Thoughts on Dunbar?
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Anonymous
| I'm new to the area and my son has been admitted to Dunbar. I hear the building is new. Any thoughts? |
Anonymous
| Majority of students do not perform at grade level. The school is underenrolled for its size, indicating that despite the shiny new facilities (which are indeed lovely), many neighborhood parents seek other HS options. |
Anonymous
Low-income kids deserve to attend school in updated buildings, too. |
Anonymous
| 2% of students are proficient in math. |
Anonymous
How do you get admitted to a traditional high school? |
Anonymous
Probably by entering the lottery and being matched. Lots of people are not IB for Dunbar. |
Anonymous
How bad would you base school have to be for you to consider lotterying into Dunbar? |
Anonymous
| Dunbar used to be the elite public school in DC pre-integration, so their list of alumni is very impressive. But it no longer gets to admit only the best black students from across the city. Now it is a neighborhood school, and you could point to a lot of different reasons (e.g., having application schools that remove the high scoring kids from the non-application schools, self-segregation, etc. etc.) but yes, it now is under-enrolled, and doesn't have a large proportion of high achieving students. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't look seriously at it, especially if your kid got a spot there. As noted, the facilities are great, and just because the scores could be higher doesn't mean that a good education is not provided, you just need to know your kid! |
Anonymous
| I like that it has a field and a pool. The building is not new-new, but pretty new and nice. Academically, it has some struggles, but I know some of the teachers and think they are good. so many of the kids come in below grade level or are experiencing life challenges so it's hard to focus on school. I think the decision should depend on what your other options are, and whether Dunbar offers the activities your child might like to do. |
Anonymous
|
Daily fights in the cafeteria. High turnover among teachers, even during the school year, so there are substitute teachers/long term subs at all times. Indifferent principal. Rampant bullying. Shockingly easy curriculum, I assume because of social promotion?
Very nice building. Some classrooms have views of the capitol! Engineering program seems solid. |
Anonymous
It makes me wonder if OP is for real, especially since there's an active thread today about one of Dunbar's feeder middle schools (Brookland). |
Anonymous
| This is so cruel. |
Anonymous
This. It’s shocking the school continues to operate when less than 2% of the kids are on grade level in math. Less than 2%. DC social promotion at its best. It’s probably worst now after the pandemic. We are zoned for Dunbar and it’s a non-starter. Just no way we are sending DS there. I don’t care how nice the building is. |
Anonymous
Seriously. |
Anonymous
Curious what you think the solution is to this besides rezoning (I support rezoning). |