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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][quote]
Anonymous wrote:

I’m very surprised that a parent wouldn’t expect the principal of a schools to focus on the students AT THE SCHOOL rather than trying to replace those students with different ones. What a bizarre expectation.

A principal should do both! If the IB students avoid the school, then the system—DCPS in this case—is not serving those students well. Same for all the schools that the OOB come from. It’s great that the system lets people lottery for different schools, but IB should be the default, or else the system has given up trying to make it’s schools not suck.[/quote]

THIS.  DCPS could put the effort in to create a high performing gen ed MS/HS in Capitol Hill but it hasn't.  And it is always DCPS circular logic:  Why should DCPS care about what IB families want when it's not the IB families at the school.  Well, the IB families aren't at the school because the school doesn't care about what IB families want . . . . [/quote]

I wish NPR or the NYT would do a series about this catch-22 and be able to source actual data and experiences and results. I mean, I guess it is possible that it is just this easy, but, hmmmmmmmmmm.

Oh wait. Never mind. Nice White Parents. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/23/podcasts/nice-white-parents-serial.html [/quote]

Could you say more about how you think the lessons of NWP applies in this circumstance?

I know there is the basic idea of a UMC parent wanting something  more from the school, but beyond that I don’t see similarities.  Eastern is not under-resourced.  OP is not white, is neither attracted nor put-off by Eastern’s racial composition, is not wanting new programs. OP was concerned about the lack of achievement in a program the school already has and wanted reassurance that her kid could get a good education and successfully qualify for an IB diploma.  She found the principal underwhelming and unable to give her that reassurance.

So what’s the answer?  OP deciding not to worry about whether her child would actually end up with an IB diploma?[/quote]

The answer the NWP poster alludes to is OP not having the gall to ask questions relating to the performance of Eastern's IB Diploma program of Mr. Brown in the first place. Subsequently, she should have avoided briefly reporting on the nature of her interaction with, and professional impressions of, him so as not to open herself up to attack.

Let's say she'd stuck to a script governed by avoidance, a failure to engage.  In that case, what would have been achieved?[/quote]

meh. Nice White Parents *actually attend* the school and annoy people with their anti-bologna sandwich campaigns. That is much different (and better) than OP, who just wants to publicly criticize a black principal at a school she doesn’t attend, based on a single conversation. [/quote]

So higher income parents get bashed if they attend their low performing school and they get bashed if they decide not to attend. What exactly would make you happy. Would you prefer they just leave DCPS and go private? It does seem like no one here has an issue with private school parents but watch out if you are high income and highly educated and want to attend your local DCPS high school.[/quote]

PP here. I think the parents attending schools have every right to organize however they want. [/quote]

LOL.  That was the main problem in “Nice White Parents” — new families showing up and the leading change according to their interests.

I guess you are not very familiar with the series you referenced?[/quote]

Just because I can summarize the argument doesn’t mean I agree with it. I think “NWP” is an illegitimate and bad-faith racialized attack on parents sending their kids to the local schools. OP deciding to put a principal on blast (when she never went to the school) due to a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation is annoying and exhausting. [/quote]

I guess you’re kinda hoping that no one listened to the series so you can try to get away with your absurd characterization of Nice White Parents, huh?   Of course, those of us who actually listened to the show know that it had absolutely nothing to do with an attack on parents sending their kids to local schools, but was rather a critique of generations of white parents whose kids didn’t attend the school organizing to push for changes to a local school that the people actually attending the school didn’t need or want, changes which the school board prioritized over the actual well being of the kids attending the school.  Repeatedly.[/quote]

DP here. I did not agree with the NWP podcast. The changes they documented are most likely real but it is divisive and disingenuous to blame the parents. Parents will always do what is best for their own kids. That is why it is stupid and ineffective for posters on here railing that wealthy parents should just enroll at Eastern for the greater good. The school board and central administration should be focused on trying to provide what all students need including upper income students. If new parents were advocating for changes that did not serve the majority of students well, then the school board should push back. I don’t blame the parents in this case. If a parent wants French at the school, they should advocate for it. However the principal and school district should be firm about not granting the request if it is not beneficial to the school as a whole or if it takes resources away from a more popular offering like Spanish [/quote]

Let me be sure I understand the argument here... it's NOT divisive to parachute into a community, promote to the media and anyone who will listen a fictionalized version of the history of the community ("there used to be so many fights in the school...."), leverage outsized influence through professional connections to make changes, and outspend members of the community on a massive scale to implement programs that the existing community doesn't want.  But pointing out those events IS divisive?  Interesting take.[/quote]

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