What’s the latest?

"The proposal is not final. DCPS is holding two public meetings about the topic, including one on Dec. 9 at 6 p.m. at the school. DCPS intends to make a definitive decision no later than mid-January. And Bowser still needs to approve the recommendations of DCPS."

https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/city-desk/article/21105060/washington-metropolitan-high-consistently-underperformed-and-is-up-for-closure-but-students-value-their-school

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they do use it for SWS swing space, it feels a little tacky. They basically closed a low-income kids' school so that they could use the building to give high-income kids a fancy new renovation.

nice try, but Prospect was SPED model DCPS has phased out and it was underutilized at that (80 kids enrolled). It was named Prospect because it relocated from a site on Prospect St. in Georgetown to the Goding building. The building is in terrible shape and has been for years, including the 6 years SWS has been located there.

It was closed before SWS was even in consideration. That's a fantasy that DCPS closed it to give it to SWS

I think PP meant closing Washington Metropolitan aligns closely with SWS's need for swing space.

Anonymous wrote:If they do use it for SWS swing space, it feels a little tacky. They basically closed a low-income kids' school so that they could use the building to give high-income kids a fancy new renovation.

nice try, but Prospect was SPED model DCPS has phased out and it was underutilized at that (80 kids enrolled). It was named Prospect because it relocated from a site on Prospect St. in Georgetown to the Goding building. The building is in terrible shape and has been for years, including the 6 years SWS has been located there.

It was closed before SWS was even in consideration. That's a fantasy that DCPS closed it to give it to SWS

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in the neighborhood and would really like to know what's coming. Banneker Little League has been using the field and it's been great having kids around. My one request is just a tiny bit of transparency from DCPS about their plans ...

If they do put in a 500-kid school there, traffic's going to be a mess. So people want to know.

Yes, that's hard to imagine. Traffic is already really bad with commuters, which is a hazard to pedestrians and cyclists, apart from being difficult to drive. But, I'd love to see the area fully utilized and come to life, even if there are some downsides. I love having Wash Met and am sorry to see it go and am sorry attendance has notably dropped.

If it's used as a swing space, they will bus the kids from their original school location. So, traffic shouldn't be too bad. Of course, some parents will drive their kids in (those who are already commuting from different parts of the city, parents with younger children, etc).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in the neighborhood and would really like to know what's coming. Banneker Little League has been using the field and it's been great having kids around. My one request is just a tiny bit of transparency from DCPS about their plans ...

If they do put in a 500-kid school there, traffic's going to be a mess. So people want to know.

Yes, that's hard to imagine. Traffic is already really bad with commuters, which is a hazard to pedestrians and cyclists, apart from being difficult to drive. But, I'd love to see the area fully utilized and come to life, even if there are some downsides. I love having Wash Met and am sorry to see it go and am sorry attendance has notably dropped.

I am kind of proud that DCPS is saying that something isn’t working as well as it should. That takes guts.

Anonymous wrote:I live in the neighborhood and would really like to know what's coming. Banneker Little League has been using the field and it's been great having kids around. My one request is just a tiny bit of transparency from DCPS about their plans ...

If they do put in a 500-kid school there, traffic's going to be a mess. So people want to know.

I live in the neighborhood and would really like to know what's coming. Banneker Little League has been using the field and it's been great having kids around. My one request is just a tiny bit of transparency from DCPS about their plans ...

Anonymous wrote:^^ Every one of my long-time neighbors (EOTP Ward 4/Coolidge HS) sent their kids WOTP for MS and HS.

They HATE the lottery (it affects their grandkids) because they say it was easy to enroll OOB in Hardy, Deal and Wilson pre- Common Lottery. SWW and Banneker were popular destinations too, but SWW was a very different kind of school then (appealed to kids who didn't like regular school, pursued opportunities across the city and many graduated and went on to work, not college).

Yeah, there are just more kids in the system. You could still get into the Wilson academies OOB until around 2010. Now it’s full of IB students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It looks like it was located in Northeast, while most were having to commute in EOTR. If they're having attendance issues, it doesn't make sense to travel that far. Still, you're right. Hopefully the students find a more appropriate placement.

It is in Bloomingdale just south of the McMillen sand filtration site, and Children's and WHC. Not very good transit access either.

I wonder what happens to the building... Swing space for renovations maybe?

Yeah maybe. Bunker Hill and Seaton are pretty high on the renovation list. I dunno where JO Wilson and SWS are swinging to.

