Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I think when we see the DME's proposal we may very well see set-asides, so the OOB and feeder right stuff won't go away and I think it's foolish to continue fighting with abolishing the practice as a goal...that is UNTIL DCPS creates some genuinely viable options for people who don't live in Ward 3. And don't ask me to roll up my sleeves and build it. I will pay my taxes (I'll even pay a tax increase), I will volunteer (as I have my entire life)...but I will not play "education expert." I expect the experts that my tax dollars fund to develop a stellar plan (with my input! happy to provide input!) and figure out a way to create middle and high schools that higher SES families might actually consider.

So you think it was DCPS that created the viable schools in Ward 3? Oh, that's a good one.

+1. It is quite funny the way many talk without realizing that DCPS has invested way more capital and resources in schools outside NW...ignoring the parents and the invested communities would be quite stupid.

Way more? Have you ever driven past Roosevelt HS?

Over $100 m spent in Ballou and Eastern EACH, despite abismal results. Do you know what you're talking about?

The paint is not even dry on those projects and they both came after the Wilson/Deal upgrades.

People are always forgetting about the factor of per-pupil funding vis a vis the No Child Left Behind requirement that students at failing schools be given the option to transfer to a performing school. That's what sent a lot of kids WOTP in the mid-2000s. The more students enrolled, the more money a school gets, and the better they do, the more autonomy they have for unique programming. It's a nice virtuous cycle, which "engaged" parents are riding, not pushing.

Exactly the opposite happens in the schools that lost these students. The ridiculous PS-8 and 6-12 education campus were brought into play to consolidate student populations. The needs of 7th grader are very different from a preschooler, but there just aren't enough of them in a school to get even the basics.

By the way, DC is not even in the top ten for per pupil funding: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/06/07/states-spending-education/10083569/

Thanks so much for posting! Really appreciate all of your efforts!

Anonymous wrote:What time does embargo end?

No idea.

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't access the link either. Anyone able to post the content or summarize the important points. Why Abigail Smith is choosing to release the information with only a few school days left --- is beyond me. It was supposed to come out in May! She should be held accountable. Now it will be much more difficult to organize and discuss. The whole thing wreaks of a f--k you patronizing attitude to the parents of this City. It is very difficult not to question her motives, I do pray she is gone w the next administration.

I have the Wilson one saved; neglected to save the Hardy one. There's nothing to post for the Wilson one because it's really just a map. The text says that Hardy, Deal, Adams feed to Wilson. The text for the Hardy one was more important because it included the feeders. But based on the Wilson map and the Hardy map, it's obvious what the Deal feeders are - process of elimination.

BTW, still nothing on the Washington Post website. DCUM beats the Post, again, by several hours!

The Post is adhering to the embargo. DCUM was neither asked nor agreed to honor an embargo. With that in mind:

Here is the Hardy letter: http://imgur.com/1vBUwWl

and here is the Wilson letter: http://imgur.com/YFerehm

What time does embargo end?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I think when we see the DME's proposal we may very well see set-asides, so the OOB and feeder right stuff won't go away and I think it's foolish to continue fighting with abolishing the practice as a goal...that is UNTIL DCPS creates some genuinely viable options for people who don't live in Ward 3. And don't ask me to roll up my sleeves and build it. I will pay my taxes (I'll even pay a tax increase), I will volunteer (as I have my entire life)...but I will not play "education expert." I expect the experts that my tax dollars fund to develop a stellar plan (with my input! happy to provide input!) and figure out a way to create middle and high schools that higher SES families might actually consider.

So you think it was DCPS that created the viable schools in Ward 3? Oh, that's a good one.

+1. It is quite funny the way many talk without realizing that DCPS has invested way more capital and resources in schools outside NW...ignoring the parents and the invested communities would be quite stupid.

Way more? Have you ever driven past Roosevelt HS?

Over $100 m spent in Ballou and Eastern EACH, despite abismal results. Do you know what you're talking about?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't access the link either. Anyone able to post the content or summarize the important points. Why Abigail Smith is choosing to release the information with only a few school days left --- is beyond me. It was supposed to come out in May! She should be held accountable. Now it will be much more difficult to organize and discuss. The whole thing wreaks of a f--k you patronizing attitude to the parents of this City. It is very difficult not to question her motives, I do pray she is gone w the next administration.

I have the Wilson one saved; neglected to save the Hardy one. There's nothing to post for the Wilson one because it's really just a map. The text says that Hardy, Deal, Adams feed to Wilson. The text for the Hardy one was more important because it included the feeders. But based on the Wilson map and the Hardy map, it's obvious what the Deal feeders are - process of elimination.

BTW, still nothing on the Washington Post website. DCUM beats the Post, again, by several hours!

The Post is adhering to the embargo. DCUM was neither asked nor agreed to honor an embargo. With that in mind:

Here is the Hardy letter: http://imgur.com/1vBUwWl

and here is the Wilson letter: http://imgur.com/YFerehm

Please share what was on the site. No longer accessible.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't access the link either. Anyone able to post the content or summarize the important points. Why Abigail Smith is choosing to release the information with only a few school days left --- is beyond me. It was supposed to come out in May! She should be held accountable. Now it will be much more difficult to organize and discuss. The whole thing wreaks of a f--k you patronizing attitude to the parents of this City. It is very difficult not to question her motives, I do pray she is gone w the next administration.

I have the Wilson one saved; neglected to save the Hardy one. There's nothing to post for the Wilson one because it's really just a map. The text says that Hardy, Deal, Adams feed to Wilson. The text for the Hardy one was more important because it included the feeders. But based on the Wilson map and the Hardy map, it's obvious what the Deal feeders are - process of elimination.

