Black student experience at Maury

[Anonymous]

Curious of any datapoints and perspectives.

[Anonymous]

OP, you're going to have a bunch of non-Black people responding to what they think the experiences of Black students are.

[Anonymous]

I only have anecdotes from friends but I think if you are looking for a diverse school with strong academics in DCPS, it’s hard to find one like Maury that meets that criteria except maybe for Shepherd. The particular difficulty may be social between the at-risk black kids and the UMC ones. FWIW none of the middle class or international black families I knew of went on to the MS … they did privates or charters.

Academically the school sees enough kids of all types that I don’t think you have to worry about your kid not being challenged or being assumed to be at-risk, but that would be one thing to look out for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you're going to have a bunch of non-Black people responding to what they think the experiences of Black students are.

LOL all perspectives are welcomed and useful tbh. Just trying to get an idea of the environment overall, as well as the specific subset of experiences mentioned if possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I only have anecdotes from friends but I think if you are looking for a diverse school with strong academics in DCPS, it’s hard to find one like Maury that meets that criteria except maybe for Shepherd. The particular difficulty may be social between the at-risk black kids and the UMC ones. FWIW none of the middle class or international black families I knew of went on to the MS … they did privates or charters.

Academically the school sees enough kids of all types that I don’t think you have to worry about your kid not being challenged or being assumed to be at-risk, but that would be one thing to look out for.

This is awesome. Thank you for the information!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you're going to have a bunch of non-Black people responding to what they think the experiences of Black students are.

This feels potentially true (white Maury parent here). Hope we are wrong though and you get helpful answers. In case not and in case helpful, my kid in 5th has a diverse friend group and when I see them interact in their peer group it all seems focused on their common interests, senses of humor, etc. From what I can see, their experience isn't an outlier. The teaching staff is also diverse. And I'm not sure about going on to Eliot Hine MS but almost all the kids in my kid's class are going there. Hope parents with direct experiences respond and this helps bump up your question!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I only have anecdotes from friends but I think if you are looking for a diverse school with strong academics in DCPS, it’s hard to find one like Maury that meets that criteria except maybe for Shepherd. The particular difficulty may be social between the at-risk black kids and the UMC ones. FWIW none of the middle class or international black families I knew of went on to the MS … they did privates or charters.

Academically the school sees enough kids of all types that I don’t think you have to worry about your kid not being challenged or being assumed to be at-risk, but that would be one thing to look out for.

This is awesome. Thank you for the information!

You mean the anecdote. Not the “information.” I say that because this posters says that “none” of the “middle class or international black families” she knew went to the local MS. That doesn’t mean none did. Heck, it doesn’t even mean she knows who is “middle class” or international and who isn’t. It just means that her social circle didn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I only have anecdotes from friends but I think if you are looking for a diverse school with strong academics in DCPS, it’s hard to find one like Maury that meets that criteria except maybe for Shepherd. The particular difficulty may be social between the at-risk black kids and the UMC ones. FWIW none of the middle class or international black families I knew of went on to the MS … they did privates or charters.

Academically the school sees enough kids of all types that I don’t think you have to worry about your kid not being challenged or being assumed to be at-risk, but that would be one thing to look out for.

This is awesome. Thank you for the information!

You mean the anecdote. Not the “information.” I say that because this posters says that “none” of the “middle class or international black families” she knew went to the local MS. That doesn’t mean none did. Heck, it doesn’t even mean she knows who is “middle class” or international and who isn’t. It just means that her social circle didn’t.

OP Here; In his or her account, the datapoints provided are instructive. Does it need to be 100% factual? no.. This post isnt an official poll.. Just looking for perspectives from anyone that is able to provide them and I can deduce from there what I find collectively useful .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you're going to have a bunch of non-Black people responding to what they think the experiences of Black students are.

This feels potentially true (white Maury parent here). Hope we are wrong though and you get helpful answers. In case not and in case helpful, my kid in 5th has a diverse friend group and when I see them interact in their peer group it all seems focused on their common interests, senses of humor, etc. From what I can see, their experience isn't an outlier. The teaching staff is also diverse. And I'm not sure about going on to Eliot Hine MS but almost all the kids in my kid's class are going there. Hope parents with direct experiences respond and this helps bump up your question!

This is indeed super helpful and thank you for taking the time to reply!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I only have anecdotes from friends but I think if you are looking for a diverse school with strong academics in DCPS, it’s hard to find one like Maury that meets that criteria except maybe for Shepherd. The particular difficulty may be social between the at-risk black kids and the UMC ones. FWIW none of the middle class or international black families I knew of went on to the MS … they did privates or charters.

