Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ward 3 needs a new middle school. Half the ward no longer has access to Deal and few ward residents consider Hardy an option because of the significant quality gap with Deal.

Ward 3 doesn't need a new high school, middle school or elementary school for that matter.

DGS should charge the Lab School true market rate for a 20 year lease and keep it moving.

This, exactly.

I disagree. DC should find a public purpose for public land. Not necessarily a school, but keep it under public control. Think of how much the education landscape in DC has changed in the past 10, 15 and 20 years. Think of how much the city overall has changed. All projections are that the city population is going to surge in the next decade. Public land is going to be at a premium.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ward 3 needs a new middle school. Half the ward no longer has access to Deal and few ward residents consider Hardy an option because of the significant quality gap with Deal.

Ward 3 doesn't need a new high school, middle school or elementary school for that matter.

DGS should charge the Lab School true market rate for a 20 year lease and keep it moving.

This, exactly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ward 3 needs a new middle school. Half the ward no longer has access to Deal and few ward residents consider Hardy an option because of the significant quality gap with Deal.

Ward 3 doesn't need a new high school, middle school or elementary school for that matter.

DGS should charge the Lab School true market rate for a 20 year lease and keep it moving.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For what it's worth, I see the stats show that the IB % for Hardy MS is growing. It used to be 12% a year or two ago IIRC; now it's 15% according to the DCPS website. Much more of a concern though is the Hardy MS math and reading proficiency. They are 15-20 percentage points below that of Deale.

I hear the old Hardy/Lab building is too small for a modern DCPS school, whether elementary or middle school, so perhaps it works well as an overflow building for Lab. I agree with a prior poster who wondered about the to-be-sold GDS school on MacArthur -- I'd love to see DCPS buy that space and renovate it into a new school. While I'd like to see a new middle school as an option other than Hardy MS, perhaps what NW DC needs is another high school other than Wilson (Ellington doesn't "count" as a regular NW DCPS high school due to its arts focus). If NW DC had a high school option there, I think NWDC would be more accepting of Hardy MS out of a desire for continuity -- DCPS from K-12 -- and all at DCPS schools in NW DC. Some have said DCPS wouldn't buy a school (like GDS) because they already have too much excess real estate; however, that's not the case I don't think for NW DC. And, GDS would probably be a bargain compared to the recent renovation costs the city has recently been enduring, such as for Ellington and Dunbar (not to mention Wilson and others).

There aren't enough students that live in Ward 3/2 to justify any new schools. The enrollment pressure comes from oob students. Fix that issue (by making those student's home schools more attractive) and stop wishing that some magic enclave is going to fix this issue.

Wrong. Our W3 school is over capacity by 50 and there are a handful of OOB.

Would you build a school for 50 kids? No. The demographic trends would need to much stronger and sustained to even begin to consider it.

Every school in ward 3 is overcrowded. You could add another Mann or Key and they would still be overcrowded.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For what it's worth, I see the stats show that the IB % for Hardy MS is growing. It used to be 12% a year or two ago IIRC; now it's 15% according to the DCPS website. Much more of a concern though is the Hardy MS math and reading proficiency. They are 15-20 percentage points below that of Deale.

I hear the old Hardy/Lab building is too small for a modern DCPS school, whether elementary or middle school, so perhaps it works well as an overflow building for Lab. I agree with a prior poster who wondered about the to-be-sold GDS school on MacArthur -- I'd love to see DCPS buy that space and renovate it into a new school. While I'd like to see a new middle school as an option other than Hardy MS, perhaps what NW DC needs is another high school other than Wilson (Ellington doesn't "count" as a regular NW DCPS high school due to its arts focus). If NW DC had a high school option there, I think NWDC would be more accepting of Hardy MS out of a desire for continuity -- DCPS from K-12 -- and all at DCPS schools in NW DC. Some have said DCPS wouldn't buy a school (like GDS) because they already have too much excess real estate; however, that's not the case I don't think for NW DC. And, GDS would probably be a bargain compared to the recent renovation costs the city has recently been enduring, such as for Ellington and Dunbar (not to mention Wilson and others).

There aren't enough students that live in Ward 3/2 to justify any new schools. The enrollment pressure comes from oob students. Fix that issue (by making those student's home schools more attractive) and stop wishing that some magic enclave is going to fix this issue.

Wrong. Our W3 school is over capacity by 50 and there are a handful of OOB.

Would you build a school for 50 kids? No. The demographic trends would need to much stronger and sustained to even begin to consider it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For what it's worth, I see the stats show that the IB % for Hardy MS is growing. It used to be 12% a year or two ago IIRC; now it's 15% according to the DCPS website. Much more of a concern though is the Hardy MS math and reading proficiency. They are 15-20 percentage points below that of Deale.

I hear the old Hardy/Lab building is too small for a modern DCPS school, whether elementary or middle school, so perhaps it works well as an overflow building for Lab. I agree with a prior poster who wondered about the to-be-sold GDS school on MacArthur -- I'd love to see DCPS buy that space and renovate it into a new school. While I'd like to see a new middle school as an option other than Hardy MS, perhaps what NW DC needs is another high school other than Wilson (Ellington doesn't "count" as a regular NW DCPS high school due to its arts focus). If NW DC had a high school option there, I think NWDC would be more accepting of Hardy MS out of a desire for continuity -- DCPS from K-12 -- and all at DCPS schools in NW DC. Some have said DCPS wouldn't buy a school (like GDS) because they already have too much excess real estate; however, that's not the case I don't think for NW DC. And, GDS would probably be a bargain compared to the recent renovation costs the city has recently been enduring, such as for Ellington and Dunbar (not to mention Wilson and others).

