Mann and Janney PTAs called out in NYTs op-ed for perpetuating segregation in cities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just find it odd that Ellington and walls can admit basically whoever they want. They are funded by tax dollars. People would scream bloody murder if charters could admit whoever they wanted.

I don’t have an issue with specialty schools. All states have them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What drivel! All these comments denying that structural and institutional racism exists and is perpetuated daily is ridiculous. Stop placing all the blame on principals and the central office. Let's focus on rebuilding a just society that works for everyone. This is more than Clorox wipes!

Including the impoverished illegal immigrants who have flooded the system with children, speak little or know English, are often un-schooled and illiterate in Spanish? And we expect, what? That these kids will perform on par with kids at Key or Mann?

The children for the most part are American citizens. Their parents pay taxes. America looks different kust a few blocks over. I still can't believe how riled up everyone up there is about one sentence in an article and how much effort it takes to justify your own priveledge or the expense of others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This does not take into account that schools EOTP have free PK3, more funding per child, free meals, and many other resources that are not given to WOTP schools. And no one is complaining about that.

The reality is that WOTP schools are overcrowded and the parents have to make up the difference between what DCPS provides and what is needed.

I'll give you some examples of what our PTA funds are used for in our WOTP school: field trip costs because DCPS charges us for the bus, smartboard repairs because they break and we need them repaired, classroom supplies for teachers so they don't have to spend their own money, etc.

As parents, we are expected to bring a huge box of supplies for the school at the beginning of the year because IT IS NOT COVERED BY THE DCPS BUDGET. Clorox wipes, paper towels, tissues, dry erase markers, pencils, crayons, paper, and so on.

We still have the same DCPS curriculum as everyone else. We have overcrowded classrooms. Not sure what folks are up in arms about.

Let's be specific; I'm having a bit of trouble connecting with your stated generalizations about schools that are EOTP.

- Free meals add up to approximately $288 per kid, or $1.60 per instructional day. If you've ever seen a school meal, believe me, the quality depends on the contractor.
- All DC Public Elementary schools that offer prek offer "free" preK.
- All DC Public school full time lead teachers are allocated a standard allotment from Office Depot for supplies, despite grade level.
- "Many other resources" please disclose the multitude of resources that are provided EOTP that are denied to WOTP schools.


- Signed, former Elementary teacher EOTP

A lot of people overgeneralizing and showing that its painfully obvious they don't have a grasp on what education and schools look ike in other wards. I'd like to see some of these arguements put forward in a community meeting in a different part of the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What drivel! All these comments denying that structural and institutional racism exists and is perpetuated daily is ridiculous. Stop placing all the blame on principals and the central office. Let's focus on rebuilding a just society that works for everyone. This is more than Clorox wipes!

Including the impoverished illegal immigrants who have flooded the system with children, speak little or know English, are often un-schooled and illiterate in Spanish? And we expect, what? That these kids will perform on par with kids at Key or Mann?

The children for the most part are American citizens. Their parents pay taxes. America looks different kust a few blocks over. I still can't believe how riled up everyone up there is about one sentence in an article and how much effort it takes to justify your own priveledge or the expense of others.

Agree, the way people are reacting I thought the entire Op-Ed was going to be about it.

[Anonymous]

Question, why do parents of color fight to get their children into schools that are majority white? Are they racists or do some of them understand that that the great liberal educational experiment ended badly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brookland Middle School. Another amazing building with no one in it.

If we shrunk the Deal and Hardy boundaries and expanded McFarland and Brookland, Deal overcrowding would be solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brookland Middle School. Another amazing building with no one in it.

If we shrunk the Deal and Hardy boundaries and expanded McFarland and Brookland, Deal overcrowding would be solved.

And a bunch high income tax payers in Mt.P, Crestwood, and 16th St Heights would be forced to bail -- and take their tax dollars with them.

[Anonymous]

And be replaced by people willing to use their neighborhood school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question, why do parents of color fight to get their children into schools that are majority white? Are they racists or do some of them understand that that the great liberal educational experiment ended badly?

