Housing dilemma in Capitol Hill - which schools are worth it?
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Anonymous
An emphasis on diversity is wonderful. Assigning kids an essay on why Columbus Day is a racist holiday, one that never should have been celebrated, isn't. This happened in a 4th grade L-T class last year and parents took the matter up the chain in DCPS. Times are changing in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Our public schools, so close to the Congressional offices, should be places where families of all political stripes--progressive, liberal, centrist, conservative, apolitical--families feel welcome. |
Anonymous
My child just finished 4th grade at LT. We were impressed with both of the teachers. Our child had some academic issues despite testing very well, and they proactively addressed that, including reaching out to us. They could have easily just ignored those and focused on the kids at bottom of the class since they are being evaluated on test results. And more importantly, our child was happy to go to school, despite not generally being a happy kid. The America history units, as far as I could tell, were very mainstream, covering the same basics you'd get in schools across the country. We are white and I got absolutely no sense of any particular focus on black history or culture, though I'm sure it was covered. We are bailing for a charter school, but we'd much prefer if the charter school started in 6th so we could spend 5th at LT. |
Anonymous
Wow again. I would love to have my son's school question why the U.S. celebrates a holiday that marks the beginning of the colonization and near-genocide of its native people. I can't believe parents objected to that (and took it "up the chain."). |
Anonymous
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Get a grip, PP.
From Wikipedia: Celebration of Christopher Columbus' voyage in the early United States is recorded from as early as 1792. In that year, the Tammany Society in New York City (for whom it became an annual tradition) and the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston celebrated the 300th anniversary of Columbus' landing in the New World. For the 400th anniversary in 1892, following a lynching in New Orleans where a mob had murdered 11 Italian immigrants, President Benjamin Harrison declared Columbus Day as a one-time national celebration. The proclamation was part of a wider effort after the lynching incident to placate Italian Americans and ease diplomatic tensions with Italy. During the anniversary in 1892, teachers, preachers, poets and politicians used rituals to teach ideals of patriotism. These rituals took themes such as citizenship boundaries, the importance of loyalty to the nation, and the celebration of social progress. Many Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of their heritage, and the first such celebration had already been held in New York City on October 12, 1866. The day was first enshrined as a legal holiday in the United States through the lobbying of Angelo Noce, a first generation Italian, in Denver. The first statewide holiday was proclaimed by Colorado governor Jesse F. McDonald in 1905, and it was made a statutory holiday in 1907. In 1966, Mariano A. Lucca, from Buffalo, NY, founded the National Columbus Day Committee, which lobbied to make Columbus Day a federal holiday. These efforts were successful and Columbus Day became a federal holiday in 1968. Since 1971 (Oct. 11), the holiday has been attributed to the second Monday in October, coincidentally exactly the same day as Thanksgiving in neighboring Canada since 1957. It is generally observed nowadays by banks, the bond market, the U.S. Postal Service, other federal agencies, most state government offices, many businesses, and most school districts. Some businesses and some stock exchanges remain open, and some states and municipalities abstain from observing the holiday. The traditional date of the holiday also adjoins the anniversary of the United States Navy (founded October 13, 1775), and thus both occasions are customarily observed by the Navy and the Marine Corps with either a 72- or 96-hour liberty period. Actual observance varies in different parts of the United States, ranging from large-scale parades and events to complete non-observance. |
Anonymous
| You're really the only one who can answer the question of which schools are worth it. You won't have difficulty finding parents who think L-T and Watkins are worth it all the way to 5th grade. But as I'm sure you've gathered by now, some Maury and Brent parents wouldn't touch L-T or Watkins with a 10-foot pole. Too many "cultural" headaches, old school teachers, kids with issues, kids who are behind academically etc. etc. |
Anonymous
| I would never in a million years pay $200K to avoid LT for a PK4er and 1st grader. I don’t think the poster who wants to justify the choice they made 5 years ago was wrong... but it’s 5 years later. I would much rather live in most of the L-T zone than the Maury zone and I like that L-T is not all rich and white...Brent is; feel free to check the stats. I think the area north of Stanton Park within 10 minutes of Union Station and right near H St and WF, but also only 10-15 minutes to Eastern Market is one of the nicest areas on the Hill. One of the one block streets b/t 6th and 7th NE there is probably my ideal Hill address. |
Anonymous
Not sure I get the problem with OP "paying 200K to avoid LT." If s/he buys a house anywhere on the Hill and stays 3-4 years, the place is then sold, or rented, almost certainly for a nice profit. Real estate in the LT District just isn't significantly cheaper than the Brent or Maury Districts these days, not on a square footage basis. Brent just isn't all "rich and white." Our children have attended Brent for a long time and we're not white, or rich, nor are most of their school buddies. |
Anonymous
Backup in case the Lincoln park protests got out of hand. They’re gone as of this past weekend as far as I can tell. |
Anonymous
Her OP literally asked if it was worth $200K to get into the Brent or Maury districts over LT or Watkins. So your opinion seems fairly irrelevant. Brent has vanishingly few poor kids and is overwhelmingly white when compared to any of the other schools discussed, Maury included. |
Anonymous
| I will say that much of the LT zone is more expensive than the Maury zone, but if you’re trying to get similarly situated houses re: amenities, metro, safety, then Maury is a bit more expensive and just not particularly available... The convenient part of the Maury district (south west cornerish) is relatively small and the houses around LP are also quite expensive. |
Anonymous
Um, most of Cap Hill has "vanishingly few" poor families these days. Almost the entire Hill has become overwhelmingly white as compared to less pricey DC residential neighborhoods. The reality is that Maury's ECE, K and 1st grade classes are almost as white/high SES as Brent's this year. If DC didn't want by-right neighborhood schools serving neighbors, ed leaders and voters should really have ditched them a generation ago, like San Fran and Boston did in the 70s and 80s. But if you're looking for diversity through a glass-half-full lens, you can find it in greater international representation and growing UMC minority communities in our by-right public schools EotP. When we started at Brent 6 or 7 years ago, the student body was down as 1% Asian and 1% English Language Learners. This fall, Brent will be 6-7% Asian and at least 5% ELL. Globe trotting families, not all of them American, are great to have in the school community. |
Anonymous
| The Hill has become so pricey that in, 5 more years, L-T will be as white as Maury is now, and Maury as white as Brent is now. Not sure what the point of this discussion is. OP's time horizon is just 3-4 years out. |
Anonymous
No, every Hill ES except Brent has some poor families. Brent is noticeably less diverse in multiple respects than any other local option. Some people don’t care, I get that. But in a thread where people are literally like “don’t go to LT and risk only raising $100K!”, pretending every school on the Hill is the same diversity-wise seems odd. |
Anonymous
| If your yardstick for diversity is a balance of AA students and white students, right, Brent doesn't measure up. But we chose Brent partly because it has the highest concentration of Asian students of the Hill schools, by a long shot. We're Asian and didn't want our children to be the only Asians in their classes, and possibly their grades or even the entire school. We lotteried into Brent from the L-T District when that was still possible. Our children always have Asian classmates in their classes, which wouldn't have been the case at L-T or Watkins. |
Anonymous
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If OP values diversity in the form of lots poor kids in a school, no shortage of choices and reasonably priced housing here in the District!!
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