Reply to Our Gain, DCPS Suckers

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[quote=Anonymous][quote]Many DC families have only stayed because they are underwater on their homes. Once it rises, absent a good school, the middle class will flee DC again.[/quote]
I live in the city - part of the actual city, not one of those in-the-city-but-has-much-more-in-common-with-a-suburb" neighborhoods.  I have no idea how anyone could dispute with the sentiment behind this statement.  For families with kids, school quality is among the most, if not THE most, important consideration when deciding where to live.  If people can't find quality schools in DC, they'll find other options, including moving.  And I have no doubt that there are people who are unhappy with their school situation who wish they could move but are underwater.

But the point the prior post misses, and the point that many in the suburbs don't seem understand, is that there are many more good school options now than there were 15 years ago.  This increase is due to both charter schools and certain improved DCPS schools.  Are ALL DCPS schools good options?  No, of course not.  But that's not really the issue when deciding if DCPS (or a charter) is an option, is it?  My kid can only attend one school at a time.  As long as I'm satisfied that her school is a good option and meets her needs, that's all that matters with respect to my decision to stay in DC.  (I don't mean to suggest that I don't care about other kids in DC - I do - but the horrendous quality of many schools in Wards 7 and 8 isn't relevant to my decision about whether to stay in DC or decamp to the burbs.)

I get equally frustrated with the suburbanites who believe that all DCPS schools are bullet-ridden hellholes where no kid can get a great education (you're just not paying attention, and do seem like you have an axe to grind), and the city-dwellers who prattle on about how they live in the city because of easy access to museums (please, it's not like the Kennedy Center asks where you live when they sell you tickets, and while I'm sure some tiny number of you do go down to the mall with little Jasper and Dakota to check out a different museum every weekend, the vast majority of us don't take advantage of SC "culture" any more frequently than our suburban neighbors.  We're too busy with soccer practice, swimming lessons, tee ball, home repairs, grocery shopping, maybe squeezing in a few hours of work.)[/quote]

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