In MacArthur, D.C. opens its first new high school in a half-century

[DCSportsFan.com]

The new paint had dried, and the lockers were empty. Inside, a layer of dark green carpet had been torn up and replaced with white-and-gray flooring. After years of preparation — and a final dash to spruce up the campus, welcome families and finalize class schedules — the new high school was ready to open its doors.

Tucked in the Palisades neighborhood of Upper Northwest, MacArthur High School opened Monday, marking D.C.’s first new traditional public high school in more than 50 years. The campus will be home to 200 ninth-graders and 50 10th-graders this year, then slowly expand until it reaches between 800 and 1,000 students by the 2027-28 school year.

The $46 million campus, formerly owned by Georgetown Day School, was opened primarily to alleviate crowding at nearby Jackson-Reed, the city’s largest high school. Students will have access to a menu of honors courses, from AP modern history to pre-calculus and Italian.

London Foster, 33, and her 14-year-old son, Kevin, said those opportunities brought them to the school from their home across the city, in Ward 7. “I like the opportunities it gives, and it will help build college credits,” said Kevin, who is interested in engineering.

Its opening has also raised questions about how leaders will ensure diversity and how students, particularly those commuting from other parts of D.C., will get to school. The nearest Metro station, in Tenleytown, is three miles away. School leaders said the district has worked with WMATA to add more buses to the closest bus routes — the D6 and the 33 — and vowed to keep access for all students a priority.

On the first day at the school known as MacArthur — district officials are still settling on a permanent name — students walked alone and in small groups from the bus stops. Some parents dropped off in Subarus and Hondas and Mercedes. Teachers and staff eagerly welcomed students into the building, dishing out “good mornings” and bright-blue class schedules.

Read more here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/08/28/macarthur-high-dc-school/

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