Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a one-car family in Ward 3 and it's not clear how we'll be served by public transit as our kids progress in DCPS. We currently drive to Eaton when it's raining, as the closest we can get by metrobus is many blocks away. Hardy is even less accessible to our apartment and it sounds like the new high school would be worse.

Hardy at its current location is pretty accessible on public transit and frankly if you live within Eaton's boundaries there is really no part of the catchment area that is not comfortably walking distance to Hardy and not sure why people can't walk to school in the rain - our kids have rain coats and walk to school in the rain.

As for the new Palisades HS that is not going to be easy to reach at all. Presumably a new WMATA bus route will be created but given the limited ways to get there and all of the congestion it will not be an easy place to reach by any means.

LOL. 50 minutes walking for a 6th grader is “comfortable”? And what about in the uphill direction?

No doubt you walked 15 miles barefoot in snow to school…

Umm I do think a 6th grader can walk for 50 minutes and can handle walking up a hill (really??) - the only snow here is the apparently snowflake of a kid here though it is usually the parents who shrink from anything hard and not our kids.

In any case I'm pretty familiar with the neighborhood and would be surprised if the slowest of kids would talk 50 minutes to get to Eaton - there is no part of Eaton's boundaries that are more than 2 miles from the school so at worst it is a 30 minute walk.

Of course a 6th grader can walk for 50 minutes; that doesn’t make it a practical commute twice a day.

Stick the corner of Rodman and Connecticut in a mapping app and see what you get. You know not of what you speak.

Just checked - it is .9 miles from CT & Rodman to Eaton and 2.2 miles to Hardy. So the former should be a 15-20 minute walk and the latter about 45 minutes on foot and both can be done in one-third the time on a bike.

Both seem pretty practical or would be for my kids who mostly want to spend their free time staring at a screen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again reflecting DC's racial fears. The high schools are highly segregated, so the place for a new high school in DC is of course placed at the least accessible furthest corner of Georgetown.

Google Maps tells me if you get to the Anacostia Metro at 7:30 am, catch the Green Line then the D6, you can get to that location just before 9am.

Just the bus from Dupont Circle takes 36 minutes.

Who says all OOB kids come from EotR? You’d have to move heaven and earth to cut Janney out of Deal, but families who live IB for Janney will lottery for this school in droves. And that, plus the end of the Hardy-to-Wilson feed, will open up OOB seats at Wilson. Which is right on top of the train, a 30-minute ride from the Anacostia station. It’s a dynamic system.

Agree with this. In a few years Wilson will likely become a majority OOB school and all the JKLMM families that do not go the private school route will end up in the Palisades. I think DC should have spent all those millions to build/buy a new high school outside of Ward 3 that would have relieved overcrowding at Wilson and keep kids from having to travel across the city to get to a decent school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again reflecting DC's racial fears. The high schools are highly segregated, so the place for a new high school in DC is of course placed at the least accessible furthest corner of Georgetown.

Google Maps tells me if you get to the Anacostia Metro at 7:30 am, catch the Green Line then the D6, you can get to that location just before 9am.

Just the bus from Dupont Circle takes 36 minutes.

Who says all OOB kids come from EotR? You’d have to move heaven and earth to cut Janney out of Deal, but families who live IB for Janney will lottery for this school in droves. And that, plus the end of the Hardy-to-Wilson feed, will open up OOB seats at Wilson. Which is right on top of the train, a 30-minute ride from the Anacostia station. It’s a dynamic system.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a one-car family in Ward 3 and it's not clear how we'll be served by public transit as our kids progress in DCPS. We currently drive to Eaton when it's raining, as the closest we can get by metrobus is many blocks away. Hardy is even less accessible to our apartment and it sounds like the new high school would be worse.

Hardy at its current location is pretty accessible on public transit and frankly if you live within Eaton's boundaries there is really no part of the catchment area that is not comfortably walking distance to Hardy and not sure why people can't walk to school in the rain - our kids have rain coats and walk to school in the rain.

As for the new Palisades HS that is not going to be easy to reach at all. Presumably a new WMATA bus route will be created but given the limited ways to get there and all of the congestion it will not be an easy place to reach by any means.

LOL. 50 minutes walking for a 6th grader is “comfortable”? And what about in the uphill direction?

No doubt you walked 15 miles barefoot in snow to school…

Umm I do think a 6th grader can walk for 50 minutes and can handle walking up a hill (really??) - the only snow here is the apparently snowflake of a kid here though it is usually the parents who shrink from anything hard and not our kids.

In any case I'm pretty familiar with the neighborhood and would be surprised if the slowest of kids would talk 50 minutes to get to Eaton - there is no part of Eaton's boundaries that are more than 2 miles from the school so at worst it is a 30 minute walk.

Of course a 6th grader can walk for 50 minutes; that doesn’t make it a practical commute twice a day.

