Why doesn't DC have a competitive public high school like Stuyvesant in NYC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If white parents don't want to send their kids to Bannecker because they would be the only white kids at the school, it would only take little bit of coordinated action to solve that problem. If talented white kids apply every year then soon there will be a significant minority of white kids at the school, presumably in numbers similar to white population % in the city.

Isn't that what families at Ross and HD Cooke are trying to do. If the white folks go to the school, then it is no longer a black only school. But, someone has to be first.

I love your optimism, as if our collective racial goodwill should easily overcome this quagmire. But, for the record? Ross doesn't exactly have a good, solid reputation (much less a great one, like say: JKLM - Janney, Key, Lafayette, Mann, Murch) and many people make exceptions for Oyster. Unfortunately, nobody makes exceptions for Ross. Nor will they until test scores launch themselves into the appropriate level. And nobody has even heard of HD Cooke. (Excuse me. That's except for the middle/upper-middle-class white people who have actually, seriously checked it out. And so far they keep backing away.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If white parents don't want to send their kids to Bannecker because they would be the only white kids at the school, it would only take little bit of coordinated action to solve that problem. If talented white kids apply every year then soon there will be a significant minority of white kids at the school, presumably in numbers similar to white population % in the city.

Isn't that what families at Ross and HD Cooke are trying to do. If the white folks go to the school, then it is no longer a black only school. But, someone has to be first.

I love your optimism, as if our collective racial goodwill should easily overcome this quagmire. But, for the record? Ross doesn't exactly have a good, solid reputation (much less a great one, like say: JKLM - Janney, Key, Lafayette, Mann, Murch) and many people make exceptions for Oyster. Unfortunately, nobody makes exceptions for Ross. Nor will they until test scores launch themselves into the appropriate level. And nobody has even heard of HD Cooke. (Excuse me. That's except for the middle/upper-middle-class white people who have actually, seriously checked it out. And so far they keep backing away.)

Given that there are currently children attending Cooke, someone has clearly heard of it. Are you saying that the people who send their children don't exist because they're demographically different from you?

I don't think that considering the racial make up of a school before deciding whether to send one's child there makes one racist -- after all, I'm not looking at Whitman for my African American son for that very reason. However, I am consistently alarmed on this board when people make statements like this, as if DC residents who are different from the poster aren't worth noticing, and the schools they use don't even exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If white parents don't want to send their kids to Bannecker because they would be the only white kids at the school, it would only take little bit of coordinated action to solve that problem. If talented white kids apply every year then soon there will be a significant minority of white kids at the school, presumably in numbers similar to white population % in the city.

Isn't that what families at Ross and HD Cooke are trying to do. If the white folks go to the school, then it is no longer a black only school. But, someone has to be first.

I love your optimism, as if our collective racial goodwill should easily overcome this quagmire. But, for the record? Ross doesn't exactly have a good, solid reputation (much less a great one, like say: JKLM - Janney, Key, Lafayette, Mann, Murch) and many people make exceptions for Oyster. Unfortunately, nobody makes exceptions for Ross. Nor will they until test scores launch themselves into the appropriate level. And nobody has even heard of HD Cooke. (Excuse me. That's except for the middle/upper-middle-class white people who have actually, seriously checked it out. And so far they keep backing away.)

What you fail to fathom is that these schools (JKLM) with high test scores and "solid reputations" offer the same mediocre curriculum as the rest of DCPS. And that's nothing to brag about.

[Anonymous]

What you fail to understand is that there is much more to a school than the curriculum AND as has been debated on this board over and over again, every school/every teacher implements the curriculum differently.

[Anonymous]

Changing the demographics of a school, like you suggest may be happening at Ross, HD Cooke, and an organized group could consider at Banneker, is amazingly difficult. I am a white person whose children attended a historically AA elementary school, that a group of inboundary racially diverse families tried to infuse with new energy and academic rigor. We were thwarted at ever turn. The school remains 90% to 95% AA. Candidates for LSRT continue to write statements about needing this school to be for "students of color". I truly feel like I've experienced a small bit of discrimination.

Now, Ross and HD Cooke might not have the middle to upper class AA families, who had the energy, motivation, and political clout to control this other school. But, I would advise any group of white folks trying to change Banneker's racial composition to tread very lightly, and expect opposition and discrimination. It would take a very resilient 9th grader to enter him/her into this dynamic.

