Today's Post OpEd from DCPS consultants

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Middle class families will leave. Period.

+10

[Anonymous]

This might be a round of, "let's publicize something extreme so that our eventual suggested policy is more palatable."

[Anonymous]

The piece states "no one would be forced to trek across town" as if they are trying to save us all gas and time...all we need to do is give up our educational choices for our children. Screw them. I happily drive my child across town and thank my lucky stars when I drop her off at her high performing school with its great teachers, leadership, high scores, fabulous aftercare and involved PTA. I know proximity IS genuinely important for many families but don't assume that's the biggest factor for all of us. I'm sure all those families sending their kids from Dc to Bethesda each day to attend Sidwell's lower school feel like it's a good investment too

[Anonymous]

Kaya was stupid enough to tweet an endorsement of this article. I am done defending her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The piece states "no one would be forced to trek across town" as if they are trying to save us all gas and time...all we need to do is give up our educational choices for our children. Screw them. I happily drive my child across town and thank my lucky stars when I drop her off at her high performing school with its great teachers, leadership, high scores, fabulous aftercare and involved PTA. I know proximity IS genuinely important for many families but don't assume that's the biggest factor for all of us. I'm sure all those families sending their kids from Dc to Bethesda each day to attend Sidwell's lower school feel like it's a good investment too

Oh, and I meant to say no one is "forcing" me to trek across town. I do it happily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The piece states "no one would be forced to trek across town" as if they are trying to save us all gas and time...all we need to do is give up our educational choices for our children. Screw them. I happily drive my child across town and thank my lucky stars when I drop her off at her high performing school with its great teachers, leadership, high scores, fabulous aftercare and involved PTA. I know proximity IS genuinely important for many families but don't assume that's the biggest factor for all of us. I'm sure all those families sending their kids from Dc to Bethesda each day to attend Sidwell's lower school feel like it's a good investment too

I think they mean that parents with good neighborhood schools would not be forced to go out of the neighborhood (unless they wanted to).

[Anonymous]

Tar and feather if these assholes try what they are suggesting.

[Anonymous]

But that's the part I question...I don't think on what these authors envision they actually intend for me to have the ability to "trek" across town. They want our middle class family with our willingness to engage with the school to stay put and go to a school nearby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But that's the part I question...I don't think on what these authors envision they actually intend for me to have the ability to "trek" across town. They want our middle class family with our willingness to engage with the school to stay put and go to a school nearby.

I don't think that is what they are saying - charters would still exist.

[Anonymous]

What about OOB for DCPS? What do imagine they envision? I think they envision it going away. We attend DCPS OOB and are very happy. I'm reasonably confident that our family will be fine via grandfathering that will take place, I'm just suggesting that this article seems to be hedging towards a plan to eliminate OOB without actually saying it. Otherwise, how do you "force" this mandated socioeconomic diversity pipe dream?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Truth is, the minority parents who historically have rejected their neighborhood schools and placed their kids Into OOB schools are the more functional and ambitious families who would actually improve their neighborhood schools if they didn't have the OOB. But that would be a tougher argument to make than limiting white middle class access to their inboundary school

NW DC has always been affluent but suddenly the middle class families decided to send their kids to the local public school instead of going private or moving away when the kids got to be school-age. Why do so many 'experts' ignore the fact that the city is a better place to live for everybody than it was just 10 years ago. What happened to Deal, Wilson, and even Hyde in G'town can happen to other schools throughout the city wherever livability for families improves. More and better bus routes, more and better policing, better infrastructure, well-maintained parks, lead to committed school-age families of whatever race or economic level.

You can't make people like a school, but you can change a neighborhood so people will commit to and care about the schools there.

And the thing that pisses me off the most about the article is the clear assumption that only with enough whites to balance out the blacks will a school be able to succeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Middle class families will leave. Period. As one of the author's neighbors, he might want check with his demographic before speaking out on our behalf. What an idiot...

+1

And does he really think that many of these "poor" families can commute sometimes and hour by public transportation to these crosstown schools?

[Anonymous]

>>>And the thing that pisses me off the most about the article is the clear assumption that only with enough whites to balance out the blacks will a school be able to succeed.

Yep. Me too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Truth is, the minority parents who historically have rejected their neighborhood schools and placed their kids Into OOB schools are the more functional and ambitious families who would actually improve their neighborhood schools if they didn't have the OOB. But that would be a tougher argument to make than limiting white middle class access to their inboundary school

NW DC has always been affluent but suddenly the middle class families decided to send their kids to the local public school instead of going private or moving away when the kids got to be school-age. Why do so many 'experts' ignore the fact that the city is a better place to live for everybody than it was just 10 years ago. What happened to Deal, Wilson, and even Hyde in G'town can happen to other schools throughout the city wherever livability for families improves. More and better bus routes, more and better policing, better infrastructure, well-maintained parks, lead to committed school-age families of whatever race or economic level.

You can't make people like a school, but you can change a neighborhood so people will commit to and care about the schools there.

And the thing that pisses me off the most about the article is the clear assumption that only with enough whites to balance out the blacks will a school be able to succeed.

The article was shocking and horrible. I'm glad Scott Pearson responded against it. Surprised Kaya semester to embrace it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Truth is, the minority parents who historically have rejected their neighborhood schools and placed their kids Into OOB schools are the more functional and ambitious families who would actually improve their neighborhood schools if they didn't have the OOB. But that would be a tougher argument to make than limiting white middle class access to their inboundary school

NW DC has always been affluent but suddenly the middle class families decided to send their kids to the local public school instead of going private or moving away when the kids got to be school-age. Why do so many 'experts' ignore the fact that the city is a better place to live for everybody than it was just 10 years ago. What happened to Deal, Wilson, and even Hyde in G'town can happen to other schools throughout the city wherever livability for families improves. More and better bus routes, more and better policing, better infrastructure, well-maintained parks, lead to committed school-age families of whatever race or economic level.

You can't make people like a school, but you can change a neighborhood so people will commit to and care about the schools there.

And the thing that pisses me off the most about the article is the clear assumption that only with enough whites to balance out the blacks will a school be able to succeed.

I don't think I am the only one who does not give a damn about about balancing white vs. black - what matters far more is that positive and productive educational and societal values outweigh negative ones in the community.