best in-boundary potential for improvement?

[Anonymous]

Reed, Garrison, Cooke, just like Ross, have oodles of well paid professionals who bought in and now want to stay in their hip, fun neighborhoods and walk to school. There are a lot of people who make decent money but not the crazy $400K HHI you read about on this board, they continue to be priced out of west of the park or even Dupont and Adams Morgan.
May I say it is so boring to keep hearing people talk about west of the park schools. For the 99% of the rest of us who are OOB and can't get in or don't want a crappy commute, that is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"All of the upper NW schools have a significant drop in kids leaving midway through to go private, sometimes a class size or more. There is a big change in school population and dynamics at that point."

This is so not true - look at the DCPS stats on OOB admissions. Janney took in 12 total (across 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades) - the vast majority of in-bounds kids stay through 5th and then go on to Deal.


"Mann avoids this by not taking in more kids after the drop."

Mann took in 4 OOB kids in fourth grade.

I think that's what the PP was addressing when she said "Less so now in schools that feed to Deal."

It was. Historically Janney and Lafayette have fed more kids to deal, Murch less so. That has changed with Deal and the economy. If the economy picks up again and people have less confidence in the new Rhee, who knows?

At Hearst, I can tell you that parents of younger kids that I know look ahead at that one white kid in those grades and are driven by anxiety that they don't want that to be their kid. Otherwise they would be happy to stay, they just don't want to show up one August and find that their new reality. Hopefully Hearst going through 5th will help them retain committed families. It's disruptive to kids to have a lot of churn.

[Anonymous]

Capitol Hill parents have made a big difference so I'm expecting to see the same in the Columbia Heights and Logan Circle area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That has changed with Deal and the economy. If the economy picks up again and people have less confidence in the new Rhee, who knows?

That should be with [the rennovations to] Deal and the economy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reed, Garrison, Cooke, just like Ross, have oodles of well paid professionals who bought in and now want to stay in their hip, fun neighborhoods and walk to school. There are a lot of people who make decent money but not the crazy $400K HHI you read about on this board, they continue to be priced out of west of the park or even Dupont and Adams Morgan.
May I say it is so boring to keep hearing people talk about west of the park schools. For the 99% of the rest of us who are OOB and can't get in or don't want a crappy commute, that is.

That is the trade off. When the "oodles" become big numbers the schools change, it's really about SES except for the KIPP schools. Until then, the professionals scramble, or convince themselves that Cooke is as good as what they could get in Arlington or that attending has benefits not found in the closer in burbs, if they could afford them.

Quite a few friends have moved to NoVA and it's really interesting. There isn't the big private school culture that exists in DC or MC. They have all this time and mental space that isn't devoted to obsessing about schools, not to mention $ saved on privates.

[Anonymous]

To the PP who has never met anyone who sends their kids to Garrison, you should email the new PTA President [e-mail] and find out when you might be able to. Garrison really surprised me. I've been on quite a few school tours over the last few months and it is actually much higher on my list than I was expecting it to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"As I said, there aren't any racial problems at Brent (at least among the students . . . ) "

Wanna chat about the Brent third grader who got cuffed by MPD and walked out of his classroom so he could "learn a lesson about stealing." (Apparently his mom thought this was a great life lesson?)

Guess how many white parents at Brent are going to RUN after this little incident?

NONE. clearly you don't know Brent at all.

[Anonymous]

"As I said, there aren't any racial problems at Brent (at least among the students . . . ) "

Wanna chat about the Brent third grader who got cuffed by MPD and walked out of his classroom so he could "learn a lesson about stealing." (Apparently his mom thought this was a great life lesson?)

Guess how many white parents at Brent are going to RUN after this little incident?

NONE. clearly you don't know Brent at all.
---------------------
I'm the one that said there aren't any racial problems among the the students, and I stand by that. I've been active with Brent since my oldest was a toddler. I have friends on the staff. I think i know the school very well. The older black kids have been absolutely WONDERFUL towards my little white kids. If you come by the school you will see a lovely swirl of activity on the playground with black and white kids playing together. If that really is as unusual as all you cynics believe it is, then maybe someone should study Brent and see if it can be replicated elsewhere. But I doubt that will happen because that is just the normal state of kids if parents would just get out of their business. (at least for elementary school kids-- I wouldn't be surprized if studies show that inherent racial antagonism kicks in when the adolesent hormones fire up).

As for the kid that got cuffed--- SHOCKING! How absoultely awful!! I glad to hear above that at least for now it seems that the other kids in the classroom were not harmed by the incident. I think my kids are super sensitive to that sort of thing and it would have really affected them to see it, so I am very grateful my kids didn't see it. (Good point though about seeing things like this happen at Metro, etc., but soem kids really do feel teh classroom is like their home and an intrusion like that in the classroom is far more upsetting than in a more neutral place like metro).

But the school seems to have handled it very well-- that evening all parents got a robo-call reporting the basic facts and giving us the impression that the school is FURIOUS at the parent and at the police department. UNEXCEPTABLE!!!! But, as a another poster said, as bad as it is, I don't think many parents will leave Brent over it. The school had nothing to do with it and seems to handled it as well as possible. Maybe the "cuffing" deserves it's own thread rather than highjack this thread, as I'm sure much more can be said by others about it? Just please do not provide more detail about identity than what we already know. I don't know what I will do to that mother if I figure out who she is. And the police officer???? IDIOT!!! I hope DCPS sues METRO POLICE over this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
At Hearst, I can tell you that parents of younger kids that I know look ahead at that one white kid in those grades and are driven by anxiety that they don't want that to be their kid. Otherwise they would be happy to stay, they just don't want to show up one August and find that their new reality. Hopefully Hearst going through 5th will help them retain committed families. It's disruptive to kids to have a lot of churn.

