Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually under the new proximity rules and with Hearst's building sitting fairly close to its southern boundary, quite a few families, especially at McLean Gardens could have proximity preference. (Of course, Hearst families at the northern edge of the boundary will have proximity preference for Janney.)

True, except that Janney is overcrowded with IB kids. Hearst is over 4/5 OOB enrollment.

And yet, Janney still takes OOB kids with proximity. I know of three accepted in the past 3 years.

Anonymous wrote:Actually under the new proximity rules and with Hearst's building sitting fairly close to its southern boundary, quite a few families, especially at McLean Gardens could have proximity preference. (Of course, Hearst families at the northern edge of the boundary will have proximity preference for Janney.)

True, except that Janney is overcrowded with IB kids. Hearst is over 4/5 OOB enrollment.

Anonymous wrote:This license plate thing is ridiculous - I would expect there are several people who have a babysitter who lives in MD doing drop off and/or pick-up.

Yes, and divorced parents, too. But that doesn't explain the sheer number of MD vehicles at pick up and drop off at some schools. Also, in some cases it's remarkable how much the kids look like their "nanny."

Actually under the new proximity rules and with Hearst's building sitting fairly close to its southern boundary, quite a few families, especially at McLean Gardens could have proximity preference. (Of course, Hearst families at the northern edge of the boundary will have proximity preference for Janney.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hearst can manage enrollment to keep it ~ 20 kids per grade, that is feasible. I also think some of the OOB will be families from Eaton who want a Deal feeder.

Could be. Over time, Hearst could shift to becoming strongly neighborhood with true IB students and then families from next door Cleveland Park who use proximity preference or something to get into Hearst for Deal and to avoid the Hardy fate. Eaton might shift places with Hearst as a predominately OOB school.

Proximity is a real tough thing. I can't imagine more than a handful of thay actually qualify (and how many of those of PK-5 children).

This license plate thing is ridiculous - I would expect there are several people who have a babysitter who lives in MD doing drop off and/or pick-up.

Anonymous wrote:Hearst can manage enrollment to keep it ~ 20 kids per grade, that is feasible. I also think some of the OOB will be families from Eaton who want a Deal feeder.

Could be. Over time, Hearst could shift to becoming strongly neighborhood with true IB students and then families from next door Cleveland Park who use proximity preference or something to get into Hearst for Deal and to avoid the Hardy fate. Eaton might shift places with Hearst as a predominately OOB school.

Hearst can manage enrollment to keep it ~ 20 kids per grade, that is feasible. I also think some of the OOB will be families from Eaton who want a Deal feeder.

Right, because kids are getting a different education in the jklm schools. You go on believing that all you choose to.

Can we return to the JKLM League, please?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here, they did NOT expand classroom space. There will only be two classes per grade now as before. It was like Murch in that full buildings were temporary buildings.

This is a distinction without a difference. While technically it may be true that simply converting today's portable classroom space into brick and mortar classrooms is not expanding current instructional space, it ignores the fact that trailers were added pre-renovation to address an enlarged student body that exceeded the capacity of the old building. Wouldn't the prudent thing have been to ratchet back the OOB enrollment as IB enrollment climbed, rather than build such a large addition to accommodate a "new normal" school population that is still above 80% OOB?

Murch is not 80% OOB

So, are posters saying that having a school have enough space for two classes per grade is too much to ask? It should be kept a tiny boundary and have one class per grade? That makes no sense.

They can roll back OOB enrollment, but the school should have two classes per grade.

Perhaps they are suggesting Hearst should eliminate its autism classes, which are expanding next year, and squeeze typical kids back into those spaces? The haters just have no idea what amazing services the school provides and what a good neighbor it is.

"Haters"?! Must you personalize every difference of opinion and call those with whom you disagree "haters"? Hearst may be a good school. It is not a neighborhood school by any measure. Some reasonably question why so much is being invested in building out a school that is overcrowded with a largely commuter population when schools in other neighborhoods are being closed for lack of students. Wouldn't it be better to have built out the library and multipurpose room, etc. but dialed back the commuter students as local enrollment has risen?

