Do you think Shepherd Elementary will become/is becoming more diverse?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish this conversation would get back to Shepherd Elementary School. OP, I hope that you're not afraid about moving into the Shepherd Park neighborhood. It's a great place to live. We don't have the racial division that you see demonstrated on DCUM.

OP. I'm still here! I haven't answered in a while, but I'm still reading the responses. I've been on DCUM long enough to know that, as with any even slightly controversial topic, there would be a lot of thread derailment. But in between all of that, there are a lot of good and thoughtful responses (which is what I love about DCUM). We're actually already in the neighborhood, having moved in last summer, and I agree that it's a great place to live! The helpful responses here have gone a long way to assuage any concerns I was starting to feel after talking with my friend. Her experiences are valid, but they were also 30 years ago and in a vastly different type of area. After reading all the great things on here and other threads about Shepherd Elementary, I'm getting excited about next year. I think that it will be a great experience and we're all looking forward to meeting other Shepherd Elementary families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish this conversation would get back to Shepherd Elementary School. OP, I hope that you're not afraid about moving into the Shepherd Park neighborhood. It's a great place to live. We don't have the racial division that you see demonstrated on DCUM.

+1000

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The fact that Shepherd is finally starting to get a little bit of love (or hate, as it were) on DCUM makes me even more interested to see the upcoming lottery results--wondering if the convergence of the still newish IB curriculum, the new PK3 class, and the rising in-boundary % will mean more lottery interest. Would love to have even more engaged, involved families interested in joining us at Shepherd. I guess we'll find out later this week!

Who on this thread said that they hate Shepherd? Don't be so sensitive just because someone asks about demographics and people comment on that.

I think she was just referring to the hateful comments (not directly aimed at Shepherd).

You mean the racist comments brushing NW as Upper Caucasia?

It was a joke. Jesus! Ward 3 is Upper Caucasia. What's the beef?? OMG - racist comments? Coming from the good white people at Living Social? Be mad at them.

NP here. Meaning is always in the context. I'm not born in this country, but my impression is that the term "Upper Caucasia" is frequently used in a derogatory way, insinuating that the people who move there do so because they don't like being around black people, and that the neighborhood is racially homogenous and people there live in a bubble. I believe that's how it was thrown around on this thread as well. If anyone had a comparable term for the AA neighborhoods in this city, I'm sure it would be completely unacceptable and considered racist.

It is a bubble! It's like 95% white in a black city. I never get the impression that they don't want black people there now. The reason that it is so white is because of redlining. Shepherd Park is diverse because the white neighbors stood against the banks because they did not want to keep black people out. I think that's why Shepherd Park is so progressive. After a while, black people could not afford to live in Ward 3. Generational housing wealth. That's been documented.

Look at the history of DC. It is what it is.

DC isn't a black city anymore. It was for several decades, but things have changed already. That doesn't mean upper NW is representative of the city as a whole, but not every area has to represent the city as a whole.

Well said. As someone pointed earlier, NW represents the country much better than any other area in the city, so perhaps it is time to devote more time to Shepherd Park and less to stupid "jokes" such as upper caucasia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact that Shepherd is finally starting to get a little bit of love (or hate, as it were) on DCUM makes me even more interested to see the upcoming lottery results--wondering if the convergence of the still newish IB curriculum, the new PK3 class, and the rising in-boundary % will mean more lottery interest. Would love to have even more engaged, involved families interested in joining us at Shepherd. I guess we'll find out later this week!

Who on this thread said that they hate Shepherd? Don't be so sensitive just because someone asks about demographics and people comment on that.

I think she was just referring to the hateful comments (not directly aimed at Shepherd).

You mean the racist comments brushing NW as Upper Caucasia?

It was a joke. Jesus! Ward 3 is Upper Caucasia. What's the beef?? OMG - racist comments? Coming from the good white people at Living Social? Be mad at them.

NP here. Meaning is always in the context. I'm not born in this country, but my impression is that the term "Upper Caucasia" is frequently used in a derogatory way, insinuating that the people who move there do so because they don't like being around black people, and that the neighborhood is racially homogenous and people there live in a bubble. I believe that's how it was thrown around on this thread as well. If anyone had a comparable term for the AA neighborhoods in this city, I'm sure it would be completely unacceptable and considered racist.

It is a bubble! It's like 95% white in a black city. I never get the impression that they don't want black people there now. The reason that it is so white is because of redlining. Shepherd Park is diverse because the white neighbors stood against the banks because they did not want to keep black people out. I think that's why Shepherd Park is so progressive. After a while, black people could not afford to live in Ward 3. Generational housing wealth. That's been documented.

Look at the history of DC. It is what it is.

DC isn't a black city anymore. It was for several decades, but things have changed already. That doesn't mean upper NW is representative of the city as a whole, but not every area has to represent the city as a whole.

