I decided to write more about this issue. My thoughts are here:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/weblog/2011/08/10/ward3school

I think building quality middle schools in other wards is obivously a lot easier said than done. Our house in Mt Pleasant used to be zoned for Deal, and has since been changed to feed into Lincoln. Lincoln is part of a brand-new beautiful educational campus and is a shorter commute than Deal -- but I don't think any one of my neighbors would seriously consider sending their kids there. If so many OOB parents continue to try to get their kids into Deal and Hardy, why not open another middle school in Ward 3 to help in-bound and OOB families alike?

Anonymous wrote:The old Hardy on Foxhall is now The Lab School. Palisades has a middle school already. They opt not to use it after having Pope removed and now want their own middle school. Fuck them.

Right. It's fun to look at the people who pay most of the taxes in this city and keep this bloated government running "fuck you". And that's why people pack up and move to the burbs. If you were here in the 1990s you would be begging for people to move into the Palisades, anything to help the tax base.

A better way to lesson OOB pressure in W3 schools is to create quality schools in other wards.

I mean I agree with this statement above, NOT 13:02 . Pretty mean-spirited.

I agree with your last statement. But Deal and Hardy both seem like hikes for Palisades kids. And an arts magnet middle school would be a nice pairing for Duke Ellington. Hardy is GORGEOUS, and had Fillmore upstairs for years (hence the arts association). I could actually see this plan standing on its own merits. I assume this Georgetown/Palisades Middle School would be kind of small though-- a lot of those geographical families tend to opt private regardless.

The old Hardy on Foxhall is now The Lab School. Palisades has a middle school already. They opt not to use it after having Pope removed and now want their own middle school. Fuck them.

Anonymous wrote:
OR stop accepting OOB. Which would be really unfair to kids who have come up OOB through feeder schools. So, yes, another Ward 3 Middle School. Why not? I'm not sure who it would serve though. Please explain which geographic part of Ward 3 would 'feed' to this school. And then who woudl go to Hardy?

The article in the first post of this thread says that the school would be geared toward serving Palisades. The original Hardy was in Palisades and today is a community center and a charter school. Cheh's proposal is for a combination school/community center, so I assume she wants to revert to the old Hardy. Presumably, Georgetown and Palisades kids would go to the new school and Hardy would become an arts magnet school.

There are a considerable number of problems with this idea and I am really surprised that Cheh was foolish enough to propose it. However, I believe it shows the political power of the parents who successfully convinced Rhee to remove Pope from Hardy. They want "their" school and that's all there is to it.

I think it is very dangerous to turn schools into political spoils. I assume the other ward CMs will oppose the idea on purely political grounds. Of course, horse trading can then ensue and future school locations will be divided up based on the political influence of the various CMs. That sounds like a recipe for disaster.

A better way to lesson OOB pressure in W3 schools is to create quality schools in other wards.

We need another middle-school to create diversity? This is becoming more and more of a black and white issue. You don't need another middle-school. Let's call a spade a spade, we need an application only middle school.

maybe it's so more ward three kids could stay in public school and not have to travel far and then kids from other wards could go other there to breathe the fresh ward three air that's wafting through the schools there.

[yes - sarcasm]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't it that Deal is bursting at the seams with in-boundary kids? or at least feeder OOB kids? They took no kids off the waitlist last year, I don't think. So I can see where Cheh is thinking that another middle school is needed.

Is it fair? probably not, but it's not illogical.

OR stop accepting OOB. Which would be really unfair to kids who have come up OOB through feeder schools. So, yes, another Ward 3 Middle School. Why not? I'm not sure who it would serve though. Please explain which geographic part of Ward 3 would 'feed' to this school. And then who woudl go to Hardy?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the parents of the kids in W 5 keep electing people like Thomas then no amount of new schools would help out their offspring due to the genetics they would have inherited. I can't stand Cheh but she makes a good point.

What a jackass remark. You deserve to be run over by a bus in front of your litter for that one.

Not in front of her litter. She needs to be run over with her litter so that her genetics end right there up under the bus.

We get the politics we deserve. If people keep electing Marion Barrys and Harry Thomas' they deserve the shitty services they receive. It may sound mean to say it but you can't save everyone. Stupid people will always do stupid things.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the parents of the kids in W 5 keep electing people like Thomas then no amount of new schools would help out their offspring due to the genetics they would have inherited. I can't stand Cheh but she makes a good point.

What a jackass remark. You deserve to be run over by a bus in front of your litter for that one.

Not in front of her litter. She needs to be run over with her litter so that her genetics end right there up under the bus.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the parents of the kids in W 5 keep electing people like Thomas then no amount of new schools would help out their offspring due to the genetics they would have inherited. I can't stand Cheh but she makes a good point.

What a jackass remark. You deserve to be run over by a bus in front of your litter for that one.

Agree. Please back up and run over again. Consider it a double tap