McKinley Tech - a great school

[Anonymous]

When we were doing the lottery application I found limited info on McKinley Tech High school from this forum. (Lots of opinions seem to be focused on Banneker, Basis, JR, etc). So with a new McKinley Tech freshman, I wanted to just really encourage people to look at it if looking into schools for next year. So far, we are really happy with it. Teachers seem great, class sizes are small/medium, and overall has been a positive experience for our kiddo. Obviously this is only week 2 but thought I would share.

[Anonymous]

I had a lot of former students attend McKinley and do very well post graduation. A friend's daughter graduated from there and got a full ride to George Mason. My kid is more liberal arts than STEM so we went with another choice, but it was on the short list.

[Anonymous]

Makes sense. My son isn’t hardcore STEM either so I was a bit concerned it wouldn’t be a good fit. But there still are all the social sciences/literature etc classes. So in case people are concerned with that, there seems to be a good balance or at least more options outside of STEM than I thought.

[Anonymous]

I agree completely. My son is in his sophomore year and he's had a good experience academically. I wish he would get involved in the clubs as there seem to be some good ones.

I've also been happy, on the parent side, with communication from the school and attention to issues as they have arisen. They really do want each kid to reach their potential.

[Anonymous]

Thank you! I have encouraged my DC to consider it, but DC is not hardcore STEM and I do wonder what the experience would be like for a kid who isn't quite as passionate (though still very capable).

[Anonymous]

This is SO good to hear! More strong public options!

[Anonymous]

Another freshman mom here with a very happy kid. My kid is very STEM and I’ve also heard great things about the ELA, social studies, and theater programs. All the alumni I know (friends’ kids and my own colleagues) are happy and thriving. We’ve also pretty quickly built friendships, at both the kid and parent level.

[Anonymous]

OK, so why isn't this great school far more diverse? Why is it 3% white in a city where whites are more than 40% of the population these days? Just poor PR? Serious question.

Glad your teens are happy there thus far but I'm skeptical. You can shout "strong public options!" all you want. But the inconvenient truth is that few UMC families are convinced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't this great school far more diverse? Why is it 3% white in a city where whites are more than 40% of the population these days? Just poor PR? Serious question.

Glad your teens are happy there thus far but I'm skeptical. You can shout "strong public options!" all you want. But the inconvenient truth is that few UMC families are convinced.

Why does it matter if UMC families are convinced? If the school is good, then the students going there are fortunate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't this great school far more diverse? Why is it 3% white in a city where whites are more than 40% of the population these days? Just poor PR? Serious question.

Glad your teens are happy there thus far but I'm skeptical. You can shout "strong public options!" all you want. But the inconvenient truth is that few UMC families are convinced.

DCPS is 18% white and those families are disproportionately zoned for JR. I don't think a school has to be attractive to UMC students to be a good school, but even if I did, the 40% number isn't relevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't this great school far more diverse? Why is it 3% white in a city where whites are more than 40% of the population these days? Just poor PR? Serious question.

Glad your teens are happy there thus far but I'm skeptical. You can shout "strong public options!" all you want. But the inconvenient truth is that few UMC families are convinced.

DCPS is 18% white and those families are disproportionately zoned for JR. I don't think a school has to be attractive to UMC students to be a good school, but even if I did, the 40% number isn't relevant.

Good answer. This isn't a measure of school quality-- UMC AA kids are harder to attract than white kids are!

Also because I live near McKinley Tech and know plenty of white kids who would like to attend, or who applied but didn't match for whatever reason. And some who were disappointed not to get in.

These numbers are from last year and we'll see what the current year's data brings.

[Anonymous]

I’m glad to see this thread. I’ve always thought Tech was a solid school. And I’ve seen classes, known teachers who worked there for the past decade.

[Anonymous]

My BASIS middle schooler will but checking it out in couple of years. I don't know if it'll be the right fit, but everything I've heard is positive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't this great school far more diverse? Why is it 3% white in a city where whites are more than 40% of the population these days? Just poor PR? Serious question.

Glad your teens are happy there thus far but I'm skeptical. You can shout "strong public options!" all you want. But the inconvenient truth is that few UMC families are convinced.

Original poster here. I had not wanted to get into this but feel I need to address this. As a UMC white mom myself, i was struck that my white friends had almost no info/personal insights on the school while all my AA friends highly recommended it, and rightly so. The only thing I can think, sadly, is the a) frankly bigoted and sadly engrained assumption/fear of being singled out as the “only white kid” has kept white people away and the racist view that majority black schools in NE aren’t safe/good and b) so many kids want to only go to schools with their friends and there is a clustering effect around the same public and charter schools. I’m sorry to be that blunt but otherwise I struggle to understand a rationale that makes sense. Certainly it’s a STEM school and that doesn’t attract all kids. But I struggle to see that as the key reason for the demographic composition.

Overall I just think the school (and the kids that attend) deserve recognition and I had wanted to just flag it for parents who struggled as I did to get sufficient information on it in this forum.

[Anonymous]

If you have a kid in seventh or eighth grade, I highly recommend you attend an open house (as well as for other DC application schools). Schools will have open houses in November. It's such a great way to start talking about high school with your kid, and get a sense of the lay of the land--what the options are, what are possible high school paths. Even if you end up deciding McKinley is not for you, it will be informative nonetheless.