“We need to preserve diversity and mitigate the projected whitening of the feeder pattern”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the one hand, DCPS criticizes white "segregation" as a problem, but on the other, City planners hate "gentrification" into historically non-white neighborhoods. There doesn't seem to be a way to NOT offend, these days. Maybe that's the way it's gotta be.

Well, there is one obvious fix that neither upholds white segregation nor moves white people into historically non-white neighborhoods, which is to build more (actually) affordable housing in historically white neighborhoods. Maybe THAT's the way it's gotta be.

From the perspective of the politicos, this will take too long. Further, if you build more multi family housing west of the park, you just drive up the cost of land in that area making it even more exclusive & wealthier.

Building more multifamily housing in Ward 3 would not make housing cost more in Ward 3. Also, if that’s your concern, easy solution: build public housing.

I don't think so. Do you propose tearing down 2 million dollar homes to build this "multifamily" housing? There are a ton of condos in Ward 3 - tons. Take a look at 36th street around R - lots of townhomes. You can easily tell if they are rentals or owner occupied.

Build better schools in Wards 7 and 8.

There are huge numbers of SFHs in Wards 4 and 5. People like them because yards are great for kids.

There are also tons of large apartment and condo buildings in Ward 3.

The problem is (frustratingly increasing!) income inequality. In DC, disgust with that gets manifest with sticking in to Ward 3 (proxy for “The Man”).

The solution is not disrupting beautiful, leafy neighborhoods (which DC is lucky to have all over the city) by muddling the zoning.

The fix really lies with our craven national politicians and the Federal Reserve, which over-protect sources of wealth for the wealthy.

[Anonymous]

Question for the white people that take issue with the language used in the presentation or with a school hosting an event aimed at students of color: what are you worried about? This country is yours, it was founded by you for you and it'll be another 400 years before there is anything resembling true equality amongst the races. So what are scared of exactly? That some black person gets an opportunity that your child doesn't? Your child will be fine - better than fine - without that particular opportunity. White people, calm down. The power dynamic in this country isn't going to shift in favor of any black or brown people any time soon, even with some of the efforts that are being taken.

- signed, an upper middle-class black person who reads DC Urban Moms so I can know that white people smiling in face at my JKLM (for which I am in-bound) really think.

[Anonymous]

"preserve diversity" - What diversity is there to preserve in Ward 3 IB schools? "Aim to diversify" would be more appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds hostile to me. Wasn’t there also a DCPS career planning or college planning (something like that) town hall for HS students earlier this year that sent out invitations to students of color?

Yes there was and a parent complained about it. The text message and email invite said, "Students of color are invited to attend. . . ." It was a seminar for wellness during the pandemic and included a gift box with T shirt, other swag. One of the sponsored session during the event was about "magical melanin." So, yeah, it was exclusionary and in clear violation of the law. No equivalent activities for students who are not of color were offered, and the framing of this seminar was clearly meant to discourage white students from attending. Which is ironic b/c white students are the minority in many DCPS schools.

The parent who complained did force DCPS to note that in the future they must legally note that these seminars are open to students of all races (even as the content and focus caters exclusively to one race).

The real test of this sort of language: put the word "black" where "white" is (or vice versa) and read it again. If it sounds racist when you change the color of the people being discussed, it is racist. Imagine the (appropriate) uproar if DCPS sent out an invitation that read "White students are invited to register for this event."

What you're writing here is cogent enough, but according to Ibram Kendi, only white people can be racist. Once the definition of racism is changed, you don't have a voice any more. Just suck it up -- the legacy of slavery should require some humbleness in the present, shouldn't it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"preserve diversity" - What diversity is there to preserve in Ward 3 IB schools? "Aim to diversify" would be more appropriate.

Most Ward 3 schools are quite diverse, they just aren’t very Black.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"preserve diversity" - What diversity is there to preserve in Ward 3 IB schools? "Aim to diversify" would be more appropriate.

