Has anyone decided to give up on DCPS and move to Virginia?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Real estate agents should never tell you where to live based on school performance. This is called steering. It's illegal and should be reported to the real estate commission.

Agree agree agree. As someone whoever works in housing oversight, that comment made me cringe.

That's ridiculous. Steering that is based on race is illegal. Asking to be shown houses in good school districts is not illegal, and is just responsibel parenting.

Responsible parenting is researching schools for yourself like everyone else does, and not having your agent lose his/her license. I am an agent, and this illegal. I'm sure you just were not aware of the implications of what you were asking.

It's not ridiculous. It is absolutely a major component of steering. What constitutes a "good school"? Are you sure your agents definition is the same as yours. Agents did use terms like "good school district" for many years to get around saying blatantly racist things which is precisely why it is illegal to do it now.

And again, the clients has every right to say they only want to look in a certain district, they just need to decide that without the help of their agent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Real estate agents should never tell you where to live based on school performance. This is called steering. It's illegal and should be reported to the real estate commission.

Agree agree agree. As someone whoever works in housing oversight, that comment made me cringe.

That's ridiculous. Steering that is based on race is illegal. Asking to be shown houses in good school districts is not illegal, and is just responsibel parenting.

Sure the realtor used "schools" as a reference but let's be honest we all know that all too often the poorest performing schools are in the areas with the hghest minority representation. I know the agent knows the law and interjects words like "schools" to remain legal. These are the same agents that don't even know there are good charter options...he may not even know about jklm. People like that are a dime a dozen, I meet them all the time. They look at me with sympathy when I tell them I live in DC and wonder how I made it to work alive. They live 20 miles from DC but are ignorant to the happenings in DC. All they know is that DC is a scary place (prob more so because it's high percentage black) and less on actual facts....ok sorry I'm getting off base.

You'd be surprised to know the workarounds of breaking actual laws such as steering and redlining. It happens all the time. So while I said it made me cringe, you notice I didn't say I was opening an investigation. That's because I know there's nothing I can do about it.

Your whole premise is laughable. We certainly wouldn't want a realtor to tell us about the quality of the in-boundary school, nor about neighborhood crime statistics. Heck, if they knew the house was built over an unmarked indian graveyard, they should certainly keep mum.

You're obviously a troll, and no nothing of the subject other than how to get a rise out of people.

Judging from the posts that have come to my defense, I'm guessing you know I'm not a troll. I think it's laughable that you would even gauge that...what the heck from my post even suggests that? I was simply sharing my expertise from someone in the industry and sharing the law. For the other posters that displayed facts about steering with regards to education, thank you. I think we can all agree that the agent in question had dubious methods and has questionable ethics. We may have all learned a lesson we can take with us when we hire our next agent. Oh and steering away from "your opinion" of bad schools is not the same as not disclosing an unmarked grave which is part of property disclosure. Your analogy doesn't come close to lining up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The momentum seems to be shifting more and more toward families staying in town. We just went through the whole charter lottery process, and are thrilled with the exciting options that are available now. For one thing, many of the charters are really taking advantage of all the amazing educational resources the city has to offer.

This is such BS. The Post just reported that the number of school-age students living in DC declined over the past decade, even as the number of 20-somethings and singles increased. Such a claim is only a measure of the high regard in which some DC residents hold themselves - that, and the fact that they all want to send their kids to the same handful of public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I assume OP means those not attending JKLM, Deal... Because those scools are as good and for many kids better than anything in VA. Plus, in VA you will be cheek and jowl with the very worst elements of GOP/teabag/racists. If that is something you are comfortable with, then we're well rid of you here in DCPS.

Yeah, why expose yourself to that when you can enjoy reverse McCarthyism and political orthodoxy in DC? We had good neighbors in DC and good neighbors in VA. But the former all thought exactly the same about virtually every political and social issue, whereas you actually meet people who may challenge your existing opinions if you move to VA. And, of course, that should never be allowed to happen.

[Anonymous]

When we were looking in an unfamiliar area and asked for advice about which school districts were " good" my agent would only say so much and told us it was illegal for her to give us too much of her opinion. But when we did the research on our own and then asked to be shown houses in a certain school district she praised our choices and was happy to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The momentum seems to be shifting more and more toward families staying in town. We just went through the whole charter lottery process, and are thrilled with the exciting options that are available now. For one thing, many of the charters are really taking advantage of all the amazing educational resources the city has to offer.

This is such BS. The Post just reported that the number of school-age students living in DC declined over the past decade, even as the number of 20-somethings and singles increased. Such a claim is only a measure of the high regard in which some DC residents hold themselves - that, and the fact that they all want to send their kids to the same handful of public schools.

NP. That's interesting, do you have a link? Does it talk to the demographics of the students who are leaving? The recent census data has shown a pretty profound shift in the demographics of the city and several neighborhoods appear to be experiencing baby booms. The economic circumstances of the students who are gone vs. those who are entering could be very different. Is there a breakdown of that information in the article?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. That's interesting, do you have a link? Does it talk to the demographics of the students who are leaving? The recent census data has shown a pretty profound shift in the demographics of the city and several neighborhoods appear to be experiencing baby booms. The economic circumstances of the students who are gone vs. those who are entering could be very different. Is there a breakdown of that information in the article?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/census-young-adults-are-responsible-for-most-of-dcs-growth-in-past-decade/2011/05/04/AFJz5LtF_story.html?hpid=z3

So...the point is it's all good if hundreds of AA families move to PG or PW, and dozens of white families move to Shaw or Capitol Hill?

