“We need to preserve diversity and mitigate the projected whitening of the feeder pattern”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue that everyone is dancing around is class. It’s considered fine to be “diverse” so long as they aren’t poor. And we all know that DCUM is afraid of the poor students - who in DC are predominantly Black and Hispanic - coming from homes with anything less than white-collar jobs with highly educated parents. It’s terrifying. Washingtonians aren’t necessarily racists as much as elitist and classist. And in DC class is divided by class. We don’t have a large population of working poor whites. If we did, those students wouldn’t be wanted at the high performing schools either.

I actually don't think this is true. Most White UMC are willing to accept a minority of POC UMC peers into their groups -- the moment educated POC become the majority, white people flee.

Where has that ever happened?

In PP’s imaginings that is what would happen

https://psmag.com/news/ghosts-of-white-people-past-witnessing-white-flight-from-an-asian-ethnoburb

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue that everyone is dancing around is class. It’s considered fine to be “diverse” so long as they aren’t poor. And we all know that DCUM is afraid of the poor students - who in DC are predominantly Black and Hispanic - coming from homes with anything less than white-collar jobs with highly educated parents. It’s terrifying. Washingtonians aren’t necessarily racists as much as elitist and classist. And in DC class is divided by class. We don’t have a large population of working poor whites. If we did, those students wouldn’t be wanted at the high performing schools either.

I really don't think it's this. The problem is massive and overcrowded elementary schools, feeding 1 (soon to be 2) massive and overcrowded MS, feeding 1 massive and overcrowded HS.

DC government wants set aside seats for (1) At-Risk kids AND (2) extra capacity for well-to-do OOB kids whose parents don't want to utilize their local schools because these are both influential political constituencies. DC politicos don't want to make the hard choice of taking away Hardy-Deal/Wilson from the wealthy OOB kids, which this is EXACTLY what needs to happen to make Cardozo, Coolidge, and other under-enrolled facilities become "the next Wilson."

And this is why DC has frantically started construction on two new schools WOTP, hopefully in time for the next Mayoral election. The Mayor is buttering her bread.

But the reaction of many the in-bound parents in the WOTP schools to all of this has been to say the solution is just to keep the schools in-bound only and kick OOB students out, regardless of race or class, which is... unhelpful in yet a third way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue that everyone is dancing around is class. It’s considered fine to be “diverse” so long as they aren’t poor. And we all know that DCUM is afraid of the poor students - who in DC are predominantly Black and Hispanic - coming from homes with anything less than white-collar jobs with highly educated parents. It’s terrifying. Washingtonians aren’t necessarily racists as much as elitist and classist. And in DC class is divided by class. We don’t have a large population of working poor whites. If we did, those students wouldn’t be wanted at the high performing schools either.

I actually don't think this is true. Most White UMC are willing to accept a minority of POC UMC peers into their groups -- the moment educated POC become the majority, white people flee.

Where has that ever happened?

In PP’s imaginings that is what would happen

I've seen it with my own eyes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue that everyone is dancing around is class. It’s considered fine to be “diverse” so long as they aren’t poor. And we all know that DCUM is afraid of the poor students - who in DC are predominantly Black and Hispanic - coming from homes with anything less than white-collar jobs with highly educated parents. It’s terrifying. Washingtonians aren’t necessarily racists as much as elitist and classist. And in DC class is divided by class. We don’t have a large population of working poor whites. If we did, those students wouldn’t be wanted at the high performing schools either.

I really don't think it's this. The problem is massive and overcrowded elementary schools, feeding 1 (soon to be 2) massive and overcrowded MS, feeding 1 massive and overcrowded HS.

DC government wants set aside seats for (1) At-Risk kids AND (2) extra capacity for well-to-do OOB kids whose parents don't want to utilize their local schools because these are both influential political constituencies. DC politicos don't want to make the hard choice of taking away Hardy-Deal/Wilson from the wealthy OOB kids, which this is EXACTLY what needs to happen to make Cardozo, Coolidge, and other under-enrolled facilities become "the next Wilson."

