School Within a School

[Anonymous]

Another current family here. Teacher retention is fantastic and teachers and admin are both competent. Teachers always make time for parents and are willing to assign more challenging work for advanced students. Strong support for social emotional development and play in Pre-K years along with phonics. people call it hippy dippy but it attracts happy kids and kind families--exactly the community I want around my kids, white, black, asian, mixed. there is a black joy component annually. some of the black-joy components are great--I'm glad my kids hear about American music and wisdom and tradition from African cultures. They may take a cause and add a spin on it that highlights Black contributions. You don't have to make it bigger than it is. Kids are NOT put into affinity groups.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My kid went through SWS and while we loved a lot about the school, needed to supplement for spelling, grammar and white history.

Yep. We loved a lot too and felt the same way. The last one I can sort if see how it happened with the city population/leanings plus getting caught up in broader trends, but I'm still scratching my head on why the first two slipped.

The first two slipped because SWS stopped focusing on academics in favor of focusing on Black history for the entire school year.

It’s still worth it for the cohort though for many who have worse DCPS IB options.

Wow is it really that extreme? I plan to put SWS pretty high, but they definitely rubbed me the wrong way at open house with the way they talked about race and particularly splitting the kids into “affinity groups” where, as an example, the white kids are reading some book about white supremacy. My children are biracial and so it’s particularly troubling to me that they think neo-segregationist stuff in elementary school is the answer.

Current SWS family here, we haven't heard anything about splitting kids into affinity groups for reading assignments. There are affinity groups for the parents/caregivers, but participation is voluntary.

Another current family. There is a large emphasis on Black Joy but it's not that extreme. Kids are not put into affinity groups. As PP noted, there are parent affinity groups that are voluntary. I've never attended one so no idea what the participation is like. I get the sense they aren't widely attended but I really don't know. I've never felt forced to participate or ostracized for not participating.

I'll add - SWS has a great community. The teachers, faculty, staff, and parents are wonderful. No school is perfect and that includes SWS. Overall, we've been very happy with the school and have no regrets sending our kids there.

I think the focus on Black Joy actually is pretty extreme. My children have never learned any non-Black history or about any non-Black artists, for instance. I actually have felt somewhat ostracized when I have expressed mild skepticism about the level of focus, affinity groups and other subjects; the feeling was not so much related to some of the topics being race related , but rather feeling like I was being chastised for questioning anything about SWS' ethos/approach. (I haven't heard anything about students being split up by race though.)

My kid is currently at SWS in an upper Elementary grade and currently learning American history (American Revolution, for instance), just saying.

There have never been affinity groups for kids. Never. That was a volunteer thing for parents who were interested in participating.

We've had a wonderful experience at the school and echo the comments about responsive teachers. Will note that SWS really takes bullying seriously, even the potential of it, and that has been fantastic. My kid literally says "I do not need to worry about bullying at school." We have heard from parents who transferred in in upper ES grades who found it was much better managed at SWS whereas they had issues with bullying at another DCPS ES. My kid's assignments and learning have been grade appropriate, and I verify by comparing to Khan academy topics for the same grade.

Also going to note, my kid is currently learning about American history including the American revolution. They've learned basic elementary school topics like about government structure and taxes. Some of the conjecture here is extreme based on our actual experience.

[Anonymous]

I appreciate the responses. I was not trying to spread misinformation, I could have sworn the principal said it was the children who get split into the affinity groups, but he must have said or meant to say parents. It’s a beautiful campus and very close to the house, so I was going to hold my nose and list it anyway, but knowing they are not splitting the kids by skin color is a relief.