MD public schools are segregated

[Anonymous]

(Where is "Silver Spring", anyway? As far as I can tell, all of eastern Montgomery County south of Olney and west of Burtonsville is Silver Spring, or at least Silver Spring-ish.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:9:45 here. People (kids and adults) self-segregate everywhere, in all situations. My point was that SS as a whole was a lot more diverse on a micro level...sure some neighborhoods are more white, some more hispanic, some more black (AA and immigrant), but at the ES level the schools were very diverse.

I agree with your post. My kids point it out to me all the time. When we are situation X everybody is white, situation Y everybody is Hispanic, situation Z everybody is black. They ask why. It's hard to explain since I don't really understand it. I usually say I don't know what other people do or why, it is none of my business, I like to have lots of different friends.

I find that Gaithersburg and Germantown are not segregated like the rest of the county.

So if somebody said that MD public schools are segregated I would agree. If they wanted to find a community that is less segregated I would NOT say Silver Spring just like I would NOT say Bethesda or Potomac or Poolesville or a bunch of other places in MD .

But, I don't believe schools will fix this issue. I would always say if your life is diverse your children's lives will be diverse so work on making lots of friends with different backgrounds and kids will too.

What do you consider diverse? I am sure there are a couple of Silver spring elementary schools that 80% black or 80% hispanic. But there are many that are not that heavily tilted in one direction. Plus, I know there are many, many people on DCUM who would think that a school that is "only" 80% white qualifies as diverse. So, a conversation on what places are and are not diverse is meaningless if you don't define diversity.
BTW, we are an African American/immigrant family, living in a silver spring neighborhood that you would probably consider white and segregated.

1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1..... not 30/30/30 and also within the 1/1/1/1/1/1... not all of one group is poor and all of another is not poor. As somebody pointed out the 30/30/30 can be broken down into a more meaningful categories but people are stuck with white/black/hispanic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:9:45 here. People (kids and adults) self-segregate everywhere, in all situations. My point was that SS as a whole was a lot more diverse on a micro level...sure some neighborhoods are more white, some more hispanic, some more black (AA and immigrant), but at the ES level the schools were very diverse.

I agree with your post. My kids point it out to me all the time. When we are situation X everybody is white, situation Y everybody is Hispanic, situation Z everybody is black. They ask why. It's hard to explain since I don't really understand it. I usually say I don't know what other people do or why, it is none of my business, I like to have lots of different friends.

I find that Gaithersburg and Germantown are not segregated like the rest of the county.

So if somebody said that MD public schools are segregated I would agree. If they wanted to find a community that is less segregated I would NOT say Silver Spring just like I would NOT say Bethesda or Potomac or Poolesville or a bunch of other places in MD .

But, I don't believe schools will fix this issue. I would always say if your life is diverse your children's lives will be diverse so work on making lots of friends with different backgrounds and kids will too.

What do you consider diverse? I am sure there are a couple of Silver spring elementary schools that 80% black or 80% hispanic. But there are many that are not that heavily tilted in one direction. Plus, I know there are many, many people on DCUM who would think that a school that is "only" 80% white qualifies as diverse. So, a conversation on what places are and are not diverse is meaningless if you don't define diversity.
BTW, we are an African American/immigrant family, living in a silver spring neighborhood that you would probably consider white and segregated.

1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1..... not 30/30/30 and also within the 1/1/1/1/1/1... not all of one group is poor and all of another is not poor. As somebody pointed out the 30/30/30 can be broken down into a more meaningful categories but people are stuck with white/black/hispanic.

What happened to Asian?

[Anonymous]

(Asians are honorary whites.)

(Or maybe, since 30/30/30 adds up to 90, they're 10?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:9:45 here. People (kids and adults) self-segregate everywhere, in all situations. My point was that SS as a whole was a lot more diverse on a micro level...sure some neighborhoods are more white, some more hispanic, some more black (AA and immigrant), but at the ES level the schools were very diverse.

I agree with your post. My kids point it out to me all the time. When we are situation X everybody is white, situation Y everybody is Hispanic, situation Z everybody is black. They ask why. It's hard to explain since I don't really understand it. I usually say I don't know what other people do or why, it is none of my business, I like to have lots of different friends.

I find that Gaithersburg and Germantown are not segregated like the rest of the county.

So if somebody said that MD public schools are segregated I would agree. If they wanted to find a community that is less segregated I would NOT say Silver Spring just like I would NOT say Bethesda or Potomac or Poolesville or a bunch of other places in MD .

