Does anyone know what the demographics of Van Ness Elementary School is like this school year?

[Anonymous]

Insight has been shared. Perhaps you should reach out directly to the VNPG instead of posting something that could be construed as restirring the troll pot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here. I honestly don't understand why OP took such a hit for asking this question. I'm curious about this topic too. Is there something wrong with that?

Why am I curious? I live in Southwest, and, before Van Ness opened, I witnessed folks who tried to keep poor black kids from my neighborhood out of the school. I'm wondering how things have panned out so far.

Why don't I just go see for myself? Because, while I am curious, I don't care quite enough to take time out of my work day to investigate.

Isn't it offense to even ask? No. If curiosity about the demographics of a school is offensive, then people should be protesting at the headquarters of DCPS, which prominently displays on its website the racial breakdown of each school with a pie chart.

Anyway, back to the topic. Does anyone have any actual insight about the question raised that they would like to share?

The OP took a hit because every DCPS discussed in this forum is judged by the mix of black and white kids. It's usually posed as "well-prepared" = white and "parents don't value education" = black. No one cares much about Asian, Hispanic or Other, and clearly some of the responding posts assumed the OP wanted to know how many white kids showed up.

If you're curious about what happened to all the poor black kids, it's easy enough to just ask that - as you did.

[Anonymous]

From the DCPS Website, it looks like the school is not a Title I school.

http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Van+Ness+Elementary+School

[Anonymous]

That profile also says enrollment last year was 1 student. I would't take it as gospel.

Whatever race your kid is, they won't be an only at Van Ness. There are at least two native German speakers (from different families). There are kids from Wards 7 and 8 (not all of whom are black). There are in-bounds kids from public housing and from million-dollar townhomes. Some kids are biracial. Some are adopted. There won't be test scores for several more years. The teachers and principal all seem well-qualified. Construction is ongoing. It's not going to be IB/Montessori/Reggio/bilingual. The kids wear tshirts with otters on them. It looks like it will be a perfectly nice school.

[Anonymous]

Otters?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Otters?

That is the school's mascot.

[Anonymous]

I'm not going to lie: the t-shirts with otters are really cute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not going to lie: the t-shirts with otters are really cute.

I'm sure the future 4th and 5th graders will agree. Not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Otters?

That is the school's mascot.

River, not sea, I presume?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a kid in PK4 at Van Ness. We saw a lot of engaged parents at Back To School night. About half of the kids are in bound, other half are out of bound. My thinking is that the school is not a Title I school.

ibi

that is a loaded statement. By engaged you mean white? and thats how you know its not title 1?

Why would you assume engaged means white? Back to School night had many parents of different races.

I think the person who wrote "engaged" was purposely trying to be vague and should just say what she saw.

Ha! I would discourage her from that. Describing what you've seen, in precise terms, gets you labelled a racist.

[Anonymous]

No, asking about "demographics" with the pretense that this information is relevant to ... something is what gets you labeled as racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a kid in PK4 at Van Ness. We saw a lot of engaged parents at Back To School night. About half of the kids are in bound, other half are out of bound. My thinking is that the school is not a Title I school.

ibi

that is a loaded statement. By engaged you mean white? and thats how you know its not title 1?

Why would you assume engaged means white? Back to School night had many parents of different races.

I think the person who wrote "engaged" was purposely trying to be vague and should just say what she saw.

Ha! I would discourage her from that. Describing what you've seen, in precise terms, gets you labelled a racist.

[Anonymous]

Code words on DCUM:

"High SES" = white
"Low SES" = black or brown
"Diverse" = an acceptable percentage of white kids at the school. Acceptable is subjective and depends on the poster.
"OOB" = black or brown
"Engaged Parents" = white.

Translating this post:

The OP asked about demographics, meaning "is there a critical mass of white kids such that I will feel comfortable sending my white kid there?" Another poster replied that there were about half white parents there ("50% inbound") and half black or brown parents ("50% OOB"). That poster noted that there were many white ("engaged") parents there.

So, are there any further questions I can answer about why people think this post is about race?

[Anonymous]

Except that the demographics of Van Ness' boundary are pretty evenly split between black and white, with the SE side mostly white and the SW side mostly black. So IB does not equal any particular race here.

[Anonymous]

It is not racist to ask about the racial demographics of a school.

For those who think it is, please explain why DCPS prominently displays the racial makeup of each school on its website. Do you contend that DCPS is intentionally catering to racists? If so, what if any actions have you taken to have this practice stopped?