Feedback on Eaton Elementary School in Cleveland Park, NW

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eaton is a great school. We love it there. Very welcoming community, lots going on, excellent outreach to parents and kids.

For In boundary preK, your chances are very good. Not 100%, but more likely than not. I have to believe it is more likely you will get into Eaton with IB preference than you will get in OOB at Mann or Stoddert. But at the same time, no guarantee.

And, let me just echo that Eaton's condition is really annoying. 1983 was 30 years ago!!! It's badly in need of an overhaul. That said, the school works with what it has and my kids both love it there. Eaton once again wa pushed down on the rehab list, os I don't think anything will be done before [b]2017[/b]. I would be so happy if it just had an interior paint job and new windows in the library!

Is an Eaton renovation actually slated for 2017? Have priorities been identified and what is being planned?

Bump on the John Eaton renovation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP---back to the question at hand. For many years Eaton was the OOB school of choice for Mt. Pleasant families who were not enamored with Bancroft, which historically (as in for the past 20 years) has been a Title I bilingual school focused on meeting the needs of immigrant ESL children. Eaton was also popular with DC politicos. Because the catchment area is small, and the housing stock consists of the apartments/co-ops of Connecticut Avenue and the Victorian mansions of Cleveland Park, there were not a sufficient number of IB kids to fill the school.

In my experience, the OOB parents at Eaton are in general as highly educated (though perhaps not as wealthy) as the IB parent population and every bit as invested in their children's education. My fellow parents have included foreign diplomats, journalists, economists, Hill staffers/lobbyists, university professors, museum educators, as well as the typical DC lawyer types.

We live in a tiny house in the Hearst boundary and I guarantee that quite a few of the OOB families make more money than us and live in more expensive houses than we do.

Until the past 5 years or so, this wouldn't have been the case.

-- lived in dc long enough to remember when mt. Pleasant, petworth and "14th st heights" we're where you bought drugs and went to parties in group homes full of Hill staffers who couldn't afford the Hill or AU park group homes

Sure, but that is not relevant now. The point is that there is not this big divide between IB and OOB based on wealth. For the most part, IB Hearst families live in duplexes, smaller single family homes, and McLean Gardens. There are many OOB families that choose Hearst from all parts of the city who are in the same HHI bracket as the IB families, if not higher. They just choose to live somewhere else. There are also families in lower brackets, but all of these families intermingle at school. No one pays attention to or cares how much money anyone has.

I have a number of friends at Eaton. The above description applies to both schools. Hearst and Eaton are VERY similar in make up. (Hearst simply lagged behind Eaton in scores because of growing pains caused by its shift from an early childhood center to a PK-5.)

Historically, they both have had high OOB populations however, a good portion of the OOBs kids have come from educated, middle-high income homes (black and white).

These days the OOBs populations at Hearst and Eaton are not necessarily black (as many on DCUM seem to believe). As a matter of fact, I would argue that a good 40% of Hearst's OOB kids are white from Mt. Pleasant, Crestwood and 16th St Heights. And yes, many are just as educated and perhaps make more money than their IB counterparts. But--seriously--no one gives a crap about that stuff or where people live. It just doesn't come up.

These schools are thriving communities within communities. If you don't get that, then you just don't get that, and you probably should stay far, far away from Hearst and Eaton.

On the flip side, if you would like to be a part of a thriving "community" with super cool black and white families (neither school has much of a spanish population) that are bound together by mutual respect and commitment to their children as well as the school itself, then Hearst and Eaton are arguably your best options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP---back to the question at hand. For many years Eaton was the OOB school of choice for Mt. Pleasant families who were not enamored with Bancroft, which historically (as in for the past 20 years) has been a Title I bilingual school focused on meeting the needs of immigrant ESL children. Eaton was also popular with DC politicos. Because the catchment area is small, and the housing stock consists of the apartments/co-ops of Connecticut Avenue and the Victorian mansions of Cleveland Park, there were not a sufficient number of IB kids to fill the school.

In my experience, the OOB parents at Eaton are in general as highly educated (though perhaps not as wealthy) as the IB parent population and every bit as invested in their children's education. My fellow parents have included foreign diplomats, journalists, economists, Hill staffers/lobbyists, university professors, museum educators, as well as the typical DC lawyer types.

We live in a tiny house in the Hearst boundary and I guarantee that quite a few of the OOB families make more money than us and live in more expensive houses than we do.

Until the past 5 years or so, this wouldn't have been the case.

