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The Capitol Hill Cluster School is in line for millions of dollars in modernization work in coming years, but the school’s recently resigned parent teacher association president said this funding could be too little and too late to address the underlying issues that hurt the Cluster School’s long-term health.

Peter MacPherson said the city’s planned renovations – a $3.5 million 2012 modernization at Stuart-Hobson Middle School and more limited work at Watkins Elementary School two years later – are inadequate, and that larger issues exist within the school system that could drive down enrollment at the Cluster.

In addition to concerns about the planned renovations, MacPherson said Stuart-Hobson is receiving less operational funding than other middle schools in the city and that the “feeder” system makes it difficult for the school’s students to secure a spot in the city’s best high schools.

“It’s not a bad school. It’s a pretty good school, but it just needs more,” he said.

DC Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee met with the PTA soon after the school year ended and heard a pitch for more resources such as computers before the 2012 renovation. What the PTA got out of that meeting, MacPherson said, was “nothing.”

He then worked through the mayor to set up another meeting with Rhee in August but resigned from his position shortly before the meeting. MacPherson said he resigned because some PTA members were upset with his persistence on pressuring Rhee to provide more resources to the school now.

“I felt like the situation had become so polarizing that … it became about the person trying to lead instead of the things you’re trying to address,” he said.

One PTA member, who asked to remain unnamed, felt that Rhee said the right things at the August meeting and that her overall school philosophy was sound, but he was more concerned with the specific follow-through from DCPS in coming months.

“I think they’re doing what they should be doing,” he said. “But until someone actually fixes the bathroom, we’re supposed to be skeptical, right? We live in DC.”

MacPherson said he was disappointed with the outcome of the meeting because none of the issues were resolved. “[Rhee] managed to get out of that meeting without actually giving anything,” he said. “The fact is that the city could easily run out of modernization money by the time it’s Stuart-Hobsons’ and Watkins’ turn. This is probably the best time to be asking for anything.”

Quality Leads to Quantity
For Stuart-Hobson, the “feeder” school – the high school that students have a right to attend – is currently Dunbar High School, and Eastern High school could be in the mix upon reopening to ninth-graders next fall. Students can attend other high schools but must apply, and in some cases, the demand is greater than the number of open slots.

Suzanne Wells of the Capitol Hill Public School Parent Organization previously served on the Cluster School PTA and attended the August meeting with Rhee. She knows families who have switched their children out of the Cluster School because of concerns about getting their child into a “good” high school, but she said the solution to the problem is straight-forward.

“The long-term solution is to have all of our high schools be quality options,” she said.

Taking steps to increase school choice within the school system would also alleviate the problem, Wells said.

Charity Fessler, a program analyst at the school system’s Office of Portfolio Management, said that she understood parent concerns about the quality of the city’s public high schools.

“That’s exactly why we’re targeting this high school for an academic redesign,” she said, referring to Eastern High School.

When parents switch their kids out of Stuart-Hobson because of high school concerns, it increases the financial burden on the school, MacPherson said. He was glad to see the commitment to improving Eastern’s offerings but fears that the changes might take a hold only after Stuart-Hobson has lost many students.

“I hope to hell that they succeed. … It’s not going to be for want for trying. But I think a lot of parents look at it and say that it’s going to be four or five years until they know what it will be like,” he said.

In spite of the challenges facing the Cluster, and Stuart-Hobson in particular, PTA member Garland Scott, who is also a parent of a Watkins student, said the middle school remains strong.
“I’m really excited by all that’s offered there.”

Scott also had good things to say about the changes at Eastern High School.