Next Eliot-Hine School Improvement Team Meeting, 5/23: Schematic Designs & Feedback Survey!

Check out the presentation from Eliot-Hine’s 5/15/2018 School Improvement Team (SIT) meeting. It includes details on the project schedule (see below), design process, summer plans, and schematic designs. The presentation is also full of draft mock renderings! Eliot-Hine MS community members can provide feedback via this survey . 

Survey responses will be used to guide the next meeting: “Schematic Design – Feedback Review” SIT meeting on Wednesday, May 23rd- 4:30 PM. Full modernization project details for Eliot-Hine are on this Facilities modernization page.

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SY18-19 Eliot-Hine New Principal Panel

Recently Principal Young shared this announcement with the Eliot-Hine community. Eliot-Hine MS is starting their search for a new principal for School Year 2018-2019. A principal panel comprised of Eliot-Hine staff, current parents, feeder school parents, and community members will determine questions and interview principal candidates starting next week.

This survey was created to gather input on strategic planning for the upcoming school year at Eliot-Hine. Please share your thoughts on what is most important for the continued progress of our community and the selection of the new principal. If you have any questions, please reach out to Eliot-Hine’s Director of Strategy & Logistics, Ophelia.Morgan@dc.gov.

 

 

 

One Pagers for Parents & Families about the opening of New North MS and the redesign of Coolidge HS

 

 

The DCPS School Planning team has made some one pagers for parents & families about the opening of the new Ward 4 middle school that will serve northern ward 4 beginning in school year 2019 – 2020. They also feature information about the phased opening of the school as well as the modernization and redesign happening at Coolidge HS.

Brightwood Education Campus
English, Español, Francais, Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese),
አማርኛ,(Amharic), 中文 (Chinese)

LaSalle – Backus Education Campus
English, Español, Français, Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese),
አማርኛ (Amharic),中文 (Chinese)

Takoma Education Campus
English, Español, Francais, Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese),
አማርኛ (Amharic),中文 (Chinese)

Whittier Education Campus
English, Español, Francais, Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese),
አማርኛ (Amharic),中文 (Chinese)

Updates to Eliot-Hine Modernization

This blog post information is provided by the DCPS Facilities team. View the full Eliot-Hine modernization webpage here. 

A letter was sent home to Eliot-Hine community earlier this month with some updates on Eliot-Hine’s modernization. View the full letter here. Although the timeline for the modernization remains the same, there is a change in the swing space plans. Eliot-Hine Ms will now swing in the trailers that Maury currently occupies rather than an internal swing. This will create a better “buffer zone” between active construction and learning. From this new outcome, Facilities is conducting a survey to gather feedback from the Eliot-Hine community (including Eliot-Hine feeders) and Maury ES. Please share your feedback here. 

Facilities held community meetings for both Eliot-Hine MS and Maury ES about how these changes may impact them. There will be one more Eliot-Hine meeting on Wednesday, April 18th in the library from 5 – 6 PM. Please contact Oni Hinton from the Facilities Team with any questions: Oni.Hinton@dc.gov or cell phone: 202-907-8358.

 

 

 

 

 

Winter Engagement Highlights

The DCPS School Planning team in collaboration with the DCPS Offices of Public and Family Engagement and College and Career Programs has recently completed a series of meetings with over 250 teachers, school leaders, parents, families and community members. The purpose of these meetings and events that started in November 2017 and concluded in April 2018 were to update the public and hear feedback about the district’s plans to modernize and redesign Coolidge High School as well as to open a to-be named  northern Ward 4 middle school for SY 2019 – 2020.

Above are the community and school groups the DCPS School Planning team has met with and engaged from November 2017 to April 2018 about the latest on the redesign and modernization of Coolidge High School as well as the plan for opening a new middle school.

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The school planning team has heard plenty of helpful feedback, important critical questions and areas of excitement that fit into three big themes: A strong middle school opening, robust and equitable Coolidge academies and a successful middle school transition at the education campuses. Please note that below are overall themes and thus not every detail is included in the summary below. 

• Teachers and school staff at the new middle school should know students and the community.
• The new middle school should have a strong academic program that prepares students for the new offerings at Coolidge High School.
• It should be a school that is safe, supportive and able to support students from diverse backgrounds.
• There is strong interest to hear more soon about what the new middle school will offer and opportunities to provide input into the planning.

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• The middle school grades at the education campuses need to stay strong and robust during the transition years.
• Students in the middle grades at the education campuses must have a quality middle school experience.
• Schools and teachers must have the needed resources to successfully graduate their final middle school grades.
• Middle school teachers and staff at the education campuses must be supported in securing new positions at either the new middle school or another middle school in the district.

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• All students should have access to dual enrollment, advanced placement, career pathways and extracurricular activities.
• All students should have plenty of opportunities to interact and build community across the three academies.

