Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously though, how many non-DC kids attend Ellington? It completely baffles my brain that even one kid who doesn't reside in DC can attend DCPS's most selective school.

W.T.F.

They pay tuition. My friend's kid did this from MD as she was a very talented performer. I think it's 10K a year.

OK, but again - WHY? Maryland doesn't have good arts programs? I find that hard to believe. It's a DCPS school....why is anyone attending the most selective school in the District who doesn't live here? It's makes zero sense.

Baltimore has an arts high school. MCPS and FCPS don't.

It's kinda like the OOB process. DC students have to be taken first - but if there is room in the drama program, for example, they will take a student with the talent from another jurisdiction and OSSE collects tuition. You need decent grades but you also need a portfolio/talent/arts experience. The arts block isn't a joke.

So no slots are taken from DC residents? In any case $10,000 a year can't possibly cover even the operating costs at a specialized school like this with so few students and with this renovation any fair division of costs should see tuition for OOB students triple.

I also hope someone vigorously investigates the documentation for students to make sure no one is cheating - it happens at a lot of DC schools so its surely happening here as well.

Agreed, but I doubt it will happen. It sounds like all the instructors need to do is say "Oh, none of the DC kids were good enough to fill these XX remaining seats, so we can now open it to outside students." It's highly discretionary and I'm sure rife with favoritism/nepotism. $11K for what equates to a Sidwell-level of private school education is a STEAL.

Let me guess, kids/grandkids of City Council members, donors to the Mayor, and influential pastors are over-represented?

While I agree that tuition should be collected from non-DC residents (and in the long run, I think they shouldn't be accepted at all), you're kidding yourself if you think Duke Ellington offers a Sidwell-level education. The arts education is excellent. The regular school day there is standard-issue DCPS. My son got into Duke Ellington. We gave up the spot because academics have to come first, and he had better education options elsewhere. Still sad about him missing out on the arts block, but it was the right decision.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously though, how many non-DC kids attend Ellington? It completely baffles my brain that even one kid who doesn't reside in DC can attend DCPS's most selective school.

W.T.F.

They pay tuition. My friend's kid did this from MD as she was a very talented performer. I think it's 10K a year.

OK, but again - WHY? Maryland doesn't have good arts programs? I find that hard to believe. It's a DCPS school....why is anyone attending the most selective school in the District who doesn't live here? It's makes zero sense.

Baltimore has an arts high school. MCPS and FCPS don't.

It's kinda like the OOB process. DC students have to be taken first - but if there is room in the drama program, for example, they will take a student with the talent from another jurisdiction and OSSE collects tuition. You need decent grades but you also need a portfolio/talent/arts experience. The arts block isn't a joke.

So no slots are taken from DC residents? In any case $10,000 a year can't possibly cover even the operating costs at a specialized school like this with so few students and with this renovation any fair division of costs should see tuition for OOB students triple.

I also hope someone vigorously investigates the documentation for students to make sure no one is cheating - it happens at a lot of DC schools so its surely happening here as well.

Agreed, but I doubt it will happen. It sounds like all the instructors need to do is say "Oh, none of the DC kids were good enough to fill these XX remaining seats, so we can now open it to outside students." It's highly discretionary and I'm sure rife with favoritism/nepotism. $11K for what equates to a Sidwell-level of private school education is a STEAL.

Let me guess, kids/grandkids of City Council members, donors to the Mayor, and influential pastors are over-represented?

No, I think those students are at Walls and Banneker.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously though, how many non-DC kids attend Ellington? It completely baffles my brain that even one kid who doesn't reside in DC can attend DCPS's most selective school.

W.T.F.

They pay tuition. My friend's kid did this from MD as she was a very talented performer. I think it's 10K a year.

OK, but again - WHY? Maryland doesn't have good arts programs? I find that hard to believe. It's a DCPS school....why is anyone attending the most selective school in the District who doesn't live here? It's makes zero sense.

Baltimore has an arts high school. MCPS and FCPS don't.

It's kinda like the OOB process. DC students have to be taken first - but if there is room in the drama program, for example, they will take a student with the talent from another jurisdiction and OSSE collects tuition. You need decent grades but you also need a portfolio/talent/arts experience. The arts block isn't a joke.

So no slots are taken from DC residents? In any case $10,000 a year can't possibly cover even the operating costs at a specialized school like this with so few students and with this renovation any fair division of costs should see tuition for OOB students triple.

I also hope someone vigorously investigates the documentation for students to make sure no one is cheating - it happens at a lot of DC schools so its surely happening here as well.

Agreed, but I doubt it will happen. It sounds like all the instructors need to do is say "Oh, none of the DC kids were good enough to fill these XX remaining seats, so we can now open it to outside students." It's highly discretionary and I'm sure rife with favoritism/nepotism. $11K for what equates to a Sidwell-level of private school education is a STEAL.

Let me guess, kids/grandkids of City Council members, donors to the Mayor, and influential pastors are over-represented?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously though, how many non-DC kids attend Ellington? It completely baffles my brain that even one kid who doesn't reside in DC can attend DCPS's most selective school.

W.T.F.

They pay tuition. My friend's kid did this from MD as she was a very talented performer. I think it's 10K a year.

OK, but again - WHY? Maryland doesn't have good arts programs? I find that hard to believe. It's a DCPS school....why is anyone attending the most selective school in the District who doesn't live here? It's makes zero sense.

Baltimore has an arts high school. MCPS and FCPS don't.

