Washington Informer article: "School Lottery Season Starts Amid Questions about Enrollment and Equity"

[Anonymous]

Just to be clear, there are many middle class people East of the River that seek schools like the ones they may have attended. Parents have the same values as others across DC. They may have degrees and very professional jobs. Some might even have impressive incomes. However, several schools in Wards 7 and 8 don’t meet their criteria. Some do apply for the Latins and West of the Park schools. Some learn about these schools on DCUM. They make the sacrifice to drive across D.C. to schools like some parents travel long distances to private schools.

Establish safe great schools with mixed income students. Parents with low incomes also want the best for their kids and want them to go to schools in safe neighborhoods and to schools where there is not a lot of bullying. They also want schools that can teach all types of students. Some parents have learned how some UMC parents supplement their kids’ education with tutors and enrichment activities but this can get expensive. Welcome all types of students in schools across the District of Columbia without bias.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just to be clear, there are many middle class people East of the River that seek schools like the ones they may have attended. Parents have the same values as others across DC. They may have degrees and very professional jobs. Some might even have impressive incomes. However, several schools in Wards 7 and 8 don’t meet their criteria. Some do apply for the Latins and West of the Park schools. Some learn about these schools on DCUM. They make the sacrifice to drive across D.C. to schools like some parents travel long distances to private schools.

Establish safe great schools with mixed income students. Parents with low incomes also want the best for their kids and want them to go to schools in safe neighborhoods and to schools where there is not a lot of bullying. They also want schools that can teach all types of students. Some parents have learned how some UMC parents supplement their kids’ education with tutors and enrichment activities but this can get expensive. Welcome all types of students in schools across the District of Columbia without bias.

Can I ask about this? I know that there are a couple of microneighborhoods with middle class people like Hillcrest. A couple of gentrifying areas around like Anacostia. A military bases at JBAB. But isn’t EOTR otherwise almost strictly multigenerational poor and 99.9% black? Like there aren’t these UMC families you are talking about. Except as unicorn one-offs. It’s not like in Wards 1/4/5.

So for schools - there aren’t UMC kids to be served there. It’s about serving the intergenerational black poor. I see charters as something these people choose because they see DCPS as having failed. Successful or not but the motivation for charters EOTR isn’t to give suburban experiences to UMC families used to great success who just happen to have settled in the ghetto. It’s for the children of longstanding residents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to be clear, there are many middle class people East of the River that seek schools like the ones they may have attended. Parents have the same values as others across DC. They may have degrees and very professional jobs. Some might even have impressive incomes. However, several schools in Wards 7 and 8 don’t meet their criteria. Some do apply for the Latins and West of the Park schools. Some learn about these schools on DCUM. They make the sacrifice to drive across D.C. to schools like some parents travel long distances to private schools.

Establish safe great schools with mixed income students. Parents with low incomes also want the best for their kids and want them to go to schools in safe neighborhoods and to schools where there is not a lot of bullying. They also want schools that can teach all types of students. Some parents have learned how some UMC parents supplement their kids’ education with tutors and enrichment activities but this can get expensive. Welcome all types of students in schools across the District of Columbia without bias.

Can I ask about this? I know that there are a couple of microneighborhoods with middle class people like Hillcrest. A couple of gentrifying areas around like Anacostia. A military bases at JBAB. But isn’t EOTR otherwise almost strictly multigenerational poor and 99.9% black? Like there aren’t these UMC families you are talking about. Except as unicorn one-offs. It’s not like in Wards 1/4/5.

So for schools - there aren’t UMC kids to be served there. It’s about serving the intergenerational black poor. I see charters as something these people choose because they see DCPS as having failed. Successful or not but the motivation for charters EOTR isn’t to give suburban experiences to UMC families used to great success who just happen to have settled in the ghetto. It’s for the children of longstanding residents.

I live in one of those micro-neighborhoods you describe. It is majority black but more like 70%/30%. It is predominantly older with people who no longer have school age children. For the ones who do they go to charters, private and DCPS application/selective schools. The charters did provide those micro-neighborhoods with an option they weren’t getting.

