Schools briefer

I write about what I call Main Street principles 9 and 10 -- knowing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and being honest about them; and making hard choices.

Frozen Tropics writes about the schools issue, "WP: Movements against DCPS Plan & a Case for It," highlighting today's Post article, and editorial, and a group of education activists calling for a year delay in school closings, for planning etc.

In terms of bureaucracy and fighting back the solution is to cut, and cut now, and not wait. Otherwise people will argue and argue and work to prevent the closures. See any of the basic tomes on bureaucracy and organization.

One thing I meant to mention yesterday, wrt the announcement of the school closings is that I was surprised about schools not chosen for closure.

For example, it was announced that Wheatley School will be renovated. However, Lovejoy School, about the same size, is now lofts. Wheatley could have been sold for a lot of money to be converted to upscale housing. But that wasn't the decision that was made.




Same thing with Hine Junior High School at 8th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue SE. That land is worth a lot of money and coveted by many.

And my understanding is that the closure of Van Ness is really more a "mothballing," or temporary, but long-time closure. The reason that this school's enrollment has dropped so much is because of the demolition (and reconstruction to come) of the Capper-Carrollsburgh public housing project. In the meantime, most of the students that had been living there and attending Van Ness School, are gone. But DCPS recognizes that the school will be needed again, and isn't calling for a declaration of surplus for the property.

Index Keywords: education