And this is why DC has frantically started construction on two new schools WOTP, hopefully in time for the next Mayoral election. The Mayor is buttering her bread.

But the reaction of many the in-bound parents in the WOTP schools to all of this has been to say the solution is just to keep the schools in-bound only and kick OOB students out, regardless of race or class, which is... unhelpful in yet a third way.

No one is getting "kicked out." The problem - in the eyes of DCPS - is that the natural demographic growth rate of folks opting in to their local public school is too white. Per DCPS parlance - "whitening."
All of this crashing up against the fact that the Mayors and OSSE has sat on their hands for nearly two decades and didn't proactively invest in WOTP schools. They'd add a trailer or undertake a renovation 10 years too late.

And now? The number of seats for OOB will be a big fat ZERO right before the next Mayoral election. That's why DCPS is in a hurry to build two new schools.

The reaction of folks I know is that they would actually applaud an At-Risk preference in the lottery and even set-asides. Why? Because (1) they value giving a helping hand to those who need it most and (2) it would force DCPS to hire more resources and expand classroom space to accomodate At-Risk kids.

What really chafes folks is DCPS forcing OOB seats to be added haphazardly to schools and classes with zero transparency, no budgeting for space or resources, swelling class sizes, and those OOB kids actually coming from privileged backgrounds and stable homes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue that everyone is dancing around is class. It’s considered fine to be “diverse” so long as they aren’t poor. And we all know that DCUM is afraid of the poor students - who in DC are predominantly Black and Hispanic - coming from homes with anything less than white-collar jobs with highly educated parents. It’s terrifying. Washingtonians aren’t necessarily racists as much as elitist and classist. And in DC class is divided by class. We don’t have a large population of working poor whites. If we did, those students wouldn’t be wanted at the high performing schools either.

I really don't think it's this. The problem is massive and overcrowded elementary schools, feeding 1 (soon to be 2) massive and overcrowded MS, feeding 1 massive and overcrowded HS.

DC government wants set aside seats for (1) At-Risk kids AND (2) extra capacity for well-to-do OOB kids whose parents don't want to utilize their local schools because these are both influential political constituencies. DC politicos don't want to make the hard choice of taking away Hardy-Deal/Wilson from the wealthy OOB kids, which this is EXACTLY what needs to happen to make Cardozo, Coolidge, and other under-enrolled facilities become "the next Wilson."

And this is why DC has frantically started construction on two new schools WOTP, hopefully in time for the next Mayoral election. The Mayor is buttering her bread.

But the reaction of many the in-bound parents in the WOTP schools to all of this has been to say the solution is just to keep the schools in-bound only and kick OOB students out, regardless of race or class, which is... unhelpful in yet a third way.

No one is getting "kicked out." The problem - in the eyes of DCPS - is that the natural demographic growth rate of folks opting in to their local public school is too white. Per DCPS parlance - "whitening."
All of this crashing up against the fact that the Mayors and OSSE has sat on their hands for nearly two decades and didn't proactively invest in WOTP schools. They'd add a trailer or undertake a renovation 10 years too late.

And now? The number of seats for OOB will be a big fat ZERO right before the next Mayoral election. That's why DCPS is in a hurry to build two new schools.

The reaction of folks I know is that they would actually applaud an At-Risk preference in the lottery and even set-asides. Why? Because (1) they value giving a helping hand to those who need it most and (2) it would force DCPS to hire more resources and expand classroom space to accomodate At-Risk kids.

What really chafes folks is DCPS forcing OOB seats to be added haphazardly to schools and classes with zero transparency, no budgeting for space or resources, swelling class sizes, and those OOB kids actually coming from privileged backgrounds and stable homes.

Well said pp. I would also just like to chime in to say that while the language is clumsy, "whitening" is one form of segregation, just like concentrated populations of black students in other schools across the city is another. DC should be working to fix segregation (this is a much bigger problem than DCPS) and OOB population in Ward 3 seems to be the only trick they've got.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue that everyone is dancing around is class. It’s considered fine to be “diverse” so long as they aren’t poor. And we all know that DCUM is afraid of the poor students - who in DC are predominantly Black and Hispanic - coming from homes with anything less than white-collar jobs with highly educated parents. It’s terrifying. Washingtonians aren’t necessarily racists as much as elitist and classist. And in DC class is divided by class. We don’t have a large population of working poor whites. If we did, those students wouldn’t be wanted at the high performing schools either.