Most Ward 3 schools are quite diverse, they just aren’t very Black.

Wilson is. Hardy is. What're you talking about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"preserve diversity" - What diversity is there to preserve in Ward 3 IB schools? "Aim to diversify" would be more appropriate.

Most Ward 3 schools are quite diverse, they just aren’t very Black.

Wilson is one of the most diverse traditional high schools in the city (assuming that you're using diversity as the dictionary defines it and not as another word for African American)

[Anonymous]

The DC statement is bald, rank, overt racism at its worst. What happened to “the content of their character, not the color of their skin”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question for the white people that take issue with the language used in the presentation or with a school hosting an event aimed at students of color: what are you worried about? This country is yours, it was founded by you for you and it'll be another 400 years before there is anything resembling true equality amongst the races. So what are scared of exactly? That some black person gets an opportunity that your child doesn't? Your child will be fine - better than fine - without that particular opportunity. White people, calm down. The power dynamic in this country isn't going to shift in favor of any black or brown people any time soon, even with some of the efforts that are being taken.

- signed, an upper middle-class black person who reads DC Urban Moms so I can know that white people smiling in face at my JKLM (for which I am in-bound) really think.

nobody likes to be singled out for negative assumptions based on their immutable characteristics. talking about “mitigating whitening” is something that just sounds extremely hostile towards an immutable characteristic.

[Anonymous]

If we're going to talk about how diverse Wilson is, then let's be real. Wilson (Duke Ellington and Walls) are racially diverse but serve less than 10% of an economically disadvantaged population. The DCPS average is 74%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of white kids in the Deal/Wilson feeder pattern here: I don't have a problem with this language. It's a little clumsy, obviously, but I'm fine with the goal of diverse schools.

OP here:
If you want to promote equity, you discuss the positives - seats for OOB, at risk preferences, benefits for those populations, etc.
You don’t talk about an entire ethnicity as if it’s a “problem” to be solved. This isn’t clumsy; it’s hostile.

So now, what, we're going to be all up in arms about whatever proposal they make because of some dumb language in a PowerPoint? I don't think it's hostile, anyway.

Substitute black for white here and you’d be all over this. Hypocrite.

Gee, can you think of any reasons why, in a majority-white country that allowed black people to be owned and sold as property for hundreds of years and still has massive race-driven structural inequities in place, it would seem worse to talk about growth of a minority black population in schools as a problem than it is to talk about the opposite of that? If not, perhaps you should talk to whoever ran the history classes in whatever school district you attended for high school.

Most people who work hard, and make tons of money, and live in NW, and send they’re kids to public schools, which in of itself is a good thing, don’t have the time to worry if their every step is focused on countering the “centering of whiteness” or to dismantle the horrifying legacy of slavery, the hangover of which permeates so many facets of Black existence in America today.

The simple matter of the fact is if DC public schools keeps up, or if social pressure from wokeness causes pressure to enact policies like ending AP classes, or lowers testing standards, or placing low performing cohorts with high performing cohorts in class room settings, which causes the high performing cohorts to retrogress academically, then wealthy parents, who are open minded enough to willingly put their children in the DCPS system to begin with, will simply pull them out and put them in private schools. This scenario will see the quality of dc public schools fall across the board. No one has time for their kids to be social experiments. America is too fast paced. There is too much pressure and no has time for this sht. That’s not racist. Normal people just want their kids to get into good schools and learn to read and write at level. There is no simple fix to any of this. I am just laying out the facts. We are in a time of racial reckoning and that is fantastic. Police reform would be great. School reform would be great as long as educational vigor is maintained.

Social experiment?! You think having your white child attend schools with black students is a social experiment?! You are insane. These are children and families who want the same things as you. Get outside of your toxic bubble dude.

Do you even reading comprehension, brah?