Academically the school sees enough kids of all types that I don’t think you have to worry about your kid not being challenged or being assumed to be at-risk, but that would be one thing to look out for.

This is awesome. Thank you for the information!

You mean the anecdote. Not the “information.” I say that because this posters says that “none” of the “middle class or international black families” she knew went to the local MS. That doesn’t mean none did. Heck, it doesn’t even mean she knows who is “middle class” or international and who isn’t. It just means that her social circle didn’t.

OP Here; In his or her account, the datapoints provided are instructive. Does it need to be 100% factual? no.. This post isnt an official poll.. Just looking for perspectives from anyone that is able to provide them and I can deduce from there what I find collectively useful .

I get it. You find anecdotes from strangers on the internet that cannot be verified useful. Understood. Whatever works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you're going to have a bunch of non-Black people responding to what they think the experiences of Black students are.

This feels potentially true (white Maury parent here). Hope we are wrong though and you get helpful answers. In case not and in case helpful, my kid in 5th has a diverse friend group and when I see them interact in their peer group it all seems focused on their common interests, senses of humor, etc. From what I can see, their experience isn't an outlier. The teaching staff is also diverse. And I'm not sure about going on to Eliot Hine MS but almost all the kids in my kid's class are going there. Hope parents with direct experiences respond and this helps bump up your question!

Staff is diverse but I think all of the old-school black teachers that had been there through many iterations are all or almost all retired now … to the extent *experienced* black teachers and admins are on the wish list OP would probably find more at a T1 school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I only have anecdotes from friends but I think if you are looking for a diverse school with strong academics in DCPS, it’s hard to find one like Maury that meets that criteria except maybe for Shepherd. The particular difficulty may be social between the at-risk black kids and the UMC ones. FWIW none of the middle class or international black families I knew of went on to the MS … they did privates or charters.

Academically the school sees enough kids of all types that I don’t think you have to worry about your kid not being challenged or being assumed to be at-risk, but that would be one thing to look out for.

This is awesome. Thank you for the information!

You mean the anecdote. Not the “information.” I say that because this posters says that “none” of the “middle class or international black families” she knew went to the local MS. That doesn’t mean none did. Heck, it doesn’t even mean she knows who is “middle class” or international and who isn’t. It just means that her social circle didn’t.

I stand by that! The 5th grade was rough and they noped out. It is very common. If you are a highly educated black family at EH I would loved to be proven wrong though. My impression though is that most don’t want to take that chance and are more focused on academics. I would tell them to give it a shot especially if being in a black majority environment was something they valued.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I only have anecdotes from friends but I think if you are looking for a diverse school with strong academics in DCPS, it’s hard to find one like Maury that meets that criteria except maybe for Shepherd. The particular difficulty may be social between the at-risk black kids and the UMC ones. FWIW none of the middle class or international black families I knew of went on to the MS … they did privates or charters.

Academically the school sees enough kids of all types that I don’t think you have to worry about your kid not being challenged or being assumed to be at-risk, but that would be one thing to look out for.

This is awesome. Thank you for the information!

You mean the anecdote. Not the “information.” I say that because this posters says that “none” of the “middle class or international black families” she knew went to the local MS. That doesn’t mean none did. Heck, it doesn’t even mean she knows who is “middle class” or international and who isn’t. It just means that her social circle didn’t.

OP Here; In his or her account, the datapoints provided are instructive. Does it need to be 100% factual? no.. This post isnt an official poll.. Just looking for perspectives from anyone that is able to provide them and I can deduce from there what I find collectively useful .

I get it. You find anecdotes from strangers on the internet that cannot be verified useful. Understood. Whatever works.

OP Maury is a nicer place than PP If you have the opportunity to visit the school (even just take a look and maybe play on the playground on the weekend) you’ll get a sense of it. It’s got its share of annoying parents, PTA drama, and the like, but it’s a fabulous neighborhood great for kids. You will probably have to give the white parents the benefit of the doubt and name drop your job/college so they can place you, but as long as you can stomach that, I think you would fit in as well there as any other gentrified elementary.

[Anonymous]

OP, bear in mind that times, change, demographics change, the experience of young people (re: diversity) changes.

Be sensitive to enough diversity that your DC isn't a token, but I would argue the academics and exposure to others may outweigh any anecdotes here.

If it helps, I'm a POC parent, and I'm sensitive to my DCs not enjoying their experience....

[Anonymous]

I’m black and it really doesn’t matter. There is no hope for our kids anyway.