Crazy to move from BCC cluster ES to Janney/Deal/Wilson for schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't underestimate how great it will be when your middle-schooler can get himself/herself to some after-school activities, orthodontist appts., etc., via bus/Metro, without relying on someone driving them there.

I really don't think NW DC is generally more walkable or urban than inner MoCo. Sure there are are areas in either that are more or less walkable but it's no more likely that an orthodontist requires a car for kid going to BCC than one going to Wilson.

OP here. If an area doesn't have sidewalks in my book it isn't walkable. 95% of NW DC has sidewalks. Cross western venue and maybe it's 50% depending on how you define inner suburbs. Our neighborhood thankfully has sidewalks even Edgemoor is 50/50 and E. Bethesda is like 20%. Being close to downtown Bethesda has more advantages than NW DC with activities like 2 movie theatres, Roundhouse theatre, Imagination Stge, Art Works, and we have a Y very close by. But, right now I just don't feel like the trade offs between that, the pace of development, and over crowded schools seems like it's worth it.

And to answer some other PPs, I actually grew up in a city going to inner city schools during the 80s. I saw a kid get stabbed first hand in the 6th grade. In HS we had crips that sold crack cocaine. I saw many kids make bad choices, myself included on occasion. But thankfully we still had tracking back then so the kids that were motivated to learn could and the ones that weren't didn't have to. I would also like to say in case anyone has any ideas, that my family is interracial and DH is black. For me it is not about race but about having a stable community and a quality school. Diversity was actually one of the reasons we picked our ES. Moving to a NW DC ES would actually be a step down in diversity for us. But at some point it just feels like basic physics and common sense need to take over.

OP, have you considered what it might be like for your child at a school like Janney where he's one of the few black kids in his cohort (of course, he is biracial, but biracial kids are often perceived as AA)? Janney is undoubtedly an excellent school in many respects, but there are other really good schools that that also feed to Deal and Wilson that have a bit more diversity and where your son won't be a "lonely only."

Of course, this is not to say that issues related to be an only at Janney are inevitable--but perhaps before moving forward, it may not hurt to consider and visit some other schools.

-a biracial parent at another Deal/Wilson feeder

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't underestimate how great it will be when your middle-schooler can get himself/herself to some after-school activities, orthodontist appts., etc., via bus/Metro, without relying on someone driving them there.

I really don't think NW DC is generally more walkable or urban than inner MoCo. Sure there are are areas in either that are more or less walkable but it's no more likely that an orthodontist requires a car for kid going to BCC than one going to Wilson.

This is so not true. Unless you are living in downtown Bethesda or one of the directly adjoining neighborhoods, what is walkable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, who knows what schools will look like by the time your 1st grader reaches high school, but here is some current data from the US News and World Report High School Ranking data (flawed also, but has different data than Great Schools) that was posted on a thread a while back. I think BCC dominates Wilson currently, but in a decade who knows?

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/...chools/wilson-high-school-4649
Wilson: national rank 815, #2 in Washington DC
Total enrollment 1696
Total minority enrollment 75%
Total economically disadvantaged 100% [I think this may be because Wilson is Title 1, so automatically shows up as 100% economically disadvantaged?)
College readiness index: 47
AP tested: 80
AP passed: 45
Math proficiency: 69
English proficiency: 70

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/...a-chevy-chase-high-school-9137
BCC: unranked in 2016, national rank 161 in 2015
Total enrollment: 1872
Total minority enrollment: 43%
Total economically disadvantaged: 11%
College readiness index: 68
AP tested: 79
AP passed: 81
Math proficiency: 92
English proficiency: 91

Ok, well to start with Wilson has 1791 enrolled, is not a Title 1 school, and only has 27% FARMS. So not sure the rest is reliable either.

When you disaggregate this data for race and SES status, I would be willing to bet a fair amount of money that there is little difference in the results of white, high SES students at both schools. This data seems to be for the schools as a whole and we all know that low scores (for Wilson that is likely low SES students that BCC does not have to factor into its average) bring down the average as a whole. Drill down into these numbers and you will get a much more accurate picture of what is going on at Wilson.