Not integration. That is not the problem. The problem is penalizing advanced students OF ANY RACE by eradicating advanced placement classes in a social experiment. America doesn’t need meh students. It’s needs great students. You don’t have to mix students who are at proficient at a grade level with kids who are performing above a grade level in some socialistic attempt at equity. It’s not good for anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of white kids in the Deal/Wilson feeder pattern here: I don't have a problem with this language. It's a little clumsy, obviously, but I'm fine with the goal of diverse schools.

OP here:
If you want to promote equity, you discuss the positives - seats for OOB, at risk preferences, benefits for those populations, etc.
You don’t talk about an entire ethnicity as if it’s a “problem” to be solved. This isn’t clumsy; it’s hostile.

So now, what, we're going to be all up in arms about whatever proposal they make because of some dumb language in a PowerPoint? I don't think it's hostile, anyway.

Substitute black for white here and you’d be all over this. Hypocrite.

Gee, can you think of any reasons why, in a majority-white country that allowed black people to be owned and sold as property for hundreds of years and still has massive race-driven structural inequities in place, it would seem worse to talk about growth of a minority black population in schools as a problem than it is to talk about the opposite of that? If not, perhaps you should talk to whoever ran the history classes in whatever school district you attended for high school.

Most people who work hard, and make tons of money, and live in NW, and send they’re kids to public schools, which in of itself is a good thing, don’t have the time to worry if their every step is focused on countering the “centering of whiteness” or to dismantle the horrifying legacy of slavery, the hangover of which permeates so many facets of Black existence in America today.

The simple matter of the fact is if DC public schools keeps up, or if social pressure from wokeness causes pressure to enact policies like ending AP classes, or lowers testing standards, or placing low performing cohorts with high performing cohorts in class room settings, which causes the high performing cohorts to retrogress academically, then wealthy parents, who are open minded enough to willingly put their children in the DCPS system to begin with, will simply pull them out and put them in private schools. This scenario will see the quality of dc public schools fall across the board. No one has time for their kids to be social experiments. America is too fast paced. There is too much pressure and no has time for this sht. That’s not racist. Normal people just want their kids to get into good schools and learn to read and write at level. There is no simple fix to any of this. I am just laying out the facts. We are in a time of racial reckoning and that is fantastic. Police reform would be great. School reform would be great as long as educational vigor is maintained.

Social experiment?! You think having your white child attend schools with black students is a social experiment?! You are insane. These are children and families who want the same things as you. Get outside of your toxic bubble dude.

Do you even reading comprehension, brah?

Not integration. That is not the problem. The problem is penalizing advanced students OF ANY RACE by eradicating advanced placement classes in a social experiment. America doesn’t need meh students. It’s needs great students. You don’t have to mix students who are at proficient at a grade level with kids who are performing above a grade level in some socialistic attempt at equity. It’s not good for anyone.

The delusion that so many hold of the supremely gifted white child is absurd. No one is penalized. It isn’t a zero sum game. Plus we are talking education not economics so why trot socialism into the discussion? You sound like Fox News/Republican talking points. This discussion was on feeder patterns, not the Wilson AP for all covered in another thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of white kids in the Deal/Wilson feeder pattern here: I don't have a problem with this language. It's a little clumsy, obviously, but I'm fine with the goal of diverse schools.

OP here:
If you want to promote equity, you discuss the positives - seats for OOB, at risk preferences, benefits for those populations, etc.
You don’t talk about an entire ethnicity as if it’s a “problem” to be solved. This isn’t clumsy; it’s hostile.

So now, what, we're going to be all up in arms about whatever proposal they make because of some dumb language in a PowerPoint? I don't think it's hostile, anyway.

Substitute black for white here and you’d be all over this. Hypocrite.

Gee, can you think of any reasons why, in a majority-white country that allowed black people to be owned and sold as property for hundreds of years and still has massive race-driven structural inequities in place, it would seem worse to talk about growth of a minority black population in schools as a problem than it is to talk about the opposite of that? If not, perhaps you should talk to whoever ran the history classes in whatever school district you attended for high school.