I really don't think it's this. The problem is massive and overcrowded elementary schools, feeding 1 (soon to be 2) massive and overcrowded MS, feeding 1 massive and overcrowded HS.

DC government wants set aside seats for (1) At-Risk kids AND (2) extra capacity for well-to-do OOB kids whose parents don't want to utilize their local schools because these are both influential political constituencies. DC politicos don't want to make the hard choice of taking away Hardy-Deal/Wilson from the wealthy OOB kids, which this is EXACTLY what needs to happen to make Cardozo, Coolidge, and other under-enrolled facilities become "the next Wilson."

And this is why DC has frantically started construction on two new schools WOTP, hopefully in time for the next Mayoral election. The Mayor is buttering her bread.

But the reaction of many the in-bound parents in the WOTP schools to all of this has been to say the solution is just to keep the schools in-bound only and kick OOB students out, regardless of race or class, which is... unhelpful in yet a third way.

No one is getting "kicked out." The problem - in the eyes of DCPS - is that the natural demographic growth rate of folks opting in to their local public school is too white. Per DCPS parlance - "whitening."
All of this crashing up against the fact that the Mayors and OSSE has sat on their hands for nearly two decades and didn't proactively invest in WOTP schools. They'd add a trailer or undertake a renovation 10 years too late.

And now? The number of seats for OOB will be a big fat ZERO right before the next Mayoral election. That's why DCPS is in a hurry to build two new schools.

The reaction of folks I know is that they would actually applaud an At-Risk preference in the lottery and even set-asides. Why? Because (1) they value giving a helping hand to those who need it most and (2) it would force DCPS to hire more resources and expand classroom space to accomodate At-Risk kids.

What really chafes folks is DCPS forcing OOB seats to be added haphazardly to schools and classes with zero transparency, no budgeting for space or resources, swelling class sizes, and those OOB kids actually coming from privileged backgrounds and stable homes.

Well said pp. I would also just like to chime in to say that while the language is clumsy, "whitening" is one form of segregation, just like concentrated populations of black students in other schools across the city is another. DC should be working to fix segregation (this is a much bigger problem than DCPS) and OOB population in Ward 3 seems to be the only trick they've got.

I actually think the Mayor/DME and DCPS do not want to implement the At-Risk preference because it will require transparency around who gets OOB seats and proper resource allocation. The opaque system we currently have - where DCPS tells a school to magically add X OOB seats right before the first day of school - allows lots of games to be play with favored constituencies and budget/resource shirking. At-Risk would require DCPS to dedicate funding and staff for wrap-around services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue that everyone is dancing around is class. It’s considered fine to be “diverse” so long as they aren’t poor. And we all know that DCUM is afraid of the poor students - who in DC are predominantly Black and Hispanic - coming from homes with anything less than white-collar jobs with highly educated parents. It’s terrifying. Washingtonians aren’t necessarily racists as much as elitist and classist. And in DC class is divided by class. We don’t have a large population of working poor whites. If we did, those students wouldn’t be wanted at the high performing schools either.

I really don't think it's this. The problem is massive and overcrowded elementary schools, feeding 1 (soon to be 2) massive and overcrowded MS, feeding 1 massive and overcrowded HS.

DC government wants set aside seats for (1) At-Risk kids AND (2) extra capacity for well-to-do OOB kids whose parents don't want to utilize their local schools because these are both influential political constituencies. DC politicos don't want to make the hard choice of taking away Hardy-Deal/Wilson from the wealthy OOB kids, which this is EXACTLY what needs to happen to make Cardozo, Coolidge, and other under-enrolled facilities become "the next Wilson."

And this is why DC has frantically started construction on two new schools WOTP, hopefully in time for the next Mayoral election. The Mayor is buttering her bread.

