McKinley Tech and Banneker - why don't more white students attend?

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why everyone is so hung up on the Wilson HS bandwagon.
Banneker and McKinley Tech seem like solid HS options so why are they almost 100% AA?
I have heard their presentations at High School Night and both did a good job.
I have even visited them and was impressed. It seems like kids can get a solid education at both schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why everyone is so hung up on the Wilson HS bandwagon.
Banneker and McKinley Tech seem like solid HS options so why are they almost 100% AA?
I have heard their presentations at High School Night and both did a good job.
I have even visited them and was impressed. It seems like kids can get a solid education at both schools.

Those are on my list, but my kids are years away from that. Also, we need to figure out middle school first.

[Anonymous]

The vast, vast, majority of white high-school aged kids in DCPS live in-bounds for Wilson or attend Wilson feeders. This will be less true now that Wilson's boundary shrank and more neighborhoods are gentrifying, but is still largely the case.

Of those who do not have rights to Wilson, SWW, Latin, BASIS, and DCI (and maybe Ellington) can accommodate most of them.

Some people want Wilson because it's a big school with lots of sports and extracurriculars and course selections and academies--McKinley and Banneker can't compete with that. Banneker is mostly female and McKinley is mostly male, which may be a plus or a minus for some kids.

Some kids don't want to be the only (or near-only) white kid. Some couldn't pass the admissions test. Some don't want the commute. There's not just one reason.

[Anonymous]

I don't know very much about either school. Are they neighborhood schools and the student population reflects that?

[Anonymous]

Too far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know very much about either school. Are they neighborhood schools and the student population reflects that?

They're both city-wide application only public schools. With great academic results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know very much about either school. Are they neighborhood schools and the student population reflects that?

They're both city-wide application only public schools. With great academic results.

+1. This is the point of the question, I believe. High SES parents clamoring for schools that have high academic standards, particularly white parents whose children are not zoned for the Deal/Wilson feeder, but who do not give McKinley and Banneker a chance either.

[Anonymous]

We're still a number of years away from high school so don't know what our decision will be, but I can say: 1) Wilson is within walking distance - why add a commute to a long day unless there's going to be a really good return on that time investment?; 2) living in the neighborhood, Wilson is a known entity - we know so many families there now or in the past that we have a lot of insider insight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know very much about either school. Are they neighborhood schools and the student population reflects that?

They're both city-wide application only public schools. With great academic results.

+1. This is the point of the question, I believe. High SES parents clamoring for schools that have high academic standards, particularly white parents whose children are not zoned for the Deal/Wilson feeder, but who do not give McKinley and Banneker a chance either.

There was a long Banneker thread here a few months ago. Essentially, yes, academics there are higher than other black-majority schools, but lower than TJ, Wilson, SWS, so there's no particular reason why a white family would choose to send their kids there.

[Anonymous]

I just don't think there are many families in DC who have progressed through DCPS middle school and are looking for a DCPS high school other than those with kids in Deal, which feeds to Wilson.

[Anonymous]

We are a Ward 4 family with no rights to Wilson HS - kids in 9th and 6th grade. Our IB is an educational center with too many challenges in the upper grades. We had to find a different middle school option.

We chose a charter that went through high school. We considered switching after 8th; looked at SWW and Banneker.

We have neighbors (white) with a child at McKinley and friends from our charter elementary school at Banneker (AA). All kids seem to be enjoying their schools and doing well.

The arts focus of Ellington and the STEM focus of McKinley were not of interest to our child. In the end we decided to stay at the charter.

We'll consider all the application high schools for our younger kid in 3 years in addition to staying at the charter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just don't think there are many families in DC who have progressed through DCPS middle school and are looking for a DCPS high school other than those with kids in Deal, which feeds to Wilson.

Sorry, that should say "white families" in the first sentence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are a Ward 4 family with no rights to Wilson HS - kids in 9th and 6th grade. Our IB is an educational center with too many challenges in the upper grades. We had to find a different middle school option.

We chose a charter that went through high school. We considered switching after 8th; looked at SWW and Banneker.

We have neighbors (white) with a child at McKinley and friends from our charter elementary school at Banneker (AA). All kids seem to be enjoying their schools and doing well.

The arts focus of Ellington and the STEM focus of McKinley were not of interest to our child. In the end we decided to stay at the charter.

We'll consider all the application high schools for our younger kid in 3 years in addition to staying at the charter.

Sorry - forgot to add a couple details (we are a white family) and our oldest has an IEP related to some moderate learning disabilities. The numbers of children with IEPs at both Banneker and SWW is really, really low, and feedback from parents we met is that they are not great at working with even modest accommodations. That may or may not really be the case but as a SN parent we are suspicious of any public school that reports fewer than 8-10% students with disabilities.

[Anonymous]

PP we are in the same situation, which charter is doing a good job with your child's IEP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP we are in the same situation, which charter is doing a good job with your child's IEP?

BASIS DC.