Because they want their children to go to high-performing schools. Just like you want your children to go to high performing schools. But I know that you’d like POC to stay in their place in life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question, why do parents of color fight to get their children into schools that are majority white? Are they racists or do some of them understand that that the great liberal educational experiment ended badly?

Because they want their children to go to high-performing schools. Just like you want your children to go to high performing schools. But I know that you’d like POC to stay in their place in life.

And yet there is opposition to families at these schools giving money to the school to help make that school a high-performing school. Make up your minds, people!

[Anonymous]

The funding at Janney and Mann (and Lafayette, Murch and Key and others I suspect) is about extra teachers/para professionals in the classroom. They fund supplies so that the schools can use their actual budget for teachers. It is not that DCPS does not fund supplies, it is that if a school does not need to spend the money on supplies (because the supplies are provided by the PTA) it will have more to spend on humans in the classroom. The schools in question have the lowest per pupil budgets in the city and the gap is not made-up for by fundraising.

Also, when I was last a Janney parent in the 2018-2019 school year the PTA did not fund field trips. There was a separate charge for field trips that parents could either pay all at once or they could choose to pay as you go. There were also funds to pay for field trips for low income families.

As a NWDC DCPS parent of almost 11 years I have rarely met a parent that did not want to do something to benefit students across the city. That is not inconsistent with taking steps to ensure one's own children have their educational needs met. If you make people choose between the two they will choose their own children every time, this is neither surprising nor wrong. It does not have to be a choice, it just makes. a better story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question, why do parents of color fight to get their children into schools that are majority white? Are they racists or do some of them understand that that the great liberal educational experiment ended badly?

Because they want their children to go to high-performing schools. Just like you want your children to go to high performing schools. But I know that you’d like POC to stay in their place in life.

And yet there is opposition to families at these schools giving money to the school to help make that school a high-performing school. Make up your minds, people!

+1!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What drivel! All these comments denying that structural and institutional racism exists and is perpetuated daily is ridiculous. Stop placing all the blame on principals and the central office. Let's focus on rebuilding a just society that works for everyone. This is more than Clorox wipes!

Including the impoverished illegal immigrants who have flooded the system with children, speak little or know English, are often un-schooled and illiterate in Spanish? And we expect, what? That these kids will perform on par with kids at Key or Mann?

The children for the most part are American citizens. Their parents pay taxes. America looks different kust a few blocks over. I still can't believe how riled up everyone up there is about one sentence in an article and how much effort it takes to justify your own priveledge or the expense of others.

You missed the part about that one sentence being a lie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The funding at Janney and Mann (and Lafayette, Murch and Key and others I suspect) is about extra teachers/para professionals in the classroom. They fund supplies so that the schools can use their actual budget for teachers. It is not that DCPS does not fund supplies, it is that if a school does not need to spend the money on supplies (because the supplies are provided by the PTA) it will have more to spend on humans in the classroom. The schools in question have the lowest per pupil budgets in the city and the gap is not made-up for by fundraising.

Also, when I was last a Janney parent in the 2018-2019 school year the PTA did not fund field trips. There was a separate charge for field trips that parents could either pay all at once or they could choose to pay as you go. There were also funds to pay for field trips for low income families.

As a NWDC DCPS parent of almost 11 years I have rarely met a parent that did not want to do something to benefit students across the city. That is not inconsistent with taking steps to ensure one's own children have their educational needs met. If you make people choose between the two they will choose their own children every time, this is neither surprising nor wrong. It does not have to be a choice, it just makes. a better story.

Funding your school but not other is not a choice, it is being selfish. The choice should be between funding schools or not. If there were not PTAs circumventing the rules, parents of public school students would be forced to either send their kids to private schools or support providing all schools with enough funding to meet the needs of the students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brookland Middle School. Another amazing building with no one in it.

If we shrunk the Deal and Hardy boundaries and expanded McFarland and Brookland, Deal overcrowding would be solved.

And a bunch high income tax payers in Mt.P, Crestwood, and 16th St Heights would be forced to bail -- and take their tax dollars with them.

So, they would be back filled quickly