What do UMC Black Families Want (and sometimes not get?) vs What White Families Want and Get?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And some of the strongest advocates for school change are EOTR and they get ignored by DCPS. Cutting teacher numbers, less resources. This would not fly at Wilson to the extent that Eastern and Anacostia high schools are about to take a hit next year.

They are taking a hit because they are loosing population. Also why anyone would willingly send their child there is beyond me. You should be going to an application school

Again the main theme is higher income blacks are just like higher income whites. You have 3 choices WOTP, charters/application or private. DCPS is a joke.

Good luck on the charter front over the next few years. Facility costs, organized activism against charters, politicians working against charter schools and lack of any organized advocacy for charters by parents is undermining the entire charter sector. Then good luck when we are all back to having only two choices.

Charters will still be popular and in demand, going strong, in the city as long as DCPS continues to ignore meeting the needs of kids at or above grade level especially EOTP. It’s the only reason middle class families are staying in the city and not moving to the burbs. Hence why no big resistance from the city with more charters being formed. The city is happy getting it’s tax dollars. In addition, the city knows that charters offers low income families EOTR an alternative to their poor performing school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only white people think that race is no longer an issue. There are numerous posters here saying that they are highly educated AA families and the schools still do not see their well-fed, well-traveled, well-supported and prepared kids as assets. I will add to this: white families at our school with LESS Education overall and LESS income are catered to while we are largely ignored. And we have been pointed in raising this and School officials act like they don’t know what we are talking about - but ai think they do, of course, and simply do not care and are going to continue to cater to white families to bring that demographic percentage up. So, don’t tell me race does not matter. Sheesh. I would hope that the past 2 1/2 years has demonstrated that racis, is alive and well.

Look you can keep b%^&ing or do something

Do you realize what white people do? Do you go to real people in power and complain like your council members, DME folks, etc and complain? That is how you actually get stuff done

Are you saying non white people dont do those things?

[Anonymous]

lets revive this thread

[Anonymous]

White UMC = 33% of all White people

Black UMC = 15% of all Black people

https://censusreporter.org/tables/B19001/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:White UMC = 33% of all White people

Black UMC = 15% of all Black people

https://censusreporter.org/tables/B19001/

Wrong, the Black UMC of the DMV is 27% of all Black people ($150K - $200K+) & the White UMC of the DMV is 49% of all White people ($150K - $200K+)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UMC Af-Am family here. One kid is slightly academically advanced, the other is average. We are NOT WOTP and do not want to be -to us, diversity means more than a few brown kids in the class or neighborhood. That said, we absolutely get NO attention for either kid in the schools. This is in STARK contrast to the similarly-situated white kids at the school - some of whom are given enrichment activities and others who are “average”who are given focus because they might be able to help with PARCC scores. Nobody in the schools sees our kids as anything since we are not low-income, there are no special needs and we are not white. I have been sick to my stomach for two years about this. What do we want? A good education for our kids and schools that are as committed to our type of family as any other type of family. And we do not think we should have to go WOTP for that.

+1 At the coffee shop directly across the street from my in-bound ES we overheard two white teachers excitedly talking about getting four white students in the testing grades next year and that there was a white family touring fourth grade and how that was going to help the school's test scores and I thought it interesting that they automatically correlated white students, sight unseen and knowing nothing about their backgrounds with being good for the school and the school's test scores; if your perception of white students coming into the school is--YAY good test scores, what might your perception be of Black students coming in? Does it depend on what school they are coming from? What you perceive their likelihood to help your test scores to be? What would you base that on, the parent's income? Teachers would not have access to the student's prior test scores or academic achievement until the week before school starts so at this point it's just speculation. Anyway, at my school I too see this catering and clamoring for the attention and approval of the White families and giving them and their children a LOT of privileges that are just not offered to other families...it's no surprise that at schools like this the majority of the PTO/PTA tends to be White UMC parents with young children even though that population is the least represented in the school's larger population.

That's an interesting point, and I suspect a lot of it has to do with the fact that there just aren't poor whites in DC. In MD and VA, sure. But not in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UMC Af-Am family here. One kid is slightly academically advanced, the other is average. We are NOT WOTP and do not want to be -to us, diversity means more than a few brown kids in the class or neighborhood. That said, we absolutely get NO attention for either kid in the schools. This is in STARK contrast to the similarly-situated white kids at the school - some of whom are given enrichment activities and others who are “average”who are given focus because they might be able to help with PARCC scores. Nobody in the schools sees our kids as anything since we are not low-income, there are no special needs and we are not white. I have been sick to my stomach for two years about this. What do we want? A good education for our kids and schools that are as committed to our type of family as any other type of family. And we do not think we should have to go WOTP for that.

+1 At the coffee shop directly across the street from my in-bound ES we overheard two white teachers excitedly talking about getting four white students in the testing grades next year and that there was a white family touring fourth grade and how that was going to help the school's test scores and I thought it interesting that they automatically correlated white students, sight unseen and knowing nothing about their backgrounds with being good for the school and the school's test scores; if your perception of white students coming into the school is--YAY good test scores, what might your perception be of Black students coming in? Does it depend on what school they are coming from? What you perceive their likelihood to help your test scores to be? What would you base that on, the parent's income? Teachers would not have access to the student's prior test scores or academic achievement until the week before school starts so at this point it's just speculation. Anyway, at my school I too see this catering and clamoring for the attention and approval of the White families and giving them and their children a LOT of privileges that are just not offered to other families...it's no surprise that at schools like this the majority of the PTO/PTA tends to be White UMC parents with young children even though that population is the least represented in the school's larger population.

This thread is about race but the issues are much more about class than race. It's just that in this city class is very closely correlated with race. Are the teachers excited to get white kids?? Or are they excited to get kids from higher income families who are much more likely to be on or above grade level? The reality is that the median income for white families in this city is over $150,000 while it's about $45,000 for blacks. Higher income = higher education = kids who come to school with more skills, less stress, and more outside experiences that contribute to their learning. All kids can be equally bright and talented when they are born, but they are not equally developed by the time they arrive at school or during their time in school. That's generally a function of parental wealth and opportunity. That's what the teachers are responding to -- it's not right. It's very wrong and racist but IMO the worst is not how UMC blacks are sometimes treated but how lower socio-economic class residents are treated.

+1.

Incidentally, the fact that many wealthy, educated parents send their kids to private school doesn't help at all to change these dynamics.

I can't really blame them. The stakes are high and the way black children are treated by teachers is too often different and not positive.

BS.

Teachers love those well-educated AA kids.

I respect the right of their parents to send them to private school, but let's be honest, the reason is to avoid the less-educated AA peers.

In our case, we are not "avoiding" but doing what's best for our kids. When your kid is on grade level or above, they are an after thought. White, Black, Green Yellow, DCPS, Charter, etc. it doesn't matter. Both DCPS and Charters focus on the same cohort. DC has probably the most educated AA community in the country. But for some reason the idea that a "magnet" program will benefit everyone but AAs is deeply ingrained. The expectations are incredibly low and dated.

That's a great point.