Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago sounds like a real pain in the tuchas for families with school-age children. San Francisco, too. And Manhattan. It's really tough to be a highly-educated person who loves an urban environment but also wants to raise well-educated kids. On the bright side: the availability of self-determined options in D.C. is a lot better than what's available in some other cities.

spare me. you don't get to "love an urban environment" and not have to, you know, actually LIVE with your neighbors side by side.

You're trying to say something else. Obviously, everyone who lives in the city lives next to their neighbors, "side by side." You seem to be really angry that some people who have money can get a good school for their kids AND live in the city; whereas you are stuck with literally the worst performing school system in the United States because you either can't, or refuse, to move into a better public school boundary. If you own your residence, it's still possible to move into a condo in a better school zone, depending on how much you care about your child's education. Clearly, we need more condos to make choices along this line even easier; but you don't seem the type to even consider it. Stew away.

My kid goes to an excellent and diverse school, so I have no worries at all about the quality of his schooling. What's gross is to say "Oh Muffie, don't you just love the urban environment" whilst clutching pearls at your children having to attend school along with the locals.

Where we seem to agree is we both like living in the City. Where we disagree is my ability to see how the overall quality of DCPS is at an apocalyptic level of horrible, recognize that reality, and encourage others to do their best to avoid the worst. Instead, you want to condemn your neighbors to to send their kids into that mess, based on some kind of moralistic mantra that I can't figure out or even wish to understand. But, based on your last comment, it seems you have made a wise choice to benefit your family. Good for you. Hypocrisy though?

My child is going to his zoned IB DCPS school and it's excellent. We're considering the zoned middle school as well, but I think that if DCPS wants diversity they have to do more to engaged with high SES (not all white!) parents. My "moralistic mantra" is "don't be a racist d*ck."

Wait - all of this preaching, and you're only "considering" the IB middle school. Well, well, well. You're not wholeheartedly embracing it? What are your reservations? Perhaps they are the same reservations as your neighbors, who have already moved their kids, have?

Elementary school in DC is easy, for the most part. Most schools are fine. But you're thinking of bailing when the rubber meats the road in MS. There's a word for that, isn't there?

I believe the PC phrase for this phenomenon is: "The school just isn't the right fit for my child."

It's the most loaded comment a parent can utter in DC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago sounds like a real pain in the tuchas for families with school-age children. San Francisco, too. And Manhattan. It's really tough to be a highly-educated person who loves an urban environment but also wants to raise well-educated kids. On the bright side: the availability of self-determined options in D.C. is a lot better than what's available in some other cities.

spare me. you don't get to "love an urban environment" and not have to, you know, actually LIVE with your neighbors side by side.

You're trying to say something else. Obviously, everyone who lives in the city lives next to their neighbors, "side by side." You seem to be really angry that some people who have money can get a good school for their kids AND live in the city; whereas you are stuck with literally the worst performing school system in the United States because you either can't, or refuse, to move into a better public school boundary. If you own your residence, it's still possible to move into a condo in a better school zone, depending on how much you care about your child's education. Clearly, we need more condos to make choices along this line even easier; but you don't seem the type to even consider it. Stew away.

My kid goes to an excellent and diverse school, so I have no worries at all about the quality of his schooling. What's gross is to say "Oh Muffie, don't you just love the urban environment" whilst clutching pearls at your children having to attend school along with the locals.

Where we seem to agree is we both like living in the City. Where we disagree is my ability to see how the overall quality of DCPS is at an apocalyptic level of horrible, recognize that reality, and encourage others to do their best to avoid the worst. Instead, you want to condemn your neighbors to to send their kids into that mess, based on some kind of moralistic mantra that I can't figure out or even wish to understand. But, based on your last comment, it seems you have made a wise choice to benefit your family. Good for you. Hypocrisy though?

My child is going to his zoned IB DCPS school and it's excellent. We're considering the zoned middle school as well, but I think that if DCPS wants diversity they have to do more to engaged with high SES (not all white!) parents. My "moralistic mantra" is "don't be a racist d*ck."

Wait - all of this preaching, and you're only "considering" the IB middle school. Well, well, well. You're not wholeheartedly embracing it? What are your reservations? Perhaps they are the same reservations as your neighbors, who have already moved their kids, have?

Elementary school in DC is easy, for the most part. Most schools are fine. But you're thinking of bailing when the rubber meats the road in MS. There's a word for that, isn't there?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago sounds like a real pain in the tuchas for families with school-age children. San Francisco, too. And Manhattan. It's really tough to be a highly-educated person who loves an urban environment but also wants to raise well-educated kids. On the bright side: the availability of self-determined options in D.C. is a lot better than what's available in some other cities.

spare me. you don't get to "love an urban environment" and not have to, you know, actually LIVE with your neighbors side by side.

