Join DCPS Facilities Team as they present the latest on Eliot-Hine’s modernization project. They will cover design developments, summer construction plans, and project timeline. This is the final modernization meeting for this school year.
The Wilson Feeder Pattern Community Working Group (CWG) met January 25th, 2018. In this meeting, representatives from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education shared an update on the Master Facilities Plan (MFP) including goals for the MFP, differences from earlier MFPs, and aiming to share the final version by summer 2018.
Additionally, the group discussed next steps for the CWG, including the review and drafting of the summary document that will be used to capture the group’s feedback and conversations. Notes and our presentation are here.
The Wilson Feeder Pattern Community Working Group (CWG) met in November for our fifth meeting. In this meeting, the Strategic School Planning Team shared additional analysis and gathered feedback on several options raised by the group. We also shared a draft of the outline for the summary document that will be used to capture the group’s feedback and conversations. You can view the draft summary outline and the full presentation here.
An update from the January 25th meeting will be posted soon!
At the first Stevens School Community Working Group (CWG), we enjoyed discussing School Without Walls’ campuses, the facilities background and historical context of Stevens School, and enrollment data for SWWFS and SWW HS. Our Stevens School CWG dove into the proposal for Stevens School and down the line will also cover details of the expansion model, naming and branding of the schools, recruitment and enrollment for the campuses, and more.
More project specific information, including our presentation from the CWG meeting, can be found on the Thaddeus Stevens tab on the Facilities modernization website. Our next meeting is slated for early January 2018.
We are excited to work with the newly formed Stevens School Community Working Group (CWG). This group consists of Principal Trogisch of School Without Walls HS and School Without Walls at Francis-Stevens, AP Young of SWW@FS, Mr. Klawender (teacher of SWW HS), Florence Harmon (ANC, 2A06), and parents of both schools. Below is the full list of members:
Meeting notes and final presentation materials from all Stevens School CWG meetings will be posted on this DCPS Planning Blog. The first meeting will be held in November 2017.
The Wilson Feeder Pattern Community Working Group (CWG) recently convened for our fourth meeting. In this meeting, the Strategic School Planning Team provided feedback on several options DCPS is interested in pursuing, including strategies to increase capacity and strengthen program offerings outside of the Wilson Feeder Pattern. We also shared updates from our public survey, key takeaways from an enrollment analysis, and dived deeper in the out-of-boundary (OOB) student profiles for the Wilson feeder pattern. Full details and our presentation are here.
The Wilson Feeder Pattern CWG aims to meet once more in 2017 with a proposed outline of the summary document and additional feedback and data on existing options. DCPS will then develop a summary document that reviews the process, priorities, and analysis that this group has completed. This document is meant to reflect the priorities of the group and will be shared with DCPS leadership and DME to help inform planning.
Please contact our team if you have any questions! dcps.planning@dc.gov
In our last post on Coolidge and a possible Ward 4 North Middle School, we shared information about a middle grades option as a part of Coolidge High School’s upcoming building modernization. Over the past year we’ve gathered input from hundreds of stakeholders excited about the possible opening of middle grades alongside Coolidge. With nearly $160 million in Coolidge’s modernization budget, it’s an exciting time for an investment in Ward 4 schools.
Last night (12/19), DCPS Chancellor John Davis made the official announcement to the Coolidge Community Working Group that DCPS is opening these middle grades in School Year 2019-2020.
A new middle school is exciting to us at DCPS and for many of our parents, staff, and community members. We still have a lot of work to do. We’ll be gathering more input around grade configuration (6 to 12 model vs. individual middle and high school), possible application-based models for Coolidge, and the impact on the neighborhood education campuses at Brightwood, LaSalle-Backus, Whittier, and Takoma. We’ll be posting more about that process soon, so stay tuned and please reach out to us at DCPS.Planning@dc.gov with any questions or comments.
The announcement letter from DCPS Chief Operating Officer, Carla Watson is below in English, Spanish, French, and Amharic.
The Coolidge Community Working Group met last week to review the feasibility study for Coolidge’s building modernization, providing feedback on three different options for the modernization. The three options are for a comprehensive high school, and two different possibilities for a potential middle school on Coolidge’s grounds at 5th and Sheridan. Stay tuned to the planning blog for more on the potential middle school option.
See below for meeting notes and the full feasibility study.
Coolidge Working Group – Feasibility Study Review Meeting Notes
The Coolidge Community Working Group (CWG) is coming together for its second meeting this Thursday evening for a building walk-through and a meeting with the feasibility study architects. We on the School Planning and Facilities teams at DCPS have had an opportunity to meet one on one with most of the group members, and are excited about the folks who have come together to engage around their neighborhood high school. The members, along with their connection to Coolidge High School, are below.
| Name | Connection to Coolidge SHS |
| Alexis Richburg | Coolidge Staff Member |
| Allen V. Banks | Coolidge Staff Member |
| Andrea Browning | Community Member/Neighbor |
| Andrella Smith | Coolidge Alumnus/Alumna |
| Charles Anthony Woods, I | Coolidge Parent |
| Courtney Savoy | Coolidge Staff Member |
| Dawn Person | Coolidge Alumnus/Alumna |
| Diane Jackson | Whittier EC Parent |
| Elizabeth Roen | Prospective parent |
| Frank Jones III | ANC Commissioner |
| Howard A. Burnett | Coolidge Alumnus/Alumna |
| Julie Lawson | Whittier EC Parent |
| MaryEllen McGuire | Community Member/Neighbor |
| Megan Fitzgerald | Prospective parent |
| Michael Cohen | Community Member/Neighbor |
| Nancy Smith | Community Member/Neighbor |
| Peter Sprunger | Whittier EC Parent |
| Randi Williams | Community Member/Neighbor |
| Ricardo Campos | LaSalle-‐Backus EC Staff Member |
| Robert Bettmann | Prospective parent |
| Sarah Raskin | Takoma EC Parent |
| Scot Knickerbocker | ANC 4B03 |
| Shawn Ruffing | Coolidge Alumnus/Alumna |
| Shirley Richardson | Community Member/Neighbor |
| Terry Goings | Community Member/Neighbor |
It’s been a while since our last Coolidge update. We’re excited about this one because it’s the first of many more over the coming months and years as we begin the school’s modernization process. The Coolidge Working Group officially kicked off this week with its first meeting on Tuesday, May 10th. Notes are here, recap below.
https://twitter.com/srfrjulie/status/730164593071407104
The Coolidge Community Working Group is unique because it combines responsibilities typically associated with a Community Cabinet (school programming) with those typically associated with a School Improvement Team (building modernization). Because both processes are starting at the same time, members have an opportunity to give input on both the modernized school building and some of the elements that go inside of it.
At Tuesday’s meeting we asked the group to begin thinking about how we should gather feedback about the school from the larger network of prospective parents and community members. It was a rich discussion among our stakeholders and an energizing start to the project for all of us at DCPS. Coolidge buzz is growing!
DCPS School Planning 