There aren't enough students that live in Ward 3/2 to justify any new schools. The enrollment pressure comes from oob students. Fix that issue (by making those student's home schools more attractive) and stop wishing that some magic enclave is going to fix this issue.

Wrong. Our W3 school is over capacity by 50 and there are a handful of OOB.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For what it's worth, I see the stats show that the IB % for Hardy MS is growing. It used to be 12% a year or two ago IIRC; now it's 15% according to the DCPS website. Much more of a concern though is the Hardy MS math and reading proficiency. They are 15-20 percentage points below that of Deale.

I hear the old Hardy/Lab building is too small for a modern DCPS school, whether elementary or middle school, so perhaps it works well as an overflow building for Lab. I agree with a prior poster who wondered about the to-be-sold GDS school on MacArthur -- I'd love to see DCPS buy that space and renovate it into a new school. While I'd like to see a new middle school as an option other than Hardy MS, perhaps what NW DC needs is another high school other than Wilson (Ellington doesn't "count" as a regular NW DCPS high school due to its arts focus). If NW DC had a high school option there, I think NWDC would be more accepting of Hardy MS out of a desire for continuity -- DCPS from K-12 -- and all at DCPS schools in NW DC. Some have said DCPS wouldn't buy a school (like GDS) because they already have too much excess real estate; however, that's not the case I don't think for NW DC. And, GDS would probably be a bargain compared to the recent renovation costs the city has recently been enduring, such as for Ellington and Dunbar (not to mention Wilson and others).

There aren't enough students that live in Ward 3/2 to justify any new schools. The enrollment pressure comes from oob students. Fix that issue (by making those student's home schools more attractive) and stop wishing that some magic enclave is going to fix this issue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ward 3 needs a new middle school. Half the ward no longer has access to Deal and few ward residents consider Hardy an option because of the significant quality gap with Deal.

Ward 3 doesn't need a new high school, middle school or elementary school for that matter.

DGS should charge the Lab School true market rate for a 20 year lease and keep it moving.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For what it's worth, I see the stats show that the IB % for Hardy MS is growing. It used to be 12% a year or two ago IIRC; now it's 15% according to the DCPS website. Much more of a concern though is the Hardy MS math and reading proficiency. They are 15-20 percentage points below that of Deale.

I hear the old Hardy/Lab building is too small for a modern DCPS school, whether elementary or middle school, so perhaps it works well as an overflow building for Lab. I agree with a prior poster who wondered about the to-be-sold GDS school on MacArthur -- I'd love to see DCPS buy that space and renovate it into a new school. While I'd like to see a new middle school as an option other than Hardy MS, perhaps what NW DC needs is another high school other than Wilson (Ellington doesn't "count" as a regular NW DCPS high school due to its arts focus). If NW DC had a high school option there, I think NWDC would be more accepting of Hardy MS out of a desire for continuity -- DCPS from K-12 -- and all at DCPS schools in NW DC. Some have said DCPS wouldn't buy a school (like GDS) because they already have too much excess real estate; however, that's not the case I don't think for NW DC. And, GDS would probably be a bargain compared to the recent renovation costs the city has recently been enduring, such as for Ellington and Dunbar (not to mention Wilson and others).

I too have heard that the cost to renovate the Old Hardy School is prohibitive, and that the reason for the jaw-dropping fifty-year term of the proposed lease is primarily so that Lab can see some return on its investment after making these expensive repairs. That sounds reasonable, until you look at the equally jaw-dropping sums that DCPS is plowing into underutilized facilities elsewhere in the District simply to make political hay.

I also live near GDS and would love to see a DCPS school go in there -- it's right on the stretch of MacArthur that was almost re-zoned from Key to Hyde -- but it wouldn't likely be a high school. The GDS campus is currently a lower-middle school and would also require capital improvements before a high school would work well there. And I don't see DCPS investing in a fixer-upper in order to establish a new NW high school, particularly at a location so poorly-served by public transit and difficult to reach even by car. Perhaps we can dream about a charter middle school...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For what it's worth, I see the stats show that the IB % for Hardy MS is growing. It used to be 12% a year or two ago IIRC; now it's 15% according to the DCPS website. Much more of a concern though is the Hardy MS math and reading proficiency. They are 15-20 percentage points below that of Deale.

I hear the old Hardy/Lab building is too small for a modern DCPS school, whether elementary or middle school, so perhaps it works well as an overflow building for Lab. I agree with a prior poster who wondered about the to-be-sold GDS school on MacArthur -- I'd love to see DCPS buy that space and renovate it into a new school. While I'd like to see a new middle school as an option other than Hardy MS, perhaps what NW DC needs is another high school other than Wilson (Ellington doesn't "count" as a regular NW DCPS high school due to its arts focus). If NW DC had a high school option there, I think NWDC would be more accepting of Hardy MS out of a desire for continuity -- DCPS from K-12 -- and all at DCPS schools in NW DC. Some have said DCPS wouldn't buy a school (like GDS) because they already have too much excess real estate; however, that's not the case I don't think for NW DC. And, GDS would probably be a bargain compared to the recent renovation costs the city has recently been enduring, such as for Ellington and Dunbar (not to mention Wilson and others).

Here's the thing: NWDC does have another high school: Roosevelt. But, like Hardy, many (if not most) IB families don't send their kids there. DCPS needs to fix the schools it has - only that will alleviate overcrowding at Deal and Wilson. The problem is that there are so few decent options out there, the whole city would send their kids to Deal and Wilson if they could.