Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Nobody is "keeping" the EOTP high schools empty. Every one of them accepts every student who applies, any kid in the whole city is welcome to attend them. Students have lots of options "closer to where they live." The problem is not many families want to attend them. More kids who are in-boundary for Cardozo attend Wilson than Cardozo for example.

What DCPS [can't] do is force people to go to schools they don't want to go to. It's not politically feasible, and it ends up not working. DCPS has got to create schools that people want to go to, which means studying what makes schools popular. If part of the answer is location, then schools need to be put in locations that are attractive to people.

Part of the answer is indeed location. It's safe to say all parents prefer a school that's close to where they live.

It turns out that not all parents prefer a school close to where they live. Or at least that's not the highest consideration. One of the points made up-thread is that one of the important qualities of the current Ellington location is that it is in a safe neighborhood. For some parents, that is more important than being close by.

This is a factor at Hardy as well. I saw David Catania speak recently, and he talked about how he looked at Hardy, and noticed that it was less than 15% in-boundary but over 40% of the kids came from east of the Anacostia. Wouldn't it be a win-win, he wondered, to just pick up the whole school -- teachers, students, administration, programs -- and move it somewhere more convenient to just about all of its families? The answer he got is that one of the attractions of the school is the fact that it is located in a what is perceived to be a safe neighborhood.

Now, everyone deserves a neighborhood school and everyone deserves a safe neighborhood. But shouldn't DCPS give people what they want? And if what some people want is a school in a different neighborhood, shouldn't DCPS provide that? That would indicate that the thing to do is to put an overweighting of schools in the western part of the city.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I was to understand that the Old Hardy building was too small, but the land around it was large enough that a decent-sized high school could be built.

Also, how are renovation funds spent on the Old Western High a sunk cost if in either scenario (Duke stays or it goes) the building gets renovated for a high school?

Yes, there is land around the Lab School (located on Foxhall) but this is DPR land. Even if DCPS could grab this, I doubt it would be large enough.

There is another Lab School (on Reservoir). I think this was the old Hardy. The school lot there is larger, but smaller than the school lot plus DPR space on Foxhall. So, it's also likely too small.

The renovation is being planned for a performing arts school, so few of those plans would translate easily into a comprehensive HS. Nonetheless, it is 10m. Frankly, that's pennies in the grand scheme of getting this right. And, while those plans wouldn't translate easily into a born-again Western High, parts of them may be usable for a new Ellington.

The old Hardy site is on Foxhall Road. The school itself sits on one acre and is contiguous with a DPR site of 4.5 acres, so a total of 5.5 acres of city-owned land. By contrast, the current Ellington site is under 2.5 acres. Rec centers and schools co-locate all over the city, for example Coolidge, Stoddert, Hearst.

The Lab School site on MacArthur at Reservoir is owned by the Lab School.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ellington seems to be a sacred cow to the non-Ward 3 crowd. It's OK for Non-Ward 3 to overcrowd Ward 3 neighborhood schools, but NOT OK to talk about restricting the Deal and Wilson ridiculously huge boundaries, but REALLY not OK to ask non-Ward 3 Ellington families to share Ellington's campus.

Ellington isn't in Ward 3.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Nobody is "keeping" the EOTP high schools empty. Every one of them accepts every student who applies, any kid in the whole city is welcome to attend them. Students have lots of options "closer to where they live." The problem is not many families want to attend them. More kids who are in-boundary for Cardozo attend Wilson than Cardozo for example.

What DCPS [can't] do is force people to go to schools they don't want to go to. It's not politically feasible, and it ends up not working. DCPS has got to create schools that people want to go to, which means studying what makes schools popular. If part of the answer is location, then schools need to be put in locations that are attractive to people.

Part of the answer is indeed location. It's safe to say all parents prefer a school that's close to where they live.

It turns out that not all parents prefer a school close to where they live. Or at least that's not the highest consideration. One of the points made up-thread is that one of the important qualities of the current Ellington location is that it is in a safe neighborhood. For some parents, that is more important than being close by.

This is a factor at Hardy as well. I saw David Catania speak recently, and he talked about how he looked at Hardy, and noticed that it was less than 15% in-boundary but over 40% of the kids came from east of the Anacostia. Wouldn't it be a win-win, he wondered, to just pick up the whole school -- teachers, students, administration, programs -- and move it somewhere more convenient to just about all of its families? The answer he got is that one of the attractions of the school is the fact that it is located in a what is perceived to be a safe neighborhood.

Now, everyone deserves a neighborhood school and everyone deserves a safe neighborhood. But shouldn't DCPS give people what they want? And if what some people want is a school in a different neighborhood, shouldn't DCPS provide that? That would indicate that the thing to do is to put an overweighting of schools in the western part of the city.

Anonymous wrote:

Nobody is "keeping" the EOTP high schools empty. Every one of them accepts every student who applies, any kid in the whole city is welcome to attend them. Students have lots of options "closer to where they live." The problem is not many families want to attend them. More kids who are in-boundary for Cardozo attend Wilson than Cardozo for example.