Stick the corner of Rodman and Connecticut in a mapping app and see what you get. You know not of what you speak.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a one-car family in Ward 3 and it's not clear how we'll be served by public transit as our kids progress in DCPS. We currently drive to Eaton when it's raining, as the closest we can get by metrobus is many blocks away. Hardy is even less accessible to our apartment and it sounds like the new high school would be worse.

Hardy at its current location is pretty accessible on public transit and frankly if you live within Eaton's boundaries there is really no part of the catchment area that is not comfortably walking distance to Hardy and not sure why people can't walk to school in the rain - our kids have rain coats and walk to school in the rain.

As for the new Palisades HS that is not going to be easy to reach at all. Presumably a new WMATA bus route will be created but given the limited ways to get there and all of the congestion it will not be an easy place to reach by any means.

LOL. 50 minutes walking for a 6th grader is “comfortable”? And what about in the uphill direction?

No doubt you walked 15 miles barefoot in snow to school…

Umm I do think a 6th grader can walk for 50 minutes and can handle walking up a hill (really??) - the only snow here is the apparently snowflake of a kid here though it is usually the parents who shrink from anything hard and not our kids.

In any case I'm pretty familiar with the neighborhood and would be surprised if the slowest of kids would talk 50 minutes to get to Eaton - there is no part of Eaton's boundaries that are more than 2 miles from the school so at worst it is a 30 minute walk.

Of course a 6th grader can walk for 50 minutes; that doesn’t make it a practical commute twice a day.

Stick the corner of Rodman and Connecticut in a mapping app and see what you get. You know not of what you speak.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a one-car family in Ward 3 and it's not clear how we'll be served by public transit as our kids progress in DCPS. We currently drive to Eaton when it's raining, as the closest we can get by metrobus is many blocks away. Hardy is even less accessible to our apartment and it sounds like the new high school would be worse.

Hardy at its current location is pretty accessible on public transit and frankly if you live within Eaton's boundaries there is really no part of the catchment area that is not comfortably walking distance to Hardy and not sure why people can't walk to school in the rain - our kids have rain coats and walk to school in the rain.

As for the new Palisades HS that is not going to be easy to reach at all. Presumably a new WMATA bus route will be created but given the limited ways to get there and all of the congestion it will not be an easy place to reach by any means.

LOL. 50 minutes walking for a 6th grader is “comfortable”? And what about in the uphill direction?

No doubt you walked 15 miles barefoot in snow to school…

Umm I do think a 6th grader can walk for 50 minutes and can handle walking up a hill (really??) - the only snow here is the apparently snowflake of a kid here though it is usually the parents who shrink from anything hard and not our kids.

In any case I'm pretty familiar with the neighborhood and would be surprised if the slowest of kids would talk 50 minutes to get to Eaton - there is no part of Eaton's boundaries that are more than 2 miles from the school so at worst it is a 30 minute walk.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a one-car family in Ward 3 and it's not clear how we'll be served by public transit as our kids progress in DCPS. We currently drive to Eaton when it's raining, as the closest we can get by metrobus is many blocks away. Hardy is even less accessible to our apartment and it sounds like the new high school would be worse.

Hardy at its current location is pretty accessible on public transit and frankly if you live within Eaton's boundaries there is really no part of the catchment area that is not comfortably walking distance to Hardy and not sure why people can't walk to school in the rain - our kids have rain coats and walk to school in the rain.

As for the new Palisades HS that is not going to be easy to reach at all. Presumably a new WMATA bus route will be created but given the limited ways to get there and all of the congestion it will not be an easy place to reach by any means.

LOL. 50 minutes walking for a 6th grader is “comfortable”? And what about in the uphill direction?

No doubt you walked 15 miles barefoot in snow to school…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a one-car family in Ward 3 and it's not clear how we'll be served by public transit as our kids progress in DCPS. We currently drive to Eaton when it's raining, as the closest we can get by metrobus is many blocks away. Hardy is even less accessible to our apartment and it sounds like the new high school would be worse.

Hardy at its current location is pretty accessible on public transit and frankly if you live within Eaton's boundaries there is really no part of the catchment area that is not comfortably walking distance to Hardy and not sure why people can't walk to school in the rain - our kids have rain coats and walk to school in the rain.

As for the new Palisades HS that is not going to be easy to reach at all. Presumably a new WMATA bus route will be created but given the limited ways to get there and all of the congestion it will not be an easy place to reach by any means.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ward 3 candidates are starting to come out with positions on this. What are people's takes?

Here's Frumin on Foxhall and MacArthur:

https://fruminforward3.com/food-for-thought-new-schools/

He thinks we should pause planning for the Foxhall ES to see if that money might be better spent elsewhere in Ward 3 DCPS and says the idea of a 50/50 boundary/lottery HS for 1,000 kids on MacArthur is idealistically sound but logistically unsound because a.) the school is not in a central location, making it difficult to reach for many; and b.) building a new half-lottery school in Ward 3 will only draw kids away from already-underutilized high schools elsewhere in the city. He envisions a high school on the MacArthur site for 700, but doesn't say where those 700 should come from (Hardy plus kids moved from Wilson? Redrawn W3 boundaries? Hardy plus fewer lottery seats?)

