Why is SWS so white?

[Anonymous]

So I can maybe guess at the answer to this question but I am hoping someone else can explain it to me.

SWS is a citywide school with no in-boundary preference. It's a popular school and always has a long waitlist and admits few kids off the waitlist (last year it made one waitlist offer). So admission to SWS should be pretty egalitarian -- you do the lottery, and if you get lucky, you get a spot.

So why is SWS 60% white? It's one of the whitest schools in the city. Brent Elementary is about as white, but Brent is a boundary school in a very white neighborhood, so that is more easily explained.

But shouldn't SWS be more reflective of city demographics? What's going on?

My guess is that it's partly due to how sibling preference operates in a school with very small class sizes. If even a third of SWS's PK class is getting sibling preference, that will heavily reinforce demographics from prior years. I also wonder if the low percentages of non-white kids is self-perpetuating, because it might make the school less appealing to parents of black and Latino kids, especially when there are so many schools in DC with much larger POC populations, many of them excellent schools.

But still: how did this happen in the first place? I just don't understand how a citywide school in DC gets to 60% white kids in the first place. I know Capitol Hill is increasingly very white, but SWS is currently in a flex space in Hill East which is much less white. And most other Capital Hill schools, except Brent, still have less than 50% white student populations. And other citywide schools and charters in the area (CHML, TR, Apple Tree) all have populations that are much more reflective of the city's overall population.

What's going on?

[Anonymous]

This has been discussed on numerous prior threads. But part of the reason has to do with the legacy of proximity preference from when SWS first broke off from Peabody.

Another factor is that the Goding building is not near major transportation hubs, so it’s more inaccessible than other options and thus is preferred by the adjacent (predominantly white) community.

I don’t think a temporary swing space situation (in the middle of a pandemic) is enough to reverse this factor.

That said I believe the population is shifting a bit over time (to become more black), though I don’t have statistics on that.

[Anonymous]

60% is not “very” or “so”. It is much more diverse than e.g. Walt Whitman.
If you knew much about DC schools you’d know that kids often travel outside the school boundaries, so your analysis and comparison to Brent is nonsensical.



Are you a real DC parent or a conservative troll trying to amp up racial division?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:60% is not “very” or “so”. It is much more diverse than e.g. Walt Whitman.
If you knew much about DC schools you’d know that kids often travel outside the school boundaries, so your analysis and comparison to Brent is nonsensical.



Are you a real DC parent or a conservative troll trying to amp up racial division?

I am a DC parent and yes, 60% white is very high in DC. It’s high enough that when I was looking through school profiles, I did a double take because it was so much higher than any other school I was looking at.

Walt Whitman is a high school in Bethesda, MD. I would not expect it to have demographics reflective of the District of Columbia.

[Anonymous]

Transportation and lack of information about the lottery among many families. Despite the intense focus on the lottery on DCUM many families don’t know how to navigate it. Most importantly they don’t know that their best lottery chance is for PK3. By the time K rolls around, it’s too late. I think that many lower income families might also prefer not to start school at PK3, maybe because they have more stable childcare arrangements that go all day and through the summer? I noticed a big racial disparity in PK3 at our IB, which lessened in K. That made me think POC didn’t know about or didn’t want PK3. For SWS this would have an even bigger impact since there is no by-right K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has been discussed on numerous prior threads. But part of the reason has to do with the legacy of proximity preference from when SWS first broke off from Peabody.

Another factor is that the Goding building is not near major transportation hubs, so it’s more inaccessible than other options and thus is preferred by the adjacent (predominantly white) community.

I don’t think a temporary swing space situation (in the middle of a pandemic) is enough to reverse this factor.

That said I believe the population is shifting a bit over time (to become more black), though I don’t have statistics on that.

Thank you for the reply, I didn’t know about the history with Peabody or the proximity preference, that does explain a lot.