What DCPS [can't] do is force people to go to schools they don't want to go to. It's not politically feasible, and it ends up not working. DCPS has got to create schools that people want to go to, which means studying what makes schools popular. If part of the answer is location, then schools need to be put in locations that are attractive to people.

Part of the answer is indeed location. It's safe to say all parents prefer a school that's close to where they live.

So doesn't it make more sense to figure out what makes schools attractive and put those elements into schools that already exist - closer to the population that needs them - than create yet another school in proximity to the desirable high school that everyone wants?

Anonymous wrote:

Nobody is "keeping" the EOTP high schools empty. Every one of them accepts every student who applies, any kid in the whole city is welcome to attend them. Students have lots of options "closer to where they live." The problem is not many families want to attend them. More kids who are in-boundary for Cardozo attend Wilson than Cardozo for example.

What DCPS [can't] do is force people to go to schools they don't want to go to. It's not politically feasible, and it ends up not working. DCPS has got to create schools that people want to go to, which means studying what makes schools popular. If part of the answer is location, then schools need to be put in locations that are attractive to people.

Part of the answer is indeed location. It's safe to say all parents prefer a school that's close to where they live.

Anonymous wrote:Ellington seems to be a sacred cow to the non-Ward 3 crowd. It's OK for Non-Ward 3 to overcrowd Ward 3 neighborhood schools, but NOT OK to talk about restricting the Deal and Wilson ridiculously huge boundaries, but REALLY not OK to ask non-Ward 3 Ellington families to share Ellington's campus.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I was to understand that the Old Hardy building was too small, but the land around it was large enough that a decent-sized high school could be built.

Also, how are renovation funds spent on the Old Western High a sunk cost if in either scenario (Duke stays or it goes) the building gets renovated for a high school?

Yes, there is land around the Lab School (located on Foxhall) but this is DPR land. Even if DCPS could grab this, I doubt it would be large enough.

There is another Lab School (on Reservoir). I think this was the old Hardy. The school lot there is larger, but smaller than the school lot plus DPR space on Foxhall. So, it's also likely too small.

The renovation is being planned for a performing arts school, so few of those plans would translate easily into a comprehensive HS. Nonetheless, it is 10m. Frankly, that's pennies in the grand scheme of getting this right. And, while those plans wouldn't translate easily into a born-again Western High, parts of them may be usable for a new Ellington.

Nobody is "keeping" the EOTP high schools empty. Every one of them accepts every student who applies, any kid in the whole city is welcome to attend them. Students have lots of options "closer to where they live." The problem is not many families want to attend them. More kids who are in-boundary for Cardozo attend Wilson than Cardozo for example.

What DCPS [can't] do is force people to go to schools they don't want to go to. It's not politically feasible, and it ends up not working. DCPS has got to create schools that people want to go to, which means studying what makes schools popular. If part of the answer is location, then schools need to be put in locations that are attractive to people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a sacred cow like people on here would have you believe.

Is there opposition to moving the school? Absolutely. But that is to be expected: there would be opposition to moving any school.

I assure you, the stumbling block is the 10m in renovation planning that has already been spent. DCPS is loath to admit that as a sunk cost.

Other places for new HS include:

DHS campus by Ward Circle. DHS is moving to St. E's (eventually). The problem is that this would make two HSs in very close proximity.

IntelSat campus at Van Ness. Problem is that the land and the buildings are owned by different groups, so a purchase is more complicated than it should be. Plus, annoying neighbors are trying to have the buildings designated as historic. They've failed so far, and rightly so.

UDC campus. I don't know much about the viability of this option, but like two above, this would entail another HS in close proximity, which is clearly suboptimal.

Lab School campus is too small for a HS.

I was to understand that the Old Hardy building was too small, but the land around it was large enough that a decent-sized high school could be built.

Also, how are renovation funds spent on the Old Western High a sunk cost if in either scenario (Duke stays or it goes) the building gets renovated for a high school?

Anonymous wrote:It's not a sacred cow like people on here would have you believe.

Is there opposition to moving the school? Absolutely. But that is to be expected: there would be opposition to moving any school.

I assure you, the stumbling block is the 10m in renovation planning that has already been spent. DCPS is loath to admit that as a sunk cost.

Other places for new HS include:

DHS campus by Ward Circle. DHS is moving to St. E's (eventually). The problem is that this would make two HSs in very close proximity.

IntelSat campus at Van Ness. Problem is that the land and the buildings are owned by different groups, so a purchase is more complicated than it should be. Plus, annoying neighbors are trying to have the buildings designated as historic. They've failed so far, and rightly so.

UDC campus. I don't know much about the viability of this option, but like two above, this would entail another HS in close proximity, which is clearly suboptimal.

Lab School campus is too small for a HS.

Anonymous wrote:Ellington seems to be a sacred cow to the non-Ward 3 crowd. It's OK for Non-Ward 3 to overcrowd Ward 3 neighborhood schools, but NOT OK to talk about restricting the Deal and Wilson ridiculously huge boundaries, but REALLY not OK to ask non-Ward 3 Ellington families to share Ellington's campus.