-- lived in dc long enough to remember when mt. Pleasant, petworth and "14th st heights" we're where you bought drugs and went to parties in group homes full of Hill staffers who couldn't afford the Hill or AU park group homes

Sure, but that is not relevant now. The point is that there is not this big divide between IB and OOB based on wealth. For the most part, IB Hearst families live in duplexes, smaller single family homes, and McLean Gardens. There are many OOB families that choose Hearst from all parts of the city who are in the same HHI bracket as the IB families, if not higher. They just choose to live somewhere else. There are also families in lower brackets, but all of these families intermingle at school. No one pays attention to or cares how much money anyone has.

I have a number of friends at Eaton. The above description applies to both schools. Hearst and Eaton are VERY similar in make up. (Hearst simply lagged behind Eaton in scores because of growing pains caused by its shift from an early childhood center to a PK-5.)

Historically, they both have had high OOB populations however, a good portion of the OOBs kids have come from educated, middle-high income homes (black and white).

These days the OOBs populations at Hearst and Eaton are not necessarily black (as many on DCUM seem to believe). As a matter of fact, I would argue that a good 40% of Hearst's OOB kids are white from Mt. Pleasant, Crestwood and 16th St Heights. And yes, many are just as educated and perhaps make more money than their IB counterparts. But--seriously--no one gives a crap about that stuff or where people live. It just doesn't come up.

These schools are thriving communities within communities. If you don't get that, then you just don't get that, and you probably should stay far, far away from Hearst and Eaton.

On the flip side, if you would like to be a part of a thriving "community" with super cool black and white families (neither school has much of a spanish population) that are bound together by mutual respect and commitment to their children as well as the school itself, then Hearst and Eaton are arguably your best options.

AMEN. When we were house hunting we only considered IB for Hearst and Eaton for that very reason (and also proximity to our jobs on the red line).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP---back to the question at hand. For many years Eaton was the OOB school of choice for Mt. Pleasant families who were not enamored with Bancroft, which historically (as in for the past 20 years) has been a Title I bilingual school focused on meeting the needs of immigrant ESL children. Eaton was also popular with DC politicos. Because the catchment area is small, and the housing stock consists of the apartments/co-ops of Connecticut Avenue and the Victorian mansions of Cleveland Park, there were not a sufficient number of IB kids to fill the school.

In my experience, the OOB parents at Eaton are in general as highly educated (though perhaps not as wealthy) as the IB parent population and every bit as invested in their children's education. My fellow parents have included foreign diplomats, journalists, economists, Hill staffers/lobbyists, university professors, museum educators, as well as the typical DC lawyer types.

We live in a tiny house in the Hearst boundary and I guarantee that quite a few of the OOB families make more money than us and live in more expensive houses than we do.

Until the past 5 years or so, this wouldn't have been the case.

-- lived in dc long enough to remember when mt. Pleasant, petworth and "14th st heights" we're where you bought drugs and went to parties in group homes full of Hill staffers who couldn't afford the Hill or AU park group homes

Sure, but that is not relevant now. The point is that there is not this big divide between IB and OOB based on wealth. For the most part, IB Hearst families live in duplexes, smaller single family homes, and McLean Gardens. There are many OOB families that choose Hearst from all parts of the city who are in the same HHI bracket as the IB families, if not higher. They just choose to live somewhere else. There are also families in lower brackets, but all of these families intermingle at school. No one pays attention to or cares how much money anyone has.

I have a number of friends at Eaton. The above description applies to both schools. Hearst and Eaton are VERY similar in make up. (Hearst simply lagged behind Eaton in scores because of growing pains caused by its shift from an early childhood center to a PK-5.)

Historically, they both have had high OOB populations however, a good portion of the OOBs kids have come from educated, middle-high income homes (black and white).

These days the OOBs populations at Hearst and Eaton are not necessarily black (as many on DCUM seem to believe). As a matter of fact, I would argue that a good 40% of Hearst's OOB kids are white from Mt. Pleasant, Crestwood and 16th St Heights. And yes, many are just as educated and perhaps make more money than their IB counterparts. But--seriously--no one gives a crap about that stuff or where people live. It just doesn't come up.

These schools are thriving communities within communities. If you don't get that, then you just don't get that, and you probably should stay far, far away from Hearst and Eaton.

On the flip side, if you would like to be a part of a thriving "community" with super cool black and white families (neither school has much of a spanish population) that are bound together by mutual respect and commitment to their children as well as the school itself, then Hearst and Eaton are arguably your best options.