I looked for a thread on this issue but SWS gets mentioned a lot on this forum and didn’t see anything on point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has been discussed on numerous prior threads. But part of the reason has to do with the legacy of proximity preference from when SWS first broke off from Peabody.

Another factor is that the Goding building is not near major transportation hubs, so it’s more inaccessible than other options and thus is preferred by the adjacent (predominantly white) community.

I don’t think a temporary swing space situation (in the middle of a pandemic) is enough to reverse this factor.

That said I believe the population is shifting a bit over time (to become more black), though I don’t have statistics on that.

Thank you for the reply, I didn’t know about the history with Peabody or the proximity preference, that does explain a lot.

I looked for a thread on this issue but SWS gets mentioned a lot on this forum and didn’t see anything on point.

I don’t think proximities and Peabody can explain it anymore.

[Anonymous]

PP this has been debated for years. Just search through the archives.

I think you have hit on all the reasons. Even though it is a city-wide school, it still primarily attracts families from Capitol Hill. The school is just not positioned well for many parts of the city. It has only just moved to the swing space this year and that is only temporary, so I’m not sure why you would expect it to look like Hill East (which also has a lot of white families by the way). The school is not a traditional school, and this I think this has not been attractive to POC families at its beginning. I personally know one POC family that left the school because they didn’t think it was academic enough. The younger grades are more diverse and the staff is becoming more diverse. The school is very dedicated to openness, diversity, and equity. It even has parent/teacher group dedicated to these issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Transportation and lack of information about the lottery among many families. Despite the intense focus on the lottery on DCUM many families don’t know how to navigate it. Most importantly they don’t know that their best lottery chance is for PK3. By the time K rolls around, it’s too late. I think that many lower income families might also prefer not to start school at PK3, maybe because they have more stable childcare arrangements that go all day and through the summer? I noticed a big racial disparity in PK3 at our IB, which lessened in K. That made me think POC didn’t know about or didn’t want PK3. For SWS this would have an even bigger impact since there is no by-right K.

That makes a lot of sense. It does make me wonder if SWS could do more to attract black and Latino families.

Part of the reason I’m asking this as a white parent is that I would feel strange sending my kid to such a white school in such a diverse city. It’s a negative to me. Seems like otherwise a fantastic school but I would worry about the long term message it sends to my kid. I’m also not trying to insulate my kid from diversity. It seems it would be in SWS’s long term interest to boost awareness of their program and work in transportation options for families in Hill East, east of the river, etc.

[Anonymous]

We used to live right next to SWS and I remember when they were trying to decide if it was going to give proximity preference for neighbors or be a citywide school. The current parents called the new neighbors greedy because they were sure that keeping it citywide would make the school more diverse and they didn’t want the neighbors to keep the school “too white.” This was rich because they all got their seats through proximity preference. I guess that didn’t work out the way they thought.

[Anonymous]

WOC here - My kids are older now so my experience is admittedly dated, but I toured SWS during open house season when my oldest was entering PK3. I recall feeling very out of place and unwelcome among the parent crowd and had zero interest in applying afterwards. I talked to another friend who is a WOC and she had a similar cold feeling during her visit and didn’t even bother to finish the tour.

In the years since, my DC have played on sports teams and had other activities with kids from SWS and they and their families are all very lovely and nice people. We’ve also become friends with another minority family that attends SWS and they rave about the school as well. I am willing to chalk my experience up to a bad first impression.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WOC here - My kids are older now so my experience is admittedly dated, but I toured SWS during open house season when my oldest was entering PK3. I recall feeling very out of place and unwelcome among the parent crowd and had zero interest in applying afterwards. I talked to another friend who is a WOC and she had a similar cold feeling during her visit and didn’t even bother to finish the tour.

In the years since, my DC have played on sports teams and had other activities with kids from SWS and they and their families are all very lovely and nice people. We’ve also become friends with another minority family that attends SWS and they rave about the school as well. I am willing to chalk my experience up to a bad first impression.

