Anonymous wrote:50 kids paying $49k a year

Anonymous wrote:I think that is a totally fair question. I personally think that the school should be responsible for counting trips ONTO ITS CAMPUS -- this is something the school can accurately police.

I guess if people wanted to count the adjacent streets, and they know how to police that, that would be fine too.

I think it's ridiculous, by contrast, to make the school responsible for counting trips to Wisconsin Avenue (which is ridiculously busy -- and frankly people have a legal right to drive on it and no one can honestly say that there is an expectation to a hushed environment on that street, to say the least). And I think dropping east of Wisconsin cannot and should not be policed, either.

At the end of the day, what I find so obnoxious about the ANC head and his allies is for implying violations that do not exist and are based on rules that they wrote in their heads, and not in the agreement itself. You can't castigate people for following the rules. In the hearing, he made a huge deal of posting the map GDS put out to parents on prohibited streets. The map is completely accurate, when compared to the agreement! And the school should have made this absolutely clear in protecting its parents, which it did not do in the hearing.

You cannot make this huge crazy thing about punishing GDS and its parents for doing drop offs they are totally entitled to do. The whole ANC focus was on punishing prohibited conduct, to ensure other schools like River don't do the same thing. It is total BS factually. At least as to the trip counts and prohibited streets, the ANC literally made up rules to say GDS and its parents violated them that are not in the agreement at all. They need to be called on this.

You can't enforce prohibitions that only exist in your head.

Anonymous wrote:How is a city council member allowed to be on the board of a private school that is regulated by the city?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are right. McDuffie is the co-chair of GDS board.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid usually takes the bus to and from GDS, but whenever I do pick up in the afternoons, there has never been any congestion whatsoever.

I have been following this thread and was also a bit surprised, because I haven't seen any congestion. I live in the neighborhood, a block down. What is the big fuss about?

Its nothing. GDS has increased their enrollment for the past few years with no problems. They will continue this till they reach their enrollment goals which is higher vs what it is now. The agreement with the ANC is not worth the paper it is written on. There is no way for the ANC to enforce anything. It is a mystery why GDS released their enrollment figures.

Ahh, yes, but they released their enrollment saying that they were perfectly within their limits. Just check NAIS data. Disingenuous, what?

GDS may release the numbers in 5 years but why do it. What’s the ANC going to do? I know maybe the ANC can send a complaint to Kenyan McDuffie office(lol)! The school can easily accommodate 1900. They plan to hit that number. They have the demand, it will take some pressure out JR and they can make more money.

The “enrollment letter” GDS sent out was just something to “show” a paper trail and get people upset with The ANC. It most likely something Kenyan McDuffie‘s staff wrote for GDS. This is good for McDuffie he can get in a fight with all the rich neighbors.

That’s interesting since McDuffie actually represents the residents of Ward 3, including neighbors of the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was hilarious! Shaw has been head of school for 14 years and has no understanding of how pickups and drop off impact the neighborhood. Also he does not understand “DC transportation” drop off rules for a school! Guess he never read the agreement he signed?

In an interview last week, Shaw told me he wants more clarity from D.C. transportation officials about the dropoff rule. GDS is already responsible for counting each car that pulls up to deliver or retrieve a kid.

“If somebody drops their child off at Mazza Gallerie and walks here, are we meant to be able to police the five miles of Wisconsin Avenue?”

He is telling parents to drop off anywhere but not at the school so the school can lower their car count? That is pretty slimy! He does not even report the drop off numbers for years and no one is checking the car count. I am sure the count is always well below the allowed number

Dude just report the numbers- enrollment and car count. Make sure you do it on time and make the numbers match what is in the agreement. There is no independent audit and you have an at large council member on your board to run interference. How incompetent are you to let it get to this point?

A woman HOS would have read the agreement and been proactive with the neighbors.

This is a pretty hateful interpretation of Shaw's words. Once again, the ANC is twisting words and making assumptions that GDS administrators and parents have only the worst intentions. Russell is NOT telling parents to drop off anywhere. No one with any objectivity would interpret that response in that way except for someone who seems to have a chip on his shoulder about the school. The school reminds parents in every single weekly communication about transportation rules. The school requires parents to sign off on a transportation agreement every year upon enrollment. The school give every single family an individualized transportation plan every year. These would all be admissible legally as evidence that the school is not shirking its duties to comply with the MOU.
And, btw, there are a lot of reasons why parents might drop off a student at Friendship or Tenley, including dropping off a spouse at the metro.
The ANC head appears full of spite and hatred and ill-will. It's really ugly and unbecoming. I truly do not understand how he got elected by the good people of our neighborhood. It's a terrible look. He lacks any semblance of class or decorum.