But, I don't believe schools will fix this issue. I would always say if your life is diverse your children's lives will be diverse so work on making lots of friends with different backgrounds and kids will too.

What do you consider diverse? I am sure there are a couple of Silver spring elementary schools that 80% black or 80% hispanic. But there are many that are not that heavily tilted in one direction. Plus, I know there are many, many people on DCUM who would think that a school that is "only" 80% white qualifies as diverse. So, a conversation on what places are and are not diverse is meaningless if you don't define diversity.
BTW, we are an African American/immigrant family, living in a silver spring neighborhood that you would probably consider white and segregated.

1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1..... not 30/30/30 and also within the 1/1/1/1/1/1... not all of one group is poor and all of another is not poor. As somebody pointed out the 30/30/30 can be broken down into a more meaningful categories but people are stuck with white/black/hispanic.

I must have missed something further back in this thread, but you have completely lost me with this 1/1/1/1 thing. There are lots of affluent blacks in Silver Spring. Many of us choose to live there, rather than Bethesda precisely because of the diversity. And we also have many multiracial families. I think that when speaking of schools, people talk aggregate white/black/hispanic/asian because those are the demographics you can see on a school's website. It doesn't list, Ethiopia, Cote d'Ivoire, haiti, costa rica, vietnam, El Salvador, India. It doesn't say 2 kids with African immigrant lawyer parents, one kid with Japanese MBA mother. That doesn't mean those people aren't there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:(Where is "Silver Spring", anyway? As far as I can tell, all of eastern Montgomery County south of Olney and west of Burtonsville is Silver Spring, or at least Silver Spring-ish.)

This is a good point. I think when people on DCUM talk about Silver Spring, the general reference is on the downcounty part of SS, roughly the parts bordering Wheaton, Kensington, Takoma Park, and maybe north to New Hampshire Ave. I may be wrong but I don't see a lot of discussion on White Oak, Greencastle Rd, or Leisure World on these threads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:9:45 here. People (kids and adults) self-segregate everywhere, in all situations. My point was that SS as a whole was a lot more diverse on a micro level...sure some neighborhoods are more white, some more hispanic, some more black (AA and immigrant), but at the ES level the schools were very diverse.

I agree with your post. My kids point it out to me all the time. When we are situation X everybody is white, situation Y everybody is Hispanic, situation Z everybody is black. They ask why. It's hard to explain since I don't really understand it. I usually say I don't know what other people do or why, it is none of my business, I like to have lots of different friends.

I find that Gaithersburg and Germantown are not segregated like the rest of the county.

So if somebody said that MD public schools are segregated I would agree. If they wanted to find a community that is less segregated I would NOT say Silver Spring just like I would NOT say Bethesda or Potomac or Poolesville or a bunch of other places in MD .

But, I don't believe schools will fix this issue. I would always say if your life is diverse your children's lives will be diverse so work on making lots of friends with different backgrounds and kids will too.

What do you consider diverse? I am sure there are a couple of Silver spring elementary schools that 80% black or 80% hispanic. But there are many that are not that heavily tilted in one direction. Plus, I know there are many, many people on DCUM who would think that a school that is "only" 80% white qualifies as diverse. So, a conversation on what places are and are not diverse is meaningless if you don't define diversity.
BTW, we are an African American/immigrant family, living in a silver spring neighborhood that you would probably consider white and segregated.

1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1..... not 30/30/30 and also within the 1/1/1/1/1/1... not all of one group is poor and all of another is not poor. As somebody pointed out the 30/30/30 can be broken down into a more meaningful categories but people are stuck with white/black/hispanic.

I must have missed something further back in this thread, but you have completely lost me with this 1/1/1/1 thing. There are lots of affluent blacks in Silver Spring. Many of us choose to live there, rather than Bethesda precisely because of the diversity. And we also have many multiracial families. I think that when speaking of schools, people talk aggregate white/black/hispanic/asian because those are the demographics you can see on a school's website. It doesn't list, Ethiopia, Cote d'Ivoire, haiti, costa rica, vietnam, El Salvador, India. It doesn't say 2 kids with African immigrant lawyer parents, one kid with Japanese MBA mother. That doesn't mean those people aren't there.

I wish the school website broke it down more than black/hispanic/white but it is imposible (or not post it at all). AA/Ethiopian/Ghana/England/etc - that is diverse 30% AA is less diverse, for example. Bethesda says white 80% but what if it was really England/Holland/Australian/American/Canadian - it's more diverse.

