Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are they putting a school in this area? The population does not justify it. The area around there is just parkland, big institutions, federal land, etc. That section of DC is classified as rural on maps. On top of that the traffic is bad. So it will be very hard for teachers and students.

Duke Ellington is already in the area and their athletic field is only used by dogs walkers. Seems like another build it and no one will use it.

Maps from the early 1900s?

DC needs another HS somewhere west of RCP. There is no more land to buy, so DC has to take whatever it can get. The school age population is absolutely on the verge of exploding, demographic projections for the latter half of this decade in Ward 3 and western part of Ward 2 are absolutely insane.

When we moved to Burleith five years ago, we were one of the few couples under the age of 35 in the neighborhood who were not associated with the university. There's been a crazy surge of young families with babies here in the last two years, pandemic be damned.

Why not lean into redistricting then? A number of high schools are under-enrolled. Lafayette and Shepherd to Coolidge, Oyster and Bancroft to Macfarland/CHEC, etc. Send some kids to Cardozo.
I know this will never happen but it’s frustrating to watch the mayor earmark money to build classrooms that already exist in other parts of NW. Especially in such a remote, inaccessible part of the city.

Good lord, stop calling it remote! Lots of people, with kids in DCPS no less, live here and would love this option! Our elementary schools, every single one, is bursting at the seams. I would just drive my kids to school like I have every day for 5 years, or make them ride their bike or take what I'm sure will be upped bus service. THIS high school is convenient for THESE neighborhoods, regardless of whether or not you have ever ventured out into the hinterlands...And I promise you, there won't be any problems filling seats.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are they putting a school in this area? The population does not justify it. The area around there is just parkland, big institutions, federal land, etc. That section of DC is classified as rural on maps. On top of that the traffic is bad. So it will be very hard for teachers and students.

Duke Ellington is already in the area and their athletic field is only used by dogs walkers. Seems like another build it and no one will use it.

Maps from the early 1900s?

DC needs another HS somewhere west of RCP. There is no more land to buy, so DC has to take whatever it can get. The school age population is absolutely on the verge of exploding, demographic projections for the latter half of this decade in Ward 3 and western part of Ward 2 are absolutely insane.

When we moved to Burleith five years ago, we were one of the few couples under the age of 35 in the neighborhood who were not associated with the university. There's been a crazy surge of young families with babies here in the last two years, pandemic be damned.

Why not lean into redistricting then? A number of high schools are under-enrolled. Lafayette and Shepherd to Coolidge, Oyster and Bancroft to Macfarland/CHEC, etc. Send some kids to Cardozo.
I know this will never happen but it’s frustrating to watch the mayor earmark money to build classrooms that already exist in other parts of NW. Especially in such a remote, inaccessible part of the city.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Putting the high school in the Hardy building and moving Hardy to the GDS McArthur building would have made so much more sense. The Hardy building is a lot more accessible to the rest of the city.

Agreed. The Georgetown ANC was adamant that Hardy remain a middle school. Apparently Ellington was also opposed to a high school nearby.

If only they could move Ellington...

Ellington should have been moved to Shaw or other central location, with the remaining building being recommissioned as a high school.

The hundreds of millions wasted on poor planning will result in a new high school tucked away in a transit inhospitable location meant mostly for white kids from affluent neighborhoods. I am sure the people of Palisades are thrilled to have their own high school that will be akin to Mann Elementary. But for the rest of the city, this is a raw deal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So basically they are solving the 'by right' dc high school challenge by building a high ses school and having some opportunity for low ses to attend, and by default doing that at Wilson too. Its solving the wrong problems. And it's terrible to put a high school in such an inaccessible location. What happened to equity? This is akin to people sleeping out to get a spot at a charter school. You shouldn't be allowed to make something open for all and then build in barriers to make it not open for all.

Its accessible to MANY current DCPS students. The high school that currently serves these students is wildly overcrowded. It is equitable to meet their needs, too.

