Anonymous
04/10/2024 12:37
Subject: Any schools Waitlist data shock you?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:CMI also. Short waitlist even for PK3, and offered 30 seats for 6th
This one isn't shocking, because they have been on a hard decline for years -- but the Drop from their Prek-3 peak in 2018, with a waitlist of 406 to This year being only 30 is very very telling -- They are in the same boat as TR, they were already sinking with a questionable admin before COVID and then their response to COVID sunk their battle ship.
My only question is "Where is the bottom of this spiral?"
It seems like SSMA has been spiraling down for years but never quite gets to the point of making big changes or calling it quits.
Good point. My understanding is that TR is heavily leveraged with a significant amount of debt related to expansion. So they might be in a more perilous situation.
Oh wow. Ouch. Well, at least TR is making some leadership changes. It's clear they do recognize they have a problem. The things I hear from younger-kid parents are cautiously optimistic.
I'm sorry to say this, but that is because they don't know any better. They will figure it out in a few years. It's just not a good program, despite a lot of very respectable efforts by the parent group and some passionate educators.
So you don't think the new leadership is any better? Because it would be hard to be worse.
The new ED is good but there is still not a plan in place to address many of the underlying problems. 4th street is still under interim leadership. I'm underwhelmed.
Anonymous
04/10/2024 12:36
Subject: Any schools Waitlist data shock you?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:DCPS restricted lottery seats at Wells and Coolidge to manage overutilization...and Coolidge has 158 kids on the waiting list for 9th grade!
Wells and Coolidge is becoming more in-boundary so they need to restrict out of bounds seats more. There is talk of adding capacity. The first step is actually a cafeteria expansion that is already planned (the MS and HS is currently sharing at different times).
I would LOVE to see Wells become Upper NW's Stuart-Hobson or Hardy and become a first choice option for neighborhood families that prioritize proximity and continuity. As those neighborhoods start becoming more saturated with school aged kids (not just babies and toddlers), there is definitely more chatter about Whittier, Takoma, DH, etc. Even the nearby schools that don't feed into Wells (like Lewis) mean more neighborhood families staying in their neighborhood elementary schools and considering nearby middle school options.
Would say the same about MacFarland, but the immersion program there has the potential to create more of a school within a school dynamic. Higher SES, higher performing kids from Powell and Bruce Monroe would continue to the immersion program at MacFarland and you'd end up with a big difference in student demographics and performance between the monolingual and bilingual programs. Hypothetically speaking of course. Neither program seems capable of meeting the needs of that higher performing cohort yet.
The best way to raise scores at MacFarland would be to route Bancroft and Oyster there, and increase Oyster's capacity by making the current Oyster building PK3-2 and the Adams building 3-5. That also grows the middle school student body so there can be more courses, sports, and faculty.
Anonymous
04/10/2024 12:33
Subject: Any schools Waitlist data shock you?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:DCPS restricted lottery seats at Wells and Coolidge to manage overutilization...and Coolidge has 158 kids on the waiting list for 9th grade!
Wells and Coolidge is becoming more in-boundary so they need to restrict out of bounds seats more. There is talk of adding capacity. The first step is actually a cafeteria expansion that is already planned (the MS and HS is currently sharing at different times).
I'm the PP and a Wells parent. They don't actually share the cafeteria--Wells uses it and Coolidge kids eat wherever they can find a spot. The boundary study called for reducing OOB seats and then *maybe* looking at a capital expansion in the future, potentially (temporarily) using the modular swing space after Whittier is done with it. But in the meantime, the goal is to bring the enrollment back down to the built capacity (about 500 and 800, respectively), which stinks because of loss of programming.
My original point was just to observe how many kids are trying to access Coolidge, which 8 years ago had fewer than 300 students total. I love to see it!
It would be interesting to see where the kids from the Early College program are coming from. If they are mostly coming from parts of the city closer to other high schools, relocating that program would make sense and would create more room at Wells/Coolidge. The most obvious building would be Luke C. Moore's becaue it's so close to Trinity, but that would require looking at where those students live and where they could be relocated. Renovating Wells and Coolidge so there's room for Shepherd there too would make a lot of sense but I don't think DCPS has the appetite for that fight. Adding Lafayette to the Wells/Coolidge feeder pattern would reduce some challenges and create new ones so again I don't think it will happen.
