DCI or Deal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought this thread was helpful until everyone started bickering about whether people in upper NW are rich or merely UMC. Never change, DCUM.

You have missed the point completely. It’s about people not realizing their privilege in a city with stark economic disparity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought this thread was helpful until everyone started bickering about whether people in upper NW are rich or merely UMC. Never change, DCUM.

You have missed the point completely. It’s about people not realizing their privilege in a city with stark economic disparity.

I thought the point of the thread was to compare DCI and Deal.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:OP, we are in the same boat. We are at a DCI feeder but in boundary for Deal. We are choosing to try DCI this year, thankfully knowing we can switch to Deal next year if DCI doesn't meet our goals. I know it would be harder on my DD to move in 7th than to just start new in 6th with everyone else. But we are encouraged by the improvements we see in DCI every year and more and more of my DD high performing classmates are going to DCI each year. I have toured both Deal and DCI and both seem to have similar cultures (granted, it was a one hour tour). Except that Deal had less diversity in terms of ethnicity and probably socioeconomic too, and I was more uncomfortable with that than I expected, coming from a feeder with a great diversity of backgrounds (and we are a white family who wants our kids to grow up with much more diversity than we did). I feel thankful to have these 2 options but are not looking back from our decision to go with DCI.

I am very surprised that you think Deal does not have diversity.

I didn't say it doesn't have diversity. I said it has less diversity than I expected and less than I would like. And less than DCI. Given that all the DCI feeders are full of families who are not native to this country, this shouldn't be surprising. As an example, my core group of 5-6 close families from different feeders have at least one parent who was born in a Latin American country.

And if you listened to the open house at Deal, it's just going to get worse for diversity. Deal has seen an increase of in-bound kids to the point that they may not be able to take ANY lottery slots next year, so as more and more rich kids go to public schools in the boundary, we will see Deal have less and less diversity. I don't mean in color of skin, I mean diversity in clads and thought. Unfortunate, IMO.

DCPS is to blame. If you want diversity in urban public middle schools, offer honors humanities classes and test-in programs, period. If you want UMC parents to amalgamate around the one high-performing by-right middle school named Deal, don't offer honors humanities classes or test-in programs. Deal only tracks for math, so unless the school is predominantly UMC (which in DC means more white), for the most part, teachers can't differentiate effectively within classrooms.

Rich kids? Give me a break, this isn't NYC, with a finance industry. Few Deal families are truly rich, many are solidly UMC.

Once again folks, this is all relative. Most of UNW is "rich kids" if you look at nationwide stats. UMC is becoming a euphemism for people who simply don't want to admit they're in the 1%, and yes, they are rich. You're rich! Own it! God this city is so sickening sometimes.

Oh get over yourself. Federal civil servants, no matter how senior, aren't rich unless they have amassed great wealth from income coming from sources other than salary (and few do). You're definitely not in the 1% earning a civil servant's salary, as many many Deal parents do. You may be in the top 10%, but the 1% is ridiculous. Households pulling in less than 250K (almost everybody at Deal) aren't rich in this expensive city, only UMC. Spare us your holier-than-thou BS and histrionic misinformation.

What's really sickening is when "UMC" people do not recognize their own privilege.

Yes I agree and we are UMC. I’m frankly embarrassed by the poster above in not only their tone but also total lack of awareness. They think that being in what they call the top 10% and not 1% is not considered rich in this city especially when there are so many poor families.

It’s also why we will be choosing DCI over Deal where there is not only more diversity of people but also socioeconomic status

Good. I hope many people follow your lead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought this thread was helpful until everyone started bickering about whether people in upper NW are rich or merely UMC. Never change, DCUM.

You have missed the point completely. It’s about people not realizing their privilege in a city with stark economic disparity.

I thought the point of the thread was to compare DCI and Deal.

It is in a subtle way which you have not grasped why some families choose DCI over Deal.

[Anonymous]

DEAL!!!! DCI IS CPS TRIGGER HAPPY.....THEY WILL REPORT YOU FOR ANY REASON. RUN FROM DCI...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought this thread was helpful until everyone started bickering about whether people in upper NW are rich or merely UMC. Never change, DCUM.

I'm sorry that there are so many poor families in this city. But as somebody who grew up poor (FARMs through middle school, full Pell Grant for college), I don't we should be letting DCPS, the DCPCS Board and our city council members off the hook as UMC parents for failing to serve most families well across the city. We rejected DCI - the program articulates lofty academic goals but clearly hasn't been implemented with much administrative chutzpah, explaining lackluster demographics vs. those of the feeder schools.

Weak leadership and management of our public schools relative to some other US cities just isn't inspiring.

[Anonymous]

At Deal, all Latino kids have to check white or black on their forms. All Middle Eastern kids have to check white or Asian. It’s more diverse than those flawed numbers suggest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At Deal, all Latino kids have to check white or black on their forms. All Middle Eastern kids have to check white or Asian. It’s more diverse than those flawed numbers suggest.

Not true. What forms could that be? Not the ones for enrollment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought this thread was helpful until everyone started bickering about whether people in upper NW are rich or merely UMC. Never change, DCUM.

I'm sorry that there are so many poor families in this city. But as somebody who grew up poor (FARMs through middle school, full Pell Grant for college), I don't we should be letting DCPS, the DCPCS Board and our city council members off the hook as UMC parents for failing to serve most families well across the city. We rejected DCI - the program articulates lofty academic goals but clearly hasn't been implemented with much administrative chutzpah, explaining lackluster demographics vs. those of the feeder schools.

