Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The number of students enrolled in DCPS or charters near Roosevelt is exponentially larger than that near a Western High School. Which makes more sense to develop?

With the exception of Haynes and the DCI feeders*, many of the new charters don't have middle or high school options, and there's a huge crush to get into latin, basis, or sww. What about a new charter high school near Walter Reed that would feed from CM, IT, 2R, etc as well as be open to citywide lottery?

Because DCI already got Walter Reed. The idea is to get HSs (whether DCPS or charter) located within more than one corner of the city. Co-locating a charter HS at Dunbar or Eastern might work. Both schools are newly renovated, both want to be ambitious, both aren't far from metro, and neither is at capacity.


(*Don't forget Cap City - which also has a HS)

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Jeff, thanks again for your willingness to engage on this, and sorry for my confusion earlier. Fair point on Option B and Janney.

I am pessimistic about the prospects of any as-of-right HS east of the park within the next 20 years. Whereas some on this thread seem optimistic even on a 5 year timeline. So some of this does come down to empirical predictions.

But there is also some principle at work here. For me the ability to buy a house in a school district is part of the bedrock of this country's values. It is the original and most fundamental version of "school choice". I am only recently learning that places like San Francisco have experimented with something radically different, with disastrous results.

A move to a city wide lottery would send a signal beyond education policy. It would indicate that Fenty was an outlier and DC is back to business as usual.

I am happy to talk or write about this subject as much as necessarily. I'm perfectly willing to seek victory through attrition

I don't know if a high-performing high school can be developed EotP in the near future and, if it can, what timeline would be required. Even if all parties involved came up with a plan upon which we all agreed -- unlikely in itself -- I have grave doubts about DCPS's ability to implement it.

There are only two things that seem for sure: 1) Wilson and Deal have current and increasing problems with overcrowding; and 2) Roosevelt is getting a $127 million renovation. That's not much of a foundation for a successful school, but all we are doing here is exploring the possibility.

I agree that the ability to buy a house within a particular school boundary is important. But, it is also important that large parts of our community are not shut out from opportunities for quality education. The only way I see to reconcile these two principles is to increase the number of opportunities for quality education.

Mt P parent here again, ok, I see what I am up against here in terms of forum posting - this must be what loss by attrition feels like

Seriously, I'll leave it here, and respect your earlier request that this thread be focused on suggestions for Roosevelt. Despite my pessimism I'd be excited to see something great done with Roosevelt, especially when so much has been or will be spent on physical renovation. No downside there.

Anonymous wrote:

The number of students enrolled in DCPS or charters near Roosevelt is exponentially larger than that near a Western High School. Which makes more sense to develop?

With the exception of Haynes and the DCI feeders*, many of the new charters don't have middle or high school options, and there's a huge crush to get into latin, basis, or sww. What about a new charter high school near Walter Reed that would feed from CM, IT, 2R, etc as well as be open to citywide lottery?

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Jeff, thanks again for your willingness to engage on this, and sorry for my confusion earlier. Fair point on Option B and Janney.

I am pessimistic about the prospects of any as-of-right HS east of the park within the next 20 years. Whereas some on this thread seem optimistic even on a 5 year timeline. So some of this does come down to empirical predictions.

But there is also some principle at work here. For me the ability to buy a house in a school district is part of the bedrock of this country's values. It is the original and most fundamental version of "school choice". I am only recently learning that places like San Francisco have experimented with something radically different, with disastrous results.

A move to a city wide lottery would send a signal beyond education policy. It would indicate that Fenty was an outlier and DC is back to business as usual.

I am happy to talk or write about this subject as much as necessarily. I'm perfectly willing to seek victory through attrition

I don't know if a high-performing high school can be developed EotP in the near future and, if it can, what timeline would be required. Even if all parties involved came up with a plan upon which we all agreed -- unlikely in itself -- I have grave doubts about DCPS's ability to implement it.

There are only two things that seem for sure: 1) Wilson and Deal have current and increasing problems with overcrowding; and 2) Roosevelt is getting a $127 million renovation. That's not much of a foundation for a successful school, but all we are doing here is exploring the possibility.

I agree that the ability to buy a house within a particular school boundary is important. But, it is also important that large parts of our community are not shut out from opportunities for quality education. The only way I see to reconcile these two principles is to increase the number of opportunities for quality education.

Anonymous wrote:
Jeff, thanks again for your willingness to engage on this, and sorry for my confusion earlier. Fair point on Option B and Janney.

I am pessimistic about the prospects of any as-of-right HS east of the park within the next 20 years. Whereas some on this thread seem optimistic even on a 5 year timeline. So some of this does come down to empirical predictions.

