Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are afraid they child will be pummeled in high-school by a group of black students running amok on campus. Why jump from pre-k to high-school, you forget that whites will crowd all of their children into Deal so they will not have to bother with the one and only syndrome at the middle school level.

DC has new whites moving into predominately black neighborhoods now that aren’t zoned for Deal/Wilson. They will have no choice but to send their kids to other middle/high schools. Soon it will be enough of them going to a neighborhood school where they will feel more comfortable. I was surprised by how many whites were at my child’s play date social for Powell.

They will have a choice -- private, parochial, charters or the suburbs. Many of the middle and high schools in up and coming neighborhoods are nowhere near acceptable, both in crime stats and academics. When college-educated parents are looking at college looming in the near future, they lose their need to be part of their "diverse" neighborhood school for the sake of politics.

Anonymous wrote:It could also be that many families, including mine, want a comprehensive high school experience for their kids-like clubs and sports and multiple foreign language offerings and plays and lots of ap classes. McKinley and Banneker and Walls can't/wont/dont offer that. These are experiences that my kids missed out on by going to their neighborhood majority minority elem to middle schools. My hope is that when Eastern is fully enrolled as a true comprehensive neighborhood high school it will begin to take the pressure off Wilson and then snowball to other Dcps high schools as well.

Southwest kids need to be zoned for Eastern and NOT Wilson.

It could also be that many families, including mine, want a comprehensive high school experience for their kids-like clubs and sports and multiple foreign language offerings and plays and lots of ap classes. McKinley and Banneker and Walls can't/wont/dont offer that. These are experiences that my kids missed out on by going to their neighborhood majority minority elem to middle schools. My hope is that when Eastern is fully enrolled as a true comprehensive neighborhood high school it will begin to take the pressure off Wilson and then snowball to other Dcps high schools as well.

This is a great point and something that baffles me as well.

Quick comparison. Keep in mind Wilson is only 20% white (49% black), so there are also blacks at Wilson that perform well.

Advance CAS math
Banneker 25%
Wilson 20%

Advance CAS reading
Banneker 31%
Wilson 25%

Graduation Rate
Banneker 100% in 2011 98% in 2012
Wilson 74% and 73%

College enrollment
Banneker 88%
Wilson 57%

AP placement **only place Wilson outperforms
Banneker 20%
Wilson 50%

Attendance
Banneker 97%
Wilson 90%

School safety
A score that represents student, parent and staff perceptions of safety and order
at this school. The scale is from 0 to 100, and the score is based on the results of a
stakeholder survey given every two years.
Banneker 83
Wilson 62

Expulsions/long term supsensions (11+ days)
Banneker 0% doesn't mean none, just means less than 39 (1% of population)
Wilson 1% (at least 171)

Serious student misbehavior
The number of expulsions and long-term suspensions for the most serious student
misbehavior at this school per 100 students.
Banneker 0 (or less than 4, 1 per 100 students)
Wilson 1 (which means about 17 incidents)

Parent engagement
A score that represents how well and how often parents felt this school engaged and
communicated with them. The scale is from 0 to 100, and the score is based on the
results of a parent survey given every two years.
Banneker 82
Wilson 72

Clearly there aren't any (or many) scary black kids (or to quote PP "They are afraid they child will be pummeled in high-school by a group of black students running amok on campus") at Banneker yet white families aren't enrolling.

To me, it is a matter of hispanics being considered "safe" minorities and blacks the opposite. Despite the fact that Banneker has over-performing kids that are in an environment that is safer than Wilson, the inherent racism still exists.

#1 I'm sure when a kid is getting beat up at Wilson, the perp is not asking him whether he is in "academies" or not.
#2 I'm sure kids at Banneker are also getting a STEM education as well.
#3 White families are not "integrating" at pre-K level with a high black population (only Hispanic), even when there is language involved (Cleveland). A perfect example would be Shepherd Elementary. One of the best performing elementary schools WOTP (probably only 2nd to Brent) in a very mixed, high income neighborhood with access for OOB entry at higher grades, yet there is a 5% white population. So see my reasoning above (hispanic=safe, black=not). Sad but true especially being that the low income at Shepherd is only 33% so you know there aren't many "black students running amok".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are afraid they child will be pummeled in high-school by a group of black students running amok on campus. Why jump from pre-k to high-school, you forget that whites will crowd all of their children into Deal so they will not have to bother with the one and only syndrome at the middle school level.

DC has new whites moving into predominately black neighborhoods now that aren’t zoned for Deal/Wilson. They will have no choice but to send their kids to other middle/high schools. Soon it will be enough of them going to a neighborhood school where they will feel more comfortable. I was surprised by how many whites were at my child’s play date social for Powell.

I was one of those white parents at the Powell thing for the youngest kids. Hi!

To us, integration matters, and we want to live in a city that works for everybody. With regard to high school, we'd send our kid to whatever school was a good fit, and if the kid likes math/tech in 10 years, it could be McKinley/Banneker, sure. Or somewhere else, but I wouldn't judge a place like Banneker contrary to its successes because of who goes (or doesn't go) there.

