Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Long-term, isn't there supposed to be a new Shaw MS anyway???

What would be your justification for adding a new middle school when Cardozo is under-enrolled? The enrollment capacity is 1070, and there are plus/minus 780 kids. If you want to lobby DC to open Shaw MS, you'll have to have a reason for them to do so.

There isn't an enrollment justification right now. The justification would be that it's a chance to go back to the drawing board and create a middle school that is appealing to high-income parents. If that happened, the feeder schools would attract more students, and then the enrollment would grow to fill the school.

Not going to happen. Not with other schools that are slated for modernization and with Cardozo sitting half empty. Why would DC plunk down millions to renovate Shaw MS (and skip over other priority renovations) on the chance that it may attract some families? And if you believe that DCPS cares about appealing to high-income parents, I have news for you, they don't.

Agree with this, although I've never really understood why they bothered to propose it, then.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Long-term, isn't there supposed to be a new Shaw MS anyway???

What would be your justification for adding a new middle school when Cardozo is under-enrolled? The enrollment capacity is 1070, and there are plus/minus 780 kids. If you want to lobby DC to open Shaw MS, you'll have to have a reason for them to do so.

There isn't an enrollment justification right now. The justification would be that it's a chance to go back to the drawing board and create a middle school that is appealing to high-income parents. If that happened, the feeder schools would attract more students, and then the enrollment would grow to fill the school.

Not going to happen. Not with other schools that are slated for modernization and with Cardozo sitting half empty. Why would DC plunk down millions to renovate Shaw MS (and skip over other priority renovations) on the chance that it may attract some families? And if you believe that DCPS cares about appealing to high-income parents, I have news for you, they don't.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Long-term, isn't there supposed to be a new Shaw MS anyway???

What would be your justification for adding a new middle school when Cardozo is under-enrolled? The enrollment capacity is 1070, and there are plus/minus 780 kids. If you want to lobby DC to open Shaw MS, you'll have to have a reason for them to do so.

There isn't an enrollment justification right now. The justification would be that it's a chance to go back to the drawing board and create a middle school that is appealing to high-income parents. If that happened, the feeder schools would attract more students, and then the enrollment would grow to fill the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Long-term, isn't there supposed to be a new Shaw MS anyway???

What would be your justification for adding a new middle school when Cardozo is under-enrolled? The enrollment capacity is 1070, and there are plus/minus 780 kids. If you want to lobby DC to open Shaw MS, you'll have to have a reason for them to do so.

Anonymous wrote:Long-term, isn't there supposed to be a new Shaw MS anyway???

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Long-term, isn't there supposed to be a new Shaw MS anyway???

Yeah, don't hold your breath on that one.

Anonymous wrote:Long-term, isn't there supposed to be a new Shaw MS anyway???

Anonymous wrote:"the kids at cardozo" are just the kids from the feeder schools plus OOB kids who fill up the empty seats. By adding more feeder schools (and letting Francis-Stevens have more elementary school students by freeing up the middle school space) there will be more prepared students entering middle, and then high, school at Cardozo.

high school is a nonsequitur as all these schools have Cardozo as their IB HS. MS is the only issue here. It would just be taking the current F-S MS kids and moving them with the kids from Seaton, Garrison, and Cleveland. Which is why it's an idea that Seaton families should be pushing for.

Anonymous wrote:"the kids at cardozo" are just the kids from the feeder schools plus OOB kids who fill up the empty seats. By adding more feeder schools (and letting Francis-Stevens have more elementary school students by freeing up the middle school space) there will be more prepared students entering middle, and then high, school at Cardozo.

high school is a nonsequitur as all these schools have Cardozo as their IB HS. MS is the only issue here. It would just be taking the current F-S MS kids and moving them with the kids from Seaton, Garrison, and Cleveland. Which is why it's an idea that Seaton families should be pushing for.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We plan on staying at Seaton for the long haul. But we are definitely Unclear about what we will do for Middle School. We will cross that bridge when we get there.

Is there any effort to improve the middle school? Cardozo, right?

Your best bet would be to try and get Francis-Stevens to stop doing middle school and have their feeders also go to Cardozo. Then Seaton, Garrison, Ross, Cleveland (students who don't choose the dual-language feed to MacFarland), Thomson, and F-S would all go to Cardozo--that's a big enough cohort to allow for differentiation, electives, and extracurriculars (especially with the fact that removing middle school from F-S would allow for the elementary school to offer more classrooms there). It would also create a good synergy where more kids would go on to HS at Cardozo, so they could offer more courses (including APs and interesting electives) and kids who were really advanced in middle school could even bump up to high school classes. If a kid is ready for calculus in 8th grade, having it offered in a different wing of the same building is a big advantage.

