Question for parents of black children in Montgomery County.

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I’m considering a move to MCPS with my black family. I know it to be a wonderful area but I’ve recently been discouraged after reading some of the anti blackness and Dog-whistling that occurs on these forums. I know this forum isn’t representative of all parents/teachers/students in Montgomery County but I’m curious of how your child of color has experienced the district and how often you and they experiences instances of racism & bias in real life in the schools.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

I read a lot of anti-Asian American sentiment on here, too. I'm Asian American. And there are several African American families who live on my block. One thing I have learned from DCUM -- take it with a grain of salt. It is not reflective of real life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read a lot of anti-Asian American sentiment on here, too. I'm Asian American. And there are several African American families who live on my block. One thing I have learned from DCUM -- take it with a grain of salt. It is not reflective of real life.

Definitely take it with a grain of salt. The anti-Asian sentiment is about a race-blind admission process to magnet programs which some claim is biased despite Asians being awarded 3X the number of seats of any other cohort. Although it's hard to take that seriously, there have been numerous racial incidents at the segregated schools, aka "The W's". Your best bet is to visit schools in person and try to form an opinion based on first-hand knowledge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello,

I’m considering a move to MCPS with my black family. I know it to be a wonderful area but I’ve recently been discouraged after reading some of the anti blackness and Dog-whistling that occurs on these forums. I know this forum isn’t representative of all parents/teachers/students in Montgomery County but I’m curious of how your child of color has experienced the district and how often you and they experiences instances of racism & bias in real life in the schools.

Thanks

AA MCPS teacher and parent of two. There are issues ranging from so subtle that you’ll second guess yourself to very blatant. It will depend a lot on where you live. Certain parts of the County are less diverse and less welcoming. Chicken or egg? IDK. We love 20910 in SS.

Teachers are receiving training on implicit bias and the new anti-bullying rules cover many hate-speech incidents between students. If you have secondary level kids, have them join the Minority Scholars Program so that they have a safe place in school to talk about any dog whistle comments by students and staff or outright discrimination by staff.

[Anonymous]

DCUM is not real life so take things you read here with a salt shaker's worth of salt.

[Anonymous]

My kids are half Asian and half white and we love it here in Clarksburg. My kids friends are from all over the place. NOt unusual to see Black kids, White kids, Asian kids, Latino kids being in the same friend groups. Truly a diverse area which is one of the reasons we moved here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello,

I’m considering a move to MCPS with my black family. I know it to be a wonderful area but I’ve recently been discouraged after reading some of the anti blackness and Dog-whistling that occurs on these forums. I know this forum isn’t representative of all parents/teachers/students in Montgomery County but I’m curious of how your child of color has experienced the district and how often you and they experiences instances of racism & bias in real life in the schools.

Thanks

AA MCPS teacher and parent of two. There are issues ranging from so subtle that you’ll second guess yourself to very blatant. It will depend a lot on where you live. Certain parts of the County are less diverse and less welcoming. Chicken or egg? IDK. We love 20910 in SS.

Teachers are receiving training on implicit bias and the new anti-bullying rules cover many hate-speech incidents between students. If you have secondary level kids, have them join the Minority Scholars Program so that they have a safe place in school to talk about any dog whistle comments by students and staff or outright discrimination by staff.

Another AA family: I agree. We also live in the 20912/20910 area. I like the diversity and my son has had a good experience at school (ES and MS).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read a lot of anti-Asian American sentiment on here, too. I'm Asian American. And there are several African American families who live on my block. One thing I have learned from DCUM -- take it with a grain of salt. It is not reflective of real life.

Definitely take it with a grain of salt. The anti-Asian sentiment is about a race-blind admission process to magnet programs which some claim is biased despite Asians being awarded 3X the number of seats of any other cohort. Although it's hard to take that seriously, there have been numerous racial incidents at the segregated schools, aka "The W's". Your best bet is to visit schools in person and try to form an opinion based on first-hand knowledge.

