Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:respect
benefit of the doubt
credence
attention

white lives - even to many black people - have greater value/importance than black lives.

school leadership sometimes responds accordingly

I’m an UMC AA woman, and my children attend their IB WotP school. We receive all of those things from teachers and administrators at my children’s school. At my request, my oldest child (who is very academically advanced) has received differentiation EVERY YEAR both inside and outside the classroom. Any concerns that we have voiced have been respectfully addressed.

I don’t think that our experience is isolated, but it probably depends on the school (and the parent).

It probably helps that you are WOTP at a school that is largely filled with White UMC students.

+1000

When the schools are diverse, AA parents have a better chance at their voices being heard. This is one of the reasons that I refused to send DC to our EOTP IB school.

I’m the PP (UMC AA woman). Who knows why for sure, but I do know that our children’s needs are being met by teachers and administrators alike. We (meaning mostly me) have asked for certain accommodations and I usually get them with little to very very little pushback. It probably helps that I don’t treat every little thing as a life or death issue. You have to choose which hill you’re willing to die on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:respect
benefit of the doubt
credence
attention

white lives - even to many black people - have greater value/importance than black lives.

school leadership sometimes responds accordingly

I’m an UMC AA woman, and my children attend their IB WotP school. We receive all of those things from teachers and administrators at my children’s school. At my request, my oldest child (who is very academically advanced) has received differentiation EVERY YEAR both inside and outside the classroom. Any concerns that we have voiced have been respectfully addressed.

I don’t think that our experience is isolated, but it probably depends on the school (and the parent).

It probably helps that you are WOTP at a school that is largely filled with White UMC students.

+1000

When the schools are diverse, AA parents have a better chance at their voices being heard. This is one of the reasons that I refused to send DC to our EOTP IB school.

DP. I'm more cynical in my take. I think that the admin and teachers are used to responding to UMC white families demands and requests, so that if an UMC black family does the same, they want to treat them equally. It's where errant bias that black families, especially LMC/working class families don't value/understand/appreciate public school pedagogy or teaching approaches that parents are frequently dismissed when they bring up concerns. It's a complete shame.

We were in a Capitol Hill school with a mix of UMC white families and LMC black families and there were certainly many white parents who were surprised or taken aback at how strongly some of the black parents advocated for resources - like before-school and after-school work sessions, access to online resources, and mentoring.

Agreed, this is certainly an issue at diverse (especially gentrifying) schools

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:respect
benefit of the doubt
credence
attention

white lives - even to many black people - have greater value/importance than black lives.

school leadership sometimes responds accordingly

I’m an UMC AA woman, and my children attend their IB WotP school. We receive all of those things from teachers and administrators at my children’s school. At my request, my oldest child (who is very academically advanced) has received differentiation EVERY YEAR both inside and outside the classroom. Any concerns that we have voiced have been respectfully addressed.

I don’t think that our experience is isolated, but it probably depends on the school (and the parent).

It probably helps that you are WOTP at a school that is largely filled with White UMC students.

+1000

When the schools are diverse, AA parents have a better chance at their voices being heard. This is one of the reasons that I refused to send DC to our EOTP IB school.

DP. I'm more cynical in my take. I think that the admin and teachers are used to responding to UMC white families demands and requests, so that if an UMC black family does the same, they want to treat them equally. It's where errant bias that black families, especially LMC/working class families don't value/understand/appreciate public school pedagogy or teaching approaches that parents are frequently dismissed when they bring up concerns. It's a complete shame.

We were in a Capitol Hill school with a mix of UMC white families and LMC black families and there were certainly many white parents who were surprised or taken aback at how strongly some of the black parents advocated for resources - like before-school and after-school work sessions, access to online resources, and mentoring.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:respect
benefit of the doubt
credence
attention

white lives - even to many black people - have greater value/importance than black lives.

school leadership sometimes responds accordingly

I’m an UMC AA woman, and my children attend their IB WotP school. We receive all of those things from teachers and administrators at my children’s school. At my request, my oldest child (who is very academically advanced) has received differentiation EVERY YEAR both inside and outside the classroom. Any concerns that we have voiced have been respectfully addressed.

