Anonymous
Post 03/08/2014 19:21     Subject: School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens

Anonymous wrote:The bottom line with the merger is no one really knows what the future will be like for the HS.


I agree. I will say though it certainly feels like the high school is / will be sacrificed. It just makes no sense to mess with a high school that is working, especially without a plan (or at least a plan that anyone is willing to make public).
Anonymous
Post 03/08/2014 17:29     Subject: School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens

The bottom line with the merger is no one really knows what the future will be like for the HS.
Anonymous
Post 03/08/2014 16:01     Subject: School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens

For SWW to remain a true magnet, it must have an independent admissions process.
Anonymous
Post 03/08/2014 15:00     Subject: School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens

The rest of us will be happy to take your places at SWW when you leave.
Anonymous
Post 03/08/2014 02:33     Subject: School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens

The whole F-S/Walls merger was a disaster. I VERY rarely advocate closing a school, but FS was under capacity for decades and just not producing, and dragging Walls down with it is not the answer.

In 5 years, I doubt there will be a FS or a Walls. I think DCPS will promise FS 8th graders a place in walls in the next year or two, and that will be the end of it. People will leave Walls in droves and the school (both FS and walls) will fall part.
Anonymous
Post 03/07/2014 17:15     Subject: School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens

Anonymous wrote:I call bs. Fs was set to be closed and the merger was to give fs some cache. Great minds at dcps want to ruin the us to partly save a crappy elementary school


+1
Anonymous
Post 03/06/2014 22:39     Subject: School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens

I call bs. Fs was set to be closed and the merger was to give fs some cache. Great minds at dcps want to ruin the us to partly save a crappy elementary school
Anonymous
Post 03/06/2014 22:30     Subject: Re:School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens

Anonymous wrote:I find it sad that the OP said, "I don't know that I am comfortable having my younger kids in the same school with HS kids even if they are smart."

Really? With all of the angst the high school is going through? FS wanted the merger with Walls, now people are not comfortable with Walls high school students being around their kids? Do FS parents think high school students want to be in the same building as pre-schoolers and elementary school kids?


HA! FS wanted the merger with Walls? FS was told the merger was happening the morning it became public knowledge. Let's stick to speaking for ourselves here.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2014 14:31     Subject: Re:School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens

Anonymous wrote:I find it sad that the OP said, "I don't know that I am comfortable having my younger kids in the same school with HS kids even if they are smart."

Really? With all of the angst the high school is going through? FS wanted the merger with Walls, now people are not comfortable with Walls high school students being around their kids? Do FS parents think high school students want to be in the same building as pre-schoolers and elementary school kids?


+1. The only people who want HS kids in the building are DCPS and the principal. This despite the fact that the JOINT task force could not find a way to put HS kids at FS without a negative impact on the students. See... It's not about the kids at all. They are being treated like a piece of real estate.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2014 13:51     Subject: School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens

I never really got why combining Walls with F-S would have been a good idea in the first place. At the time, I read about the initial idea here -- and then could find mostly nothing in the news or online about what was going on. There were in-person "meeting" about the idea, and that was about it. And THEN, the names of the schools merged, and I could find nothing describing exactly what the plan was. And now, over a year later I guess, no one seems to know anything about what the plan is for the future.

I remember Walls used to have a strong reputation for being a really good school, and now the uncertainty has parents expressing less confidence about the future of Walls. Honestly, the whole process looks from the outside like a gigantic clusterf*ck and we don't even have a name or a face to pin the "dunce" cap on.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2014 13:04     Subject: Re:School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens

I find it sad that the OP said, "I don't know that I am comfortable having my younger kids in the same school with HS kids even if they are smart."

Really? With all of the angst the high school is going through? FS wanted the merger with Walls, now people are not comfortable with Walls high school students being around their kids? Do FS parents think high school students want to be in the same building as pre-schoolers and elementary school kids?
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2014 11:46     Subject: School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens

It's not conflict between the two. It's the HS having concerns abut its future. There was a joint task force between the 2 schools that had many recommendations: no HS students take classes at FS ever, separate principals, separate budgets. DCPS agreed to not send students there for the upcoming year but won't make it a permanent decision. The entire HS community- faculty, students and parents do not want a split campus. DCPS is doing nothing about shared leadership. The high school has close to 600 students and needs someone full time advocating for the best interests of the HS. DCPS agreed to separate budgets but it now appears they are reneging on that. The principal is in conflict with the HS because he is advocating against all the recommendations and DCPS does not seem to care about the mergers effects on the HS- short term or long term. That's the conflict and it's not going away.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2014 11:27     Subject: Re:School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens

Is there still conflict over the merger between SWWHS and FS? What is the interaction between the 2 schools?
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2014 21:18     Subject: Re:School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens

Anonymous wrote:Francis stevens should have been closed. Just dumb to keep it open and even more dumb to associate it with Walls


Why would the City close F-S when it's an excellent piece of public real estate, in a great location for a school, and it so happens it's a school? The place just needs more direction than it is getting, IMO.
Anonymous
Post 02/28/2014 23:47     Subject: Re:School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens

Francis stevens should have been closed. Just dumb to keep it open and even more dumb to associate it with Walls