I think it’s inaccurate to describe EOTR as generally a “ghetto” that’s 99.9% poor. Keep in mind that just like the rest of the country, DC housing was highly segregated even with deeds restricting the sale of housing to Blacks in some neighborhoods. There was a concentration of Black wealth east of the river. While that has spread across DC (and into Maryland), there are still MC and UMC household EOTR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Can I ask about this? I know that there are a couple of microneighborhoods with middle class people like Hillcrest. A couple of gentrifying areas around like Anacostia. A military bases at JBAB. But isn’t EOTR otherwise almost strictly multigenerational poor and 99.9% black? Like there aren’t these UMC families you are talking about. Except as unicorn one-offs. It’s not like in Wards 1/4/5.

So for schools - there aren’t UMC kids to be served there. It’s about serving the intergenerational black poor. I see charters as something these people choose because they see DCPS as having failed. Successful or not but the motivation for charters EOTR isn’t to give suburban experiences to UMC families used to great success who just happen to have settled in the ghetto. It’s for the children of longstanding residents.

As a proud Ward 7 resident, its comments like these that spread misinformation. Assuming you live in the District, you should have a general idea of the makeup of the city not a generalization or stereotype. Let me be clear, it’s not the responsibility of Ward 7 and 8 residents to educate others on the city you live in. But we’re going to dispel generalizations. Learn more about Ward 7 demographics here: https://www.dchealthmatters.org/?module=demographicdata&controller=index&action=index&id=131494§ionId=
Learn more about Ward 8 here: https://www.dchealthmatters.org/?module=demographicdata&controller=index&action=index&id=131495§ionId=

As for my family, we chose to move to one of the best kept secret neighborhoods, Hillcrest (IYKYK). We moved from Bloomingdale to Hillcrest to have a better quality of life - less congestion, yard for our family, and a real sense of community. We knew moving EOTR schools may be challenging but as an UMC family we have the resources to supplement. However, I will say our experience at our in boundary elementary has been nothing short of amazing. With that said, there will come a time when we’ll need to transition to another school to meet educational requirements that our household established. Unfortunately, that will likely mean traveling across the city for our children’s education, which we’ll do. Until there is balanced education and resources this will continue beyond our family. The city likes to take the “build it and they will come” approach but unfortunately they do not share the same approach for education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to be clear, there are many middle class people East of the River that seek schools like the ones they may have attended. Parents have the same values as others across DC. They may have degrees and very professional jobs. Some might even have impressive incomes. However, several schools in Wards 7 and 8 don’t meet their criteria. Some do apply for the Latins and West of the Park schools. Some learn about these schools on DCUM. They make the sacrifice to drive across D.C. to schools like some parents travel long distances to private schools.

Establish safe great schools with mixed income students. Parents with low incomes also want the best for their kids and want them to go to schools in safe neighborhoods and to schools where there is not a lot of bullying. They also want schools that can teach all types of students. Some parents have learned how some UMC parents supplement their kids’ education with tutors and enrichment activities but this can get expensive. Welcome all types of students in schools across the District of Columbia without bias.

Can I ask about this? I know that there are a couple of microneighborhoods with middle class people like Hillcrest. A couple of gentrifying areas around like Anacostia. A military bases at JBAB. But isn’t EOTR otherwise almost strictly multigenerational poor and 99.9% black? Like there aren’t these UMC families you are talking about. Except as unicorn one-offs. It’s not like in Wards 1/4/5.

So for schools - there aren’t UMC kids to be served there. It’s about serving the intergenerational black poor. I see charters as something these people choose because they see DCPS as having failed. Successful or not but the motivation for charters EOTR isn’t to give suburban experiences to UMC families used to great success who just happen to have settled in the ghetto. It’s for the children of longstanding residents.