Anonymous wrote:So basically they are solving the 'by right' dc high school challenge by building a high ses school and having some opportunity for low ses to attend, and by default doing that at Wilson too. Its solving the wrong problems. And it's terrible to put a high school in such an inaccessible location. What happened to equity? This is akin to people sleeping out to get a spot at a charter school. You shouldn't be allowed to make something open for all and then build in barriers to make it not open for all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Putting the high school in the Hardy building and moving Hardy to the GDS McArthur building would have made so much more sense. The Hardy building is a lot more accessible to the rest of the city.

Agreed. The Georgetown ANC was adamant that Hardy remain a middle school. Apparently Ellington was also opposed to a high school nearby.

If only they could move Ellington...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, how is it possible they could have this school opened for the 23/24 school year? They haven’t even bid it out yet let alone broken ground and the facility is much larger than the elementary school renovations that have all taken almost 2 years up to the day to renovate.

While they may not have to "break ground" as it were, I am a little confused as to the SY23/24 timeline quoted in the communication sent out by DC Central office. This is only a line item in the budget which needs to be approved by Council. And the new fiscal year is not until July (I'm not sure but I think that is the earliest). So bids for planning will go out in the summer and finalized late Fall. Given that the site was originally for K-8 for 600 kids (and without a cafeteria etc.) I would imagine that it will take longer than 9 months to finish up all the work, given that they need to put in labs etc. Eaton renovation took over 2 years but granted it did involve a lot of foundation work for the new section.

Then there is the question of sequencing -- if the current crop of 7th Graders at Hardy are the first to attend this school, that only makes about 120 kids for the 9th grade class. Are they planning to fill the rest by lottery + at risk preference? Are there even that many kids in the system who would want to attend? What about class offerings? If the majority are at risk in grades 10-12, will they have sufficient mass to offer AP/honors classes right off the bat? While this may sound politically incorrect, am I accurate in assuming that many of these possible 10-12th graders are coming from other schools in the system that do not currently have extensive AP offerings (or honors?)

If not, then what is the draw of this school?

I'm wondering if they plan to add one additional class each year?

So 23-24 has only the freshman class. 24-25 has freshman and sophomore classes. Etc.

In this scenario, they do not need the entire campus finished by 22-23. They can work on renovations and expansion each year, adding more capacity for the next year's additional class. Finally, by year 26-27 the school has all four grades filled.

This is how most new schools operate. It wouldn't make sense to fill all grades the same year.

Yes, but this would be really rough extracurricularly for a high school. No teams basically (or totally non-competitive ones that will get crushed); I assume you'd need to grandfather them into Wilson or something along those lines. That alone would drive lots of kids away.

I'd be fine if the high school didn't have a major focus on sports, if instead it was an IB program or STEM-focused. Football is declining pretty quickly in popularity and is a huge money suck. There won't be a pool at this site.

I'd expect the new MacArthur HS to instead focus on sports activities with a small footprint - tennis, crew (take advantage of easy access to the Potomac!), basketball, cross-country running, etc. Maybe utilize Palisades Rec Center for soccer and baseball/softball teams.

In short, don't expect this school to be a sports powerhouse. You can go elsewhere in the city if you want your kid to have that experience.

Ohhh, I was about to roll my eyes at the PP's obsession with sports, but this makes me swoon! Except for the no-pool part. We need more pools. If the Palisades rec center didn't get one because of lobbying by the FCCsomething or the PCCsomething, maybe it's time to build one for this high school.

PPs don’t seem to realize that most high school kids care a lot about sports. Whether it’s basketball or crew or ultimate or cross country, a huge percentage of high school kids play sports. And it’s no fun to be on a totally uncompetitive team (or to play a totally uncompetitive team).

This is not about adults who want to swim laps.

My hot take: in-boundary families for MacArthur HS are going prioritize academics over a full slate of school sports. They can afford to supplement with travel or community-based teams, if their kids is wedded to a particular sport that would not be offered (eg, swim). Football is in terminal decline with these same in-boundary families, knowing what we do about CTE and head injuries.

Perhaps they also get the chance to try-out/play for teams at Wilson HS for the first few years as the school is established. It will be fine.

A strong crew team at MacArthur HS makes total sense - it would be great if DCPS could get boathouse access or establish its own launch/boat storage along the River.

Anonymous wrote:What % of kids DO play a sport in HS? I’m honestly curious. It was not my thing and I didn’t hang out with that crowd so I have no idea. I had one friend who played soccer.