Well said. As someone pointed earlier, NW represents the country much better than any other area in the city, so perhaps it is time to devote more time to Shepherd Park and less to stupid "jokes" such as upper caucasia.

Why the hell are you comparing DC to the rest of the country? We are not the rest of the country. DC is still nearly 50% black so upper NW does not come close to representing the city. There's nothing wrong with it. Audubon Park area is 70% and New Orleans is about 37% white. For the love of God, can we stop race baiting? If you don't have anything to add about Shepherd and its diversity, start your own thread.

[Anonymous]

Very interesting article about New Orleans:

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/11/discrimination_shuts_out_black.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish this conversation would get back to Shepherd Elementary School. OP, I hope that you're not afraid about moving into the Shepherd Park neighborhood. It's a great place to live. We don't have the racial division that you see demonstrated on DCUM.

OP. I'm still here! I haven't answered in a while, but I'm still reading the responses. I've been on DCUM long enough to know that, as with any even slightly controversial topic, there would be a lot of thread derailment. But in between all of that, there are a lot of good and thoughtful responses (which is what I love about DCUM). We're actually already in the neighborhood, having moved in last summer, and I agree that it's a great place to live! The helpful responses here have gone a long way to assuage any concerns I was starting to feel after talking with my friend. Her experiences are valid, but they were also 30 years ago and in a vastly different type of area. After reading all the great things on here and other threads about Shepherd Elementary, I'm getting excited about next year. I think that it will be a great experience and we're all looking forward to meeting other Shepherd Elementary families.

Cool! I'm the in-boundary PP with a child in PK from the first few pages of this thread. I think you and your family will love it--it's a great little school. Will hopefully be even better with the renovations (next phase will supposedly be done by year's end).

Last year I believe there was a Pop in and Preview Day in late May for all registered families--I'm sure you could attend one of those and get an even better feel for the school.

Hope to see you in the fall!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact that Shepherd is finally starting to get a little bit of love (or hate, as it were) on DCUM makes me even more interested to see the upcoming lottery results--wondering if the convergence of the still newish IB curriculum, the new PK3 class, and the rising in-boundary % will mean more lottery interest. Would love to have even more engaged, involved families interested in joining us at Shepherd. I guess we'll find out later this week!

Who on this thread said that they hate Shepherd? Don't be so sensitive just because someone asks about demographics and people comment on that.

I think she was just referring to the hateful comments (not directly aimed at Shepherd).

You mean the racist comments brushing NW as Upper Caucasia?

It was a joke. Jesus! Ward 3 is Upper Caucasia. What's the beef?? OMG - racist comments? Coming from the good white people at Living Social? Be mad at them.

NP here. Meaning is always in the context. I'm not born in this country, but my impression is that the term "Upper Caucasia" is frequently used in a derogatory way, insinuating that the people who move there do so because they don't like being around black people, and that the neighborhood is racially homogenous and people there live in a bubble. I believe that's how it was thrown around on this thread as well. If anyone had a comparable term for the AA neighborhoods in this city, I'm sure it would be completely unacceptable and considered racist.

It is a bubble! It's like 95% white in a black city. I never get the impression that they don't want black people there now. The reason that it is so white is because of redlining. Shepherd Park is diverse because the white neighbors stood against the banks because they did not want to keep black people out. I think that's why Shepherd Park is so progressive. After a while, black people could not afford to live in Ward 3. Generational housing wealth. That's been documented.

Look at the history of DC. It is what it is.

DC isn't a black city anymore. It was for several decades, but things have changed already. That doesn't mean upper NW is representative of the city as a whole, but not every area has to represent the city as a whole.

Well said. As someone pointed earlier, NW represents the country much better than any other area in the city, so perhaps it is time to devote more time to Shepherd Park and less to stupid "jokes" such as upper caucasia.

Why the hell are you comparing DC to the rest of the country? We are not the rest of the country. DC is still nearly 50% black so upper NW does not come close to representing the city. There's nothing wrong with it. Audubon Park area is 70% and New Orleans is about 37% white. For the love of God, can we stop race baiting? If you don't have anything to add about Shepherd and its diversity, start your own thread.

Exactly. D.C. is very much still a black city -- it's not a majority black city anymore, but only barely, and it's still definitely plurality black.

Signed, another white person who isn't interested in sending my kids to an 80 percent white school

[Anonymous]

Regarding school buses, I have to say its great DC doesn't have them, and instead is prioritizing public transportation and neighborhood schools. Imagine the hellish morning commute we'd all have with a few hundred new buses making dozens of stops each!

The line of suvs that parks in front of Shepherd each morning, and personal experience leads me to believe that there are pretty much about twenty of us whose kids walk to school. The other 320 are driven.

I am all for public transportation, but believe me... but I've been using DC's for a while now, and it's got some major issues. (Sorry, to diverge from point of thread. I'll be quiet now.)