But the reaction of many the in-bound parents in the WOTP schools to all of this has been to say the solution is just to keep the schools in-bound only and kick OOB students out, regardless of race or class, which is... unhelpful in yet a third way.

No one is getting "kicked out." The problem - in the eyes of DCPS - is that the natural demographic growth rate of folks opting in to their local public school is too white. Per DCPS parlance - "whitening."
All of this crashing up against the fact that the Mayors and OSSE has sat on their hands for nearly two decades and didn't proactively invest in WOTP schools. They'd add a trailer or undertake a renovation 10 years too late.

And now? The number of seats for OOB will be a big fat ZERO right before the next Mayoral election. That's why DCPS is in a hurry to build two new schools.

The reaction of folks I know is that they would actually applaud an At-Risk preference in the lottery and even set-asides. Why? Because (1) they value giving a helping hand to those who need it most and (2) it would force DCPS to hire more resources and expand classroom space to accomodate At-Risk kids.

What really chafes folks is DCPS forcing OOB seats to be added haphazardly to schools and classes with zero transparency, no budgeting for space or resources, swelling class sizes, and those OOB kids actually coming from privileged backgrounds and stable homes.

Well said pp. I would also just like to chime in to say that while the language is clumsy, "whitening" is one form of segregation, just like concentrated populations of black students in other schools across the city is another. DC should be working to fix segregation (this is a much bigger problem than DCPS) and OOB population in Ward 3 seems to be the only trick they've got.

That's a good point, but of course, residential segregation is a problem that's beyond the purview of the school system alone to fix. The city should work to make it easier for less wealthy, less white people to move to the in-bounds areas for these W3 schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ And I say this as an Upper SES W6 resident who could get my kid into Deal/Wilson one way or the other if I wanted to, but would MUCH prefer to remain where I am and attend diverse, non-terrible local schools. S-H may work for us; Eastern will not. Eastern is terrible.

I assume your judgement of Eastern as "terrible" is based on test scores and nothing else, right?

No, actually. I have more familiarity with Eastern than most from volunteering with a specific extracurricular. It is terrible. The test scores. The amount of police involvement. The large number of kids who basically never turn up and are incredibly disruptive when they do. I have enormous respect for the students who stick it out and have successful outcomes, but I cannot imagine anyone intentionally choosing that for their kid if they legitimately have options; which, of course, many don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue that everyone is dancing around is class. It’s considered fine to be “diverse” so long as they aren’t poor. And we all know that DCUM is afraid of the poor students - who in DC are predominantly Black and Hispanic - coming from homes with anything less than white-collar jobs with highly educated parents. It’s terrifying. Washingtonians aren’t necessarily racists as much as elitist and classist. And in DC class is divided by class. We don’t have a large population of working poor whites. If we did, those students wouldn’t be wanted at the high performing schools either.

I really don't think it's this. The problem is massive and overcrowded elementary schools, feeding 1 (soon to be 2) massive and overcrowded MS, feeding 1 massive and overcrowded HS.

DC government wants set aside seats for (1) At-Risk kids AND (2) extra capacity for well-to-do OOB kids whose parents don't want to utilize their local schools because these are both influential political constituencies. DC politicos don't want to make the hard choice of taking away Hardy-Deal/Wilson from the wealthy OOB kids, which this is EXACTLY what needs to happen to make Cardozo, Coolidge, and other under-enrolled facilities become "the next Wilson."

And this is why DC has frantically started construction on two new schools WOTP, hopefully in time for the next Mayoral election. The Mayor is buttering her bread.

But the reaction of many the in-bound parents in the WOTP schools to all of this has been to say the solution is just to keep the schools in-bound only and kick OOB students out, regardless of race or class, which is... unhelpful in yet a third way.

No one is getting "kicked out." The problem - in the eyes of DCPS - is that the natural demographic growth rate of folks opting in to their local public school is too white. Per DCPS parlance - "whitening."
All of this crashing up against the fact that the Mayors and OSSE has sat on their hands for nearly two decades and didn't proactively invest in WOTP schools. They'd add a trailer or undertake a renovation 10 years too late.

