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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][quote=Anonymous]The more people try to say it’s racist and racism as the overwhelming reason why families leave poorly performing title 1 schools instead of acknowledging that there are many issues at these schools and the dysfunctional system that is DCPS, the more you will drive away all families.

Minority who grew up poor and been there.

[/quote]

What history shows is that if we ignore racism, or just don't talk about it then people will be less racist.

/sarcasm[/quote]

Talk about it all you like.  But DCPS's shortcomings are real too.[/quote]
[b]
My point is that the OP who, after 6 whole weeks of Kindergarten thinks the only reason people avoid DCPS is racism, needs to get a clue.[/b]

Proponents of DCPS also seem like the loudest critics of it.  What's your point?  Both can be true.[/quote][/quote]

OP here. That's not what I think at all. I think at OUR particular school and some others in our neighborhood, I think "demographics", i.e., racism, are a big reason why neighborhood families don't even consider their neighborhood schools. Not the only reason (e.g., middle school is a very reasonable concern, especially in upper elementary) and not the case for all Title 1 schools (I wouldn't send my child to a DCPS that was seriously underperforming either, particularly when there are other options through the lottery). And I'm not even speculating, I hear it from parents explicitly when they ask what school we're at, then immediately volunteer that "we couldn't stay at our DCPS because Larla would be the ONLY white child in her class after pre-K." Which of course assumes that even if true, all of the non-white kids are lower SES and/or not doing as well as Larla would be.

Anyways, this conversation has been interesting and I'm glad it's shifted back to a more respectful tone over the last few pages. I've worked a lot with DCPS and OSSE over the last few years, so central office is a known quantity for me. I'm not sure it's much better in MCPS or some charters, but everyone's entitled to their own opinions for what's deal-breaking intolerable or not. It's also interesting to compare the talk on threads about Ward 3 or 6 schools with the talk on this thread. Nobody is deal-breaking concerned about central office and values the walkability and neighborhood schools on those threads. As others have said, maybe we'll be singing a different tune by third grade, but judging by the number of kindergarten kids with siblings in upper grades, I'm not assuming that's going to be the case. [/quote]

I would really love to know which school OP is at.[/quote]

Me too.  OP, please name a school, any school in DCPS, that is solid yet white people are ignoring it.  [/quote]

Or at least, any DCPS school WOTR.

Look, OP, when I first got involved in our Title I back in 2015, it was a hot mess.  Horrible test scores, major operational problems, principal changed annually, building issues, couldn't retain staff.  And yet even then there were white people in some of the grade levels.  And every year people would give it a try, but giving it a try didn't make them want to stay.  And you have to ask, why is that?  If it really is a good school, giving it a try should make people *more* likely to stay, right?  [/quote]

OP here. Absolutely not. People leave even though they claim to be happy because of middle school concerns and fear of demographics in upper grades. Middle school is the biggest rub in getting retention in upper grades in a lot of these schools. This thread discusses most of the schools I think of when thinking about "solid but ignored." Another is Marie Reed which is next to impossible to get into OOB with solid scores for the population, but doesn't have a "desirable" middle school. https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/997857.page#20746542

They're similar to how Bancroft and Shepherd (and probably a bunch of Capitol Hill schools) were 5-10 years ago, but don't have the Wilson feed that those two schools maintain. I don't know the answer to that, but I can't blame parents that leave for a more established middle and high school pathway. As I said on page 1, we'll be out of the area by middle school, so that's not a concern for us personally, but it does impact attrition in the upper grades (except at Marie Reed apparently?).[/quote]

Well, I've kind of lost track of your point.  But it does seem that Marie Reed has less 5th graders than it has 4th graders so it probably has a typical attrition pattern.  And I don't know why you would say it's "ignored"-- it had 162 English dominant applicants for PK3 this year.  It doesn't come up a lot on this board because it's a smaller school so few current parents, and makes few lottery offers so not very many people ask here for decisionmaking help.  But not coming up very often on DCUM can be a mark of quality :-)

Can you try to wrap your head around the idea that people *are* happy with the elementary school, but still leave for another middle school?  They're not just claiming to be happy, they really are happy with it.  Or maybe they're lying to you because they think you'll be judgey, I dunno.  Also, people move their oldest child to middle school upon graduation and they sometimes want to move younger children there too if they can, or to something better for their new commute.  For example if someone went to Capital City or Inspired Teaching for 6th, they might move the whole family.  Sometimes people leave even though they really, truly, are happy with the school as an elementary.[/quote]

OP here. That's exactly my point. If I had just said "they're happy" someone would reply and say "they're not really, they're secretly lotterying and lying to your face." I mean, PP said "If it really is a good school, giving it a try should make people *more* likely to stay, right?" PPs were skeptical that there really are any "solid" schools that aren't actually a "hot mess." My point is that there are plenty, but people leave them anyways for reasons other than the school being a hot mess. Like I said, the biggest one is middle school, but I also hear anticipatory concerns about academics and/or demographics in upper grades.

And you're right, Marie Reed is like Bancroft or Shepherd despite it not having the Wilson feed. I put that in the wrong paragraph accidentally. There are schools in DCPS that people avoided a few years ago (Marie Reed, Bancroft, Shepherd, Capitol Hill elementaries) that I think are pretty comparable to a number of DCPS schools currently (Whittier, West, Takoma, Powell, Bruce Monroe, Langley, etc.). I'm not saying every one of those schools will turn into the next Shepherd, I'm just saying that just because they have OOB seats now doesn't mean that they're not solid schools with stable administrators, teachers, and academics. [/quote]

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