Oh shut up with your "segregated" BS.

I'm black & am highly offended that you would throw the word segregated around so lightly, especially when making ridiculous blanket statements.

I have relatives who were forced to attend ACTUAL segregated schools & then were the first to attend integrated schools where nobody wanted them there EVER. So please, do yourself a favor and stop with the ignorant, thoughtless comments.

OP, I'm black and my children go to Walter Johnson, which is a (gasp!) W school & they both love it there.

Contrary to what the PP says, there is a thriving community of diversification at WJ (and I don't care what your statistics show, I see these kids with my own two eyes... there a nice mix of all POC).

WJ is a very welcoming community, any criticisms that you read come from parents who don't actually have kids at WJ & have probably never been to the school.

Whatever your child is into you can find it at WJ, whether it be sports, clubs, social awareness causes, environmental awareness causes, you name it & your kids can find their tribe.
If they don't have it yet, students are free to start new clubs as well.

[Anonymous]

White Mom to an AA 7yo going into 2nd grade. We are at a focus school that is majority black. She had an AA teacher for 1st who we loved. So far we have not been aware of racial issues at our school. I try to be aware of it as a white Mom to an AA child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Oh shut up with your "segregated" BS.

I'm black & am highly offended that you would throw the word segregated around so lightly, especially when making ridiculous blanket statements.

I have relatives who were forced to attend ACTUAL segregated schools & then were the first to attend integrated schools where nobody wanted them there EVER. So please, do yourself a favor and stop with the ignorant, thoughtless comments.

OP, I'm black and my children go to Walter Johnson, which is a (gasp!) W school & they both love it there.

Contrary to what the PP says, there is a thriving community of diversification at WJ (and I don't care what your statistics show, I see these kids with my own two eyes... there a nice mix of all POC).

WJ is a very welcoming community, any criticisms that you read come from parents who don't actually have kids at WJ & have probably never been to the school.

Whatever your child is into you can find it at WJ, whether it be sports, clubs, social awareness causes, environmental awareness causes, you name it & your kids can find their tribe.
If they don't have it yet, students are free to start new clubs as well.

WJ 2017-2018 (will they never post 2018-2019 data?)

Asian-American 12.2%
Black/African-American 9.9%
Hispanic 17.7%
White 54.3%
More than one 5.6%
ESOL 5.7%
FARMs <5.0%
ever FARMs 17.8%

MCPS HS overall 2017-2018

Asian-American 14.7%
Black/African-American 21.4%
Hispanic 29.5%
White 30.0%
ESOL 11.2%
FARMs 27.0%
ever FARMs 46.1%

[Anonymous]

Racial bias is very prevalent in our experience at one of the diverse schools in MCPS. When you have a school where the black kids are more often than not poor and not doing well in school teachers start stereotyping all black kids. It seems to be worse for boys than girls. Its small things like having lower expectations or assuming the worst about a kid.

The bigger problem is socially when the classes start splitting up into CES, compacted math, magnets, AP classes. The white kids fill up those classes and your kid is back to being one of the few black kids in the class even though you are in a diverse school. You don't want your kid hanging out with kids who are failing, skipping school and getting in trouble but it is not good that your kid has to reject being around the other black kids. The school within a school model in MCPS may attract more white people into certain neighborhoods but it doesn't provide a good environment for black kids. I suspect hispanic parents feel the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read a lot of anti-Asian American sentiment on here, too. I'm Asian American. And there are several African American families who live on my block. One thing I have learned from DCUM -- take it with a grain of salt. It is not reflective of real life.

Definitely take it with a grain of salt. The anti-Asian sentiment is about a race-blind admission process to magnet programs which some claim is biased despite Asians being awarded 3X the number of seats of any other cohort. Although it's hard to take that seriously, there have been numerous racial incidents at the segregated schools, aka "The W's". Your best bet is to visit schools in person and try to form an opinion based on first-hand knowledge.

