Over the next several months, DCPS and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME) will host a series of meetings with stakeholders in the Cardozo feeder pattern to discuss middle school planning.
The summary of the engagement process can be reviewed here, along with some key data and information to inform these discussions here. Meeting details will be posted here in early January, along with meeting materials and notes.
The leadership team and staff at Coolidge High School have been working hard this winter to promote the school relaunch next year when the school moves back into its fully modernized building with three academies: Health Sciences, Mass Media and Early College. Below are a few pictures of what the team has been up to this fall.
If you are interested in learning more about the Early College Academy at Coolidge High School, you are welcome to join community information sessions being held this winter.
Below are a few pictures of what students have been working on in the Health Sciences Academy and their Mass Media Program.
The Anacostia Community Working Group (CWG) met on Wednesday, November 28. The summary of the meeting and notes can be found here. You can also find the presentation from the meeting here.
If you have further questions, please contact Sharona Robinson, Community Action Team Coordinator for Ward 7 & 8 sharona.robinson@k12.dc.gov.
The DCPS School Planning team has been working with the Family and Public Engagement and School Leader and Recruitment Teams to engage northern Ward 4 about the ideal school leader for New North MS.
DCPS has gathered feedback from stakeholders on the qualities and experiences to prioritize in the ideal school leader, as well as hopes and dreams for New North MS.
The DCPS school planning team has meet with parents and families at each education campus throughout Fall 2018.
Across all four EC communities, DCPS has learned that parents and families are looking for an experienced leader of middle school students who has prior knowledge about the area and DCPS, including experience building relationships with students and families from diverse backgrounds.
Themes that resonated across all 4 education campuses include that the New North MS Principal should be a person who is:
DCPS has convened a community panel of representatives from each New North MS feeder community that will inform the principal selection process. This community panel will conduct panel interviews with 3-5 final candidates for the principal position. The community panel will develop and select the questions they will use in their interviews. After the interviews, the panel provides feedback on the candidates to inform DCPS’ final decision on the principal selection.
On November 8, 2018, New North MS panel members came together to brainstorm questions that they would like to ask candidates.
Pictures are posted below and you can find the presentation from the meeting here
The Strategic School Planning Advisory Board (SSPAB) met on November 15th, 2018. In this meeting, the Planning team shared an update on DCPS’ SY18-19 reported enrollment and recent school planning decisions: the move of Banneker HS to Shaw MS, as well as the openings of Bard High School Early College and a selective Early College Academy at Coolidge HS. Board members then discussed how DCPS values and portfolio vision guide decision-making practices for planning.
Here are the materials from this meeting
Meeting Presentation
Meeting Minutes and Notes Summary
Evaluation Form for Board Members
October 2018-2019 Reported Enrollment At A Glance
In partnership with Bard College, DCPS is opening a new high school next fall for School Year 2019-2020. Bard High School Early College, Bard DC for short, will be a city-wide, selective high school in Ward 7 or 8. This new school will provide students the opportunity to graduate with up to 60 transferable college credits and an Associate’s Degree from Bard College, free of charge. DCPS put together a survey to gather information from the community on which location traits are most important. In addition to selecting a location for Bard DC Year 1 and future years, DCPS hopes to also learn more about the transportation landscape as we plan for Bard DC’s school opening.
Please contact Helen.Tzow@dc.gov if you have any questions or call 202-520-2277 if you would like to complete the survey over the phone. The deadline to complete the survey is Tuesday, November 27, 2018. A summary of these results will be publicized on the DCPS School Planning Blog. Thank you for your feedback!
Mayor Muriel Bowser and interim DC Public Schools (DCPS) Chancellor Amanda Alexander announced a new partnership between DCPS and Bard College that will provide students the opportunity to earn college credit and an associate degree from Bard College while earning their high school diploma. Opening in school year 2019-2020, Bard Early College High School will be a tuition-free, four-year, early college high school operated jointly by Bard College and DCPS. Students who attend Bard High School Early College will have the opportunity to graduate with an associate degree as well as 60 college credits that will be transferrable to four-year colleges and universities across the country. The school, which will be located in either Ward 7 or Ward 8, will open with a ninth grade cohort and an eleventh grade cohort. The Bard curriculum includes a two-year pre-college sequence in the ninth and tenth grades and a college curriculum in the eleventh and twelfth grades.
View full press release here.
D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) has launched a Community Working Group for School Year 2018-19 to gather input and community support around the most effective way to approach school transformation and improvement at Anacostia High School, as well as its feeder middle and elementary schools. Please see our frequently asked questions document to learn more about this group and its goals.
This group came together on October 17, 2018 at Anacostia HS. Please see the presentation from the meeting along with the meeting notes.
The DCPS school planning team has been searching for a name for ‘New North’ MS that will open next school year on the campus of Coolidge HS with a 6th grade class. This school will serve the Brightwood EC, LaSalle-Backus EC, Takoma EC and Whittier EC school committees. Families who live in the boundaries of these 4 education campuses or who currently attend them will have the right to enroll their child at anytime starting in April 2019 for the 2019-20 School Year.
‘New North’ MS will add a grade each year until it is a full 6th – 8th grade middle school in SY21-22. We spent the summer collecting ideas and nominations from the public. We are very pleased that most of the nominations came from parents, families and community members in Ward. 4
The DCPS school planning team worked together with the Coolidge Community group to help evaluate and narrow down the nominations to 10 finalist names. The group used a rubric that was developed from criteria outlined in the DCPS school naming policy
Here are the 10 finalist names. You can read more about them here.
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Ida B. Wells |
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Georgiana Simpson |
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Lawrence Graves |
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Alma Woodsey Thomas |
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America Libertad Calderón |
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James Baldwin |
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Josephine Dorothy Butler |
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Paul A. Quander, Jr. |
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John Wesley Cromwell and Otelia Cromwell |
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Mary Ann Shadd |
We are asking the general public to provide us with feedback on these 10 names.
Please take our survey here. It will be open from October 15 – October 30th. This survey will help DCPS narrow this list down to a final three that DCPS senior leadership will consider, review and work with the DC City Council for final review and action on the name of the school.
The Coolidge Community Working Group came together on October 4th at 6:30pm to discuss and engage around updates on the Coolidge HS modernization. This included highlights on Stadium renovations and progress toward the overall school modernization. Please visit the DCPS Modernization website for more information.
The school planning team shared updates on the progress toward finding a name for ‘New North’ MS that will open next school year with a 6th grade class on the campus of Coolidge HS. DCPS received 50 nominations from the public. Once duplicates are accounted for, this represents 31 individuals and 2 places/neighborhoods. The school planning team is pleased that 78% of the nominations came from Ward 4.
For more information on the nominations including who was nominated and from where the nominations came and the naming process, please click here. During our meeting, members of the working group helped evaluate the submitted nominations with a rubric based on criteria from the DCPS Naming policy. There will be a survey for the broader public to share their thoughts on the finalist names this month.
The school planning team also introduced updates program for New North MS including proposed class and course offerings as well as the overall school vision. For the full presentation of the evening please please click here..
Our next Community Working Group meeting will be Wednesday, Oct. 10 at Coolidge HS at 6:30pm. The purpose of this meeting will be to continue the conversation with the materials posted here about Coolidge HS and New North MS. This will include modernization updates of the Frank R. Williams Center and more information about New North MS.
DCPS School Planning 