Sure. You say all the parents sign an agreement but go on to say the parents break the agreement all the time. The HOS said the same thing. He knows parents are breaking the agreement and says he will not police the parents. Your “legal evidence” shows the school and parents willfully acts to break the agreement.

I do not understand how Shaw became HOS and how he is still there. This is some real basic stuff here. Give the parents who break the agreement three warnings and kick them out after the fourth infraction. They signed an agreement as part of their enrollment agreement.

The ANC is out of its collective mind if it thinks it can stop people from using Wisconsin Avenue. The documents linked on this thread say NOTHING about Wisconsin Avenue, and yet they keep harping on and on about it. I know, I know - they claim that the original draft MOU included Wisconsin, and GDS's lawyer sneakily removed the reference. But I have seen no evidence of that presented by the ANC at all.

Wisconsin is a major commercial street. It can handle cars. The ANC should focus on the neighborhood streets and getting the school to enforce the rules on all the kids who (according to that Augur Bit article) drive themselves and don't have parking permits. Or redevelop the remaining lots the school has to make a gigantic parking garage, if in fact the parking and traffic are really the most important thing. In any event, this notion that GDS's profits went up by the exact amount of tuition for the kids accidentally over-enrolled is laughable. And instead of sitting down with the school administrators, as the administrators repeatedly requested during the ANC meeting on that video, they prefer to wail and gnash their teeth and demand money. It's absolutely preposterous posturing.

Agree 100%. And frankly, even if the ANC had been misled, they could have raised the issue with GDS immediately afterwards and tried to resolve the issue. There is no evidence at all that the ANC had this concern until very recently. It's all pretext by the ANC.

Frankly, the ANC could not have legally have prohibited dropoffs on Wisconsin Avenue, anyway. Maybe someone actually figured that out before the agreement was signed. You can't stop ANYONE from legally dropping on a street where that pull over is authorized by the City. Neither the school nor the ANC can legally control those outcomes and force them onto parents. That proposition is insane.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are right. McDuffie is the co-chair of GDS board.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid usually takes the bus to and from GDS, but whenever I do pick up in the afternoons, there has never been any congestion whatsoever.

I have been following this thread and was also a bit surprised, because I haven't seen any congestion. I live in the neighborhood, a block down. What is the big fuss about?

Its nothing. GDS has increased their enrollment for the past few years with no problems. They will continue this till they reach their enrollment goals which is higher vs what it is now. The agreement with the ANC is not worth the paper it is written on. There is no way for the ANC to enforce anything. It is a mystery why GDS released their enrollment figures.

Ahh, yes, but they released their enrollment saying that they were perfectly within their limits. Just check NAIS data. Disingenuous, what?

GDS may release the numbers in 5 years but why do it. What’s the ANC going to do? I know maybe the ANC can send a complaint to Kenyan McDuffie office(lol)! The school can easily accommodate 1900. They plan to hit that number. They have the demand, it will take some pressure out JR and they can make more money.

The “enrollment letter” GDS sent out was just something to “show” a paper trail and get people upset with The ANC. It most likely something Kenyan McDuffie‘s staff wrote for GDS. This is good for McDuffie he can get in a fight with all the rich neighbors.

That’s interesting since McDuffie actually represents the residents of Ward 3, including neighbors of the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was hilarious! Shaw has been head of school for 14 years and has no understanding of how pickups and drop off impact the neighborhood. Also he does not understand “DC transportation” drop off rules for a school! Guess he never read the agreement he signed?

In an interview last week, Shaw told me he wants more clarity from D.C. transportation officials about the dropoff rule. GDS is already responsible for counting each car that pulls up to deliver or retrieve a kid.

“If somebody drops their child off at Mazza Gallerie and walks here, are we meant to be able to police the five miles of Wisconsin Avenue?”

He is telling parents to drop off anywhere but not at the school so the school can lower their car count? That is pretty slimy! He does not even report the drop off numbers for years and no one is checking the car count. I am sure the count is always well below the allowed number

Dude just report the numbers- enrollment and car count. Make sure you do it on time and make the numbers match what is in the agreement. There is no independent audit and you have an at large council member on your board to run interference. How incompetent are you to let it get to this point?

