Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^^ Telling someone that they're expendable is unacceptable. That's not the attitude for growing the community.

DP. Sensitive much? I think the PP was telling you very honestly that SH doesn't have an under-enrollment problem. You might not like the composition of the student population but your making a different choice in fact isn't make or break for the school. Especially as she pointed out too that the SH feeders have less peel off at 5th than either Brent or Maury.

Anonymous wrote:^^^^ Telling someone that they're expendable is unacceptable. That's not the attitude for growing the community.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks who buy houses and disregard publicly available school data -- and are then angry or shocked by their lack of 'options' as middle school approaches get no sympathy from me.

If only things were that simple.

When we bought in-boundary for the Cluster a decade ago, the data on SH seemed promising for this expectant mother.

But then, whoops...

SWS and Logan suddenly got their own buildings and left.
Maury and Brent attracted more high SES families than Watkins.
Watkins' planned renovation took many years longer than expected.
A bunch of charters sprang up (mainly language immersion programs, but also BASIS and ITS) that creamed off a big chunk of the supposedly Watkins and SH bound families.
SH added Ludlow and JO Wilson as feeders. Neither has attracted many high SES families to the upper grades.

We're not asking for sympathy, but you might want to think twice before judging us for changing our minds about the Cluster.

Signed
Parent somewhat surprised and very disappointed that SH is still only around one quarter IB a decade on.

Please look at actual data and then get back to me.

If you look at publicly available data the # of kids peeling off by 5th is a problem most pronounced at...Brent. Maurey is also high on that list. You know what isn't? Ludlow. Also pretty low on that list is Watkins and JO. So the issue here is that Brent and Maurey families leave because they don't feel they have a path. Now that's a fair observation and concern. But what amuses me to no end is how those families conflate their lack of path with SH and its feeders' trajectories. The data doesn't lie. If you dig further into the data you will see median home prices in the SH feeder schools catchment areas have skyrocketed in the last 10 years. And the data for schools just doesn't track with your world view.

My point is....

1, You haven't "seen it all before". The demographic, enrollment and financial trends simply have not been previously seen in DC or on the Hill. Just because you and your next door neighbor keep having the same conversation doesn't make it so. Data doesn't lie.
2. You are either lying to yourself of willfully ignorant when you say things like "LT hasn't improved". % of economically disadvantaged is down. Scores are way up (at Brent levels in some cases). The 5th grade enrollment is about the same as 1st. Data doesn't lie.
3. Your reference to ITS and Basis is sad and funny. Just because you and your neighbor "know" they are better school doesn't make it so. ITS's scores lag behind LT's. In fact their scores are pretty marginal, especially when adjusted for the demographic in attendance. If you look at publicly available data on where those families live you will see that SH catchment isn't a large driver. And Basis seems to be blowing through their waitlist (compared to Latin, the other "HRCS" that begins in 5th). It is a very specific educational model that isn't for everyone, so the idea that it can replace SH or any DCPS is funny. So yet again the data doesn't match your "knowledge". Now if you prioritize white and high SES over educational outcomes then I guess you are correct. But I remain confused by those of you that cite data when it suits your needs, and when it doesn't you talk about "culture" and "feel". Data doesn't lie.
4. There is no "Cluster"!!! SH is a MS...period. LT, JO and Watkins feed in. This idea that somehow Watkins is the true feeder and LT and JO (combined enrollment 868) are interlopers is just confusing. And the frequent references to SWS and Logan being part of the cluster (or "suddenly getting their own buildings) illustrates your dated view of educational systems on the Hill.
5. You don't have to go to SH or any school. But rest assured, the fact that you and your neighbor are not attending is a loss that SH and other SH feeders can well afford to absorb.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks who buy houses and disregard publicly available school data -- and are then angry or shocked by their lack of 'options' as middle school approaches get no sympathy from me.

If only things were that simple.

When we bought in-boundary for the Cluster a decade ago, the data on SH seemed promising for this expectant mother.

But then, whoops...

SWS and Logan suddenly got their own buildings and left.
Maury and Brent attracted more high SES families than Watkins.
Watkins' planned renovation took many years longer than expected.
A bunch of charters sprang up (mainly language immersion programs, but also BASIS and ITS) that creamed off a big chunk of the supposedly Watkins and SH bound families.
SH added Ludlow and JO Wilson as feeders. Neither has attracted many high SES families to the upper grades.

We're not asking for sympathy, but you might want to think twice before judging us for changing our minds about the Cluster.

Signed
Parent somewhat surprised and very disappointed that SH is still only around one quarter IB a decade on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You seriously don't know the basics after perusing SH threads?

During the 2013-2014 school boundaries and feeders review, school system leaders refused to allow most of the nine DCPS elementary schools on Cap Hill to feed into an enlarged SH, creating a pan-Ward 6 DCPS middle school. DCPS intransigence on the issue was supported by the politically powerful leadership of the Capitol Cluster, both admins and parents (mostly residents Wards 5, 7 and 8), and their allies at the the pro-Cluster Capitol Hill Public School Parents Organization (CHPSPO). Sadly, most Cap Hill parents of little kids would have cheered the change.