[Anonymous]

School buses are very much public transportation. If there are 30 kids whose parents only commute directly to work, and hopefully don't all drive, wouldn't buses improve traffic? Particularly at the schools themselves and the surrounding block?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Regarding school buses, I have to say its great DC doesn't have them, and instead is prioritizing public transportation and neighborhood schools. Imagine the hellish morning commute we'd all have with a few hundred new buses making dozens of stops each!

The line of suvs that parks in front of Shepherd each morning, and personal experience leads me to believe that there are pretty much about twenty of us whose kids walk to school. The other 320 are driven.

I am all for public transportation, but believe me... but I've been using DC's for a while now, and it's got some major issues. (Sorry, to diverge from point of thread. I'll be quiet now.)

I read "the line of SUVs" and I braced myself for more negativity (i.e., that this would be another poster griping about Maryland plates at DC schools)--glad it wasn't! For the record, I'm one of the walkers to school, and I've never noticed MD plates at Shepherd.

[Anonymous]

Another case in point that I am hesitant to bring up, because I don't like to criticize decisions that were made before my time, and whose logic I can understand... even if I vehemently disagree with it....

Shepherd's funding cuts involve them not getting a parking lot. That's what everyone is upset about--that they're not ripping up more of their green space to put in a parking lot.

Now, do the teachers need a place to park? Of course they do. I understand that. But there is plenty of street parking, for anyone who can parallel park.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I have never looked at the plates because I sincerely do not care. I just care that dodging a kid through a line of suvs to cross the street is slightly hazardous. And, the new crossing guard is nice and stuff? But he's not very on the ball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact that Shepherd is finally starting to get a little bit of love (or hate, as it were) on DCUM makes me even more interested to see the upcoming lottery results--wondering if the convergence of the still newish IB curriculum, the new PK3 class, and the rising in-boundary % will mean more lottery interest. Would love to have even more engaged, involved families interested in joining us at Shepherd. I guess we'll find out later this week!

Who on this thread said that they hate Shepherd? Don't be so sensitive just because someone asks about demographics and people comment on that.

I think she was just referring to the hateful comments (not directly aimed at Shepherd).

You mean the racist comments brushing NW as Upper Caucasia?

It was a joke. Jesus! Ward 3 is Upper Caucasia. What's the beef?? OMG - racist comments? Coming from the good white people at Living Social? Be mad at them.

NP here. Meaning is always in the context. I'm not born in this country, but my impression is that the term "Upper Caucasia" is frequently used in a derogatory way, insinuating that the people who move there do so because they don't like being around black people, and that the neighborhood is racially homogenous and people there live in a bubble. I believe that's how it was thrown around on this thread as well. If anyone had a comparable term for the AA neighborhoods in this city, I'm sure it would be completely unacceptable and considered racist.

It is a bubble! It's like 95% white in a black city. I never get the impression that they don't want black people there now. The reason that it is so white is because of redlining. Shepherd Park is diverse because the white neighbors stood against the banks because they did not want to keep black people out. I think that's why Shepherd Park is so progressive. After a while, black people could not afford to live in Ward 3. Generational housing wealth. That's been documented.

Look at the history of DC. It is what it is.

DC isn't a black city anymore. It was for several decades, but things have changed already. That doesn't mean upper NW is representative of the city as a whole, but not every area has to represent the city as a whole.

Well said. As someone pointed earlier, NW represents the country much better than any other area in the city, so perhaps it is time to devote more time to Shepherd Park and less to stupid "jokes" such as upper caucasia.

Why the hell are you comparing DC to the rest of the country? We are not the rest of the country. DC is still nearly 50% black so upper NW does not come close to representing the city. There's nothing wrong with it. Audubon Park area is 70% and New Orleans is about 37% white. For the love of God, can we stop race baiting? If you don't have anything to add about Shepherd and its diversity, start your own thread.

Exactly. D.C. is very much still a black city -- it's not a majority black city anymore, but only barely, and it's still definitely plurality black.

Signed, another white person who isn't interested in sending my kids to an 80 percent white school

I would respect a person more for being honest about their prejudice that trying to defend it with this kind of nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Regarding school buses, I have to say its great DC doesn't have them, and instead is prioritizing public transportation and neighborhood schools. Imagine the hellish morning commute we'd all have with a few hundred new buses making dozens of stops each!

The line of suvs that parks in front of Shepherd each morning, and personal experience leads me to believe that there are pretty much about twenty of us whose kids walk to school. The other 320 are driven.

I am all for public transportation, but believe me... but I've been using DC's for a while now, and it's got some major issues. (Sorry, to diverge from point of thread. I'll be quiet now.)

I read "the line of SUVs" and I braced myself for more negativity (i.e., that this would be another poster griping about Maryland plates at DC schools)--glad it wasn't! For the record, I'm one of the walkers to school, and I've never noticed MD plates at Shepherd.

Ha! I was thinking the same thing. We are IB and still have to drive as the 7 block walk to and from would make me late for work.

[Anonymous]

Don't get your hopes up....it ain't changing.