Tubman elementary?

[Anonymous]

I was looking at the DC schools website and came across Tubman elementary because it's somewhat close to us (Mt Pleasant). They have very good test scores (much better than Bancroft, Marie Reed, Powell..) and have an 8 great schools rating. But I never hear people talk about this school, and people don't seem to clamor over it like other similar schools. What is the deal with this school? Could anyone share info?

[Anonymous]

The principal behind the great scores just left once they finally got them. The legend is that the PRA rejected a white guy who wanted to be an involved parent. I would wait for another year of test scores to involve my child with the principal gone to see who's responsible for those gains.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The principal behind the great scores just left once they finally got them. The legend is that the PRA rejected a white guy who wanted to be an involved parent. I would wait for another year of test scores to involve my child with the principal gone to see who's responsible for those gains.

Fair enough, but he really built a great culture there, and I think the AP is still there, as are the teachers he hired, parent volunteers, etc. Regardless, I think it's close to impossible to get in there OOB anyway, at least for the early grades. We tried for Pre-K3 and is seemed like most if not all IB and siblings; we tried again for K and had a good WL # but never received a call.

[Anonymous]

It's not dual language and they're are too many brown kids. That's the real answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not dual language and they're are too many brown kids. That's the real answer.

While this may be the unfortunate truth, I suggest then that it is the socioeconomic demographics, not the racial ones that could be the reason folks on this forum are not clamoring to get in. They are many relatively affluent african american families (I personally know many) in EoTP who avoid IB schools as much, if not more than, white or asian families (non-"browns" I suppose). I don't condone it, but I've observed that this is the reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The principal behind the great scores just left once they finally got them. The legend is that the PRA rejected a white guy who wanted to be an involved parent. I would wait for another year of test scores to involve my child with the principal gone to see who's responsible for those gains.

The white guy was president of the parent association. Him and his wife were community activists, got along great with the previous principal, and yet still, were rejected. They left after ps3 and literally moved out of state (leaving their community commitments vacant). It was astonishing that these two would be "forced" out and very sad (they really devoted a lot to col. heights).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not dual language and they're are too many brown kids. That's the real answer.

It's not the brown kids, it's the location-busy street and shootings near by.I used to live half a block away and moved because of the crime in Irving street and shootings in section 8 behind it(we saw both shootings from our windows).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not dual language and they're are too many brown kids. That's the real answer.

It's not the brown kids, it's the location-busy street and shootings near by.I used to live half a block away and moved because of the crime in Irving street and shootings in section 8 behind it(we saw both shootings from our windows).

A few years ago that used to happen but that area is much safer. There was a major gang crackdown that ended a lot of the crime on Girard and Harvard. That area is not that much different than Petworth or even Mt. Pleasant.

[Anonymous]

In terms of location, isn't the massive presence of a large cluster of public housing a difference between Petworth and Mt. Pleasant and Tubman's catchment population?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In terms of location, isn't the massive presence of a large cluster of public housing a difference between Petworth and Mt. Pleasant and Tubman's catchment population?

Correct, the "Columbia Heights" area which includes Tubman is surrounded by public housing, however this area is the most socioeconomic area in DC in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Tubman is on our lottery list. We are IB, though, so it's a safety school. There are other schools I'd rather DD go to, for a variety of reasons that are unrelated to Tubman itself. We bought in 2011 because of the improvement in the school. It was a more appealing school than others in the area (Raymond, Powell) at the time and, to us, a perfectly acceptable option if DD does not get into anything else. I think that many white families in the area are put off by the idea of their child potentially being the only white child in their class more than they are by the proximity of public housing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tubman is on our lottery list. We are IB, though, so it's a safety school. There are other schools I'd rather DD go to, for a variety of reasons that are unrelated to Tubman itself. We bought in 2011 because of the improvement in the school. It was a more appealing school than others in the area (Raymond, Powell) at the time and, to us, a perfectly acceptable option if DD does not get into anything else. I think that many white families in the area are put off by the idea of their child potentially being the only white child in their class more than they are by the proximity of public housing.

Tubman has a recent history of alienating white parents. If that is the message that was crystal clear to a parent - would you want your child to tbe the only lonely in the classroom all day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tubman is on our lottery list. We are IB, though, so it's a safety school. There are other schools I'd rather DD go to, for a variety of reasons that are unrelated to Tubman itself. We bought in 2011 because of the improvement in the school. It was a more appealing school than others in the area (Raymond, Powell) at the time and, to us, a perfectly acceptable option if DD does not get into anything else. I think that many white families in the area are put off by the idea of their child potentially being the only white child in their class more than they are by the proximity of public housing.

Tubman has a recent history of alienating white parents. If that is the message that was crystal clear to a parent - would you want your child to tbe the only lonely in the classroom all day?

+1. We live near Tubman and are IB for a school that is also almost entirely non-white, low-income kids. We are very interested in our IB school, but we aren't applying to Tubman given everything we've heard about white parents being alienated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tubman is on our lottery list. We are IB, though, so it's a safety school. There are other schools I'd rather DD go to, for a variety of reasons that are unrelated to Tubman itself. We bought in 2011 because of the improvement in the school. It was a more appealing school than others in the area (Raymond, Powell) at the time and, to us, a perfectly acceptable option if DD does not get into anything else. I think that many white families in the area are put off by the idea of their child potentially being the only white child in their class more than they are by the proximity of public housing.

Tubman has a recent history of alienating white parents. If that is the message that was crystal clear to a parent - would you want your child to tbe the only lonely in the classroom all day?

I think that the white parent alienation is problematic, and it would definitely be something to consider. That said, it's been my experience at our current school, where my blonde blue-eyed DD is the racial minority in her class, that young children are a lot less bothered by this sort of thing than their parents are. Certainly older children (of all races) can pick up racist habits from their parents, but 3, 4, 5 year olds? They're kids playing with other kids, in my experience.

[Anonymous]

Principals should be ranked on how many white kids they recruit and retain in gentrifying neighborhoods. It would demonstrate reaching out to IB high ses families and creating truly neighborhood schools full of IB families.im IB for bruce Monroe but have issues with my kid being te only white student or not being fluent in Spanish which is language of their 60% ESL population. None of the white high ses families we know IB send their kids.