Oops, meant 12:32 in my previous post.

I like your idea 12:52. DCPS should give Inspired Teaching the old Brookland Elementary School building or any of the other DCPS building shut down in Ward 5. The Council should create an "education experimentation zone" where Inspired Teaching can act with complete autonomy but has to have 50% of kids come from Ward 5. I have no affiliation with Inspired Teaching, just throwing it out there as an idea....

The dichotomy of several successful charters so close to failing neighborhood schools does not seem to be nearly so sharp in other wards.

tangent alert!

All the charters have real estate in Ward 5 because #1 Ward 5 is the biggest Ward, geographically speaking, so the odds are in its favor.

#2, real estate is relatively cheap when compared with Wards 1, 2, 3 and possibly 4, on a price-per-square foot basis.

#3, some of Ward 5 (along with wards 1 and 2) is quite centrally located.

Anonymous wrote:You could say 50% of seats have to go to Ward 5.

Of course it would be better if we could just make the neighborhood schools as good as the preferred neighborhood schools in ward 3, but that hasn't happened yet and there doesn't seem to be anything on the horizon to make it happen. (Why is this? Why has DC put up with the ridiculous OOB system to bandage over the problem? I wish I knew, but I imagine it has something to do with money and inertia. ) So maybe DCPS needs to make a deal with a promising charter school. It would be an interesting experiment and ward 5 seems it be the perfect place to try it out. The dichotomy of several successful charters so close to failing neighborhood schools does not seem to be nearly so sharp in other wards.

You could say 50% of seats have to go to Ward 5.

Welcome to school choice. Business people are making a bundle, parents are driving their all over town and kids aren't forging friendships in their neighborhoods.

Anonymous wrote:Sure, PP. We are kind of just throwing out ideas though. I know charters don't work that way. I'm just saying there a lot of reasons why I don't support building a new Ward 5 middle school, including the fact that Ward 5 has some charter schools that are doing it better already.

Yeah well both YY and Stokes have children from all eight wards. Whose children would you like to kick out. The founders of the charters who do not reside in ward 5. How do you get around the charter rules asmthey are independent of DCPS. there are many families in ward 5 who were not so lucky in the lotteries. Why should they have to depend on lotteries. Why cannot DCPS provide the students of the ward with grate schools. Please don't say that the parental support is not there. It is. Parents would rather their children attend a great neighborhood school than driving half way across town. Enrolling your child in a charter in an effort to flee the dysfunction of your neighborhood school is parental involvement 101. Driving across town every morning and afternoon is parental involvement 102. Building up the charters in lieu of the neighborhood schools is parental involvement 103. The parents and students are in ward 5. The schools are not.

We are in a good charter. However, my child misses a lot when he cannot forge bounds with the kids in the neighborhood. All the children are going in different directions during the week (schools), and weekends (play dates, sports teams). I would rather DCPS provide the schools in our ward, but not just any school. We have enough of those already.

Sure, PP. We are kind of just throwing out ideas though. I know charters don't work that way. I'm just saying there a lot of reasons why I don't support building a new Ward 5 middle school, including the fact that Ward 5 has some charter schools that are doing it better already.

I'm afraid charters don't work that way - there's no entity with whom to make such a deal.

the whole point of charters is school choice, so people aren't stuck with neighborhood schools.

Charters are all done by market forces - the idea of build it and they will come -- or not.

Anonymous wrote:
I'm not in ward 5, but maybe that could be part of the bargain-- ward 5 agrees to give up all its DCPS schools to become charters inexchange for a guaranteee that ward 5 kids would get priority of entrance into the school of their choice.

sorry-- that should be "ward 5 charter school of their choice".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Here is an education experiment: Abolish all DCPS presence in Ward 5. Let charters expand and use the buildings. You would keep parents in Ward 5 in their Ward if all the school like Yu Ying, Stokes, Inspired Teaching, Lamb, DC Prep, Two Rivers, Kipp, Achievement Prep, EL Haynes, Cap City etc. and bigger buildings, more space, and more slots open.

Interesting idea, except that charters are open to all DC residents by lottery, so would not guarantee slots for ward 5 students the way neighborhood DCPS schools do.

I'm not in ward 5, but maybe that could be part of the bargain-- ward 5 agrees to give up all its DCPS schools to become charters inexchange for a guaranteee that ward 5 kids would get priority of entrance into the school of their choice.

Anonymous wrote:

Here is an education experiment: Abolish all DCPS presence in Ward 5. Let charters expand and use the buildings. You would keep parents in Ward 5 in their Ward if all the school like Yu Ying, Stokes, Inspired Teaching, Lamb, DC Prep, Two Rivers, Kipp, Achievement Prep, EL Haynes, Cap City etc. and bigger buildings, more space, and more slots open.

Interesting idea, except that charters are open to all DC residents by lottery, so would not guarantee slots for ward 5 students the way neighborhood DCPS schools do.

I live in Ward 5 and do not support the building of a new middle school by DCPS in Ward 5. For many reasons listed above, unless their was a radical change in the programs or offerings of DCPS, I don't think it would actually attract a diverse mix of Ward 5 parents. There isn't a diverse mix at the elementary level yet, and you have to start there.

I think that many high quality charters like Kipp or DC Prep have shown what it takes to really educate low income students well. I rather a massive expansion of those charters in Ward 5 (where many already reside). If Kipp and DC Prep have figured out that you need a significantly longer school day, Saturday school, etc., and their numbers prove they are beating DCPS at educating low income kids, than I am unwilling to support another DCPS school built unless it follows that model and lessons learned.

Here is an education experiment: Abolish all DCPS presence in Ward 5. Let charters expand and use the buildings. You would keep parents in Ward 5 in their Ward if all the school like Yu Ying, Stokes, Inspired Teaching, Lamb, DC Prep, Two Rivers, Kipp, Achievement Prep, EL Haynes, Cap City etc. and bigger buildings, more space, and more slots open.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Semantics. We have a better tax base, which provides us with better schools, and then those from other Wards fill them up. How is it then inequitable to build another school in W3? Oh wait, I know. W3 tax dollars should be spent on improving schools in other Wards. Of course. Silly me (and over-entitled you).

You know it's not a separate jurisdiction, right? It's not like asking folks in Arlington or Montgomery County to subsidize DC schools - it's all ONE tax base. Unless Ward 3 has a separate treasury which has escaped notice all these years? Your attitude that the rest of a city consists of a bunch of leeches who are basically stealing from Ward 3 is really disturbing.

Most Ward 3 residents do not hold such views, but a significant minority does. Unfortunately, that minority seems to be over-represented in the schools debate. People can say all they want about over-crowding, filling a need, etc. But, when it comes right down to it, the suggestion for another middle school in Ward 3 is a result of feelings of entitlement and prejudice. Is anyone surprised that Patrick Pope was not receptive to parents who thought his student body consisted of nothing but fleas, ticks, and leeches?

Anonymous wrote:Semantics. We have a better tax base, which provides us with better schools, and then those from other Wards fill them up. How is it then inequitable to build another school in W3? Oh wait, I know. W3 tax dollars should be spent on improving schools in other Wards. Of course. Silly me (and over-entitled you).

You know it's not a separate jurisdiction, right? It's not like asking folks in Arlington or Montgomery County to subsidize DC schools - it's all ONE tax base. Unless Ward 3 has a separate treasury which has escaped notice all these years? Your attitude that the rest of a city consists of a bunch of leeches who are basically stealing from Ward 3 is really disturbing.