Anonymous
Post 03/22/2014 16:48     Subject: When are boundary changes being announced?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The idea of assigning to a lottery the outcomes of the most important investment decisions a family has to make in a lifetime, if so unreasonably wrong and unfounded, from a social and economic point of view, that the only rationale that one can find is fulfilling lobbying from the incredibly powerful private schools (the schools + their alumni).



The fact is that for the vast majority of the city, the most important investment decision a family has to make in a lifetime IS assigned via lottery outcome. If you live in-boundary for a good school WOTP, you are by far in the minority.



That's not quite true. There are some charter schools that became "hot" before their doors were even open, and had higher-SES parents lining up at the doors: LAMB, Yu Ying, Mundo Verde, Inspired Teaching, Creative Minds. Apparently the secret is to pounce before the school even has a chance to hold its first lottery.
Anonymous
Post 03/22/2014 16:36     Subject: When are boundary changes being announced?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The idea of assigning to a lottery the outcomes of the most important investment decisions a family has to make in a lifetime, if so unreasonably wrong and unfounded, from a social and economic point of view, that the only rationale that one can find is fulfilling lobbying from the incredibly powerful private schools (the schools + their alumni).



The fact is that for the vast majority of the city, the most important investment decision a family has to make in a lifetime IS assigned via lottery outcome. If you live in-boundary for a good school WOTP, you are by far in the minority.


That doesn't make it a good idea!
Anonymous
Post 03/22/2014 16:20     Subject: When are boundary changes being announced?
Anonymous wrote:The idea of assigning to a lottery the outcomes of the most important investment decisions a family has to make in a lifetime, if so unreasonably wrong and unfounded, from a social and economic point of view, that the only rationale that one can find is fulfilling lobbying from the incredibly powerful private schools (the schools + their alumni).



The fact is that for the vast majority of the city, the most important investment decision a family has to make in a lifetime IS assigned via lottery outcome. If you live in-boundary for a good school WOTP, you are by far in the minority.
Anonymous
Post 03/22/2014 16:16     Subject: When are boundary changes being announced?
Anonymous wrote:I doubt many people will leave if they implement DC-wide HS. I am surprised all these parents who tell me how great Janney, Lafayette, Murch, etc. have such little faith in DCPS as a whole.



So basically either A) you've never heard of "white flight" (and its generation later "upper-middle-class-AA-flight-to-PG-County") or B) you think it's just sh*t someone made up.

The fastest way to destroy a middle-class community, is to take away their access to safe, high-quality schools. Look at what happened to Detroit. DC was on the exact same path during the Barry years, but fortunately we have Congressional oversight, so Barry was castrated and Anthony Williams was installed in his place. The city has been on the upswing ever since. (In a way, it is consolation in case Gray is re-elected: DC will return to laughing-stock status, and lose the possibility of Home Rule/statehood for at least a generation if we re-elect a criminal, yet again.)

Anonymous
Post 03/22/2014 16:05     Subject: When are boundary changes being announced?
Anonymous wrote:The idea of assigning to a lottery the outcomes of the most important investment decisions a family has to make in a lifetime, if so unreasonably wrong and unfounded, from a social and economic point of view, that the only rationale that one can find is fulfilling lobbying from the incredibly powerful private schools (the schools + their alumni).




VERY well said. I see the process in the same way.

Let me add that the most obvious solution (keep the boundaries, eliminate OOB and feeder rights for public schools which have failed to deliver system results, have families join forces with the newcomers from gentrification to demand and pursue change in their neighborhood schools. That's the only sound investment everyone should make, invest in the community and in your schools, rather than assign to the lottery odds the chances to succeed-- and not to succeed) is not being pursued for 3 reasons:
- hidden lobby from the NW private school establishment
- fake social propaganda
- political calculations

The current OOB system has failed: local schools in the EAST quadrant have been left for attendance by the most marginal of the marginals: American kids born from illegal immigrants (there's an estimated 25,000 illegal of them in DC, many with American kids, you know?), kids with single working parent (who cannot drive them to NW twice a day), kids with parents with early mornings shift who have no choice but to walk to the nearby school by themselves as early as in K, families with disabilities to attend, with elderly granparents to attend, with mental disabilities which require constant supervision... No one is talking about them. The focus is on the rights (or, better, the CHANCES) of those who try or make in to the better NW schools. These are the families who will be affected and annoyed in the short run by the cut in the OOB and feeder right. DCPS is focusing only on them, because they are voters... The most marginal ones, who do not even have other chances but to stay in the local schools... nobody cares, they are out of the picture because in most cases they are so left out that they are NOT EVEN VOTERS, or are illegal parents (of American children).

