SWS -- Atmosphere and Leadership

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The accusation that the "leadership" at SWS is displaying-- even subconscious --racism here, is beyond the pale. They may not get it all right at SWS, but it's just total BS that anyone that knows them thinks this is true. At least two or three of the lead teachers are white BUT married to, or parents of, BLACK peole.

Bring up a valid concern but that is intolerable slander, and just not true.

Slander is spoken, liable is written. You understand defamation as well as you understand racism.

Ohhhh there you are! What fun it must be, to be you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmm, What do CMI and SWS have in common that may make both schools somewhat less attractive to some AA families?

Perhaps educational approaches that are perceived as being fluffier than what some AAs families may want, and/or reputations that have grown due to word-of-mouth among mostly white DC residents? I don't know if either explanation is accurate, though.

I find it totally bizarre that people seem to be assuming that all Black families want some kind of bootcamp atmosphere for their 3 year olds. I know tons of arty hippie black folks! You do know that being black and ambitious for your kid does not equal compulsory enrollment in KIPP, right?

I'm the PP you quoted, and I wasn't necessarily saying these explanations are accurate--I was just saying that these are the explanations that have been put out there on the CMI and SWS threads. I'm black BTW, and I definitely do know some black families who might go for either curriculum--I wouldn't say a ton, though. So tell me, where do those arty, hippie AA families send their kids to school? I'm a newcomer to DC so I don't know, but from these threads, it seems there aren't many of them at either school.

They are big on homeschooling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmm, What do CMI and SWS have in common that may make both schools somewhat less attractive to some AA families?

Perhaps educational approaches that are perceived as being fluffier than what some AAs families may want, and/or reputations that have grown due to word-of-mouth among mostly white DC residents? I don't know if either explanation is accurate, though.

I find it totally bizarre that people seem to be assuming that all Black families want some kind of bootcamp atmosphere for their 3 year olds. I know tons of arty hippie black folks! You do know that being black and ambitious for your kid does not equal compulsory enrollment in KIPP, right?

I'm the PP you quoted, and I wasn't necessarily saying these explanations are accurate--I was just saying that these are the explanations that have been put out there on the CMI and SWS threads. I'm black BTW, and I definitely do know some black families who might go for either curriculum--I wouldn't say a ton, though. So tell me, where do those arty, hippie AA families send their kids to school? I'm a newcomer to DC so I don't know, but from these threads, it seems there aren't many of them at either school.

Well, there just aren't that many options! I assume that if they don't know about or can't swing the hippy arty options, they do what the rest of us do - compromise with another school that is a less good fit.

[Anonymous]

File under: determining algorithms for ernest, initial post to degrade to the 9:30, two glasses of wine in snark on DCUM

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmm, What do CMI and SWS have in common that may make both schools somewhat less attractive to some AA families?

Perhaps educational approaches that are perceived as being fluffier than what some AAs families may want, and/or reputations that have grown due to word-of-mouth among mostly white DC residents? I don't know if either explanation is accurate, though.

Quite possibly. Not everyone is completely comfortable with what SWS puts out there. As we've seen though, it's easier, or at the very least more interesting and entertaining, to blame the school for racist policies or not trying hard enough to recruit AA families. To be clear, we are talking about a school where a full third of the student don't classify themselves as Caucasian. Not 10%, not 15%, but 32% of the school wouldn't classify themselves as white. That's a giant problem with diversity.

That's not quite accurate since the percentage of students of color filling seats open through the lottery is much lower. The SWS diversity numbers are goosed by the almost entirely AA special needs classrooms. Those seats count in the school's demographic numbers, but they do not respond to the lottery and are not really reflective of people choosing the school.

[Anonymous]

A whole lotta white fragility on DCUM

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/11-ways-white-america-avoids-taking-responsibility-its-racism

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AND they need to fix aftercare, AND that awful, recurring lice problem, AND "what about a school play for my DD?!", AND figure out how to make a program work in a decaying building with $0 in modernizations funds, AND not piss off the neighbors, AND grow a school by 350% in 3 years AND manage a medically fragile classroom and high spectrum population, AND move twice in two years, AND hire people who you feel will be a good fit for the educational model and the community AND make sure the white liberal guilt of your student body is mitigated because you're recruiting More brown people, AND keep increasing the amount of money you raise every year. I mean, how could anyone flounder with any of these things? Piece of cake.

What a mess of a school...And yet, still so popular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A whole lotta white fragility on DCUM

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/11-ways-white-america-avoids-taking-responsibility-its-racism[/quote

Just, holy shit. Really? THIS is how you progress a discussion about race on this board?! Because that must be happening!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A whole lotta white fragility on DCUM

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/11-ways-white-america-avoids-taking-responsibility-its-racism[/quote

Just, holy shit. Really? THIS is how you progress a discussion about race on this board?! Because that must be happening!

Did you read the article?

[Anonymous]

Yes sweetheart, while you were creating a new thread to start a whole shit show about the tripe you're trying to pass as journalism.

[Anonymous]

Hey OP! Happy now?

[Anonymous]

F@cking whackadoodle. When did whiteness studies become a thing and what idiot decided to pay someone to lecture to college students about this nonsense?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:F@cking whackadoodle. When did whiteness studies become a thing and what idiot decided to pay someone to lecture to college students about this nonsense?

LOL. Whiteness studies?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:F@cking whackadoodle. When did whiteness studies become a thing and what idiot decided to pay someone to lecture to college students about this nonsense?

LOL. Whiteness studies?!

Ohhhhhhh. PPs been holding onto "whiteness studies" for weeks until she could pull it out at the right time. BAM PP! You NAILED it!!!

[Anonymous]

Lots of wrong information on this board that makes me think that most of the posters are not actually involved in the school.

For what it is worth, we are a black family at the school and don't feel isolated and nor do our kids. But for OP and other posters who have said that they don't really know any black families well, maybe you should try changing that. Every class my kid has been in has had 3-4 black kids in it. I know all of those parents pretty well. I've also met a lot of the black families in other grades. Not so hard to do given the many parent meetings, coffees, volunteer days, drop offs/pick ups, birthday parties...

For those that have suggested making the black families do outreach/recruitment that sounds like a great way to make families feel welcome! In any event, must not know that one of the many black families was co-leading recruitment for the school last year.