Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm glad that Mary Cheh is finally paying attention to the schools. Someone needs to and clearly the Mayor and Grosso are not up to the task.

I'm sure she'l GAF about Ward 3 schools and the rest can pound sand . . . of course that's fine for a certain share of posters here

Isn't a big part of her job to represent her constituency? What an odd and vitriolic comment.

+1. I’m not a huge Cheh fan but it seems really odd to fault her for representing the interests of her constituency, who elected her.

The dynamic of DC politics is that the Ward 3 councilmember can never be seen to be advocating for her constituents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the pp in general, but I know more than 6 students (good students, not particularly artsy) from the class of 2020 in Ward 6 who applied to either the museum studies or writing programs, as a way to not go to Eastern. All but one did not get in. I do not think that the other 6 should have been accepted just because they were DC residents. Would rather have out of state actually talented students pay tuition.

Well gosh, then doesn't this example cry out for the need to increase the number of seats in such programs as Museum Studies and Writing? Certainly there are a lot of students in DC who could perform well in subjects like this, and I don't begrudge ANY family seeking out a means to escape from a sentence at Eastern. If Ellington were to revise its standards a bit, it could become more of a haven for kids who are interested in an arts education. They all shouldn't have to be experts in playing an instrument or dancing, for goodness' sake.

This conversation shows that the full potential of Ellington to serve D.C. students is simply not being met.

Anonymous wrote:These comments about Cheh's interests in the schools beginning and ending with Ward 3 are absurd - is there a Ward in the city that has more out of boundary/Ward kids coming into their boundary to attend school every day?

And it isn't just Deal, Wilson & Ellington that have lots of non Ward 3 kids - Hardy, Hearst & Eaton also have decent percentage of non Ward 3 kids.

Ward 3 can't forever be the DCPS/Council solution to under performing schools - in fact that solution has been one of the obstacles to schools getting better elsewhere because there are too many high SES kids in Ward 3, many of whom could be helping to lift schools elsewhere and are not.

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the pp in general, but I know more than 6 students (good students, not particularly artsy) from the class of 2020 in Ward 6 who applied to either the museum studies or writing programs, as a way to not go to Eastern. All but one did not get in. I do not think that the other 6 should have been accepted just because they were DC residents. Would rather have out of state actually talented students pay tuition.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the pp in general, but I know more than 6 students (good students, not particularly artsy) from the class of 2020 in Ward 6 who applied to either the museum studies or writing programs, as a way to not go to Eastern. All but one did not get in. I do not think that the other 6 should have been accepted just because they were DC residents. Would rather have out of state actually talented students pay tuition.

+1. So long as tuition payment is enforced and possibly even raised. Heck, they could even implement a sliding scale based on income sliding up to say, $20K. I'd be happy with that, as long as it's actually paid by families.

Why is it in the interest of DC to provide education for the surrounding counties when their own kids go lacking?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the pp in general, but I know more than 6 students (good students, not particularly artsy) from the class of 2020 in Ward 6 who applied to either the museum studies or writing programs, as a way to not go to Eastern. All but one did not get in. I do not think that the other 6 should have been accepted just because they were DC residents. Would rather have out of state actually talented students pay tuition.

+1. So long as tuition payment is enforced and possibly even raised. Heck, they could even implement a sliding scale based on income sliding up to say, $20K. I'd be happy with that, as long as it's actually paid by families.

Anonymous wrote:These comments about Cheh's interests in the schools beginning and ending with Ward 3 are absurd - is there a Ward in the city that has more out of boundary/Ward kids coming into their boundary to attend school every day?

And it isn't just Deal, Wilson & Ellington that have lots of non Ward 3 kids - Hardy, Hearst & Eaton also have decent percentage of non Ward 3 kids.

