What are the resources that flow with these kids? Do you mean the parent contributions to the PTA? Because that is not the only reason why these schools have good academic outcomes. |
These schools have good academic outcomes largely b/c the kids have educated mothers - if you want to be real about it. Parent contributions of time, parent contributions of dollars, the fact that that school admin listen to these parents, central office listens to these parents, the mayor listens to these parents - and we know this because they can get principals hired and fired, shiny new schools in Palisades (!!!), etc. |
The classic "I'm all for nice things for you, but never anything less for me" version of liberalism. |
This may be largely true and those same mothers would bring those contributions of time, attention and political clout, to any school. Those are the resources that would flow with these kids and those resources are worth far more than the PTA money. |
What are you talking about? You are suggesting elementary kids commute 2-4 miles a day one-way for an new in-boundary school? What other DCPS school has the majority of in-boundary families commuting 2-4 miles a day. That is not an "easy" commute. |
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These schools have good academic outcomes largely b/c the kids have educated mothers - if you want to be real about it. Parent contributions of time, parent contributions of dollars, the fact that that school admin listen to these parents, central office listens to these parents, the mayor listens to these parents - and we know this because they can get principals hired and fired, shiny new schools in Palisades (!!!), etc. This may be largely true and those same mothers would bring those contributions of time, attention and political clout, to any school. Those are the resources that would flow with these kids and those resources are worth far more than the PTA money. But when those mothers try that, they get labeled as "nice white parents" and face backlash. The only acceptable thing from the liberal POV is to send your kid to an under-performing school and accept its poor performance as part of its "culture," which is insulting to the new and old families there alike. |
Well, I live IB for Takoma, and I was assigned a DPR camp in Chevy Chase - it took me 10 minutes in the morning to get there. It was an extremely easy commute. Shepherd to Takoma is about 8 minutes. Easy-peasy. |
This may be largely true and those same mothers would bring those contributions of time, attention and political clout, to any school. Those are the resources that would flow with these kids and those resources are worth far more than the PTA money. But when those mothers try that, they get labeled as "nice white parents" and face backlash. The only acceptable thing from the liberal POV is to send your kid to an under-performing school and accept its poor performance as part of its "culture," which is insulting to the new and old families there alike. This does seem to be the double edged sword as supported by comments on this thread. |
| I hate that the working theory is move these families so other at risk kids can get the spots. But when you show up to your new school you better just show up and shut up cause we don’t want that here. You need to respect the families that are here. That’s not how it works. The families that would be moved would expect the same school experience and would work hard to get it. Thereby pissing off a bunch of people for being “nice white patents”. |
Summertime traffic is not the same as school year traffic. Also, you didn’t answer the question of where else in DCPS families commute 2-4 miles for an inbound school. Finally, your privilege is showing. |
Wrong. I completely acknowledge my privilege, not that it runs as deep as your comments assume. Now what? How does that help the woman scrubbing floors in Mt. Pleasant? She's welcome to lottery her kids into an affluent school that is better than her neighborhood school the same as anyone else. But I guarantee you, if that woman's kids do make it "out", and end up being able to live somewhere with better schools, they will take full advantage of that situation and will not be clamoring to send their own kids to an underperforming school in the name of social justice. |
Your numbers do sound pretty wacky. But to answer your question (even with your bad numbers), Bancroft is 3.0 miles from Jackson-Reed. Shepherd is 4.2 miles from Jackson-Reed. Lafayette is 2.0 miles from Jackson-Reed. Shepherd is 1.2 miles from Ida B. Wells. Lafayette is 3 miles from Ida B. Wells. I commute to an afterschool program twice a week during rush hour to Chevy Chase - it's 15 minutes from Takoma. |
Great, so you can also play the lottery. Fair is fair. |
It sounds like you want to get rid of neighborhood schools. Is that what you are hoping for? |
| I question whether any good policy proposals can come from a place of bitterness. I think we can all agree that there are educational inequities in DC. I wonder why so many of the proposals on this thread (no, not all) are aimed at tearing the “haves” down, rather than lifting the “have nots” up. |