WILSON HIGH/Athletics Question

[Anonymous]

Wilson is our boundary HS and by the time it is re-vamped is a serious option, and a large part of the attraction is the diverse make-up of the student body. However, I was troubled to hear students from Wilson testify at one of Chairman Gray's Saturday youth hearings last or or so ago about how there is an "A" soccer team and a "B" soccer team. They were girls in this case but they said that the one team is the competitive team comprised of mostly white kids and the other team felt unwanted on that team and created a separate, mostly hispanic/black team. I recall the Council Chair and others present just stunned and questioning how Wilson Admin. lets this go on in the same high school. Can any Wilson parents speak to how the principal/admin. deals with discussions of inclusion/race/etc?

[Anonymous]

I have no idea about any of this, but do know a little something about sports teams - they are based on ability.

Perhaps the A team is Varsity and the B team is Jr Varsity? If the racial numbers were reversed, I think that's what people would assume.

[Anonymous]

How is that different than how the academics are conducted? Not saying it is right, but it is the reality of the school at the moment.

[Anonymous]

How many white athletes are on the Wilson boys basketball and football teams? The discussion never gets to that.

[Anonymous]

I read in the WP recently that the DCPS do a terrible job of getting kids (even with terrific talent) recruited for sports into colleges...kids don't know the right number of classes under NCAA rules and are barred. Someone needs to do something.

[Anonymous]

Yes, there are two teams. In a perfect world...the "B" team could be looked upon as the junior varsity team. I must ask about the "tryouts" if those who try-out are separated by their athletic ability; it seems okay and justified. But if the teams are manipulated to keep those interested and separated to only justify diversity...is conniving. Remember what is reported on paper to central office will never be called into question unless seen and voiced by those in opposition.

I think the most racially divided girl activity in DCPS at the high-school level is cheerleading. I have seen squads from your most diverse schools in the district and both teams JV and Varsity all have African-Americans on the team.

[Anonymous]

Bigger question. DO you need to take your gun to the arena to watch the games just in case the students in South East start shooting.

[Anonymous]

In the past there were two teams at Wilson for girls soccer-a varsity team that played other DCPS schools and then a "club" team that played area privates. This is no longer the case and there's just one team that 's pretty diverse.

The last posting about guns was really uncalled for. I work at a high school in South East and the majority of our athletes are great kids. And a number of our athletes have received Division 1 scholarships.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks for comments. However, it would be also great to hear from current Wilson parnets (or past) about how admin. has dealt with this touchy subject, if they have at all...

[Anonymous]

Wilson parent here. The school used to have an A team and a B team that had separate tryouts (the A team played private schools and the B team competed in DCIAA). Now, however, there is one tryout for all the teams, and the girls either make JV or Varsity. Varsity competes with private schools and some DCIAA schools, and JV competes with DCIAA schools with JV teams and some DCIAA varsity teams, or at least that is my understanding. (When my daughter played, it was A and B...)

[Anonymous]

This is how many (if not most) schools handle tryouts, public and private. It could be that the A team of yore was made up of players who'd been playing travel soccer for years, and therefore had a strong skill set, and race was NOT a factor in the selection process?

This is one reason I am not interested in Wilson. It seems like so much turns on race perceptions.

[Anonymous]

Some Wilson Grads I've talked to treasure their multi-cultural experience (not just black and white, but also hispanic and international, because of the influx of embassy kids).

They say it prepared them for the world and they were better able to cope in college - including Ivy league colleges - than kids who'd been to private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some Wilson Grads I've talked to treasure their multi-cultural experience (not just black and white, but also hispanic and international, because of the influx of embassy kids).

They say it prepared them for the world and they were better able to cope in college - including Ivy league colleges - than kids who'd been to private schools.

And those kids are all upper middle-class and white. Right? Right.

[Anonymous]

19:46 How can Wilson grads assert that they were better prepared for college than students who'd gone to private schools? Just as prepared, sure. But more prepared? How would they possibly know? That doesn't add up. Ivy League colleges are much less real world than Wilson, they're more like a private school, I'm not following your reasoning.