Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You may have noticed that new mutli-family developments in Ward 3 are all oriented toward singles and childless couples. About the only units that have been build for families in the last 15 years are a few units atop the old Sears (now Best Buy) at Tenleytown. Developers just don't want to build apartments/condos for families, because it detracts from their project economics metrics.

Are there no new 2BR units? Which could accommodate a couple with one child, or a single parent with one child?

Very, very few new ones. Older, non-"Class A" apartment buildings may offer more options.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You may have noticed that new mutli-family developments in Ward 3 are all oriented toward singles and childless couples. About the only units that have been build for families in the last 15 years are a few units atop the old Sears (now Best Buy) at Tenleytown. Developers just don't want to build apartments/condos for families, because it detracts from their project economics metrics.

Are there no new 2BR units? Which could accommodate a couple with one child, or a single parent with one child?

Anonymous wrote:
You may have noticed that new mutli-family developments in Ward 3 are all oriented toward singles and childless couples. About the only units that have been build for families in the last 15 years are a few units atop the old Sears (now Best Buy) at Tenleytown. Developers just don't want to build apartments/condos for families, because it detracts from their project economics metrics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day, it's always about class and socio-economics. White folks are fine sending their kids to schools with majority Black and Hispanic students as long as those students come from middle class homes. No one want to have too many "poors" at their school. This is not rocket science.

Absolutely correct. Diagnosing the problem is not hard. Fixing it is - unless you think the solution is to ban poor kids from attending Hardy.

Fixing it is easy: the parent cohorts at each feeder school need to agree among themselves to send their kids to Hardy. Voila. Test scores go up immediately. Advanced course participation rises immediately. Problem solved.

Good luck. I've experienced this. What will happen is that this group of parents will all look each other right in the eye, promise they are going to Hardy, then run off and secretly apply to privates and charters and buy houses in the suburbs or in the Deal district. A couple of parents who are saps will be left holding the bag.

Exactly. That fix won't work.

The fix that will work is to cut enrollment until about 70 to 80% of the seats are filled by IB families who want to to enroll in the 6th grade TODAY. Then, for every 7 or 8 more IB kids who enroll, admit another 2 or 3 OOB kids.

It's foolish to set enrollment at 300 kids and expect a grassroots campaign among IB families to bring IB enrollment to 70 to 80%.

I have an easier fix: this year, do everything possible to make sure that the IB kids who took the leap of faith and started sixth grade have the best experience possible. Make sure they have academic opportunities superior to any other middle school in the city. Make sure the school has a fun and welcoming environment. Make sure the parents feel welcomed and included.

Those families will report back to their neighbors and the IB kids will gush in.

This.

Plus, if reducing FARMS % is such a priority, maybe the way to do that is for Ward3 to be more positive about dense new developments (most units will go to childless, but if even a few do not that would help) to increase the IB pop (and esp high SES families who aren't quite high enough to afford privates) rather than limiting OOB directly, with all the disdain that implies, and that is felt.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day, it's always about class and socio-economics. White folks are fine sending their kids to schools with majority Black and Hispanic students as long as those students come from middle class homes. No one want to have too many "poors" at their school. This is not rocket science.

Absolutely correct. Diagnosing the problem is not hard. Fixing it is - unless you think the solution is to ban poor kids from attending Hardy.

Fixing it is easy: the parent cohorts at each feeder school need to agree among themselves to send their kids to Hardy. Voila. Test scores go up immediately. Advanced course participation rises immediately. Problem solved.

Good luck. I've experienced this. What will happen is that this group of parents will all look each other right in the eye, promise they are going to Hardy, then run off and secretly apply to privates and charters and buy houses in the suburbs or in the Deal district. A couple of parents who are saps will be left holding the bag.

Exactly. That fix won't work.

The fix that will work is to cut enrollment until about 70 to 80% of the seats are filled by IB families who want to to enroll in the 6th grade TODAY. Then, for every 7 or 8 more IB kids who enroll, admit another 2 or 3 OOB kids.

It's foolish to set enrollment at 300 kids and expect a grassroots campaign among IB families to bring IB enrollment to 70 to 80%.

