Meaningful accountability but only for the affluent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In general, affluent families don't depend on the lottery. Working class families do. Skipping the line in the lottery is an affront to everyone who depends on the lottery, which is why it was a political hot button. So I disagree with the premise of the story.

Middle class working folks don't get to skip the lottery either. DC is a hard city for middle class or lower to make ends meet. The current system is killing middle class DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In general, affluent families don't depend on the lottery. Working class families do. Skipping the line in the lottery is an affront to everyone who depends on the lottery, which is why it was a political hot button. So I disagree with the premise of the story.

Middle class working folks don't get to skip the lottery either. DC is a hard city for middle class or lower to make ends meet. The current system is killing middle class DC.

DC isn't designed for middle class people with kids. DC schools are terrible except for ward 3 which is the most expensive ward in the city.

Most people in DC don't have kids which is the real reason education doesn't get as much traction from council

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since when are Ellington students "advantaged"?

Good question. I can’t find their at-risk numbers but free and reduced lunch is 36%. That’s considered fairly low (for DC).

Probably because parents would have to put down their real address/tax information to qualify - hard to do with a Maryland address and claiming a free DCPS education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since when are Ellington students "advantaged"?

Good question. I can’t find their at-risk numbers but free and reduced lunch is 36%. That’s considered fairly low (for DC).

The issue is that after she left Ellington he circumvented the lottery for her to go to Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In general, affluent families don't depend on the lottery. Working class families do. Skipping the line in the lottery is an affront to everyone who depends on the lottery, which is why it was a political hot button. So I disagree with the premise of the story.

Middle class working folks don't get to skip the lottery either. DC is a hard city for middle class or lower to make ends meet. The current system is killing middle class DC.

DC isn't designed for middle class people with kids. DC schools are terrible except for ward 3 which is the most expensive ward in the city.

Most people in DC don't have kids which is the real reason education doesn't get as much traction from council

There are also good schools in Ward 6, namely Brent, Maury, SWS, as well as fast rising schools Cap Hill Montessori, Ludlow-Taylor, Watkins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In general, affluent families don't depend on the lottery. Working class families do. Skipping the line in the lottery is an affront to everyone who depends on the lottery, which is why it was a political hot button. So I disagree with the premise of the story.

Middle class working folks don't get to skip the lottery either. DC is a hard city for middle class or lower to make ends meet. The current system is killing middle class DC.

DC isn't designed for middle class people with kids. DC schools are terrible except for ward 3 which is the most expensive ward in the city.

Most people in DC don't have kids which is the real reason education doesn't get as much traction from council

DC hada middle class community for many generations! There are a number of Historical African American middle class and white middle class neighborhoods. Not to say all those middle class were college educated some are/were lots where government, union, teachers etc. We live in a middle class African American neighborhood. The schools were once excellent even though predominantly segregated. The 80s and 90s definitely damazed the schools as many people with kids decided to move out of the city then. While the grandparents stayed in the old neighborhood. Today things are shifting back with some midde class families staying or keeping family homes. But please don't say there is no middle class DC. There has always been.

[Anonymous]

I don't know. My impression is that middle class DC now only includes pockets like the north end of Ward 4 and Hillcrest (and Ward 9) and the remainder of us are wealthy (relatively speaking - your lack of a champagne-filled yacht doesn't keep you out of the top American quintile of income) or pretty poor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Circumventing the lottery hurts all parents

No it doesn't. It has a pretty negligible effect on parents in privileged with affluent student bodies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In general, affluent families don't depend on the lottery. Working class families do. Skipping the line in the lottery is an affront to everyone who depends on the lottery, which is why it was a political hot button. So I disagree with the premise of the story.

Middle class working folks don't get to skip the lottery either. DC is a hard city for middle class or lower to make ends meet. The current system is killing middle class DC.

DC isn't designed for middle class people with kids. DC schools are terrible except for ward 3 which is the most expensive ward in the city.

