SWS -- Atmosphere and Leadership

[Anonymous]

Agree with whoever said that the big problem with the aftercare extras is that there aren't enough active/sports activities. Would love to see more sports suitable for younger kids -- soccer tots, gymnastics, karate. There are 3 different dance classes, including irish dancing and hip hop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honey. Is SWS is racist. We're fucked.

NP. Take out your middle sentence, which I presume is meant to be a question, and you've described how every middle-class black parent feels about public schools. And their teachers and administrators. And their parents.

It's somewhat lovely to see people fighting hard to say that race doesn't matter until you look around and get the very strong feeling that it matters very, very much.

BUT, if the thing you feel is that you're not part of the community, you can't say anything about it. Not if the thing you want is to feel part of the community.

[Anonymous]

Ugh. Did you read the part where the black person came on here and said she was fine? There was no "I'm fucked" in there, if I recall. Good tkmknownyounsoealmfor every one of them feels.

[Anonymous]

*to know you speak for how

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know what percent of the non-siblings now entering the school are white? Also, don't charters have to show some kind of a plan to try to attract all kinds of students? Is there any evidence that SWS is doing that? Isn't SWS near that homeless shelter that feeds into Miner? Do they put up posters there or do any outreach in poorer neighborhoods near the Hill?

SWS is not a charter-it is a DCPS school. I
Now that DCPS has 2 citywide elementary schools perhaps it could take steps to better inform all of the city about it. I don't know the demographics of the wait list but it wouldn't surprise me if the school attracted families that were within a few miles. I guess there could be organized buses from other parts of the city but it is really hard.

I think the school would be very open to discussing a plan for increasing diversity. Sounds like a nice topic for a LSAT mtg or one of the parent committees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. Did you read the part where the black person came on here and said she was fine? There was no "I'm fucked" in there, if I recall. Good tkmknownyounsoealmfor every one of them feels.

Yeah, I did read that.

If you think that's the panacea then ugh is right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. Did you read the part where the black person came on here and said she was fine? There was no "I'm fucked" in there, if I recall. Good tkmknownyounsoealmfor every one of them feels.

Yeah, I did read that.

If you think that's the panacea then ugh is right.

Nope, not the panacea, can certainly see how it would feel that way to middle class AA families, especially in this city. See though, the title of this thread and her direct experience at SWS seem to belie the "every" rule you set up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I did know that one of the co-chairs for recruitment last year is Black, and I know that two of the three co-chairs for recruitment this year are black. However, I don't think think that last year's co-chair was at every open house or every DCPS/MOTH event - that's asking a lot of one person. I'd love to see different and multiple AA parents at the events - so it doesn't look like there is one AA family at the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know what percent of the non-siblings now entering the school are white? Also, don't charters have to show some kind of a plan to try to attract all kinds of students? Is there any evidence that SWS is doing that? Isn't SWS near that homeless shelter that feeds into Miner? Do they put up posters there or do any outreach in poorer neighborhoods near the Hill?

SWS is not a charter-it is a DCPS school. I
Now that DCPS has 2 citywide elementary schools perhaps it could take steps to better inform all of the city about it. I don't know the demographics of the wait list but it wouldn't surprise me if the school attracted families that were within a few miles. I guess there could be organized buses from other parts of the city but it is really hard.

I think the school would be very open to discussing a plan for increasing diversity. Sounds like a nice topic for a LSAT mtg or one of the parent committees.

+1 SWS parent (who lucked out in the lottery) who, sorry, has lived at an address close to the new location since before DC was born. When other parents find out that DC attends SWS, they assume it's because of proximity. I think a lot of people are under informed about the citywide schools. SWS does not feel at all citywide currently, but it's also new to being citywide.

[Anonymous]

New hypothesis: SWS really really really values parental involvement. That is clear at every event and parent meeting. If you are not very very involved, sometimes you can feel like a second-class citizen. There seems to be a lack of understanding among the school leadership (including parents) that being involved requires resources (time, money, etc.), and there tends to be a fair amount of judgment against those of us who are not so involved-- like we're not pulling our weight, etc. Because race and SES tend to correlate in DC, I would imagine a higher percentage of AA families feel less welcome. That said, I see SWS as the type of place that would welcome an AA family who wanted to be super involved with open arms, and my observation is that there are a fair number of AA families at the school that are in that category. I don't see a huge effort to be inclusive of families who are lower-SES and have less to "give." But I am sure that is true of a lot of schools, it is just that there are fewer at SWS than other places. (Although there are some, by virtue of being city-wide, unlike some WOTP park schools).

[Anonymous]

This analysis makes a lot of sense to me. For what it's worth, same story at Maury and Brent.

Apparently, this is what happens in troubled urban school systems. The best schools are built via strong parental involvement. If you can't or won't contribute much to a school community (in terms of time, money or both) forced to lean heavily on PTA support for everything from paying a science teacher to installing a sound system on a stage, you won't probably feel as welcome as those who can and do. It's unfair and unreasonable but true.

[Anonymous]

^^ OMG -- does this mean that SWS, Maury and Brent have achieved equal status to Janney, Mann, Key, etc.?

[Anonymous]

I don't want to sound too simple, and I'm not discrediting the idea that SWS couldn't benefit from a more diverse student body and faculty. But I know location played a huge role in how we ranked schools, and I would imagine that for many other families the location of SWS and lousy public transportation access would be a dealbreaker. If AA families tend to have lower SES, I would think they're more likely to depend on public transportation. It's a nice school, but is it metro + bus nice? For many, I would think the answer is no and the preference would be to go to school either close to home or someplace that doesn't require too much trouble. My son is in a charter that skews pretty white, and the best I can figure it's at least in part because it's a PITA to get there without a car. CMI appears to be the same way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't want to sound too simple, and I'm not discrediting the idea that SWS couldn't benefit from a more diverse student body and faculty. But I know location played a huge role in how we ranked schools, and I would imagine that for many other families the location of SWS and lousy public transportation access would be a dealbreaker. If AA families tend to have lower SES, I would think they're more likely to depend on public transportation. It's a nice school, but is it metro + bus nice? For many, I would think the answer is no and the preference would be to go to school either close to home or someplace that doesn't require too much trouble. My son is in a charter that skews pretty white, and the best I can figure it's at least in part because it's a PITA to get there without a car. CMI appears to be the same way.

Transportation/location could be a factor but Isn't Ludlow Taylor a few blocks away? It was majority OOB/AA for years, not all of those kids came from MD.

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of complexities at work. Some OOB families at LT had historic ties to the school and/or neighborhood. E.g., mom or dad may have attended LT, grandma still lived in the attendance zone, or simply that LT was better than their IB school. There also was a perception, rightly or wrongly, that the LT leadership was more welcoming to AA families than the white Gentrifiers who were moving in. It's arguably a very different dynamic when you're dealing with a a limited number of lottery seats available to the entire city.