Anyway, I have heard there’s a thing where if your charter school doesn’t offer a sport you can try out and play for a DCPS team. Seems like they could work something out for the jock kids at the new school if they don’t have enough kids/coaches to field a team right away…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


I'd be fine if the high school didn't have a major focus on sports, if instead it was an IB program or STEM-focused. Football is declining pretty quickly in popularity and is a huge money suck. There won't be a pool at this site.

I'd expect the new MacArthur HS to instead focus on sports activities with a small footprint - tennis, crew (take advantage of easy access to the Potomac!), basketball, cross-country running, etc. Maybe utilize Palisades Rec Center for soccer and baseball/softball teams.

In short, don't expect this school to be a sports powerhouse. You can go elsewhere in the city if you want your kid to have that experience.


But would it even be an academic powerhouse? Will they have the critical mass of kids (starting from the 150 odd 9th graders) to offer them honors classes, labs and in some cases, even AP classes? I guess it will take about 2-3 years to build that up. It will be a rough transition for the current Hardy kids -- especially in an era when colleges that many of these students' families aspire to expect extensive AP classes (or at least rigorous curricula).

Do not underestimate the number of families in the city who cannot afford private but are desperate to escape their failing IB HS option. That group of parents---mostly AA and middle/working middle class--made up the vast majority of Deal, Wilson and Hardy parents for years until the rise in IB population attendance winnowed them out. Those families aren't interested in the regimented programs of charters that are targeted to more struggling families and students, and the increasingly difficult lottery odds for Latin and Basis have further limited their options.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, how is it possible they could have this school opened for the 23/24 school year? They haven’t even bid it out yet let alone broken ground and the facility is much larger than the elementary school renovations that have all taken almost 2 years up to the day to renovate.

While they may not have to "break ground" as it were, I am a little confused as to the SY23/24 timeline quoted in the communication sent out by DC Central office. This is only a line item in the budget which needs to be approved by Council. And the new fiscal year is not until July (I'm not sure but I think that is the earliest). So bids for planning will go out in the summer and finalized late Fall. Given that the site was originally for K-8 for 600 kids (and without a cafeteria etc.) I would imagine that it will take longer than 9 months to finish up all the work, given that they need to put in labs etc. Eaton renovation took over 2 years but granted it did involve a lot of foundation work for the new section.

Then there is the question of sequencing -- if the current crop of 7th Graders at Hardy are the first to attend this school, that only makes about 120 kids for the 9th grade class. Are they planning to fill the rest by lottery + at risk preference? Are there even that many kids in the system who would want to attend? What about class offerings? If the majority are at risk in grades 10-12, will they have sufficient mass to offer AP/honors classes right off the bat? While this may sound politically incorrect, am I accurate in assuming that many of these possible 10-12th graders are coming from other schools in the system that do not currently have extensive AP offerings (or honors?)

If not, then what is the draw of this school?

I'm wondering if they plan to add one additional class each year?

So 23-24 has only the freshman class. 24-25 has freshman and sophomore classes. Etc.

In this scenario, they do not need the entire campus finished by 22-23. They can work on renovations and expansion each year, adding more capacity for the next year's additional class. Finally, by year 26-27 the school has all four grades filled.

This is how most new schools operate. It wouldn't make sense to fill all grades the same year.

Yes, but this would be really rough extracurricularly for a high school. No teams basically (or totally non-competitive ones that will get crushed); I assume you'd need to grandfather them into Wilson or something along those lines. That alone would drive lots of kids away.

I'd be fine if the high school didn't have a major focus on sports, if instead it was an IB program or STEM-focused. Football is declining pretty quickly in popularity and is a huge money suck. There won't be a pool at this site.

I'd expect the new MacArthur HS to instead focus on sports activities with a small footprint - tennis, crew (take advantage of easy access to the Potomac!), basketball, cross-country running, etc. Maybe utilize Palisades Rec Center for soccer and baseball/softball teams.

In short, don't expect this school to be a sports powerhouse. You can go elsewhere in the city if you want your kid to have that experience.