I would definitely throw Shepherd Elementary in there as well. Great, diverse community. Super friendly. Very good (and getting even better!) test scores. Warm, welcoming neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

On the flip side, if you would like to be a part of a thriving "community" with super cool black and white families (neither school has much of a spanish population) that are bound together by mutual respect and commitment to their children as well as the school itself, then Hearst and Eaton are arguably your best options.

OR, if you Mt Pleasant families want to be part of a thriving community of super cool families that reflects the actual neighborhood you live in, you could go to Bancroft! I do not get why people even choose to live in Mt. P when they have zero interest in our local school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

On the flip side, if you would like to be a part of a thriving "community" with super cool black and white families (neither school has much of a spanish population) that are bound together by mutual respect and commitment to their children as well as the school itself, then Hearst and Eaton are arguably your best options.

OR, if you Mt Pleasant families want to be part of a thriving community of super cool families that reflects the actual neighborhood you live in, you could go to Bancroft! I do not get why people even choose to live in Mt. P when they have zero interest in our local school.

As Jeff has tried to say many, many times on this thread, there are many factors that go into a family's calculation about the school they choose. Hell, there are factors that go into the decision making around what brand of toilet paper I buy for my family. In any case, it's not for you to understand. You are better served spending your time focusing on your own family. Your sentiment could also be applied to why a family would choose to send their child to a private or independent school (or even boarding school) that isn't in their own neighborhood. You're being purposely obtuse in a lame attempt to defend your exclusionary attitude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

On the flip side, if you would like to be a part of a thriving "community" with super cool black and white families (neither school has much of a spanish population) that are bound together by mutual respect and commitment to their children as well as the school itself, then Hearst and Eaton are arguably your best options.

OR, if you Mt Pleasant families want to be part of a thriving community of super cool families that reflects the actual neighborhood you live in, you could go to Bancroft! I do not get why people even choose to live in Mt. P when they have zero interest in our local school.

As Jeff has tried to say many, many times on this thread, there are many factors that go into a family's calculation about the school they choose. Hell, there are factors that go into the decision making around what brand of toilet paper I buy for my family. In any case, it's not for you to understand. You are better served spending your time focusing on your own family. Your sentiment could also be applied to why a family would choose to send their child to a private or independent school (or even boarding school) that isn't in their own neighborhood. You're being purposely obtuse in a lame attempt to defend your exclusionary attitude.

Unless you choose your IB school because you like the neighborhood school concept. In which case, you are a racist elitist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

On the flip side, if you would like to be a part of a thriving "community" with super cool black and white families (neither school has much of a spanish population) that are bound together by mutual respect and commitment to their children as well as the school itself, then Hearst and Eaton are arguably your best options.

OR, if you Mt Pleasant families want to be part of a thriving community of super cool families that reflects the actual neighborhood you live in, you could go to Bancroft! I do not get why people even choose to live in Mt. P when they have zero interest in our local school.

As Jeff has tried to say many, many times on this thread, there are many factors that go into a family's calculation about the school they choose. Hell, there are factors that go into the decision making around what brand of toilet paper I buy for my family. In any case, it's not for you to understand. You are better served spending your time focusing on your own family. Your sentiment could also be applied to why a family would choose to send their child to a private or independent school (or even boarding school) that isn't in their own neighborhood. You're being purposely obtuse in a lame attempt to defend your exclusionary attitude.

I don't get the criticism of rejecting Bancroft AT ALL when there is no consideration of the fact it's a bilingual school. While teaching kids math in another language is all the rage right now, there are a lot of people, me included, who think something is lost when subjects are taught in a different language.

I'd like to see DCPS do something comprehensive on the language issue that takes into account some families absolutely want a bilingual education, while some families do not.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

On the flip side, if you would like to be a part of a thriving "community" with super cool black and white families (neither school has much of a spanish population) that are bound together by mutual respect and commitment to their children as well as the school itself, then Hearst and Eaton are arguably your best options.

OR, if you Mt Pleasant families want to be part of a thriving community of super cool families that reflects the actual neighborhood you live in, you could go to Bancroft! I do not get why people even choose to live in Mt. P when they have zero interest in our local school.

As Jeff has tried to say many, many times on this thread, there are many factors that go into a family's calculation about the school they choose. Hell, there are factors that go into the decision making around what brand of toilet paper I buy for my family. In any case, it's not for you to understand. You are better served spending your time focusing on your own family. Your sentiment could also be applied to why a family would choose to send their child to a private or independent school (or even boarding school) that isn't in their own neighborhood. You're being purposely obtuse in a lame attempt to defend your exclusionary attitude.