Look, you might not be a "hater" but you simply don't know what you are talking about. So once again, a history lesson. Hearst was built to accommodate grades pk-3. The original building had 8 classrooms, no library, no cafeteria, no common space. One classroom was being used for the autism class, and another for the library. So there were really 6 classrooms. When DCPS decided to make Hearst a pk-5 school, it did not have enough classrooms, EVEN WITH just one class per grade. So the trailers arrived. The current renovation adds the classroom space that were always needed as part of the expansion, as well as a cafeteria, library, and auditorium. So with grades PK, K, and 1 now all almost at 50% IB and rising each year, do you really think it would have made sense to embark on a renovation project that only added the common spaces but not classrooms to accommodate the current capacity of 300? Talk about short-sighted.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here, they did NOT expand classroom space. There will only be two classes per grade now as before. It was like Murch in that full buildings were temporary buildings.

This is a distinction without a difference. While technically it may be true that simply converting today's portable classroom space into brick and mortar classrooms is not expanding current instructional space, it ignores the fact that trailers were added pre-renovation to address an enlarged student body that exceeded the capacity of the old building. Wouldn't the prudent thing have been to ratchet back the OOB enrollment as IB enrollment climbed, rather than build such a large addition to accommodate a "new normal" school population that is still above 80% OOB?

No because that is eventually where the Murch and Janney overflow will land.

I don't necessarily see IB enrollment at the JKLM schools continuing to increase at recent rates. This may seem anecdotal, but neighborhood housing turnover seems to go in cycles rather than at a steady rate. Look, for example, at how little inventory there is in AU Park of houses for sale. Once kids get through Janney, those kids will go on to Deal, Wilson or somewhere else, and it's likely that their parents may stay as empty nesters for some years after that. So there may be fewer young families with young kids moving into the area in the foreseeable future. The result may be that the schools are overbuilding for what their neighborhood school populations may be in 8 or 10 years and the schools will therefore become more city-wide rather than local in orientation.

That doesn't account for the large apartment building population in bound for Murch and Hearst, which has lots of turnover and always will. Now they are building more. Also the so-called Cluster 12 where Murch sits is projected to have one of the largest child population booms in the city (according to city reports).

There was no "library." It was an old classroom that, in recent years, was being used for the purpose. The original building had no multi-purpose room, no library; no cafeteria.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here, they did NOT expand classroom space. There will only be two classes per grade now as before. It was like Murch in that full buildings were temporary buildings.

This is a distinction without a difference. While technically it may be true that simply converting today's portable classroom space into brick and mortar classrooms is not expanding current instructional space, it ignores the fact that trailers were added pre-renovation to address an enlarged student body that exceeded the capacity of the old building. Wouldn't the prudent thing have been to ratchet back the OOB enrollment as IB enrollment climbed, rather than build such a large addition to accommodate a "new normal" school population that is still above 80% OOB?

Murch is not 80% OOB

So, are posters saying that having a school have enough space for two classes per grade is too much to ask? It should be kept a tiny boundary and have one class per grade? That makes no sense.

They can roll back OOB enrollment, but the school should have two classes per grade.

Perhaps they are suggesting Hearst should eliminate its autism classes, which are expanding next year, and squeeze typical kids back into those spaces? The haters just have no idea what amazing services the school provides and what a good neighbor it is.

"Haters"?! Must you personalize every difference of opinion and call those with whom you disagree "haters"? Hearst may be a good school. It is not a neighborhood school by any measure. Some reasonably question why so much is being invested in building out a school that is overcrowded with a largely commuter population when schools in other neighborhoods are being closed for lack of students. Wouldn't it be better to have built out the library and multipurpose room, etc. but dialed back the commuter students as local enrollment has risen?