You’re correct, or nearly so, anyway. Wards 7 and 8 are the most ethnically homogenous and impoverished in all DC. You can debate the semantics if you want (They’re actually 87% black, not 99%. Huge difference I guess), but at the end of the day the population DCPS is serving in those areas is along the lines of what you described.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to be clear, there are many middle class people East of the River that seek schools like the ones they may have attended. Parents have the same values as others across DC. They may have degrees and very professional jobs. Some might even have impressive incomes. However, several schools in Wards 7 and 8 don’t meet their criteria. Some do apply for the Latins and West of the Park schools. Some learn about these schools on DCUM. They make the sacrifice to drive across D.C. to schools like some parents travel long distances to private schools.

Establish safe great schools with mixed income students. Parents with low incomes also want the best for their kids and want them to go to schools in safe neighborhoods and to schools where there is not a lot of bullying. They also want schools that can teach all types of students. Some parents have learned how some UMC parents supplement their kids’ education with tutors and enrichment activities but this can get expensive. Welcome all types of students in schools across the District of Columbia without bias.

Can I ask about this? I know that there are a couple of microneighborhoods with middle class people like Hillcrest. A couple of gentrifying areas around like Anacostia. A military bases at JBAB. But isn’t EOTR otherwise almost strictly multigenerational poor and 99.9% black? Like there aren’t these UMC families you are talking about. Except as unicorn one-offs. It’s not like in Wards 1/4/5.

So for schools - there aren’t UMC kids to be served there. It’s about serving the intergenerational black poor. I see charters as something these people choose because they see DCPS as having failed. Successful or not but the motivation for charters EOTR isn’t to give suburban experiences to UMC families used to great success who just happen to have settled in the ghetto. It’s for the children of longstanding residents.

You’re correct, or nearly so, anyway. Wards 7 and 8 are the most ethnically homogenous and impoverished in all DC. You can debate the semantics if you want (They’re actually 87% black, not 99%. Huge difference I guess), but at the end of the day the population DCPS is serving in those areas is along the lines of what you described.

I would agree with above. I quickly clicked on the links provided by ward 7 resident above and stats are similar for ward 7 and 8 which are that median income is in the 40k and only 10-11% residents have a bachelors degree. So yes, poor and uneducated.

[Anonymous]

Schools can only ever do so much. Turning around learning outcomes EOTR requires nothing short of a complete economic and social transformation. This would obviously not be easy or cheap by any means, but not beyond a city leadership with vision and dedication. One of the first measures would be to either bury or completely demolish 295 and the adjacent railyards, followed by developing the riverfront and potentially building a new Commanders stadium at Poplar Point. Nothing groundbreaking (metaphorically speaking anyway) - just a replication of what has been done to revitalize depressed neighborhoods not just in other cities, but also right across the Anacostia in Navy Yard! None of this has happened or will happen though because the current city leadership really doesn’t care to do what would need to be done to make EOTR a better place to live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to be clear, there are many middle class people East of the River that seek schools like the ones they may have attended. Parents have the same values as others across DC. They may have degrees and very professional jobs. Some might even have impressive incomes. However, several schools in Wards 7 and 8 don’t meet their criteria. Some do apply for the Latins and West of the Park schools. Some learn about these schools on DCUM. They make the sacrifice to drive across D.C. to schools like some parents travel long distances to private schools.

Establish safe great schools with mixed income students. Parents with low incomes also want the best for their kids and want them to go to schools in safe neighborhoods and to schools where there is not a lot of bullying. They also want schools that can teach all types of students. Some parents have learned how some UMC parents supplement their kids’ education with tutors and enrichment activities but this can get expensive. Welcome all types of students in schools across the District of Columbia without bias.

Can I ask about this? I know that there are a couple of microneighborhoods with middle class people like Hillcrest. A couple of gentrifying areas around like Anacostia. A military bases at JBAB. But isn’t EOTR otherwise almost strictly multigenerational poor and 99.9% black? Like there aren’t these UMC families you are talking about. Except as unicorn one-offs. It’s not like in Wards 1/4/5.

