DME Kicks Off DCPS Boundary Review; Changes Expected for 2015-16 School Year

[Anonymous]

We are AA and IB for Wilson and that's why we went private. Lots of our friends did the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are AA and IB for Wilson and that's why we went private. Lots of our friends did the same thing.

And the irony is at private schools, any high SES child of color counts as diversity! This is the problem - in order to make Wilson better for everyone, they would have to lower the FARMS rate of 37% (Deal is only 23%). But they cannot do that because it would basically make the school too white. Lots of high SES parents feel comfortable with Deal, but not Wilson. And as a parent of children of color, I completely get that. And it is completely different from having hippy dippy parents who send you somewhere where you are the "only" which is lunacy no matter what color the "only" is. But try getting called an oreo every day and being in much more danger from students who are your same race than the white kids are from those races, and then you have gone from hippy dippy and miserable to dangerous.

So again, just wanted white people who posted that it was just as bad as white parents of high SES not wanting to expose their kids to kids (presumably of color) of lower SES, who were claiming it is the same kind of prejudice to understand that it is not, it comes from a completely different place, and can lead down a much darker road.

And I'm sorry, if you are one generation removed there is no way in hell you would give your kid the temptation of going back there or expose them to the kind of harassment they would experience when they don't. Let them discover their cultural roots and ethnic identity at a high ranking college, where they can meet those kinds of kids and be educated by them, not influenced or threatened by them. And maybe even help them out academically. That is what I did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know I will get flamed for asking, but here goes. Many kids outside upper NW face enough challenges as it is. So instead of further burdening them with 2+ hours daily commutes to the upper NW schools, why can't the City devote enough resources to raising the neighborhood schools in NE, SW, and SE? The kids could spend the found time on academics and enrichment instead of on the Metro and crowding would be reduced in the upper NW schools that are bursting at the seams. I know this is a touchy subject, but let's have an adult conversation here.

This has already happened. Go look at the stats for ward 7 and 8 who commute across the city to go to better schools.

I think the goal of redrawing boundaries is to reduce overcrowding and resolve why some addresses have 2 or 3 assigned schools.

[Anonymous]

And it is completely different from having hippy dippy parents who send you somewhere where you are the "only" which is lunacy no matter what color the "only" is.

I am not hippy dippy, my child is the "only" in his class, and it is okay. He is in preschool. The school has a lovely playground. The teachers are sweet. We the parents read to the child every night and spend time on the weekends doing fun and educational stuff. I walk my son to school every morning, and play with him for 15 minutes before the assembly. I think it is going to be just fine. Amidon-Bowen, the SW DCPS, was the last on my lottery list. If I could do it all over again, I would make it the first. Because I finally saw for myself what unnecessary fuss y'all are making over this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And it is completely different from having hippy dippy parents who send you somewhere where you are the "only" which is lunacy no matter what color the "only" is.

I am not hippy dippy, my child is the "only" in his class, and it is okay. He is in preschool. The school has a lovely playground. The teachers are sweet. We the parents read to the child every night and spend time on the weekends doing fun and educational stuff. I walk my son to school every morning, and play with him for 15 minutes before the assembly. I think it is going to be just fine. Amidon-Bowen, the SW DCPS, was the last on my lottery list. If I could do it all over again, I would make it the first. Because I finally saw for myself what unnecessary fuss y'all are making over this.

Oh, parents of preschoolers!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And it is completely different from having hippy dippy parents who send you somewhere where you are the "only" which is lunacy no matter what color the "only" is.

I am not hippy dippy, my child is the "only" in his class, and it is okay. He is in preschool. The school has a lovely playground. The teachers are sweet. We the parents read to the child every night and spend time on the weekends doing fun and educational stuff. I walk my son to school every morning, and play with him for 15 minutes before the assembly. I think it is going to be just fine. Amidon-Bowen, the SW DCPS, was the last on my lottery list. If I could do it all over again, I would make it the first. Because I finally saw for myself what unnecessary fuss y'all are making over this.

Oh, parents of preschoolers!

Good argument - thanks for sharing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ Yes, but the OOB situation it is not the cause of the overcrowding.

It depends what you mean by "cause." Both Deal and Wilson still have large numbers of OOB students: Deal is 30% OOB and Wilson is 47%. Neither has admitted OOB students through the lottery in several years, these kids are there because of feeder preference. If there was no feeder preference, but instead an OOB lottery at sixth and ninth grades, where places in the lottery were limited to seats actually available, each school would have a smaller OOB population and would no longer be crowded.

But it is correct to say that the OOB policy didn't "cause" overcrowding. The overcrowding is due to a surge in popularity in the schools, and more kids entitled to a place than seats available.

The issue is more at the feeder school level. Many of the feeder schools to Deal and Wilson historically had high OOB student populations. As more families stayed in DCPS from the areas around those schools, their IB populations have increased while the OOB populations haven't been reduced by much. Perhaps this is due to politics/demand or just the fact that, with OOB sibling rights, etc., it takes a long time to pull the OOB lever. In some cases, like Hearst, they are adding classroom capacity to catch up with overenrollment, with what is still a majority OOB population. Janney is an exception, in that it's population increase is driven virtually entirely by IB, as it's OOB share is relatively small. The result is a pig in the python issue, as the feeder populations reach Deal and Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And it is completely different from having hippy dippy parents who send you somewhere where you are the "only" which is lunacy no matter what color the "only" is.

I am not hippy dippy, my child is the "only" in his class, and it is okay. He is in preschool. The school has a lovely playground. The teachers are sweet. We the parents read to the child every night and spend time on the weekends doing fun and educational stuff. I walk my son to school every morning, and play with him for 15 minutes before the assembly. I think it is going to be just fine. Amidon-Bowen, the SW DCPS, was the last on my lottery list. If I could do it all over again, I would make it the first. Because I finally saw for myself what unnecessary fuss y'all are making over this.

Ok. That's sweet. Get back to us in 6 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And it is completely different from having hippy dippy parents who send you somewhere where you are the "only" which is lunacy no matter what color the "only" is.

I am not hippy dippy, my child is the "only" in his class, and it is okay. He is in preschool. The school has a lovely playground. The teachers are sweet. We the parents read to the child every night and spend time on the weekends doing fun and educational stuff. I walk my son to school every morning, and play with him for 15 minutes before the assembly. I think it is going to be just fine. Amidon-Bowen, the SW DCPS, was the last on my lottery list. If I could do it all over again, I would make it the first. Because I finally saw for myself what unnecessary fuss y'all are making over this.

You revived a 6-month old thread to make this point? Do you routinely enter "hippy dippy" in the DCUM search engine and see what comes up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And it is completely different from having hippy dippy parents who send you somewhere where you are the "only" which is lunacy no matter what color the "only" is.

I am not hippy dippy, my child is the "only" in his class, and it is okay. He is in preschool. The school has a lovely playground. The teachers are sweet. We the parents read to the child every night and spend time on the weekends doing fun and educational stuff. I walk my son to school every morning, and play with him for 15 minutes before the assembly. I think it is going to be just fine. Amidon-Bowen, the SW DCPS, was the last on my lottery list. If I could do it all over again, I would make it the first. Because I finally saw for myself what unnecessary fuss y'all are making over this.

You revived a 6-month old thread to make this point? Do you routinely enter "hippy dippy" in the DCUM search engine and see what comes up?

Hey, I'm not PP, but I'm grateful for accounts of how things are going, including at the preK level, in the less advantaged DCPS, especially Amidon, my local school. So, thanks PP and good luck to you and your kid!