In the spring and summer months, the DCPS school planning team will be working on its next round of engagement which will likely include

• Planning activities with 4th grade students, who will be the first 6th graders at the new middle school, in order to build investment and excitement
• Working to continue the development of both the MS and HS programs
• Working to promote overall awareness with parents and families about the changes that will take effect starting in August 2019.

Ketcham ES Child Development Center

A child development center for babies and infants ages 0-3 will open at Ketcham Elementary School next school year starting in August 2018. The center will be operated by a community partner and childcare vouchers will be accepted.

How can I learn more?
Parents and families are welcome to come to a community meet at Ketcham ES on Thursday, March 15 starting at 5pm in the school’s library.

If you would like to attend, please RSVP here.

What opportunities will there be to provide input?
We will have information soon for parents and community members to join a panel that will help us select the partner who will run the 0-3 center.

How can I stay updated and who can I contact if I have questions?
You can e-mail dcps.earlychildhood@dc.gov

New Ward 4 North Middle School Update

Why is DCPS opening a new middle school in Ward 4?
In 2014 the DC Advisory Committee on Student Assignment, which was a group of residents, parents and community stakeholders, came together to review student assignment, boundaries and feeder patterns. After a nine month process of gathering input and feedback from all 8 wards with about 1,500 residents in focus groups, working groups and community meetings, they presented a set of recommendations to DCPS.

One of these recommendations included opening a new middle school in Ward 4. This recommendation and other factors behind this decision are summarized below.

• 3 of the 4 education campuses that currently feed into Coolidge High School: LaSalle-Backus EC, Takoma EC and Brightwood EC are near capacity or are already over capacity.
• In a recent strategic regional analysis DCPS helped conduct with the DC Office of Planning, some of the highest population growth in the city is expected in the neighborhoods of Brightwood Park, Takoma and Manor Park over the next 7 years.
• In a 2016 survey of 150 parents and school staff from the education campuses, 90% of parents and 90% of staff recommended moving forward with the 2014 recommendation to open a new middle school.
• Early childhood is in high demand. As of September 2017, there were over 70 in-boundary families on a waitlist to enroll in either PK3 or PK4. DCPS can offer more seats with the space created after the MS transition.

What is the schedule for the opening of the new middle school?
The new middle school will open in SY19-20 with a 6^th grade class and will add a grade each year until it becomes a full middle school in SY21-22. Students currently enrolled in 5^th grade and above will graduate from their education campus while students who are in 4^th grade and younger will have the right to attend the new middle school.

Who can attend the new middle school?
Families who currently live in the boundaries for LaSalle-Backus EC, Takoma EC, Whittier EC and Brightwood EC will have the right to send their child to the new middle school and will simply need to enroll starting in spring 2019. There is no additional criteria to enroll such as an application or testing.

What will the new middle school be named? Where will it be located?
The new middle school will be located on the campus of the newly modernized Coolidge High School on the corner of 5th ST NW and Sheridan ST NW. It will open in August 2019. The official name of the new middle school has not yet been determined. In the interim, the school will be unofficially referred to as ‘Coolidge MS’ or ‘New North MS’. The naming decision will be led by an extensive process of gathering ideas and feedback with the education campus communities in accordance with the DCPS policy governing the naming of new schools.

How has DCPS collected input from school communities including teachers, parents and school leaders?
DCPS has worked to engage many groups and stakeholders throughout Ward 4 to gather feedback and input following the work of the DC Advisory Committee on Student Assignment. See below for a summary of where we’ve been. As we move into 2018, the school planning team is looking forward to continuing the dialog and gathering input.

Why is DCPS doing a phased opening starting with a 6^th grade?
DCPS considered multiple ideas on how to go about creating the best timeline for opening a new middle school. There was broad consensus among Principals that new school openings are best done by starting with one grade and growing by a new grade each year. This helps build a unified school culture. This is also less of a recruitment burden to hire staff and recruit students when building a new school one grade at a time. We also heard it’s important for current middle school students to have the opportunity to graduate from their education campus rather than moving to a new school while they are in middle school. Because of this phased approached beginning with 6^th grade, students will transition to middle school at the end of the elementary grades as opposed to transitioning while in a middle school grade.

What will the new middle school offer?
DCPS is working to create programming at the new middle school that will help create a pipeline for a newly redesigned Coolidge High School that will launch in SY19-20. Families can expect programming that will help students prepare to enter one of the three academies at the relaunched Coolidge High School: Health Sciences, Mass Media and Early College.

If have any feedback, or additional questions or concerns, then who should I contact?
Please feel free to reach out to Brian Alexander on the School Planning team: brian.alexander@dc.gov. You can also follow @DCPSPlanning and @BAlexanderLeads on twitter for updates.