A woman HOS would have read the agreement and been proactive with the neighbors.

This is a pretty hateful interpretation of Shaw's words. Once again, the ANC is twisting words and making assumptions that GDS administrators and parents have only the worst intentions. Russell is NOT telling parents to drop off anywhere. No one with any objectivity would interpret that response in that way except for someone who seems to have a chip on his shoulder about the school. The school reminds parents in every single weekly communication about transportation rules. The school requires parents to sign off on a transportation agreement every year upon enrollment. The school give every single family an individualized transportation plan every year. These would all be admissible legally as evidence that the school is not shirking its duties to comply with the MOU.
And, btw, there are a lot of reasons why parents might drop off a student at Friendship or Tenley, including dropping off a spouse at the metro.
The ANC head appears full of spite and hatred and ill-will. It's really ugly and unbecoming. I truly do not understand how he got elected by the good people of our neighborhood. It's a terrible look. He lacks any semblance of class or decorum.

Sure. You say all the parents sign an agreement but go on to say the parents break the agreement all the time. The HOS said the same thing. He knows parents are breaking the agreement and says he will not police the parents. Your “legal evidence” shows the school and parents willfully acts to break the agreement.

I do not understand how Shaw became HOS and how he is still there. This is some real basic stuff here. Give the parents who break the agreement three warnings and kick them out after the fourth infraction. They signed an agreement as part of their enrollment agreement.

The ANC is out of its collective mind if it thinks it can stop people from using Wisconsin Avenue. The documents linked on this thread say NOTHING about Wisconsin Avenue, and yet they keep harping on and on about it. I know, I know - they claim that the original draft MOU included Wisconsin, and GDS's lawyer sneakily removed the reference. But I have seen no evidence of that presented by the ANC at all.

Wisconsin is a major commercial street. It can handle cars. The ANC should focus on the neighborhood streets and getting the school to enforce the rules on all the kids who (according to that Augur Bit article) drive themselves and don't have parking permits. Or redevelop the remaining lots the school has to make a gigantic parking garage, if in fact the parking and traffic are really the most important thing. In any event, this notion that GDS's profits went up by the exact amount of tuition for the kids accidentally over-enrolled is laughable. And instead of sitting down with the school administrators, as the administrators repeatedly requested during the ANC meeting on that video, they prefer to wail and gnash their teeth and demand money. It's absolutely preposterous posturing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was hilarious! Shaw has been head of school for 14 years and has no understanding of how pickups and drop off impact the neighborhood. Also he does not understand “DC transportation” drop off rules for a school! Guess he never read the agreement he signed?

In an interview last week, Shaw told me he wants more clarity from D.C. transportation officials about the dropoff rule. GDS is already responsible for counting each car that pulls up to deliver or retrieve a kid.

“If somebody drops their child off at Mazza Gallerie and walks here, are we meant to be able to police the five miles of Wisconsin Avenue?”

He is telling parents to drop off anywhere but not at the school so the school can lower their car count? That is pretty slimy! He does not even report the drop off numbers for years and no one is checking the car count. I am sure the count is always well below the allowed number

Dude just report the numbers- enrollment and car count. Make sure you do it on time and make the numbers match what is in the agreement. There is no independent audit and you have an at large council member on your board to run interference. How incompetent are you to let it get to this point?

A woman HOS would have read the agreement and been proactive with the neighbors.

This is a pretty hateful interpretation of Shaw's words. Once again, the ANC is twisting words and making assumptions that GDS administrators and parents have only the worst intentions. Russell is NOT telling parents to drop off anywhere. No one with any objectivity would interpret that response in that way except for someone who seems to have a chip on his shoulder about the school. The school reminds parents in every single weekly communication about transportation rules. The school requires parents to sign off on a transportation agreement every year upon enrollment. The school give every single family an individualized transportation plan every year. These would all be admissible legally as evidence that the school is not shirking its duties to comply with the MOU.
And, btw, there are a lot of reasons why parents might drop off a student at Friendship or Tenley, including dropping off a spouse at the metro.
The ANC head appears full of spite and hatred and ill-will. It's really ugly and unbecoming. I truly do not understand how he got elected by the good people of our neighborhood. It's a terrible look. He lacks any semblance of class or decorum.

