Anonymous
Post 08/02/2012 11:17     Subject: Another Brent question
Anonymous wrote:
No, it is not OK to me for Capitol Quarter folks to be in-boundry for Wilson. YEs, it is just another example of the craziness of DCPS, but it is something that can actually be easily "fixed". School boundries are changed all the time in other places-- why not here? Why don't DCPS boundries feed the schools in which the students actually live, rather than way outside their neighborhood?

I think word salad lady was implying that Eastern boosters wouldn't want Duddington, etc. to come to Eastern anyway (could be wrong-- it's like reading Faulkner!) as she is happy with the feeders as they are and fears Duddington types would just try to take over and change the school.

But I think DCPS is really missing out on an opportunity to do something that the charters cannot do-- focus on serving the immediate neighborhood and serve it well, rather than trying to serve students from all over the city-- which is something the charters are actually REQUIRED to do. I don't see how DCPS can beat charters at their own game, so if DCPS wants to actually survive and remain relevant, it needs to do what the charters can't. But if DCPS is just going to go along with crazy gerrymandered boundries that have no basis whatsoever in the concept of "neighborhood", then they should just throw in the towel and let the charters take over.

The last administration tried to make radical changes and got thrown out by voters. Changing boundaries is a radical change, and given the political environment we are operating in, I doubt this will happen anytime soon.
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2012 11:14     Subject: Another Brent question

No, it is not OK to me for Capitol Quarter folks to be in-boundry for Wilson. YEs, it is just another example of the craziness of DCPS, but it is something that can actually be easily "fixed". School boundries are changed all the time in other places-- why not here? Why don't DCPS boundries feed the schools in which the students actually live, rather than way outside their neighborhood?

I think word salad lady was implying that Eastern boosters wouldn't want Duddington, etc. to come to Eastern anyway (could be wrong-- it's like reading Faulkner!) as she is happy with the feeders as they are and fears Duddington types would just try to take over and change the school.

But I think DCPS is really missing out on an opportunity to do something that the charters cannot do-- focus on serving the immediate neighborhood and serve it well, rather than trying to serve students from all over the city-- which is something the charters are actually REQUIRED to do. I don't see how DCPS can beat charters at their own game, so if DCPS wants to actually survive and remain relevant, it needs to do what the charters can't. But if DCPS is just going to go along with crazy gerrymandered boundries that have no basis whatsoever in the concept of "neighborhood", then they should just throw in the towel and let the charters take over.
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2012 10:46     Subject: Another Brent question
I suspect the Wilson feeder area is more closely linked to Ambrose and Brazil. What evidence is there that TW is even aware of this seeming anomaly, much less that he is "protecting" anyone "from Eastern"? My recollection is that he fought hard to keep Eastern in Ward 6, at the expense of the new development at Reservation 13.
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2012 10:42     Subject: Another Brent question
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:[
It's true that the odd Wilson kid cracks an Ivy, but hardly the norm and, according to a friend on the admissions committee at mine, usually low-SES kids.



The kids I know from Wilson who went to Harvard and Yale were high SES kids living IB in ward 3.

Please don't continue to extrapolate from your experience only. Apparently "your" ivy doesn't admit Wilson kids. Other Ivies do


Not PP and there are other posters here who question how many Wilson kids go to Ivy or equivalent. Any recent lists of where Wilson kids go to college would be helpful.
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2012 10:41     Subject: Another Brent question
So, it is okay if a student living in Capitol Quarter (e.g., Virginia Avenue, south of the SE-SW Freeway) can attend Wilson, but if a student living just one or two blocks north can attend, this raises the equivalent of moral outrage? Are there not bigger fish to fry in terms of the failure of DCPS and its leadership, or do you just want to stir the pot for the sake of doing so?
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2012 10:35     Subject: Another Brent question
Maybe the faux outrage about the "Duddington Exception" should be directed toward improving Eastern, E-H and SH.
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2012 09:42     Subject: Another Brent question
As for Eastern it is going as well as it is planned. The ultimate goal was to relaunch the school. We are in our second year and everything is on track for another year of success. We are just two school calendar years away from graduating our first class in 2015.

I commend DCPS they did everything humanly possible to ensure that Eastern would become a school to attract a wide-spectrum of District Residents. I differ on the neighborhood and school boundary issues. It makes me angry when those feel that a neighborhood is entitled and those of the school boundary are considered undesirables. When the statement is yelled "I am from Cap Hill but I don't want my child to go to high-school with a student who lives in Benning Heights" that is just foolish. I shouldn't expect anything more from Cap Hill residents they exclude the residents from Potomac Gardens as well.

Let's get it straight darling, we don't need TW but we would like TW understand that we are the Pride of Capitol Hill. When I hear people say that they like Eastern, then it is worth the boostering.

What is old is new again. I remember there was the same outcry about Duddington and the Greenleaf coummunties back in the day around the late 70's and 80's and it all centered around Eastern High School.
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2012 09:20     Subject: Another Brent question
Anonymous wrote:[
It's true that the odd Wilson kid cracks an Ivy, but hardly the norm and, according to a friend on the admissions committee at mine, usually low-SES kids.



