Diversity in Takoma Park
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Anonymous
| We are looking at DC/MD areas to purchase a home and with a good school system for my son. Several people have suggested Takoma Park and rave about the ES there. One thing that I have noticed is that there isn't much racial diversity within certain SES except transracial adoptions. I have been to many birthday parties, shop the Co-Op, friends, do the halloween thing, belong to the listserve, etc. Much of the diversity seems to be from the apartments and perimeter neighborhoods feeding into the area. Has anyone else noticed this, experienced this, and what are your thoughts on it. It's so hard to access a situation like this since the data from the schools don't tell a true picture. |
Anonymous
| Actually, the data from the schools does break down the FARMS numbers by race, so you can get a feel for how the racial diversity breaks down across SES level. I live in Silver Spring and spend a decent amount of time in Takoma Park, and I would say that generally, yes, much of the diversity in the schools comes from the lower SES areas in SS/TK. But frankly, that's true almost everywhere you go. As a life-long native of this area, I can tell you that it is hard to find any area that is diverse both socioeconomically and racially/ethnically. But I would put TK/SS in the category of having more diversity across all SES levels than most other areas of MoCo. |
Anonymous
These diverse populations that you refer to as "feeding into the area" are actually OF the area: they are Takoma Park residents. |
Anonymous
| The killer about TP for me is that there is no political diversity whatsoever. Everyone there is way, way left of center. I don't think that's healthy when the group think mentality is so entrenched. |
Anonymous
Yes, they live in Takoma Park but there is much discussion about certain areas being zoned out of TPES. I am specifically talking about the area across New Hampshire Avenue. |
Anonymous
| "Much discussion" by whom? |
Anonymous
| 11:28, OP, please tell me that this is not true. Sure gives you more to select from in the housing market. Since you know so much, how do the other ES compare to TPES? |
Anonymous
| What exactly are you looking for OP? A school with high SES and also with racial diversity? There are probably other areas to look if that is what you want. |
Anonymous
MoCO website has data per school on FARMS percentage and racial demographics. |
Anonymous
| Where would they be zoned to if not TP? |
Anonymous
Parts of Takoma park go to Rolling Terrace. |
Anonymous
| OP here. No, I am not looking for a high SES but diversity in that area too. |
Anonymous
| Are they conducting a boundary study or something like that? It seems unlikely that there would be a selective re-drawing of the boundaries that doesn't look at all of the schools in that corner of montgomery county. I guess if it's non-controversial it could be done. I don't live in Takoma Park so I don't have a sense for what kind of "talk" is out there. interesting. |
Anonymous
| OP here. We are mindful of buying a house on the periphery of any school boundary, especially when we would not consider the other school option. In this case, we are targeting TPES. |
Anonymous
| I don't think there is any effort underway to zone lower income families out of TPES. TPES is a fairly large school with a wide range of SES among the families. But my guess is that OP is wondering if there is a spectrum of both ethnic and SES diversity, or are all the poor people hispanic and black and all the upper income people white. |