do you know a lot of people who are leaving DCPS next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, I think it *might* be a reaction to all the white people who love to say: "Nobody's FROM DC!" completely ignoring that there have been families here for generations, just not a lot of white ones. That is a testament though of how segregated the city really is.

Agree that the divides are especially stark bc white people here are uniformly UMC.

I live on the Hill and there are a number of families threatening to leave, but will be interesting to see what happens. This is meant as a punishment to the rest of us somehow.

I was born here and I'm white. The child of transplants. And I know a lot of people who were born in the area and have stayed. Not many who live in the middle of the city, but they still live in the region. If you are white and from here, you mostly hang out with other people who are from here. My wife's family has lived in the area for a few generations.

The idea that only white people count, is racist. And so is the idea that only black people count. If I'm a public sector employee like DCPS employees are, then I serve the whole populaiton.

That said, if parents want to have a real voice in this city, we need to join together and use it. Mayor Bowser is right to think that she needs to be careful of the votes connected to the WTU. The constituency connected to the WTU is the reason why Fenty lost and Bowser won.

If we parents want our kids back in school we have to show that parents are an organized consituency who will stick around to vote. Leaving right now is less strategic than being actual players and changing the city governance structure.

This is the root cause of why DC schools still aren't fully open. This gets back to prior comments regarding the voting habits of the poor. They'll vote out who WTU tells them to vote out. And this is why my child hasn't been in a school building for a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, I think it *might* be a reaction to all the white people who love to say: "Nobody's FROM DC!" completely ignoring that there have been families here for generations, just not a lot of white ones. That is a testament though of how segregated the city really is.

Agree that the divides are especially stark bc white people here are uniformly UMC.

I live on the Hill and there are a number of families threatening to leave, but will be interesting to see what happens. This is meant as a punishment to the rest of us somehow.

I was born here and I'm white. The child of transplants. And I know a lot of people who were born in the area and have stayed. Not many who live in the middle of the city, but they still live in the region. If you are white and from here, you mostly hang out with other people who are from here. My wife's family has lived in the area for a few generations.

The idea that only white people count, is racist. And so is the idea that only black people count. If I'm a public sector employee like DCPS employees are, then I serve the whole populaiton.

That said, if parents want to have a real voice in this city, we need to join together and use it. Mayor Bowser is right to think that she needs to be careful of the votes connected to the WTU. The constituency connected to the WTU is the reason why Fenty lost and Bowser won.

If we parents want our kids back in school we have to show that parents are an organized consituency who will stick around to vote. Leaving right now is less strategic than being actual players and changing the city governance structure.

This is the root cause of why DC schools still aren't fully open. This gets back to prior comments regarding the voting habits of the poor. They'll vote out who WTU tells them to vote out. And this is why my child hasn't been in a school building for a year.

Well, what are you going to do about it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, I think it *might* be a reaction to all the white people who love to say: "Nobody's FROM DC!" completely ignoring that there have been families here for generations, just not a lot of white ones. That is a testament though of how segregated the city really is.

Agree that the divides are especially stark bc white people here are uniformly UMC.

I live on the Hill and there are a number of families threatening to leave, but will be interesting to see what happens. This is meant as a punishment to the rest of us somehow.

If you are taking it that way, that's on you. But the city is going to have a problem if a significant number of families pull their kids out of DCPS in the next couple of years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, I think it *might* be a reaction to all the white people who love to say: "Nobody's FROM DC!" completely ignoring that there have been families here for generations, just not a lot of white ones. That is a testament though of how segregated the city really is.

Agree that the divides are especially stark bc white people here are uniformly UMC.

I live on the Hill and there are a number of families threatening to leave, but will be interesting to see what happens. This is meant as a punishment to the rest of us somehow.

I was born here and I'm white. The child of transplants. And I know a lot of people who were born in the area and have stayed. Not many who live in the middle of the city, but they still live in the region. If you are white and from here, you mostly hang out with other people who are from here. My wife's family has lived in the area for a few generations.

The idea that only white people count, is racist. And so is the idea that only black people count. If I'm a public sector employee like DCPS employees are, then I serve the whole populaiton.

That said, if parents want to have a real voice in this city, we need to join together and use it. Mayor Bowser is right to think that she needs to be careful of the votes connected to the WTU. The constituency connected to the WTU is the reason why Fenty lost and Bowser won.

If we parents want our kids back in school we have to show that parents are an organized consituency who will stick around to vote. Leaving right now is less strategic than being actual players and changing the city governance structure.

This is the root cause of why DC schools still aren't fully open. This gets back to prior comments regarding the voting habits of the poor. They'll vote out who WTU tells them to vote out. And this is why my child hasn't been in a school building for a year.