I don’t think that our experience is isolated, but it probably depends on the school (and the parent).

It probably helps that you are WOTP at a school that is largely filled with White UMC students.

+1000

When the schools are diverse, AA parents have a better chance at their voices being heard. This is one of the reasons that I refused to send DC to our EOTP IB school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:respect
benefit of the doubt
credence
attention

white lives - even to many black people - have greater value/importance than black lives.

school leadership sometimes responds accordingly

I’m an UMC AA woman, and my children attend their IB WotP school. We receive all of those things from teachers and administrators at my children’s school. At my request, my oldest child (who is very academically advanced) has received differentiation EVERY YEAR both inside and outside the classroom. Any concerns that we have voiced have been respectfully addressed.

I don’t think that our experience is isolated, but it probably depends on the school (and the parent).

It probably helps that you are WOTP at a school that is largely filled with White UMC students.

It probably also helps that:
We live IB
My husband and I are both lawyers
We are active in the school community
We contribute to the annual fund and auction
Our children are at the top of their classes, bright and (generally) well behaved

Ultimately, who knows the exact combination of things that has caused this school/DCPS to work very well for us. I’m just telling you that it works and we’re happy with the results.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:respect
benefit of the doubt
credence
attention

white lives - even to many black people - have greater value/importance than black lives.

school leadership sometimes responds accordingly

I’m an UMC AA woman, and my children attend their IB WotP school. We receive all of those things from teachers and administrators at my children’s school. At my request, my oldest child (who is very academically advanced) has received differentiation EVERY YEAR both inside and outside the classroom. Any concerns that we have voiced have been respectfully addressed.

I don’t think that our experience is isolated, but it probably depends on the school (and the parent).

It probably helps that you are WOTP at a school that is largely filled with White UMC students.

Anonymous wrote:respect
benefit of the doubt
credence
attention

white lives - even to many black people - have greater value/importance than black lives.

school leadership sometimes responds accordingly

I’m an UMC AA woman, and my children attend their IB WotP school. We receive all of those things from teachers and administrators at my children’s school. At my request, my oldest child (who is very academically advanced) has received differentiation EVERY YEAR both inside and outside the classroom. Any concerns that we have voiced have been respectfully addressed.

I don’t think that our experience is isolated, but it probably depends on the school (and the parent).

We want a true magnet program. Differentiation is a pipe dream. Asking and expecting way too much from teachers. So it has nothing to do with skin color. DCPS and some others will mask the issue as racial. It's simple incompetence and lack of will. Check all the black families in private schools. If I were DCPS, I'd want my kids back. I know "they'll be ok regardless"......

I have asked that they actually go outside for recess, and that they stop feeding the kids so much junk food. Have been politely heard and then ignored. Am white.

Anonymous wrote:respect
benefit of the doubt
credence
attention

white lives - even to many black people - have greater value/importance than black lives.

school leadership sometimes responds accordingly

It's depressing that this persists. I'm not a black parent but the fact that black parents continue to advocate in the face of such disrespect makes me admire their efforts even more.

this isn't getting concrete

We don’t have any problems that we think are associated with being a black family, however some of my kid’s school friends/family seem to.

respect
benefit of the doubt
credence
attention

white lives - even to many black people - have greater value/importance than black lives.

school leadership sometimes responds accordingly

I dunno. I'm white and modestly UMC and am having a hard time getting some pretty basic stuff. Maybe I'm not doing it right, but I definitely don't have the things I've been asking for.

Wanted to upfront this having seen it on a different thread - black middle class parents saying that white parents are getting issues raised and resolved with DCPS management in ways that aren't happening for black families.

I'm a white person and I raise issues to my school sometimes. I definitely feel like sometimes we get catered to (suspect it, but don't have points of reference to prove it).

What is it that black parents want, that they feel like they can't get out of DCPS, that white parents seem to be able to ask for and get? Are they requests for the same things or different things? I know there are going to be some similarities and differences, e.g., I've heard about disciplinary or bullying issues and lumping people together....but I wanted to hear it from others, not guess at what I think might be the concerns.

So - what are the asks, etc.? that don't get addressed?