Ward 3 can't forever be the DCPS/Council solution to under performing schools - in fact that solution has been one of the obstacles to schools getting better elsewhere because there are too many high SES kids in Ward 3, many of whom could be helping to lift schools elsewhere and are not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d like to see some very basic data which should be super easy for Ellington to provide. For the last four years, How many DC applicants were there for Ellington? How many auditioned and for which programs? And how many were not accepted? I want to see how they justify turning away child of District tax-paying residents while knowingly letting in outnod state kids. DUKE ELLINGTON IS A DC PUBLIC SCHOOL. it isn’t a private school. It isn’t a regional magnet. It’s a DCPS. It is all so maddening. So we built a palace that was $100 million over budget so kids from MD and VA can benefit. Enough.

It is actually a regional magnet in the sense that people from around the region may attend by paying tuition. People seem to miss the point that cheaters appears to be DC residents, so this was not a case of intentionally letting in out of town students. As for who applies, I've been at auditions and they are fairly blind. While you do apply beforehand to get a scheduled audition time, your audition is purely talent based. Nobody asks you where you are from before you sing/dance/act/play. You can either do those things with talent or potential or not.

And there in lies the rub. you make it sound like you're shrugging your shoulders when you basically say Ellington is a regional school essentially by default. But it's not supposed to be. It is a District of Columbia Public School. Period. I get that DCPS has created a path for students from MD and VA to attend by paying tuition (that is set way too low) but so long as children of District taxpayers are getting turned away, allowing out of states students in is bull.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm glad that Mary Cheh is finally paying attention to the schools. Someone needs to and clearly the Mayor and Grosso are not up to the task.

I'm sure she'l GAF about Ward 3 schools and the rest can pound sand . . . of course that's fine for a certain share of posters here

Isn't a big part of her job to represent her constituency? What an odd and vitriolic comment.

+1. I’m not a huge Cheh fan but it seems really odd to fault her for representing the interests of her constituency, who elected her.

sure -- that's what she does. Some Ward 3 residents may be surprised to hear that "paying attention to the schools" requires a holistic all Wards approach. She couldn't find 80% of DC schools without a map

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm glad that Mary Cheh is finally paying attention to the schools. Someone needs to and clearly the Mayor and Grosso are not up to the task.

I'm sure she'l GAF about Ward 3 schools and the rest can pound sand . . . of course that's fine for a certain share of posters here

Isn't a big part of her job to represent her constituency? What an odd and vitriolic comment.

+1. I’m not a huge Cheh fan but it seems really odd to fault her for representing the interests of her constituency, who elected her.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d like to see some very basic data which should be super easy for Ellington to provide. For the last four years, How many DC applicants were there for Ellington? How many auditioned and for which programs? And how many were not accepted? I want to see how they justify turning away child of District tax-paying residents while knowingly letting in outnod state kids. DUKE ELLINGTON IS A DC PUBLIC SCHOOL. it isn’t a private school. It isn’t a regional magnet. It’s a DCPS. It is all so maddening. So we built a palace that was $100 million over budget so kids from MD and VA can benefit. Enough.

It is actually a regional magnet in the sense that people from around the region may attend by paying tuition. People seem to miss the point that cheaters appears to be DC residents, so this was not a case of intentionally letting in out of town students. As for who applies, I've been at auditions and they are fairly blind. While you do apply beforehand to get a scheduled audition time, your audition is purely talent based. Nobody asks you where you are from before you sing/dance/act/play. You can either do those things with talent or potential or not.

And there in lies the rub. you make it sound like you're shrugging your shoulders when you basically say Ellington is a regional school essentially by default. But it's not supposed to be. It is a District of Columbia Public School. Period. I get that DCPS has created a path for students from MD and VA to attend by paying tuition (that is set way too low) but so long as children of District taxpayers are getting turned away, allowing out of states students in is bull.

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the pp in general, but I know more than 6 students (good students, not particularly artsy) from the class of 2020 in Ward 6 who applied to either the museum studies or writing programs, as a way to not go to Eastern. All but one did not get in. I do not think that the other 6 should have been accepted just because they were DC residents. Would rather have out of state actually talented students pay tuition.