Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal was already renovated twice in the last 10 ten years to add space. Shortly thereafter, they covered up the basketball court with trailers. Now they added more trailers and found a way to wedge in a new basketball court by removing garden beds.

The building is already too big for kids to get from Geometry on the 3rd floor of the west wing to art on the second floor of the Reno addition in time for class, and there are too many people using the common spaces, both at one time (lunch) and over time (2000 people utilizing space meant for 1400 creates rapid wear and tear and accelerates maintenance needs and costs). Every time they add a team they need to duplicate a specials schedule, which adds five new slots per team. Scheduling a too big school in a too small building is like trying to assign seats in a clown car.

Besides, 500-600 kids per grade in middle school WHEN it isn't necessary, and it isn't, is incompetence.

Deal's enrollment this year is 1507, not 2000. https://osse.dc.gov/node/1390091

The building isn't just holding students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know what the solution is but as a Lafayette family, I can tell you zoning out a bunch of rich white kids to try to integrate a school is just short sighted. The road to improvement is a one-way street. Families strive to do better with the resources they have. Trying to get a huge cohort of UNW families to accept a worse school, when they have the resources not to accept that choice is extremely strange. Particularly when most of the families live less than a mile away from a crescent ring of excellent public schools that stretch from Arlington over to North Bethesda. Or alternatively, of course, private. Right now a seat at Lafayette is worth about, what $600k? We have $600k. Do you?

Of course you think it is short sighted, you’re rich and white. Is it hot and difficult to breathe under your white hood? Turn down the white power music and think about what you are typing. You’re an ass.

Hey, I’ll see you at the next boundary review and we’ll see who was right.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know what the solution is but as a Lafayette family, I can tell you zoning out a bunch of rich white kids to try to integrate a school is just short sighted. The road to improvement is a one-way street. Families strive to do better with the resources they have. Trying to get a huge cohort of UNW families to accept a worse school, when they have the resources not to accept that choice is extremely strange. Particularly when most of the families live less than a mile away from a crescent ring of excellent public schools that stretch from Arlington over to North Bethesda. Or alternatively, of course, private. Right now a seat at Lafayette is worth about, what $600k? We have $600k. Do you?

Of course you think it is short sighted, you’re rich and white. Is it hot and difficult to breathe under your white hood? Turn down the white power music and think about what you are typing. You’re an ass.

I don’t know what the solution is but as a Lafayette family, I can tell you zoning out a bunch of rich white kids to try to integrate a school is just short sighted. The road to improvement is a one-way street. Families strive to do better with the resources they have. Trying to get a huge cohort of UNW families to accept a worse school, when they have the resources not to accept that choice is extremely strange. Particularly when most of the families live less than a mile away from a crescent ring of excellent public schools that stretch from Arlington over to North Bethesda. Or alternatively, of course, private. Right now a seat at Lafayette is worth about, what $600k? We have $600k. Do you?

I'm the guy from Ward 4 who always chimes in to say that I'm not interested in building more space for Deal for students who are commuting there from Ward 4 EOTP. If you check where the students are from, nearby areas just across Rock Creek Park are big out-of-boundary senders.

I think it's still true. Whether that means Lafayette and Shepherd or some other swath should get redirected at Ida B. Wells or MacFarland or Cardozo or CHEC or what, I still think millions in new construction at Deal instead of making our Ward 1 and 4 schools what they should be is a systemic failure.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal was already renovated twice in the last 10 ten years to add space. Shortly thereafter, they covered up the basketball court with trailers. Now they added more trailers and found a way to wedge in a new basketball court by removing garden beds.

The building is already too big for kids to get from Geometry on the 3rd floor of the west wing to art on the second floor of the Reno addition in time for class, and there are too many people using the common spaces, both at one time (lunch) and over time (2000 people utilizing space meant for 1400 creates rapid wear and tear and accelerates maintenance needs and costs). Every time they add a team they need to duplicate a specials schedule, which adds five new slots per team. Scheduling a too big school in a too small building is like trying to assign seats in a clown car.

Besides, 500-600 kids per grade in middle school WHEN it isn't necessary, and it isn't, is incompetence.

Deal's enrollment this year is 1507, not 2000. https://osse.dc.gov/node/1390091

Deal operates the equivalent of five DCPS Middle Schools in one location. Each individual grade at Deal enrolls approximately 500 students, which is 40% larger than the average WHOLE school enrollment at other middle schools (approximately 300 students). It’s a total joke.

Part of the problem with families in the Deal zone is that even without any out-of-boundary students, the lack of full inboundary capture is changing in DCPS' favor away from expensive private schools, there are potentially more students inboundary than space, and no one is entirely sure what the future equilibrium/comfort point for parents in Ward 3 is with Deal vs. private schools at that grade band.

Anonymous wrote:Deal was already renovated twice in the last 10 ten years to add space. Shortly thereafter, they covered up the basketball court with trailers. Now they added more trailers and found a way to wedge in a new basketball court by removing garden beds.

