Suburbaphobia (been there, done that, HATED IT) plus don't earn enough to live in a big enough space in JKLMM. We could have stayed in a one BR condo where we were but when #2 came along it was time for more room. We calculated (correctly) that Petworth would be a good investment and bought a house there about 4 years ago. Schools east of the park do not offer PS-3. Our house has appreciated about $200K since 2008. Our DCPS is a (now discovered) gem. So don't weep for us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not the charters that will destroy DCPS when DCPS did the job themselves. Lets face it if there were no charters, many of the higher SES families EOP would either be moving to MoCo or Fairfax or sending their kids to private school.

We bought our rowhouse EOP without regard to public schools b/c we did not consider DCPS even a remote possibility past preK. If it wasn't for our charter, we would have moved or sent DC to private school.

This.

I also agree. We live EotP and our children attend private schools. We have moved to MoCo. I love DC and am glad there are many options.

Should read: We would have moved to MoCo.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not the charters that will destroy DCPS when DCPS did the job themselves. Lets face it if there were no charters, many of the higher SES families EOP would either be moving to MoCo or Fairfax or sending their kids to private school.

We bought our rowhouse EOP without regard to public schools b/c we did not consider DCPS even a remote possibility past preK. If it wasn't for our charter, we would have moved or sent DC to private school.

This.

I also agree. We live EotP and our children attend private schools. We have moved to MoCo. I love DC and am glad there are many options.

Anonymous wrote:I don't live in Bloomingdale, but i could see this,. I'm a huge fan of neighborhood schools, but an even bigger fan of neighborhood parks. If Bloomingdale didn't have a park and the neighborhood school was underenrolled-- espeically if the school was populated with OOB kids whose parents drove them in to the school, increasing traffic in Bloomingdale-- I could see it as "not such much losing a school as gaining a park".

This is pretty much how it was sold.

Gage-Eckington is the school that closed. Checkout this map and note that the current "Park at LeDroit" was the site of an elementary school that served Bloomingdale: http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/Files/downloads/SCHOOLS/Boundary%20Maps%20-%202009/DCPS-Attendance-Zones-Elementary-Grades-September-2009.pdf. Langley isn't even on that map & the map is from 2009, so probably you are right that those kids are now zoned for Langley.

And yes, that ANC commissioner was no doubt looking at the 100 block of N St (I think that's where JF Cooke is) nearby at the former school buildings there that have been boarded up forever. I have no idea if that ANC Commissioner is still around, but she considered it a triumph. And it is a great park, with a fabulous community garden. But it's not a community school.

Anonymous wrote:It's not the charters that will destroy DCPS when DCPS did the job themselves. Lets face it if there were no charters, many of the higher SES families EOP would either be moving to MoCo or Fairfax or sending their kids to private school.

We bought our rowhouse EOP without regard to public schools b/c we did not consider DCPS even a remote possibility past preK. If it wasn't for our charter, we would have moved or sent DC to private school.

This.

I agree. So much better to have a park than a boarded up building not used for anything... And boarded up former school buildings we have plenty of in Ward 5. More charters, parks, sports fields, etc. Please.

I don't live in Bloomingdale, but i could see this,. I'm a huge fan of neighborhood schools, but an even bigger fan of neighborhood parks. If Bloomingdale didn't have a park and the neighborhood school was underenrolled-- espeically if the school was populated with OOB kids whose parents drove them in to the school, increasing traffic in Bloomingdale-- I could see it as "not such much losing a school as gaining a park".