Reply to Do you think Shepherd Elementary will become/is becoming more diverse?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As more families with young children move into the Shepherd Park neighborhood, and as more IB families are considering attending Shepherd Elementary, [b][u]do you think that the school will start to become more diverse?[/u][/b] Based on its academic trajectory, Shepherd looks like a school that is already good and increasingly getting better, and I would like to seriously consider it as an option for our DC (we moved to the neighborhood not long after school began this past August). My only hesitation is the concern that the demographics of the school show a rather non-diverse environment, although I don't know how that breaks out by grade level. I wasn't originally concerned that DC might be an "only" in class (DC is white/Asian), but a recent conversation has me questioning my stance.

A good college friend was visiting this weekend, and as I was telling her about the school, she looked at the DCPS profile for the school and noticed the not-very-diverse demographics (79% black, 9% Hispanic/Latino, 4% white, 0% Asian, 8% multiple races). My friend, who is black, grew up in a very white town and was the only black child in her grade all throughout elementary school. She said that while she never experienced outright racism or overt exclusion, she always felt somewhat at a remove from the other kids, and felt increasingly alienated as she moved from K through the 6th grade. Occasional mean or insensitive comments were directed towards her, and she thinks that she was excluded from some social things because of being black. Based on our conversation, she obviously still feels some hurt from this experience and wonders what it would have been like to grow up in a more diverse school, not feeling like such an outsider. Obviously everybody's experiences are their own, but she told me to consider taking her experiences into account while deciding about DC's school.

I have absolutely no problem with DC being a minority in class, but I can definitely see why it would be more comfortable to not be a minority of just one or two. Based on several Shepherd open houses that I attended, it seems like a very diverse group is interested in the early childhood program. Do any current Shepherd parents or potential parents have insight? DC would be entering kindergarten.[/quote]

The OP's original question is bolded and underlined above. The OP then goes on to cite the racial demographics and discuss skin color, so there can be no doubt that the OP's question is 100% about race. All of you who are whining about "why does every thread have to devolve into a race debate", please recognize that this thread began as one.

Now, to answer OP's question. OP, the other stat that you did not cite, but which has been referenced by many posters, is the in boundary percentage at Shepherd. It is 32% IB, 68% OOB. So the first answer to your question is, no, I don't believe that Shepherd will become more diverse (aka, less overwhelmingly black) anytime soon, because the majority of its students are OOB, and the majority of DCPS families are black, and I would assume that the OOB population at Shepherd would continue to be majority black.

Regarding the IB population, it is becoming more diverse, but more slowly than some other EOTP neighborhoods. Honestly I have never had a single (white) friend or colleague mention to me that they are considering a move to Shepherd Park. Maybe it's just who I know and I don't know why that is or what to make of it, but at least among the non-black people I know it is not considered. So that's the second half of the answer to your question, no, I don't think that Shepherd's IB population will become much less black anytime soon.

Now, I also want to comment on another issue that comes up in this thread and in many threads, and that is, the correct percentage by which to measure "diversity" when expressed as percentage of black students. I have always found this fascinating. Here are some candidates:

Blacks as a percentage of DC public school students: 86%?
Blacks as a percentage of DC residents: 48%
Blacks as a percentage of greater DC metro area: ???
Blacks as a percentage of the 10 largest American cities: ???
Blacks as a percentage of the United States of America: 13%
Blacks as a percentage of the whole world: ???

Which of these is correct? I think posters are free to choose whichever they like, but I don't see why you want to criticize each other's choices. It seems to me that any number between 13% and 86% can be supported. For example, there are those who grew up elsewhere who think that the US-wide demographics represent a good diverse mix, and others who insist that this is Chocolate City and anything less than half black is unrepresentative. For those who insist on the Chocolate City standard, that's understandable, but you could at least acknowledge that this was a temporary time in the city's history, spanning roughly 40 years.

[/quote]

Very good points. You made me look up demographic data for Washington metropolitan area. Based on the 2010 census:
54% white
26% black
15% Hispanic
9% Asian

(Obviously some overlap)[/quote]

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