Not everyone is white or high SES. If a school has a vastly divergent performance such that it's only doing a good job serving children who would excel anywhere due to parental resources, that's a problem for the school (and the kids who are not white or high SES).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't underestimate how great it will be when your middle-schooler can get himself/herself to some after-school activities, orthodontist appts., etc., via bus/Metro, without relying on someone driving them there.

I really don't think NW DC is generally more walkable or urban than inner MoCo. Sure there are are areas in either that are more or less walkable but it's no more likely that an orthodontist requires a car for kid going to BCC than one going to Wilson.

This is so not true. Unless you are living in downtown Bethesda or one of the directly adjoining neighborhoods, what is walkable?

^^True. Plus in DC you won't find residential neighborhoods without sidewalks. That's the biggest non-starter for me about many close in MoCo neighborhoods

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't underestimate how great it will be when your middle-schooler can get himself/herself to some after-school activities, orthodontist appts., etc., via bus/Metro, without relying on someone driving them there.

I really don't think NW DC is generally more walkable or urban than inner MoCo. Sure there are are areas in either that are more or less walkable but it's no more likely that an orthodontist requires a car for kid going to BCC than one going to Wilson.

This is so not true. Unless you are living in downtown Bethesda or one of the directly adjoining neighborhoods, what is walkable?

^^True. Plus in DC you won't find residential neighborhoods without sidewalks. That's the biggest non-starter for me about many close in MoCo neighborhoods

\

downtown Bethesda is big. There's a lot of directly adjoining neighborhoods. I live in one and can walk from my SFH to supermarkets, Bethesda Row retail, and the occasional doctor who has Bethesda offices. Same for Friendship Heights adjoining areas. Anyway, to get back to the original question, OP is posting her question in the DCPCS forum and is going to get one set of answers from those who have bought/are vested in the DC public schools. If she wanted a different set of answers, she would have posted in the Maryland public schools forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, who knows what schools will look like by the time your 1st grader reaches high school, but here is some current data from the US News and World Report High School Ranking data (flawed also, but has different data than Great Schools) that was posted on a thread a while back. I think BCC dominates Wilson currently, but in a decade who knows?

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/...chools/wilson-high-school-4649
Wilson: national rank 815, #2 in Washington DC
Total enrollment 1696
Total minority enrollment 75%
Total economically disadvantaged 100% [I think this may be because Wilson is Title 1, so automatically shows up as 100% economically disadvantaged?)
College readiness index: 47
AP tested: 80
AP passed: 45
Math proficiency: 69
English proficiency: 70

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/...a-chevy-chase-high-school-9137
BCC: unranked in 2016, national rank 161 in 2015
Total enrollment: 1872
Total minority enrollment: 43%
Total economically disadvantaged: 11%
College readiness index: 68
AP tested: 79
AP passed: 81
Math proficiency: 92
English proficiency: 91

Ok, well to start with Wilson has 1791 enrolled, is not a Title 1 school, and only has 27% FARMS. So not sure the rest is reliable either.

When you disaggregate this data for race and SES status, I would be willing to bet a fair amount of money that there is little difference in the results of white, high SES students at both schools. This data seems to be for the schools as a whole and we all know that low scores (for Wilson that is likely low SES students that BCC does not have to factor into its average) bring down the average as a whole. Drill down into these numbers and you will get a much more accurate picture of what is going on at Wilson.

Not everyone is white or high SES. If a school has a vastly divergent performance such that it's only doing a good job serving children who would excel anywhere due to parental resources, that's a problem for the school (and the kids who are not white or high SES).

True. But you are talking about a population that doesn't always show up to school and sleeps while there. Yes, DC has a huge problem with the achievement gap. If you have an answer for that, there is a job opening in the Chancellor's office.

In the mean time, if your child is a serious student, you can to drill down in these stats to get a true picture of how the school will serve YOUR child. Then go out and vote, and pay your taxes, and lobby for school reform to try to help the rest of the city's students too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't underestimate how great it will be when your middle-schooler can get himself/herself to some after-school activities, orthodontist appts., etc., via bus/Metro, without relying on someone driving them there.

I really don't think NW DC is generally more walkable or urban than inner MoCo. Sure there are are areas in either that are more or less walkable but it's no more likely that an orthodontist requires a car for kid going to BCC than one going to Wilson.