So for schools - there aren’t UMC kids to be served there. It’s about serving the intergenerational black poor. I see charters as something these people choose because they see DCPS as having failed. Successful or not but the motivation for charters EOTR isn’t to give suburban experiences to UMC families used to great success who just happen to have settled in the ghetto. It’s for the children of longstanding residents.

You’re correct, or nearly so, anyway. Wards 7 and 8 are the most ethnically homogenous and impoverished in all DC. You can debate the semantics if you want (They’re actually 87% black, not 99%. Huge difference I guess), but at the end of the day the population DCPS is serving in those areas is along the lines of what you described.

I would agree with above. I quickly clicked on the links provided by ward 7 resident above and stats are similar for ward 7 and 8 which are that median income is in the 40k and only 10-11% residents have a bachelors degree. So yes, poor and uneducated.

Sounds like kids in these areas could really benefit from having peers with involved parents who would bring more resources to these schools.

If you support the Black Lives Matter movement, and the push to rid ourselves of racial achievement gaps/school inequality/etc…

Practice what you preach y’all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to be clear, there are many middle class people East of the River that seek schools like the ones they may have attended. Parents have the same values as others across DC. They may have degrees and very professional jobs. Some might even have impressive incomes. However, several schools in Wards 7 and 8 don’t meet their criteria. Some do apply for the Latins and West of the Park schools. Some learn about these schools on DCUM. They make the sacrifice to drive across D.C. to schools like some parents travel long distances to private schools.

Establish safe great schools with mixed income students. Parents with low incomes also want the best for their kids and want them to go to schools in safe neighborhoods and to schools where there is not a lot of bullying. They also want schools that can teach all types of students. Some parents have learned how some UMC parents supplement their kids’ education with tutors and enrichment activities but this can get expensive. Welcome all types of students in schools across the District of Columbia without bias.

Can I ask about this? I know that there are a couple of microneighborhoods with middle class people like Hillcrest. A couple of gentrifying areas around like Anacostia. A military bases at JBAB. But isn’t EOTR otherwise almost strictly multigenerational poor and 99.9% black? Like there aren’t these UMC families you are talking about. Except as unicorn one-offs. It’s not like in Wards 1/4/5.

So for schools - there aren’t UMC kids to be served there. It’s about serving the intergenerational black poor. I see charters as something these people choose because they see DCPS as having failed. Successful or not but the motivation for charters EOTR isn’t to give suburban experiences to UMC families used to great success who just happen to have settled in the ghetto. It’s for the children of longstanding residents.

You’re correct, or nearly so, anyway. Wards 7 and 8 are the most ethnically homogenous and impoverished in all DC. You can debate the semantics if you want (They’re actually 87% black, not 99%. Huge difference I guess), but at the end of the day the population DCPS is serving in those areas is along the lines of what you described.

I would agree with above. I quickly clicked on the links provided by ward 7 resident above and stats are similar for ward 7 and 8 which are that median income is in the 40k and only 10-11% residents have a bachelors degree. So yes, poor and uneducated.

Sounds like kids in these areas could really benefit from having peers with involved parents who would bring more resources to these schools.

If you support the Black Lives Matter movement, and the push to rid ourselves of racial achievement gaps/school inequality/etc…

Practice what you preach y’all.

There are far from enough MC/UMC families in DC (and especially DCPS) for that to be your solution. A school needs to be like 80% MC/UMC to have the kinds of affects you are wishing for.

But maybe if parents have the wherewithal to be involved in BLM, they can find the time and commitment to be involved in their children's schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to be clear, there are many middle class people East of the River that seek schools like the ones they may have attended. Parents have the same values as others across DC. They may have degrees and very professional jobs. Some might even have impressive incomes. However, several schools in Wards 7 and 8 don’t meet their criteria. Some do apply for the Latins and West of the Park schools. Some learn about these schools on DCUM. They make the sacrifice to drive across D.C. to schools like some parents travel long distances to private schools.

