Anonymous
Post 03/07/2016 15:24     Subject: Murch- Getting screwed again?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'll also point out that none of the 9 recently completed DGS projects were in ward 3.


That's because most of these projects were finished years ago. There a very few Ward 3 schools left to modernize


You mean like Murch (1920) or Lafayette (1970)? Yes. They are super modern!
Anonymous
Post 03/07/2016 15:23     Subject: Murch- Getting screwed again?
Anonymous wrote:I'll also point out that none of the 9 recently completed DGS projects were in ward 3.


That's because most of these projects were finished years ago. There a very few Ward 3 schools left to modernize
Anonymous
Post 03/07/2016 14:58     Subject: Murch- Getting screwed again?
Anonymous wrote:

Is DCPS out to get the Murch community or something?


No, DCPS is doing this across the Board this year. Bowser is trying to control spending that has gone way out of control (exemplified by Ellington). She cut capital spending by 20 percent last year (330 million dollars) and pushed back the modernizations of 45 schools (think about that, if she really wanted to get you, she would have cut your funding, rather than simply declining to raise it).

The only reason you don't hear about how other schools are having to tighten their belt is 1) you only hang out with other people from Ward 3, where almost all of the schools are already modernized, and 2) other schools don't have noisy parents groups with excellent political machinery to publicize every bump in the road to the whole d--m city.
Anonymous
Post 03/07/2016 14:56     Subject: Murch- Getting screwed again?
Leave the race/income obsessed PP alone -- she won't be satisfied unless her slide rule says the "poor" schools and the "rich" schools have equally divided fruit.
Anonymous
Post 03/07/2016 14:53     Subject: Murch- Getting screwed again?
I'll also point out that none of the 9 recently completed DGS projects were in ward 3.
Anonymous
Post 03/07/2016 14:51     Subject: Murch- Getting screwed again?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:And then when you think about what DCPS has sunk into Ellington and Dunbar, you come to the conclusion that Bowser and DCPS hate young non-poor children.


I am always amazed by the way Ward 3 parents are able to look at a feast of educational resources and somehow find a way to make it look like they are being screwed in favor of poor kids.

Don't compare yourself to a high school. Find me another elementary school from a poor neighborhood that had a more expensive modernization than yours. Then you can complain.

Murch has already had its funding increased once, and will likely get more: The project is at $68 million now and will probably end up closer to $80 million. This is a very, very large project in terms of elementary schools. The most expensive elementary modernization I have seen in my Ward (Ward One), cost 60 million. My own child's school started with 20 million and has had our project decreased to $17 million. We have never had an underground parking lot in our plan, even though we have to share a neighboring park with a charter for play space so our teachers can park on the school lot.

City-wide, Ward 3 consistently comes out on top in the modernization fight. Only one elementary school in the Wilson feeder pattern, Eaton, will still be waiting for modernization as of 2017 (11 will have been modernized). By contrast, in the Woodson High School feeder pattern, none of the elementary schools will be fully modernized as of 2017. Four schools (Burrville, Drew, Nalle, and Thomas) will have been partially modernized, and four schools (Aiton, CW Harris, Houston, and Smothers) will not have been touched.

I'm sure you are all making great sacrifices by sending your children to public school instead of checking out to private, and want the rest of us be appreciative, and I'm sure many of you are not jerks, but it's very hard not to choke on my lunch when I read comments like this. Quite down and eat your rich-people cake without complaining so much.


Give me a break! Have you been to Murch or any of these schools? They are BUSTING at the seams.
The last time Murch was renovated was when it was built, in the 1920s and has almost 700 kids in a building that can hold 488. The schools you are mentioning - take Smothers- has 282 students in a building with a capacity for 344. Houston has en enrollment of 274 with a capcity of 400; CW has 269 kids in a building that can hold 468 kids while Aiton has 274 in a building for 442 kids.

These renovations are not superficial beatification exercises, they are critical upgrades to crumbling structures.
Anonymous
Post 03/07/2016 14:50     Subject: Murch- Getting screwed again?
So I want to make sure I have this right. You don't think that almost 700 kids in a DC school should get a renovation?