This is not true. At least in my Ward 4 neighborhood, there were plenty of White progressive folks rallying around her, and she's plenty friendly with WTU. It's just a very simplistic view IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:yeah, I'm not going to miss the "I could do my job from Jackson Hole" people. I'd love it if the white people in DC were a little more civic minded and not always on alert for perceived privileges being taken away. Gives other white people a bad name. I don't want to be treated like some "Karen" but if all white people get mentioned for is REOPEN NOW GODDAMIT and DEAL ACCESS 4EVA then it's hard to explain myself.

Perceived privilege? You mean allowing children to go to school? That's long been considered a basic human right.

The most entitled people in Washington DC are public school teachers who seem to think they have an inalienable right to work as little as they like, for as long as they like, regardless of how many children they hurt and even if doctors agree schools should have reopened a long time ago.

Nope. Education is a human right. School in physical buildings during a pandemic is not a right, no matter how many times you scream that you really, really think it is. Sorry.

And the whole complaining and comparing endlessly to other districts is a tactic that doesn't even work in well-parented kindergarteners. "Why is Jimmy over there getting something I"m not?? It's not FAIR!" (foot stomp)

Good riddance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, I think it *might* be a reaction to all the white people who love to say: "Nobody's FROM DC!" completely ignoring that there have been families here for generations, just not a lot of white ones. That is a testament though of how segregated the city really is.

Agree that the divides are especially stark bc white people here are uniformly UMC.

I live on the Hill and there are a number of families threatening to leave, but will be interesting to see what happens. This is meant as a punishment to the rest of us somehow.

I was born here and I'm white. The child of transplants. And I know a lot of people who were born in the area and have stayed. Not many who live in the middle of the city, but they still live in the region. If you are white and from here, you mostly hang out with other people who are from here. My wife's family has lived in the area for a few generations.

The idea that only white people count, is racist. And so is the idea that only black people count. If I'm a public sector employee like DCPS employees are, then I serve the whole populaiton.

That said, if parents want to have a real voice in this city, we need to join together and use it. Mayor Bowser is right to think that she needs to be careful of the votes connected to the WTU. The constituency connected to the WTU is the reason why Fenty lost and Bowser won.

If we parents want our kids back in school we have to show that parents are an organized consituency who will stick around to vote. Leaving right now is less strategic than being actual players and changing the city governance structure.

This is the root cause of why DC schools still aren't fully open. This gets back to prior comments regarding the voting habits of the poor. They'll vote out who WTU tells them to vote out. And this is why my child hasn't been in a school building for a year.

This is not true. At least in my Ward 4 neighborhood, there were plenty of White progressive folks rallying around her, and she's plenty friendly with WTU. It's just a very simplistic view IMO.

Sorry, I meant to say, who voted for Janeese.

[Anonymous]

Why in the world - after seeing how incompetent and lacking in intelligence and ethics the DCPS system is - would you ever leave your child in this destined to fail pit?

[Anonymous]

We may move if school proves to be a real disappointment in the fall. We own a second home in a good school district. We'd like to stay but we won't endure another year where DCPS twiddles its thumbs for months without coming up with several "if, then" options and plans. I'm already skeptical because I keep hearing about schools having their budgets cut AND schools having to come up with virtual and hybrid plans. Why haven't I heard from DCPS that it might consider separating the virtual learning from in-person learning. DCPS should be seriously considering building and branding a virtual learning "school" where families who self-select can "attend" while allowing traditional schools to do what they do best--teach IN PERSON. Instead, it seems schools seem to think they have to continue being everything to everyone. Bad planning. No vision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, I think it *might* be a reaction to all the white people who love to say: "Nobody's FROM DC!" completely ignoring that there have been families here for generations, just not a lot of white ones. That is a testament though of how segregated the city really is.

Agree that the divides are especially stark bc white people here are uniformly UMC.

I live on the Hill and there are a number of families threatening to leave, but will be interesting to see what happens. This is meant as a punishment to the rest of us somehow.

I was born here and I'm white. The child of transplants. And I know a lot of people who were born in the area and have stayed. Not many who live in the middle of the city, but they still live in the region. If you are white and from here, you mostly hang out with other people who are from here. My wife's family has lived in the area for a few generations.

The idea that only white people count, is racist. And so is the idea that only black people count. If I'm a public sector employee like DCPS employees are, then I serve the whole populaiton.

That said, if parents want to have a real voice in this city, we need to join together and use it. Mayor Bowser is right to think that she needs to be careful of the votes connected to the WTU. The constituency connected to the WTU is the reason why Fenty lost and Bowser won.

If we parents want our kids back in school we have to show that parents are an organized consituency who will stick around to vote. Leaving right now is less strategic than being actual players and changing the city governance structure.