OP here. If an area doesn't have sidewalks in my book it isn't walkable. 95% of NW DC has sidewalks. Cross western venue and maybe it's 50% depending on how you define inner suburbs. Our neighborhood thankfully has sidewalks even Edgemoor is 50/50 and E. Bethesda is like 20%. Being close to downtown Bethesda has more advantages than NW DC with activities like 2 movie theatres, Roundhouse theatre, Imagination Stge, Art Works, and we have a Y very close by. But, right now I just don't feel like the trade offs between that, the pace of development, and over crowded schools seems like it's worth it.

And to answer some other PPs, I actually grew up in a city going to inner city schools during the 80s. I saw a kid get stabbed first hand in the 6th grade. In HS we had crips that sold crack cocaine. I saw many kids make bad choices, myself included on occasion. But thankfully we still had tracking back then so the kids that were motivated to learn could and the ones that weren't didn't have to. I would also like to say in case anyone has any ideas, that my family is interracial and DH is black. For me it is not about race but about having a stable community and a quality school. Diversity was actually one of the reasons we picked our ES. Moving to a NW DC ES would actually be a step down in diversity for us. But at some point it just feels like basic physics and common sense need to take over.

OP, have you considered what it might be like for your child at a school like Janney where he's one of the few black kids in his cohort (of course, he is biracial, but biracial kids are often perceived as AA)? Janney is undoubtedly an excellent school in many respects, but there are other really good schools that that also feed to Deal and Wilson that have a bit more diversity and where your son won't be a "lonely only."

Of course, this is not to say that issues related to be an only at Janney are inevitable--but perhaps before moving forward, it may not hurt to consider and visit some other schools.

-a biracial parent at another Deal/Wilson feeder

Our black kids go to Janney and have never complained of impostor syndrome or anything. They have made great friends and are happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't underestimate how great it will be when your middle-schooler can get himself/herself to some after-school activities, orthodontist appts., etc., via bus/Metro, without relying on someone driving them there.

I really don't think NW DC is generally more walkable or urban than inner MoCo. Sure there are are areas in either that are more or less walkable but it's no more likely that an orthodontist requires a car for kid going to BCC than one going to Wilson.

OP here. If an area doesn't have sidewalks in my book it isn't walkable. 95% of NW DC has sidewalks. Cross western venue and maybe it's 50% depending on how you define inner suburbs. Our neighborhood thankfully has sidewalks even Edgemoor is 50/50 and E. Bethesda is like 20%. Being close to downtown Bethesda has more advantages than NW DC with activities like 2 movie theatres, Roundhouse theatre, Imagination Stge, Art Works, and we have a Y very close by. But, right now I just don't feel like the trade offs between that, the pace of development, and over crowded schools seems like it's worth it.

And to answer some other PPs, I actually grew up in a city going to inner city schools during the 80s. I saw a kid get stabbed first hand in the 6th grade. In HS we had crips that sold crack cocaine. I saw many kids make bad choices, myself included on occasion. But thankfully we still had tracking back then so the kids that were motivated to learn could and the ones that weren't didn't have to. I would also like to say in case anyone has any ideas, that my family is interracial and DH is black. For me it is not about race but about having a stable community and a quality school. Diversity was actually one of the reasons we picked our ES. Moving to a NW DC ES would actually be a step down in diversity for us. But at some point it just feels like basic physics and common sense need to take over.

OP, have you considered what it might be like for your child at a school like Janney where he's one of the few black kids in his cohort (of course, he is biracial, but biracial kids are often perceived as AA)? Janney is undoubtedly an excellent school in many respects, but there are other really good schools that that also feed to Deal and Wilson that have a bit more diversity and where your son won't be a "lonely only."

Of course, this is not to say that issues related to be an only at Janney are inevitable--but perhaps before moving forward, it may not hurt to consider and visit some other schools.

-a biracial parent at another Deal/Wilson feeder

Our black kids go to Janney and have never complained of impostor syndrome or anything. They have made great friends and are happy.

OP here. I have to admit that it is a concern. There are actually very few WASP families at our MCPS. Probably half of the "white" students are jewish, which I think is an advantage and makes the school culturally more diverse for us than if there were more WASPs. Hopefully this doesn't offend anyone, but I have seen groups of Janney kids on the Metro for field trips and it just surprises me how white they are, both in terms of numbers but also culturally. If I could estimate, it will be like 16 WASPs, perhaps 4 jewish students (I don't know), and 2 black students. Why are so many of them blond?

