If there is money in any budget for a Wilson expansion, I'm going to go down and fight it. We need DCPS, not one school.

Meh. there are 1700 kids at Wilson. My high school had 2500. Just expand the building...

Anonymous wrote:
What specifically do I need to know about the school that will either confirm or reject the hypothesis that removing the 100 worst OOB troublemakers (which will also do a little to alleviate overcrowding) will benefit the remaining students?

Your initial post says "the students with the worst disciplinary and attendance records." In the post quoted above, you say "troublemakers." You assume with no evidence that kids who miss school are "troublemakers." You assume with no evidence that kids with disciplinary issues are "troublemakers", but there are many, many kinds of disciplinary issues --- including kids cutting class to sit in the Atrium and talk, kids looking at their phones in class, etc. In some discussions, not fulfilling community service hours falls under the umbrella of disciplinary issues.

You also assume that whatever potentially negligible benefit is achieved by expelling 100 kids (potentially for looking at their phones once too often) outweighs the devastating impact of that kind of policy on the kids who are expelled. I know I'm wasting my time by addressing such a clueless, impossible policy suggestion seriously, but I really hope that you will take a minute to think like an adult and consider how policy gets made and implemented and come up with a suggestion that might a) have a chance of actually getting implemented in the real world and b)actually make things better for the community as a whole. It seems like you buy into this notion ---prevalent on DCUM among people who have never and would never actually set foot inside the school -- that there is a large population of poorly behaved black OOB students who somehow snuck into Wilson and spoil everything. You disregard the fact that OOB students are following the rules set up by the officials who we elected to run the schools and that as such they have exactly as much right to attend the school as anybody else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm not convinced the 100 students with the "worst attendance and disciplinary records' would necessarily be all poor and black kids.

Ah, but PP said the 100 with the worst attendance and disciplinary records that are ALSO out of bounds students. That's gonna sweep up a majority Black/Latinx group. At any rate, it is dumb and racist idea and will never be implemented.

OK - for all kids who are OOB at any school (even originally IB and move OOB and stay at the school), enforce if they have more than X tardy days they need to go to their neighborhood school. (what ever the established policy is that is not enforced) . Tardy students are disruptive to the classroom. I frequently see students coming off of Tenleytown metro at 8:40 with no sense of urgency to get to school.

Ummm.... the metro exit is less than 400 meters from the school doors and first period starts at 8:55. With the lines at the door to go through the metal detector, hurrying to stand in line longer doesn't make much sense. Kids EXITING the metro at 8:40 could pretty much crawl to school and be there on time. My kid always walks out of the metro (which he takes from Woodley --- many, many, many inbound students metro) after 8:40 and gets to class on time.

But please --- continue dreaming up policies to make the school better by kicking out poor kids and disrupting their lives because you seem to know so much.

Anonymous wrote:

I'm not convinced the 100 students with the "worst attendance and disciplinary records' would necessarily be all poor and black kids.

Ah, but PP said the 100 with the worst attendance and disciplinary records that are ALSO out of bounds students. That's gonna sweep up a majority Black/Latinx group. At any rate, it is dumb and racist idea and will never be implemented.

The best thing would be to modify automatic feeder rights. After OOB kids have had an experience at an elementary or at Deal, require a certain GPA, test score, good disciplinary record and good attendance record to be able to go on to Deal or Wilson as the case may be. That would be a better solution than ending feeder rights altogether. This would reward the students who have taken advantage of the education at their Deal/Wilson feeder elementary, and would weed out those who cause problems and will squander scarce resources going forward.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Where is the space in Ward 3 for a charter HS?

The old Hardy school?

The reason Wilson crowding is such a conundrum is that there is no easy way to add capacity to any of the schools in the Wilson pyramid, including Wilson. Charters don't really have any more options than DCPS does.

Charters can rent or buy space privately. It's not ideal but an office building or something could be made into a high school.

Nothing stops DCPS from renting or buying space. The Working Group hasn't been able to locate suitable space in Ward 3, even though they have been looking. One of the ideas was to see if an office building near Tenleytown could be used as overflow classrooms for Wilson.

