DME Paul Kihn on Kojo Show at 12pm Today Dec 4

[Anonymous]

My spouse works for DCPS- not super high up the chain...but anyway. They believe that they “can’t sell a product they aren’t themselves buying.” I support my spouse, and although it is a joint decision, we ultimately choose to buy the product my spouse is sending. We bought a house in the district so our kids could attend DCPS schools. No charters, no private, etc. All DCPS. And I promise you we are not west of the park.

My spouse is passionate and truly believes in DCPS. Having kids in the system, showing faith in the system, etc. I think it adds credibility. And I think our elected officials would absolutely be more credible if they also bought the products they were selling. Should it be required- no. But do I think about it when I vote- absolutely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My spouse works for DCPS- not super high up the chain...but anyway. They believe that they “can’t sell a product they aren’t themselves buying.” I support my spouse, and although it is a joint decision, we ultimately choose to buy the product my spouse is sending. We bought a house in the district so our kids could attend DCPS schools. No charters, no private, etc. All DCPS. And I promise you we are not west of the park.

My spouse is passionate and truly believes in DCPS. Having kids in the system, showing faith in the system, etc. I think it adds credibility. And I think our elected officials would absolutely be more credible if they also bought the products they were selling. Should it be required- no. But do I think about it when I vote- absolutely.

In the technology world they call it eating your own dog food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's totally unfair to require a public school official to send their kids to a particular school. Especially when there are two custodial parents. Education decisions, like financial decisions, can put a serious strain on parent relationships. BTDT.

That said, I think it's BS for Kihn to claim "commitment to bilingualism" as a reason for his family's choice. He should have just said "it was a personal decision between my wife and me, so MYOB." End of story.

Our family has been at WIS and at bilingual public schools. WIS is only immersion through 5th grade. Even then, the level of Spanish skill at elementary level was definitely below our public option. There were plenty of native Spanish speaking parents, but there weren't that many kids. Our public school and EotP neighborhood definitely have a lot more. WIS lower school is in G'town and upper is Cleveland Park. I've heard more Russian and French at pickup than Spanish.

If you really want your kids to be fully fluent and biliterate and culturally competent in Spanish, WIS is not a guarantee. It has a lot of great qualities and one of our kids loves it. But there are plenty of WIS parents with kids in public schools, too. Kihn's Spanish language priority explanation sounds a little thin. Unless, of course, they got locked out of all the bilingual lotteries and priced out of OA boundary. Then I'd have a lot of sympathy for them.

If you get priced out of OA boundary, no way you can afford WIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My spouse works for DCPS- not super high up the chain...but anyway. They believe that they “can’t sell a product they aren’t themselves buying.” I support my spouse, and although it is a joint decision, we ultimately choose to buy the product my spouse is sending. We bought a house in the district so our kids could attend DCPS schools. No charters, no private, etc. All DCPS. And I promise you we are not west of the park.

My spouse is passionate and truly believes in DCPS. Having kids in the system, showing faith in the system, etc. I think it adds credibility. And I think our elected officials would absolutely be more credible if they also bought the products they were selling. Should it be required- no. But do I think about it when I vote- absolutely.

It should be required. Because while some of us think about this when we vote, clearly many do not. AND there are no other viable options for us for most posts (ahem, Mayor), and those we're talking about are appointees anyways. So there really isn't anything we can do about this just because DC is not really a democracy.

I would vote for your spouse. But ... for what?