Ohhh, I was about to roll my eyes at the PP's obsession with sports, but this makes me swoon! Except for the no-pool part. We need more pools. If the Palisades rec center didn't get one because of lobbying by the FCCsomething or the PCCsomething, maybe it's time to build one for this high school.

PPs don’t seem to realize that most high school kids care a lot about sports. Whether it’s basketball or crew or ultimate or cross country, a huge percentage of high school kids play sports. And it’s no fun to be on a totally uncompetitive team (or to play a totally uncompetitive team).

This is not about adults who want to swim laps.

Adult swimming laps? This would be about my prospective high schooler wanting to swim laps or swim competitively.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, how is it possible they could have this school opened for the 23/24 school year? They haven’t even bid it out yet let alone broken ground and the facility is much larger than the elementary school renovations that have all taken almost 2 years up to the day to renovate.

While they may not have to "break ground" as it were, I am a little confused as to the SY23/24 timeline quoted in the communication sent out by DC Central office. This is only a line item in the budget which needs to be approved by Council. And the new fiscal year is not until July (I'm not sure but I think that is the earliest). So bids for planning will go out in the summer and finalized late Fall. Given that the site was originally for K-8 for 600 kids (and without a cafeteria etc.) I would imagine that it will take longer than 9 months to finish up all the work, given that they need to put in labs etc. Eaton renovation took over 2 years but granted it did involve a lot of foundation work for the new section.

Then there is the question of sequencing -- if the current crop of 7th Graders at Hardy are the first to attend this school, that only makes about 120 kids for the 9th grade class. Are they planning to fill the rest by lottery + at risk preference? Are there even that many kids in the system who would want to attend? What about class offerings? If the majority are at risk in grades 10-12, will they have sufficient mass to offer AP/honors classes right off the bat? While this may sound politically incorrect, am I accurate in assuming that many of these possible 10-12th graders are coming from other schools in the system that do not currently have extensive AP offerings (or honors?)

If not, then what is the draw of this school?

I'm wondering if they plan to add one additional class each year?

So 23-24 has only the freshman class. 24-25 has freshman and sophomore classes. Etc.

In this scenario, they do not need the entire campus finished by 22-23. They can work on renovations and expansion each year, adding more capacity for the next year's additional class. Finally, by year 26-27 the school has all four grades filled.

This is how most new schools operate. It wouldn't make sense to fill all grades the same year.

Yes, but this would be really rough extracurricularly for a high school. No teams basically (or totally non-competitive ones that will get crushed); I assume you'd need to grandfather them into Wilson or something along those lines. That alone would drive lots of kids away.

I'd be fine if the high school didn't have a major focus on sports, if instead it was an IB program or STEM-focused. Football is declining pretty quickly in popularity and is a huge money suck. There won't be a pool at this site.

I'd expect the new MacArthur HS to instead focus on sports activities with a small footprint - tennis, crew (take advantage of easy access to the Potomac!), basketball, cross-country running, etc. Maybe utilize Palisades Rec Center for soccer and baseball/softball teams.

In short, don't expect this school to be a sports powerhouse. You can go elsewhere in the city if you want your kid to have that experience.

Ohhh, I was about to roll my eyes at the PP's obsession with sports, but this makes me swoon! Except for the no-pool part. We need more pools. If the Palisades rec center didn't get one because of lobbying by the FCCsomething or the PCCsomething, maybe it's time to build one for this high school.

PPs don’t seem to realize that most high school kids care a lot about sports. Whether it’s basketball or crew or ultimate or cross country, a huge percentage of high school kids play sports. And it’s no fun to be on a totally uncompetitive team (or to play a totally uncompetitive team).

This is not about adults who want to swim laps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, how is it possible they could have this school opened for the 23/24 school year? They haven’t even bid it out yet let alone broken ground and the facility is much larger than the elementary school renovations that have all taken almost 2 years up to the day to renovate.

While they may not have to "break ground" as it were, I am a little confused as to the SY23/24 timeline quoted in the communication sent out by DC Central office. This is only a line item in the budget which needs to be approved by Council. And the new fiscal year is not until July (I'm not sure but I think that is the earliest). So bids for planning will go out in the summer and finalized late Fall. Given that the site was originally for K-8 for 600 kids (and without a cafeteria etc.) I would imagine that it will take longer than 9 months to finish up all the work, given that they need to put in labs etc. Eaton renovation took over 2 years but granted it did involve a lot of foundation work for the new section.