One way to reduce overcrowding at Wilson is to identify the 100 or so students with the worst disciplinary and attendance records. If they are IB unfortunately there isn’t much to be done. But if they are OOB then the school can basically expel them to their IB high schools. All it takes is will to do the right thing.

For educators, doing the right thing means doing what’s best for the kids. Expulsion ain’t it.

- Wilson parent

Expelling the kids with the 100 worst disciplinary records might not be the best thing for *those* 100 kids, but I'd guess it would be the best thing for a whole bunch of other kids (both from an overcrowding and a school atmosphere perspective).

I highlighted the most important word in your posts. I may be wrong, but you don't seem to know much about Wilson. If you are really concerned about the atmosphere of the school, why don't you come volunteer and learn what's really needed?

What specifically do I need to know about the school that will either confirm or reject the hypothesis that removing the 100 worst OOB troublemakers (which will also do a little to alleviate overcrowding) will benefit the remaining students?

Anonymous wrote:

I'm not convinced the 100 students with the "worst attendance and disciplinary records' would necessarily be all poor and black kids.

Ah, but PP said the 100 with the worst attendance and disciplinary records that are ALSO out of bounds students. That's gonna sweep up a majority Black/Latinx group. At any rate, it is dumb and racist idea and will never be implemented.

How is it that? Students in this category have the incentive to improve their conduct and their attendance, to straighten up and fly right. Otherwise, they should be removed from the Wilson context so that a more deserving student who is willing to work hard gets to take advantage of the opportunity. If Wilson were a magnet, then all students would be subject to being removed from the school context, but unfortunately the law just covers OOB students. School administrators should use the tools that they have.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm not convinced the 100 students with the "worst attendance and disciplinary records' would necessarily be all poor and black kids.

Ah, but PP said the 100 with the worst attendance and disciplinary records that are ALSO out of bounds students. That's gonna sweep up a majority Black/Latinx group. At any rate, it is dumb and racist idea and will never be implemented.

OK - for all kids who are OOB at any school (even originally IB and move OOB and stay at the school), enforce if they have more than X tardy days they need to go to their neighborhood school. (what ever the established policy is that is not enforced) . Tardy students are disruptive to the classroom. I frequently see students coming off of Tenleytown metro at 8:40 with no sense of urgency to get to school.

Wilson already does this.

Really?! How many OOB students have been kicked out of Wilson for discipline problems or habitual absence/tardiness?

I recall discussion here on DCUM in fall of 2017 about 20-25 students not being allowed to re-enroll for absences / tardies -- of course that isn't a stat that DCPS would (or should) publish somewhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm not convinced the 100 students with the "worst attendance and disciplinary records' would necessarily be all poor and black kids.

Ah, but PP said the 100 with the worst attendance and disciplinary records that are ALSO out of bounds students. That's gonna sweep up a majority Black/Latinx group. At any rate, it is dumb and racist idea and will never be implemented.

OK - for all kids who are OOB at any school (even originally IB and move OOB and stay at the school), enforce if they have more than X tardy days they need to go to their neighborhood school. (what ever the established policy is that is not enforced) . Tardy students are disruptive to the classroom. I frequently see students coming off of Tenleytown metro at 8:40 with no sense of urgency to get to school.

Wilson already does this.

Really?! How many OOB students have been kicked out of Wilson for discipline problems or habitual absence/tardiness?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Where is the space in Ward 3 for a charter HS?

The old Hardy school?

The reason Wilson crowding is such a conundrum is that there is no easy way to add capacity to any of the schools in the Wilson pyramid, including Wilson. Charters don't really have any more options than DCPS does.

Charters can rent or buy space privately. It's not ideal but an office building or something could be made into a high school.

Nothing stops DCPS from renting or buying space. The Working Group hasn't been able to locate suitable space in Ward 3, even though they have been looking. One of the ideas was to see if an office building near Tenleytown could be used as overflow classrooms for Wilson.