He also says "the way to increase access to Ward 3 schools is to build more affordable housing in the area, a project to which I am deeply committed."

Well, good luck with that. Ward 3 is definitely getting more housing, but almost none of it will be affordable because developers can't make money off such housing.

Having read his page and being very familiar with this issue, the alternative options, and the arguments for and against the new schools, his position seems more nuanced than you are giving him credit for. But it is also a classic example of a candidate carefully crafting a position to be all things to all people (with special attention to the vocal NIMBYs in Foxhall) while putting forth ideas that are superficially appealing but completely unrealistic (buying back LAB's lease; asking them to move to the River School campus). It's taken so long to get movement on the school overcrowding problem in Ward 3 and finally we have traction. Any candidate who can say with a straight-face that they support public education and yet want to put a "pause" on that movement should be viewed with some suspicion.

On the plus side, he's also talking himself out of the Mary Cheh endorsement that will probably be decisive.

Mary Cher’s endorsement won’t make a difference. The Washington Post endorsement is the only one that matters.

She’s already endorsed another candidate… for what it’s worth … Duncan.

Frumin wasn’t so impressive when he jumped in trying to be a change agent on the last school boundary efforts

John Eaton families, now former Eaton families, are still smarting from when he called Eaton necessary "collateral damage" because one Ward 3 school had to be the sacrificial cut from Deal.

Poor choice of words but he wasn’t wrong. Time to move on.

Anonymous wrote:We are a one-car family in Ward 3 and it's not clear how we'll be served by public transit as our kids progress in DCPS. We currently drive to Eaton when it's raining, as the closest we can get by metrobus is many blocks away. Hardy is even less accessible to our apartment and it sounds like the new high school would be worse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ward 3 candidates are starting to come out with positions on this. What are people's takes?

Here's Frumin on Foxhall and MacArthur:

https://fruminforward3.com/food-for-thought-new-schools/

He thinks we should pause planning for the Foxhall ES to see if that money might be better spent elsewhere in Ward 3 DCPS and says the idea of a 50/50 boundary/lottery HS for 1,000 kids on MacArthur is idealistically sound but logistically unsound because a.) the school is not in a central location, making it difficult to reach for many; and b.) building a new half-lottery school in Ward 3 will only draw kids away from already-underutilized high schools elsewhere in the city. He envisions a high school on the MacArthur site for 700, but doesn't say where those 700 should come from (Hardy plus kids moved from Wilson? Redrawn W3 boundaries? Hardy plus fewer lottery seats?)

He also says "the way to increase access to Ward 3 schools is to build more affordable housing in the area, a project to which I am deeply committed."

Well, good luck with that. Ward 3 is definitely getting more housing, but almost none of it will be affordable because developers can't make money off such housing.

Having read his page and being very familiar with this issue, the alternative options, and the arguments for and against the new schools, his position seems more nuanced than you are giving him credit for. But it is also a classic example of a candidate carefully crafting a position to be all things to all people (with special attention to the vocal NIMBYs in Foxhall) while putting forth ideas that are superficially appealing but completely unrealistic (buying back LAB's lease; asking them to move to the River School campus). It's taken so long to get movement on the school overcrowding problem in Ward 3 and finally we have traction. Any candidate who can say with a straight-face that they support public education and yet want to put a "pause" on that movement should be viewed with some suspicion.

On the plus side, he's also talking himself out of the Mary Cheh endorsement that will probably be decisive.

Mary Cher’s endorsement won’t make a difference. The Washington Post endorsement is the only one that matters.

She’s already endorsed another candidate… for what it’s worth … Duncan.

Frumin wasn’t so impressive when he jumped in trying to be a change agent on the last school boundary efforts

John Eaton families, now former Eaton families, are still smarting from when he called Eaton necessary "collateral damage" because one Ward 3 school had to be the sacrificial cut from Deal.

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:Ward 3 candidates are starting to come out with positions on this. What are people's takes?

Here's Frumin on Foxhall and MacArthur:

https://fruminforward3.com/food-for-thought-new-schools/

He thinks we should pause planning for the Foxhall ES to see if that money might be better spent elsewhere in Ward 3 DCPS and says the idea of a 50/50 boundary/lottery HS for 1,000 kids on MacArthur is idealistically sound but logistically unsound because a.) the school is not in a central location, making it difficult to reach for many; and b.) building a new half-lottery school in Ward 3 will only draw kids away from already-underutilized high schools elsewhere in the city. He envisions a high school on the MacArthur site for 700, but doesn't say where those 700 should come from (Hardy plus kids moved from Wilson? Redrawn W3 boundaries? Hardy plus fewer lottery seats?)

He also says "the way to increase access to Ward 3 schools is to build more affordable housing in the area, a project to which I am deeply committed."

Well, good luck with that. Ward 3 is definitely getting more housing, but almost none of it will be affordable because developers can't make money off such housing.