I have an easier fix: this year, do everything possible to make sure that the IB kids who took the leap of faith and started sixth grade have the best experience possible. Make sure they have academic opportunities superior to any other middle school in the city. Make sure the school has a fun and welcoming environment. Make sure the parents feel welcomed and included.

Those families will report back to their neighbors and the IB kids will gush in.

This.

Plus, if reducing FARMS % is such a priority, maybe the way to do that is for Ward3 to be more positive about dense new developments (most units will go to childless, but if even a few do not that would help) to increase the IB pop (and esp high SES families who aren't quite high enough to afford privates) rather than limiting OOB directly, with all the disdain that implies, and that is felt.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day, it's always about class and socio-economics. White folks are fine sending their kids to schools with majority Black and Hispanic students as long as those students come from middle class homes. No one want to have too many "poors" at their school. This is not rocket science.

Absolutely correct. Diagnosing the problem is not hard. Fixing it is - unless you think the solution is to ban poor kids from attending Hardy.

Fixing it is easy: the parent cohorts at each feeder school need to agree among themselves to send their kids to Hardy. Voila. Test scores go up immediately. Advanced course participation rises immediately. Problem solved.

Good luck. I've experienced this. What will happen is that this group of parents will all look each other right in the eye, promise they are going to Hardy, then run off and secretly apply to privates and charters and buy houses in the suburbs or in the Deal district. A couple of parents who are saps will be left holding the bag.

Exactly. That fix won't work.

The fix that will work is to cut enrollment until about 70 to 80% of the seats are filled by IB families who want to to enroll in the 6th grade TODAY. Then, for every 7 or 8 more IB kids who enroll, admit another 2 or 3 OOB kids.

It's foolish to set enrollment at 300 kids and expect a grassroots campaign among IB families to bring IB enrollment to 70 to 80%.

I have an easier fix: this year, do everything possible to make sure that the IB kids who took the leap of faith and started sixth grade have the best experience possible. Make sure they have academic opportunities superior to any other middle school in the city. Make sure the school has a fun and welcoming environment. Make sure the parents feel welcomed and included.

Those families will report back to their neighbors and the IB kids will gush in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OK, PP. What do you think would happen if 200 IB kids left Deal at the end of the year? Would the principal make those spots available in the OOB lottery?

Kind of an odd question, but I'll try. This year? No, the school is 300 kids over capacity right now. Once the addition is finished? Yes, he'd have to.

But what are you getting at?

I'm just suggesting that the Deal principal is probably familiar with the research and would try hard to keep FARMs enrollment below 25% if at all possible. He would probably fight to minimize the number of OOB spots available if his IB enrollment dropped for some reason.

If all of the OOB kids at Deal come from the feeders, then perhaps the fact that Deal is only 21% FARMs reflects the collective efforts of the Deal feeder principals to control their OOB lottery slots. Do the feeders pack their 4th and 5th grades to capacity with OOB kids? Probably not.

School capacity does not determine enrollment. Hardy has the capacity for 650, I think, but has only around 350 kids. Why is that? Could Hardy handle being 75% FARMs?

You're giving everyone way too much credit. It's just happy accident the demographics work out for Deal.

The reality is the opposite of what you hypothesize. There is unrelenting pressure on Deal and its feeders to take more kids. Enrollment moves in one direction only, upward. There is a ratchet where facilities grow to meet enrollment, and then enrollment grows to match facilities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OK, PP. What do you think would happen if 200 IB kids left Deal at the end of the year? Would the principal make those spots available in the OOB lottery?

Kind of an odd question, but I'll try. This year? No, the school is 300 kids over capacity right now. Once the addition is finished? Yes, he'd have to.

But what are you getting at?

I'm just suggesting that the Deal principal is probably familiar with the research and would try hard to keep FARMs enrollment below 25% if at all possible. He would probably fight to minimize the number of OOB spots available if his IB enrollment dropped for some reason.

If all of the OOB kids at Deal come from the feeders, then perhaps the fact that Deal is only 21% FARMs reflects the collective efforts of the Deal feeder principals to control their OOB lottery slots. Do the feeders pack their 4th and 5th grades to capacity with OOB kids? Probably not.