And now? The number of seats for OOB will be a big fat ZERO right before the next Mayoral election. That's why DCPS is in a hurry to build two new schools.

The reaction of folks I know is that they would actually applaud an At-Risk preference in the lottery and even set-asides. Why? Because (1) they value giving a helping hand to those who need it most and (2) it would force DCPS to hire more resources and expand classroom space to accomodate At-Risk kids.

What really chafes folks is DCPS forcing OOB seats to be added haphazardly to schools and classes with zero transparency, no budgeting for space or resources, swelling class sizes, and those OOB kids actually coming from privileged backgrounds and stable homes.

Well said pp. I would also just like to chime in to say that while the language is clumsy, "whitening" is one form of segregation, just like concentrated populations of black students in other schools across the city is another. DC should be working to fix segregation (this is a much bigger problem than DCPS) and OOB population in Ward 3 seems to be the only trick they've got.

That's a good point, but of course, residential segregation is a problem that's beyond the purview of the school system alone to fix. The city should work to make it easier for less wealthy, less white people to move to the in-bounds areas for these W3 schools.

First of all, “less white” people face no barriers moving into Ward 3. Even financially, there is inexpensive housing available, but it involves trade-offs.

The answer is not to try to cram more people into Ward 3, but to help other neighborhoods improve both their environments and their schools to be equally desirable. There is nothing magical about the air in Ward 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue that everyone is dancing around is class. It’s considered fine to be “diverse” so long as they aren’t poor. And we all know that DCUM is afraid of the poor students - who in DC are predominantly Black and Hispanic - coming from homes with anything less than white-collar jobs with highly educated parents. It’s terrifying. Washingtonians aren’t necessarily racists as much as elitist and classist. And in DC class is divided by class. We don’t have a large population of working poor whites. If we did, those students wouldn’t be wanted at the high performing schools either.

I really don't think it's this. The problem is massive and overcrowded elementary schools, feeding 1 (soon to be 2) massive and overcrowded MS, feeding 1 massive and overcrowded HS.

DC government wants set aside seats for (1) At-Risk kids AND (2) extra capacity for well-to-do OOB kids whose parents don't want to utilize their local schools because these are both influential political constituencies. DC politicos don't want to make the hard choice of taking away Hardy-Deal/Wilson from the wealthy OOB kids, which this is EXACTLY what needs to happen to make Cardozo, Coolidge, and other under-enrolled facilities become "the next Wilson."

And this is why DC has frantically started construction on two new schools WOTP, hopefully in time for the next Mayoral election. The Mayor is buttering her bread.

But the reaction of many the in-bound parents in the WOTP schools to all of this has been to say the solution is just to keep the schools in-bound only and kick OOB students out, regardless of race or class, which is... unhelpful in yet a third way.

No one is getting "kicked out." The problem - in the eyes of DCPS - is that the natural demographic growth rate of folks opting in to their local public school is too white. Per DCPS parlance - "whitening."
All of this crashing up against the fact that the Mayors and OSSE has sat on their hands for nearly two decades and didn't proactively invest in WOTP schools. They'd add a trailer or undertake a renovation 10 years too late.

And now? The number of seats for OOB will be a big fat ZERO right before the next Mayoral election. That's why DCPS is in a hurry to build two new schools.

The reaction of folks I know is that they would actually applaud an At-Risk preference in the lottery and even set-asides. Why? Because (1) they value giving a helping hand to those who need it most and (2) it would force DCPS to hire more resources and expand classroom space to accomodate At-Risk kids.

What really chafes folks is DCPS forcing OOB seats to be added haphazardly to schools and classes with zero transparency, no budgeting for space or resources, swelling class sizes, and those OOB kids actually coming from privileged backgrounds and stable homes.

Well said pp. I would also just like to chime in to say that while the language is clumsy, "whitening" is one form of segregation, just like concentrated populations of black students in other schools across the city is another. DC should be working to fix segregation (this is a much bigger problem than DCPS) and OOB population in Ward 3 seems to be the only trick they've got.

