wrote:SWW@FS and Ross must feed to the new Shaw Middle as originally planned. That would cut down on crowding at SWW@FS and set Shaw up for success.

Call upper NW's bluff on overcrowding and cut their PK4 waay back-- only enough to provide inclusion classes for special ed students and the at-risk kids who live IB.

How does that help? All those kids show up at K then. Same problem.

Either make the Metropolitan building in Ledroit Park into a swing space, or carve out a new elementary school zone that will take the kids in the McMillan development. Langley gives up North Bloomingdale to the new school, and picks up the east end of Seaton's zone and all of Edgewood west of 4th St. Adjust Cleveland, Seaton, and Garrison zones to the west so that they're in the middle of their zones rather than on the edges, and have an appropriate zone relative to building size.

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with children who lottery in not being able to follow the feeder path. This children are like "dreamers". They should not have to create a new social group because of a rule change.

If someone wants to argue that is a family moves OOB, they get to stay through the terminal grade, I think that is fine ONLY if they are within the last year of the school (example - family moves in 4th grade - so the student does not need to start a new school at 5th)

Yeah, that's tough. When a kid has a cohort they've been with from PreK, and then has to move when they get to middle school - not an easy time for transition.

SWW@FS and Ross must feed to the new Shaw Middle as originally planned. That would cut down on crowding at SWW@FS and set Shaw up for success.

Call upper NW's bluff on overcrowding and cut their PK4 waay back-- only enough to provide inclusion classes for special ed students and the at-risk kids who live IB.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, and money follows the kid, for real. Pro-rate the school year by the day. No more keeping the money after the kid is gone!

I thought this was only a Charter thing?

The DCPS budget process is more complex, it's not just per-kid funding. But I do think they should get dinged a little if there's a net loss over the year. Most of them don't have a net loss so it's not really an issue.

I disagree with children who lottery in not being able to follow the feeder path. This children are like "dreamers". They should not have to create a new social group because of a rule change.

If someone wants to argue that is a family moves OOB, they get to stay through the terminal grade, I think that is fine ONLY if they are within the last year of the school (example - family moves in 4th grade - so the student does not need to start a new school at 5th)

Anonymous wrote:Oh, and money follows the kid, for real. Pro-rate the school year by the day. No more keeping the money after the kid is gone!

I thought this was only a Charter thing?

Anonymous wrote:Oh, and money follows the kid, for real. Pro-rate the school year by the day. No more keeping the money after the kid is gone!

^^

For both sectors ^^
-NP

Oh, and money follows the kid, for real. Pro-rate the school year by the day. No more keeping the money after the kid is gone!

Big investment in middle school quality and programming other than Deal and Hardy. Open Shaw Middle in the old Banneker building to move it out of Cardozo.

Mandatory at-risk preference in the lottery. At-risk kids go first after siblings until the grade level is 20% at-risk. Charters that refuse to implement this must publicly testify why not, and answer questions.

Make two classifications of at-risk so that we can tell what schools are reaching the truly highest-need students and which are selecting the easier ones. Add juvenile justice involvement to the at-risk definition.

Open an ECE center at that city-owned lot near Garrison, to relieve crowding in the lower grades at Seaton and Garrison. 50% at-risk or special needs preference for all freestanding ECEs.

Better and more centralized residency verification, more enforcement for people who lie about living OOB or in DC at all, and better and more centralized record-keeping about who got in IB and who was OOB to help with the feeder school issue.

With the next boundary/assignment/feeder review only a few years away, I've started keeping a list of things I think should change. There's probably something to piss off everyone here but I do think all of this would be an improvement. Do others want to share what they'll be pushing for?

End rule that you get to stay in DCPS school once you move OOB (unless foster care, homelessness, or other reasons why DCPS is legally obligated to let you stay--and centralize the process of granting those exemptions as much as possible, with less discretion for principals and registrars). Just let kids finish out the school year if they move.

End rule that getting in to an elementary school or middle school OOB gives you the right to continue on to its destination middle/high school. It just gets you through the terminal grade at the school you got into. There could be a destination school preference in the middle and high school lotteries, but I’d rather not.

Money follows the kid--if kid changes school before the end of the year, the new school gets a percentage of the per-pupil funding. Since school year is 10 months long, I’d say 10% for each month they’re at a given school. Round to the nearest month.

All bilingual elementary schools (and bilingual programs at schools like Marie Reed and Tyler that have bilingual tracks) have programmatic feeder into MacFarland and Roosevelt (that’s right, Oyster and Bancroft lose their Deal/Wilson feeds). Oyster becomes a PK3-5 school, with younger grades at Oyster and older grades at Adams. More kids in each grade, and more PK classes.

Lafayette and Shepherd to Wells and Coolidge. For folks who say it won’t fit, there is room at Coolidge. Make an 8th grade academy in the Coolidge building and use Wells for just 6th and 7th if necessary.

Francis-Stevens drops the SWW name, gets its own principal, and becomes a PK3-5 school. Schools that feed there for middle go to Cardozo for middle along with the schools that already feed into Cardozo. Cardozo middle gets its own principal too (ideally someone well-liked from Francis-Stevens who can bring along a lot of the teachers there), along with some enrichment classes and extracurriculars that make more IB and middle class families take a closer look.

CHML becomes PK3-5. This creates more PK spots on Capitol Hill (though open to everyone). DCPS offers Montessori middle school program at Brookland middle (closer to Montessori charters and is centrally located with CHML, Langdon, and Nalle (all of which would have programmatic feeder rights to the BMS program).

Schools that currently use Fillmore take their art classes in-house (with fewer kids after the rules change for moving OOB, there should be some room), or DCPS uses some of the Ellington classrooms if they must bus kids to art. Fillmore becomes an early childhood school like Stevens. Sweeten the pot for families losing Fillmore by giving them a preference for Fillmore spots, right below an at-risk preference.