Anonymous wrote:trailers is the obvious and quick choice here. It's unpalatable and ugly, no doubt, and you lose the adorbs garden and some frolicking dirt.

OTOH, the most elite schools in NYC who crank out the most HYPS students / future establishment of -any- schools in the US do not have precious organic gardens and soccer fields in elementary. They really don't, and somehow their kids shine and succeed.

Yes!! Just suck it up. No one wanted boundaries moved and DCPS isn't going to put a new school in Ward 3. This the most cost effective solution.

* are the obv. choice ...

trailers is the obvious and quick choice here. It's unpalatable and ugly, no doubt, and you lose the adorbs garden and some frolicking dirt.

OTOH, the most elite schools in NYC who crank out the most HYPS students / future establishment of -any- schools in the US do not have precious organic gardens and soccer fields in elementary. They really don't, and somehow their kids shine and succeed.

As a parent of a current third grader, I can say that there will be an uprising if they don't move the kids back to 5 smaller classes next year.
32 kids in a class, regardless of how many teachers there are, is not working. The kids are jammed into regular sized classrooms. When they go to specials there is only ONE teacher. The "two teachers" thing is only used when they're in writing/reading/math. The rest of the day they're with ONE teacher.

That said, I don't really hold out hope. I think DCPS is going to do what they want.

I am in favor of dropping pre K classes and going forward, being strict about not staying if you move OOB. But if there are kids in upper grades now who were allowed to stay under old administration, I would let them finish. How many kids is that anyway?

Principal Lutz needs to make the decision to cut PreK and do it now before the lottery closes. There is no need to offer four sections of a grade that is not required while important elementary years have kids 30 to a class. That's nuts.

Eliminate the 3 PK on the main floor and keep the one in the basement.

You would advocate "cleaning house" over dropping PK? Dropping PK will actually open up classrooms. Not sure what cleaning house would accomplish. But 30+ kids is way way too many.

Anonymous wrote:Okay- can we get this thread back on track? Are any actual Janney families suggesting using Hearst as ECE, St. Ann's as an annex, etc? No.
Let's talk about actual suggestions that the principal on her own could implement- trailers, eliminating 3 classrooms of PK. Anything else?
Where does PTA stand on this?
30+ kids in a class is not acceptable, I don't care how many teachers.

Principal can clean house - during registration if you are not showing current evidence of IB you can not re-enroll. (unless you got in through OOB lottery)
I would expect in the upper grades you will lose at 5+ % of the students.

Okay- can we get this thread back on track? Are any actual Janney families suggesting using Hearst as ECE, St. Ann's as an annex, etc? No.
Let's talk about actual suggestions that the principal on her own could implement- trailers, eliminating 3 classrooms of PK. Anything else?
Where does PTA stand on this?
30+ kids in a class is not acceptable, I don't care how many teachers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or they could redraw the boundaries?

but they tried and the Janney families said no! We would prefer to have overcrowded classrooms!

+1. Hearst can accommodate more IB families. They are in a dangerous space now where the PK class has a few extra seats for OOB. But when IB kids enroll late summer (like this year) for K they end up with crowded classes for the remaining 5 years. Principal needs to recognize this trend and plan accordingly in the lottery.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or they could redraw the boundaries?

but they tried and the Janney families said no! We would prefer to have overcrowded classrooms!

Exactly. I spoke to some of those Janney families at the boundary meetings. They were there not out of concern for the kids of DC, but to rail about their property values and the disaster that would befall them if the boundaries were redrawn. They made their beds...

Anonymous wrote:Or they could redraw the boundaries?

but they tried and the Janney families said no! We would prefer to have overcrowded classrooms!

Or they could redraw the boundaries?

Anonymous wrote:

Chevy Chase Community Center, which used to be a school? Mann, which was designed around its ECE program and doesn't fill the upper grades? Build a new center at Livingston Playground or Turtle Park? There are options.

You are drunk, go home.

The current Second District police station on Idaho Ave between Mass and Wisconsin would be a great school site. Large are police stations are no longer considered efficient policing models and the large property could be used more beneficially for a school (and it might even be possible to gut and renovate the present building, saving $$ and carbon).