Shepherd Park Deal Feed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a second grader and we are planning on moving to Shepherd Park next year. Our hope is that he will attend Shepherd Park elementary, Deal, and Wilson. I understand that there will be a boundary reassessment in 2022 when my son will be starting 4th grade. Does that mean that it is unlikely that he will be able to attend Deal? Thanks in advance and sorry if this has been answered before!

This thread has really gotten off topic. This poster is asking about grandfathering. But I would urge the poster to instead focus on what Shepherd can offer your son as a 4th and 5th grader. Go to the school! Sit in on a class! See for yourself what you see, and THEN you can decide whether you want to move for the Deal feeder. Don't put the cart before the horse. And for that matter, go and check out Deal! For our family, current residents of SP, Shepherd was not a good fit. But neither was Deal and Wilson. So we live here but make other choices for schooling. No one says you have to go to your local school. Boosters would love it if you did. But many MANY residents choose something else after making school visits. Or for religious reasons (looking for Jewish schools, for example). Plenty of us attend charters. Some charters go through HS. So definitely don't go by what people say on this board. Go and see for yourself.

No dog in the fight but yes have noticed lots of SP boosters on here.

NP. As you should. When your kids attend your neighborhood school, you should be supportive of the place you’ve bought into. It would be foolish not to. We love the neighborhood and the school. I will boost every chance I get. Is it perfect? No, but my kids are happy and learning.

But SP boosters attack anyone who has a different opinion. That is the difference. Just as the parent group there does the same.

This hasn’t been my experience with the parents at Shepherd. As for boosters on DCUM, there is one for every school... exhibit A: the Janney parents who post on this site. My kids attended private school and then DCPS, all schools have pros and cons; things you wish were different. But overall, I’m really happy with DCPS (Shepherd and Deal). I am happy my MS kids have Wilson, Banneker, and SWW as options for HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shepherd suffers from the same issue as Banneker. Great school however, as long as its majority black it will never receive the respect. Banneker is far superior to Wilson however, you don't see Ward 3 parents trying to send their kids there.

Personally i don’t need respect of DCUM for my Shepherd kids. It’s an awesome school and we love the neighborhood. As it turns out, we do hope to send DD to Banneker one day as well.

I have some AA SP friends who opted for Banneker instead of Wilson, and others who didn't. Those who didn't primarily chose not to because of the skewed male/female ratio, the lack of things like sports and clubs, and (from what they said) seemingly unilateral focus on intense academics while missing out on other parts. For some kids, they'll thrive - others will fail.

[Anonymous]

I’m AA and live in SP. i have younger kids, but of the handful of AA neighbors I know with high school kids, not one sends their kids to Wilson—instead it’s Walls, private/parochial, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a second grader and we are planning on moving to Shepherd Park next year. Our hope is that he will attend Shepherd Park elementary, Deal, and Wilson. I understand that there will be a boundary reassessment in 2022 when my son will be starting 4th grade. Does that mean that it is unlikely that he will be able to attend Deal? Thanks in advance and sorry if this has been answered before!

This thread has really gotten off topic. This poster is asking about grandfathering. But I would urge the poster to instead focus on what Shepherd can offer your son as a 4th and 5th grader. Go to the school! Sit in on a class! See for yourself what you see, and THEN you can decide whether you want to move for the Deal feeder. Don't put the cart before the horse. And for that matter, go and check out Deal! For our family, current residents of SP, Shepherd was not a good fit. But neither was Deal and Wilson. So we live here but make other choices for schooling. No one says you have to go to your local school. Boosters would love it if you did. But many MANY residents choose something else after making school visits. Or for religious reasons (looking for Jewish schools, for example). Plenty of us attend charters. Some charters go through HS. So definitely don't go by what people say on this board. Go and see for yourself.

No dog in the fight but yes have noticed lots of SP boosters on here.

NP. As you should. When your kids attend your neighborhood school, you should be supportive of the place you’ve bought into. It would be foolish not to. We love the neighborhood and the school. I will boost every chance I get. Is it perfect? No, but my kids are happy and learning.

But SP boosters attack anyone who has a different opinion. That is the difference. Just as the parent group there does the same.

This hasn’t been my experience with the parents at Shepherd. As for boosters on DCUM, there is one for every school... exhibit A: the Janney parents who post on this site. My kids attended private school and then DCPS, all schools have pros and cons; things you wish were different. But overall, I’m really happy with DCPS (Shepherd and Deal). I am happy my MS kids have Wilson, Banneker, and SWW as options for HS.

+1. NP. Any school will have parents with good/bad experience and that is ok. It is also ok to keep sharing your positive experience if the same poster keep sharing their negative experience with no specific of what happened or when it happened and based on visit of the school. Keep in mind that the administration has changed recently and the new principal is doing an excellent job!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m AA and live in SP. i have younger kids, but of the handful of AA neighbors I know with high school kids, not one sends their kids to Wilson—instead it’s Walls, private/parochial, etc.