I am sure if I looked up the school data it would be similar to this, with probably surprisingly very few asian families as opposed to what we have at our MCPS ES. The potential alienation does cause a bit of a concern for me and to me this is a big benefit of the BCC cluster: there is no one dominant race/culture. There is just lots of everybody. The problem is that there is also too much of everybody, along with the other issues.

Reading all of the comments, I feel my suspicions are confirmed that DCPS can be just as good if not better, but there are also potentially higher risks of bad outcomes which is true of any urban school system. Socially and diversity wise it would also be a disadvantage, which I already know.

We need to fix up our house and landscaping anyway, so we'll proceed with that. In the meantime, I need to do a bit more research and hopefully I can tour Janney or other NWDC ESs at some point. I'm not sure how much they allow that, as they don't allow any visitors at our ES but who knows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't underestimate how great it will be when your middle-schooler can get himself/herself to some after-school activities, orthodontist appts., etc., via bus/Metro, without relying on someone driving them there.

I really don't think NW DC is generally more walkable or urban than inner MoCo. Sure there are are areas in either that are more or less walkable but it's no more likely that an orthodontist requires a car for kid going to BCC than one going to Wilson.

OP here. If an area doesn't have sidewalks in my book it isn't walkable. 95% of NW DC has sidewalks. Cross western venue and maybe it's 50% depending on how you define inner suburbs. Our neighborhood thankfully has sidewalks even Edgemoor is 50/50 and E. Bethesda is like 20%. Being close to downtown Bethesda has more advantages than NW DC with activities like 2 movie theatres, Roundhouse theatre, Imagination Stge, Art Works, and we have a Y very close by. But, right now I just don't feel like the trade offs between that, the pace of development, and over crowded schools seems like it's worth it.

And to answer some other PPs, I actually grew up in a city going to inner city schools during the 80s. I saw a kid get stabbed first hand in the 6th grade. In HS we had crips that sold crack cocaine. I saw many kids make bad choices, myself included on occasion. But thankfully we still had tracking back then so the kids that were motivated to learn could and the ones that weren't didn't have to. I would also like to say in case anyone has any ideas, that my family is interracial and DH is black. For me it is not about race but about having a stable community and a quality school. Diversity was actually one of the reasons we picked our ES. Moving to a NW DC ES would actually be a step down in diversity for us. But at some point it just feels like basic physics and common sense need to take over.

OP, have you considered what it might be like for your child at a school like Janney where he's one of the few black kids in his cohort (of course, he is biracial, but biracial kids are often perceived as AA)? Janney is undoubtedly an excellent school in many respects, but there are other really good schools that that also feed to Deal and Wilson that have a bit more diversity and where your son won't be a "lonely only."

Of course, this is not to say that issues related to be an only at Janney are inevitable--but perhaps before moving forward, it may not hurt to consider and visit some other schools.

-a biracial parent at another Deal/Wilson feeder

Our black kids go to Janney and have never complained of impostor syndrome or anything. They have made great friends and are happy.

OP here. I have to admit that it is a concern. There are actually very few WASP families at our MCPS. Probably half of the "white" students are jewish, which I think is an advantage and makes the school culturally more diverse for us than if there were more WASPs. Hopefully this doesn't offend anyone, but I have seen groups of Janney kids on the Metro for field trips and it just surprises me how white they are, both in terms of numbers but also culturally. If I could estimate, it will be like 16 WASPs, perhaps 4 jewish students (I don't know), and 2 black students. Why are so many of them blond?

I am sure if I looked up the school data it would be similar to this, with probably surprisingly very few asian families as opposed to what we have at our MCPS ES. The potential alienation does cause a bit of a concern for me and to me this is a big benefit of the BCC cluster: there is no one dominant race/culture. There is just lots of everybody. The problem is that there is also too much of everybody, along with the other issues.

Reading all of the comments, I feel my suspicions are confirmed that DCPS can be just as good if not better, but there are also potentially higher risks of bad outcomes which is true of any urban school system. Socially and diversity wise it would also be a disadvantage, which I already know.

