Why are the top elementary schools in NW better?

[Anonymous]

Also NW schools do not get any title 1 fund because they don't qualify. This is a lot of money in poorer schools. Fundraising offsets those dollars.

[Anonymous]

OP, I understand your frustration. But I would recommend you consider one of the up and coming schools in NW and elsewhere, not just the name upper NW schools. There a few schools just waiting to emerge. If you see a meeting notice or open house, try to attend. You might be surprised at who else is there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually don't understand the reasoning here. Why would it be better to have a system-wide pot?

IF it worked, it would promote equity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually don't understand the reasoning here. Why would it be better to have a system-wide pot?

IF it worked, it would promote equity.

I am an active fundraiser at an upper NW school. It wouldn't work because people wouldn't give. Plain and simple. Fundraising at these schools works because people can see their actual dollars at work and have a say in how the money is used. In general people are willing to shell out $500 bucks per year vs. 30K per year for private school. There is no appeal/cost-benefit for parents who have means to put money in a general pot (nevermind trusting DCPS to dole it out accordingly)and as a result there wouldn't be as much money raised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually don't understand the reasoning here. Why would it be better to have a system-wide pot?

IF it worked, it would promote equity.

I am an active fundraiser at an upper NW school. It wouldn't work because people wouldn't give. Plain and simple. Fundraising at these schools works because people can see their actual dollars at work and have a say in how the money is used. In general people are willing to shell out $500 bucks per year vs. 30K per year for private school. There is no appeal/cost-benefit for parents who have means to put money in a general pot (nevermind trusting DCPS to dole it out accordingly)and as a result there wouldn't be as much money raised.

They are already putting $ in a general pot - it is called taxes.

[Anonymous]

"Also, Fenty has been sure that DCPS dollars have gone into NW schools. New playgrounds at Murch, Eaton, Hearst. Building additions / major renovations at Janney, Stoddert, Deal, Hardy, Wilson."

That's complete bull, just so we're clear. The renovations are spread out fairly throughout the city and, in fact, as others have pointed out, the school renovation plan was developed before Fentry became mayor.

[Anonymous]

Title I school parent here. We get about $130,000K via those funds. It's nowhere near close what the upper NW schools raise.

And to be very, very clear. We have excellent PTA participation. It's just when your hourly wage is around 9 bucks an hour, it's pretty tough to write a $1000 check to the PTA.

[Anonymous]

I don't believe anyone's mentioned that precious commodity, TIME. At my child's NW school, a coterie of volunteers helped run the things. They give enormous support to the administration, which I believe is understaffed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Serious question -- can PTAs really hire "extra teachers" with these hundreds of thousands? Actual homeroom teachers? So that, for example: if Murch has about 100 second graders scheduled to attend, and this would ordinarily be 4 classes of 25 kids each ... can the Murch HSA together with the principal decide to spend $60K of the annual take, 'buy' a homeroom teacher, and create 5 classes of 20 kids each?

I could've sworn that this wasn't allowed, perhaps by a court ruling a few years back.

Amanda Alexander, the brilliant new principle at Ross Elementary in Dupont Circle, uses just about all her allotted government budget to hire teachers and uses PTA funds to buy supplies. This means that PK-grade 2 classrooms have two teachers each. Because the Ross PTA is reliably active, Ross can rely on the PTA funds to purchase necessary supplies. (The PTA raised enough money last year to supply smart boards in every classroom.) I think that normal practice would be for the principle to set aside a significant portion of gov't funding for supplies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe anyone's mentioned that precious commodity, TIME. At my child's NW school, a coterie of volunteers helped run the things. They give enormous support to the administration, which I believe is understaffed.

This is such an important point. My child is at Janney and I think that a significant percentage of the families have one parent who does not work full time and they spend a lot of time at the school. In my child's class parents are often competing with each other to volunteer. I do not recall seeing a request for volunteers from the teacher that was not oversubscribed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe anyone's mentioned that precious commodity, TIME. At my child's NW school, a coterie of volunteers helped run the things. They give enormous support to the administration, which I believe is understaffed.

You do understand though that not everyone has that precious commodity, right? Some people have jobs where they don't get paid if they don't work. In fact, A LOT of people have these jobs but you just don't see them represented on this board.

[Anonymous]

10:02 here. Of course I understand that, 10:31. (I mean, really!) I'm answering the OP's question. It's money and parents, usually mothers, with volunteer time as well as time to support their children's academics. And I believe ALL DC schools are understaffed, I think they all need a few more administrators, be they counselors or learning specialists. It amazes me that school reform hasn't made a point of that. Principals are doing three people's jobs at many schools.

[Anonymous]

Your question is either really naive pp or you were looking to stir something up. Look anywhere in the country -- students in wealthier school districts do better in school than those in poor districts. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

[Anonymous]

Having well-educated well connected parents is a big factor. In addition to contributing money, parents at the upper NW schools simply will not accept (for the most part) substandard teachers or facilities and demand better. In the poorer neighborhoods, many parents aren't even aware that their child's teacher is terrible. Often, they've formed good relationships with the staff and think it's just fine. Witness all the parents protesting the closure of some really awful schools -- the parents either didn't know or didn't care that the schools were terrible, they just didn't want them closed.

As for the money, well, for a lot of us, the alternative to DCPS would have been private. So, when our kids were inpublic school, we did not mind writing a check for a thousand per child and contributing to other fundraising efforts, given what we were saving by not sending them to private for elementary. I think a lot of parents were able to do that, and it does make a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your question is either really naive pp or you were looking to stir something up. Look anywhere in the country -- students in wealthier school districts do better in school than those in poor districts. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

That's what I was thinking. The question is positively trollish. "Gee, has anyone noticed that there's an achievement gap between white students and non-asian minorities? Why is that?"