BTW, still nothing on the Washington Post website. DCUM beats the Post, again, by several hours!

Presumably the Post is making an interactive map, so I'd give them a few extra hours

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't access the link either. Anyone able to post the content or summarize the important points. Why Abigail Smith is choosing to release the information with only a few school days left --- is beyond me. It was supposed to come out in May! She should be held accountable. Now it will be much more difficult to organize and discuss. The whole thing wreaks of a f--k you patronizing attitude to the parents of this City. It is very difficult not to question her motives, I do pray she is gone w the next administration.

I have the Wilson one saved; neglected to save the Hardy one. There's nothing to post for the Wilson one because it's really just a map. The text says that Hardy, Deal, Adams feed to Wilson. The text for the Hardy one was more important because it included the feeders. But based on the Wilson map and the Hardy map, it's obvious what the Deal feeders are - process of elimination.

BTW, still nothing on the Washington Post website. DCUM beats the Post, again, by several hours!

Anonymous wrote:Can't access the link either. Anyone able to post the content or summarize the important points. Why Abigail Smith is choosing to release the information with only a few school days left --- is beyond me. It was supposed to come out in May! She should be held accountable. Now it will be much more difficult to organize and discuss. The whole thing wreaks of a f--k you patronizing attitude to the parents of this City. It is very difficult not to question her motives, I do pray she is gone w the next administration.

I have the Wilson one saved; neglected to save the Hardy one. There's nothing to post for the Wilson one because it's really just a map. The text says that Hardy, Deal, Adams feed to Wilson. The text for the Hardy one was more important because it included the feeders. But based on the Wilson map and the Hardy map, it's obvious what the Deal feeders are - process of elimination.

Can't access the link either. Anyone able to post the content or summarize the important points. Why Abigail Smith is choosing to release the information with only a few school days left --- is beyond me. It was supposed to come out in May! She should be held accountable. Now it will be much more difficult to organize and discuss. The whole thing wreaks of a f--k you patronizing attitude to the parents of this City. It is very difficult not to question her motives, I do pray she is gone w the next administration.

I thought for years that Roosevelt was closed, but nope...it really is an operational school. Scary.....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I think when we see the DME's proposal we may very well see set-asides, so the OOB and feeder right stuff won't go away and I think it's foolish to continue fighting with abolishing the practice as a goal...that is UNTIL DCPS creates some genuinely viable options for people who don't live in Ward 3. And don't ask me to roll up my sleeves and build it. I will pay my taxes (I'll even pay a tax increase), I will volunteer (as I have my entire life)...but I will not play "education expert." I expect the experts that my tax dollars fund to develop a stellar plan (with my input! happy to provide input!) and figure out a way to create middle and high schools that higher SES families might actually consider.

So you think it was DCPS that created the viable schools in Ward 3? Oh, that's a good one.

While having high-SES families with advanced degrees certainly goes a long way to helping establish a school, I personally believe it's visionary leadership (i.e. the paid experts) who make schools viable...through their hiring, innovation, anticipating needs, being responsive, building programs that attract interest, and knowing when to plow ahead and ask for permission later. yes, yes, rich engaged parents mean a heck of a lot, but please don't overstate your role.

Almost the entire experience of successful NWNW schools is a testament against what you presume. (Deal appears to be an exception.) It was not DCPS. It was not visionary leadership. It was parental involvement mainly, but coupled with enough hands-off from DCPS to not impede positive developments. (By the way, the past Lafayette principal was pretty well loathed. I don't think that even her supporters would call her visionary.)

Stop reading WTU press releases for talking points.

Please offer some tangible examples....and I don't mean just a school name. Tell me "Janney" and then tell me what exactly parents did to make it the success it is despite unremarkable or incompetent staff. If you have such a fantastic historian's focus on the success of NWNW schools, help us all by writing the manual. And I mean that. I'm not trying to be cute.

Here's my guess -- schools are kept in decent condition because parents complain if not - and maybe do some week-end and playground clean up themselves, if needed. Parents pay extra into a fund for supplies and aides in the classes to make it easier for teachers to handle the kids and thus for the kids to learn. "good" teachers get transferred there after a few years in less desirable schools because they want their lives to be a little easier. These schools have a pick of staff because they are desirable -- that is in a safe neighborhood with students prepared to learn with strong parental support. There is a strong community feeling because most of the parents live in the neighborhood and are socially and financially invested in it.

Pretty simple stuff really. You don't have to be high SES, but it helps to be middle class and ambitious for your children's education.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I think when we see the DME's proposal we may very well see set-asides, so the OOB and feeder right stuff won't go away and I think it's foolish to continue fighting with abolishing the practice as a goal...that is UNTIL DCPS creates some genuinely viable options for people who don't live in Ward 3. And don't ask me to roll up my sleeves and build it. I will pay my taxes (I'll even pay a tax increase), I will volunteer (as I have my entire life)...but I will not play "education expert." I expect the experts that my tax dollars fund to develop a stellar plan (with my input! happy to provide input!) and figure out a way to create middle and high schools that higher SES families might actually consider.

So you think it was DCPS that created the viable schools in Ward 3? Oh, that's a good one.

+1. It is quite funny the way many talk without realizing that DCPS has invested way more capital and resources in schools outside NW...ignoring the parents and the invested communities would be quite stupid.

Way more? Have you ever driven past Roosevelt HS?