Establish safe great schools with mixed income students. Parents with low incomes also want the best for their kids and want them to go to schools in safe neighborhoods and to schools where there is not a lot of bullying. They also want schools that can teach all types of students. Some parents have learned how some UMC parents supplement their kids’ education with tutors and enrichment activities but this can get expensive. Welcome all types of students in schools across the District of Columbia without bias.

Can I ask about this? I know that there are a couple of microneighborhoods with middle class people like Hillcrest. A couple of gentrifying areas around like Anacostia. A military bases at JBAB. But isn’t EOTR otherwise almost strictly multigenerational poor and 99.9% black? Like there aren’t these UMC families you are talking about. Except as unicorn one-offs. It’s not like in Wards 1/4/5.

So for schools - there aren’t UMC kids to be served there. It’s about serving the intergenerational black poor. I see charters as something these people choose because they see DCPS as having failed. Successful or not but the motivation for charters EOTR isn’t to give suburban experiences to UMC families used to great success who just happen to have settled in the ghetto. It’s for the children of longstanding residents.

You’re correct, or nearly so, anyway. Wards 7 and 8 are the most ethnically homogenous and impoverished in all DC. You can debate the semantics if you want (They’re actually 87% black, not 99%. Huge difference I guess), but at the end of the day the population DCPS is serving in those areas is along the lines of what you described.

I would agree with above. I quickly clicked on the links provided by ward 7 resident above and stats are similar for ward 7 and 8 which are that median income is in the 40k and only 10-11% residents have a bachelors degree. So yes, poor and uneducated.

It's actually quite funny how misinformed and intellectually lazy these last couple posts are... and y'all are the ones calling others uneducated?? Looking more closely at the data, we have a solid 1/3 of households making $75,000+ and actually 20% with Bachelor's degree or higher. This is for Ward 7.

The tony neighborhood the previous W7 poster lives in is full of solid MC/UMC households. But even the other parts of the Ward are full of the types of professionals that make this city run: teachers, DC government employees, police officers and security guards, bus drivers, and of course plenty of feds too. They are neither "poor" nor "uneducated" unless you have a very distorted view of those terms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to be clear, there are many middle class people East of the River that seek schools like the ones they may have attended. Parents have the same values as others across DC. They may have degrees and very professional jobs. Some might even have impressive incomes. However, several schools in Wards 7 and 8 don’t meet their criteria. Some do apply for the Latins and West of the Park schools. Some learn about these schools on DCUM. They make the sacrifice to drive across D.C. to schools like some parents travel long distances to private schools.

Establish safe great schools with mixed income students. Parents with low incomes also want the best for their kids and want them to go to schools in safe neighborhoods and to schools where there is not a lot of bullying. They also want schools that can teach all types of students. Some parents have learned how some UMC parents supplement their kids’ education with tutors and enrichment activities but this can get expensive. Welcome all types of students in schools across the District of Columbia without bias.

Can I ask about this? I know that there are a couple of microneighborhoods with middle class people like Hillcrest. A couple of gentrifying areas around like Anacostia. A military bases at JBAB. But isn’t EOTR otherwise almost strictly multigenerational poor and 99.9% black? Like there aren’t these UMC families you are talking about. Except as unicorn one-offs. It’s not like in Wards 1/4/5.

So for schools - there aren’t UMC kids to be served there. It’s about serving the intergenerational black poor. I see charters as something these people choose because they see DCPS as having failed. Successful or not but the motivation for charters EOTR isn’t to give suburban experiences to UMC families used to great success who just happen to have settled in the ghetto. It’s for the children of longstanding residents.

You’re correct, or nearly so, anyway. Wards 7 and 8 are the most ethnically homogenous and impoverished in all DC. You can debate the semantics if you want (They’re actually 87% black, not 99%. Huge difference I guess), but at the end of the day the population DCPS is serving in those areas is along the lines of what you described.