You're trying to say something else. Obviously, everyone who lives in the city lives next to their neighbors, "side by side." You seem to be really angry that some people who have money can get a good school for their kids AND live in the city; whereas you are stuck with literally the worst performing school system in the United States because you either can't, or refuse, to move into a better public school boundary. If you own your residence, it's still possible to move into a condo in a better school zone, depending on how much you care about your child's education. Clearly, we need more condos to make choices along this line even easier; but you don't seem the type to even consider it. Stew away.

My kid goes to an excellent and diverse school, so I have no worries at all about the quality of his schooling. What's gross is to say "Oh Muffie, don't you just love the urban environment" whilst clutching pearls at your children having to attend school along with the locals.

Where we seem to agree is we both like living in the City. Where we disagree is my ability to see how the overall quality of DCPS is at an apocalyptic level of horrible, recognize that reality, and encourage others to do their best to avoid the worst. Instead, you want to condemn your neighbors to to send their kids into that mess, based on some kind of moralistic mantra that I can't figure out or even wish to understand. But, based on your last comment, it seems you have made a wise choice to benefit your family. Good for you. Hypocrisy though?

My child is going to his zoned IB DCPS school and it's excellent. We're considering the zoned middle school as well, but I think that if DCPS wants diversity they have to do more to engaged with high SES (not all white!) parents. My "moralistic mantra" is "don't be a racist d*ck."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago sounds like a real pain in the tuchas for families with school-age children. San Francisco, too. And Manhattan. It's really tough to be a highly-educated person who loves an urban environment but also wants to raise well-educated kids. On the bright side: the availability of self-determined options in D.C. is a lot better than what's available in some other cities.

spare me. you don't get to "love an urban environment" and not have to, you know, actually LIVE with your neighbors side by side.

You're trying to say something else. Obviously, everyone who lives in the city lives next to their neighbors, "side by side." You seem to be really angry that some people who have money can get a good school for their kids AND live in the city; whereas you are stuck with literally the worst performing school system in the United States because you either can't, or refuse, to move into a better public school boundary. If you own your residence, it's still possible to move into a condo in a better school zone, depending on how much you care about your child's education. Clearly, we need more condos to make choices along this line even easier; but you don't seem the type to even consider it. Stew away.

My kid goes to an excellent and diverse school, so I have no worries at all about the quality of his schooling. What's gross is to say "Oh Muffie, don't you just love the urban environment" whilst clutching pearls at your children having to attend school along with the locals.

Is it your IB school?

The crickets are loud all of a sudden.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago sounds like a real pain in the tuchas for families with school-age children. San Francisco, too. And Manhattan. It's really tough to be a highly-educated person who loves an urban environment but also wants to raise well-educated kids. On the bright side: the availability of self-determined options in D.C. is a lot better than what's available in some other cities.

spare me. you don't get to "love an urban environment" and not have to, you know, actually LIVE with your neighbors side by side.

You're trying to say something else. Obviously, everyone who lives in the city lives next to their neighbors, "side by side." You seem to be really angry that some people who have money can get a good school for their kids AND live in the city; whereas you are stuck with literally the worst performing school system in the United States because you either can't, or refuse, to move into a better public school boundary. If you own your residence, it's still possible to move into a condo in a better school zone, depending on how much you care about your child's education. Clearly, we need more condos to make choices along this line even easier; but you don't seem the type to even consider it. Stew away.

My kid goes to an excellent and diverse school, so I have no worries at all about the quality of his schooling. What's gross is to say "Oh Muffie, don't you just love the urban environment" whilst clutching pearls at your children having to attend school along with the locals.

Where we seem to agree is we both like living in the City. Where we disagree is my ability to see how the overall quality of DCPS is at an apocalyptic level of horrible, recognize that reality, and encourage others to do their best to avoid the worst. Instead, you want to condemn your neighbors to to send their kids into that mess, based on some kind of moralistic mantra that I can't figure out or even wish to understand. But, based on your last comment, it seems you have made a wise choice to benefit your family. Good for you. Hypocrisy though?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ Andy if you want a more integrated school, put it in a central location. WOTP is a PITA for most of the city so you might as just well build the wall to keep the rest of the city out of upper NW.

If it’s such a PITA, why is everyone trying to get their kids into the schools there?

Because right now, that is where most of the private schools are and Wilson and feeders. If DCPS wants to diversify the system, especially at the high school level, place it geographically central, near transit. This is why SWW and even BASIS are popular and diverse. You and your children CAN leave Ward 3, you know!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The white folks are acting like ending access to the best options for any/all of them and shunting them off to the rest of the school system ie roosevelt or Coolidge is intolerable. Remember that that is exactly what the REST of DC lives with.

Sorry, it is completely unacceptable to UMC educated people -- presumably of any color.

What sort of negligent parent with options and a bright child would put him in a classroom brimming with borderline illiterate/innumerate peers? Don't like that characterization? Look at Roosevelt's ABYSMAL parc scores.