Not saying one can't have that view, though it's a bit hard to reconcile with the notion that city living will ensure one's kids are exposed to diversity, the suburbs are so monolithic, etc.

[Anonymous]

City living doesn't ensure diversity and neither does suburban living. Frankly my friend that lives in Loudon has kids from more countries than my DCPS school. You don't even have that much economic diversity in the city, it so often feels like everyone is either rich or poor. . However if I may comment about a lot of the AA families in Capital Hill and Shaw. They left a long time ago, back in the 90's. Many of these houses that younger couples are buying were grandma houses. Many AA family chose not to come back to District.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:City living doesn't ensure diversity and neither does suburban living. Frankly my friend that lives in Loudon has kids from more countries than my DCPS school. You don't even have that much economic diversity in the city, it so often feels like everyone is either rich or poor. . However if I may comment about a lot of the AA families in Capital Hill and Shaw. They left a long time ago, back in the 90's. Many of these houses that younger couples are buying were grandma houses. Many AA family chose not to come back to District.

I think the article needs to be updated. I see many middle-class AA families in Capitol Hill, NE (N.Cap St area), 16th St, and Shaw area. Yes, a lot of AA families exited in the late 90s, but with PG County becoming the old DC, middle-class families are returning to DC for the lifestyle and better public and charter school options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. That's interesting, do you have a link? Does it talk to the demographics of the students who are leaving? The recent census data has shown a pretty profound shift in the demographics of the city and several neighborhoods appear to be experiencing baby booms. The economic circumstances of the students who are gone vs. those who are entering could be very different. Is there a breakdown of that information in the article?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/census-young-adults-are-responsible-for-most-of-dcs-growth-in-past-decade/2011/05/04/AFJz5LtF_story.html?hpid=z3

So...the point is it's all good if hundreds of AA families move to PG or PW, and dozens of white families move to Shaw or Capitol Hill?

Not saying one can't have that view, though it's a bit hard to reconcile with the notion that city living will ensure one's kids are exposed to diversity, the suburbs are so monolithic, etc.

No, there wasn't a "point" per se, only questions raised by different possible interpretations of data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the article needs to be updated. I see many middle-class AA families in Capitol Hill, NE (N.Cap St area), 16th St, and Shaw area. Yes, a lot of AA families exited in the late 90s, but with PG County becoming the old DC, middle-class families are returning to DC for the lifestyle and better public and charter school options.

Very true. Let's pay for another Census so we can see if a few more yuppies with kids have moved into Bloomingdale. The last one was so 2010.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the article needs to be updated. I see many middle-class AA families in Capitol Hill, NE (N.Cap St area), 16th St, and Shaw area. Yes, a lot of AA families exited in the late 90s, but with PG County becoming the old DC, middle-class families are returning to DC for the lifestyle and better public and charter school options.

Very true. Let's pay for another Census so we can see if a few more yuppies with kids have moved into Bloomingdale. The last one was so 2010.

The snark isn't necessary. The PP may be suggesting that if you're only looking at the total number of children in the city (as the Post article does) you're not seeing the underlying shift in economic circumstances, nor how they will ripple through the school system.

[Anonymous]

It's just that there are only 2 sentences in those articles about kid populations. There is a big difference -- decline in school-age population over 10 years vs stable in the under 5s. We don't know what birth rates were in the years the school-age pop was born nor do we know how many moved out before they started K. We don't know what the under 5s will do as they age into K. I suspect (based on the PK / PS lottery trends that more will stay. But they'll be straining the OOB system b/c there aren't enough schools that people will want to attend. perhaps this will lead to a push to enroll at more traditionally underperforming schools and work to improve them. It'll probably lead to a jump into more new charters (Inspired, Mundo Verde this year...Creative Minds next year??). And some people will undoubtedly move to the suburbs. We shall see. Would be worth a story of its on in the Post instead of two sentences; that's for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's just that there are only 2 sentences in those articles about kid populations. There is a big difference -- decline in school-age population over 10 years vs stable in the under 5s. We don't know what birth rates were in the years the school-age pop was born nor do we know how many moved out before they started K. We don't know what the under 5s will do as they age into K. I suspect (based on the PK / PS lottery trends that more will stay. But they'll be straining the OOB system b/c there aren't enough schools that people will want to attend. perhaps this will lead to a push to enroll at more traditionally underperforming schools and work to improve them. It'll probably lead to a jump into more new charters (Inspired, Mundo Verde this year...Creative Minds next year??). And some people will undoubtedly move to the suburbs. We shall see. Would be worth a story of its on in the Post instead of two sentences; that's for sure.

That might make an interesting article, but hopefully it would be based on facts and not just wishful speculation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume OP means those not attending JKLM, Deal... Because those scools are as good and for many kids better than anything in VA. Plus, in VA you will be cheek and jowl with the very worst elements of GOP/teabag/racists. If that is something you are comfortable with, then we're well rid of you here in DCPS.

Yeah, why expose yourself to that when you can enjoy reverse McCarthyism and political orthodoxy in DC? We had good neighbors in DC and good neighbors in VA. But the former all thought exactly the same about virtually every political and social issue, whereas you actually meet people who may challenge your existing opinions if you move to VA. And, of course, that should never be allowed to happen.

Lot's of folks challenge political orthodoxies in DC. I think what you wanted was someone willing to think outside the box of "informed, rational thinking". I don't really need to be exposed to folks who think "Glenn Beck might just have a point" or "Lowering taxes always increases revenues--even down to zero!".