This is the root cause of why DC schools still aren't fully open. This gets back to prior comments regarding the voting habits of the poor. They'll vote out who WTU tells them to vote out. And this is why my child hasn't been in a school building for a year.

This is not true. At least in my Ward 4 neighborhood, there were plenty of White progressive folks rallying around her, and she's plenty friendly with WTU. It's just a very simplistic view IMO.

Sorry, I meant to say, who voted for Janeese.

I agree, we live in Ward 4 and the typical DCUM folks do not understand or represent our views. I think there are a good number of folks like us around the southern half of Ward 4 and in Ward 1. Elsewhere too, I expect, we just happen to only live in one neighborhood at a time.

Just to try to explain who we are from a slightly objective perspective, we're white, liberal, kind of moralistic, and want to break down segregation rather than gentrify anything. We like fancy little Instagram-friendly stores but we don't call the cops on our neighbors for smoking weed. Many, probably most of us are from somewhere else but I think most like us are here and don't intend to leave until retirement or longer. Degrees, but bleeding heart jobs, no BIGLAW here. Not moving to the exurbs for COVID. Maybe pods for the kids, but not private schools to get your kids off of screens.

Charters are OK, but we'd rather have a DCPS with a mix of families but not do anything to push anyone out. We think equity in schooling, so things like "cater to high-achievers!" are balanced with "make DCPS or PCS work well for everyone in our schools." We want the WTU to succeed; we also want schools to open. Not going to a rally to demand it NOW or whatever though. I, at least, want it to be said that no teacher at my kids' school got COVID because we demanded reopening when distance learning was an option.

I think we are the people that DCUM folks want to deride as "woke but dumb" people who are going to wake up when our kids are in high school and smoking crack and skipping school because they aren't at Wilson or that some 12 year old in MS-13 is going to murder my kid at MacFarland, whatever . . . just, basically, not buying into that narrative of living in DC.

We don't all experience it the same way, even if superficially we might all fill out the survey as white, well-educated, well-paid dual income families with two kids and a single family home.

I hope DC can work for you. But these posts like "are you moving away due to classes not starting again?" just don't come closing to describing the reality me and my neighbors live. Hope we find common ground where we can though!

[Anonymous]

Meh I’m in Ward 4, DC middle class, and everyone I know is pondering other options outside of public school in DC. Either moving to the suburbs or figuring out whether they can swing private for the short term.

[Anonymous]

The Upper Northwest crowd might be easily influenced by the Upper Northwest Joneses. They'll get over it. Our WOTP public has done amazing by my kids during the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Meh I’m in Ward 4, DC middle class, and everyone I know is pondering other options outside of public school in DC. Either moving to the suburbs or figuring out whether they can swing private for the short term.

Which burbs and is it really pandemic related or are they approaching middle school? The burb schools are a mess. Even in fluent areas like Whitman people are constantly complaining, and with county schools you wind up with similar challenges to DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, I think it *might* be a reaction to all the white people who love to say: "Nobody's FROM DC!" completely ignoring that there have been families here for generations, just not a lot of white ones. That is a testament though of how segregated the city really is.

Agree that the divides are especially stark bc white people here are uniformly UMC.

I live on the Hill and there are a number of families threatening to leave, but will be interesting to see what happens. This is meant as a punishment to the rest of us somehow.

I was born here and I'm white. The child of transplants. And I know a lot of people who were born in the area and have stayed. Not many who live in the middle of the city, but they still live in the region. If you are white and from here, you mostly hang out with other people who are from here. My wife's family has lived in the area for a few generations.

The idea that only white people count, is racist. And so is the idea that only black people count. If I'm a public sector employee like DCPS employees are, then I serve the whole populaiton.

That said, if parents want to have a real voice in this city, we need to join together and use it. Mayor Bowser is right to think that she needs to be careful of the votes connected to the WTU. The constituency connected to the WTU is the reason why Fenty lost and Bowser won.

If we parents want our kids back in school we have to show that parents are an organized consituency who will stick around to vote. Leaving right now is less strategic than being actual players and changing the city governance structure.

This is the root cause of why DC schools still aren't fully open. This gets back to prior comments regarding the voting habits of the poor. They'll vote out who WTU tells them to vote out. And this is why my child hasn't been in a school building for a year.

Your child has not been in school for a year because there is a pandemic going on. The WTU is not some cabal working to keep kids out of the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, I think it *might* be a reaction to all the white people who love to say: "Nobody's FROM DC!" completely ignoring that there have been families here for generations, just not a lot of white ones. That is a testament though of how segregated the city really is.

Agree that the divides are especially stark bc white people here are uniformly UMC.

I live on the Hill and there are a number of families threatening to leave, but will be interesting to see what happens. This is meant as a punishment to the rest of us somehow.