Weak leadership and management of our public schools relative to some other US cities just isn't inspiring.

Lackluster demographics ?? What on earth are you talking about?

DCI students’ racial, ethnic and economic status reflects all its the feeders combined. LAMB and YY are filled with more affluent students (I assume that’s what you mean by ‘favorable’ demographics), the other feeders are not. This shouldn’t be a surprise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought this thread was helpful until everyone started bickering about whether people in upper NW are rich or merely UMC. Never change, DCUM.

I'm sorry that there are so many poor families in this city. But as somebody who grew up poor (FARMs through middle school, full Pell Grant for college), I don't we should be letting DCPS, the DCPCS Board and our city council members off the hook as UMC parents for failing to serve most families well across the city. We rejected DCI - the program articulates lofty academic goals but clearly hasn't been implemented with much administrative chutzpah, explaining lackluster demographics vs. those of the feeder schools.

Weak leadership and management of our public schools relative to some other US cities just isn't inspiring.

This. Instead of excoriating Deal families for being too wealthy (not that everyone even agrees on this), turn your wrath to DC/DCPS leadership that has failed to effectively manage our public schools. The result is a lack of public schools performing at an acceptable level for all the city's children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought this thread was helpful until everyone started bickering about whether people in upper NW are rich or merely UMC. Never change, DCUM.

I'm sorry that there are so many poor families in this city. But as somebody who grew up poor (FARMs through middle school, full Pell Grant for college), I don't we should be letting DCPS, the DCPCS Board and our city council members off the hook as UMC parents for failing to serve most families well across the city. We rejected DCI - the program articulates lofty academic goals but clearly hasn't been implemented with much administrative chutzpah, explaining lackluster demographics vs. those of the feeder schools.

Weak leadership and management of our public schools relative to some other US cities just isn't inspiring.

Lackluster demographics ?? What on earth are you talking about?

DCI students’ racial, ethnic and economic status reflects all its the feeders combined. LAMB and YY are filled with more affluent students (I assume that’s what you mean by ‘favorable’ demographics), the other feeders are not. This shouldn’t be a surprise.

Wow, lackluster demographics. Impressive euphemism there.

And...More than 85% of each feeder school goes to DCI; more than 90% of feeder school students overall.

[Anonymous]

+100. UMC families around the city pay plenty in DC tax and deserve schools that work well for their children, as do less affluent families.

Our city politicians sit on their hands even as DCPS pours crazy sums into school renovations without bothering to make the policy and programmatic changes that render most by-right schools attractive to most in-boundary residents. They used to do this for dramatically under-subscribed high schools like Dunbar. Now they do it for failing middle schools like Eliot-Hine (currently under renovation for around $80 million). System leaders pour vast resources into school buildings that sit mostly empty, and will stay that way once the work is done.

Meanwhile, Deal gets more trailers and DCI doesn't bother to appropriately track for humanities or sciences because they can attract droves of desperate DCPS families without doing this. Fantastic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought this thread was helpful until everyone started bickering about whether people in upper NW are rich or merely UMC. Never change, DCUM.

I'm sorry that there are so many poor families in this city. But as somebody who grew up poor (FARMs through middle school, full Pell Grant for college), I don't we should be letting DCPS, the DCPCS Board and our city council members off the hook as UMC parents for failing to serve most families well across the city. We rejected DCI - the program articulates lofty academic goals but clearly hasn't been implemented with much administrative chutzpah, explaining lackluster demographics vs. those of the feeder schools.

Weak leadership and management of our public schools relative to some other US cities just isn't inspiring.

Lackluster demographics ?? What on earth are you talking about?

DCI students’ racial, ethnic and economic status reflects all its the feeders combined. LAMB and YY are filled with more affluent students (I assume that’s what you mean by ‘favorable’ demographics), the other feeders are not. This shouldn’t be a surprise.

Wow, lackluster demographics. Impressive euphemism there.

And...More than 85% of each feeder school goes to DCI; more than 90% of feeder school students overall.

Total BS. At least a third of YY families aren't bothering with DCI, same at LAMB. Almost everybody tries for Washington Latin and many go for BASIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought this thread was helpful until everyone started bickering about whether people in upper NW are rich or merely UMC. Never change, DCUM.

You have missed the point completely. It’s about people not realizing their privilege in a city with stark economic disparity.

I thought the point of the thread was to compare DCI and Deal.

+1.

Babbling PP above can go post in Politics section and/ or move to Cuba

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+100. UMC families around the city pay plenty in DC tax and deserve schools that work well for their children, as do less affluent families.

Our city politicians sit on their hands even as DCPS pours crazy sums into school renovations without bothering to make the policy and programmatic changes that render most by-right schools attractive to most in-boundary residents. They used to do this for dramatically under-subscribed high schools like Dunbar. Now they do it for failing middle schools like Eliot-Hine (currently under renovation for around $80 million). System leaders pour vast resources into school buildings that sit mostly empty, and will stay that way once the work is done.

Meanwhile, Deal gets more trailers and DCI doesn't bother to appropriately track for humanities or sciences because they can attract droves of desperate DCPS families without doing this. Fantastic.

All of this, but the bolded makes a good point. For most DCI families, their options are a poorly performing DCPS school, moving, or DCI. The first option is a non starter, and the second is only an option for parents who can afford it and are willing to sacrifice other things such as commute, savings, etc. DCI only has to be good enough to be better than their DCPS because many parents can't or won't move. Hence the admin's take it or leave it attitude.