Reply to When will schools like Janney step up and do their fair share to take at-risk kids??

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Reply to "When will schools like Janney step up and do their fair share to take at-risk kids??"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am in my 10th year as a DCPS parent and have had two kids go all the way through JKLM and currently have one at Deal and one at Walls.

My observation is that current parents want a good school for their own kids much more than they have some underlying desire to keep either at risk or more generally disadvantaged kids out.  Meaning, they buy in boundary for good schools to ensure that their kids go to good schools, they are moving to these neighborhoods for access, not exclusivity.  This means that they are fine with their kids attending school with at risk and disadvantaged kids so long as the in boundary kids continue to get a good education.  My kids have had numerous OOB friends and classmates (all bright and successful kids and I only know where families live because of birthday parties and such) and I have never heard a negative comment towards or about such students.

Here is what I think could help (not solve) the problem.  More well-resourced elementary schools in boundary for the currently oversubscribed schools and a plan to make set aside seats available to at risk students with appropriate support.  That includes transportation and other supports to make getting to these schools feasible so these students can show up rested and ready to learn.

Also, add another middle school that is also well resourced and fed by successful elementary schools.  Spread the same students out across more schools where the parents can be assured their kids are going to school with a majority prepared cohort and strong academics where there is also space for all the students coming up through the expanded feeders.

My point is, most of the parents do not require perfect, we live  in DC and send our kids to DCPS by choice, we live in a diverse city by choice and want solid schools but we are not Fairfax county families stressing over AAP programs and gunning for TJ.[/quote]

The problem is that the city isn’t going to build new schools WOTP. Bad optics.

That’s why people zoned for Lafayette go bananas when someone suggests they feed to Wells and the Coolidge.
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DC has a system of neighborhood schools.  Students should attend the schools that they are zoned for.  It’s nuts to keep building Ward 3 schools bigger and bigger so that they can take more students who have to cross the city.[/quote]

It's not only nuts, it's shameful.[/quote]

[b]What's shameful is a system that makes it so you can only go to a good school if you can afford to buy a house in a neighborhood zoned for one.[/b][/quote]

We have a school lottery. We don't live in a wealthy neighborhood, and my DC goes to one of the best schools in the city, thanks to the lottery. [/quote]

That some people get extraordinarily lucky in the lottery doesn't mean the overall system of education and housing segregation in this country is good.[/quote]

In virtually every city in this country, where you live determines where you go to school. We are lucky to have the lottery system. It doesn't fix everything, but it helps. Most cities don't bother with lotteries. [/quote]

In D.C., where you live also mostly determines where you go to school -- and it certainly determines whether you can go to many of the schools that many metrics rank highly. It's true that charters and the possibility of out-of-bounds enrollment in DCPS schools mitigates that a little, but it's effectively not possible to go to Janney (since that's the school this thread is about) unless you live in-bounds. [/quote]

Janney is only a great school because it's located in ground zero for DC overachievers.  I've sent 3 kids to the school.  I can count on one hand the number of parents I've met who don't have a graduate degree, the vast majority from elite institutions.  It's the land of successful people and Ivy league grads. Successful people have successful kids.  Smart people have smart kids.  I don't think those of you who don't attend know exactly what it's like.  Almost everyone is at or near the top of their field and moved to DC for some important job.  It's the entire school.   Aside from the kids with learning differences it's a very, very easy group of kids to teach.

I say this as a non-high achiever who went to a state school and works an unimpressive job.  I'm decidedly a minority there and always have been.

But really.  There is nothing magical about the Janney soil.  It could have the worse teachers in the world, no supplies and horrible administration and it would still turn out successful kids.  [/quote]

But it has plenty of supplies, excellent teachers, and a good administration. And it would still be excellent if it were easier for more kids whose parents didn't have graduate degrees or go to Ivy League schools to attend.

(Also, as an Ivy League graduate whose kids go to Janney, I think you're WAY overstating the positive effects of being around Ivy League graduates. Though I only have an undergraduate degree, so maybe I'm not reliable as an expert.)[/quote]

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