Why is Oyster only 7% Black?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And some of the african-descended children there are in the hispanic column

There is a relatively small percentage of Afro-Hispanics at Oyster.

yes, but they are there

Yes, they are there…in very small numbers. I’m definitely not trying to minimize the presence of Afro-Hispanics at Oyster; I’m just presenting the facts. I have toured Oyster a couple of times over the past few years, and many of the classrooms have no more than 2-3 visibly black children (out of 20-25 kids). My point is that whatever the ethnic background of the students at Oyster, there simply are not many that actually look black. That may or may not be important to you, but it’s just an observation.

[Anonymous]

You are using very narrow definitions of race and ethnicity based on US cultural norms and those silly boxes. The data on race, ethnicity and even language dominance are fluid because it's based on self reporting.

The self-identified Hispanic community is the most diverse public school in terms of nationality, race and SES.

The real question is why should Oyster-Adams continue to be a neighborhood school and a bilingual school and a special needs 3 year old placement school and a Pk-8 campus in two buildings over a mile apart (which defeats the purposes of family continuity and efficiencies of scale in resources) and an escape valve to Deal for IB bilinguals of any race or ethnicity.

We love many things about the school and our IB home. But something's got to give. It can't be all things to all people.

I don't have any answers. Just want you give some perspective from inside. It's complicated.

[Anonymous]

It does sound complicated!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't see proximity to non-in-boundary neighborhoods to be relevant--unless you are a native Spanish speaker, you are not getting into Oyster out of bounds. The part of Adams-Morgan that is in-boundary for Oyster is the higher SES part. The rest of Adams-Morgan and Mt. Pleasant are IB for other schools--Bancroft, Cooke, and Reed.

I think you simply have an instance where black people are unlikely to live in-boundary for the school AND all the out-of-boundary slots are taken by native Spanish speakers, who tend to be Latino rather than black.

Latino is not a race.

Black is a race.

So you cant say someone "tends to be Latino rather than black." You can be Black and Latino, White and Latino, Asian and Latino, or Mixed Race and Latino--but not Latino rather than Black. I'm just sayin'

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see proximity to non-in-boundary neighborhoods to be relevant--unless you are a native Spanish speaker, you are not getting into Oyster out of bounds. The part of Adams-Morgan that is in-boundary for Oyster is the higher SES part. The rest of Adams-Morgan and Mt. Pleasant are IB for other schools--Bancroft, Cooke, and Reed.

I think you simply have an instance where black people are unlikely to live in-boundary for the school AND all the out-of-boundary slots are taken by native Spanish speakers, who tend to be Latino rather than black.

Latino is not a race.

Black is a race.

So you cant say someone "tends to be Latino rather than black." You can be Black and Latino, White and Latino, Asian and Latino, or Mixed Race and Latino--but not Latino rather than Black. I'm just sayin'

Do you get to choose more than one for DCPS? I think you either choose Hispanic OR white OR black OR mixed race OR whatever other choices you have. They all should add up to 100. So people who put down Hispanic may be white Hispanic or black Hispanic, but they are not also counted in the white and black categories

[Anonymous]

Oyster and the JKLM schools are exclusive in that if you can't afford to live within their jurisdiction, your chances of getting in are slim to none. At a charter, anyone from any part of DC has an equal shot of getting in, yet charters are somehow "exclusive" and less deserving of tax $$? Absurd.

[Anonymous]

Black looking? How dark do they have to be to count? And if they look black, do they also act black? Then there's all those immigrants. Some of those nannies at pickup sure LOOK illegal...

Honestly, if this is the kind of stuff you care about, you should not even tour the building. You will be easily confused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see proximity to non-in-boundary neighborhoods to be relevant--unless you are a native Spanish speaker, you are not getting into Oyster out of bounds. The part of Adams-Morgan that is in-boundary for Oyster is the higher SES part. The rest of Adams-Morgan and Mt. Pleasant are IB for other schools--Bancroft, Cooke, and Reed.