The building is already too big for kids to get from Geometry on the 3rd floor of the west wing to art on the second floor of the Reno addition in time for class, and there are too many people using the common spaces, both at one time (lunch) and over time (2000 people utilizing space meant for 1400 creates rapid wear and tear and accelerates maintenance needs and costs). Every time they add a team they need to duplicate a specials schedule, which adds five new slots per team. Scheduling a too big school in a too small building is like trying to assign seats in a clown car.

Besides, 500-600 kids per grade in middle school WHEN it isn't necessary, and it isn't, is incompetence.

Deal's enrollment this year is 1507, not 2000. https://osse.dc.gov/node/1390091

Deal was already renovated twice in the last 10 ten years to add space. Shortly thereafter, they covered up the basketball court with trailers. Now they added more trailers and found a way to wedge in a new basketball court by removing garden beds.

The building is already too big for kids to get from Geometry on the 3rd floor of the west wing to art on the second floor of the Reno addition in time for class, and there are too many people using the common spaces, both at one time (lunch) and over time (2000 people utilizing space meant for 1400 creates rapid wear and tear and accelerates maintenance needs and costs). Every time they add a team they need to duplicate a specials schedule, which adds five new slots per team. Scheduling a too big school in a too small building is like trying to assign seats in a clown car.

Besides, 500-600 kids per grade in middle school WHEN it isn't necessary, and it isn't, is incompetence.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yet another reason to revamp absolute mayoral control of education.

Any boundary exercise is useless with everyone in charge reporting to a mayor who doesn't really "get" education to begin with. And nothing comprehensive and coordinated can be done so long as charters and DCPS have zero incentive to cooperate.

At some point, DC has to get off the crazy train of annual-lottery-or move IB-rinse-repeat.

We need people in charge of education with long-term perspective who are motivated by stability or at least some type of predictability in education options.

How do we get education put in the hands of experts and not appointees?

You have to acknowledge that Deal is too large even with the immediate zoned families. Distance has to take a further priority at some point. Political or not.

Is there any evidence that the bolded is true? How is capacity determined? If Deal took only zoned families and ended the OOB feeder rights, would there be over crowding? I understand there are some trailers, but is there an inherent issue with trailers beyond a preference against them? What if Deal added onto the building instead of utilizing trailers?

Please help me understand the set of undisputable facts that we're dealing with.

Anonymous wrote:Yet another reason to revamp absolute mayoral control of education.

Any boundary exercise is useless with everyone in charge reporting to a mayor who doesn't really "get" education to begin with. And nothing comprehensive and coordinated can be done so long as charters and DCPS have zero incentive to cooperate.

At some point, DC has to get off the crazy train of annual-lottery-or move IB-rinse-repeat.

We need people in charge of education with long-term perspective who are motivated by stability or at least some type of predictability in education options.

How do we get education put in the hands of experts and not appointees?

DC real estate agents love the current system. There's a lot of housing turnover in this city!

Anonymous wrote:Yet another reason to revamp absolute mayoral control of education.

Any boundary exercise is useless with everyone in charge reporting to a mayor who doesn't really "get" education to begin with. And nothing comprehensive and coordinated can be done so long as charters and DCPS have zero incentive to cooperate.

At some point, DC has to get off the crazy train of annual-lottery-or move IB-rinse-repeat.

We need people in charge of education with long-term perspective who are motivated by stability or at least some type of predictability in education options.

How do we get education put in the hands of experts and not appointees?

It needs to be a quasi-independent agency with appointments that do not coincide with elections. 5 year terms that overlap administrations would be a good start. Ideally, the Mayor would choose the Chancellor, but then the Chancellor thereafter only reports to the Council. Break the connection between the Mayor and Chancellor once the nomination is approved.

The Council could easily check the Mayor, but it chooses not to. They don't seem to want the headache. Plus, if it was the Council that selected the Chancellor, it would be responsible for a crappy selection. They'd rather pass the buck to the Mayor.

Anonymous wrote:Yet another reason to revamp absolute mayoral control of education.

Any boundary exercise is useless with everyone in charge reporting to a mayor who doesn't really "get" education to begin with. And nothing comprehensive and coordinated can be done so long as charters and DCPS have zero incentive to cooperate.

At some point, DC has to get off the crazy train of annual-lottery-or move IB-rinse-repeat.

We need people in charge of education with long-term perspective who are motivated by stability or at least some type of predictability in education options.

How do we get education put in the hands of experts and not appointees?

You have to acknowledge that Deal is too large even with the immediate zoned families. Distance has to take a further priority at some point. Political or not.

Yet another reason to revamp absolute mayoral control of education.

Any boundary exercise is useless with everyone in charge reporting to a mayor who doesn't really "get" education to begin with. And nothing comprehensive and coordinated can be done so long as charters and DCPS have zero incentive to cooperate.

At some point, DC has to get off the crazy train of annual-lottery-or move IB-rinse-repeat.

We need people in charge of education with long-term perspective who are motivated by stability or at least some type of predictability in education options.

How do we get education put in the hands of experts and not appointees?

Anonymous wrote:IF any boundaries are redrawn, distance will not be the only factor.

Equity and will be equally important based on everything DCPS, the mayor and most members of the council say about education issues.

Yup. Equity, politics, and optics will play an outsized role in the process.