But there is also some principle at work here. For me the ability to buy a house in a school district is part of the bedrock of this country's values. It is the original and most fundamental version of "school choice". I am only recently learning that places like San Francisco have experimented with something radically different, with disastrous results.

A move to a city wide lottery would send a signal beyond education policy. It would indicate that Fenty was an outlier and DC is back to business as usual.

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Mt P parent again - thanks for your reply. Probably there are many on DCUM who know where you live, because of previous posts that you have made, but I do not know where you live, so I can't reply to what you write with regard to your own neighborhood.

Regarding your first statement in bold: I'm going to ignore the real estate appraisal comment, but otherwise, yes, my logic is that there is no need to redraw boundaries so long as there are OOB students at a school, whether by feeder rights or other paths. In most school districts across the country OOB is only offered when a school is not full with IB students. It is a basic principle of fairness that you solve an over-crowding problem first by reducing or eliminating OOB and only then, if overcrowding remains, by reducing the geographical IB area. For example at the ES level, Janney is now full of IB students and thus it no longer accepts OOB. That's how it is supposed to operate. I don't see any proposals to shrink the Janney IB area in order to accept more OOB. Yet there are some, like the other poster on this thread who is posting proposed boundary maps, who would propose to carve Mt P out of Wilson and, presumably, allow OOB students from feeders to continue attending Wilson. This is unfair - shrinking boundaries should be a last resort. First, you reduce OOB.

Re: your second statement - again, I don't know where you live so I don't understand your comment - are you within the Roosevelt boundary proposed in the maps on this thread?

Re: your third statement in bold above, this doesn't make sense in the context of the proposals in this thread. The boundary maps in this thread show Mt P assigned to Roosevelt, so it would appear that if I help create Roosevelt, as proposed here, I likely will lose the Wilson access, right?

In general you seem overly optimistic about the prospects of this new school, but that's another discussion.

Attempting to resolve Wilson and Deal overcrowding simply by eliminating OOB feeder rights is just a version of the "fighting for a piece of the pie" scenario. You've got your piece of the pie, so let the OOB students eat cake. Don't be surprised when they start rolling out a metaphorical guillotine, a citywide high school lottery.

The boundary maps in this thread are the creation of one poster who is simply trying to advance the discussion and give us a framework for discussion. If you have a better idea for a map, please contribute it. I live in Crestwood which, like Mt. Pleasant, has long been zoned for Deal and Wilson. Crestwood has been included in the Roosevelt boundaries in the maps posted here. But, as I've said repeatedly, I would not send my children to a school that was not of equal or better quality than Wilson.

Incidentally, the DME's Proposal Example B shrinks Janney's boundaries and reserves 10% of the seats for OOB students. So, if you haven't seen such a proposal, please read Example B.

We don't know what, if anything, will happen to Roosevelt's boundaries. We are just brainstorming to see what possibilities exist to make Roosevelt an attractive alternative to an overcrowded Wilson. Two out of three of the DME's proposals call for citywide lotteries for high schools. So, maybe there won't be boundaries at all.

Of course optimism is required for this exercise. I know that you feel it is important to look out for your own interests. It is equally important to me to look out for my interests, just as it is for every other poster in this forum to look out for theirs. However, it is self-defeating if your fixation on protecting your piece of the Wilson pie results in something even worse. Do you want a citywide high school lottery? If so, then stand strong in your position that only a select few should be able to have access to Wilson while everyone else is left with unacceptable alternatives. I'd rather see additional high quality alternatives and this thread is aimed at exploring one possibility. There has been a lot of great input for which I am thankful. But, the few posters whose only interest is ensuring that they don't have to sacrifice in the slightest way are very short-sighted.

Anonymous wrote:There have been at least two meetings for Ward 4 parents to discuss this very issue (MS and HS options). The first was back in February and brought out Abigail Smith. There was a Roosevelt parent at my table - still engaged and involved with the school daily, though his kids have graduated.

I don't recall the name of the group, and can't find it in my email, but Andy Rowe of the Powell parent group was there and seemed to have some involvement and may know how to reach parents.

Anonymous wrote:"Capturing" a certain portion of Ward 3 families is never going get us to the goal because they can afford (politically and financially) to not be captured. It's got to be some combination of nearby Ward 3, Ward 4 families, IB (as in int'l Bacc) focused families and other members of the "morning diaspora" that are currently traveling across the city to get to Wilson. There are plenty of students for at least two good high schools. We know this because Wilson is overflowing. How can we make it attractive enough to get the above group on board? Rather, can DCPS execute the plan we draw up?