How can DCPS improve *all* its schools when Wilson and feeders raise big PTA money for enrichment?
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Anonymous
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OP, your title suggest that you think the reason DCPS schools aren not improving is because Wilson feeder parents donate to their PTA. That is an awkward misplacement of blame for how a school system should be run.
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Anonymous
You have no awareness whatsoever of who is behind the movement to rename Wilson, but instead of doing the absolute minimum work to find out, you derail this thread in order to post inaccurate nonsense based entirely on invented stereotypes that you find appealing. You need to do better. One of the reasons behind efforts like the effort to rename Wilson is that perception matters -- both the perception of black people by others and black people's perception of themselves -- including black kids that make up one side of the achievement gap. White society has a comfortable narrative that the civil war was over 100 years ago, racism is no longer a problem, and the achievement gap is about bad parenting. The less comfortable truth is that white society has predatorily victimized black and brown people repeatedly in ways that derailed progress that those communities have made. Woodrow Wilson is an example -- by re-segregating the federal government, he decimated DC's emerging black middle class. By using eminent domain to take over black owned land where Ft. Reno is now, he uprooted a thriving community. This story has been repeated over and over and over -- from slavery times to the backlash against reconstruction to segregation and Jim Crow to today's voter suppression and unequal policing. Efforts to rename institutions that honor racists who actively worked against the black community matter in reducing the achievement gap. |
Anonymous
I don't know if they are declining/failing, but the school modernization project is ongoing, and lots of schools outside NW have or are in the process of getting full modernizations and/or new buildings. Boone (formerly Orr) just got a new building. Harris is getting a modernization and a new cafeteria and gym. Houston is getting a modernization that will add 30,000 square feet. Kimball is getting an almost entirely new building. And plenty of other non-WOTP schools have already been updated or rebuilt. DCPS and DGS have a formula to determine how schools are prioritized that includes how many other schools in that ward have already been modernized, the percentage of at-risk/ELL/SPED students, student demand and neighborhood population, and the condition of the building, and then they factor in swing space availability, cost, and district priorities (ex: prioritizing middle schools). They intentionally spread the renovations around all eight wards--WTOP schools do not get any kind of special priority, and it has nothing to do with PTA/HSA fundraising. |
Anonymous
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Here is a list of current DCPS modernization:
Bancroft Elementary Banneker High School Bruce-Monroe ES at Park View C.W. Harris Elementary School Capitol Hill Montessori @ Logan Coolidge High School Eaton Elementary School Eliot-Hine Middle School Garrison Elementary School Houston Elementary School Hyde-Addison Elementary School Jefferson Academy Kimball Elementary School Lawrence E. Boone Elementary (Formerly Orr) MacFarland Dual Language Middle School Maury Elementary School Murch Elementary School Recently Completed Projects Shepherd Elementary Thaddeus Stevens School West Education Campus |
Anonymous
I was a Lafayette parent, currently Deal and Wilson. Sorry but I am not rich and many other families I know in the neighborhood are not rich. I spend a crazy percentage of my take home pay on the mortgage on my crappy house, vacation in places that most would look down on (Ocean City), and my dc's don't have the trappings you would associate with rich kids. There are certainly "rich" kids at those schools but it simply is not the case for all of us. A good number are Government and non-profit workers with advanced degrees that value education and spread ourselves thin so we can be guaranteed a spot in one of these schools. |
Anonymous
You people are funny. What does rich mean to you? Average houses cost over 1 million. My bad - not 2.5 million! You're comparing yourselves to private school folks up the road and thereby feel less rich. Maybe drive through Anacostia one day and see what it feels like. I know you don't want to be rich, but, relatively speaking and for DC you very much are. |
Anonymous
Is this list supposed to reflect full modernization? If so, then Shepherd should not be on the list, since to date it has only received a partial renovation. |
Anonymous
If you think the parents sending their kids to Ward 3 schools are “rich”, well then you’ve never seen real wealth. And you are better for it. |
Anonymous
Not sure what this list is. Eaton is slated for reno but hasn’t started. Murch is done. What is this list? |
Anonymous
Not everyone owns. Compared to the rest of the world, we are fine. But we aren’t rich. |
Anonymous
It's the group currently being renovated. So that can be in the planning phases etc. Here's a list of the completed ones. Only 3 of the 35 are in ward 3. https://dgs.dc.gov/node/843682 |
Anonymous
The implication of the post upthread was that the "rich kids" have the fancy renovated school. The Lafayette community lived with a challenging (at best) school for many years and received no more special treatment than other school across the city, what they have in terms of structure is in fact typical for renovated schools across the city. The renovation was not paid for by the PTA and it certainly was not the first in line when renovations started happening. |
Anonymous
There is a reason that me and my friends drive across town on weekends to let our kids play at the Lafayette playground(s). Literally nothing comparable on our side of the park. |
Anonymous
Not sure why you bother. Turkey Thicket and Takoma Park playgrounds are better. If you drive across town for a playground, go to Beauvoir. |
Anonymous
| Brookland MS has a terrific playground. Hands down the best of the city. |