Then there is the question of sequencing -- if the current crop of 7th Graders at Hardy are the first to attend this school, that only makes about 120 kids for the 9th grade class. Are they planning to fill the rest by lottery + at risk preference? Are there even that many kids in the system who would want to attend? What about class offerings? If the majority are at risk in grades 10-12, will they have sufficient mass to offer AP/honors classes right off the bat? While this may sound politically incorrect, am I accurate in assuming that many of these possible 10-12th graders are coming from other schools in the system that do not currently have extensive AP offerings (or honors?)

If not, then what is the draw of this school?

I'm wondering if they plan to add one additional class each year?

So 23-24 has only the freshman class. 24-25 has freshman and sophomore classes. Etc.

In this scenario, they do not need the entire campus finished by 22-23. They can work on renovations and expansion each year, adding more capacity for the next year's additional class. Finally, by year 26-27 the school has all four grades filled.

This is how most new schools operate. It wouldn't make sense to fill all grades the same year.

Yes, but this would be really rough extracurricularly for a high school. No teams basically (or totally non-competitive ones that will get crushed); I assume you'd need to grandfather them into Wilson or something along those lines. That alone would drive lots of kids away.

I'd be fine if the high school didn't have a major focus on sports, if instead it was an IB program or STEM-focused. Football is declining pretty quickly in popularity and is a huge money suck. There won't be a pool at this site.

I'd expect the new MacArthur HS to instead focus on sports activities with a small footprint - tennis, crew (take advantage of easy access to the Potomac!), basketball, cross-country running, etc. Maybe utilize Palisades Rec Center for soccer and baseball/softball teams.

In short, don't expect this school to be a sports powerhouse. You can go elsewhere in the city if you want your kid to have that experience.

Ohhh, I was about to roll my eyes at the PP's obsession with sports, but this makes me swoon! Except for the no-pool part. We need more pools. If the Palisades rec center didn't get one because of lobbying by the FCCsomething or the PCCsomething, maybe it's time to build one for this high school.

PPs don’t seem to realize that most high school kids care a lot about sports. Whether it’s basketball or crew or ultimate or cross country, a huge percentage of high school kids play sports. And it’s no fun to be on a totally uncompetitive team (or to play a totally uncompetitive team).

This is not about adults who want to swim laps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, how is it possible they could have this school opened for the 23/24 school year? They haven’t even bid it out yet let alone broken ground and the facility is much larger than the elementary school renovations that have all taken almost 2 years up to the day to renovate.

While they may not have to "break ground" as it were, I am a little confused as to the SY23/24 timeline quoted in the communication sent out by DC Central office. This is only a line item in the budget which needs to be approved by Council. And the new fiscal year is not until July (I'm not sure but I think that is the earliest). So bids for planning will go out in the summer and finalized late Fall. Given that the site was originally for K-8 for 600 kids (and without a cafeteria etc.) I would imagine that it will take longer than 9 months to finish up all the work, given that they need to put in labs etc. Eaton renovation took over 2 years but granted it did involve a lot of foundation work for the new section.

Then there is the question of sequencing -- if the current crop of 7th Graders at Hardy are the first to attend this school, that only makes about 120 kids for the 9th grade class. Are they planning to fill the rest by lottery + at risk preference? Are there even that many kids in the system who would want to attend? What about class offerings? If the majority are at risk in grades 10-12, will they have sufficient mass to offer AP/honors classes right off the bat? While this may sound politically incorrect, am I accurate in assuming that many of these possible 10-12th graders are coming from other schools in the system that do not currently have extensive AP offerings (or honors?)

If not, then what is the draw of this school?

I'm wondering if they plan to add one additional class each year?

So 23-24 has only the freshman class. 24-25 has freshman and sophomore classes. Etc.

In this scenario, they do not need the entire campus finished by 22-23. They can work on renovations and expansion each year, adding more capacity for the next year's additional class. Finally, by year 26-27 the school has all four grades filled.

This is how most new schools operate. It wouldn't make sense to fill all grades the same year.