I don't think Francis-Stevens would be willing to do that. Why would they trade in what they have for the suckage that is Cardozo?

Playing with feeder patterns will not solve the fundamental underlying problem that the kids' performance is terrible. Way too many kids are way below grade level, and until DCPS puts some real money into addressing that, nothing will change. Nobody wants to be one of a few smart kids at a failing school.

Francis-Stevens doesn't get to pick. The mayor does. And they could still have all the same students and teachers as they do now, with the addition of Seaton, Garrison, and Cleveland. These schools are performing well, and having a bigger middle school allows for more opportunities for students. Look at how many languages, clubs, sports, and such Deal can offer.

I suspect you will have a lot of resistance from parents at Thomson, SWW-FS, and Ross, all of which are strong schools. Why make them give up on a better option (SWW-FS) for Cardozo, which is occupied by mostly OOB students? If all the students from the feeder schools went to Cardozo and little to no OOB students enrolled, maybe families would consider it as a MS option. That won't happen when families keep lotterying out of the feeder schools and Cardozo is chronically underenrolled and with plenty of OOB kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We plan on staying at Seaton for the long haul. But we are definitely Unclear about what we will do for Middle School. We will cross that bridge when we get there.

Is there any effort to improve the middle school? Cardozo, right?

Your best bet would be to try and get Francis-Stevens to stop doing middle school and have their feeders also go to Cardozo. Then Seaton, Garrison, Ross, Cleveland (students who don't choose the dual-language feed to MacFarland), Thomson, and F-S would all go to Cardozo--that's a big enough cohort to allow for differentiation, electives, and extracurriculars (especially with the fact that removing middle school from F-S would allow for the elementary school to offer more classrooms there). It would also create a good synergy where more kids would go on to HS at Cardozo, so they could offer more courses (including APs and interesting electives) and kids who were really advanced in middle school could even bump up to high school classes. If a kid is ready for calculus in 8th grade, having it offered in a different wing of the same building is a big advantage.

I don't think Francis-Stevens would be willing to do that. Why would they trade in what they have for the suckage that is Cardozo?

Playing with feeder patterns will not solve the fundamental underlying problem that the kids' performance is terrible. Way too many kids are way below grade level, and until DCPS puts some real money into addressing that, nothing will change. Nobody wants to be one of a few smart kids at a failing school.

Francis-Stevens doesn't get to pick. The mayor does. And they could still have all the same students and teachers as they do now, with the addition of Seaton, Garrison, and Cleveland. These schools are performing well, and having a bigger middle school allows for more opportunities for students. Look at how many languages, clubs, sports, and such Deal can offer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We plan on staying at Seaton for the long haul. But we are definitely Unclear about what we will do for Middle School. We will cross that bridge when we get there.

Is there any effort to improve the middle school? Cardozo, right?

Your best bet would be to try and get Francis-Stevens to stop doing middle school and have their feeders also go to Cardozo. Then Seaton, Garrison, Ross, Cleveland (students who don't choose the dual-language feed to MacFarland), Thomson, and F-S would all go to Cardozo--that's a big enough cohort to allow for differentiation, electives, and extracurriculars (especially with the fact that removing middle school from F-S would allow for the elementary school to offer more classrooms there). It would also create a good synergy where more kids would go on to HS at Cardozo, so they could offer more courses (including APs and interesting electives) and kids who were really advanced in middle school could even bump up to high school classes. If a kid is ready for calculus in 8th grade, having it offered in a different wing of the same building is a big advantage.

I don't think Francis-Stevens would be willing to do that. Why would they trade in what they have for the suckage that is Cardozo?

Playing with feeder patterns will not solve the fundamental underlying problem that the kids' performance is terrible. Way too many kids are way below grade level, and until DCPS puts some real money into addressing that, nothing will change. Nobody wants to be one of a few smart kids at a failing school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We plan on staying at Seaton for the long haul. But we are definitely Unclear about what we will do for Middle School. We will cross that bridge when we get there.

Is there any effort to improve the middle school? Cardozo, right?

Your best bet would be to try and get Francis-Stevens to stop doing middle school and have their feeders also go to Cardozo. Then Seaton, Garrison, Ross, Cleveland (students who don't choose the dual-language feed to MacFarland), Thomson, and F-S would all go to Cardozo--that's a big enough cohort to allow for differentiation, electives, and extracurriculars (especially with the fact that removing middle school from F-S would allow for the elementary school to offer more classrooms there). It would also create a good synergy where more kids would go on to HS at Cardozo, so they could offer more courses (including APs and interesting electives) and kids who were really advanced in middle school could even bump up to high school classes. If a kid is ready for calculus in 8th grade, having it offered in a different wing of the same building is a big advantage.