Without the strongest Hill DCPS elementary schools--Maury, SWS and Brent--feeding into SH, the school can't improve quickly, catching up to Hardy and possibly Deal in this generation. Ensuring that SH become a predominantly in-boundary and high SES school is now a 10-20 year project, when it could have been a 3-5 year project. Not much more to say.

Agreed. The Cluster PTA president at the time Vince Morris was not helpful at all and inhibited any progess for growing the neighborhood. School safety and school management administrative culture was not his concern. He seems buddy-buddy with Grosso, so that says it all and now here we are with dysfunctional feeder patterns.

Setting aside the relative strength of the elementary schools, for me the disappointment with the school boundary review is that kids in Capitol Hill elementary schools are left with feeder rights to three different middle schools. The cluster was happy with their boundaries and did not want to change, but because their boundaries cut a diagonal across the neighborhood, the rest of the elementary schools were divided. Stuart Hobson may have the strongest middle school program, but they are in the smallest building with the least outdoor space.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You seriously don't know the basics after perusing SH threads?

During the 2013-2014 school boundaries and feeders review, school system leaders refused to allow most of the nine DCPS elementary schools on Cap Hill to feed into an enlarged SH, creating a pan-Ward 6 DCPS middle school. DCPS intransigence on the issue was supported by the politically powerful leadership of the Capitol Cluster, both admins and parents (mostly residents Wards 5, 7 and 8), and their allies at the the pro-Cluster Capitol Hill Public School Parents Organization (CHPSPO). Sadly, most Cap Hill parents of little kids would have cheered the change.

Without the strongest Hill DCPS elementary schools--Maury, SWS and Brent--feeding into SH, the school can't improve quickly, catching up to Hardy and possibly Deal in this generation. Ensuring that SH become a predominantly in-boundary and high SES school is now a 10-20 year project, when it could have been a 3-5 year project. Not much more to say.

Agreed. The Cluster PTA president at the time Vince Morris was not helpful at all and inhibited any progess for growing the neighborhood. School safety and school management administrative culture was not his concern. He seems buddy-buddy with Grosso, so that says it all and now here we are with dysfunctional feeder patterns.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You seriously don't know the basics after perusing SH threads?

During the 2013-2014 school boundaries and feeders review, school system leaders refused to allow most of the nine DCPS elementary schools on Cap Hill to feed into an enlarged SH, creating a pan-Ward 6 DCPS middle school. DCPS intransigence on the issue was supported by the politically powerful leadership of the Capitol Cluster, both admins and parents (mostly residents Wards 5, 7 and 8), and their allies at the the pro-Cluster Capitol Hill Public School Parents Organization (CHPSPO). Sadly, most Cap Hill parents of little kids would have cheered the change.

Without the strongest Hill DCPS elementary schools--Maury, SWS and Brent--feeding into SH, the school can't improve quickly, catching up to Hardy and possibly Deal in this generation. Ensuring that SH become a predominantly in-boundary and high SES school is now a 10-20 year project, when it could have been a 3-5 year project. Not much more to say.

Agreed. The Cluster PTA president at the time Vince Morris was not helpful at all and inhibited any progess for growing the neighborhood. School safety and school management administrative culture was not his concern. He seems buddy-buddy with Grosso, so that says it all and now here we are with dysfunctional feeder patterns.

Anonymous wrote:You seriously don't know the basics after perusing SH threads?

During the 2013-2014 school boundaries and feeders review, school system leaders refused to allow most of the nine DCPS elementary schools on Cap Hill to feed into an enlarged SH, creating a pan-Ward 6 DCPS middle school. DCPS intransigence on the issue was supported by the politically powerful leadership of the Capitol Cluster, both admins and parents (mostly residents Wards 5, 7 and 8), and their allies at the the pro-Cluster Capitol Hill Public School Parents Organization (CHPSPO). Sadly, most Cap Hill parents of little kids would have cheered the change.

Without the strongest Hill DCPS elementary schools--Maury, SWS and Brent--feeding into SH, the school can't improve quickly, catching up to Hardy and possibly Deal in this generation. Ensuring that SH become a predominantly in-boundary and high SES school is now a 10-20 year project, when it could have been a 3-5 year project. Not much more to say.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks who buy houses and disregard publicly available school data -- and are then angry or shocked by their lack of 'options' as middle school approaches get no sympathy from me.

If only things were that simple.

When we bought in-boundary for the Cluster a decade ago, the data on SH seemed promising for this expectant mother.

But then, whoops...

SWS and Logan suddenly got their own buildings and left.
Maury and Brent attracted more high SES families than Watkins.
Watkins' planned renovation took many years longer than expected.
A bunch of charters sprang up (mainly language immersion programs, but also BASIS and ITS) that creamed off a big chunk of the supposedly Watkins and SH bound families.
SH added Ludlow and JO Wilson as feeders. Neither has attracted many high SES families to the upper grades.

We're not asking for sympathy, but you might want to think twice before judging us for changing our minds about the Cluster.

Signed
Parent somewhat surprised and very disappointed that SH is still only around one quarter IB a decade on.

same old shifting sands in dcps problem