DCUM Forum

Anonymous

02/25/2016 14:33 Subject: Ellington. $250 m for 600 students. Murch. $70 m for 700 students.

Anonymous wrote:Don't forget to mention the unfunded LEAP mandate.

+1.

Anonymous

02/25/2016 14:21 Subject: Ellington. $250 m for 600 students. Murch. $70 m for 700 students.

Anonymous wrote:To everyone who voted for Bowser over Catania:

I hate to say well told you so, but we told you so.

as much as I preferred Catania to Bowser I'm not naïve enough to think the schools were going to get a dramatic overhaul under Catania. There are competing entrenched interests that go well beyond the Mayor's office

Anonymous

02/25/2016 14:07 Subject: Re:Ellington. $250 m for 600 students. Murch. $70 m for 700 students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make Dunbar, Coolidge or Roosevelt a test-in school and you'll see enroll go up.

Not enough kids to fill it.

We have 5 test in schools already.

We don't have any test in schools, they are all application schools. But I agree, test in or application there are not enough high performing kids to fill them all so admissions generally gets dumbed down. Look at the SAT scores for some of these magnets.

Anonymous

02/25/2016 13:32 Subject: Re:Ellington. $250 m for 600 students. Murch. $70 m for 700 students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make Dunbar, Coolidge or Roosevelt a test-in school and you'll see enroll go up.

Not enough kids to fill it.

We have 5 test in schools already.

Anonymous

02/25/2016 13:27 Subject: Ellington. $250 m for 600 students. Murch. $70 m for 700 students.

To everyone who voted for Bowser over Catania:

I hate to say well told you so, but we told you so.

Anonymous

02/25/2016 13:26 Subject: Ellington. $250 m for 600 students. Murch. $70 m for 700 students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a "budget engagement" meeting tonight at Roosevelt and Mayor Bowser will be in attendance. Go and make your case in person.

http://mayor.dc.gov/page/budget-engagement-forums-fy-2017

And she'll be fresh off the plane from Cuba...ask her if she had fun while families all over the city were stressing about school budgets (released last week), Murch was being given the run around on its renovation and five NW schools were told their arts programs were being thrown onto the trash heap. Maybe she'll pass out cigars...

Surely Bowser and Kayla will have picked up ideas from the Cuban government on how to respond to "pesky" school parents.

Anonymous

02/25/2016 13:26 Subject: Ellington. $250 m for 600 students. Murch. $70 m for 700 students.

Anonymous wrote:Reasonable?

Part of it is that high schools cost more than elementary schools.

Anonymous

02/25/2016 13:24 Subject: Re:Ellington. $250 m for 600 students. Murch. $70 m for 700 students.

Anonymous wrote:Except that Shepherd's renovation didn't add anything except an elevator that was NEEDED.

Shepherd also replaced the windows, which was needed.

Anonymous

02/25/2016 13:13 Subject: Ellington. $250 m for 600 students. Murch. $70 m for 700 students.

Don't forget to mention the unfunded LEAP mandate.

Anonymous

02/25/2016 13:11 Subject: Ellington. $250 m for 600 students. Murch. $70 m for 700 students.

Anonymous wrote:There is a "budget engagement" meeting tonight at Roosevelt and Mayor Bowser will be in attendance. Go and make your case in person.

http://mayor.dc.gov/page/budget-engagement-forums-fy-2017

And she'll be fresh off the plane from Cuba...ask her if she had fun while families all over the city were stressing about school budgets (released last week), Murch was being given the run around on its renovation and five NW schools were told their arts programs were being thrown onto the trash heap. Maybe she'll pass out cigars...

Anonymous

02/25/2016 13:07 Subject: Re:Ellington. $250 m for 600 students. Murch. $70 m for 700 students.

Except that Shepherd's renovation didn't add anything except an elevator that was NEEDED.

Anonymous

02/25/2016 13:05 Subject: Re:Ellington. $250 m for 600 students. Murch. $70 m for 700 students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Add Shepherd, 30 million for 320/students.

Seems reasonable, same as Murch. I think OP was stressing that Ellington's was out of proportion to Murch's. To add Shepherd which has same proportion as Murch doesn't show anything.

+1. The scandal is the buildings that cost $100 million plus. THAT is the ultimate joke.

Anonymous

02/25/2016 12:44 Subject: Re:Ellington. $250 m for 600 students. Murch. $70 m for 700 students.

Anonymous wrote:Add Shepherd, 30 million for 320/students.

Seems reasonable, same as Murch. I think OP was stressing that Ellington's was out of proportion to Murch's. To add Shepherd which has same proportion as Murch doesn't show anything.

Anonymous

02/25/2016 12:14 Subject: Ellington. $250 m for 600 students. Murch. $70 m for 700 students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's been expressed earlier in this thread, but it's pretty much a known thing that the contractors and subcontractors and various other players who are in the know can basically charge 50-100% more for any project overseen by DGS. Murch/Capital City aren't quite an exact comparison because Murch will involved a lot of new construction and underground work, which is VERY expensive, but I am sure if a charter was doing the same amount of work at Murch the price tag would come in at something like $60 million instead of $88.

So what can be done to change this? Posting to this thread isn't likely to change anything. I think there was a Wa Po article about DGS and its mismanagement of the Ellington renovation funds a while back - has anything come of that? If the above is well-known, what can be done to change the bidding process and make contractors accountable?

What was done was putting DCPS in charge of the projects over DGS.

Don't vote for politicians who are in the pocket of the contractors/developers for a start. Reform the agencies and contracting procedures. Stop giving the Council final say over each contract.

All things we can accomplish in the next week or two.