Anonymous
04/10/2024 12:32
Subject: Any schools Waitlist data shock you?
creative minds offered a LOT of seats and has pretty short WLs
Anonymous
04/10/2024 12:27
Subject: Any schools Waitlist data shock you?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:CMI also. Short waitlist even for PK3, and offered 30 seats for 6th
This one isn't shocking, because they have been on a hard decline for years -- but the Drop from their Prek-3 peak in 2018, with a waitlist of 406 to This year being only 30 is very very telling -- They are in the same boat as TR, they were already sinking with a questionable admin before COVID and then their response to COVID sunk their battle ship.
My only question is "Where is the bottom of this spiral?"
It seems like SSMA has been spiraling down for years but never quite gets to the point of making big changes or calling it quits.
Good point. My understanding is that TR is heavily leveraged with a significant amount of debt related to expansion. So they might be in a more perilous situation.
Oh wow. Ouch. Well, at least TR is making some leadership changes. It's clear they do recognize they have a problem. The things I hear from younger-kid parents are cautiously optimistic.
I'm sorry to say this, but that is because they don't know any better. They will figure it out in a few years. It's just not a good program, despite a lot of very respectable efforts by the parent group and some passionate educators.
So you don't think the new leadership is any better? Because it would be hard to be worse.
Anonymous
04/10/2024 12:25
Subject: Any schools Waitlist data shock you?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:CMI also. Short waitlist even for PK3, and offered 30 seats for 6th
This one isn't shocking, because they have been on a hard decline for years -- but the Drop from their Prek-3 peak in 2018, with a waitlist of 406 to This year being only 30 is very very telling -- They are in the same boat as TR, they were already sinking with a questionable admin before COVID and then their response to COVID sunk their battle ship.
My only question is "Where is the bottom of this spiral?"
It seems like SSMA has been spiraling down for years but never quite gets to the point of making big changes or calling it quits.
Good point. My understanding is that TR is heavily leveraged with a significant amount of debt related to expansion. So they might be in a more perilous situation.
Oh wow. Ouch. Well, at least TR is making some leadership changes. It's clear they do recognize they have a problem. The things I hear from younger-kid parents are cautiously optimistic.
I'm sorry to say this, but that is because they don't know any better. They will figure it out in a few years. It's just not a good program, despite a lot of very respectable efforts by the parent group and some passionate educators.
Anonymous
04/10/2024 11:53
Subject: Any schools Waitlist data shock you?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:DCPS restricted lottery seats at Wells and Coolidge to manage overutilization...and Coolidge has 158 kids on the waiting list for 9th grade!
Wells and Coolidge is becoming more in-boundary so they need to restrict out of bounds seats more. There is talk of adding capacity. The first step is actually a cafeteria expansion that is already planned (the MS and HS is currently sharing at different times).
I would LOVE to see Wells become Upper NW's Stuart-Hobson or Hardy and become a first choice option for neighborhood families that prioritize proximity and continuity. As those neighborhoods start becoming more saturated with school aged kids (not just babies and toddlers), there is definitely more chatter about Whittier, Takoma, DH, etc. Even the nearby schools that don't feed into Wells (like Lewis) mean more neighborhood families staying in their neighborhood elementary schools and considering nearby middle school options.
Would say the same about MacFarland, but the immersion program there has the potential to create more of a school within a school dynamic. Higher SES, higher performing kids from Powell and Bruce Monroe would continue to the immersion program at MacFarland and you'd end up with a big difference in student demographics and performance between the monolingual and bilingual programs. Hypothetically speaking of course. Neither program seems capable of meeting the needs of that higher performing cohort yet.
I think that is totally within your grasp at Wells. Focus like a laser on quality of academic instruction, behavior, and parent satisfaction. Personally I'm quite optimistic about it.
Anonymous
04/10/2024 11:49
Subject: Any schools Waitlist data shock you?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:CMI also. Short waitlist even for PK3, and offered 30 seats for 6th
This one isn't shocking, because they have been on a hard decline for years -- but the Drop from their Prek-3 peak in 2018, with a waitlist of 406 to This year being only 30 is very very telling -- They are in the same boat as TR, they were already sinking with a questionable admin before COVID and then their response to COVID sunk their battle ship.
My only question is "Where is the bottom of this spiral?"
It seems like SSMA has been spiraling down for years but never quite gets to the point of making big changes or calling it quits.
Good point. My understanding is that TR is heavily leveraged with a significant amount of debt related to expansion. So they might be in a more perilous situation.
Oh wow. Ouch. Well, at least TR is making some leadership changes. It's clear they do recognize they have a problem. The things I hear from younger-kid parents are cautiously optimistic.