I was born here and I'm white. The child of transplants. And I know a lot of people who were born in the area and have stayed. Not many who live in the middle of the city, but they still live in the region. If you are white and from here, you mostly hang out with other people who are from here. My wife's family has lived in the area for a few generations.

The idea that only white people count, is racist. And so is the idea that only black people count. If I'm a public sector employee like DCPS employees are, then I serve the whole populaiton.

That said, if parents want to have a real voice in this city, we need to join together and use it. Mayor Bowser is right to think that she needs to be careful of the votes connected to the WTU. The constituency connected to the WTU is the reason why Fenty lost and Bowser won.

If we parents want our kids back in school we have to show that parents are an organized consituency who will stick around to vote. Leaving right now is less strategic than being actual players and changing the city governance structure.

This is the root cause of why DC schools still aren't fully open. This gets back to prior comments regarding the voting habits of the poor. They'll vote out who WTU tells them to vote out. And this is why my child hasn't been in a school building for a year.

This is not true. At least in my Ward 4 neighborhood, there were plenty of White progressive folks rallying around her, and she's plenty friendly with WTU. It's just a very simplistic view IMO.

Sorry, I meant to say, who voted for Janeese.

I agree, we live in Ward 4 and the typical DCUM folks do not understand or represent our views. I think there are a good number of folks like us around the southern half of Ward 4 and in Ward 1. Elsewhere too, I expect, we just happen to only live in one neighborhood at a time.

Just to try to explain who we are from a slightly objective perspective, we're white, liberal, kind of moralistic, and want to break down segregation rather than gentrify anything. We like fancy little Instagram-friendly stores but we don't call the cops on our neighbors for smoking weed. Many, probably most of us are from somewhere else but I think most like us are here and don't intend to leave until retirement or longer. Degrees, but bleeding heart jobs, no BIGLAW here. Not moving to the exurbs for COVID. Maybe pods for the kids, but not private schools to get your kids off of screens.

Charters are OK, but we'd rather have a DCPS with a mix of families but not do anything to push anyone out. We think equity in schooling, so things like "cater to high-achievers!" are balanced with "make DCPS or PCS work well for everyone in our schools." We want the WTU to succeed; we also want schools to open. Not going to a rally to demand it NOW or whatever though. I, at least, want it to be said that no teacher at my kids' school got COVID because we demanded reopening when distance learning was an option.

I think we are the people that DCUM folks want to deride as "woke but dumb" people who are going to wake up when our kids are in high school and smoking crack and skipping school because they aren't at Wilson or that some 12 year old in MS-13 is going to murder my kid at MacFarland, whatever . . . just, basically, not buying into that narrative of living in DC.

We don't all experience it the same way, even if superficially we might all fill out the survey as white, well-educated, well-paid dual income families with two kids and a single family home.

I hope DC can work for you. But these posts like "are you moving away due to classes not starting again?" just don't come closing to describing the reality me and my neighbors live. Hope we find common ground where we can though!

Agree. Hi neighbor!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, I think it *might* be a reaction to all the white people who love to say: "Nobody's FROM DC!" completely ignoring that there have been families here for generations, just not a lot of white ones. That is a testament though of how segregated the city really is.

Agree that the divides are especially stark bc white people here are uniformly UMC.

I live on the Hill and there are a number of families threatening to leave, but will be interesting to see what happens. This is meant as a punishment to the rest of us somehow.

I was born here and I'm white. The child of transplants. And I know a lot of people who were born in the area and have stayed. Not many who live in the middle of the city, but they still live in the region. If you are white and from here, you mostly hang out with other people who are from here. My wife's family has lived in the area for a few generations.

The idea that only white people count, is racist. And so is the idea that only black people count. If I'm a public sector employee like DCPS employees are, then I serve the whole populaiton.

That said, if parents want to have a real voice in this city, we need to join together and use it. Mayor Bowser is right to think that she needs to be careful of the votes connected to the WTU. The constituency connected to the WTU is the reason why Fenty lost and Bowser won.

If we parents want our kids back in school we have to show that parents are an organized consituency who will stick around to vote. Leaving right now is less strategic than being actual players and changing the city governance structure.

This is the root cause of why DC schools still aren't fully open. This gets back to prior comments regarding the voting habits of the poor. They'll vote out who WTU tells them to vote out. And this is why my child hasn't been in a school building for a year.

Your child has not been in school for a year because there is a pandemic going on. The WTU is not some cabal working to keep kids out of the classroom.

Are you insane? WTU is the *only* reason schools have been closed so long. Bowser said last summer she wanted to schools to open in August -- when coronavirus rates were extremely low -- but teachers were refusing to show up for work. Remember when WTU sent body bags to government officials labeled "your favorite teacher"?