How would you rather renovations be determined? By Ward? By amount of students? By scores? No really, what is your idea.
Anonymous
Post 03/07/2016 14:49     Subject: Murch- Getting screwed again?
PP is ignoring the fact that Ward 3 schools are bursting at the seams in terms of student population, while the "poor" (her word and focus, obviously) schools are not. When you have no space, then you need space, simple as that. Marie-Reed elementary is another example. The only one that is out of focus in this conversation is PP, imo.
Anonymous
Post 03/07/2016 14:36     Subject: Murch- Getting screwed again?
Anonymous wrote:And then when you think about what DCPS has sunk into Ellington and Dunbar, you come to the conclusion that Bowser and DCPS hate young non-poor children.


I am always amazed by the way Ward 3 parents are able to look at a feast of educational resources and somehow find a way to make it look like they are being screwed in favor of poor kids.

Don't compare yourself to a high school. Find me another elementary school from a poor neighborhood that had a more expensive modernization than yours. Then you can complain.

Murch has already had its funding increased once, and will likely get more: The project is at $68 million now and will probably end up closer to $80 million. This is a very, very large project in terms of elementary schools. The most expensive elementary modernization I have seen in my Ward (Ward One), cost 60 million. My own child's school started with 20 million and has had our project decreased to $17 million. We have never had an underground parking lot in our plan, even though we have to share a neighboring park with a charter for play space so our teachers can park on the school lot.

City-wide, Ward 3 consistently comes out on top in the modernization fight. Only one elementary school in the Wilson feeder pattern, Eaton, will still be waiting for modernization as of 2017 (11 will have been modernized). By contrast, in the Woodson High School feeder pattern, none of the elementary schools will be fully modernized as of 2017. Four schools (Burrville, Drew, Nalle, and Thomas) will have been partially modernized, and four schools (Aiton, CW Harris, Houston, and Smothers) will not have been touched.

I'm sure you are all making great sacrifices by sending your children to public school instead of checking out to private, and want the rest of us be appreciative, and I'm sure many of you are not jerks, but it's very hard not to choke on my lunch when I read comments like this. Quite down and eat your rich-people cake without complaining so much.
Anonymous
Post 03/07/2016 09:17     Subject: Murch- Getting screwed again?
Anonymous wrote:10% OOB is not the same as 10% at-risk, is it?


not even close.
Anonymous
Post 03/07/2016 09:16     Subject: Murch- Getting screwed again?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Not 150 OOB - more like 60-70.

According to this, it was about 100 in 2013-14. http://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/Murch%20ES.pdf


Murch is approximately 14% OOB now, and dropping every year. Under the new boundary rules, it would need to be at least 10%, so dropping OOB students really is not the solution.


So what is the solution to overcrowding?


Uh. Build schools with the facilities needed (Murch). And when you renovate a school in a desirable area of the city, plan for increased enrollment (from IB, not OOB) because it will happen. Stoddert is a great example--built a beautiful new school that did not plan for increased enrollment. Now six years later, 200+ students over capacity. Watch Hearst and soon, Hyde-Addison. Same thing will happen.
Anonymous
Post 03/07/2016 08:43     Subject: Murch- Getting screwed again?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Not 150 OOB - more like 60-70.

According to this, it was about 100 in 2013-14. http://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/Murch%20ES.pdf


Murch is approximately 14% OOB now, and dropping every year. Under the new boundary rules, it would need to be at least 10%, so dropping OOB students really is not the solution.


So what is the solution to overcrowding?
Anonymous
Post 03/07/2016 08:41     Subject: Murch- Getting screwed again?
Anonymous wrote:10% OOB is not the same as 10% at-risk, is it?


You are correct. DC at risk (defined by City Council under Catania) = TANF, homeless, foster children, or performing more than a grade behind in high school below expected level by age.
Anonymous
Post 03/07/2016 08:35     Subject: Murch- Getting screwed again?
10% OOB is not the same as 10% at-risk, is it?
Anonymous
Post 03/07/2016 06:15     Subject: Murch- Getting screwed again?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Not 150 OOB - more like 60-70.

According to this, it was about 100 in 2013-14. http://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/Murch%20ES.pdf


Murch is approximately 14% OOB now, and dropping every year. Under the new boundary rules, it would need to be at least 10%, so dropping OOB students really is not the solution.