We're squared away elsewhere for school; it's the neighborhood's fortunes that are of concern. Yea, sure, it's all about the kids, but having high-SES parents raising money, keeping DCPS from pulling any fast ones, and pushing for quality doesn't hurt.

If the LT IB population wants more appealing options in the ES choice aisle, they must collectively lobby the pols for them, like the Maury and Brent parents have done, and the Cluster parents did in the early 90s. Maury would have closed in 2004 if Lincoln Park parents hadn't challenged DCPS as a group. Or hope for lottery luck, or pay tuition, or move....

Anonymous wrote:The type of curriculum on offer at any particular DCPS ES or MS is much less relevant to most of us in the Stanton Park neighborhood than the percentage of high-SES families involved. With a yuppie-run PTA, you get the momentum and resources you need to do all kinds of wonderful things; without one, you're left with what DCPS does on its own. What DCPS does on its own is run one of the several lowest-performing urban school districts in the country. Just look at EotP JKLM schools, which practically run themselves. Just look at Maury, raising money to hire aides to facilitate pullout instruction for remedial work. Just look at Brent, where parents virtually handpick faculty, raise grant money and kick in six figures for extra staff for enrichment (pullout math for advanced learners, Chinese, extra music, art, computers, science etc.), then push DCPS to foot the bill for extras.

I could care less if SWS offers a loosey goosey curriculum or not; I care how many well-educated and high-earning parents are on board. I don't say this to avoid offending parents who feel differently, particularly the Cluster crowd. The IB curriculum won't be relevant at Eliot-Hine for the middle-class families here before dozens of high-SES/white kids enroll. Since that's not in the cards, at least without a test-in program, E-H isn't on the radar for any of us a hop, skip and a jump into NE. Worst case, we simply want to enjoy a few more years in the city before we move, or head to a MS charter or private.

Speaking as an SWS parent I think you'd be disappointed in the SWS family community. It's pretty inclusive and not as "yuppy" as you seem to think. There's nothing "loosey goosey" about the curriculum either -- it's just a different educational model. From my experience, SWS is more about the kids than the parents anyway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Walking distance preference alone would benefit many LT families. It most definitely does hurt the LT community when a new public school is built w/in its boundaries and no preference is given.

Part of the problem with the LT IB crowd is that they take advantage of the free daycare, claiming they want to stay, then hit the road, which doesn't exactly bolster their credibility. Right before Rhee left, two dozen parents living just east of Stanton Park met with DCPS people to challenge the Cluster boundary (Peabody two blocks away but our houses OOB nonethless). They told us their hands were tied on boundary changes and urged us to take up the issue with the Gray Administration. To my knowledge, nobody did, and nobody stayed at LT past Pres3.

No telling why the lousy LT principal has been able to hang on for 7 long years, or why PG County participation remains a fixture. I suspect the fact that some granola crunchy IB parents are OK with the nonsense doesn't help. With all the new ES options for the LT IB crowd, a critical mass of reform-minded parents never seems to materialize. You think the least LT parents of little ones could do would be to lobby for a neighborhood preference at SWS, now that there is probably political support for that.

Anonymous wrote:L-T families have only lost what they never had. The real losers are the Cluster families who thought they were going to have preference for SWS and now won't.

This. I bought into the Cluster 3 years ago hoping to eventually send my kid to SWS, and now I'm totally screwed. This is BS. Too bad Cluster parents just can't get it together. Imagine if DCPS tried to make Brent into a city-wide school. The moaning would never end.

Anonymous wrote:

Walking distance preference alone would benefit many LT families. It most definitely does hurt the LT community when a new public school is built w/in its boundaries and no preference is given.

Nothing is hurt, other than your feelings. And it does suck. But your chances of getting into SWS are better now as a citywide lottery than they were when it was in-bounds for the Cluster.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^Doesn't change the fact that there are plenty of LT IB families who live tantalizingly close to Logan and/or the new SWS building but who have little chance of getting in to either.

Not really any different than it is now. Lottery results are weighted by ranking. I'd imagine physical proximity would result in Stanton Park neighborhood ranking it higher than other residents in DC. Same Cluster bound residents

Walking distance preference alone would benefit many LT families. It most definitely does hurt the LT community when a new public school is built w/in its boundaries and no preference is given.

