DC White flight - what will it mean for education?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the reason for recent year increase in crime? What can be done to improve it? Its not like suburbs are too far and unreachable, its increasing there as well and may spread more.

Charles Allen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the reason for recent year increase in crime? What can be done to improve it? Its not like suburbs are too far and unreachable, its increasing there as well and may spread more.

Charles Allen.

You again, huh? Post pointed out crime in increasing in suburbs as well and you blamed Charles Allen. I love you! Never change.

P.S. He ran unopposed in primary so other than you and the 4 other geniuses that blame him for traffic, smog and the fact that your tomatoes won't grow, people seem pretty happy with him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just White does not equate to diversity. I would love people other than white people to come to DC.

Well, they aren’t, are they? Wonder if being overlooked or ignored has anything to do with that? Or wanting a functional public school system?

Hispanics and non-white Hispanics are, so I’m not sure what you mean by they aren’t coming. I am just from an area where there are whites, non-white hispanic people, Asian, black, middle eastern, etc.

And they are not overlooked. I’m not sure why it would be hard for you to get why most whites wouldn’t be the focus (in education) in a world where having light skin is a privilege.

Lol Who isn't overlooked? Agree that Hispanics are not overlooked but the rest sure are. I was worried until I talked to a principal at a solid school, who said that mixed and asian kids out perform the rest.

That being said, why are only 'whites' associated with higher performing kids? I want advanced engaging programming too, for any color kid who is motivated by it.

I hear people when they say the selection process creates a biased system, but why is the solution that no one can have anything nice? Start in ward 8 if that makes everyone feel better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just White does not equate to diversity. I would love people other than white people to come to DC.

Well, they aren’t, are they? Wonder if being overlooked or ignored has anything to do with that? Or wanting a functional public school system?

Hispanics and non-white Hispanics are, so I’m not sure what you mean by they aren’t coming. I am just from an area where there are whites, non-white hispanic people, Asian, black, middle eastern, etc.

And they are not overlooked. I’m not sure why it would be hard for you to get why most whites wouldn’t be the focus (in education) in a world where having light skin is a privilege.

Lol Who isn't overlooked? Agree that Hispanics are not overlooked but the rest sure are. I was worried until I talked to a principal at a solid school, who said that mixed and asian kids out perform the rest.

That being said, why are only 'whites' associated with higher performing kids? I want advanced engaging programming too, for any color kid who is motivated by it.

I hear people when they say the selection process creates a biased system, but why is the solution that no one can have anything nice? Start in ward 8 if that makes everyone feel better.

The simple fact is that it’s not an easy issue. There is research showing that tracking benefits minority and lower income kids. There is also a fair amount of history going back 40-50 years of tracking being explicitly used to bolster segregation. As recently at when my kid was starting Wilson in 2016, there was a different kind of inadvertent segregation happening where some EOTP schools recommended zero kids for honors/AP classes at Wilson whereas some WOTP schools recommended ALL their kids. This is what lead to “honors for all” at Wilson, which was very unpopular with WOTP parents and some kids who didn’t want to take honors classes. Lots of parents complained, but I didn’t see any concrete suggestions about how to address the original issue of some schools not recommending any kids for honors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

DCPS is a district focused primarily on the growth and success of low-income children of color. From leadership down that is the priority, and it should be.

Explain to me why a school system should focus primarily upon on one socio-economic and ethnic group. Other jurisdictions like Arlington, Alexandria, MCPS, and Fairfax somehow seem to manage to care about ALL learners.

Because inequality is horrible for society overall, yes even for you.

I'm a European immigrant (but not Anglo) who is disgusted with continuing segregation and imprisonment of a significant portion of the US population. I want my kids to benefit from fair competition where the brightest minds can apply their talents and efforts to better society, not a system that suppresses such talent based on random and inconsequential (to quality) attribute, such as skin color, gender, accent, religion, sexual orientation, to name a few.


Do people really not get it or just pretend not to get it? SMH

Most whites believe that those other groups don’t contain the best or brightest. See how DCUM uses “white” as a proxy for UMC. If you’re really European but not Anglo, then you must be aware of this racism yourself, because it’s rampant in Europe also. Or are you just pretending it doesn’t exist?

European nations do not have the high levels of racial segregation as America. I don’t think Americans really high extremely racially segregated we are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The people we have known who have left and moved (either to suburbs or another part of the country to be nearer to extended family)... yes, schools played into their decision, as did rising crime. But it was more about space and wanting bigger buffers in case of another Covid-like event, whether that would be nearby family or schools they knew wouldn't close, or simply a bigger home and yard for kids. It was less about not liking DC and more about worrying how their specific family would handle that happening again.

