Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really Janney?
$200 a couple?
The school demographic is getting insanely wealthy, especially in the PK-1st years.

So why aren’t their kids in private schools?

They're not that rich.

You are right. There should be a mechanism for those who truly cannot afford to attend the auction to come. But in reality that is a very small number of families (1% are economically disadvantaged but probably more can't afford a $75 random expenditure). The tickets, however, are not out of line with other schools and at the $75 you can get a ticket for (not the $100 closer to the event) not out of line with what the vast majority can afford. There are the few here (and I think the initial poster falls in this category) that may not want to spend the money on it, but that is a choice. I was more responding to how the initial post read to me - "I want to come but I don't want to spend that much money." Or "I wish this event was cheaper and more casual, but I don't volunteer to help organize it."

Just glad not to be at Janney after reading this thread.

(And happy to see there are other schools who do prioritize making all families welcome. No Jaguar has insinuated that about their school, just stated it’s cost of admission.)

Anonymous wrote:Really Janney?
$200 a couple?
The school demographic is getting insanely wealthy, especially in the PK-1st years.

So why aren’t their kids in private schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a Janney parent who doesn’t attend the auction. I think the majority of parents don’t attend. I pay the full SFF for my kids, contributed a small item for the classroom auction item, so I’m doing my part.

What is the handwringing over this? Nearly every other school event is free. I went one year, didn’t buy anything and it was just a lot of drinking in your kids’ school hallways. Really, you aren’t missing anything.

One reason the price may have been raised (I have no inside info) may be that fewer parents are paying the SFF, so they need to raise funds in other ways or cut services or extra staff that families have come to rely on.

.

Yeah, it doesn't really seem like the fact that there are people who can't afford to attend a Saturday night party (especially if part of the reason they can't attend is the additional cost of childcare or the cost of buying something at the auction, which seems entirely optional) is a major educational equity issue. The same PTA recently put on a bingo night with $2 slices of pizza and sponsored a book fair where you could get an entire grocery bag of used books for $5. That seems like a far better way of building community than the auction is, anyway, even if literally every family at the school showed up for the auction.

There's a lot to criticize in the way D.C. public schools operate, and specifically in the way public schools in wealthy neighborhoods operate. So far, this long thread doesn't offer much evidence that the price of the auction tickets is really a serious problem.

I agree. Lots of organizations that I support or benefit from have a variety of fundraisers, some for the common folks like me, and some that were too rich for my budget. I don't think they should stop hosting the higher ticket events, because then the organization would have less funds.

There is also a tremendous amount of work that goes into this. Its not just the cost of food and drinks. There are volunteers working to get those donations, setting up, working during the event, managing all the donations, cleaning up. So, even covering the cost of food and drink and decorations and entertainment is not counting the hours put in by volunteers. Sometimes you can choose to attend an event or buy something at the auction (which you can do online) but not both. If the group putting all the hours in for this has decided not to take a loss on the cost of attendance, after all they do to put it together I think it is a valid choice. There are plenty of other social events at Janney where the cost is nothing and food is incredibly cheap - bingo, spring and fall picnics, parent potluck socials). It seems like some want to be able to attend an event at a discount and then get items auctioned off at a discount all on the backs of volunteers. The Met also got rid of pay-as-you-wish for out of town residents last year because no one was paying despite attendance increases.

If the GDS planned unit development goes forward, those will be more multi-family homes eligible for Janney, although some may choose GDS (just across the street).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Few houses on the market. But when they do, the average price is much lower, not 1.5mil by any stretch of imagination.

There are four listings open in the Janney market.

They are a townhouse for $995K, two houses for $1.9mil and a pre-foreclosure "renovation special" townhouse being sold as-is for $1mil.

Lots of aprtments are planned in the Janney district with a number of 2BRs. At least 10 percent of the units have to be affordable housing. The developers plan to market to small families and single parents who want access to best DC public schools without having to pay for a SFH. These developments should diversify and democratize Janney a bit more by expanding the pool of kids eligible to go there.

Where? Fannie Mae and 4000 Wisconsin and zoned for Hearst.