The type of curriculum on offer at any particular DCPS ES or MS is much less relevant to most of us in the Stanton Park neighborhood than the percentage of high-SES families involved. With a yuppie-run PTA, you get the momentum and resources you need to do all kinds of wonderful things; without one, you're left with what DCPS does on its own. What DCPS does on its own is run one of the several lowest-performing urban school districts in the country. Just look at EotP JKLM schools, which practically run themselves. Just look at Maury, raising money to hire aides to facilitate pullout instruction for remedial work. Just look at Brent, where parents virtually handpick faculty, raise grant money and kick in six figures for extra staff for enrichment (pullout math for advanced learners, Chinese, extra music, art, computers, science etc.), then push DCPS to foot the bill for extras.

I could care less if SWS offers a loosey goosey curriculum or not; I care how many well-educated and high-earning parents are on board. I don't say this to avoid offending parents who feel differently, particularly the Cluster crowd. The IB curriculum won't be relevant at Eliot-Hine for the middle-class families here before dozens of high-SES/white kids enroll. Since that's not in the cards, at least without a test-in program, E-H isn't on the radar for any of us a hop, skip and a jump into NE. Worst case, we simply want to enjoy a few more years in the city before we move, or head to a MS charter or private.

Anonymous wrote:^^Doesn't change the fact that there are plenty of LT IB families who live tantalizingly close to Logan and/or the new SWS building but who have little chance of getting in to either.

Not really any different than it is now. Lottery results are weighted by ranking. I'd imagine physical proximity would result in Stanton Park neighborhood ranking it higher than other residents in DC. Same Cluster bound residents

Anonymous wrote:Maybe they should make SWS a neighborhood school and make LT a citywide lottery, since it's already mostly OOB.

Ha! I love this!

Maybe they should make SWS a neighborhood school and make LT a citywide lottery, since it's already mostly OOB.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My two cents -- and I'm a in-bounds Cluster parent with a kid who went to SWS -- is that SWS will move from the fabulous, high-SES community school it is today to a much less desirable city-wide program in relatively short order. SWS should continue to have some sort of neighborhood preference.

I'd like to second that. And what I actually care more about is that it will feed into Eliot-Hine because that makes complete sense - not kidding, in all seriousness. EH feeders are all already on this track. Miner has Reggio Emilia. Similarly, Maury relies heavily on experiential and some project-based learning, and Payne has a world-cultures/project-based approach (I don't know enough about Tyler). All these mesh very well with the International Baccalaureate emerging at Eliot-Hine. That makes complete sense to me. (I can't speak to what that means or should mean for LT.)

very different programs, and not sure I see a thread. SWS will be 1st DC elementary school with a Reggio influenced curriculum through 5th. Even the original Reggio has only recently expanded beyond EC to elementary school. You'd be hard pressed to find SWS families who values the Reggio approach who would opt for Takoma, LT or Miner, even at EC level. Maury is a good program, but it's also
apples to oranges.

The current feeder patterns are largely irrelevant because they are undergoing comprehensive review in the spring and will eventually result in new school boundaries and feeders. SWS also has 3 years until the MS feeder matters. Given the current MS options on the Hill, that places SWS families in the same boat as Brent, Maury, and Tyler SI. The current Hill neighborhood public MS options on the Hill represent abject failure. Most Hill families know this. DCPS knows this and wants to make changes to counter widespread defection to charters. If not, there are always charters/private/move.

No, they will actually pour even more money into LT. It is slated for renovation this summer.

Will they PLEASE just close LT?!?

Anonymous wrote:^^Doesn't change the fact that there are plenty of LT IB families who live tantalizingly close to Logan and/or the new SWS building but who have little chance of getting in to either.

So agree. It just feels like LT inbounds families have zero chance of a good in bounds school and if a PP is correct that dcps wants to protect LT's integrity it's even more upsetting. It is painfully obvious that the school does not serve the neighborhood above pk.

But yes also agree that unlike cluster families, we never had SWS. It would just be nice for our IB area to catch a break. Good families can't help LT with the current administration in place.

L-T families have only lost what they never had. The real losers are the Cluster families who thought they were going to have preference for SWS and now won't.