Something that is kind of amazing to me is that on the issue of school closures, DC does not have a single political who has come forward, in a HOTLY contested election cycle, to simply say "I'm super progressive [list progressive bonafides] but I will never support school closures as a longterm solution for anything because in-person school is too important to our city's families to sacrifice -- we will find a way to ensure that families can rely on open public schools, especially in times of crisis." I just think there are a lot of families who struggled over the last two years due to closures/quarantines who would have leapt at the opportunity to vote for someone who was willing to say out loud that schools were closed too long and that we didn't do enough to keep them open. I know so many families who love DC but this issue sizzles under the surface for their commitment to the city. There were many months in DC where many families had no access to in person education, but every private school in the city was offering in person learning and bars and restaurants were welcoming customers every night of the week. It's crazy to me that not a single politician has stepped forward to say "that was messed up and we can NEVER let it happen again."

Because they cannot promise that, no matter how much you demand they do so. Shrug.

[Anonymous]

How about start aggressively tracking at the high farms schools. Motivated talented kids deserve a chance to learn

[Anonymous]

Those kids aren’t there. They aren’t motivated. They can be motivated by staff but generally are not of their own accord. You have to spot the kids who could succeed despite everyone around them not having that potential and none of them showing the interest or effort.

We aren’t talking about strivers hiding behind dumb peers getting as while their compatriots drool. It’s a culture of nonachivement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: but every private school in the city was offering in person learning and bars and restaurants were welcoming customers every night of the week. It's crazy to me that not a single politician has stepped forward to say "that was messed up and we can NEVER let it happen again."

Because they cannot promise that, no matter how much you demand they do so. Shrug.

Well they should say under the same circumstances they won't close schools. In retrospect it was a mistake. Looming potential to close schools again under the current threat of Covid is not science based but kowtows to the vaccine hesitant who don't trust the health system. Two year olds in this city are still masking. What a joke. We seriously put kids last in this city despite being as brown and black centric as the politicians purport. It is all superficial. Kids suffer, held back, not challenged, in the name of equity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those kids aren’t there. They aren’t motivated. They can be motivated by staff but generally are not of their own accord. You have to spot the kids who could succeed despite everyone around them not having that potential and none of them showing the interest or effort.

We aren’t talking about strivers hiding behind dumb peers getting as while their compatriots drool. It’s a culture of nonachivement.

Yes these kids are there in the schools. You test them going into 1st grade and track those who do well. Doing it early identifies the kids with potential.

It’s rare the self driven kid. The majority of kids in elementary, even high performers, are not truly self driven. But when the kid is put among higher performing peers, a lot will rise up and do better. My son is like this and so are many others.

Sure, there is the self driven kid going to a poorly performing school who will succeed despite everything around them. But they are outliers, not the norm and rare. Studies clearly show that peer group performance has a significant impact on a kid, especially of low SES and less educated parents.

Some studies have also shown the benefits of G & T programs on low SES kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: but every private school in the city was offering in person learning and bars and restaurants were welcoming customers every night of the week. It's crazy to me that not a single politician has stepped forward to say "that was messed up and we can NEVER let it happen again."

Because they cannot promise that, no matter how much you demand they do so. Shrug.

Well they should say under the same circumstances they won't close schools. In retrospect it was a mistake. Looming potential to close schools again under the current threat of Covid is not science based but kowtows to the vaccine hesitant who don't trust the health system. Two year olds in this city are still masking. What a joke. We seriously put kids last in this city despite being as brown and black centric as the politicians purport. It is all superficial. Kids suffer, held back, not challenged, in the name of equity.

Because they know the parents still harping on the subject of school closures will never be happy, which is incorrect. You will be happy when someone travels back in time and decides to keep DC schools open! Only then will you STFU about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

DCPS is a district focused primarily on the growth and success of low-income children of color. From leadership down that is the priority, and it should be.

Explain to me why a school system should focus primarily upon on one socio-economic and ethnic group. Other jurisdictions like Arlington, Alexandria, MCPS, and Fairfax somehow seem to manage to care about ALL learners.

Whoa. To even argue the point would get you canceled. Just nod enthusiastically, appear to agree, but then do what every same parent does and either move to the ritzy part of dc with a passable high school or send them to private.

I also agree this city should focus more on keeping the kids of wealthy parents in public school, but I guess I’m a selfish gentrifying piece of sht or whatever.

You are.

And you'll be on here in a few threads complaining about the school to prison pipeline. Culture matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: but every private school in the city was offering in person learning and bars and restaurants were welcoming customers every night of the week. It's crazy to me that not a single politician has stepped forward to say "that was messed up and we can NEVER let it happen again."

Because they cannot promise that, no matter how much you demand they do so. Shrug.

Well they should say under the same circumstances they won't close schools. In retrospect it was a mistake. Looming potential to close schools again under the current threat of Covid is not science based but kowtows to the vaccine hesitant who don't trust the health system. Two year olds in this city are still masking. What a joke. We seriously put kids last in this city despite being as brown and black centric as the politicians purport. It is all superficial. Kids suffer, held back, not challenged, in the name of equity.