We need to fix up our house and landscaping anyway, so we'll proceed with that. In the meantime, I need to do a bit more research and hopefully I can tour Janney or other NWDC ESs at some point. I'm not sure how much they allow that, as they don't allow any visitors at our ES but who knows.

Janney is actually really internationally diverse, especially in the lowest grades.
I have 3 kids there and my youngest is in 1st grade.
Both this year and last she is one of of only a few Americans in her class and the cohorts are totally different kids (they mix them up each year).
So just based on kids we know 2/5 classes are 80% foreign-born (for lack of a better term). And they don't purposefully put the international students together
so I'd bet the overall percentage in this grade is 50%.
(which in my book is great and a huge benefit of growing up in DC as a 3rd generation American kid).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't underestimate how great it will be when your middle-schooler can get himself/herself to some after-school activities, orthodontist appts., etc., via bus/Metro, without relying on someone driving them there.

I really don't think NW DC is generally more walkable or urban than inner MoCo. Sure there are are areas in either that are more or less walkable but it's no more likely that an orthodontist requires a car for kid going to BCC than one going to Wilson.

OP here. If an area doesn't have sidewalks in my book it isn't walkable. 95% of NW DC has sidewalks. Cross western venue and maybe it's 50% depending on how you define inner suburbs. Our neighborhood thankfully has sidewalks even Edgemoor is 50/50 and E. Bethesda is like 20%. Being close to downtown Bethesda has more advantages than NW DC with activities like 2 movie theatres, Roundhouse theatre, Imagination Stge, Art Works, and we have a Y very close by. But, right now I just don't feel like the trade offs between that, the pace of development, and over crowded schools seems like it's worth it.

And to answer some other PPs, I actually grew up in a city going to inner city schools during the 80s. I saw a kid get stabbed first hand in the 6th grade. In HS we had crips that sold crack cocaine. I saw many kids make bad choices, myself included on occasion. But thankfully we still had tracking back then so the kids that were motivated to learn could and the ones that weren't didn't have to. I would also like to say in case anyone has any ideas, that my family is interracial and DH is black. For me it is not about race but about having a stable community and a quality school. Diversity was actually one of the reasons we picked our ES. Moving to a NW DC ES would actually be a step down in diversity for us. But at some point it just feels like basic physics and common sense need to take over.

OP, have you considered what it might be like for your child at a school like Janney where he's one of the few black kids in his cohort (of course, he is biracial, but biracial kids are often perceived as AA)? Janney is undoubtedly an excellent school in many respects, but there are other really good schools that that also feed to Deal and Wilson that have a bit more diversity and where your son won't be a "lonely only."

Of course, this is not to say that issues related to be an only at Janney are inevitable--but perhaps before moving forward, it may not hurt to consider and visit some other schools.

-a biracial parent at another Deal/Wilson feeder

Our black kids go to Janney and have never complained of impostor syndrome or anything. They have made great friends and are happy.

OP here. I have to admit that it is a concern. There are actually very few WASP families at our MCPS. Probably half of the "white" students are jewish, which I think is an advantage and makes the school culturally more diverse for us than if there were more WASPs. Hopefully this doesn't offend anyone, but I have seen groups of Janney kids on the Metro for field trips and it just surprises me how white they are, both in terms of numbers but also culturally. If I could estimate, it will be like 16 WASPs, perhaps 4 jewish students (I don't know), and 2 black students. Why are so many of them blond?

I am sure if I looked up the school data it would be similar to this, with probably surprisingly very few asian families as opposed to what we have at our MCPS ES. The potential alienation does cause a bit of a concern for me and to me this is a big benefit of the BCC cluster: there is no one dominant race/culture. There is just lots of everybody. The problem is that there is also too much of everybody, along with the other issues.

Reading all of the comments, I feel my suspicions are confirmed that DCPS can be just as good if not better, but there are also potentially higher risks of bad outcomes which is true of any urban school system. Socially and diversity wise it would also be a disadvantage, which I already know.

We need to fix up our house and landscaping anyway, so we'll proceed with that. In the meantime, I need to do a bit more research and hopefully I can tour Janney or other NWDC ESs at some point. I'm not sure how much they allow that, as they don't allow any visitors at our ES but who knows.

