DC White flight - what will it mean for education?
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Anonymous
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WaPo article cites family-age covid white flight as higher than elsewhere.
Will the scenario of overcrowded WoTP schools pushing out "middle class" families come sooner than threatened by JR feeder parents? Anyone have anecdotal feedback on white flight in areas EoTP or anywhere in DC? D.C.'s White population has declined for the first time in two decades https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/01/census-dc-white-population-pandemic/ |
Anonymous
| Anectodally, most of the people I know who lived on the Hill have moved to NW -- but they didn't leave the city entirely. I know very few who left the entire region, like this article is saying. |
Anonymous
| Folks I know who left left because of crime not schools. Once you have kids that stuff doesn’t roll off your back so easily anymore, and if you can change your circumstances you do. |
Anonymous
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People left as far as I know because they were trying to get away from density during COVID and Federal jobs very often permitted that due to what was effectively remote work. Once that stabilizes and COVID declines, you will see a resurgence.
What it means now is that those waitlists are going to shorten for a while. Those density-induced shifts in DC like from Ward 3 pressure over to Wards 1 and 4 are even further over the horizon. I would also say we should wait longer on boundary redraws. Longer-term trends are hard to figure out now and we need decent predictions for long-term choices. |
Anonymous
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The people we have known who have left and moved (either to suburbs or another part of the country to be nearer to extended family)... yes, schools played into their decision, as did rising crime. But it was more about space and wanting bigger buffers in case of another Covid-like event, whether that would be nearby family or schools they knew wouldn't close, or simply a bigger home and yard for kids. It was less about not liking DC and more about worrying how their specific family would handle that happening again.
Something that is kind of amazing to me is that on the issue of school closures, DC does not have a single political who has come forward, in a HOTLY contested election cycle, to simply say "I'm super progressive [list progressive bonafides] but I will never support school closures as a longterm solution for anything because in-person school is too important to our city's families to sacrifice -- we will find a way to ensure that families can rely on open public schools, especially in times of crisis." I just think there are a lot of families who struggled over the last two years due to closures/quarantines who would have leapt at the opportunity to vote for someone who was willing to say out loud that schools were closed too long and that we didn't do enough to keep them open. I know so many families who love DC but this issue sizzles under the surface for their commitment to the city. There were many months in DC where many families had no access to in person education, but every private school in the city was offering in person learning and bars and restaurants were welcoming customers every night of the week. It's crazy to me that not a single politician has stepped forward to say "that was messed up and we can NEVER let it happen again." |
Anonymous
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DCPS is a district focused primarily on the growth and success of low-income children of color. From leadership down that is the priority, and it should be.
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Anonymous
| It's the lack of viable middle and high schools. DC did a great job getting elementary schools across the city good. That attracted young families. But as the kids age up they need a school that their parents want to send them to. The choice becomes private or move. It is going to be a bigger problem every year. |
Anonymous
I find it telling that this article and your questions focus so intently on white folks when the article also notes "also dropped more precipitously between 2020 and 2021. The city lost 6,689 non-Hispanic Black residents that year, more than three and a half times the number it had lost the previous year." While the city has been losing Black residents for a while now, do people find that decline of equal concern or just white residents? |
Anonymous
| The article focused on young adults, whose numbers have grown very quickly in recent years. It's not clear if there will be much change among school aged. |
Anonymous
| Anecdotally, a lot of my DD’s 1st grade classmates on the Hill are moving to the burbs this summer. Not sure if it’s more than usual or not (certainly more than past summers though). At least 4 of 19 in her class alone. |
Anonymous
| Crime is too high in DC now. You can't safely raise kids in most of the city. The more flight the more crime. |
Anonymous
Exactly, it's a very unfortunate downward spiral. We haven't come near hitting bottom yet and I bet crime will quadruple before somebody (clearly not any of the current politicians) turns it around. I predict bottoming out in about 10 years. |
Anonymous
Explain to me why a school system should focus primarily upon on one socio-economic and ethnic group. Other jurisdictions like Arlington, Alexandria, MCPS, and Fairfax somehow seem to manage to care about ALL learners. |
Anonymous
"Many of the region’s close-in suburbs also lost White residents at a much higher rate than previously, including Montgomery County, Md. as well as Fairfax and Arlington counties and the city of Alexandria in Virginia." Is this also crime? |
Anonymous
Whoa. To even argue the point would get you canceled. Just nod enthusiastically, appear to agree, but then do what every same parent does and either move to the ritzy part of dc with a passable high school or send them to private. I also agree this city should focus more on keeping the kids of wealthy parents in public school, but I guess I’m a selfish gentrifying piece of sht or whatever. |