That's a good point, but of course, residential segregation is a problem that's beyond the purview of the school system alone to fix. The city should work to make it easier for less wealthy, less white people to move to the in-bounds areas for these W3 schools.

First of all, “less white” people face no barriers moving into Ward 3. Even financially, there is inexpensive housing available, but it involves trade-offs.

The answer is not to try to cram more people into Ward 3, but to help other neighborhoods improve both their environments and their schools to be equally desirable. There is nothing magical about the air in Ward 3.

Pp again — but I agree wholeheartedly that residential segregation and broad access to desirable living environments is the city’s purview. Focusing so much on larger social issues is definitely a drag for ill-equipped DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue that everyone is dancing around is class. It’s considered fine to be “diverse” so long as they aren’t poor. And we all know that DCUM is afraid of the poor students - who in DC are predominantly Black and Hispanic - coming from homes with anything less than white-collar jobs with highly educated parents. It’s terrifying. Washingtonians aren’t necessarily racists as much as elitist and classist. And in DC class is divided by class. We don’t have a large population of working poor whites. If we did, those students wouldn’t be wanted at the high performing schools either.

I really don't think it's this. The problem is massive and overcrowded elementary schools, feeding 1 (soon to be 2) massive and overcrowded MS, feeding 1 massive and overcrowded HS.

DC government wants set aside seats for (1) At-Risk kids AND (2) extra capacity for well-to-do OOB kids whose parents don't want to utilize their local schools because these are both influential political constituencies. DC politicos don't want to make the hard choice of taking away Hardy-Deal/Wilson from the wealthy OOB kids, which this is EXACTLY what needs to happen to make Cardozo, Coolidge, and other under-enrolled facilities become "the next Wilson."

And this is why DC has frantically started construction on two new schools WOTP, hopefully in time for the next Mayoral election. The Mayor is buttering her bread.

But the reaction of many the in-bound parents in the WOTP schools to all of this has been to say the solution is just to keep the schools in-bound only and kick OOB students out, regardless of race or class, which is... unhelpful in yet a third way.

No one is getting "kicked out." The problem - in the eyes of DCPS - is that the natural demographic growth rate of folks opting in to their local public school is too white. Per DCPS parlance - "whitening."
All of this crashing up against the fact that the Mayors and OSSE has sat on their hands for nearly two decades and didn't proactively invest in WOTP schools. They'd add a trailer or undertake a renovation 10 years too late.

And now? The number of seats for OOB will be a big fat ZERO right before the next Mayoral election. That's why DCPS is in a hurry to build two new schools.

The reaction of folks I know is that they would actually applaud an At-Risk preference in the lottery and even set-asides. Why? Because (1) they value giving a helping hand to those who need it most and (2) it would force DCPS to hire more resources and expand classroom space to accomodate At-Risk kids.

What really chafes folks is DCPS forcing OOB seats to be added haphazardly to schools and classes with zero transparency, no budgeting for space or resources, swelling class sizes, and those OOB kids actually coming from privileged backgrounds and stable homes.

What are your views on Affirmative Action? Do you feel that it is fair as a race based initiative? Or do you think it should be based on SES? Plenty of privileged Black, African American, and Hispanic people benefit over people of all races that are economically depressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue that everyone is dancing around is class. It’s considered fine to be “diverse” so long as they aren’t poor. And we all know that DCUM is afraid of the poor students - who in DC are predominantly Black and Hispanic - coming from homes with anything less than white-collar jobs with highly educated parents. It’s terrifying. Washingtonians aren’t necessarily racists as much as elitist and classist. And in DC class is divided by class. We don’t have a large population of working poor whites. If we did, those students wouldn’t be wanted at the high performing schools either.

I really don't think it's this. The problem is massive and overcrowded elementary schools, feeding 1 (soon to be 2) massive and overcrowded MS, feeding 1 massive and overcrowded HS.