Thanks, I appreciate your thoughtfulness. I'm also a POC, and whenever I find people "cold" at first impression, especially people who are "different" in some way, I don't discount the possibility that some of it comes from my own projections and insecurities, or that some people are just introverted and take longer to get to know, or that it's just a stressful situation and people just didn't happen to be in the mood to chat or be especially friendly. Or that people with good intentions just have discomfort with people who are "different" at first and it's very human to have to take time with that. I'm glad you got the chance to get a second impression.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WOC here - My kids are older now so my experience is admittedly dated, but I toured SWS during open house season when my oldest was entering PK3. I recall feeling very out of place and unwelcome among the parent crowd and had zero interest in applying afterwards. I talked to another friend who is a WOC and she had a similar cold feeling during her visit and didn’t even bother to finish the tour.

In the years since, my DC have played on sports teams and had other activities with kids from SWS and they and their families are all very lovely and nice people. We’ve also become friends with another minority family that attends SWS and they rave about the school as well. I am willing to chalk my experience up to a bad first impression.

Thanks, I appreciate your thoughtfulness. I'm also a POC, and whenever I find people "cold" at first impression, especially people who are "different" in some way, I don't discount the possibility that some of it comes from my own projections and insecurities, or that some people are just introverted and take longer to get to know, or that it's just a stressful situation and people just didn't happen to be in the mood to chat or be especially friendly. Or that people with good intentions just have discomfort with people who are "different" at first and it's very human to have to take time with that. I'm glad you got the chance to get a second impression.

White mom here. Another factor is that I think SWS has a really strong “in-group” ethos with respect to their program with the atelier etc etc. I’ve dealt with SWS power parents on some neighborhood issues, and let me just say, they have a STRONG sense of their own specialness. Because the school is so popular they likely also feel no need to be welcoming during open houses. So you were probably feeling that vibe (which could also be mixed with race). I will also say that there always appears to be an inverse relationship between how much people espouse a “wonderful child-centered program!!!” and their warmth/flexibility ....

[Anonymous]

This study is older, but has some interesting findings.

https://www.mathematica.org/news/school-choice-in-dc-june-2016

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WOC here - My kids are older now so my experience is admittedly dated, but I toured SWS during open house season when my oldest was entering PK3. I recall feeling very out of place and unwelcome among the parent crowd and had zero interest in applying afterwards. I talked to another friend who is a WOC and she had a similar cold feeling during her visit and didn’t even bother to finish the tour.

In the years since, my DC have played on sports teams and had other activities with kids from SWS and they and their families are all very lovely and nice people. We’ve also become friends with another minority family that attends SWS and they rave about the school as well. I am willing to chalk my experience up to a bad first impression.

Thanks, I appreciate your thoughtfulness. I'm also a POC, and whenever I find people "cold" at first impression, especially people who are "different" in some way, I don't discount the possibility that some of it comes from my own projections and insecurities, or that some people are just introverted and take longer to get to know, or that it's just a stressful situation and people just didn't happen to be in the mood to chat or be especially friendly. Or that people with good intentions just have discomfort with people who are "different" at first and it's very human to have to take time with that. I'm glad you got the chance to get a second impression.

White mom here. Another factor is that I think SWS has a really strong “in-group” ethos with respect to their program with the atelier etc etc. I’ve dealt with SWS power parents on some neighborhood issues, and let me just say, they have a STRONG sense of their own specialness. Because the school is so popular they likely also feel no need to be welcoming during open houses. So you were probably feeling that vibe (which could also be mixed with race). I will also say that there always appears to be an inverse relationship between how much people espouse a “wonderful child-centered program!!!” and their warmth/flexibility ....

I think this is less true as the original families age out. I remember hearing about the strong “in-crowd” when I first started SWS, and I did see it at older grades, but not so at younger grades. I think this is because the earlier families were very close since they essentially were starting a new school together and fighting common causes. I don’t think they were purposely leaving people out. Again, I think this is NOT the case anymore.