As for folks on DCUM talking like the only schools that exist are JKLMM, that's the subgroup that posts here. It is annoying, but shows another form of racial tension that in anonymous posts, people can say things (like I've said in this one about an anonymous school) that they wouldn't say is attribution were necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What you fail to understand is that there is much more to a school than the curriculum AND as has been debated on this board over and over again, every school/every teacher implements the curriculum differently.

Yes, every teacher implements the curriculum differently, and we have many educators who do a great job of implementing our mediocre curriculum.

And for some, no, apparently many, perhaps most, posters on this site, that is sufficient.

But, IMHO, it's nothing to brag about.

[Anonymous]

An opportunity to see and judge Banneker:

11/07/2009: Open House: Benjamin Banneker Academic High School

Please join us at the Benjamin Banneker Academic High School Open House!

Learn about the exciting programs available at Banneker.

Four-Year College Preparatory Program
International Baccalaureate World School
Extended Day Activities
Community Laboratory Project
Anita Berger, Principal
Janice Hylton, Assistant Principal
Abdullah Zaki II, Assistant Principal
Janice Dennis, Dean of Students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Changing the demographics of a school, like you suggest may be happening at Ross, HD Cooke, and an organized group could consider at Banneker, is amazingly difficult. I am a white person whose children attended a historically AA elementary school, that a group of inboundary racially diverse families tried to infuse with new energy and academic rigor. We were thwarted at ever turn. The school remains 90% to 95% AA. Candidates for LSRT continue to write statements about needing this school to be for "students of color". I truly feel like I've experienced a small bit of discrimination.

Now, Ross and HD Cooke might not have the middle to upper class AA families, who had the energy, motivation, and political clout to control this other school. But, I would advise any group of white folks trying to change Banneker's racial composition to tread very lightly, and expect opposition and discrimination. It would take a very resilient 9th grader to enter him/her into this dynamic.

As for folks on DCUM talking like the only schools that exist are JKLMM, that's the subgroup that posts here. It is annoying, but shows another form of racial tension that in anonymous posts, people can say things (like I've said in this one about an anonymous school) that they wouldn't say is attribution were necessary.

Sorry, what does that mean? Candidates for LSRT?

[Anonymous]

I am the OP. And a dad too.
This forum is very instructive. Thank you all.

But the second part of my post remains unanswered: if one wanted to set up a public merit based high school that legally could base admissions on academic performance, what is the legal process to create such a school? Would it require a legislative act from the city council? Or an executive act from the mayor? An executive act from the school chancellor? I am curious as to how this could be implemented from a process standpoint? Please for the moment set aside whether it is a good or bad idea. I am interested as to the precise legal and administrative mechanics. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the OP. And a dad too.
This forum is very instructive. Thank you all.

But the second part of my post remains unanswered: if one wanted to set up a public merit based high school that legally could base admissions on academic performance, what is the legal process to create such a school? Would it require a legislative act from the city council? Or an executive act from the mayor? An executive act from the school chancellor? I am curious as to how this could be implemented from a process standpoint? Please for the moment set aside whether it is a good or bad idea. I am interested as to the precise legal and administrative mechanics. Thank you.

There were multiple responses to the 2nd part of your question. Schools like you want to establish already exists. They are called Banneker, School without Walls and the Academies at Wilson high school. Have you explored these schools?

[Anonymous]

There is a definite tension between groups that want schools aimed at G&T kids, which by definition would need to rely on test-based admissions, and groups that want the best schools to reflect the rest of DC demographically. The recent Supreme Court decision re affirmative action has made it harder to balance these desires within a test-based admissions system. Even though a good argument can be made that upper-middle class caucasians do better on these admissions tests because they've had different preparation, many of them come from superior publics or private elementary schools, et cetera.

In addition, it would probably defeat everybody's purposes to set up a test-based HS that was prestigious enough to entice rich white families to leave their private elementary schools.

But whatever the case, anybody proposing to set up a high school with test-based admissions would need to navigate all these tensions. I myself wouldn't want to attempt it....

[Anonymous]

G&T -- Jessica Cutler

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:G&T -- Jessica Cutler

The Washingtonienne??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:G&T -- Jessica Cutler

The Washingtonienne??

yes.

[Anonymous]

Sorry - what does she have to do with G&T? Or anything else education-related in this forum?