Reply to Can Gentrifers Use Their Skills and Resources to "Make" a Great School?

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Reply to "Can Gentrifers Use Their Skills and Resources to "Make" a Great School?"

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[quote=Anonymous]Long time close-in DC resident here who has been reading about these debates for a LONG time. My kid will be entering the system in the fall.

I have been frustrated for my 16 years here that people who move to gentrifying neighborhoods are basically not allowed to want something better. You're not even allowed to voice your desire for something better.  That, because these neighborhood schools are crappy, and that crappiness is the direct result of years of a bigger racist system that is set up against the long time residents, the newcomers have to just shut up and take it, or move away. And that somehow you are a righteous entitled brat if you ask about how to improve things. The crazy thing is that most of these crappy schools are under-enrolled, so it's not like you're robbing the original residents of their right to their school.  There's this big issue that the gentrifying parents have to sit back and be observers, lest they interfere in the parents who are already there trying to fix things. But the reality is that nothing is going to fix until more rich kids (regardless of race) enroll in these schools. And more rich kids aren't going to come until lots of rich kids are already there. Which is only going to happen by letting the gentrifying parents get really vocal and involved. By making the gentrifying parents shut up and take a back seat, you effectively resign the school to staying mostly poor and therefore never improving.

Sorry for the rant. In more seriousness, my impression is that spending money doesn't do anything. All the PTA activities, fundraisers, volunteer events, park cleans etc are nothing more than a mechanism/signal for other high SES parents to connect with each other and to send a signal to each other and other potential parents that the school may be on the up and up -- so long as the momentum stays in place. But the activities themselves (better libraries, better park etc) have no bearing on the quality and educational outcomes. Nothing affects that other than the quality of the kids coming in. [/quote]

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