Because they know the parents still harping on the subject of school closures will never be happy, which is incorrect. You will be happy when someone travels back in time and decides to keep DC schools open! Only then will you STFU about it.

This bickering back and forth doesn’t address my original question (original PP here): given how unpopular and difficult school closures were (and in retrospect, unnecessary, based on experiences in other school districts and in DC once schools reopened), why not one single politician who will say “We won’t do that again”?

There’s such an obvious opportunity to do so. Everywhere I go, I encounter people who are still outraged about how that was handled. And yet it was barely discussed in the primary and mostly only in the other direction (politicians saying how important the policy was). I find it bizarre.

This isn’t about me being obsessed with school closures, it’s about the fact that I KNOW there are many parents in DC who were horrified by how they were handled and how long they went on, which makes it an obvious issue for a challenger to seize on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: but every private school in the city was offering in person learning and bars and restaurants were welcoming customers every night of the week. It's crazy to me that not a single politician has stepped forward to say "that was messed up and we can NEVER let it happen again."

Because they cannot promise that, no matter how much you demand they do so. Shrug.

Well they should say under the same circumstances they won't close schools. In retrospect it was a mistake. Looming potential to close schools again under the current threat of Covid is not science based but kowtows to the vaccine hesitant who don't trust the health system. Two year olds in this city are still masking. What a joke. We seriously put kids last in this city despite being as brown and black centric as the politicians purport. It is all superficial. Kids suffer, held back, not challenged, in the name of equity.

Because they know the parents still harping on the subject of school closures will never be happy, which is incorrect. You will be happy when someone travels back in time and decides to keep DC schools open! Only then will you STFU about it.

This bickering back and forth doesn’t address my original question (original PP here): given how unpopular and difficult school closures were (and in retrospect, unnecessary, based on experiences in other school districts and in DC once schools reopened), why not one single politician who will say “We won’t do that again”?

There’s such an obvious opportunity to do so. Everywhere I go, I encounter people who are still outraged about how that was handled. And yet it was barely discussed in the primary and mostly only in the other direction (politicians saying how important the policy was). I find it bizarre.

This isn’t about me being obsessed with school closures, it’s about the fact that I KNOW there are many parents in DC who were horrified by how they were handled and how long they went on, which makes it an obvious issue for a challenger to seize on.

Well everyone I KNOW knew it was a new virus and no playbook existed. I even know some folks who didn’t want schools to reopen because they didn’t think it was safe. Politicians know that all parents in DCPS have different views and they don’t want to alienate folks. The faction of parents like you won’t be happy with anything so politicians just ignore that faction. Sometimes it’s best not to address the squeaky wheel and hope it works out its issue on its own.

Do you really want to motivate people to vote for you by stirring up anger and resentment?! This is what is grossly wrong with American politics right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: but every private school in the city was offering in person learning and bars and restaurants were welcoming customers every night of the week. It's crazy to me that not a single politician has stepped forward to say "that was messed up and we can NEVER let it happen again."

Because they cannot promise that, no matter how much you demand they do so. Shrug.

Well they should say under the same circumstances they won't close schools. In retrospect it was a mistake. Looming potential to close schools again under the current threat of Covid is not science based but kowtows to the vaccine hesitant who don't trust the health system. Two year olds in this city are still masking. What a joke. We seriously put kids last in this city despite being as brown and black centric as the politicians purport. It is all superficial. Kids suffer, held back, not challenged, in the name of equity.

Because they know the parents still harping on the subject of school closures will never be happy, which is incorrect. You will be happy when someone travels back in time and decides to keep DC schools open! Only then will you STFU about it.

This bickering back and forth doesn’t address my original question (original PP here): given how unpopular and difficult school closures were (and in retrospect, unnecessary, based on experiences in other school districts and in DC once schools reopened), why not one single politician who will say “We won’t do that again”?

There’s such an obvious opportunity to do so. Everywhere I go, I encounter people who are still outraged about how that was handled. And yet it was barely discussed in the primary and mostly only in the other direction (politicians saying how important the policy was). I find it bizarre.

This isn’t about me being obsessed with school closures, it’s about the fact that I KNOW there are many parents in DC who were horrified by how they were handled and how long they went on, which makes it an obvious issue for a challenger to seize on.

Well everyone I KNOW knew it was a new virus and no playbook existed. I even know some folks who didn’t want schools to reopen because they didn’t think it was safe. Politicians know that all parents in DCPS have different views and they don’t want to alienate folks. The faction of parents like you won’t be happy with anything so politicians just ignore that faction. Sometimes it’s best not to address the squeaky wheel and hope it works out its issue on its own.

Do you really want to motivate people to vote for you by stirring up anger and resentment?! This is what is grossly wrong with American politics right now.

A politician wouldn't be "stirring up anger and resentment" by saying "we learned new things over the last two years, and going forward we won't do those damaging things any more." I am lost how a politician saying "we will follow the research now that we have it" is hurting anyone.