Segregation in Charter Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't half the issue behind why parents won't consider KIPP that they are not comfortable with the racial mix. I am white and that is my issue. I agree with the poster above, I need to be at least 20/25% white for it to work for me or at least not all one race. I just think a white kid would have it really hard. Also frankly the schools that are failing and therefore tend to have parents seeking charter schools are not in the whiter parts of DC. The big test will be Cap City's move.

Funny how there are no complaints when the roles are reversed. For years blacks kids were bussed into all white districts in the name of "integration".

What would you have people do?!?!!?!? Blacks are what - 17% of the population?!?!? What would you have us do as a society?!?!?!?! It's not mathematically possible for ratios to be equal at all schools!!! Really!!

Are your punctuation keys broken?

[Anonymous]

Didn't DCPS build and rebuild an entire high-school on the premise to attract African-Americans from DC to attend. The school I am talking about is Howard D. Woodson Senior High School of far northeast, the entire school was based on the Afrocentric school climate and culture. During their decades of existence they have experienced "great years" and "trying times" but at one point there was a need and still is a need to foster a specific group of students.

Vouching for Friendship is not that hard, when the evidence is quite clear. If you are so inclined to dis-allow the obvious, just review the school's data on their website.

Again, this post all started because of an advertisment.

[Anonymous]

Really? Exactly which all-black schools did Rhee and Fenty attempt to recruit white families into??

Or, is this just your selective and imaginary memory?

Hardy!! Sweet Jesus are you obtuse.

the whole principal Pope / arts magnet / not a magnet / private meetings / sandbagging / "concerned" Key parents who aren't rich enough to send all 3 kids to private and so want a MS option with fewer blacks ....


Imaginary memory? Pot, meet kettle.

[Anonymous]

I'm more interested in the way the demographics change by grade - that's far more relevant than the school numbers as a whole, especially in the younger years. In our well-regarded charter, my son's PK class is 1/3 each white, black, and hispanic (whiel the overall numbers are more that 50% black). The PK numbers change dramatically in the middle school years. I think white applicants numbers have risen in recent years as the school got a good reputation - it will be interesting to see if those numbers remain consistent as the kids get older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have seen several large advertisements for DC charter schools on the sides and backs of DC buses in the last few months. Many of these ads include photographs of happy students. I have yet to see a white face in any of these ads. I have to assume that the schools approve their own ads, so what message are they trying to send? To me it is a message of "white kids not wanted here."

Honestly, what are the schools supposed to do if there are no white kids?? I think most schools which have diversity try to tout it.

Zero white kids is not "diversity", yet that buzz word seems to be used by some to suggest that white parents have a moral imperative to send their kids to a school that is 80% black... or else they must be racist! This politically correct BS just drives me nuts!! These things break down by race/class for real reasons -- complicated and varied, but for real reasons that minorities need to take at least SOME responsibility for in this country. Doesn't seem like that's going to happen, and the problem can't be fixed unless it does.

PP, I wasn't the one that above asks what are the schools supposed to do if there are no white kids, but I feel the need to point out that you really los tthe thread of where the poster was going. She or he wasn't saying the school was bragging about how diverse it is. She or he was saying that if there were racial diversity at the school, then the school would likely have touted that fact in its advertisements. But since the school doesn't have racial diversity, what exactly are they supposed to do? Lie? Present a rainbow of colors when that is not the case? Is that what you want the school to do?

[Anonymous]

I think that when a school advertisement lacks diversity, in any way, it is sending a message to the unrepresented population that they are not welcome in the school. I don't think that the school intends to do this, or that the parent is even conscious of ruling out the school, but I think that it does play a role in how schools remain segregated.