The only way to strenghten schools is the investment of the prospective and present parents , of the granparents, and of the neighborhood . "Gentrification" offers a unique opportunity and a fresh wave of your families with stronger background. Give these neigborhoods extra resource, investments, and support. But for God's sake make those families stay instead of shipping kids out and in twice a day.

A kick away the private school lobby, let them stay out of the debate. Private school shutting down due to the raise of DCPS should be our last concern , or no concern at all.



The problem with your theory is that those particular students (American children of illegal immigrants) live in Ward 1 or the southern portion of Ward 4. They are not in the easternmost portion of the city which is almost exclusively AA and poor.
Anonymous
Post 03/22/2014 15:51     Subject: When are boundary changes being announced?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Sidwell and NCS and St.Albans can draw from the pool of best kids in DC and around because they thrive on the inability of the city to give families a clear and predictable path for their kids public school options.

+2


You all seem to think most people choose these elite private schools because of the state of the public school. I don't think that is at all accurate. If it were, you wouldn't get so many MoCo and NOVA students at the top privates. Nor would you have so many rich families living in NWDC. Most families who choose private school do so because they prefer private school.


This is somewhat true. My spouse is against sending the kids public. But I would have put up a bigger fight if it wasn't DCPS. I believe strongly in public education but the incompetence of DCPS central office makes me suspicious of it all. I do think it is criminal that half of city has acceptable schools and the other half doesn't. It also disturbs me that the haves don't give a crap about the have nots. I want everyone to have a good public school option.


This. This is why Deal and Wilson are overcrowded.

Anonymous
Post 03/22/2014 14:30     Subject: When are boundary changes being announced?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Sidwell and NCS and St.Albans can draw from the pool of best kids in DC and around because they thrive on the inability of the city to give families a clear and predictable path for their kids public school options.

+2


You all seem to think most people choose these elite private schools because of the state of the public school. I don't think that is at all accurate. If it were, you wouldn't get so many MoCo and NOVA students at the top privates. Nor would you have so many rich families living in NWDC. Most families who choose private school do so because they prefer private school.


This is somewhat true. My spouse is against sending the kids public. But I would have put up a bigger fight if it wasn't DCPS. I believe strongly in public education but the incompetence of DCPS central office makes me suspicious of it all. I do think it is criminal that half of city has acceptable schools and the other half doesn't. It also disturbs me that the haves don't give a crap about the have nots. I want everyone to have a good public school option.


I think times more like 10% of the schools are good and 90% are awful. Otherwise agree with you. If we had the money, we would go private.
Anonymous
Post 03/22/2014 14:08     Subject: When are boundary changes being announced?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Sidwell and NCS and St.Albans can draw from the pool of best kids in DC and around because they thrive on the inability of the city to give families a clear and predictable path for their kids public school options.

+2


You all seem to think most people choose these elite private schools because of the state of the public school. I don't think that is at all accurate. If it were, you wouldn't get so many MoCo and NOVA students at the top privates. Nor would you have so many rich families living in NWDC. Most families who choose private school do so because they prefer private school.


This is somewhat true. My spouse is against sending the kids public. But I would have put up a bigger fight if it wasn't DCPS. I believe strongly in public education but the incompetence of DCPS central office makes me suspicious of it all. I do think it is criminal that half of city has acceptable schools and the other half doesn't. It also disturbs me that the haves don't give a crap about the have nots. I want everyone to have a good public school option.
Anonymous
Post 03/22/2014 12:54     Subject: When are boundary changes being announced?
Anonymous wrote:Sidwell and NCS and St.Albans can draw from the pool of best kids in DC and around because they thrive on the inability of the city to give families a clear and predictable path for their kids public school options.

+2


You all seem to think most people choose these elite private schools because of the state of the public school. I don't think that is at all accurate. If it were, you wouldn't get so many MoCo and NOVA students at the top privates. Nor would you have so many rich families living in NWDC. Most families who choose private school do so because they prefer private school.
Anonymous
Post 03/22/2014 12:51     Subject: When are boundary changes being announced?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It is beyond ridiculous that you all think the private schools in DC want or actually NEED your public school kids. Please. Do you really not get how many applicants are turned away from the privates every year. It is not just the top tier of privates either. Most of them turn applicants away due to limited spaces. You folks are delusional if you think there is some private school lobby pushing the DC council to do anything at all. They dont give a rats ass. They don't need to.



