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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If the school is indeed "already there" offering "solid educational opportunities" as you claim, why do the great majority of neighborhood parents, most of whom seem to be smart people (hint, they have graduate degrees), avoid the school?   Rampant racism alone explains why LT's white population has dropped two school years in a row?  You discount the attraction of several far more diverse charters opening in Brookland since 2010?  
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I don't think it's rampant racism, exactly -- there is some of that, for sure, but I also think it's people afraid their white/Latino/Asian child will be ostracized or picked on if every other child in the class is African-American.

I have noticed the kids with white parents seem more likely to socialize together -- which I think has more to do with the parents' comfort than the kids'. I keep track of who my child hangs with in school, and so far she has plenty of friends who are black, which makes me think if we stay for the duration, she won't suddenly be the odd kid out, even if she is the only child of her ethnicity in her grade. I admit I do need to do a better job of reaching out to arrange playdates with kids in her class who are black; it shouldn't take effort, but it does, and I think some parents (white & black) aren't keen on making that effort.

I also think sometimes white parents who didn't grow up in cities have different expectations as far as school culture -- at the spring festival, for example (which I enjoyed tremendously), you could buy fried fish sandwiches on white bread, and I heard later that some parents complained that there should have been healthier bread. I don't know which parents complained, maybe they weren't white -- but I have to admit, that sounded like a white high-SES complaint to me, and it made me roll my eyes. But I would guess that if someone responded critically, whichever parent made that suggestion would be genuinely confused -- they're just trying to be helpful and improve the event, and they don't even get how a suggestion like that can be unwelcome.
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