DC government wants set aside seats for (1) At-Risk kids AND (2) extra capacity for well-to-do OOB kids whose parents don't want to utilize their local schools because these are both influential political constituencies. DC politicos don't want to make the hard choice of taking away Hardy-Deal/Wilson from the wealthy OOB kids, which this is EXACTLY what needs to happen to make Cardozo, Coolidge, and other under-enrolled facilities become "the next Wilson."

And this is why DC has frantically started construction on two new schools WOTP, hopefully in time for the next Mayoral election. The Mayor is buttering her bread.

But the reaction of many the in-bound parents in the WOTP schools to all of this has been to say the solution is just to keep the schools in-bound only and kick OOB students out, regardless of race or class, which is... unhelpful in yet a third way.

No one is getting "kicked out." The problem - in the eyes of DCPS - is that the natural demographic growth rate of folks opting in to their local public school is too white. Per DCPS parlance - "whitening."
All of this crashing up against the fact that the Mayors and OSSE has sat on their hands for nearly two decades and didn't proactively invest in WOTP schools. They'd add a trailer or undertake a renovation 10 years too late.

And now? The number of seats for OOB will be a big fat ZERO right before the next Mayoral election. That's why DCPS is in a hurry to build two new schools.

The reaction of folks I know is that they would actually applaud an At-Risk preference in the lottery and even set-asides. Why? Because (1) they value giving a helping hand to those who need it most and (2) it would force DCPS to hire more resources and expand classroom space to accomodate At-Risk kids.

What really chafes folks is DCPS forcing OOB seats to be added haphazardly to schools and classes with zero transparency, no budgeting for space or resources, swelling class sizes, and those OOB kids actually coming from privileged backgrounds and stable homes.

Well said pp. I would also just like to chime in to say that while the language is clumsy, "whitening" is one form of segregation, just like concentrated populations of black students in other schools across the city is another. DC should be working to fix segregation (this is a much bigger problem than DCPS) and OOB population in Ward 3 seems to be the only trick they've got.

NP: Just adding for anyone outside the area reading about "whitening" who might be imagining schools that are 90%+ white: Wilson HS is 39% white (a lower percentage than the DCP white population), Deal MS is 46% white, Hardy MS is 31% white, and Oyster-Adams K-MS is 34% white. The "whitest" ES feeder to Hardy is 67% white (Key), and the "whitest" ES feeder to Deal is 74% white (Janney). (O-A doesn't have feeders.) These are the percentages they are focusing on, which is important to the conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue that everyone is dancing around is class. It’s considered fine to be “diverse” so long as they aren’t poor. And we all know that DCUM is afraid of the poor students - who in DC are predominantly Black and Hispanic - coming from homes with anything less than white-collar jobs with highly educated parents. It’s terrifying. Washingtonians aren’t necessarily racists as much as elitist and classist. And in DC class is divided by class. We don’t have a large population of working poor whites. If we did, those students wouldn’t be wanted at the high performing schools either.

I really don't think it's this. The problem is massive and overcrowded elementary schools, feeding 1 (soon to be 2) massive and overcrowded MS, feeding 1 massive and overcrowded HS.

DC government wants set aside seats for (1) At-Risk kids AND (2) extra capacity for well-to-do OOB kids whose parents don't want to utilize their local schools because these are both influential political constituencies. DC politicos don't want to make the hard choice of taking away Hardy-Deal/Wilson from the wealthy OOB kids, which this is EXACTLY what needs to happen to make Cardozo, Coolidge, and other under-enrolled facilities become "the next Wilson."

And this is why DC has frantically started construction on two new schools WOTP, hopefully in time for the next Mayoral election. The Mayor is buttering her bread.

But the reaction of many the in-bound parents in the WOTP schools to all of this has been to say the solution is just to keep the schools in-bound only and kick OOB students out, regardless of race or class, which is... unhelpful in yet a third way.

No one is getting "kicked out." The problem - in the eyes of DCPS - is that the natural demographic growth rate of folks opting in to their local public school is too white. Per DCPS parlance - "whitening."
All of this crashing up against the fact that the Mayors and OSSE has sat on their hands for nearly two decades and didn't proactively invest in WOTP schools. They'd add a trailer or undertake a renovation 10 years too late.