Most people who work hard, and make tons of money, and live in NW, and send they’re kids to public schools, which in of itself is a good thing, don’t have the time to worry if their every step is focused on countering the “centering of whiteness” or to dismantle the horrifying legacy of slavery, the hangover of which permeates so many facets of Black existence in America today.

The simple matter of the fact is if DC public schools keeps up, or if social pressure from wokeness causes pressure to enact policies like ending AP classes, or lowers testing standards, or placing low performing cohorts with high performing cohorts in class room settings, which causes the high performing cohorts to retrogress academically, then wealthy parents, who are open minded enough to willingly put their children in the DCPS system to begin with, will simply pull them out and put them in private schools. This scenario will see the quality of dc public schools fall across the board. No one has time for their kids to be social experiments. America is too fast paced. There is too much pressure and no has time for this sht. That’s not racist. Normal people just want their kids to get into good schools and learn to read and write at level. There is no simple fix to any of this. I am just laying out the facts. We are in a time of racial reckoning and that is fantastic. Police reform would be great. School reform would be great as long as educational vigor is maintained.

Social experiment?! You think having your white child attend schools with black students is a social experiment?! You are insane. These are children and families who want the same things as you. Get outside of your toxic bubble dude.

Do you even reading comprehension, brah?

Not integration. That is not the problem. The problem is penalizing advanced students OF ANY RACE by eradicating advanced placement classes in a social experiment. America doesn’t need meh students. It’s needs great students. You don’t have to mix students who are at proficient at a grade level with kids who are performing above a grade level in some socialistic attempt at equity. It’s not good for anyone.

The delusion that so many hold of the supremely gifted white child is absurd. No one is penalized. It isn’t a zero sum game. Plus we are talking education not economics so why trot socialism into the discussion? You sound like Fox News/Republican talking points. This discussion was on feeder patterns, not the Wilson AP for all covered in another thread.

Again, you are adding anecdotal hyperbole to this conversation where none is necessary.

My child is 1) not white. 2) while I like to think they are supremely gifted, all I know is they should not have the quality of academic rigor at their school lowered by making “ap for all” classes, by canceling neutral entrance exams required for their school to prove the child can handle the classes and pace of learning.

Also, stop stop using platitudes and euphemisms for the process of obtaining a quality education by saying education is “not a zero sum game”. This isn’t a fking joke and you’re using cloying, aloof and clinical terms to describe a subject that is of supreme importance to many people. It’s not a zero sum game. Children who are smart, and work hard should nor be held back or punished in a ham fisted attempt to foster equality of outcome. We need to provide equality of opportunity, not try to dumb everyone down by cancelling advanced classes out of “fairness”. That is the mixing I
Talking about. It’s not integration. It’s just all these attempts to hold advanced learners back of any race. That is real racism.

Do you want astronauts riding a spaceship built by engineers who had the rigor of their education lowered? Do you want China to eclipse our country because they worried more about getting the best educated populace and not about cancelling advanced classes for their kids so other kids who weren’t doing well didn’t feel bad?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question for the white people that take issue with the language used in the presentation or with a school hosting an event aimed at students of color: what are you worried about? This country is yours, it was founded by you for you and it'll be another 400 years before there is anything resembling true equality amongst the races. So what are scared of exactly? That some black person gets an opportunity that your child doesn't? Your child will be fine - better than fine - without that particular opportunity. White people, calm down. The power dynamic in this country isn't going to shift in favor of any black or brown people any time soon, even with some of the efforts that are being taken.

- signed, an upper middle-class black person who reads DC Urban Moms so I can know that white people smiling in face at my JKLM (for which I am in-bound) really think.

nobody likes to be singled out for negative assumptions based on their immutable characteristics. talking about “mitigating whitening” is something that just sounds extremely hostile towards an immutable characteristic.

It’s just vile language. Why would anyone entrust one’s children to people who see them as a problem to be mitigated based solely on their skin color?

[Anonymous]

Ward 3 parent here- I have zero problem with the language. In fact, I applaud it.