Oh shut up with your "segregated" BS.

I'm black & am highly offended that you would throw the word segregated around so lightly, especially when making ridiculous blanket statements.

I have relatives who were forced to attend ACTUAL segregated schools & then were the first to attend integrated schools where nobody wanted them there EVER. So please, do yourself a favor and stop with the ignorant, thoughtless comments.

OP, I'm black and my children go to Walter Johnson, which is a (gasp!) W school & they both love it there.

Contrary to what the PP says, there is a thriving community of diversification at WJ (and I don't care what your statistics show, I see these kids with my own two eyes... there a nice mix of all POC).

WJ is a very welcoming community, any criticisms that you read come from parents who don't actually have kids at WJ & have probably never been to the school.

Whatever your child is into you can find it at WJ, whether it be sports, clubs, social awareness causes, environmental awareness causes, you name it & your kids can find their tribe.
If they don't have it yet, students are free to start new clubs as well.

NP, but I don’t think WJ is generally included in the W school definition here on DCUM, fwiw.

[Anonymous]

The new student representative to the County Board of Education is black. I'm very proud that he was elected by the MCPS student body. https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/members/student.aspx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read a lot of anti-Asian American sentiment on here, too. I'm Asian American. And there are several African American families who live on my block. One thing I have learned from DCUM -- take it with a grain of salt. It is not reflective of real life.

Definitely take it with a grain of salt. The anti-Asian sentiment is about a race-blind admission process to magnet programs which some claim is biased despite Asians being awarded 3X the number of seats of any other cohort. Although it's hard to take that seriously, there have been numerous racial incidents at the segregated schools, aka "The W's". Your best bet is to visit schools in person and try to form an opinion based on first-hand knowledge.

Oh shut up with your "segregated" BS.

I'm black & am highly offended that you would throw the word segregated around so lightly, especially when making ridiculous blanket statements.

I have relatives who were forced to attend ACTUAL segregated schools & then were the first to attend integrated schools where nobody wanted them there EVER. So please, do yourself a favor and stop with the ignorant, thoughtless comments.

OP, I'm black and my children go to Walter Johnson, which is a (gasp!) W school & they both love it there.

Contrary to what the PP says, there is a thriving community of diversification at WJ (and I don't care what your statistics show, I see these kids with my own two eyes... there a nice mix of all POC).

WJ is a very welcoming community, any criticisms that you read come from parents who don't actually have kids at WJ & have probably never been to the school.

Whatever your child is into you can find it at WJ, whether it be sports, clubs, social awareness causes, environmental awareness causes, you name it & your kids can find their tribe.
If they don't have it yet, students are free to start new clubs as well.

NP, but I don’t think WJ is generally included in the W school definition here on DCUM, fwiw.

NP and I grew up in MCPS - graduated from Whitman.

WJ has ALWAYS been considered one of the 3 W schools, it's Whitman, Winston Churchill & Walter Johnson (and when Woodward opens, they'll most likely be the 4th).

All in Bethesda (apart from Churchill being on the border of Potomac/Bethesda).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Racial bias is very prevalent in our experience at one of the diverse schools in MCPS. When you have a school where the black kids are more often than not poor and not doing well in school teachers start stereotyping all black kids. It seems to be worse for boys than girls. Its small things like having lower expectations or assuming the worst about a kid.

The bigger problem is socially when the classes start splitting up into CES, compacted math, magnets, AP classes. The white kids fill up those classes and your kid is back to being one of the few black kids in the class even though you are in a diverse school. You don't want your kid hanging out with kids who are failing, skipping school and getting in trouble but it is not good that your kid has to reject being around the other black kids. The school within a school model in MCPS may attract more white people into certain neighborhoods but it doesn't provide a good environment for black kids. I suspect hispanic parents feel the same.

I am confused. Do you imply that for acadamically able AA students it is better for them to be in a school has less other AA students? Or do you think itis better for MCPS stopping offering advanced classes so everyone will be on the same page?