Sure. You say all the parents sign an agreement but go on to say the parents break the agreement all the time. The HOS said the same thing. He knows parents are breaking the agreement and says he will not police the parents. Your “legal evidence” shows the school and parents willfully acts to break the agreement.

I do not understand how Shaw became HOS and how he is still there. This is some real basic stuff here. Give the parents who break the agreement three warnings and kick them out after the fourth infraction. They signed an agreement as part of their enrollment agreement.

The ANC is out of its collective mind if it thinks it can stop people from using Wisconsin Avenue. The documents linked on this thread say NOTHING about Wisconsin Avenue, and yet they keep harping on and on about it. I know, I know - they claim that the original draft MOU included Wisconsin, and GDS's lawyer sneakily removed the reference. But I have seen no evidence of that presented by the ANC at all.

Wisconsin is a major commercial street. It can handle cars. The ANC should focus on the neighborhood streets and getting the school to enforce the rules on all the kids who (according to that Augur Bit article) drive themselves and don't have parking permits. Or redevelop the remaining lots the school has to make a gigantic parking garage, if in fact the parking and traffic are really the most important thing. In any event, this notion that GDS's profits went up by the exact amount of tuition for the kids accidentally over-enrolled is laughable. And instead of sitting down with the school administrators, as the administrators repeatedly requested during the ANC meeting on that video, they prefer to wail and gnash their teeth and demand money. It's absolutely preposterous posturing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was hilarious! Shaw has been head of school for 14 years and has no understanding of how pickups and drop off impact the neighborhood. Also he does not understand “DC transportation” drop off rules for a school! Guess he never read the agreement he signed?

In an interview last week, Shaw told me he wants more clarity from D.C. transportation officials about the dropoff rule. GDS is already responsible for counting each car that pulls up to deliver or retrieve a kid.

“If somebody drops their child off at Mazza Gallerie and walks here, are we meant to be able to police the five miles of Wisconsin Avenue?”

He is telling parents to drop off anywhere but not at the school so the school can lower their car count? That is pretty slimy! He does not even report the drop off numbers for years and no one is checking the car count. I am sure the count is always well below the allowed number

Dude just report the numbers- enrollment and car count. Make sure you do it on time and make the numbers match what is in the agreement. There is no independent audit and you have an at large council member on your board to run interference. How incompetent are you to let it get to this point?

A woman HOS would have read the agreement and been proactive with the neighbors.

This is a pretty hateful interpretation of Shaw's words. Once again, the ANC is twisting words and making assumptions that GDS administrators and parents have only the worst intentions. Russell is NOT telling parents to drop off anywhere. No one with any objectivity would interpret that response in that way except for someone who seems to have a chip on his shoulder about the school. The school reminds parents in every single weekly communication about transportation rules. The school requires parents to sign off on a transportation agreement every year upon enrollment. The school give every single family an individualized transportation plan every year. These would all be admissible legally as evidence that the school is not shirking its duties to comply with the MOU.
And, btw, there are a lot of reasons why parents might drop off a student at Friendship or Tenley, including dropping off a spouse at the metro.
The ANC head appears full of spite and hatred and ill-will. It's really ugly and unbecoming. I truly do not understand how he got elected by the good people of our neighborhood. It's a terrible look. He lacks any semblance of class or decorum.

Sure. You say all the parents sign an agreement but go on to say the parents break the agreement all the time. The HOS said the same thing. He knows parents are breaking the agreement and says he will not police the parents. Your “legal evidence” shows the school and parents willfully acts to break the agreement.

I do not understand how Shaw became HOS and how he is still there. This is some real basic stuff here. Give the parents who break the agreement three warnings and kick them out after the fourth infraction. They signed an agreement as part of their enrollment agreement.

Anonymous wrote:Some of you who think that GDS parents have nefarious intent need to get a hold of yourselves. I am a GDS parent and I find your rants to be completely offensive. You have no idea what you are talking about.

First, you have to separate the issues out from each other. As a parent, I can't of course speak to what happened with the enrollment caps. The school is obviously responsible for answering for that.

But that is a distinct issue from the attacks against PARENTS to the trrip count. THERE IS NO VIOLATION OF THE TRIP COUNT, as the ANC alleges. There isn't even a definition of trip count in the agreement. The ANC chair has posited his version of that in the hearing, but it has no basis in the agreement at all. Dear friends, you haven't violated anything if there isn't anything in the agreement that specifies the terms to tell us what a violation is. All the agreement focuses on is the adjacent streets. It says NOTHING about any other street.

