Reply to Ludlow-Taylor getting a new a new Principal

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

It's not as simple as "It's also interesting how on this thread people are genuinely expressing there desire for more white kids at this school, when I think what people really want is more kids at the school that come from higher SES.  If not, then would the people on this thread, who claim to want more white families at the school, welcome a more white kids from families like "Honey Boo Boo"?  I think not.  Alternatively, what if the school was majority black, but the black kids came from families like the Obamas (Ivy league educated lawyers)?  Would this not be Ok?
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I once lived in baltimore in an area where white urban pioneers were steadily replacing ethnic and appalachian low SES whites.  Many similar issues. I never had to deal with the schools, but I probably would not have wanted my kid to attend a neighborhood school there.    There really weren't any high SES school age kids in the area - commutes from close in high SES parts of Baltimore COunty were quite reasonable.

But DC is not Baltimore, it has not had any significant number of low SES whites in a generation (they are mostly gone from the inner suburbs now as well) it has a long history of bitter racial rhetoric, and its really hard to seperate the race and class issues.

While I am unsympathetic to the folks  talking about wanting a white principal, I am not sure I am unsympathetic to those expressing some degree of entitlement to a school that focuses on the needs of the high achieving kids  (of whatever race or SES) who also just happen to be the kids the school is zoned for.  Resentment by the principal toward such parents, while perhaps understandable given the history of the school, and the real needs of lower achieving children, still seems quite inappropriate to me, and guaranteed to worsen the situation.  [/quote]

I don't know anything about the former principal.  However, I doubt if she was resentful of the new white IB parents. Educated AAs are not resentful of, or intimidated by educated white people. However, we are sensitive to conversations that involve racial distinctions. I would bet that she was rattled by statements made by [u]some[/u] of the parents who didn't view their comments as being elitist, and/or insulting, or even perhaps racist-- but they were.  As a principal, you have to keep your cool even when someone is saying the most outrageous things about you and people who look like you.  I suspect she had trouble masking her frustration and distaste and it just spilled over.

What a tough situation.  The new principal will find it equally difficult, but from the other side.  That's why if LT is going to move forward, the people in its community are going to have to find some common ground of respect.  That's your starting point.[/quote]

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