Unless you choose your IB school because you like the neighborhood school concept. In which case, you are a racist elitist.

Can you please show me where anyone said anything of the sort? There has been a lot of criticism tossed around in this thread, but I am quite sure that nobody has been criticized for choosing their neighborhood school, let alone called a racist elitist. Please refrain from posting made-up, inflammatory remarks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

On the flip side, if you would like to be a part of a thriving "community" with super cool black and white families (neither school has much of a spanish population) that are bound together by mutual respect and commitment to their children as well as the school itself, then Hearst and Eaton are arguably your best options.

OR, if you Mt Pleasant families want to be part of a thriving community of super cool families that reflects the actual neighborhood you live in, you could go to Bancroft! I do not get why people even choose to live in Mt. P when they have zero interest in our local school.

As Jeff has tried to say many, many times on this thread, there are many factors that go into a family's calculation about the school they choose. Hell, there are factors that go into the decision making around what brand of toilet paper I buy for my family. In any case, it's not for you to understand. You are better served spending your time focusing on your own family. Your sentiment could also be applied to why a family would choose to send their child to a private or independent school (or even boarding school) that isn't in their own neighborhood. You're being purposely obtuse in a lame attempt to defend your exclusionary attitude.

One could point out the strange analogy made between choosing a DC public school and choosing a toilet paper brand, but that would be digressing.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did the community reach out to Eaton about the parade?

Yes, it was well publicized including on the area list serv. It was great that the Friends of Macomb Park resurrected the Cleveland Park Halloween parade, because Eaton's decision to cancel this longstanding tradition was indeed baffling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP---back to the question at hand. For many years Eaton was the OOB school of choice for Mt. Pleasant families who were not enamored with Bancroft, which historically (as in for the past 20 years) has been a Title I bilingual school focused on meeting the needs of immigrant ESL children. Eaton was also popular with DC politicos. Because the catchment area is small, and the housing stock consists of the apartments/co-ops of Connecticut Avenue and the Victorian mansions of Cleveland Park, there were not a sufficient number of IB kids to fill the school.

In my experience, the OOB parents at Eaton are in general as highly educated (though perhaps not as wealthy) as the IB parent population and every bit as invested in their children's education. My fellow parents have included foreign diplomats, journalists, economists, Hill staffers/lobbyists, university professors, museum educators, as well as the typical DC lawyer types.

We live in a tiny house in the Hearst boundary and I guarantee that quite a few of the OOB families make more money than us and live in more expensive houses than we do.

And some drive some pretty sweet sets of wheels with those low numbered DC license plates that shout "I have friends in high places in the District Building."

Quite true!

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

On the flip side, if you would like to be a part of a thriving "community" with super cool black and white families (neither school has much of a spanish population) that are bound together by mutual respect and commitment to their children as well as the school itself, then Hearst and Eaton are arguably your best options.

OR, if you Mt Pleasant families want to be part of a thriving community of super cool families that reflects the actual neighborhood you live in, you could go to Bancroft! I do not get why people even choose to live in Mt. P when they have zero interest in our local school.

As Jeff has tried to say many, many times on this thread, there are many factors that go into a family's calculation about the school they choose. Hell, there are factors that go into the decision making around what brand of toilet paper I buy for my family. In any case, it's not for you to understand. You are better served spending your time focusing on your own family. Your sentiment could also be applied to why a family would choose to send their child to a private or independent school (or even boarding school) that isn't in their own neighborhood. You're being purposely obtuse in a lame attempt to defend your exclusionary attitude.

Unless you choose your IB school because you like the neighborhood school concept. In which case, you are a racist elitist.

Can you please show me where anyone said anything of the sort? There has been a lot of criticism tossed around in this thread, but I am quite sure that nobody has been criticized for choosing their neighborhood school, let alone called a racist elitist. Please refrain from posting made-up, inflammatory remarks.

Page 2 "And what's wrong with going to school with out of bounds kids?
I went to eaton and that was the best part,
It was very diverse as a result.
Scared of brown kids?"

Page 3 "Only way to explain this is OP is referring to the brown or riff raff from EOTP OOB kids. She's not really OOB in her mind because she's wealthy, likely white and lives WOTP."

Page 4 "hmm, based on these posts maybe OOB isn't code word for brown or poor, maybe it really is about you can't afford to live in my neighborhood (which is why op isn't bothered about being the unwanted OOB at Stoddard because she does feel she lives in the neighborhood). We lived in a crappy 2 bedroom condo IB for Eaton, and I can tell you people in my neighborhood knew we couldn't "really" afford to live there and treated us accordingly though we are white and hyper-educated with kids likely to do well when testing comes around in 3rd grade."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

On the flip side, if you would like to be a part of a thriving "community" with super cool black and white families (neither school has much of a spanish population) that are bound together by mutual respect and commitment to their children as well as the school itself, then Hearst and Eaton are arguably your best options.

