Reply to Study: "Discussions of D.C. public school options in an online forum" (yes, this one)

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "Study: "Discussions of D.C. public school options in an online forum" (yes, this one)"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The Nice White Parents podcast is helpful on paradigm setting.

Yes, go to your local schools.

No, don’t act like you are a “pioneer” or own or direct them just because you are part of the class with money, ability to donate or fundraise, etc.

Act like you’re joining a group project that needs effort but NOT a new boss! Be helpful not screamy. Don’t show up and then try to create a new magic cohort for your child on day 2. Join, reach out, etc.[/quote]

Here's my issue with this:

In DC, your "local" school might be Garrison or Deal or Ludlow-Taylor or another well-regarded DCPS. Going to a school like that and not getting a white savior complex is honestly pretty easy.

But if your IB is a genuinely struggling DCPS, it is much, much harder said than done. If you go to a school with high truancy rates, broken facilities, and a completely unfunded PTA, how do you navigate this as a "nice white parent" who both doesn't want special treatment for your kid but does want a baseline level of quality in your kids education. You aren't advocating for a brand new bilingual program or a G&T program that is really just a way to self-segregate the white kids or whatever. But can you advocate for anything without being seen as a "pioneer"? Is your job to accept the quality of your local school even if it impacts your kid? Even if no one in your kid's class reads at grade level?

So many of the people I know who say "Just got to your local school and don't play white savior" go to schools that are already heavily gentrified. Do you really know what it's like to send your kid to a truly struggling DCPS? I'm talking about the schools that can't even fill their classes with IB parents because so many local parents (of every race) simply lottery out. Do you actually know what that looks like?

I don't think you do, or you wouldn't talk about this like it's easy. It's not. It sucks. You are simply rich enough to live IB for a good school. Sure, your school might be diverse and might have a sizable at-risk population. That is very different than being at a school where 90%+ are at-risk. You have no idea.[/quote]

The other problem I have with this is that the whole theory for why integration improves educational quality is precisely because affluent parents can advocate to improve, and in DC at least, can actually directly fund improvements at schools. It seems frankly insane to argue that the only way to be is to enroll in a poorly performing school, and then do nothing to help it? Plus, the advocacy is with the school administration and DCPS - which is a system we're all part of; there's nothing pioneering about it.  This kind of advocacy benefits everybody as long as parents are minimally attentive to the needs of the school as a whole. Sure there are examples of PTAs doing eye-rolling stuff (like fixating on after school snacks) but overall the DC PTAs do things like fund teachers' aides, which benefits everyone. [b]I think I remember hearing that at Brent the PTA funded a behavioral tech, which can be a HUGE huge benefit to the whole school. [/b] [/quote]
Not only a behavioral tech, mainly to improve playground management at recess and lunch, but a PTA-funded after-care program to serve kids facing the most dire academic challenges that includes tutoring and sports.  Pre-Covid, the program was a big improvement over DCPS funded tutoring.  The authors of this study want to throw the baby out with the bath water in diverse schools. [/quote]

I am the PP saying that the problem with “just go to your local school and don’t act like a pioneer” is that it’s very hard to do at a truly struggling school.

Brent is a perfect example of what I’m saying. Brent is a mostly high SES school with some at-risk students. And it’s 60% white! In D.C. Brent is only diverse in that white person way where white patents can feel good that their white kids go to school with *some* POC. But it’s a majority white school in a wealthy neighborhood. It is EASY to be a white parent at Brent and not accidentally step on toes or stress about doing either too much or too little. You will get the benefit of the doubt from your fellow white parents and besides, it’s a school where nearly three-quarters of students are at or above grade level. They can focus money and attention on the small minority of students who are struggling, and feel benevolent about it.

I’m talking about having an IB school that is 99% at risk, and being one of a handful of the lower-grade white parents (because there are no upper grade white parents). To say to someone in that situation: you HAVE to go to your IB, but once there you should treat it like a group project, don’t talk too much, don’t align with other parents in your situation, just let others take the lead? That might keep you from getting called racist and keep anyone from making a podcast about you, specifically. But it won’t improve the school at all. It also pretty much guaranteed that the white parents and a good portion of families with ANY other options will leave the school at the first opportunity.

Until someone can explain to me how I can contribute to a truly struggling IB school as a minority white parent in a way that actually helps, without being racist, I’m going to go ahead and ignore everything else you have to say. “This is what we do at Brent” is not helpful. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics