Do you think Shepherd Elementary will become/is becoming more diverse?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello neighbor. Honest question. Would you have the same hesitation to send your kid to Janney or Lafayette that has the same makeup but switch black and white? Not being snarky, just an honest question.

To answer your question, I don't agree with PP. The school has already changed immensely. The first PK3 class that opened this year was made of 100% neighborhood kids that reflect the neighborhood demos. I would also say that last year's PK and K were similar.

OP here. This is a very fair question. DC currently is in a class that is so ridiculously diverse that it looks like a Benetton ad. It looks like something out of central casting. I don't think I would feel too comfortable putting DC into a class that was all (or almost all) white. We have always lived EoTP, and I think that the diversity of many of the neighborhoods, including SP, is one of the great strengths of the area. I would really like a school that reflects that. To answer your question, if we're speaking honestly here, and I was forced to choose between an all-white or an all-black class for DC, I would choose all white. DC looks pretty white, despite being half Asian, and it would be easier to fit in.

Appreciate your honest answer. As said upthread, the current PS and PK classes are extremely diverse (probably close to your current school). Our next door neighbor is in PK and is also half white, half Asian.

[Anonymous]

I'm an IB PK parent--hesitant to dive in, but here goes. The lower grades are more diverse than the upper grades, but there's still a risk of being the "only" in a class. I'd say that most parents I've met have been okay with this. I asked one parent about whether he was concerned about his child being the "lonely only"--he sort of shrugged and said, hey, most of the world is non-white, so he wasn't really concerned about his child being one of the few non-AA kids.

In my child's class, which is all IB, there are a few white kids, a couple of biracial kids, and the rest are black, more or less. Re: OP's recent comment, I was telling my husband that a recent pic of the class looked a bit like a Benetton ad! I expect this trend to continue, with more diversity in the lower grades, given the young families I've met who have recently moved to Shepherd Park/Colonial Village. However, because the neighborhood attracts middle/upper SES families of all ethnic/racial backgrounds, including AA, I definitely don't think the school will "flip" anytime soon, as has happened at schools like Maury and Brent in recent years.

To a PP's point, the black contingent of Shepherd's student body is not a monolith. Some of these kids speak another language at home, some have parents of another race, etc. There are AA families at Shepherd with Caribbean, West African, East African, and (yes) European backgrounds. This type of diversity is not visible off the bat, but there is definitely diversity among Shepherd's AA students, as WOTP families have stated re: JKLMM schools as well. This international diversity--celebrated on International Night in the fall--is wonderful and fits nicely with the IB curriculum.

So, yes, Shepherd will likely be more diverse in coming years, and you'll see that more in the lower grades, but overall I think it will remain predominantly AA for the foreseeable future (who knows, I could be wrong, but that's my best guess!). Parents who are okay with this fact are probably going to be a lot more comfortable at Shepherd than folks who are hand-wringing about the exact percentage of non-AA students in a given class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They mean black. That's what they [posters, don't get your panties in a bunch] always mean, especially in context to "Upper NW is so not diverse" or "JKLM is not diverse."

And EOTP, the terms diverse, flip, turn, all mean more white children.

[Anonymous]

I guess I'm curious why people want it to flip? If the large # of the AA kids that attend Shepherd are upper class, what seems to be the problem? PP mentioned suspension rates are similar to WOTP so there don't appear to be any behavioral issues. You're not going to be an "only" so I don't understand the desire to have it flip. More mixed? Sure, that sounds reasonable, but why would anyone want it to flip to 10% black and 80% white?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They mean black. That's what they [posters, don't get your panties in a bunch] always mean, especially in context to "Upper NW is so not diverse" or "JKLM is not diverse."

And EOTP, the terms diverse, flip, turn, all mean more white children.

I agree that "flip" and "turn" mean more white children. I think "diverse" means "black" almost everywhere in DC. Both are unfortunate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Shepherd is one of the best bets in the District for the following reasons:

Competitive test scores with peer schools on other side of park
Better social economic diversity
Equal truancy, suspension, attendance rates as other high performing schools.

Parents that chose to send their kids to Shepherd value eduction as much as anywhere else. The fact that the test schools are solid AND there is diversity make it more attractive to many families who don't want to raise their kids in the bubble of upper NW where the schools are predominantly white.

Forgot about the IB

I'm the PP you quoted. I actually didn't mention IB because our kids don't go to Shepherd. We are at a JKLM school but Shepherd is becoming increasingly more appealing and we can get a much better house for the same amount of money if we decide to make the switch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess I'm curious why people want it to flip? If the large # of the AA kids that attend Shepherd are upper class, what seems to be the problem? PP mentioned suspension rates are similar to WOTP so there don't appear to be any behavioral issues. You're not going to be an "only" so I don't understand the desire to have it flip. More mixed? Sure, that sounds reasonable, but why would anyone want it to flip to 10% black and 80% white?

OP. Do you think that people actually want it to flip? You can want it to be somewhat more diverse without also wanting it to become a mostly white school. I don't think that any child, regardless of skin color or nationality, wants to be an "only". We wouldn't have considered the neighborhood and the school if we thought it was on a "flip trajectory" towards becoming an all-white or mostly-white school. I think that the diversity of DC's current school is a great strength, so why wouldn't I be curious if Shepherd was heading in that direction?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Shepherd is one of the best bets in the District for the following reasons:

Competitive test scores with peer schools on other side of park
Better social economic diversity
Equal truancy, suspension, attendance rates as other high performing schools.