And that's the thing. There isn't a lot of churn at Hearst. In the past there was; not so much now. I can tell you that at least one of those only white kids is doing just fine.

[Anonymous]

Reed, Garrison, Cooke, just like Ross, have oodles of well paid professionals who bought in and now want to stay in their hip, fun neighborhoods and walk to school. There are a lot of people who make decent money but not the crazy $400K HHI you read about on this board, they continue to be priced out of west of the park or even Dupont and Adams Morgan.

May I say it is so boring to keep hearing people talk about west of the park schools. For the 99% of the rest of us who are OOB and can't get in or don't want a crappy commute, that is.

May -I- say it amusing but ultimately tiresome to keep hearing this whine over and over? You and your partner made an eyes-open decision -- not under duress? -- to choose "hip, fun" over "sensible."

For the same money you spent in hipster Columbia Heights or similar, you could've chosen a smallish rental apartment OR condo in Van Ness South (Murch), the Kenwood (Murch). There are cheap, unattractive and even low-income apartments all over south Bethesda near Bradley that feed into Somerset Elementary or Bethesda Elementary -- probably two of the best ESs in the state.

So enjoy your hookah bars, Jamaican curries and vintage dress shops Some of us find it boring to keep hearing from you hipsters who won't give it up and move to an equally cheap place, and put your children first.

[Anonymous]

^do you even care about the rest of the city at all? Do you care if schools outside of nw improve? Do you understand the way that we are all related? Not everyone in the city can move into nw for the schools? Tell those of us who can't all fit or afford your nw to move out of the city and watch what happens to your city.

Do you give one shred of thought to the lovely children who receive a miserable education in your city. I'm not asking you to actually help them, but only to have a shred of decency to understand the dilemmas that others face. Great, you made a sensible choice. Now how about cheering on the rest of us who can't who have other priorities? Why be divisive? Why even get on this forum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Reed, Garrison, Cooke, just like Ross, have oodles of well paid professionals who bought in and now want to stay in their hip, fun neighborhoods and walk to school. There are a lot of people who make decent money but not the crazy $400K HHI you read about on this board, they continue to be priced out of west of the park or even Dupont and Adams Morgan.

May I say it is so boring to keep hearing people talk about west of the park schools. For the 99% of the rest of us who are OOB and can't get in or don't want a crappy commute, that is.

May -I- say it amusing but ultimately tiresome to keep hearing this whine over and over? You and your partner made an eyes-open decision -- not under duress? -- to choose "hip, fun" over "sensible."

For the same money you spent in hipster Columbia Heights or similar, you could've chosen a smallish rental apartment OR condo in Van Ness South (Murch), the Kenwood (Murch). There are cheap, unattractive and even low-income apartments all over south Bethesda near Bradley that feed into Somerset Elementary or Bethesda Elementary -- probably two of the best ESs in the state.

So enjoy your hookah bars, Jamaican curries and vintage dress shops Some of us find it boring to keep hearing from you hipsters who won't give it up and move to an equally cheap place, and put your children first.

PP's not bad-mouthing your choices, so why the snide response? There's more than one way to put your children first. I'm not sure why it's hard to accept the idea that parents who don't live in (or commute to) JKLMO or the suburbs value their children just as much as those who do.

[Anonymous]

I actually think PP was bad-mouthing their choices but is being overly facile in conclusions. Under PP's reasoning---those Columbia Heights parents should have been willing to rent forever in order to provide their children with a NW elementary education, or buy an exceedingly small condo that not only is probably too small for a family but has limited appreciation.

Instead of just assuming that the Columbia Heights and other east of park parents were only selfishly interested in "hookah bars, vintage dress shops, and jamaican curry" maybe PP should reflect on the fact that many of those parents made a reasonable financial calculation to buy the most space they could afford, with the hope that the appreciation of their houses would provide a sound financial footing for their family 20 years from now. And, many of the CoHi families I know deliberately made the decision to buy in a neighborhood that gave them a reasonable commute, and thus more time to spend with their family, and also at a price that gave them the option of having a stay-at-home parent when the kids were young. To characterize them as selfish immature "hipsters" who do not care about their children is really unfair.

[Anonymous]

^ ditto that. Living in CH has meant that both my husband and I could take turns taking time off to spend with our kids. If that's not putting our kids first, I don't know what is.

And now our kids go to a great school that they walk to with other kids in the neighborhood. Instead of cursing the traffic as I drive across town to get to an OOB school that evidently doesn't want me, we have a nice leisurely breakfast as a family and then amble down the street to school. From there, I have a 10 minute commute by bus to work. After work on Fridays I have a 15 minute commute to the kid-friendly Reef where I meet friends with kids from the neighborhood for 80s rock and balloon animals. On Wednesday nights I take the bus to my neighborhood to watch my kids play tot soccer by Rock Creek Park. Our insurance rates are low(ish) because our au pair doesn't have to drive our car to take the kids to their activities. And my kids think nothing of walking up and down the hill to the zoo. We haven't used a stroller since they turned three - how about you?

Keep your small dark apartments with ancient plumbing and your driver lifestyle. We're happy where we are.

[Anonymous]

Wouldn't it be great if DCPS reached out to those parents that left their neighborhood school and asked them why they left for another DC area school? There is a lot of speculation that people leave because of racial concerns, but I've never heard of anyone saying that was the deciding factor for them. Instead, i hear a lot of "our neighborhood middle school is a mess, so I'm getting out of our DCPS neighborhood track while the gettin' is good." Anyway, if DCPS did these "exit interviews" I imagine that would shed a lot of light on what in-boundry schools are posed to be embraced by the neighborhood families.