Yes, but this would be really rough extracurricularly for a high school. No teams basically (or totally non-competitive ones that will get crushed); I assume you'd need to grandfather them into Wilson or something along those lines. That alone would drive lots of kids away.

I'd be fine if the high school didn't have a major focus on sports, if instead it was an IB program or STEM-focused. Football is declining pretty quickly in popularity and is a huge money suck. There won't be a pool at this site.

I'd expect the new MacArthur HS to instead focus on sports activities with a small footprint - tennis, crew (take advantage of easy access to the Potomac!), basketball, cross-country running, etc. Maybe utilize Palisades Rec Center for soccer and baseball/softball teams.

In short, don't expect this school to be a sports powerhouse. You can go elsewhere in the city if you want your kid to have that experience.

Ohhh, I was about to roll my eyes at the PP's obsession with sports, but this makes me swoon! Except for the no-pool part. We need more pools. If the Palisades rec center didn't get one because of lobbying by the FCCsomething or the PCCsomething, maybe it's time to build one for this high school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, how is it possible they could have this school opened for the 23/24 school year? They haven’t even bid it out yet let alone broken ground and the facility is much larger than the elementary school renovations that have all taken almost 2 years up to the day to renovate.

While they may not have to "break ground" as it were, I am a little confused as to the SY23/24 timeline quoted in the communication sent out by DC Central office. This is only a line item in the budget which needs to be approved by Council. And the new fiscal year is not until July (I'm not sure but I think that is the earliest). So bids for planning will go out in the summer and finalized late Fall. Given that the site was originally for K-8 for 600 kids (and without a cafeteria etc.) I would imagine that it will take longer than 9 months to finish up all the work, given that they need to put in labs etc. Eaton renovation took over 2 years but granted it did involve a lot of foundation work for the new section.

Then there is the question of sequencing -- if the current crop of 7th Graders at Hardy are the first to attend this school, that only makes about 120 kids for the 9th grade class. Are they planning to fill the rest by lottery + at risk preference? Are there even that many kids in the system who would want to attend? What about class offerings? If the majority are at risk in grades 10-12, will they have sufficient mass to offer AP/honors classes right off the bat? While this may sound politically incorrect, am I accurate in assuming that many of these possible 10-12th graders are coming from other schools in the system that do not currently have extensive AP offerings (or honors?)

If not, then what is the draw of this school?

I'm wondering if they plan to add one additional class each year?

So 23-24 has only the freshman class. 24-25 has freshman and sophomore classes. Etc.

In this scenario, they do not need the entire campus finished by 22-23. They can work on renovations and expansion each year, adding more capacity for the next year's additional class. Finally, by year 26-27 the school has all four grades filled.

This is how most new schools operate. It wouldn't make sense to fill all grades the same year.

Yes, but this would be really rough extracurricularly for a high school. No teams basically (or totally non-competitive ones that will get crushed); I assume you'd need to grandfather them into Wilson or something along those lines. That alone would drive lots of kids away.

I'd be fine if the high school didn't have a major focus on sports, if instead it was an IB program or STEM-focused. Football is declining pretty quickly in popularity and is a huge money suck. There won't be a pool at this site.

I'd expect the new MacArthur HS to instead focus on sports activities with a small footprint - tennis, crew (take advantage of easy access to the Potomac!), basketball, cross-country running, etc. Maybe utilize Palisades Rec Center for soccer and baseball/softball teams.

In short, don't expect this school to be a sports powerhouse. You can go elsewhere in the city if you want your kid to have that experience.

Ohhh, I was about to roll my eyes at the PP's obsession with sports, but this makes me swoon! Except for the no-pool part. We need more pools. If the Palisades rec center didn't get one because of lobbying by the FCCsomething or the PCCsomething, maybe it's time to build one for this high school.

It's not about an obsession with sports, it's about this being the IB school for a bunch of kids and needing their buy-in for the school to succeed. That's totally different than something that is a special program not catering to an IB population -- e.g., SWS or Banneker. The list of sports you have sounds fine, but a basketball team with only Freshmen is basically just dog-meat, same for many of these sports. That will keep IB kids away and lead to a rough transition.