Anonymous wrote:The white folks are acting like ending access to the best options for any/all of them and shunting them off to the rest of the school system ie roosevelt or Coolidge is intolerable. Remember that that is exactly what the REST of DC lives with.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago sounds like a real pain in the tuchas for families with school-age children. San Francisco, too. And Manhattan. It's really tough to be a highly-educated person who loves an urban environment but also wants to raise well-educated kids. On the bright side: the availability of self-determined options in D.C. is a lot better than what's available in some other cities.

spare me. you don't get to "love an urban environment" and not have to, you know, actually LIVE with your neighbors side by side.

You're trying to say something else. Obviously, everyone who lives in the city lives next to their neighbors, "side by side." You seem to be really angry that some people who have money can get a good school for their kids AND live in the city; whereas you are stuck with literally the worst performing school system in the United States because you either can't, or refuse, to move into a better public school boundary. If you own your residence, it's still possible to move into a condo in a better school zone, depending on how much you care about your child's education. Clearly, we need more condos to make choices along this line even easier; but you don't seem the type to even consider it. Stew away.

My kid goes to an excellent and diverse school, so I have no worries at all about the quality of his schooling. What's gross is to say "Oh Muffie, don't you just love the urban environment" whilst clutching pearls at your children having to attend school along with the locals.

Is it your IB school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Integration is such a liberal white folks things. Have you actually talked to any black folks almost none actually want it. In fact most people are fine with the current DC education landscape.

The key for schools is always the principal. There are several success stories with public and charters getting real results with at-risk kids. Its time to take some of the assistant principals at these schools and give them their own schools. That's the only change that needs to happen.

In fact, many of the black folks I have talked to about school options have specifically mentioned an integrated school as important to them. And it certainly a focus of black writers/reporters like Nikole Hannah-Jones.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/magazine/the-resegregation-of-jefferson-county.html

+1. Black person here (raises hand). I want integrated schools, and know plenty of other black people who agree with me. Why revisit this point? We know from history that predominantly black/brown schools don't get the same resources as white schools (Brown vs. Board, anyone?). Plus, I think there is value in attending school with people from different backgrounds--I wish more on this thread felt that way.

I agree with you on the different background being beneficial thing. In 2018 schools receive equal funding so that's not an issue. With open choice if people want to integrate great if not so be it. I think trying to socially engineer this stuff isn't the way to go.

But people don't understand that the educational performance of black students was trending upwards for a long period after the civil rights movement. Integration did work but then all of that became undone and many of those gains were lost. Lost of research on this. Most black people know, myself included that integration works, but at the end of the day white folks really don't want it. You're kidding yourself if you think schools receive equal funding - they in fact do not especially when you start counting the impact of PTA donations. Definitely not equal.

At some point as well, studying hard and achieving academically was no longer celebrated in strugglijg black neighborhoods, but instead was derided as “acting white.” That epithet didn’t help.

And your speaking from personal experience, or what you've heard?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago sounds like a real pain in the tuchas for families with school-age children. San Francisco, too. And Manhattan. It's really tough to be a highly-educated person who loves an urban environment but also wants to raise well-educated kids. On the bright side: the availability of self-determined options in D.C. is a lot better than what's available in some other cities.

spare me. you don't get to "love an urban environment" and not have to, you know, actually LIVE with your neighbors side by side.

You're trying to say something else. Obviously, everyone who lives in the city lives next to their neighbors, "side by side." You seem to be really angry that some people who have money can get a good school for their kids AND live in the city; whereas you are stuck with literally the worst performing school system in the United States because you either can't, or refuse, to move into a better public school boundary. If you own your residence, it's still possible to move into a condo in a better school zone, depending on how much you care about your child's education. Clearly, we need more condos to make choices along this line even easier; but you don't seem the type to even consider it. Stew away.

My kid goes to an excellent and diverse school, so I have no worries at all about the quality of his schooling. What's gross is to say "Oh Muffie, don't you just love the urban environment" whilst clutching pearls at your children having to attend school along with the locals.

Anonymous wrote:A couple posters have touched on this but here's the thing: housing demand and costs are rising across most of DC, including at the top end, generally west of Rock Creek Park, and there is much greater participation in DCPS west of Rock Creek Park overall.

Higher-bracket incomes and race are highly correlated in this area - we know it skews heavily white with the rest of the demographic mix you see at your professional jobs. Overlay that with historical segregation, and there is minimal economic diversity west of Rock Creek Park and the racial and demographic trends correlated with that.

This means that all the "diversity" west of Rock Creek Park (that isn't assimilated/high income) is people taking the excess capacity seats in these DCPS schools. But we are quickly approaching the time when there is no excess capacity.

So if you want diversity, you have to engineer access rules like the lottery or boundaries differently. It's mostly unfixable because it comes at the nexus of geography, income, and race.

My view as someone with kids in the feeder systems further east is to give up on the segregated west. the factors that exclude us are unfixable. Those schools aren't a solution and there's much more to be gained by integrating schools east of Rock Creek Park and helping your neighborhood schools.