School capacity does not determine enrollment. Hardy has the capacity for 650, I think, but has only around 350 kids. Why is that? Could Hardy handle being 75% FARMs?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day, it's always about class and socio-economics. White folks are fine sending their kids to schools with majority Black and Hispanic students as long as those students come from middle class homes. No one want to have too many "poors" at their school. This is not rocket science.

Absolutely correct. Diagnosing the problem is not hard. Fixing it is - unless you think the solution is to ban poor kids from attending Hardy.

Fixing it is easy: the parent cohorts at each feeder school need to agree among themselves to send their kids to Hardy. Voila. Test scores go up immediately. Advanced course participation rises immediately. Problem solved.

Good luck. I've experienced this. What will happen is that this group of parents will all look each other right in the eye, promise they are going to Hardy, then run off and secretly apply to privates and charters and buy houses in the suburbs or in the Deal district. A couple of parents who are saps will be left holding the bag.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day, it's always about class and socio-economics. White folks are fine sending their kids to schools with majority Black and Hispanic students as long as those students come from middle class homes. No one want to have too many "poors" at their school. This is not rocket science.

Absolutely correct. Diagnosing the problem is not hard. Fixing it is - unless you think the solution is to ban poor kids from attending Hardy.

Fixing it is easy: the parent cohorts at each feeder school need to agree among themselves to send their kids to Hardy. Voila. Test scores go up immediately. Advanced course participation rises immediately. Problem solved.

Good luck. I've experienced this. What will happen is that this group of parents will all look each other right in the eye, promise they are going to Hardy, then run off and secretly apply to privates and charters and buy houses in the suburbs or in the Deal district. A couple of parents who are saps will be left holding the bag.

Exactly. That fix won't work.

The fix that will work is to cut enrollment until about 70 to 80% of the seats are filled by IB families who want to to enroll in the 6th grade TODAY. Then, for every 7 or 8 more IB kids who enroll, admit another 2 or 3 OOB kids.

It's foolish to set enrollment at 300 kids and expect a grassroots campaign among IB families to bring IB enrollment to 70 to 80%.

I have an easier fix: this year, do everything possible to make sure that the IB kids who took the leap of faith and started sixth grade have the best experience possible. Make sure they have academic opportunities superior to any other middle school in the city. Make sure the school has a fun and welcoming environment. Make sure the parents feel welcomed and included.

Those families will report back to their neighbors and the IB kids will gush in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, and a ton of cars from Maryland pick up kids at the end of the day at Hardy. I mean, a lot. So, I'm not sure "one city" describes describes the "OOB" population. We need a new slogan to embrace the regional nature this "neighborhood" school.

Rose Lees Hardy for All...of the greater DC metro area!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OK, PP. What do you think would happen if 200 IB kids left Deal at the end of the year? Would the principal make those spots available in the OOB lottery?

Kind of an odd question, but I'll try. This year? No, the school is 300 kids over capacity right now. Once the addition is finished? Yes, he'd have to.

But what are you getting at?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day, it's always about class and socio-economics. White folks are fine sending their kids to schools with majority Black and Hispanic students as long as those students come from middle class homes. No one want to have too many "poors" at their school. This is not rocket science.

Absolutely correct. Diagnosing the problem is not hard. Fixing it is - unless you think the solution is to ban poor kids from attending Hardy.

Fixing it is easy: the parent cohorts at each feeder school need to agree among themselves to send their kids to Hardy. Voila. Test scores go up immediately. Advanced course participation rises immediately. Problem solved.

Good luck. I've experienced this. What will happen is that this group of parents will all look each other right in the eye, promise they are going to Hardy, then run off and secretly apply to privates and charters and buy houses in the suburbs or in the Deal district. A couple of parents who are saps will be left holding the bag.

Exactly. That fix won't work.

The fix that will work is to cut enrollment until about 70 to 80% of the seats are filled by IB families who want to to enroll in the 6th grade TODAY. Then, for every 7 or 8 more IB kids who enroll, admit another 2 or 3 OOB kids.

It's foolish to set enrollment at 300 kids and expect a grassroots campaign among IB families to bring IB enrollment to 70 to 80%.