Janney is actually really internationally diverse, especially in the lowest grades.
I have 3 kids there and my youngest is in 1st grade.
Both this year and last she is one of of only a few Americans in her class and the cohorts are totally different kids (they mix them up each year).
So just based on kids we know 2/5 classes are 80% foreign-born (for lack of a better term). And they don't purposefully put the international students together
so I'd bet the overall percentage in this grade is 50%.
(which in my book is great and a huge benefit of growing up in DC as a 3rd generation American kid).

[Anonymous]

OP, visit the open houses for Janney and any other schools you're interested in:

http://dcps.dc.gov/openhouse

Looks like not all the open house dates are listed for each school, but it's a place to start. Also, some principals allow you to schedule visits outside of open house hours if that works for you.

[Anonymous]

They all have tours, OP. On their sites or calendars.

http://www.janneyschool.org/about/prospective-parents/

http://www.lafayettehsa.org/calendar/2016-11/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't underestimate how great it will be when your middle-schooler can get himself/herself to some after-school activities, orthodontist appts., etc., via bus/Metro, without relying on someone driving them there.

I really don't think NW DC is generally more walkable or urban than inner MoCo. Sure there are are areas in either that are more or less walkable but it's no more likely that an orthodontist requires a car for kid going to BCC than one going to Wilson.

OP here. If an area doesn't have sidewalks in my book it isn't walkable. 95% of NW DC has sidewalks. Cross western venue and maybe it's 50% depending on how you define inner suburbs. Our neighborhood thankfully has sidewalks even Edgemoor is 50/50 and E. Bethesda is like 20%. Being close to downtown Bethesda has more advantages than NW DC with activities like 2 movie theatres, Roundhouse theatre, Imagination Stge, Art Works, and we have a Y very close by. But, right now I just don't feel like the trade offs between that, the pace of development, and over crowded schools seems like it's worth it.

And to answer some other PPs, I actually grew up in a city going to inner city schools during the 80s. I saw a kid get stabbed first hand in the 6th grade. In HS we had crips that sold crack cocaine. I saw many kids make bad choices, myself included on occasion. But thankfully we still had tracking back then so the kids that were motivated to learn could and the ones that weren't didn't have to. I would also like to say in case anyone has any ideas, that my family is interracial and DH is black. For me it is not about race but about having a stable community and a quality school. Diversity was actually one of the reasons we picked our ES. Moving to a NW DC ES would actually be a step down in diversity for us. But at some point it just feels like basic physics and common sense need to take over.

OP, have you considered what it might be like for your child at a school like Janney where he's one of the few black kids in his cohort (of course, he is biracial, but biracial kids are often perceived as AA)? Janney is undoubtedly an excellent school in many respects, but there are other really good schools that that also feed to Deal and Wilson that have a bit more diversity and where your son won't be a "lonely only."

Of course, this is not to say that issues related to be an only at Janney are inevitable--but perhaps before moving forward, it may not hurt to consider and visit some other schools.

-a biracial parent at another Deal/Wilson feeder

Our black kids go to Janney and have never complained of impostor syndrome or anything. They have made great friends and are happy.

OP here. I have to admit that it is a concern. There are actually very few WASP families at our MCPS. Probably half of the "white" students are jewish, which I think is an advantage and makes the school culturally more diverse for us than if there were more WASPs. Hopefully this doesn't offend anyone, but I have seen groups of Janney kids on the Metro for field trips and it just surprises me how white they are, both in terms of numbers but also culturally. If I could estimate, it will be like 16 WASPs, perhaps 4 jewish students (I don't know), and 2 black students. Why are so many of them blond?

I am sure if I looked up the school data it would be similar to this, with probably surprisingly very few asian families as opposed to what we have at our MCPS ES. The potential alienation does cause a bit of a concern for me and to me this is a big benefit of the BCC cluster: there is no one dominant race/culture. There is just lots of everybody. The problem is that there is also too much of everybody, along with the other issues.

Reading all of the comments, I feel my suspicions are confirmed that DCPS can be just as good if not better, but there are also potentially higher risks of bad outcomes which is true of any urban school system. Socially and diversity wise it would also be a disadvantage, which I already know.

We need to fix up our house and landscaping anyway, so we'll proceed with that. In the meantime, I need to do a bit more research and hopefully I can tour Janney or other NWDC ESs at some point. I'm not sure how much they allow that, as they don't allow any visitors at our ES but who knows.