One way to reduce overcrowding at Wilson is to identify the 100 or so students with the worst disciplinary and attendance records. If they are IB unfortunately there isn’t much to be done. But if they are OOB then the school can basically expel them to their IB high schools. All it takes is will to do the right thing.

For educators, doing the right thing means doing what’s best for the kids. Expulsion ain’t it.

- Wilson parent

Expelling the kids with the 100 worst disciplinary records might not be the best thing for *those* 100 kids, but I'd guess it would be the best thing for a whole bunch of other kids (both from an overcrowding and a school atmosphere perspective).

I highlighted the most important word in your posts. I may be wrong, but you don't seem to know much about Wilson. If you are really concerned about the atmosphere of the school, why don't you come volunteer and learn what's really needed?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm not convinced the 100 students with the "worst attendance and disciplinary records' would necessarily be all poor and black kids.

Ah, but PP said the 100 with the worst attendance and disciplinary records that are ALSO out of bounds students. That's gonna sweep up a majority Black/Latinx group. At any rate, it is dumb and racist idea and will never be implemented.

OK - for all kids who are OOB at any school (even originally IB and move OOB and stay at the school), enforce if they have more than X tardy days they need to go to their neighborhood school. (what ever the established policy is that is not enforced) . Tardy students are disruptive to the classroom. I frequently see students coming off of Tenleytown metro at 8:40 with no sense of urgency to get to school.

Wilson already does this.

Anonymous wrote:

I'm not convinced the 100 students with the "worst attendance and disciplinary records' would necessarily be all poor and black kids.

Ah, but PP said the 100 with the worst attendance and disciplinary records that are ALSO out of bounds students. That's gonna sweep up a majority Black/Latinx group. At any rate, it is dumb and racist idea and will never be implemented.

OK - for all kids who are OOB at any school (even originally IB and move OOB and stay at the school), enforce if they have more than X tardy days they need to go to their neighborhood school. (what ever the established policy is that is not enforced) . Tardy students are disruptive to the classroom. I frequently see students coming off of Tenleytown metro at 8:40 with no sense of urgency to get to school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good thing we have a mayor who has no notable political opposition on practically anything

She just used her political capital trashing mumbo sauce. Not sure she would want to further attack the same folks with that kind of school reform.

Although Bowser faced no serious opposition this time, there’s a lot of grumbling right now. A serous challenger like Karl Racine next time could defeat Bowser in the primary or come close, thanks to votes on Ward 3 and among relative newcomers to the city. If Bowser wants to stay in office, look for her to make a base play in certain wards where she can energize the old time DC machine. That means no curtailing Wilson access for anyone EOTP!

I don' think Bowser will run for re-election again. I think another boundary review process could happen before she leaves, the same way it happened as Gray was leaving.

Gray ran for reelection and lost.

True - and the boundary process wrapped up after the primary when he was on the way out the door. But the primaries were really early that year (April?).

Anonymous wrote:Easiest solution is to start a gifted program at Coolidge. Make qualifying students attend.

DCPS has no power to make anyone go anywhere. Families go charter or move out of the city.


DCPS already has six application-only high schools. The idea of concentrating good students (whatever "good" means) to create oases of success is not new or novel. The problem is that DCPS faces really daunting demographics. Academic achievement is strongly correlated with economic status, and 80% of DCPS students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Until DCPS figures out a way to boost academic performance beyond what demographics would predict, there aren't going to be enough good students to fill all of the application-only schools, let alone create new ones.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good thing we have a mayor who has no notable political opposition on practically anything

She just used her political capital trashing mumbo sauce. Not sure she would want to further attack the same folks with that kind of school reform.

Although Bowser faced no serious opposition this time, there’s a lot of grumbling right now. A serous challenger like Karl Racine next time could defeat Bowser in the primary or come close, thanks to votes on Ward 3 and among relative newcomers to the city. If Bowser wants to stay in office, look for her to make a base play in certain wards where she can energize the old time DC machine. That means no curtailing Wilson access for anyone EOTP!

I don' think Bowser will run for re-election again. I think another boundary review process could happen before she leaves, the same way it happened as Gray was leaving.

Gray ran for reelection and lost.