I’m going to reflect as a former resident and as a current parent on schools in Truxton Circle.
When I moved to the TC I was a single woman in my 30s. The neighborhood was gentrifying. I wasn’t concerned about schools. Many of my neighbors weren’t concerned about schools either. They too were single, retired, or gay or lesbian couples unlikely to drop their DINK (double income no kids) status but we cared about schools as much as people without children could care.
In real estate people care about “good schools” and it adds to the property values. That was never an element in the explosion of house prices in the neighborhood. Proximity to downtown, sometimes parking, and transportation networks were our greatest assets.
There were one active school when I arrived Dunbar, and it looked like a prison. I don’t count the daycare at Slater. Cook was closed. Armstrong was a husk as was Langston. I don’t think MM Washington was being used. All the school buildings were problems to be solved. As far as education goes, DCPS should have opened an Italian restaurant for all the spaghetti thrown at the wall to see what would stick. Continue reading Truxton Circle’s Public Schools