Janney is actually really internationally diverse, especially in the lowest grades.
I have 3 kids there and my youngest is in 1st grade.
Both this year and last she is one of of only a few Americans in her class and the cohorts are totally different kids (they mix them up each year).
So just based on kids we know 2/5 classes are 80% foreign-born (for lack of a better term). And they don't purposefully put the international students together
so I'd bet the overall percentage in this grade is 50%.
(which in my book is great and a huge benefit of growing up in DC as a 3rd generation American kid).

Yeah, OPs comment was rather surprising given the huge number of international kids at Janney. When my DD was in K at Janney, she faked knowing a second language because so many of her classmates were bilingual or even trilingual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- Don't let yourself be swayed one way or the other by an anecdote. Go -- tour the schools. Look at the stats, consider your house, how urban or suburban you want to be, etc. Though I am a DCPS cheerleader, I also would take all the MoCo fear mongering with a grain of salt. Hyperbole is easy in everything.

OP here. You are correct that I do need to do more research before taking such drastic measures, but since DC is in MCPS at the moment I do have my own issues/observations.

What concerns me most about MCPS is trajectory. My impression is that MoCo economically and MCPS academically both probably peaked in the late 90's and mid 00's. I do have anxiety about the future of MoCo and I think a lot of it is justified. In some ways, oddly, moving to NW DC feels like moving to a gated community/planned community, like Columbia, MD where you can feel assured that no one will build a 400-unit apartment building down the street from your house. Right now it feels a lot like it is coasting off that momentum, both on behalf of the school/government and also increasingly the parents.

Sure our PTA is active and we have tons of volunteers, but over one year the number of families that joined the PTA and paid a paltry fee decreased by 10% while the school population grew. These are not good signs and these is the cohort my DC will be in school with for 11 more years if we stay. A lot of the anecdotes compare current HS cohorts to their contemporaries between MCPS and DCPS.

I am trying to also think ahead 10 years from now based on the trends I am seeing now and it concerns me greatly. What I think is happening now is that instead of these MCPS schools being good because they are co-located in areas where parents are well educated and dedicated to their child's education, I sense an increase in parents who are here just because they think it is supposed to be the best not realizing that what happens in the classroom is only half of the battle. Add to that class sizes of 30, along with (and please don't hate me for saying this) with 1/3 of the class ESOL students and another 1/10 special needs, the act of teaching a coherent lesson plan is impossible.

What DCPS presents to me is the idea/potential of having a class with 25 kids, a teacher AND an aid, with 75% of the kids at or above grade level and maybe one or two trouble makers. That to me is what public education is supposed to be and does not seem like too much of an ask. Unfortunately this scenario is too much of an ask for MCPS.

I know I may sound to some like a bit of a jerk. I know there is also a lot of grass-is-greenerism running through my thought processes right now. But I have a colleague who has a child at Lafayette who says its fantastic. I have another colleague with a child that went through Deal and is now at Wilson and has nothing but amazing things to say. I just have a major hunch that MCPS is for the most part riding on reputation and that time's up on MoCo.

How do you know who would be considered a trouble maker? There can be a kids that is at grade level but still a trouble maker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Not exactly sure how any of this relates to the OP, but you've got a few of the details wrong re: your EOTP neighborhoods. Crestwood was grandfathered for a few years, but Shepherd Park and Mt. Pleasant are zoned for Wilson. In fact, SP was zoned for Coolidge HS up until a couple of years ago, when it became in-boundary for Wilson.

As for becoming "less brown / more white," Shepherd's 1st grade class (same age as OP's kid) is definitely majority minority. Bancroft is also still majority minority. So while there's some change taking place in the early grades, these schools will still be sending plenty of minority students to Deal and Wilson in coming years.

Look up the word gerrymandered. it's grandfathered AND gerrymandered. If you don't think SP and Crestwood and Bancroft were gerrymandered to remain included within Deal boundaries, then you weren't here 4 years ago. As opposed to a strict concentric ring-drawing around the Deal building and spreading outward, which is the logical mathematical option.

Parts of CV and Shepherd Park, Crestwood, Mt Pleasant are just as easy to get to Wilson, if not easier than parts of Georgetown, Palisades. You're never going to have an exact circle around a high school. You have to have elementary-middle-high feeders.