We are an AA neighbor and send a kid to Wilson. When it’s our other kid’s turn, we will likely apply to private only due to his personal needs. You’ll find a lot of AA neighbors like us do the same just as you would WOTP and I’m Crestwood. Overwhelmingly, we have the resources to go private if we have a kid with needs better suited with a private. My white neighbors in SP are just as likely (if not more) to send their kids private vs. Wilson. Actually, I don’t think I know any white kids that go to Wilson from SP. I’m sure there are some, but I’d wager there are more AA kids at Wilson than white from SP. On my immediate street, there are White kids at Gonzaga, Dematha, St. John’s, GDS, and Stone Ridge. The one black high school aged kid is at Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m AA and live in SP. i have younger kids, but of the handful of AA neighbors I know with high school kids, not one sends their kids to Wilson—instead it’s Walls, private/parochial, etc.

We are an AA neighbor and send a kid to Wilson. When it’s our other kid’s turn, we will likely apply to private only due to his personal needs. You’ll find a lot of AA neighbors like us do the same just as you would WOTP and I’m Crestwood. Overwhelmingly, we have the resources to go private if we have a kid with needs better suited with a private. My white neighbors in SP are just as likely (if not more) to send their kids private vs. Wilson. Actually, I don’t think I know any white kids that go to Wilson from SP. I’m sure there are some, but I’d wager there are more AA kids at Wilson than white from SP. On my immediate street, there are White kids at Gonzaga, Dematha, St. John’s, GDS, and Stone Ridge. The one black high school aged kid is at Wilson.

PP here, hi neighbor. I’ve heard from the handful of AA families I know w/high school kids that peer pressure was a particular concern for them, hence skipping Wilson for application or private. But, it’s good to know that some are choosing Wilson—nice to have another option. We are still at the elementary level, but have heard other black families with younger kids say that Wilson’s the plan. I do think this will be more the case in the future given how expensive privates are now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m AA and live in SP. i have younger kids, but of the handful of AA neighbors I know with high school kids, not one sends their kids to Wilson—instead it’s Walls, private/parochial, etc.

We are an AA neighbor and send a kid to Wilson. When it’s our other kid’s turn, we will likely apply to private only due to his personal needs. You’ll find a lot of AA neighbors like us do the same just as you would WOTP and I’m Crestwood. Overwhelmingly, we have the resources to go private if we have a kid with needs better suited with a private. My white neighbors in SP are just as likely (if not more) to send their kids private vs. Wilson. Actually, I don’t think I know any white kids that go to Wilson from SP. I’m sure there are some, but I’d wager there are more AA kids at Wilson than white from SP. On my immediate street, there are White kids at Gonzaga, Dematha, St. John’s, GDS, and Stone Ridge. The one black high school aged kid is at Wilson.

PP here, hi neighbor. I’ve heard from the handful of AA families I know w/high school kids that peer pressure was a particular concern for them, hence skipping Wilson for application or private. But, it’s good to know that some are choosing Wilson—nice to have another option. We are still at the elementary level, but have heard other black families with younger kids say that Wilson’s the plan. I do think this will be more the case in the future given how expensive privates are now.

Hey back neighbor! Agree with everything you’ve said!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is simply no way they will cut out the one portal for poor black kids into deal. SES isn’t great but without it many black Families would find themselves in a pinch and Wilson would accelerate becoming a mostly white and higher SES high school which makes the rest of DC feel uneasy.

Chocolate City melted away 10 years ago. DC is gentrifying rapidly. In another 10 years no one will care.

I haven't finished the thread but this post is very interesting to me.

I live EOTR and people over here care. My neighbors care about gentrification. My neighbors care that our schools aren't as good. My neighbors would absolutely notice and care if a largely black school was taken out of deal/wilson even though our kids go to school across the river.

Y'all might think we don't notice because we aren't as well off as many west of the river but we aren't stupid, we are aware, and we care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is simply no way they will cut out the one portal for poor black kids into deal. SES isn’t great but without it many black Families would find themselves in a pinch and Wilson would accelerate becoming a mostly white and higher SES high school which makes the rest of DC feel uneasy.

Chocolate City melted away 10 years ago. DC is gentrifying rapidly. In another 10 years no one will care.

I haven't finished the thread but this post is very interesting to me.

I live EOTR and people over here care. My neighbors care about gentrification. My neighbors care that our schools aren't as good. My neighbors would absolutely notice and care if a largely black school was taken out of deal/wilson even though our kids go to school across the river.

Y'all might think we don't notice because we aren't as well off as many west of the river but we aren't stupid, we are aware, and we care.

Agree. I stopped reading once that other PP said SES is not great.