I think you simply have an instance where black people are unlikely to live in-boundary for the school AND all the out-of-boundary slots are taken by native Spanish speakers, who tend to be Latino rather than black.

Latino is not a race.

Black is a race.

So you cant say someone "tends to be Latino rather than black." You can be Black and Latino, White and Latino, Asian and Latino, or Mixed Race and Latino--but not Latino rather than Black. I'm just sayin'

I'm just saying' look at how people self-classify, and learn to distinguish ethnicity from race. In the case of Oyster-Adams, 61% mark Hispanic/ Latino, neither white nor black.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Black looking? How dark do they have to be to count? And if they look black, do they also act black? Then there's all those immigrants. Some of those nannies at pickup sure LOOK illegal...

Honestly, if this is the kind of stuff you care about, you should not even tour the building. You will be easily confused.

+1. I see a lot of brown, so sorry that it's not black enough for some. But I hear there's enough schools with plenty of black? I'm confused about what OP is trying to do here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Perhaps because, according to that link, it is 61% Hispanic/ Latino?

The more interesting question is why it is only 26% White - if you look at the school boundary (mostly Woodley Park with just a bit of Kalorama and Adams Morgan) I'd imagine kids living there must be at least 80% white.

I'd guess lower grades are more white, higher ones are more Hispanic (via lottery for Spanish-speakers, which I guess is not very relevant no non-Spanish speakers whites or blacks or Asians).

Hispanics can be any race. The 26% of whites at Oyster are non-Hispanic whites. If you were to walk into most classrooms at Oyster, they would “look” predominately white. Although the percentage is not given, I would guess that Oyster is at least 60% to 70% “white” if you include white Hispanics.

Then why considerable differential between say, PreK/K/1st and 4th/5th/6th? Because if you walk into most classrooms at Oyster, you will notice a change. Did the white Hispanics get nice sun-tans? Did they become George Zimmermans? Do entire families change their addresses and SES when a child approaches middle school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Black looking? How dark do they have to be to count? And if they look black, do they also act black? Then there's all those immigrants. Some of those nannies at pickup sure LOOK illegal...

Honestly, if this is the kind of stuff you care about, you should not even tour the building. You will be easily confused.

Yes...because none of us know what black people actually look like Let me guess: You don't see color either, right? Except when you do. Stop acting foolish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Black looking? How dark do they have to be to count? And if they look black, do they also act black? Then there's all those immigrants. Some of those nannies at pickup sure LOOK illegal...

Honestly, if this is the kind of stuff you care about, you should not even tour the building. You will be easily confused.

+1. I see a lot of brown, so sorry that it's not black enough for some. But I hear there's enough schools with plenty of black? I'm confused about what OP is trying to do here.

Why don't you re-read OP's post. If you're still confused...well, I can't help you with that problem.

[Anonymous]

I've always wondered exactly HOW one proves "black." I get that it's typically fairly straightforward, i.e., both parents "look" black at least (lol), but what about cases where a kid looks "white" but has one parent who was "bi-racial", i.e., one white parent, one very fair-skinned black parent?

I'm "black," btw lol

[Anonymous]

You are using very narrow definitions of race and ethnicity based on US cultural norms and those silly boxes. The data on race, ethnicity and even language dominance are fluid because it's based on self reporting.

The self-identified Hispanic community is the most diverse public school in terms of nationality, race and SES."

exactly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Black looking? How dark do they have to be to count? And if they look black, do they also act black? Then there's all those immigrants. Some of those nannies at pickup sure LOOK illegal...

Honestly, if this is the kind of stuff you care about, you should not even tour the building. You will be easily confused.

+1. I see a lot of brown, so sorry that it's not black enough for some. But I hear there's enough schools with plenty of black? I'm confused about what OP is trying to do here.

What in the world are you talking about!?! No one is making determinations about who is “black enough” based on classroom observation. And no one is talking about "brown" kids. OP is referring to the 7% figure that comes from DCPS, and I'm pretty sure that's self-reported.