The former Superfresh site in AU Park and several new buildings in Tenley.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Few houses on the market. But when they do, the average price is much lower, not 1.5mil by any stretch of imagination.

There are four listings open in the Janney market.

They are a townhouse for $995K, two houses for $1.9mil and a pre-foreclosure "renovation special" townhouse being sold as-is for $1mil.

Lots of aprtments are planned in the Janney district with a number of 2BRs. At least 10 percent of the units have to be affordable housing. The developers plan to market to small families and single parents who want access to best DC public schools without having to pay for a SFH. These developments should diversify and democratize Janney a bit more by expanding the pool of kids eligible to go there.

Where? Fannie Mae and 4000 Wisconsin and zoned for Hearst.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Few houses on the market. But when they do, the average price is much lower, not 1.5mil by any stretch of imagination.

There are four listings open in the Janney market.

They are a townhouse for $995K, two houses for $1.9mil and a pre-foreclosure "renovation special" townhouse being sold as-is for $1mil.

Current listings do not reflect average.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Few houses on the market. But when they do, the average price is much lower, not 1.5mil by any stretch of imagination.

There are four listings open in the Janney market.

They are a townhouse for $995K, two houses for $1.9mil and a pre-foreclosure "renovation special" townhouse being sold as-is for $1mil.

Lots of aprtments are planned in the Janney district with a number of 2BRs. At least 10 percent of the units have to be affordable housing. The developers plan to market to small families and single parents who want access to best DC public schools without having to pay for a SFH. These developments should diversify and democratize Janney a bit more by expanding the pool of kids eligible to go there.

Anonymous wrote:Few houses on the market. But when they do, the average price is much lower, not 1.5mil by any stretch of imagination.

There are four listings open in the Janney market.

They are a townhouse for $995K, two houses for $1.9mil and a pre-foreclosure "renovation special" townhouse being sold as-is for $1mil.

Anonymous wrote:I’m a Janney parent who doesn’t attend the auction. I think the majority of parents don’t attend. I pay the full SFF for my kids, contributed a small item for the classroom auction item, so I’m doing my part.

What is the handwringing over this? Nearly every other school event is free. I went one year, didn’t buy anything and it was just a lot of drinking in your kids’ school hallways. Really, you aren’t missing anything.

One reason the price may have been raised (I have no inside info) may be that fewer parents are paying the SFF, so they need to raise funds in other ways or cut services or extra staff that families have come to rely on.

.

Yeah, it doesn't really seem like the fact that there are people who can't afford to attend a Saturday night party (especially if part of the reason they can't attend is the additional cost of childcare or the cost of buying something at the auction, which seems entirely optional) is a major educational equity issue. The same PTA recently put on a bingo night with $2 slices of pizza and sponsored a book fair where you could get an entire grocery bag of used books for $5. That seems like a far better way of building community than the auction is, anyway, even if literally every family at the school showed up for the auction.

There's a lot to criticize in the way D.C. public schools operate, and specifically in the way public schools in wealthy neighborhoods operate. So far, this long thread doesn't offer much evidence that the price of the auction tickets is really a serious problem.

I’m a Janney parent who doesn’t attend the auction. I think the majority of parents don’t attend. I pay the full SFF for my kids, contributed a small item for the classroom auction item, so I’m doing my part.

What is the handwringing over this? Nearly every other school event is free. I went one year, didn’t buy anything and it was just a lot of drinking in your kids’ school hallways. Really, you aren’t missing anything.

One reason the price may have been raised (I have no inside info) may be that fewer parents are paying the SFF, so they need to raise funds in other ways or cut services or extra staff that families have come to rely on.

.

A lot of this comes down to what you can get sponsored. If, like a PP many pages ago, you can get all the food and drink and staffing donated then its far easier to lower -- or remove altogether- the ticket prices. If you can't, then attending the event costs something.

At our school the cost of the ticket price basically covers the cost of food and drink. The auction itself is what makes the $. But at $60-70 a head, I don't think our PTA should be covering the cost of people coming to a party.