Anonymous wrote:Another Hyde parent here: The above comment is nuts. EVERYTHING changes. I will go from being able to walk my child to school, watch them play, drop them off in the classroom, talk to the teachers, be a part of a COMMUNITY---to putting a 3 and 5 year old on a bus for an additional hour each day--time that could be spent playing, running, participating in afterschool activites or I dont know, LEARNING. Not only is the swing space NOT in our neighborhood, its not in an adjoining 10 neighborhoods, not in the same ward, might as well be on another planet as far as I'm concerned. For my family, its not happening. And for two years. Two years of total upheaval because DCPS cannot remotely get their act together and find a swing space even kinda sorta close to Georgetown. I'm more sad than anything, because it was a really great school with dedicated teachers and a group of inbound parents who actually started to care about building something great. All for a damn gym.

Then keep your 3 year old at home. Easy.

I can't follow the weird hash tags, but I can not get behind the one that seems to say "yes to swinging at Hardy." There is just too much on the line for Hardy as a developing school on the cusp of being great. I'm sorry. I feel bad for H-A and I think it's pretty ridiculous that DCPS can't secure a better/closer option than Meyer. If something isn't finalized soon there won't be a plan in place for next school year sonH-A might get to sit tight by default

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can the Hyde community ask/demand that the renovation be tabled until a better swing option can be identified?

Again this is not about you and your short-term needs. DCPS is looking out for the welfare of the system for the long-term. Get over yourselves. In a few years, when your kids are older and bussing across town on their own, you'll really how silly you're being.

This presumes that facilities (and, specifically, a gym) are what makes a school. Facilities help certainly, but much more important - particularly for an elementary school - are the level of parental engagement and morale. H-A has these in abundance now, but they will gravely threatened by the swing as it will sever much of the parental engagement that currently exists. Once gone, that school spirit will be much harder to rebuild than any gym or cafeteria.

The edited version.

It's amazing how adept our authorities are at pitting us against each other and thereby distracting us from the grand failure that is their performance. From discussing the proposed swing to Meyer with a number of parents and teachers, the source of frustration seems not to be the decision itself, but rather the DCPS' lack of consultation and transparency. At this point, there has been next to no information provided to the community about the mechanics of the swing other than the fact that it will be Meyer. Yet, just over the past month, we have heard, among other things, that: the Mayor had decided against Meyer as a swing space (then contradicted by the DME); that the DESA renovations are well behind schedule and that there is next to no chance that Meyer will be vacated next year; and that Meyer itself is a derelict facility with collapsing ceilings and floors. Given all of this, only the most optimistic would trust DCPS - headed by a transitional administration - to do anything other than make a complete hash of the swing and endanger our kids learning and probably saferty in the process. A well-planned, well-communicated, well-implemented swing to Meyer wouldn't garner anywhere this level of fuss. But few in the H-A community are putting much faith in DCPS to get it alright on the night at this point and thereby we're probably looking at a mass exodus and the decimation of one of the best elementary schools in DC. That's why the campaign is #dontwingdaswing, not #notohydeatmeyer or #yestohydetohardy or whatever.

Anonymous wrote:It's amazing how adept our authorities are pitting us against our and in the process distracting us from the grand failure that is their performance. From discussing the proposed swing to Meyer with a number of parents and teachers, the source of frustration is not the decision itself, but the lack of consultation and transparency provided by DCPS. At this point, there has next to information provided to the community about the mechanics of the swing other than the fact that it will be Meyer. Yet, just over the past month, we heard, among other things, that: the Mayor had decided against Meyer as a swing space (then contradicted by the DME); that the DESA renovations are well behind schedule and that there is next chance that Meyer will be vacated next year; and that Meyer itself is a derelict facility with collapsing ceilings and floors. Given all of this, why anyone in their right mind would trust DCPS - headed by a transitional administration - to do anything other than make a complete hash of the swing and endanger kids in the process is far beyond many of us. A well-planned swing to Meyer would be one thing, but few in the H-A community are putting much faith in DCPS to get it alright on the night at this point. Hence, we're probably looking at a mass exodus and the decimation of one of the best elementary schools in DC. @dontwingdaswing

Anonymous wrote:Can the Hyde community ask/demand that the renovation be tabled until a better swing option can be identified?

Again this is not about you and your short-term needs. DCPS is looking out for the welfare of the system for the long-term. Get over yourselves. In a few years, when your kids are older and bussing across town on their own, you'll really how silly you're being.

It's amazing how adept our authorities are pitting us against our and in the process distracting us from the grand failure that is their performance. From discussing the proposed swing to Meyer with a number of parents and teachers, the source of frustration is not the decision itself, but the lack of consultation and transparency provided by DCPS. At this point, there has next to information provided to the community about the mechanics of the swing other than the fact that it will be Meyer. Yet, just over the past month, we heard, among other things, that: the Mayor had decided against Meyer as a swing space (then contradicted by the DME); that the DESA renovations are well behind schedule and that there is next chance that Meyer will be vacated next year; and that Meyer itself is a derelict facility with collapsing ceilings and floors. Given all of this, why anyone in their right mind would trust DCPS - headed by a transitional administration - to do anything other than make a complete hash of the swing and endanger kids in the process is far beyond many of us. A well-planned swing to Meyer would be one thing, but few in the H-A community are putting much faith in DCPS to get it alright on the night at this point. Hence, we're probably looking at a mass exodus and the decimation of one of the best elementary schools in DC. @dontwingdaswing

Anonymous wrote:Another Hyde parent here: The above comment is nuts. EVERYTHING changes. I will go from being able to walk my child to school, watch them play, drop them off in the classroom, talk to the teachers, be a part of a COMMUNITY---to putting a 3 and 5 year old on a bus for an additional hour each day--time that could be spent playing, running, participating in afterschool activites or I dont know, LEARNING. Not only is the swing space NOT in our neighborhood, its not in an adjoining 10 neighborhoods, not in the same ward, might as well be on another planet as far as I'm concerned. For my family, its not happening. And for two years. Two years of total upheaval because DCPS cannot remotely get their act together and find a swing space even kinda sorta close to Georgetown. I'm more sad than anything, because it was a really great school with dedicated teachers and a group of inbound parents who actually started to care about building something great. All for a damn gym.

