Does it bother anyone else that only DCPS in Ward 1, 2, & 3 seemed to be 'taken care of'

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry, but it bugs me so much that a majority of the public schools in wards outside of 1, 2, & 3, are less than acceptable. It's almost like the message is only children coming from a certain economic background deserve a quality public school education...What about Ward 5, 6, 7, & 8, where's the push to get a "Mann-type education" in Anacostia, for example. It's like the rest of us have to 'deal with our inbound school, fork out the money for private, or hope to get into a decent charter...

[Anonymous]

You forgot ward 4. And yes it is shameful, expecially if you have ever visited one of the schools in ward 7 or 8.

What you are describing is how it is in many urban areas across the country - some if it has to do with history - housing patterns, white flight, segregation - for us in DC part of it was mismangement over many years namely the 70s and 80s. I lived in Los Angeles for 8 years - same thing there expect switch out AA for Latino.

If you really want answers read The Shame of a Nation by Jonathan Kozol.

[Anonymous]

The schools are taken care of because parents take care of them, or force the city to take care of them. It's about the feeling of entitlement (I use this in a positive way here) that the families in those neighborhoods feel about their right to receive adequate city services. You hear lots of grumbling, but no activism or organizing to make the schools better in the regions you mention.

Also, when your population is largely educated, white collar parents, the children are going to perform well no matter where they go to school. When your population is largely teenaged parented, generations of poor education, and poverty stricken, those kids will struggle no matter where they go to school.

[Anonymous]

This why it's so amusing/annoying that there are these posts on DCUM from people who are terrified of sending their school to DCPS. (And I'm not exaggerating -- one person actually claimed to be terrified of middle school.) So much of a kid's school experience is influenced by his/her family background. DCPS is not for everyone but certainly the educated upper middle class need not be terrified to send their kids there. The kids will be fine.

But, sorry, OP, that's not what you were complaining about. Yes, as an OOB parent for a number of years, it was a pain in the neck to get dd to school and to get her to playdates with her friends. And we were fortunate in that we started out renting in-boundary and were able to keep dd in the school when we bought a house out-of-boundary so we didn't go through the lottery anxiety.

All I can suggest is engaging in neighborhood activism around your local school. That's what we're seeing in Capitol Hill and Hill East (Ward 6). If I were enrolling dd today in elementary I would definitely look at schools here (Cluster Schools, Brent, Maury, Tyler, Ludlow-Taylor) because there are a lot of middle-class parents who decided to get actively engaged in those schools rather than moving out of the neighborhood when they had kids.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

This is a huge concern. If you are interested in making it better, I recommend contributing your time and/or money two these two programs:

http://www.handsondc.org/
Hands on DC does an annual day of service in DC schools-- painting, cleaning up, landscaping, and other projects. For the past 16 years, volunteers have helped to improve the environments in which children learn. Volunteer, organize a team from work, or give money.

http://www.higherachievement.org/
The Higher Achievement Program is a remarkable, effective, and groundbreaking program that provides extra education to DCPS middle schoolers, preparing them for competitive high schools and helping them to earn scholarships to places like Gonzaga, St. John's, even the vaunted "Big 3." HAP does an astonishingly good job of bringing its scholars' GPAs up from an average of 2.3 to an average of 3.8, putting them on track for college. You can be a mentor several hours per week, or donate.

[Anonymous]

I think its shameful but I also think we do not have the whole picture. I know that our Ward 3 school (which is not one of "the best" but a lot better than the huge majority of DCPSs) actually gets less money than a lot of the schools in much poorer areas. There is a title 1 (?) effect that gives extra money and staff to schools in poorer neighborhoods. Our principal came from a school in NE and was shocked at the discrepancy financially and support staff-wise. maybe this has changed since the Chancellor dispensed with the per pupil funding- I do not know. But I do think the problem is a lot deeper than just financial. The Chancellor has said she does not want parents to "settle for mediocrity", and I think she means exactly what a PP alluded to- that parents need to demand and push to make a difference.
As a lifelong DCer I definitely support the Chancellor- no one else in the history of DCPS that I remember has moved to make such broad changes. This system does not work as it is-- the schools that are in ward 3 that are "good" have PTA budgets of 150-300 thousand dollars to supplement the DCPS funding. There is no way the bulk of this city could provide that for their neighborhood schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry, but it bugs me so much that a majority of the public schools in wards outside of 1, 2, & 3, are less than acceptable. It's almost like the message is only children coming from a certain economic background deserve a quality public school education...What about Ward 5, 6, 7, & 8, where's the push to get a "Mann-type education" in Anacostia, for example. It's like the rest of us have to 'deal with our inbound school, fork out the money for private, or hope to get into a decent charter...

Frankly, I think it's overly optimistic to call DCPS in Ward 1 acceptable. (Not that I'm disagreeing at all with your larger point.)

[Anonymous]

Frankly, I think it's overly optimistic to call DCPS in Ward 1 acceptable. (Not that I'm disagreeing at all with your larger point.)

Do you send your child to public school in Ward 1? Some schools that come immediately to mind are Bancroft and HD Cooke - both certainly "acceptable."