Great to hear if both these schools are on the top of the list. They are good schools but because they are smaller they get push off to the side a LOT. That being said I would kind of wonder if they would put trailers up for Bunker Hill. They are right off a bus line and only a few blocks from a couple other bus line that run to Brookland & Ft. Totten, of course as a elementary they have lots of families that walk together with older kids walking on to Brookland after dropping (and picking up) siblings. There are a lot of car riders/drop off/pick as well. But moving all the way over to Bloomingdale would certainly make it unworkable for those walking & on those bus lines.
No clue how seaton it laid out or what the change would look like for their school.

I do really hope both the schools get the updates they need either way.

I also hope the building stays in DCPS hands for a while at least for such things. Bloomdale & Brookland certainly don't need more charter / "School Chance". We need focus on improving the DCPS and charters (once they add a neighborhood preference) already in place. And those families that felt the need to ship their kids across town at hopes of a better school should also be getting improved local walk-able options.
But then I am one that hears long time DC residents talk about how neighborhood schools were better before the lottery. So, I do wonder if DCPS has missed the mark and lost a lot of investment in community with this lottery/ship them all over town "solution" that has solved nothing. Other than breaking up communities and draging down all dcsp schools... at least according to all the long time neighbors & multi-generation neighbors around me.

Perhaps if they are over 70 and mean before desegregation. I’m in my 50s and that’s not true at all from my perspective. 20-plus years ago getting a child out of dcps and into a charter or into an out of boundary spot was a blessing.

Anonymous wrote:^^ Every one of my long-time neighbors (EOTP Ward 4/Coolidge HS) sent their kids WOTP for MS and HS.

They HATE the lottery (it affects their grandkids) because they say it was easy to enroll OOB in Hardy, Deal and Wilson pre- Common Lottery. SWW and Banneker were popular destinations too, but SWW was a very different kind of school then (appealed to kids who didn't like regular school, pursued opportunities across the city and many graduated and went on to work, not college).

It was easier to get into those schools pre-common lottery because DC had fewer kids attending public school. The lottery isn't what made it harder. The lottery made it more equal, in that non-selective schools no longer require people to camp out (see Oyster) or write essays (Jefferson Middle) but the fact that there were 10,000 more kids under 5 in DC in 2016 than in 2010, and more rich people are trying their IB schools, does make it harder to get an OOB spot.

^^ Every one of my long-time neighbors (EOTP Ward 4/Coolidge HS) sent their kids WOTP for MS and HS.

They HATE the lottery (it affects their grandkids) because they say it was easy to enroll OOB in Hardy, Deal and Wilson pre- Common Lottery. SWW and Banneker were popular destinations too, but SWW was a very different kind of school then (appealed to kids who didn't like regular school, pursued opportunities across the city and many graduated and went on to work, not college).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was chronically under performing, I’m glad they noticed/cared and are doing something. But yes what happens next matters.

Chronically underperforming compared to what? Traditional middle/high schools? Other alternative schools?

Other alternative schools. And also, the students mostly had extremely long commutes.

They perform the same or better than the other DCPS alternative schools on PARCC. Most of the alternative schools don't have STAR scores but the ones that do are all 1 star. Under-enrollment seems to be a bigger driver for closing the school rather than chronic underperformance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It looks like it was located in Northeast, while most were having to commute in EOTR. If they're having attendance issues, it doesn't make sense to travel that far. Still, you're right. Hopefully the students find a more appropriate placement.

It is in Bloomingdale just south of the McMillen sand filtration site, and Children's and WHC. Not very good transit access either.

I wonder what happens to the building... Swing space for renovations maybe?

Yeah maybe. Bunker Hill and Seaton are pretty high on the renovation list. I dunno where JO Wilson and SWS are swinging to.

Great to hear if both these schools are on the top of the list. They are good schools but because they are smaller they get push off to the side a LOT. That being said I would kind of wonder if they would put trailers up for Bunker Hill. They are right off a bus line and only a few blocks from a couple other bus line that run to Brookland & Ft. Totten, of course as a elementary they have lots of families that walk together with older kids walking on to Brookland after dropping (and picking up) siblings. There are a lot of car riders/drop off/pick as well. But moving all the way over to Bloomingdale would certainly make it unworkable for those walking & on those bus lines.
No clue how seaton it laid out or what the change would look like for their school.

I do really hope both the schools get the updates they need either way.

I also hope the building stays in DCPS hands for a while at least for such things. Bloomdale & Brookland certainly don't need more charter / "School Chance". We need focus on improving the DCPS and charters (once they add a neighborhood preference) already in place. And those families that felt the need to ship their kids across town at hopes of a better school should also be getting improved local walk-able options.
But then I am one that hears long time DC residents talk about how neighborhood schools were better before the lottery. So, I do wonder if DCPS has missed the mark and lost a lot of investment in community with this lottery/ship them all over town "solution" that has solved nothing. Other than breaking up communities and draging down all dcsp schools... at least according to all the long time neighbors & multi-generation neighbors around me.