Parents that chose to send their kids to Shepherd value eduction as much as anywhere else. The fact that the test schools are solid AND there is diversity make it more attractive to many families who don't want to raise their kids in the bubble of upper NW where the schools are predominantly white.

Forgot about the IB

I'm the PP you quoted. I actually didn't mention IB because our kids don't go to Shepherd. We are at a JKLM school but Shepherd is becoming increasingly more appealing and we can get a much better house for the same amount of money if we decide to make the switch.

Makes sense. I was just adding the IB program as it is also a great aspect of the school in addition to the great things your listed. The only down side to SP is that houses aren't as fast to go on the market. Hope to welcome you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess I'm curious why people want it to flip? If the large # of the AA kids that attend Shepherd are upper class, what seems to be the problem? PP mentioned suspension rates are similar to WOTP so there don't appear to be any behavioral issues. You're not going to be an "only" so I don't understand the desire to have it flip. More mixed? Sure, that sounds reasonable, but why would anyone want it to flip to 10% black and 80% white?

OP. Do you think that people actually want it to flip? You can want it to be somewhat more diverse without also wanting it to become a mostly white school. I don't think that any child, regardless of skin color or nationality, wants to be an "only". We wouldn't have considered the neighborhood and the school if we thought it was on a "flip trajectory" towards becoming an all-white or mostly-white school. I think that the diversity of DC's current school is a great strength, so why wouldn't I be curious if Shepherd was heading in that direction?

Wasn't questioning you OP, the PP that said while her class currently does look like a Benaton ad, she doesn't expect that it will flip. So I want to clarify, does she want it to flip entirely meaning current AA and white should be flipped? That wouldn't even reflect the neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

*Benetton

[Anonymous]

This thread seems show how people want to put themselves (and children) into boxes. From reading these posts, it seems like the consensus is that your child needs to be put around other children who look like them. So if a child is "half white/half asian", then its better that they be in all white surroundings as opposed to all black surroundings. Seems more like 1955 than 2015.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess I'm curious why people want it to flip? If the large # of the AA kids that attend Shepherd are upper class, what seems to be the problem? PP mentioned suspension rates are similar to WOTP so there don't appear to be any behavioral issues. You're not going to be an "only" so I don't understand the desire to have it flip. More mixed? Sure, that sounds reasonable, but why would anyone want it to flip to 10% black and 80% white?

OP. Do you think that people actually want it to flip? You can want it to be somewhat more diverse without also wanting it to become a mostly white school. I don't think that any child, regardless of skin color or nationality, wants to be an "only". We wouldn't have considered the neighborhood and the school if we thought it was on a "flip trajectory" towards becoming an all-white or mostly-white school. I think that the diversity of DC's current school is a great strength, so why wouldn't I be curious if Shepherd was heading in that direction?

Wasn't questioning you OP, the PP that said while her class currently does look like a Benaton ad, she doesn't expect that it will flip. So I want to clarify, does she want it to flip entirely meaning current AA and white should be flipped? That wouldn't even reflect the neighborhood.

PP who mentioned the Benetton ad here. Oh no, I don't want it to "flip" at all! I was just saying that I didn't think it would happen, to anyone who DOES want it to go in that direction. I'm AA, BTW.

[Anonymous]

We're PK parents targeting Shepherd next year.

I'm honestly turned off by Janney (and AU park) due to its disconnect with the city's racial makeup. There's something really odd to me about a kid going to public school in a city that's 50% black and only having 9% of the school's population of that color. We're white, but I want my kid to understand that the world around him is not all like him.

With regards to "diversity," part of the reason we do like Shepherd is that there is true economic diversity in the school (33% FARMS), with a fair portion in the middle-to-high income part of the spectrum. This is an on-going debate here, but I think that level of financial stability leads to more engaged parents, better student performance, better student behavior, and an all-around better educational experience for all of the kids. But its not like it's a school of rich brats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're PK parents targeting Shepherd next year.

I'm honestly turned off by Janney (and AU park) due to its disconnect with the city's racial makeup. There's something really odd to me about a kid going to public school in a city that's 50% black and only having 9% of the school's population of that color. We're white, but I want my kid to understand that the world around him is not all like him.

With regards to "diversity," part of the reason we do like Shepherd is that there is true economic diversity in the school (33% FARMS), with a fair portion in the middle-to-high income part of the spectrum. This is an on-going debate here, but I think that level of financial stability leads to more engaged parents, better student performance, better student behavior, and an all-around better educational experience for all of the kids. But its not like it's a school of rich brats.

Couldn't agreee more. We are very pleased with the economic diversity. A plus is the kids that do attend OOB are from neighboring parts like Brightwood, Crestwood, Takoma so play dates are pretty easy too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Probably not much any time soon. Shepherd is really unique for a few reasons.

The neighborhood has a lot of middle to upper middle class blacks (these are a lot of the 79% AA kids) which is unusual for DC proper. It also has a lot of Jewish families who walk to synagogues nearby and live there for religious community and proximity. They will probably not send their kids to Shepherd because many prefer religious school.

I suppose if the families who choose private or charter change their minds you may see a bump in white enrollment, but in the end, that's not all that many kids in boundary.

Perhaps you'll see changes from OOB early childhood kids staying, because they come from all over the city?

FWIW, our child is an "only" and does just fine. I'm sure there will be questions and potentially uncomfortable issues as she ages, but for the first few years it's been just fine.

It's a great school (that we do not attend).

What is "DC proper"? It's a funny term. By definition, aren't we talking about Washington, specifically a DC public schools?