Think about yourselves in your daily lives -- if you want to park on a street for example, you do it and you can do it unless there is a sign that says you cannot. The same is true here. There is nothing in the agreement about Wisconsin Avenue, for example. This means that people can drop on Wisconsin Avenue if general traffic rules permit that. It isn't complicated, and it isn't bad intent to do what you are totally permitted to do. It also is not a lack of respect for anyone in the community to do what you are permitted to do. That is what you do yourselves.

The Head of GDS NEVER encouraged parents to drop nearby; that is totally idiotic and baseless. As others have said, GDS has encouraged the opposite. But we should be clear at the same time that the ANC has been totally misleading on the rules. The Chair spent a ton of time in the hearing saying that drop offs on Wisconsin and east of that are violations. THEY ARE NOT VIOLATIONS. His assertion is totally baseless.

Finally, I find it totally offensive that some of you think that anyone legally dropping their child nearby doesn't care about anyone else or is violating something. Neither is true. People have a lot of different, important reasons why they may have to drive. We are entitled to try to get our kids dropped safely and nearby the school if we have to take that approach. You would want the same for your kids. It isn't wrong -- it's being a supportive and caring parent. And many of us do not have the wealth, frankly, that many people have who live right by GDS. Please stop the assertions that everyone going to GDS is rich and doesn't care about anyone else. It is not even remotely true, and you just are showing what jerks you are.

Anonymous wrote:You are right. McDuffie is the co-chair of GDS board.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid usually takes the bus to and from GDS, but whenever I do pick up in the afternoons, there has never been any congestion whatsoever.

I have been following this thread and was also a bit surprised, because I haven't seen any congestion. I live in the neighborhood, a block down. What is the big fuss about?

Its nothing. GDS has increased their enrollment for the past few years with no problems. They will continue this till they reach their enrollment goals which is higher vs what it is now. The agreement with the ANC is not worth the paper it is written on. There is no way for the ANC to enforce anything. It is a mystery why GDS released their enrollment figures.

Ahh, yes, but they released their enrollment saying that they were perfectly within their limits. Just check NAIS data. Disingenuous, what?

GDS may release the numbers in 5 years but why do it. What’s the ANC going to do? I know maybe the ANC can send a complaint to Kenyan McDuffie office(lol)! The school can easily accommodate 1900. They plan to hit that number. They have the demand, it will take some pressure out JR and they can make more money.

The “enrollment letter” GDS sent out was just something to “show” a paper trail and get people upset with The ANC. It most likely something Kenyan McDuffie‘s staff wrote for GDS. This is good for McDuffie he can get in a fight with all the rich neighbors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there real consequences for over-enrollment?

Yes the school gets more money and more kids get in. There is no penalty for the school

You clearly know nothing about private school budgets. At most places (including GDS), tuition doesn't fully cover the total cost of educating a student. Also keep in mind that a fair percentage of families aren't full pay, due to being on FA or having a parent work at the school.

So all the additional kids are on FA? Sure. So adding 50 kids paying $49k a year increases the fix cost of the school? Seems like you do not understand private schools budgets.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid usually takes the bus to and from GDS, but whenever I do pick up in the afternoons, there has never been any congestion whatsoever.

I have been following this thread and was also a bit surprised, because I haven't seen any congestion. I live in the neighborhood, a block down. What is the big fuss about?

Its nothing. GDS has increased their enrollment for the past few years with no problems. They will continue this till they reach their enrollment goals which is higher vs what it is now. The agreement with the ANC is not worth the paper it is written on. There is no way for the ANC to enforce anything. It is a mystery why GDS released their enrollment figures.

Ahh, yes, but they released their enrollment saying that they were perfectly within their limits. Just check NAIS data. Disingenuous, what?

GDS may release the numbers in 5 years but why do it. What’s the ANC going to do? I know maybe the ANC can send a complaint to Kenyan McDuffie office(lol)! The school can easily accommodate 1900. They plan to hit that number. They have the demand, it will take some pressure out JR and they can make more money.

The “enrollment letter” GDS sent out was just something to “show” a paper trail and get people upset with The ANC. It most likely something Kenyan McDuffie‘s staff wrote for GDS. This is good for McDuffie he can get in a fight with all the rich neighbors.