I want to talk about the KIPP School at 421 P St NW. Kipp has been proven a success nationwide. Many months ago I was in my front yard on a Saturday and some Kipp students were doing a walk through clean up. They stopped and thanked me for not littering in my yard. I got to talking with them and they told me their motto: Work Hard, Be Nice. They have extended programs before and after school and on Saturdays. The kids have “nonnegotiable expectations” they must follow. When I sometimes flout the signs and take my dog into the park across the street from the school, they are pretty polite when they tell me I can’t do that. They have an agreement with the Scott Montgomery School, with whom they share a building.
According to this 2006 Washington Post article:
The first-of-its-kind partnership will allow the high-achieving Knowledge Is Power Program to share teaching methods with Montgomery, a traditional public school with decreasing enrollment.
And here are some of the Kipp DC student results when compared with other schools.
I don’t have kids, and so improvement of education in DC isn’t my major cause, but better schools make DC all around a more attractive place to live. I am glad KIPP is nearby. And wouldn’t it be nice if our community thought of the well-being of every child as the responsibility of every person?
Lastly, this post was prompted by the schools’ call for volunteers this Saturday Scott Montgomery and KIPP:DC will be doing some greening and sprucing up around the school grounds this Saturday, 9am-1pm in with help from Hands on DC. Gardening gloves and equipment will be provided. Lunch (probably pizza or sammies) will be served for all volunteers. Just show up if you have even just an hour or two to spare. Help make the campus as nice as possible as the new school annex is due to be completed next month. Scott Montgomery. 421 P St NW.
Bates Area Civic Association 
KIPP is great– there’s an interesting chapter about the program (originated in NYC) in the book “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell.
The students are very active in the community, which is great, and they’re also very active in general, with plenty of after-school and Saturday programming.
As for the Bundy Park field across the street– the students use it pretty much every day (and it’s also now getting frequent evening use, by baseball and soccer teams), so dog owners please do respect the signs and stay off. Even if we clean up after our pets, there is always the perception that we don’t. So keeping dogs off their field is just a sign of respect.
This on the Shaw list serv:
I’m told students and staff at KIPP and Scott Montgomery will be participating. An announcement has also been set up on the Obama Administration’s Serve.gov site which helped bring in a lot of volunteers from around the District and across the country for the last service event at this local school.