No, I don't, and evidently you dont get it either. Sidwell and NCS and St.Albans can draw from the pool of best kids in DC and around because they thrive on the inability of the city to give families a clear and predictable path for their kids public school options. Beyond them, there is a bunch of private schools who pretty much take in whoever applies, and in fact will never tell you how many applications they get. Why? Because if they did, even you would realize they do care about the whole process.
Ask St.Ann's Academy the rats ass they give about the improving public schools. But hurry up. They are closing in June after 90 years because of lack of enrolment,


St Ann's is Catholic. That is different.

The good, independent private schools don't need any help getting applicants. It's not just STA/NSC and Sidwell either. The strong K-8s (NPS, Sheridan, St Pats) turn tons of applicants away too. Suggesting otherwise is ludicrous. Maybe some of the Catholic schools would do better with but not the privates.
Anonymous
Post 03/22/2014 10:03     Subject: When are boundary changes being announced?
Sidwell and NCS and St.Albans can draw from the pool of best kids in DC and around because they thrive on the inability of the city to give families a clear and predictable path for their kids public school options.

+2
Anonymous
Post 03/22/2014 10:01     Subject: When are boundary changes being announced?
Wilson and Deal are overcrowded simply because of DC government-initiated policies, instituted in the past 7 yrs or so. I think there is definitely be a judge who will listen to the case


There's more than substantial ground for a lawsuit. Wilson overcrowding is not exogenous, it is due to DC government short sighted policies.
Anonymous
Post 03/22/2014 09:30     Subject: When are boundary changes being announced?
Anonymous wrote:It is beyond ridiculous that you all think the private schools in DC want or actually NEED your public school kids. Please. Do you really not get how many applicants are turned away from the privates every year. It is not just the top tier of privates either. Most of them turn applicants away due to limited spaces. You folks are delusional if you think there is some private school lobby pushing the DC council to do anything at all. They dont give a rats ass. They don't need to.


Every private school wants more applicants. There are a ton of schools that would love more students. The ones that fill every seat wish they were more exclusive.
Anonymous
Post 03/22/2014 09:29     Subject: When are boundary changes being announced?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am just waiting to hear the proposal in April, then I will take action starting from from my school to beyond - Mann elementary - for a joint t
Lawsuit if they abolish IB feeding to Wilson.


The city doesn't owe people the right to feed to a particular high school in perpetuity just because they bought a place with that expectation. In VA, they redraw boundaries all of the time. It's a contentious process, but homeowners don't get to sue. No judge will entertain such a lawsuit.

Now, if some people in the city get to feed to a particular school based on their expensive address , while others get uncertainty, it would be pretty easy for the parents in the controlled choice area to sue claiming unequal treatment under the law.

I do agree that handing people that uncertainty could result in movement to the suburbs. It's so odd that these changes would be contemplated with no reference to San Francisco or Boston. SF has the lowest percentage of families with school aged children of any city in the country.
the parents can certainly argue that the loss of neighborhood rights is an unnecessary burden, and infringes on their ability to control their kids. There is no court-ordered reason to shuffle students around, no desegregation order in place. Wilson and Deal are overcrowded simply because of DC government-initiated policies, instituted in the past 7 yrs or so. I think there is definitely be a judge who will listen to the case


Actually it was instituted in 2009, five years ago.
Anonymous
Post 03/22/2014 08:24     Subject: When are boundary changes being announced?
Anonymous wrote:It is beyond ridiculous that you all think the private schools in DC want or actually NEED your public school kids. Please. Do you really not get how many applicants are turned away from the privates every year. It is not just the top tier of privates either. Most of them turn applicants away due to limited spaces. You folks are delusional if you think there is some private school lobby pushing the DC council to do anything at all. They dont give a rats ass. They don't need to.



No, I don't, and evidently you dont get it either. Sidwell and NCS and St.Albans can draw from the pool of best kids in DC and around because they thrive on the inability of the city to give families a clear and predictable path for their kids public school options. Beyond them, there is a bunch of private schools who pretty much take in whoever applies, and in fact will never tell you how many applications they get. Why? Because if they did, even you would realize they do care about the whole process.
Ask St.Ann's Academy the rats ass they give about the improving public schools. But hurry up. They are closing in June after 90 years because of lack of enrolment,