[Anonymous]

Many of you are ignoring the role geography plays in this. Most parents have neither the time nor the inclination to drive across the city to take their kids to school unless it's a truly exceptional or unique opportunity. Thus, your fair to middlin' charters will to a large extent represent the demographics of their local communities - much like the local DCPS. You're just not going to get 20% white kids in Ward 7 or 8 charters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've got to say that I find this posting to be completely puzzling and factually unsupported. I am aware of absolutely no evidence that D.C.'s charter schools are significantly more racially segregated that D.C.'s traditional public schools. Looking around anecdotally, many, many of the better-known charter schools are extremely integrated, with sizable blocks of multiple ethnic groups. And I am aware of NO support for the idea that people are enrolling in charter schools in order to find a racially segregated educational experience for their children. True, there are demographic shifts underway at both charter and traditional public schools in some neighborhoods such as Capitol Hill, but for the most part those demographic shifts reflect a shift in the population of school-aged children in the public schools in those neighborhoods. The only really segregated schools in this city tend to be traditional public schools - my (OOB) child attends an upper northwest school that is more than 90% white; the public school down the street from us is 100% AA. And the last that the Public Charter School Board looked at this issue, there were actually a slightly higher percentage of minority kids in the charter system than in the traditional public system. What possible basis in fact is there for this heavily rhetoric-laden posting that seems completely devoid of factual support from the D.C. charter system, as opposed to that of another state 1000+ miles away and involving a completely different school system?

ITA

Have you taken a good look at the most popular charter schools? Cap City, Haynes, Yu Ying, and Two Rivers are probably the most racially balanced schools in the entire city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:KIPP targets low income children with an intense program focused on discipline and long days (home-help built into the school day). Not to mention lots of chants. I am not sure it is a black/white thing. Are there lots of high income black kids in KIPP do you think?

I can't vouch for the exact number of middle and high income families whose children attend KIPP, but yes, we are there along with the few white and mixed race families.

[Anonymous]

I know this isn't charter territory, but what would it take to get a few stellar magnet middle schools sprinkled around the city? I guarantee those schools would integrate quickly and convince middle class families black white and in between to stay invested in dcps. And would benefit large numbers of low income families as well. Hasn't the time arrived for this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know this isn't charter territory, but what would it take to get a few stellar magnet middle schools sprinkled around the city? I guarantee those schools would integrate quickly and convince middle class families black white and in between to stay invested in dcps. And would benefit large numbers of low income families as well. Hasn't the time arrived for this?

Politically unfeasible. There is no interest in or will to create magnet schools which will become desirable and largely white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this isn't charter territory, but what would it take to get a few stellar magnet middle schools sprinkled around the city? I guarantee those schools would integrate quickly and convince middle class families black white and in between to stay invested in dcps. And would benefit large numbers of low income families as well. Hasn't the time arrived for this?

Politically unfeasible. There is no interest in or will to create magnet schools which will become desirable and largely white.

A magnet program (like Oyster but actually a magnet not a neighborhood school) would work just fine in one of the ward 1 or ward 4 schools with diverse populations. You'd have to make it a school with some automatic admission for the neighborhood and a outstanding lottery/test-in magnet component for the rest of the city. But, then the Ward 3 folks would be up in arms as to why the special program was not close to them.

[Anonymous]

A magnet program (like Oyster but actually a magnet not a neighborhood school) would work just fine in one of the ward 1 or ward 4 schools with diverse populations. You'd have to make it a school with some automatic admission for the neighborhood and a outstanding lottery/test-in magnet component for the rest of the city. But, then the Ward 3 folks would be up in arms as to why the special program was not close to them.

Isn't what you described EXACTLY what Oyster is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

the whole principal Pope / arts magnet / not a magnet / private meetings / sandbagging / "concerned" Key parents who aren't rich enough to send all 3 kids to private and so want a MS option with fewer blacks ....

I'm not a Key parent but we are in-boundary for Hardy. While I don't know anyone who wants "a MS option with fewer blacks," (honestly, where do you think you're living? early 60s Mississippi?) I do know plenty of in-boundary parents who would like a middle school that's well-run and offers a curriculum appropriate for children who are on track for advanced math and foreign languages. Needless to say, kids of all races would benefit from these opportunities. Hardy doesn't offer them, though, so it's not a real option for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:KIPP targets low income children with an intense program focused on discipline and long days (home-help built into the school day). Not to mention lots of chants. I am not sure it is a black/white thing. Are there lots of high income black kids in KIPP do you think?

I can't vouch for the exact number of middle and high income families whose children attend KIPP, but yes, we are there along with the few white and mixed race families.

This must be the Benning Road Campus. There are no whites at the Shaw campus. They are all children of color-different ethic backgrounds but all children of color. Well except for 1 or 2 hispanics.