And now? The number of seats for OOB will be a big fat ZERO right before the next Mayoral election. That's why DCPS is in a hurry to build two new schools.

The reaction of folks I know is that they would actually applaud an At-Risk preference in the lottery and even set-asides. Why? Because (1) they value giving a helping hand to those who need it most and (2) it would force DCPS to hire more resources and expand classroom space to accomodate At-Risk kids.

What really chafes folks is DCPS forcing OOB seats to be added haphazardly to schools and classes with zero transparency, no budgeting for space or resources, swelling class sizes, and those OOB kids actually coming from privileged backgrounds and stable homes.

What are your views on Affirmative Action? Do you feel that it is fair as a race based initiative? Or do you think it should be based on SES? Plenty of privileged Black, African American, and Hispanic people benefit over people of all races that are economically depressed.

There are all kinds of privileges but the strongest privilege is being white or perceived as being white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue that everyone is dancing around is class. It’s considered fine to be “diverse” so long as they aren’t poor. And we all know that DCUM is afraid of the poor students - who in DC are predominantly Black and Hispanic - coming from homes with anything less than white-collar jobs with highly educated parents. It’s terrifying. Washingtonians aren’t necessarily racists as much as elitist and classist. And in DC class is divided by class. We don’t have a large population of working poor whites. If we did, those students wouldn’t be wanted at the high performing schools either.

I really don't think it's this. The problem is massive and overcrowded elementary schools, feeding 1 (soon to be 2) massive and overcrowded MS, feeding 1 massive and overcrowded HS.

DC government wants set aside seats for (1) At-Risk kids AND (2) extra capacity for well-to-do OOB kids whose parents don't want to utilize their local schools because these are both influential political constituencies. DC politicos don't want to make the hard choice of taking away Hardy-Deal/Wilson from the wealthy OOB kids, which this is EXACTLY what needs to happen to make Cardozo, Coolidge, and other under-enrolled facilities become "the next Wilson."

And this is why DC has frantically started construction on two new schools WOTP, hopefully in time for the next Mayoral election. The Mayor is buttering her bread.

But the reaction of many the in-bound parents in the WOTP schools to all of this has been to say the solution is just to keep the schools in-bound only and kick OOB students out, regardless of race or class, which is... unhelpful in yet a third way.

No one is getting "kicked out." The problem - in the eyes of DCPS - is that the natural demographic growth rate of folks opting in to their local public school is too white. Per DCPS parlance - "whitening."
All of this crashing up against the fact that the Mayors and OSSE has sat on their hands for nearly two decades and didn't proactively invest in WOTP schools. They'd add a trailer or undertake a renovation 10 years too late.

And now? The number of seats for OOB will be a big fat ZERO right before the next Mayoral election. That's why DCPS is in a hurry to build two new schools.

The reaction of folks I know is that they would actually applaud an At-Risk preference in the lottery and even set-asides. Why? Because (1) they value giving a helping hand to those who need it most and (2) it would force DCPS to hire more resources and expand classroom space to accomodate At-Risk kids.

What really chafes folks is DCPS forcing OOB seats to be added haphazardly to schools and classes with zero transparency, no budgeting for space or resources, swelling class sizes, and those OOB kids actually coming from privileged backgrounds and stable homes.

What are your views on Affirmative Action? Do you feel that it is fair as a race based initiative? Or do you think it should be based on SES? Plenty of privileged Black, African American, and Hispanic people benefit over people of all races that are economically depressed.

There are all kinds of privileges but the strongest privilege is being white or perceived as being white.

Then you should understand why the ‘whitening’ of schools is harmful for those not White.

[Anonymous]

Re-draw the boundaries for WOTP schools to reduce the number of IB students, actually implement a 20% at-risk set aside for these schools, send all the other OOBs back to their IB and force other families to use their IB if they are in DCPS. The at-risk kids would have the right to go through to HS. Anyone who moves OOB can stay through that school year and then has to move to their IB - no principal discretion.

But DCPS/OSSE/the Mayor have no stomach for the hard choices that would benefit at-risk kids and kids IB for non-WOTP schools.