I would agree with above. I quickly clicked on the links provided by ward 7 resident above and stats are similar for ward 7 and 8 which are that median income is in the 40k and only 10-11% residents have a bachelors degree. So yes, poor and uneducated.

It's actually quite funny how misinformed and intellectually lazy these last couple posts are... and y'all are the ones calling others uneducated?? Looking more closely at the data, we have a solid 1/3 of households making $75,000+ and actually 20% with Bachelor's degree or higher. This is for Ward 7.

The tony neighborhood the previous W7 poster lives in is full of solid MC/UMC households. But even the other parts of the Ward are full of the types of professionals that make this city run: teachers, DC government employees, police officers and security guards, bus drivers, and of course plenty of feds too. They are neither "poor" nor "uneducated" unless you have a very distorted view of those terms.

dp: It's good to have the facts corrected. So there is a cohort of people in the neighborhood who can advocate for the schools then?

[Anonymous]

Hillcrest is nice, but relatively isolated and the citywide crime wave isn’t helping. Not many city people want to live in a neighborhood that’s basically totally car dependent and lacks suburban amenities too. Quite a few Hillcrest families at Ludlow-Taylor, many of whom came via pit stops at immersion charters.

[Anonymous]

You can see the enrollment data:

https://dme.dc.gov/page/sy2021-22-public-school-enrollments-dcps-boundary

You can look at where, for instance, the high school students who are IB for Anacostia HS are going. These aren't schools with UMC students. The top 10 are:

Anacostia High School
KIPP DC - College Preparatory PCS
Eastern High School
Friendship PCS - Collegiate Academy
Thurgood Marshall Academy PCS
McKinley Technology High School
Ballou High School
IDEA PCS
Goodwill Excel Center PCS
Bard High School Early College DC (Bard DC)

It's the same for Ballou and Woodson. You have to go really far down before you see Banneker, JR, SWW, or any other school with a significant UMC population.

By contrast, you can see where they're going from Eastern and it's totally different. But that's not EOTR. Most of the UMC people EOTR don't have school-aged kids, they're moving before HS, or they're sending their kids to private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Schools can only ever do so much. Turning around learning outcomes EOTR requires nothing short of a complete economic and social transformation. This would obviously not be easy or cheap by any means, but not beyond a city leadership with vision and dedication. One of the first measures would be to either bury or completely demolish 295 and the adjacent railyards, followed by developing the riverfront and potentially building a new Commanders stadium at Poplar Point. Nothing groundbreaking (metaphorically speaking anyway) - just a replication of what has been done to revitalize depressed neighborhoods not just in other cities, but also right across the Anacostia in Navy Yard! None of this has happened or will happen though because the current city leadership really doesn’t care to do what would need to be done to make EOTR a better place to live.

I hope that the new park being built on a bridge from Navy Yard across the Anacostia River to the Anacostia NEighborhood will decrease isolation a bit. I think that over time, progress is possible and even likely for the city. I also think it's likely the city's progress will be at the expense of the residents who are pushed out by gentrification. With conscious development this is less likely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools can only ever do so much. Turning around learning outcomes EOTR requires nothing short of a complete economic and social transformation. This would obviously not be easy or cheap by any means, but not beyond a city leadership with vision and dedication. One of the first measures would be to either bury or completely demolish 295 and the adjacent railyards, followed by developing the riverfront and potentially building a new Commanders stadium at Poplar Point. Nothing groundbreaking (metaphorically speaking anyway) - just a replication of what has been done to revitalize depressed neighborhoods not just in other cities, but also right across the Anacostia in Navy Yard! None of this has happened or will happen though because the current city leadership really doesn’t care to do what would need to be done to make EOTR a better place to live.

I hope that the new park being built on a bridge from Navy Yard across the Anacostia River to the Anacostia NEighborhood will decrease isolation a bit. I think that over time, progress is possible and even likely for the city. I also think it's likely the city's progress will be at the expense of the residents who are pushed out by gentrification. With conscious development this is less likely.

We don’t need a park ?!! We need better schools with more rigorous instruction.