Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think having a third middle school would just make overcrowding worse at Wilson is a terrible idea. Second high school is what WOTP needs.

My high school focus group -- size one student -- said that it would feel like another year of middle school and what ninth graders want more than anything is to be done with middle school.

A generation ago, middle school (junior high) was 7-9th grades.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only in DC would there be a one-year ninth grade school. That would be pretty ridiculous.

I went to a 9th grade school in the 80s. It was an old elementary school that was dedicated to the 9th grade. 10-12 main campus.

This is what I did. Alexandria VA used to have (maybe still has) a 9th grade school, plus a separate school for 10-12. It was great. And it didn't feel like another year of middle school.

You got to transition to high school without the pressure. You could do sports/theater/arts/etc with the high school (it helped that the schools were just about three blocks away) so by the time you started 10th grade you were on much more comfortable footing. Honestly it still strikes me as odd that more school districts don't employ this.

Whatever the decision is, DCPS has already made up its mind and we will be informed after the kabuki theater is done. The parent/community meetings are simply performative (which is humorous in itself to observe, once you understand). Their paramount concern has always been access of OOB to Ward 3 schools, so the fun part is speculating how they intend to accomplish that goal while building two new schools in such a small patch of neighborhood with one main access road (Reservoir) which is always backed up due to hospital traffic.

Anonymous wrote:Only in DC would there be a one-year ninth grade school. That would be pretty ridiculous.

I went to a 9th grade school in the 80s. It was an old elementary school that was dedicated to the 9th grade. 10-12 main campus.

They definitely need a new high school to relieve the crazy overcrowding at Wilson, which is really replacing the Ward 2/3 ("Western") high school that Duke Ellington replaced some years ago. So that decision makes sense historically, filling in a slot that was taken away. So, put the new "Western HS" on the old GDS property since there's enough space for a sports field on that lot. But I really don't get shoe-horning in a new elementary when you've already got so many in close distance (Key, Mann, Stoddert, Hyde). Seems like the elementary school problem could be solved by redrawing boundaries for the elementaries.

Pardon my ignorance, but what would the site be for Foxhall Elementary? Does the city already have land? I assume they’d have to build a school building from scratch? (Assuming they use the GDS site for middle or high school of course)

Anonymous wrote:If they start a new HS it needs to be half the size of Wilson and not a subpar mini high school.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the call, they posited it might be difficult to have ninth grade split from the rest of Wilson because of math placement (ninth graders take all levels of math), participation in academies (for example, Biomed track starts in ninth grade, maybe others), extracurricular activities, sports. I think someone also mentioned DCPS would not provide transport between the two sites, which if true would effectively kill the idea.

Adding on to my post — a split campus would make it harder for ninth graders to participate in electives like orchestra as well, or yearbook, student government, if those are open to ninth grade. Of course, now it seems ninth graders could participate in all of these via teams, no problem, but once upon a time. that would have been considered sub optimal.

Exactly. It wouldn’t be high school. This is not the answer.

If they start a new HS it needs to be half the size of Wilson and not a subpar mini high school.

Anonymous wrote:I think having a third middle school would just make overcrowding worse at Wilson is a terrible idea. Second high school is what WOTP needs.

Makes the most sense due to OOB seats DCPS makes mandatory. Adding another elementary or middle school would make the OOB even greater leading to yet another overcrowded HS.

Anonymous wrote:On the call, they posited it might be difficult to have ninth grade split from the rest of Wilson because of math placement (ninth graders take all levels of math), participation in academies (for example, Biomed track starts in ninth grade, maybe others), extracurricular activities, sports. I think someone also mentioned DCPS would not provide transport between the two sites, which if true would effectively kill the idea.

Adding on to my post — a split campus would make it harder for ninth graders to participate in electives like orchestra as well, or yearbook, student government, if those are open to ninth grade. Of course, now it seems ninth graders could participate in all of these via teams, no problem, but once upon a time. that would have been considered sub optimal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only in DC would there be a one-year ninth grade school. That would be pretty ridiculous.

Why? I think it's a great idea. It would make Wilson significantly less crowded and create a transition year between middle and high school. Even better if there's room to put 8th graders, to help with Deal overcrowding.

Agree

So you would put all 8th and 9th graders going to Wilson in this school?

On the call, they posited it might be difficult to have ninth grade split from the rest of Wilson because of math placement (ninth graders take all levels of math), participation in academies (for example, Biomed track starts in ninth grade, maybe others), extracurricular activities, sports. I think someone also mentioned DCPS would not provide transport between the two sites, which if true would effectively kill the idea.

Anonymous wrote:I think having a third middle school would just make overcrowding worse at Wilson is a terrible idea. Second high school is what WOTP needs.

My high school focus group -- size one student -- said that it would feel like another year of middle school and what ninth graders want more than anything is to be done with middle school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only in DC would there be a one-year ninth grade school. That would be pretty ridiculous.

Why? I think it's a great idea. It would make Wilson significantly less crowded and create a transition year between middle and high school. Even better if there's room to put 8th graders, to help with Deal overcrowding.

Too many transitions. Solve the overcrowding problem, don’t create new levels and stops along the way.