Black Parents at Wilson

[Anonymous]

Please tell me about your experience. We are still deciding b/t Wilson and DeMatha and would love to hear some perspective.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP,

I'm a mom of a rising female 11th grader and have no complaints with the academics. My child had honors classes since the 10th grade and took an AP class as well. Wilson is like a school within a school, but can be challenging amongst various peer groups. My child has had her same group of friends since Deal, but only associate with others in class and sporting activities.

It's a large school, but manageable and the staff does a great job at controlling large crowds, except for breaking up fights.

[Anonymous]

OP here: my son went to Deal for middle so has lots of friends. We think it would be a great fit for him, but are trying to convince him of that. I am worried about the male peer group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: my son went to Deal for middle so has lots of friends. We think it would be a great fit for him, but are trying to convince him of that. I am worried about the male peer group.

Are most of his friends from Deal also headed to Wilson? Or are they headed elsewhere?

We are an AA family also zoned for Deal/Wilson, although we have a long time before having to make this decision. Peer group would also be one of my concerns. I'd worry if the high-achieving AA kids are headed elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: my son went to Deal for middle so has lots of friends. We think it would be a great fit for him, but are trying to convince him of that. I am worried about the male peer group.

Are most of his friends from Deal also headed to Wilson? Or are they headed elsewhere?

We are an AA family also zoned for Deal/Wilson, although we have a long time before having to make this decision. Peer group would also be one of my concerns. I'd worry if the high-achieving AA kids are headed elsewhere.

Many of his friends from Deal are going to Wilson. I live in Colonial Village. He has lots of kids from the neighborhood going to Deal, but SW kids also feed into Wilson and I've heard that they can be a tough element. It doesn't seem to appear to interfere with the white kids, but the black boys seem to have a harder time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: my son went to Deal for middle so has lots of friends. We think it would be a great fit for him, but are trying to convince him of that. I am worried about the male peer group.

Are most of his friends from Deal also headed to Wilson? Or are they headed elsewhere?

We are an AA family also zoned for Deal/Wilson, although we have a long time before having to make this decision. Peer group would also be one of my concerns. I'd worry if the high-achieving AA kids are headed elsewhere.

Many of his friends from Deal are going to Wilson. I live in Colonial Village. He has lots of kids from the neighborhood going to Deal, but SW kids also feed into Wilson and I've heard that they can be a tough element. It doesn't seem to appear to interfere with the white kids, but the black boys seem to have a harder time.

The tiny part of SW that USED to feed to Wilson was not a bunch of tough elements. The ones you need to worry about come from feeder schools in NW.

[Anonymous]

Also parts of SW are no longer zoned for Wilson.

[Anonymous]

I'm 12:00 and when I hear something on the news about Wil

[Anonymous]

Hit submit too soon. When I hear something on the news about Wilson and ask my daughter, she replies " It's just those SW kids".

If your son has a nice peer group and he's put into Honors or AP classes, he might be ok, but peer pressure is something else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hit submit too soon. When I hear something on the news about Wilson and ask my daughter, she replies " It's just those SW kids".

If your son has a nice peer group and he's put into Honors or AP classes, he might be ok, but peer pressure is something else.

I've heard that quite a bit. That's actually what I was wondering about.

[Anonymous]

15:55 here. OP, we live in the same neighborhood, but we have a girl. If we had a son, and could afford it, I might lean towards private.

Since we have a girl, we're not quite as worried about negative influences, although still to some extent. If when the time comes we find that she is extremely driven and disciplined and able to hunker down and ignore the negative influences, we may consider Wilson. Otherwise, we'll probably consider private options.

[Anonymous]

SW doesn't feed to Wilson anymore. And I live in SW--there are some really rotten kids here, and some wonderful ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SW doesn't feed to Wilson anymore. And I live in SW--there are some really rotten kids here, and some wonderful ones.

Many of the SW students will be grandfathered into Wilson through 2022. And I agree, there are mix of kids in SW, I hate to see them painted with the same brush.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SW doesn't feed to Wilson anymore. And I live in SW--there are some really rotten kids here, and some wonderful ones.

Many of the SW students will be grandfathered into Wilson through 2022. And I agree, there are mix of kids in SW, I hate to see them painted with the same brush.

I think the grandfathering is just for kids who were at Wilson when the boundaries changed. The 2022 thing, as far as I remember, is for families assigned to a new middle school. See http://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/Boundary%20Tweaks%20FAQ%20%282%29.pdf

SW wasn't assigned to a new middle school; it still is in the Jefferson boundary, and Jefferson still feeds Eastern. It's just that in the past SW residents had a choice about using a geographic feed to go to Wilson (since SW used to be in the Wilson boundary) or use the middle school feed from Jefferson to Eastern.

I would love it if SW families were grandfathered in to Wilson through 2022 since that would be long enough for my kid to go there, but have never seen documents that make me think that's the case. If anyone has anything, please post!

[Anonymous]

The full rules are on the DME website.

http://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/Boundary%20and%20Feeder%20Pattern%20Changes%20FAQ_March%202015.pdf

Feeder pattern rules are what could extend the grandfathering in your specific case, but as you will see they are a bit complicated and will impact each family differently. I hope that helps.