Anonymous
04/10/2024 11:47
Subject: Any schools Waitlist data shock you?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:CMI also. Short waitlist even for PK3, and offered 30 seats for 6th
This one isn't shocking, because they have been on a hard decline for years -- but the Drop from their Prek-3 peak in 2018, with a waitlist of 406 to This year being only 30 is very very telling -- They are in the same boat as TR, they were already sinking with a questionable admin before COVID and then their response to COVID sunk their battle ship.
My only question is "Where is the bottom of this spiral?"
It seems like SSMA has been spiraling down for years but never quite gets to the point of making big changes or calling it quits.
Good point. My understanding is that TR is heavily leveraged with a significant amount of debt related to expansion. So they might be in a more perilous situation.
Anonymous
04/10/2024 11:28
Subject: Any schools Waitlist data shock you?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:DCPS restricted lottery seats at Wells and Coolidge to manage overutilization...and Coolidge has 158 kids on the waiting list for 9th grade!
Wells and Coolidge is becoming more in-boundary so they need to restrict out of bounds seats more. There is talk of adding capacity. The first step is actually a cafeteria expansion that is already planned (the MS and HS is currently sharing at different times).
I would LOVE to see Wells become Upper NW's Stuart-Hobson or Hardy and become a first choice option for neighborhood families that prioritize proximity and continuity. As those neighborhoods start becoming more saturated with school aged kids (not just babies and toddlers), there is definitely more chatter about Whittier, Takoma, DH, etc. Even the nearby schools that don't feed into Wells (like Lewis) mean more neighborhood families staying in their neighborhood elementary schools and considering nearby middle school options.
Would say the same about MacFarland, but the immersion program there has the potential to create more of a school within a school dynamic. Higher SES, higher performing kids from Powell and Bruce Monroe would continue to the immersion program at MacFarland and you'd end up with a big difference in student demographics and performance between the monolingual and bilingual programs. Hypothetically speaking of course. Neither program seems capable of meeting the needs of that higher performing cohort yet.
Anonymous
04/10/2024 11:19
Subject: Any schools Waitlist data shock you?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:CMI also. Short waitlist even for PK3, and offered 30 seats for 6th
This one isn't shocking, because they have been on a hard decline for years -- but the Drop from their Prek-3 peak in 2018, with a waitlist of 406 to This year being only 30 is very very telling -- They are in the same boat as TR, they were already sinking with a questionable admin before COVID and then their response to COVID sunk their battle ship.
My only question is "Where is the bottom of this spiral?"
It seems like SSMA has been spiraling down for years but never quite gets to the point of making big changes or calling it quits.
Anonymous
04/10/2024 11:17
Subject: Any schools Waitlist data shock you?
Anonymous wrote:CMI also. Short waitlist even for PK3, and offered 30 seats for 6th
This one isn't shocking, because they have been on a hard decline for years -- but the Drop from their Prek-3 peak in 2018, with a waitlist of 406 to This year being only 30 is very very telling -- They are in the same boat as TR, they were already sinking with a questionable admin before COVID and then their response to COVID sunk their battle ship.
Anonymous
04/10/2024 11:16
Subject: Any schools Waitlist data shock you?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:DCPS restricted lottery seats at Wells and Coolidge to manage overutilization...and Coolidge has 158 kids on the waiting list for 9th grade!
Wells and Coolidge is becoming more in-boundary so they need to restrict out of bounds seats more. There is talk of adding capacity. The first step is actually a cafeteria expansion that is already planned (the MS and HS is currently sharing at different times).
I'm the PP and a Wells parent. They don't actually share the cafeteria--Wells uses it and Coolidge kids eat wherever they can find a spot. The boundary study called for reducing OOB seats and then *maybe* looking at a capital expansion in the future, potentially (temporarily) using the modular swing space after Whittier is done with it. But in the meantime, the goal is to bring the enrollment back down to the built capacity (about 500 and 800, respectively), which stinks because of loss of programming.
My original point was just to observe how many kids are trying to access Coolidge, which 8 years ago had fewer than 300 students total. I love to see it!
Anonymous
04/10/2024 11:00
Subject: Any schools Waitlist data shock you?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:CapCity Lower School used to have a waitlist 100+ for PK3.
This year it was single digita.
link?
All wait-list data: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/aaron2446/viz/MSDCSeatsandWaitlistOfferData_draft/MSDCPublicDisplay
Anonymous
04/10/2024 10:58
Subject: Any schools Waitlist data shock you?
Anonymous wrote:CapCity Lower School used to have a waitlist 100+ for PK3.
This year it was single digita.
link?