Would you say that in your school if you took the AA kids 33% are rich, 33% are middle income, 33% are FARM. That would be balanced. Is it balanced?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:9:45 here. People (kids and adults) self-segregate everywhere, in all situations. My point was that SS as a whole was a lot more diverse on a micro level...sure some neighborhoods are more white, some more hispanic, some more black (AA and immigrant), but at the ES level the schools were very diverse.

I agree with your post. My kids point it out to me all the time. When we are situation X everybody is white, situation Y everybody is Hispanic, situation Z everybody is black. They ask why. It's hard to explain since I don't really understand it. I usually say I don't know what other people do or why, it is none of my business, I like to have lots of different friends.

I find that Gaithersburg and Germantown are not segregated like the rest of the county.

So if somebody said that MD public schools are segregated I would agree. If they wanted to find a community that is less segregated I would NOT say Silver Spring just like I would NOT say Bethesda or Potomac or Poolesville or a bunch of other places in MD .

But, I don't believe schools will fix this issue. I would always say if your life is diverse your children's lives will be diverse so work on making lots of friends with different backgrounds and kids will too.

What do you consider diverse? I am sure there are a couple of Silver spring elementary schools that 80% black or 80% hispanic. But there are many that are not that heavily tilted in one direction. Plus, I know there are many, many people on DCUM who would think that a school that is "only" 80% white qualifies as diverse. So, a conversation on what places are and are not diverse is meaningless if you don't define diversity.
BTW, we are an African American/immigrant family, living in a silver spring neighborhood that you would probably consider white and segregated.

This is a NP - in parts of the US schools are 98% white. I don't think there are ANY like that in MOCO. So it all depends on how you look at it. When we were looking for homes - most of the ES demographics were pretty diverse (meaning no one majority). We were not looking in Bethesda or Potomac though so not sure about that area. We ended up in Gburg and it is quite diverse and from what I can tell - not as self segregating as some other areas.

The schools in MoCo aren't segregated in the sense that there's one racial group dominating particular schools at that kind of percentage levels; it's really that certain of the schools tend to be overwhelmingly white/asian or black/latino, and those that score well are those dominated by the white/asian demographic (i.e., the W clusters), while those that don't are dominated by the black/latino demographic. For example, in Gaithersburg you have streets that divide Rosemont ES/Forest Oak MS/Gaithersburg HS from Fallsmead ES/Robert Frost MS/Wooton HS. The former puts you in a ~70-80% black/asian demographic while the latter puts you in a ~80-85% white/asian environment. Believe me, the developers at Crown Farm are dealing with this right now trying to sell the new, expensive homes there.

There are many other examples like that along the same corridor. It's a huge disparity for neighboring districts, and it creates a self-sustaining cycle as people who might otherwise move to the other zone avoid it solely to stay in the "better performing" (i.e., white/asian) one. If you try to integrate everything through some sort of consortium concept, the people in the W clusters raise hell because they don't want to lose their ability to send their kids to schools where they generally avoid the "undesirables". It's the subtle racism of supposedly liberal MoCo.

[Anonymous]

^ Sorry, above should have said: "The former puts you in a ~70-80% black/latino demographic while the latter puts you in a ~80-85% white/asian environment."

[Anonymous]

[quo

I wish the school website broke it down more than black/hispanic/white but it is imposible (or not post it at all). AA/Ethiopian/Ghana/England/etc - that is diverse 30% AA is less diverse, for example. Bethesda says white 80% but what if it was really England/Holland/Australian/American/Canadian - it's more diverse.

Would you say that in your school if you took the AA kids 33% are rich, 33% are middle income, 33% are FARM. That would be balanced. Is it balanced?

I have no idea about that level of detail re: household income. I just checked the school's at a glance report, and 19% of black students are FARMS, 20% of Hispanic students, and less than 5% of asian, white and multiracial kids are FARMS. Beyond that, all I know of income is that some live in apartments, some in townhouses, some in single family homes. 15% of both black and hispanic kids are ESOL. I think it is more complex than income though. There are many African immigrant families in our school who don't have high incomes, but are well educated. Parental education tends to be a better predictor of a child's educational success. Also, I have volunteered in the classroom quite a bit over the years, and academic achievement shows a bit of a spread as well, though the lower level of achievement tends to be dominated by hispanic kids.