OR, if you Mt Pleasant families want to be part of a thriving community of super cool families that reflects the actual neighborhood you live in, you could go to Bancroft! I do not get why people even choose to live in Mt. P when they have zero interest in our local school.

As Jeff has tried to say many, many times on this thread, there are many factors that go into a family's calculation about the school they choose. Hell, there are factors that go into the decision making around what brand of toilet paper I buy for my family. In any case, it's not for you to understand. You are better served spending your time focusing on your own family. Your sentiment could also be applied to why a family would choose to send their child to a private or independent school (or even boarding school) that isn't in their own neighborhood. You're being purposely obtuse in a lame attempt to defend your exclusionary attitude.

Unless you choose your IB school because you like the neighborhood school concept. In which case, you are a racist elitist.

Can you please show me where anyone said anything of the sort? There has been a lot of criticism tossed around in this thread, but I am quite sure that nobody has been criticized for choosing their neighborhood school, let alone called a racist elitist. Please refrain from posting made-up, inflammatory remarks.

Page 2 "And what's wrong with going to school with out of bounds kids?
I went to eaton and that was the best part,
It was very diverse as a result.
Scared of brown kids?"

Page 3 "Only way to explain this is OP is referring to the brown or riff raff from EOTP OOB kids. She's not really OOB in her mind because she's wealthy, likely white and lives WOTP."

Page 4 "hmm, based on these posts maybe OOB isn't code word for brown or poor, maybe it really is about you can't afford to live in my neighborhood (which is why op isn't bothered about being the unwanted OOB at Stoddard because she does feel she lives in the neighborhood). We lived in a crappy 2 bedroom condo IB for Eaton, and I can tell you people in my neighborhood knew we couldn't "really" afford to live there and treated us accordingly though we are white and hyper-educated with kids likely to do well when testing comes around in 3rd grade."

The OP was suggesting that it was ok for her to OOB at a school that was not her ib school. PPs were asking why would it be okay for her to be OOB somewhere since she was complaining about OOB kids at her new IB school. How don't you get it?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

On the flip side, if you would like to be a part of a thriving "community" with super cool black and white families (neither school has much of a spanish population) that are bound together by mutual respect and commitment to their children as well as the school itself, then Hearst and Eaton are arguably your best options.

OR, if you Mt Pleasant families want to be part of a thriving community of super cool families that reflects the actual neighborhood you live in, you could go to Bancroft! I do not get why people even choose to live in Mt. P when they have zero interest in our local school.

As Jeff has tried to say many, many times on this thread, there are many factors that go into a family's calculation about the school they choose. Hell, there are factors that go into the decision making around what brand of toilet paper I buy for my family. In any case, it's not for you to understand. You are better served spending your time focusing on your own family. Your sentiment could also be applied to why a family would choose to send their child to a private or independent school (or even boarding school) that isn't in their own neighborhood. You're being purposely obtuse in a lame attempt to defend your exclusionary attitude.

Unless you choose your IB school because you like the neighborhood school concept. In which case, you are a racist elitist.

Can you please show me where anyone said anything of the sort? There has been a lot of criticism tossed around in this thread, but I am quite sure that nobody has been criticized for choosing their neighborhood school, let alone called a racist elitist. Please refrain from posting made-up, inflammatory remarks.

Page 2 "And what's wrong with going to school with out of bounds kids?
I went to eaton and that was the best part,
It was very diverse as a result.
Scared of brown kids?"

Page 3 "Only way to explain this is OP is referring to the brown or riff raff from EOTP OOB kids. She's not really OOB in her mind because she's wealthy, likely white and lives WOTP."

Page 4 "hmm, based on these posts maybe OOB isn't code word for brown or poor, maybe it really is about you can't afford to live in my neighborhood (which is why op isn't bothered about being the unwanted OOB at Stoddard because she does feel she lives in the neighborhood). We lived in a crappy 2 bedroom condo IB for Eaton, and I can tell you people in my neighborhood knew we couldn't "really" afford to live there and treated us accordingly though we are white and hyper-educated with kids likely to do well when testing comes around in 3rd grade."

The poster was being criticized for not wanting to attend her inbound school, not for wanting to attend it. Are you really that obtuse?