It's kinda like the OOB process. DC students have to be taken first - but if there is room in the drama program, for example, they will take a student with the talent from another jurisdiction and OSSE collects tuition. You need decent grades but you also need a portfolio/talent/arts experience. The arts block isn't a joke.

So no slots are taken from DC residents? In any case $10,000 a year can't possibly cover even the operating costs at a specialized school like this with so few students and with this renovation any fair division of costs should see tuition for OOB students triple.

I also hope someone vigorously investigates the documentation for students to make sure no one is cheating - it happens at a lot of DC schools so its surely happening here as well.

It's more than 10,000 now - $11,000 + change.

Technically a non-resident can attend any DCPS if there is extra space if they pay tuition, not just Ellington. That's the policy they use to set the amount owed by the police officers caught for residency fraud at Eaton.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Had Catania been elected it would have been total gridlock, similar to Obama vs. the Congressional Republicans.
The fault lines would have been race and it would have been all about "ensuring Catania is a one-term mayor." It really would have torn this city apart, probably with lots of public employee strikes.

that's a muddled analogy. Catania was far more engaged with school communities at the grassroots level than any other mayoral candidate, more so than even current Education Committee chair Grosso. His vision was more rationalized vertical integration to balance DCPS and charter paths which largely run amok around middle school. Given the feeder pattern update completed under Gray anyone assuming office was going to be hamstrung by this change.

The other thing I really respect about Catania - he fought hard for wrap around funding for at risk students. He wasn't just pushing the agenda of the most connected school communities. He was also willing to address inequities. He provided a comprehensive and thoughtful plan for improving public education -- no one else in DC government has offering such a vision.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously though, how many non-DC kids attend Ellington? It completely baffles my brain that even one kid who doesn't reside in DC can attend DCPS's most selective school.

W.T.F.

They pay tuition. My friend's kid did this from MD as she was a very talented performer. I think it's 10K a year.

OK, but again - WHY? Maryland doesn't have good arts programs? I find that hard to believe. It's a DCPS school....why is anyone attending the most selective school in the District who doesn't live here? It's makes zero sense.

Baltimore has an arts high school. MCPS and FCPS don't.

It's kinda like the OOB process. DC students have to be taken first - but if there is room in the drama program, for example, they will take a student with the talent from another jurisdiction and OSSE collects tuition. You need decent grades but you also need a portfolio/talent/arts experience. The arts block isn't a joke.

So no slots are taken from DC residents? In any case $10,000 a year can't possibly cover even the operating costs at a specialized school like this with so few students and with this renovation any fair division of costs should see tuition for OOB students triple.

I also hope someone vigorously investigates the documentation for students to make sure no one is cheating - it happens at a lot of DC schools so its surely happening here as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously though, how many non-DC kids attend Ellington? It completely baffles my brain that even one kid who doesn't reside in DC can attend DCPS's most selective school.

W.T.F.

They pay tuition. My friend's kid did this from MD as she was a very talented performer. I think it's 10K a year.

OK, but again - WHY? Maryland doesn't have good arts programs? I find that hard to believe. It's a DCPS school....why is anyone attending the most selective school in the District who doesn't live here? It's makes zero sense.

I assume because it keeps the bar very high. By opening its doors to the most talented kids in the region, it is able to be selective enough to keep the quality very high while still filling seats, I suppose. I do know when my friend's kid applied they told her that the out of state kids were only considered when there were still spaces available after DC kids were admitted.

Personally, I don't think it's a bad thing. I

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously though, how many non-DC kids attend Ellington? It completely baffles my brain that even one kid who doesn't reside in DC can attend DCPS's most selective school.

W.T.F.

They pay tuition. My friend's kid did this from MD as she was a very talented performer. I think it's 10K a year.

OK, but again - WHY? Maryland doesn't have good arts programs? I find that hard to believe. It's a DCPS school....why is anyone attending the most selective school in the District who doesn't live here? It's makes zero sense.

Baltimore has an arts high school. MCPS and FCPS don't.

It's kinda like the OOB process. DC students have to be taken first - but if there is room in the drama program, for example, they will take a student with the talent from another jurisdiction and OSSE collects tuition. You need decent grades but you also need a portfolio/talent/arts experience. The arts block isn't a joke.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously though, how many non-DC kids attend Ellington? It completely baffles my brain that even one kid who doesn't reside in DC can attend DCPS's most selective school.

W.T.F.

They pay tuition. My friend's kid did this from MD as she was a very talented performer. I think it's 10K a year.

OK, but again - WHY? Maryland doesn't have good arts programs? I find that hard to believe. It's a DCPS school....why is anyone attending the most selective school in the District who doesn't live here? It's makes zero sense.

Anonymous wrote:

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

Had Catania been elected it would have been total gridlock, similar to Obama vs. the Congressional Republicans.
The fault lines would have been race and it would have been all about "ensuring Catania is a one-term mayor." It really would have torn this city apart, probably with lots of public employee strikes.

Anonymous wrote:Seriously though, how many non-DC kids attend Ellington? It completely baffles my brain that even one kid who doesn't reside in DC can attend DCPS's most selective school.

W.T.F.

They pay tuition. My friend's kid did this from MD as she was a very talented performer. I think it's 10K a year.

Seriously though, how many non-DC kids attend Ellington? It completely baffles my brain that even one kid who doesn't reside in DC can attend DCPS's most selective school.

W.T.F.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

+1

+2. I like him, but he's only one man.

Anonymous wrote:

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

+1

How much do I need to donate to Bowser's reelection campaign to get my kid into Ellington?

-Bethesda Parent