Most people in DC don't have kids which is the real reason education doesn't get as much traction from council

There are also good schools in Ward 6, namely Brent, Maury, SWS, as well as fast rising schools Cap Hill Montessori, Ludlow-Taylor, Watkins.

come on ... PP could barely hold nose long enough to tolerate Ward 3 schools -- the idea that good schools can be found outside the bubble is going to cause brain hurt

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know. My impression is that middle class DC now only includes pockets like the north end of Ward 4 and Hillcrest (and Ward 9) and the remainder of us are wealthy (relatively speaking - your lack of a champagne-filled yacht doesn't keep you out of the top American quintile of income) or pretty poor.

You might find this interesting: median income of families with children by Ward (you need to set the filters) http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/6749-median-income-of-families-with-children-by-ward#detailed/21/1852-1859/false/870,573,869,36,868/any/13835

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know. My impression is that middle class DC now only includes pockets like the north end of Ward 4 and Hillcrest (and Ward 9) and the remainder of us are wealthy (relatively speaking - your lack of a champagne-filled yacht doesn't keep you out of the top American quintile of income) or pretty poor.

You might find this interesting: median income of families with children by Ward (you need to set the filters) http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/6749-median-income-of-families-with-children-by-ward#detailed/21/1852-1859/false/870,573,869,36,868/any/13835

Wow. DC is much less wealthy than I thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know. My impression is that middle class DC now only includes pockets like the north end of Ward 4 and Hillcrest (and Ward 9) and the remainder of us are wealthy (relatively speaking - your lack of a champagne-filled yacht doesn't keep you out of the top American quintile of income) or pretty poor.

You might find this interesting: median income of families with children by Ward (you need to set the filters) http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/6749-median-income-of-families-with-children-by-ward#detailed/21/1852-1859/false/870,573,869,36,868/any/13835

Wow. DC is much less wealthy than I thought.

Remember that 80% of students city wide are economically disadvantaged. They don’t all live in Wards 7 and 8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since when are Ellington students "advantaged"?

He attended Ellington legitimately. Wilson is where he cut the line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In general, affluent families don't depend on the lottery. Working class families do. Skipping the line in the lottery is an affront to everyone who depends on the lottery, which is why it was a political hot button. So I disagree with the premise of the story.

Guess what? Wilson families are "working families" too. Nobody is living off of a trust fund as opposed to a paycheck. Those in DC who are truly wealthy and don't work, go private anyway.

It was absolutely an affront to Wilson families - who had to accrue the resources to buy into the Wilson boundary. People who live in small, ugly houses that haven't been updated in decades - but carry an enormous premium because of Wilson are genuinely affronted that he got to buy something brand new and enormous for the same amount of money and still get the same privileges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In general, affluent families don't depend on the lottery. Working class families do. Skipping the line in the lottery is an affront to everyone who depends on the lottery, which is why it was a political hot button. So I disagree with the premise of the story.

Middle class working folks don't get to skip the lottery either. DC is a hard city for middle class or lower to make ends meet. The current system is killing middle class DC.

DC isn't designed for middle class people with kids. DC schools are terrible except for ward 3 which is the most expensive ward in the city.

Most people in DC don't have kids which is the real reason education doesn't get as much traction from council

There are also good schools in Ward 6, namely Brent, Maury, SWS, as well as fast rising schools Cap Hill Montessori, Ludlow-Taylor, Watkins.

come on ... PP could barely hold nose long enough to tolerate Ward 3 schools -- the idea that good schools can be found outside the bubble is going to cause brain hurt

Interesting to see what gentrification is doing though. Wards 1, 3, 7, 8 are all actually decreasing in median income. 2, 4, 5, and 6 are all increasing - and in the cases of 4, 5, and 6 it's very rapid. Those wards all make use of charters in significant numbers. There are clearly some comfortably 6 figure incomes in those wards, they're just not using DCPS.