This is DCPS, not Sidwell. if you want a major renovation/upgrade, you will have to live with some inconvenience for a few years. Parents at other public schools have done it and their kids were fine -- what are 2 years out of a possible 7 in one community? If you jump ship and decide to pay upwards of $30k for private, and don't want the British School or Holy Trinity, your kids also will have to face a commute. Get caught on the wrong end of the (paid) bus route and your child also spends at least half an hour commuting each way. By the way, H-A is and WILL STAY a great school with dedicated teachers and a group of parents -- all parents, not just IB -- who care about building something great! If you are so unhappy with the prospect of inconvenience because of a gym and cafeteria, that you all lobbied so hard for, you and other like-minded H-A parents lobby hard to nix the project and stay as you are.

Can the Hyde community ask/demand that the renovation be tabled until a better swing option can be identified?

Another Hyde parent here: The above comment is nuts. EVERYTHING changes. I will go from being able to walk my child to school, watch them play, drop them off in the classroom, talk to the teachers, be a part of a COMMUNITY---to putting a 3 and 5 year old on a bus for an additional hour each day--time that could be spent playing, running, participating in afterschool activites or I dont know, LEARNING. Not only is the swing space NOT in our neighborhood, its not in an adjoining 10 neighborhoods, not in the same ward, might as well be on another planet as far as I'm concerned. For my family, its not happening. And for two years. Two years of total upheaval because DCPS cannot remotely get their act together and find a swing space even kinda sorta close to Georgetown. I'm more sad than anything, because it was a really great school with dedicated teachers and a group of inbound parents who actually started to care about building something great. All for a damn gym.

It is truly amazing to me that people would leave a school they apparently like simply because of a temporary move. The community stays the same, the teachers are the same, the administrators are the same. Do parents realize this isn't about them?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Next time anyone is tempted to say that the private school board is spiteful and nasty, just take a look at this thread. No one in their right mind would want to touch either Hyde or Hardy with a 10-foot pole after reading this discussion.

--parent whose children are IB for Hardy

As another parent IB for Hardy - I'm fairly certain these are just a few parents still hashing out bad feelings over a difficult situation. But now, the decision has been made and it's time to move on. We're excited for the future of Hardy & hope others are too!

All this makes me happy to consider Hyde and other Hardy feeders as an OOB family--looks like the swing space will be closer to our house, and it's nice to see so many involved parents. Plus, if it dissuades other people from sending their kids there (either IB or OOB) our chances of getting in will be higher!

But I am also happy that Hardy has uniforms, so you can all discount my opinion now

Expected to start next school year for 2 years - 2017-18 and 2018-19.

What's the current schedule for when the renovations are set to start and when the school will begin to use the swing space in Shaw?

Anonymous wrote:Next time anyone is tempted to say that the private school board is spiteful and nasty, just take a look at this thread. No one in their right mind would want to touch either Hyde or Hardy with a 10-foot pole after reading this discussion.

--parent whose children are IB for Hardy

As another parent IB for Hardy - I'm fairly certain these are just a few parents still hashing out bad feelings over a difficult situation. But now, the decision has been made and it's time to move on. We're excited for the future of Hardy & hope others are too!

Anonymous wrote:"They decided not to go that way because: 1) the thought the back door was an easier, "hit and run" way; 2) these Hyde parents are not looking at Hardy as their middle school option (i.e. most likely switching to private schools after ES), so harming Hardy was not affecting them."

You are ascribing far, far more intent than is appropriate. Everything was being done as hoc and only because it was clear that DGS was not doing what it should have in evaluating the sites. I understand you feel slighted that it didn't occur to Hyde parents to call you up personally and plead. We wish we had! It just never occurred to us. There was never, ever any moment where we were sitting around and thought "Well the Hardy PTO won't like it, so we better go around them." All we wanted to do was to get everyone around the same table and talk it out. DGS never facilitated that and our improvised efforts obviously failed.

You clearly have a strong contempt for us. I'm sorry you've decided to assume the worst about us. I sure hope the next time you find yourself dealing with a difficult decision from DCPS those that you reach out to don't immediately think the worst of you.

You really should just step away from this thread. You are not helping yourself at all. You just keep coming back calling people dicks and playing a victim. The truth of the matter is that Hyde-Addison has a perfectly fine swing space plan in place now, which also has the added benefit of ensuring that Duke Ellington opens on time because the high schoolers have to vacate Meyer. Now if the H-A community wants to start a "if Meyer then no reno" argument, have at it. Not sure DCPS will listen though. They have lots of time and money tied up in the process at this point. Good news for Gtown and Burlieth (and possibly Hardy) is that when the school is finished and beautiful the IB numbers will likely increase (because some currently zoned for Stoddert will be zoned for H-A ala the boundary process a couple years back and more IB always seem to show up when a school is shiny and new). I'll be curious to see how many of H-A's 50 or so 5th graders enroll for Hardy next year.