And the OP also referred to charters - two of the city's best charters are in Ward 1 - Capital City and EL Haynes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The schools are taken care of because parents take care of them, or force the city to take care of them. It's about the feeling of entitlement (I use this in a positive way here) that the families in those neighborhoods feel about their right to receive adequate city services. You hear lots of grumbling, but no activism or organizing to make the schools better in the regions you mention.

Also, when your population is largely educated, white collar parents, the children are going to perform well no matter where they go to school. When your population is largely teenaged parented, generations of poor education, and poverty stricken, those kids will struggle no matter where they go to school.

I realize you mean well here, but this post is almost willfully ignorant of the history of segregated schooling in America as well as the historical background of race and privilege in DC. The schools in Ward 3 aren't "taken care of because parents take care of them" as though these parents somehow "took them back" from the mismanagement of DCPS. (Although that could be said of the schools on Capitol Hill). The schools in Ward 3 have always been the schools of middle and upper-middle class white residents, and they have been a BULWARK AGAINST racial encroachment from east of the park. Ward 3 has always been politically on a different page from the rest of the city. The riots in DC never extended west of the park and there was no issue about white families pulling their children out of the schools. It's entirely a joke to suggest parents in Ward 3 have an "activist" movement for quality schools.

THE activist movement for quality schools has been charters where parents have literally taken control of the schools their children attend. Their other option is a sort of wait-and-see chicken game whereby if enough well-educated families enroll their children in the local neighborhood school, then maybe they will too. The problem is (and I don't say this critically - who wants to experiment on their children after all) that nobody wants to go first. Quelle surprise. As I mentioned earlier, local activism has improved schools in the Capitol Hill cluster, but most parents (rightfully) distrust DCPS when DCPS says it is fixing the schools. This is probably why Michelle Rhee inspires confidence in a lot of people - at least she's unafraid to make the right enemies. The 10 year legislation enabling charter schools is a thorn in DCPS's side, but it isn't going away. Every year DCPS bleeds more students to charters, and charters and now outperforming DCPS on standardized tests.

There is a LOT of activism for better schools - 1/3 of DC schoolchildren now attend charters, most of which are unsurprisingly east of the park and even east of the river. That is parents being VERY pro-active about education and the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Frankly, I think it's overly optimistic to call DCPS in Ward 1 acceptable. (Not that I'm disagreeing at all with your larger point.)

Do you send your child to public school in Ward 1? Some schools that come immediately to mind are Bancroft and HD Cooke - both certainly "acceptable."

And the OP also referred to charters - two of the city's best charters are in Ward 1 - Capital City and EL Haynes.

If you are considering Bancroft and H.D. Cooke for your children and find them "acceptable" then that's great. Personally, I do not, but we are each entitled to our own opinions.

As for Capital City and EL Haynes, I've heard great things, but they're not DCPS, now are they? That's sort of the point. DCPS couldn't be counted on to create schools like Capital City and EL Haynes. It took parents and education activists to do that. DCPS had the same population base of students in Ward 1 and look what it has - Bancroft & HD Cooke. Not exactly the same league.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This system does not work as it is-- the schools that are in ward 3 that are "good" have PTA budgets of 150-300 thousand dollars to supplement the DCPS funding. There is no way the bulk of this city could provide that for their neighborhood schools.

I think this is key--that at really good schools, there's non-DCPS money that's making them great.

In the fall of 2006, I went to a parent meeting at my local elementary school in Ward 4. (I was pregnant with my first & therefore not a current parent.) An assistant superintendent told us about how school x had raised money to hire a reading teacher, school y parents were funding an extra librarian, and he said that maybe we could partner with local businesses for funding. I felt like what he was saying was that the only way our neighborhood school could be great would be if parents and the community took it on themselves to find some funding from outside DCPS. It was incredibly depressing.

[Anonymous]

In this way, it's really no different from public schools anywhere else in the US. Property taxes tend to fund schools, and schools where property has higher value, have better funding, and better programs. There is no equality in public education, either in the schools themselves or in what kids bring with them to school, in terms of readiness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Frankly, I think it's overly optimistic to call DCPS in Ward 1 acceptable. (Not that I'm disagreeing at all with your larger point.)

Do you send your child to public school in Ward 1? Some schools that come immediately to mind are Bancroft and HD Cooke - both certainly "acceptable."

If you are considering Bancroft and H.D. Cooke for your children and find them "acceptable" then that's great. Personally, I do not, but we are each entitled to our own opinions.

Is there anyone on this board who is both in-boundary for Cooke and considers it acceptable? (I meet the former condition, but, sadly, not that latter.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In this way, it's really no different from public schools anywhere else in the US. Property taxes tend to fund schools, and schools where property has higher value, have better funding, and better programs. There is no equality in public education, either in the schools themselves or in what kids bring with them to school, in terms of readiness.

That could explain the difference between DCPS and MoCo/Fairfax schools, but it doesn't explain the difference between Ward 3 and Ward 8 schools. Yes, the property in Ward 3 is far more expensive, but the money from every ward goes into one pot, where it's distributed more or less equally. Something else is going on.

[Anonymous]

Well, many Ward 3 PTAs raise between $300K and $500K a year. If you add that on to a $3.5 million dollar operating budget, it makes a difference.

I wrote a $6k grant for my child's Title I school. We were awarded the grant and DCPS "took it" out of our student activity fund. It took 10 months and me threatening to go to the Washington Post to get it back. Betcha that doesn't happen at Janney...