On teenagers and crime, sure some kids are delinquents, but they were at my rural school too and no one said we needed to leave town/quit school. Basically we'll judge the best for our kids, but we'll do it based on reality, not dwelling on someone else's fears or the past, and believe that everyone being in this together helps build a place we want to live in.

Kumbaya, my Lord. Kumbaya...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are afraid they child will be pummeled in high-school by a group of black students running amok on campus. Why jump from pre-k to high-school, you forget that whites will crowd all of their children into Deal so they will not have to bother with the one and only syndrome at the middle school level.

DC has new whites moving into predominately black neighborhoods now that aren’t zoned for Deal/Wilson. They will have no choice but to send their kids to other middle/high schools. Soon it will be enough of them going to a neighborhood school where they will feel more comfortable. I was surprised by how many whites were at my child’s play date social for Powell.

I was one of those white parents at the Powell thing for the youngest kids. Hi!

To us, integration matters, and we want to live in a city that works for everybody. With regard to high school, we'd send our kid to whatever school was a good fit, and if the kid likes math/tech in 10 years, it could be McKinley/Banneker, sure. Or somewhere else, but I wouldn't judge a place like Banneker contrary to its successes because of who goes (or doesn't go) there.

On teenagers and crime, sure some kids are delinquents, but they were at my rural school too and no one said we needed to leave town/quit school. Basically we'll judge the best for our kids, but we'll do it based on reality, not dwelling on someone else's fears or the past, and believe that everyone being in this together helps build a place we want to live in.

Anonymous wrote:They are afraid they child will be pummeled in high-school by a group of black students running amok on campus. Why jump from pre-k to high-school, you forget that whites will crowd all of their children into Deal so they will not have to bother with the one and only syndrome at the middle school level.

DC has new whites moving into predominately black neighborhoods now that aren’t zoned for Deal/Wilson. They will have no choice but to send their kids to other middle/high schools. Soon it will be enough of them going to a neighborhood school where they will feel more comfortable. I was surprised by how many whites were at my child’s play date social for Powell.

Anonymous wrote:People can judge all they want but if you don't think there is a difference in low SES kindergarten and low SES high school you live in a fantasy land (and certainly don't live in DC). I have been in DC for fifteen years, worked in every ward of this city and lived in three "transitional" nieghborhoods. I am fine sending my kid to majority minority elem school. Sure there is rowdiness but thats the extent of it. DC socially promotes all kids, doesn;t matter if they can read or not etc. So what do you think that same classroom starts to look like by 10th grade? You have kids repeating and are two years older than the rest of the class, that same rowdy 6 year old has now had another 10 years of NON Parenting or intervention and is carrying a gun to school, telling the teach to fuck off, still can't read, disrupts the class, gangs are part of school culture etc... really, people don't get this and have to ask on a post what the difference is between elem school and high school?

I highly doubt that test in schools are dealing with low academics or gang activity in the same capacity as ballou or anacoastia. in fact i bet there is wat more gang activity and low performing students at wilson than at a test in school.

Are the the "only" or are they one of a few. My child was one of 2 last year at her school and was fine.

Anonymous wrote:Your premise is flawed: neither Banneker nor McKinley outperform Wilson *academies*. A white or black or Cherokee parent who wants the very top outcome over all others could choose a Wilson's STEM or humanities academy and be entirely motivated by reason.

cas doesn't break out data for academies and wouldn't you rather send a kid to a school where everyone is proficent/advanced?

People can judge all they want but if you don't think there is a difference in low SES kindergarten and low SES high school you live in a fantasy land (and certainly don't live in DC). I have been in DC for fifteen years, worked in every ward of this city and lived in three "transitional" nieghborhoods. I am fine sending my kid to majority minority elem school. Sure there is rowdiness but thats the extent of it. DC socially promotes all kids, doesn;t matter if they can read or not etc. So what do you think that same classroom starts to look like by 10th grade? You have kids repeating and are two years older than the rest of the class, that same rowdy 6 year old has now had another 10 years of NON Parenting or intervention and is carrying a gun to school, telling the teach to fuck off, still can't read, disrupts the class, gangs are part of school culture etc... really, people don't get this and have to ask on a post what the difference is between elem school and high school?

Yeah, like 7:43 said -- I think to a lot of white parents, black 4-year-olds are cute but black teenagers are scary.

Your premise is flawed: neither Banneker nor McKinley outperform Wilson *academies*. A white or black or Cherokee parent who wants the very top outcome over all others could choose a Wilson's STEM or humanities academy and be entirely motivated by reason.

They are afraid they child will be pummeled in high-school by a group of black students running amok on campus. Why jump from pre-k to high-school, you forget that whites will crowd all of their children into Deal so they will not have to bother with the one and only syndrome at the middle school level.

I keep hearing the argument that a parent can't send their kid to Banneker or Mckinely for fear they'd be the only white kid there And let's not pretend that it's about academics, they are both outperforming wilson. Yet there are parents who would consider sending their kid to West, powell, marie reed, bancroft, etc where their kid would be maybe the only white student. Why are the parents of preschoolers less rascist? And do you think that trend will continue? If you are sending your kid to a majority minority elementary would you also consider one for high school?