The kids I know from Wilson who went to Harvard and Yale were high SES kids living IB in ward 3.

Please don't continue to extrapolate from your experience only. Apparently "your" ivy doesn't admit Wilson kids. Other Ivies do
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2012 09:13     Subject: Another Brent question

PP 7:02 here-- I was literally just thinking that this Duddington Excection thingy really needed the input of word salad poster -- and here you are!! Bless you!!

I was going to post a new topic-- something like "How do Eastern High boosters feel about the Duddington Exception?" to attract your input.

You are absolutely right-- TW owes you Eastern High people and he needs to make more of an effort to make Eastern truely "The Pride of Capitol Hill" by making it the inboundry school for all of Capitol Hill. Even the high SES, politically connected parts. Damn, I'd be furious if I were you. What a slap in the face. Can you believe the balls of these people from whenever this deal was struck? "OK, I'll deign to send my children to DCPS, but only if it is at the school with the highest population of people that look like me, even though it is also the high school farthest from my house. And make it permanent in perpetuity for my little neighborhood so that my property value gets a nice little boost."

Anonymous
Post 08/02/2012 08:55     Subject: Another Brent question
Take it from me, this crazy trek to Wilson started way before the 90's, honey. Do you realize at one time they had kids who lived on Martin Luther King Avenue, SE destined to attend Cardozo Senior High School? This off again and on again of you go here and you go there is quite ridiculous. Really, do you want people to believe that school boundaries that haven't changed for decades are penciled and inked redirected by politicians because of property values. SHeeesh!!!

A colleague pointed out this, if Brent is accepting students from here and there, then why can't Jefferson ship them off to here and there?

As for the Councilmember who represents Ward 6, he owes the AA alumni community of Eastern High School for his rise in the political world. We of the community who are AA, may feel that we've been bamboozled by the TW. What was in the plans is surely not working, if Cap Hill resident are bragging that they are sending their children to Wilson and their results of the DC-CAS are of 59%, then WTF?

Oh!! I forgot the excuse being formulated is that Cap Hill students make up the majority of Wilson academies student populaton and certainly they scored off the charts. Yeah, right!!! A double WTF-WTF?
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2012 07:02     Subject: Another Brent question
Even if he isn't directly responsible, he can surely do something to lobby to change it now! I owned a home at 5th and E St 10 years ago that fed into Brent, Jefferson-- even though Hine was only blocks away-- and Wilson but that changed at some point and now it is Brent, Jefferson, Eastern. So these things can change. It's not like it is set in stone. Someone at the Times or the Post should look into this little "Duddington" exception and see why it is still going on-- it's not like anyone in that area actually has kids attending Jefferson or Wilson. I doubt there are many kids that age there now-- and if they are they are going to private rather than schlepping up to Wilson. If someone on Duddington complains that switching to Eastern is going to hurt their property value, quelle dommage, baby! There is a 2 bedroom, 1 bath for sale right now on Duddington for $650k. No parking, 70s kitchen. I think that area could stand a little price correction in exchange for correcting this ridiculous error.
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2012 05:17     Subject: Another Brent question
Anonymous wrote:Ok-- that is such BS! What, is Tommy Wells protecting his immediate neighbors from Eastern, meanwhile saying it is great for the rest of ward 6?!

Someone else, please throw your hat in the ring!


I, too, would like to see Wells out. But he's not the one responsible for creating, or even protecting, the Wilson feeder pocket in SE. A realtor friend who's been on the scene for 20 years tells me that it dates from the early 90s. Seems that some senior government officials with homes in the feeder area made a deal with the mayor to stay in the city, and send their kids to a DCPS HS if it was Wilson. DCPS hasn't been in boundary changing mode for a long time, so they've left the little SE Wilson pocket alone.

It's true that the odd Wilson kid cracks an Ivy, but hardly the norm and, according to a friend on the admissions committee at mine, usually low-SES kids.



Anonymous
Post 08/01/2012 22:38     Subject: Another Brent question
Anonymous wrote:If you consult the DCPS map, the enclave west of Fourth St, SE and south of C Street, SE appears to be part of the Wilson feeder zone.





Ok-- that is such BS! What, is Tommy Wells protecting his immediate neighbors from Eastern, meanwhile saying it is great for the rest of ward 6?!

Someone else, please throw your hat in the ring!
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2012 22:10     Subject: Another Brent question
Anonymous wrote:If you consult the DCPS map, the enclave west of Fourth St, SE and south of C Street, SE appears to be part of the Wilson feeder zone.





Ok-- that is such BS! What, is Tommy Wells protecting his immediate neighbors from Eastern, meanwhile saying it is great for the rest of ward 6?!

Someone else, please throw your hat in the ring!
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2012 21:51     Subject: Another Brent question
17:36 -- Maybe Wilson kids aren't getting into your Ivy, but I know some that have gotten into Harvard and Yale in the past five years.

I'd also say that Wilson is not improving over the last few years. Scores went down considerably for all sub-groups in 2011 and have not recovered to 2010 levels