D.C. Public Schools has decided to open three new middle schools in Ward 5 next fall, following community outcry over a lack of quality seats for students.

Since 2008, Ward 5’s adolescent students have been served by seven “education campuses,” models that lump the middle grades into elementary schools or, less frequently, high schools. Former Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s plan was to stave off the enrollment drop that DCPS sees when children finish elementary school and their parents look to private school or charter schools for the older grades, and to potentially increase student performance.